Ken was a little torn. It didn't really have the ring that he was looking for, plus he wasn't exactly considered the Ace on the Columbia team just yet since the season hadn't started.
"How about HyakuMairuKen." His face brightened as he suggested this.
"Hiyaku Mayru? What does that mean?" Tara asked in confusion.
Disregarding the butchering of the pronunciation, Ken explained, "Hyaku mairu means 100 miles. Since my fastballs can get up to 100mph, I think it would be cool to have it."
However, Tara shook her head. "Your fan base will mostly be American. No one will know what it means and it will likely do you more harm than good."
Ken mumbled and grumbled a little, feeling that it was a waste. "Okay, we'll go with AceTakagi then. But I'm using the other one for LINE." He said, not backing down.
"LINE?"
"It's Japanese Social Media. I will create that account once we're done with the others."
"Okay… Let's just do that then."
With that, the two had decided on Ken's handle and began to create his accounts. Tara made him choose a password and wrote it down so that she could access the accounts and manage them.
Only after an hour was everything finally set up. Tara also followed a few key pages like Columbia Bobcats and New York Yanks before setting up Ken's profile picture.
As Ken retrieved his phone back, he saw the empty page and suddenly remembered something. "Ah, I need to post this picture I took with the Yanks, can you do that for me?"
When Tara saw the photo, her eyes sparkled. "This is great! When did you get these?" She asked with curiosity.
"They were before the game last night."
Snatching the phone back from Ken, she began to upload the image, putting on filters and the like before entering in a caption. Ken had no idea what she was doing, but it was already clear that she was a capable person so he didn't object.
When all was said and done Ken was exhausted. Seeing that the picture was posted to all 3 of his accounts, he could finally relax.
'That should be the mission completed. I'll accept the rewards later.' He thought.
"Thank you for all your help. What do I owe you?" Ken asked. He subconsciously backed away after remembering what had happened last night in the bathroom.
Tara saw this, but she merely grinned in response. "Don't worry about paying me for now. But when you reach the MLB, I want a job as your Social Media Manager okay?
Ken was taken aback by the response. He had planned on paying her handsomely for setting up his accounts, especially after seeing how good of a job she'd done for him. However, hearing this, he realized just how shrewd this woman was.
Rather than receive a once off payment, she was using this as an opportunity to plan for the future. It was risk, especially since only 10% of all Senior college players were drafted into the MLB.
However, he wasn't upset by this. In fact, this move had solidified his impression of Tara even more.
"Heh, you've got yourself a deal." Ken said, holding out his hand.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
After everything was complete, Ken went back to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. Dealing with Tara had left him mentally exhausted, so he quickly jumped in the shower and let out a sigh of relief as the warm water washed over his body.
Once he felt human again, he left the bathroom and got changed, seeing Steve passed out on the floor.
"Go and shower, I'll treat you to a meal." He said, kicking the guy on the ground.
He heard a groan in reply before the guy got up and trudged into the bathroom. While off-season training was rather grueling, it was the addition of lectures and study that made it even worse.
Ken was okay because of his Academic trait, but he could understand why Steve was exhausted. Hopefully there would be a turning point where the guy would hit his stride.
College athletes generally struggled to balance their sporting commitments alongside their academics. However, there was no way out of this. Even if Ken was drafted after his 3rd year of College, he still intended to complete his degree.
Economics and sports science would help him possibly land a coaching job down the line when he finished with his Major League career. This was something that he had discussed in great lengths with his father who was already an assistant coach.
His body wouldn't hold up forever, even with the assistance of the Major League System. Which was why he needed to plan for the future.
When Steve finished showering, the two went to the cafeteria in the dorm to get some dinner.
"Did you get your social media up and running?" Steve probed in between mouthfuls.
"Mmm. Tara was really helpful." Ken replied smilingly.
"Oh good. Hurry up and follow me on Instagram." He beckoned, pointing to Ken's phone.
Ken agreed, opening up his phone. "What's your handle?"
"Stevielovemachine" Steve replied with a deadpan expression.
"…"
There was a stiff silence between the two as Ken stared at him, trying to figure out if he was being serious or not. "No really, what is your handle?"
"I already told you…"
Ken felt a headache coming on, but he typed the name in anyway. Lo and behold, Steve's profile came up, showing his 225 followers. This changed to 226 after Ken followed him.
BUZZ BUZZ
"Hehe, let's check out your profile." Steve said with a grin.
"Oh no~ you have no followers. Guess I'll help you out and be the first one." He said tauntingly.
Ken could only shake his head in exasperation.
BUZZ BUZZ
He didn't even bother to check his phone since he knew that the notification was from Steve following him.
The two chatted for a while about nothing in particular before Ken felt the phone in his pocket begin to go ballistic.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ
"What the hell?"