Ken woke up to his alarm buzzing in the morning like usual, feeling refreshed. Unfortunately his system was still shut down since 24 hours had yet to pass since he chose to upgrade it.
Since it was the first day of final exams today he likely wouldn't have a chance to check it out until he returned home tonight. Although it was a bit of a bummer, he didn't mind too much.
The two boys went for their morning run and had breakfast before heading off to school. While they were sitting in the train, Ken noticed something weird.
Was it just his imagination or were people looking at him? Whenever he raised his head he would see people turning around after presumably staring at him while he wasn't looking.
"Is there something on my face?" Ken turned to Daichi and asked, feeling a little self conscious.
"Nothing more than usual." Daichi replied without missing a beat.
Ken's eye twitched at these words. It seemed as if his cute little brother was turning into a smart ass as of late. This was very unlike Daichi in his previous life, which begged the question, what would have happened if his family didn't adopt him?
He knew so little about the Daichi of his previous life, only that he was a true friend. But the fact that he felt comfortable enough to play pranks and joke around with him was a positive thing.
Ken let out a sigh, he shouldn't be thinking about such things when he was just about to go through 5 full days of exams.
They finally made it to school and walked in through the gates. He could tell that it was not just himself who was dreading the final exams this week. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Keisuke who looked as pale as a ghost walking into the school.
Once again Ken felt as if he had more eyes than usual on him, sending goosebumps up his arms.
'What the hell is going on? Is this some kind of prank?' He looked around only to see the same thing that had transpired on the train this morning.
He dealt with the feeling until finally making it to the classroom and letting out a sigh of relief. Ken didn't think that he would ever be thankful to make it safely to class, especially on exam week, yet here he was.
What came next was what he had expected, one test after another, each as mind-numbing as the last. They finally had a reprieve when the lunch bell rang.
After handing in the test, Ken couldn't help but sigh loudly. He and Daichi got out their lunch boxes which held a note from Yuki.
'Do your best!'
He felt a smile pulling on the corner of his lips after seeing the note and felt a little better. However, just as he was about to dig into his lunch he saw a girl approach the both of them.
Ken who currently had his mouth wide open and was about to place a load of rice into it suddenly put his chopsticks down, feeling a flicker of nerves in his stomach.
'Ai Koyama…'
A wave of memories flooded his brain as he saw the younger version of the woman he had chased after in high school in front of him. She had long black hair and wide blue eyes that flashed with intelligence.
Although she was only 15 and not yet matured, she was beginning to show signs of the beauty that she would turn into in the future.
Ken was troubled by the mix of emotions that his younger body was currently going through. Considering his mental age was already that of a young adult, he should have no feelings for a woman this young.
However, perhaps it was his teenage hormones and past life's yearning that had made him want to be close to this girl.
'What is she doing here? Isn't she in class 1?'
"Hi Ken, I heard you made it to the finals of Kanto Tournament." Ai said, twirling her hair around her fingers.
"Uhh, yeah." He replied awkwardly.
"I'll be there to cheer you on, so do your best." She said, her soft cheeks turning a light shade of red. After saying this she walked out of the room, leaving Ken stunned into silence.
His mind was empty, yet his teenage hormones caused his cheeks to also flush in embarrassment. In reality he couldn't be blamed for his reactions, since Ai had never even acknowledged his existence in his previous life.
"Oh? Someone has an admirer." Daichi's couldn't help but poke at Ken verbally, enjoying his big bro's expression.
Ken shook his head, trying to get the weird feelings out of his mind.
"I don't even know who that is." He lied, inwardly thinking that he needed to stay away from Ai in the future as it was too weird.
Daichi let out an exaggerated sigh, "My big brother is already so popular only after 2 games this season. I wonder when girls will start looking at me." He lamented, however Ken could tell that he was just making fun of him.
Ken's eye twitched in response.
'This guy had his own female fan base when he made it to the NPB in my previous life yet here he is complaining about me getting the attention of 1 girl…' He felt the whole situation was bizarre, if not a little funny.
As soon as they finished lunch the bell rang and it was back to exams once again. By the time they were done for the day, Ken's head felt as if it was going to explode.
He had never been good at mathematics and although he could memorize the formulas, it was still tedious answering all of the questions.
There was no club until Friday which Ken was thankful for. The two made their way home on the train, looking like zombies since they were mentally drained.
Once arriving back home Ken went straight up to his room and laid on the bed. Now that the day was over and he was alone, it was time to open up the system and see what had changed.
#SYSTEM ALERT
SYSTEM HAS SUCCESSFULLY UPGRADED TO LEVEL 3.
SYSTEM SHOP IS NOW UNLOCKED
MAJOR LEAGUE SYSTEM
SYSTEM LEVEL: 3 (280/10000 Major points to level up)
NAME: Ken Takagi
AGE: 15
TALENT ASSESSMENT: B-
POTENTIAL: D (S+)
MAJOR POINTS: 280
USER MENU:
-STATS
-MISSIONS
-SYSTEM SHOP
-LOTTERY (Locked)
-IMAGE TRAINING
-IDENTIFY
Ken's eyes widened in surprise. Without hesitation he opened up the System Shop with a sense of anticipation, wondering what kind of treasures it held.
#SYSTEM SHOP
>Lottery Tickets
>Elixirs
>Skills (locked)
'Yes! This is what I've been waiting for.' Ken had an abundance of Major points which he had only been able to save for upgrading the system. Now that the system shop had been unlocked, he could finally find somewhere to use them.
Yet his thoughts quickly turned sour as he saw the prices.
#Lottery Tickets
>Bronze Lottery Ticket - 500 Major Points
>Silver Lottery Ticket - 1000 Major Points
>Gold Lottery Ticket - 5000 Major Points
'So expensive!' It seemed that getting the lottery tickets through missions would be a lot easier than buying them from the system shop, which probably meant that Elixirs and Skills would be the same.
It was as he expected. B-grade Elixirs were priced at 1000 Major points, whereas A-grade's were 5000 which was the same price as a Gold Lottery Ticket.
Ken was a little disappointed, but at the same time it changed his perception of the rewards he received from missions. If he were to win the Kanto Tournament the reward was a Gold Lottery Ticket and 500 Major points. This meant his total reward would amount to 5500 Major points, which was huge.
He had been hoping he would be able to improve his skills before the finals this weekend and thought that the upgrade may help facilitate this. However, it turned out that he was poor and could not afford the goods in the system shop.
But there was one thing that he could do in order to get stronger. After having dinner and getting ready for bed, Ken returned to his room and a look of determination flashed onto his face.
DOES THE USER WISH TO ENTER IMAGE TRAINING?
[YES/NO]
"Yes."
Ken entered the image training and went straight to batting. It was quite tough against the upgraded pitcher who was sending 140km/h fastballs at him, but as long as he persisted, he would be able to get the rewards.
He continued the same routine for the entire week, taking exams during the day and completing image training at night. Unfortunately, thanks to the supreme pitching of his older self he was only able to complete one of the missions.
> Hit 1000 bunts successfully - 250 Major points + Silver Lottery ticket [COMPLETE] *Claim rewards*
[Congratulations, you have been awarded 250 Major points 1x Silver Lottery ticket]
Without waiting, Ken went straight to the Lottery wheel and spun.
'Please something good.' He prayed inwardly as the wheel began to spin slower and slower, finally coming to a stop.
[Congratulations, user has drawn an A-grade Balance and Coordination Elixir.]
'Jackpot!'
Ken jumped out of bed and couldn't contain his joy, pumping his fists in the air as if he had just scored a home run. Of course he couldn't vocalize his joy, but the dance and jubilation was enough to see how happy he was.
'I didn't even know that the silver lottery gave out Elixirs' he thought.
His balance and coordination grade was directly tied to his ability to see and hit the ball when batting. It was currently sitting at B+ which allowed him to track most, if not all pitches from middle schoolers.
However, now that he had gotten his hands on the A-grade Elixir it should shoot into the A grade and increase his batting prowess by leaps and bounds. This would allow him the ability to clear the batting missions in his image training a bit easier also.
Thinking of being able to hit every ball thrown at him caused a grin to tug at the corner of his lips.
"Would I be as good at batting as Daichi after this?" he mumbled.
Yet remembering the almost supernatural ability of his little brother, he quickly shook his head. Although he couldn't see his physical grades, Ken had a feeling that Daichi was at least an S rank in balance and coordination despite his age.
Ken quickly got into bed and chose to consume the Elixir. In his excitement, he forgot the potent side effects of the Balance and Coordination Elixir, causing him to feel nauseas almost immediately.
BLURGH
Without warning, Ken sat up and almost emptied the contents of his stomach into his hands. At the last moment he managed to hold it back, preventing a terrible situation.
He was forced to crawl on his knees towards the toilet where he spent the next hour hugging the porcelain throne.
Thankfully no one bothered him for the duration of his stay. Only after brushing his teeth about a dozen times did he head back to his room and fall into bed, quickly entering the embrace of sleep.