[You have consumed: B-grade Agility Elixir.]
[Agility grade has been increased by 3!]
Ken woke up to the sweet news of his increase in Agility and felt refreshed. It was as if he was a carp that had turned into a dragon with the sharp increase in his abilities over the past few months.
He had entered a period of growth in his year before High School. However, Ken had a feeling that increasing his abilities would not be as easy in the future. The absence of S-Grade Elixirs were an indication that he would stagnate at some point.
Yet Elixirs were not the only way that he could improve how he played. There was also position specific work he could do, as well as his game intelligence which was still sitting at a modest C+.
Ken hopped out of bed and let out a big stretch, his eyes focusing on the now A- Agility grade with a smile on his face.
In a good mood, he made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, seeing his mother and father sitting at the dining table.
"Morning Mom and Dad." Ken said in a chipper tone.
"Good Morning."
Ken felt that his father's tone was a little odd, but he quickly shrugged it off.
"Is Daichi awake yet?"
"He's just finishing up in the bathroom. Are you going for your morning run?" Yuki replied. Her tone sounded even more forced, causing Ken some alarm.
He turned to his mother and gave her a questioning look, however her expression was giving nothing away. Even moving his gaze to his father gave him no indication of what was wrong.
Feeling his anxiety peak, he wanted nothing more than to leave the room as soon as possible. Just as he was about to leave without Daichi, the teen in question emerged from the bathroom with all smiles.
"Morning Big Bro." He said sweetly, lacking the undertone that his parents had.
"Let's go…" Ken said, grabbing Daichi by the arm and ushering him out the front door.
"A-Ah, okay. Bye Mom and Dad, we'll be back later."
"Bye Daichi dear." Yuki responded, her tone sweet as usual.
'What the hell!?' Ken shouted inwardly. They must be mad at me for some reason then…
Seeing as how it was only himself that they were being weird with, his mind began to race about all the things he had done wrong. Could they have found out he wasn't a teenager at all?
No, that was ridiculous. Could it be because of him hiding his injury? But how could they have found out, they had only watched one of his games on first base.
As soon as he thought of this, he remembered the lofty throw he sent back to Daichi at home plate. Since his father lived and breathed baseball, there was no way that he wouldn't have been able to make some assumptions.
This paired with the fact that he had stopped pitching so abruptly meant that it was easy enough to make a plausible theory.
Ken was so caught up in his inner thoughts that he put his shoes on the wrong feet and had already left the house. Daichi tried to get his attention, however Ken was already jogging forwards while his mind was preoccupied.
By the time he returned, Ken was filled with dread about the upcoming conversation that would likely take place after breakfast. He tried to dodge the looks of his parents and retreated to the bathroom, however that would only delay the issue.
Ken shook his head and slapped his face while staring at the mirror.
'I'm an adult for goodness sake. Why am I shirking my responsibilities like a child right now.' He thought inwardly, taking in his youthful features.
Once he was cleaned up, he decided to be a man and tackle the situation head on.
When he arrived at the dining table, everyone was already waiting for him with food on the table. He turned to his father and bowed his head at 90 degrees.
"Dad, I'm sorry!"
Chris's face lit up in surprise for a moment, not expecting the sudden apology. However, he regained his composure, not yet sure of where this was going.
"Oh yeah? For what?" He inquired in a lazy tone.
Ken knew that this gesture would not be enough to get him off the hook, so he dug deep and got everything off his chest.
"I'm sorry for not telling you that I injured my shoulder. I'm sorry for being selfish and continuing to play without your consent. I should have come straight to you when I knew something was wrong, that was very immature and reckless of me."
With his head still bowed, Ken listed his crimes and owed up to his mistakes. Of course it was too little and too late, but he hoped to at least ease some of their anger with this gesture.
"Mmm. What do you think honey? Does he sound sincere?" Chris had a playful look on his face as he turned to his wife.
Since Ken still had his head bowed he was unable to see the exchange between the two, therefore he was inwardly sweating bullets.
"Hmmmm."
Yuki placed her finger on her chin and creased her brows as if she was thinking deeply, however this gesture caused Chris to lose his composure as he began to laugh out loud.
"Hahahaha."
Daichi who was originally shocked that Ken had chosen to come clean like this, soon began to inwardly cheer for his Big Bro. He had seen how hard Ken had worked to make the team, so he didn't want him to suffer too much.
However, this situation was a little out of his expectations. Seeing that Yuki had also joined in on the laughter while Ken had his head bowed, caused him to feel confused.
The laughter only died down a few moments later.
"Go sit down and eat breakfast." Chris said, a smile still tugging on the corner of his lips.
Ken felt his body flood with relief as he heard these words. Despite this being the case, he still solemnly walked over to his chair and sat down, waiting for his father to begin eating.
Seeing his son being so obedient, Chris felt a wave of incredulity wash over him. Was this really his teenage son who used to fight tooth and nail over every small detail?
Chris could only smile and shake his head, picking up his chopsticks and grabbing a mouthful of rice.
Ken breathed a sigh of relief and went to dig into the food.
"Don't think you're off the hook yet even with that apology." Chris commented off-handedly, causing Ken to drop his chopsticks in response.
"Hahaha." This time it was Daichi who couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Ken's reaction and his expression was enough to make him feel weak with hilarity.
It wasn't long before both Chris and Yuki were swept up by Daichi's contagious laugh, joining in on the fun.
Ken inwardly sighed, reaching down to grab his chopsticks with his left hand. On his way up he pinched Daichi's elbow with the chopsticks, causing him to let out a yelp of pain.
"Hahaha." Now it was Ken's turn to laugh, experiencing the sweet taste of revenge after dealing out some punishment.
However, he stopped merely a moment later and stared at the chopsticks in his hand. His left hand to be exact.
'How was I able to use my chopsticks with my left hand? Could it be?' Ken's mind raced as he made his way to the kitchen sink in order to wash the chopsticks which had been left on the floor.
After returning to the table, he began to eat with his left hand wielding the chopsticks. He was shocked to see that he was able to freely use them just as well as he could with his right hand.
'This must be the Fine Motor Skills ability that I got last night…'
His mind began to work, thinking about all the possibilities that had just opened up for him. Could it be that he was just as dexterous with his left arm as he was with his right now?
'Does that mean I can pitch again? As a lefty?'
Ken's spirit surged, feeling a wave of ecstasy threaten to overcome him. However, he quickly reigned it in. He didn't want to get his hopes up just yet.
"Daichi, let's go play catch after breakfast." Ken said, his tone serious.
"Huh? Ah okay."
"Not so fast Mister. We haven't discussed your punishment yet." Yuki stated, her gaze a little fiery.
"Y-Yes Mom." Ken murmured in response. Despite being an adult mentally, he still found it tough to face his mothers stare when she was in this mood.
Once everyone had finished breakfast, Daichi excused himself from the table, not wanting to be embroiled in the ensuing punishment talks.
Around 20 minutes later, the two boys went to the backyard with glove and ball.
Ken had a small smile on his face after the talk with his parents. The punishment that his parents had come up with was quite superficial, at least by Ken's standards.
In addition to some extra chores, he now had a curfew of 9pm during the summer break. However, if his final semester exam results were bad, they would reassess the punishment once more.
There was no talk about forbidding him from participating in the summer training camp, nor stopping him from playing baseball.
He had a feeling that the punishment was only so light because he had come clean by himself and not made any excuses for his actions. If it was his previous self, he might have copped it a lot worse.
Thankfully, he had taken the right actions by owning up to his mistakes like a man should. This probably garnered some sympathy from both his parents which in turn worked in his favor.
"Why were you so serious about playing catch?" Daichi asked, placing his catchers glove on his left hand.
"I just want to try something." Ken replied, placing his glove on the ground and walking to the other side of the backyard.
Daichi raised his eyebrow in question, wondering why Ken wasn't wearing his glove.
In the next moment, Ken brought his hands together and lifted his knee in the air close to his body, beginning his wind-up for a pitch.
"Ah! What are you doing?" Daichi called out in confusion.
However, Ken ignored him and continued. Although it felt a little foreign, he lunged forward with his right foot before planting it on the ground and whipping his left arm in a throwing action.
Daichi's eyes widened, feeling a strange aura flowing from his brother. He suddenly regretted not putting his face mask and chest guard on for this.
He sharpened his concentration and braced himself for the ball that would surely come blitzing towards him in a moment. Yet he could only open his jaw wide in the next moment as he saw the ball blazing through the air.
"Ah…"
The two both watched on silently as the ball rocketed straight through the air as if it was a JAXA spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station.
Ken felt his face heat up in embarrassment. "Maybe I need a little bit of practice."