Chapter 248: Lead-up (2)

"I'm better now that I've heard your voice." She admitted, taking a seat at the dining table.

"Mmm, to be honest I'm also nervous about today. I know the boys have been working hard towards this moment, but I can't help but be a little worried."

It wasn't often that Chris aired out his worries, but those barriers were always down when it came to his wife.

"Yeah… They'll be fine though, right?" Yuki stated, as if trying to convince herself.

Chris let out a small sigh, but he agreed.

"No matter what, this is the choice that they both decided on. They won't hold back against each other, we can only hope that no matter who wins, they'll both learn something."

Chris wasn't worried that his kids would fight, especially since they both adored each other as brothers. As long as they were happy and no one got injured, he would be fine.

A small silence drifted between them, yet it wasn't awkward. The two had been married for almost 20 years and knew each other almost as much as they knew themselves.

"Look after our boys okay?" Yuki said after a while, her tone full of trust.

"Haha, I'll do my best. You know how rowdy those two can be."

After a few minutes Yuki ended the call, already feeling slightly better than before. Knowing that her husband was at the arena gave her some peace of mind, lifting her spirits.

"Don't be so depressed damn it." She muttered, wiping the slowly forming tears from the corner of her eyes.

***

"Hey, do you think Ken has been acting a bit weird lately?" Tatsuya leaned over and whispered to the Captain, his eyes locked onto the other side of the dining room.

Makoto who was nonchalantly stuffing his face with rice, lifted his gaze and took a look at their ace. He saw the serious expression upon his features and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Doesn't he always look like that." He stated with his mouth half full.

Tatsuya felt a special kind of annoyance overcome him that he only got from the captain.

"Dude, be serious for once. This is our biggest game yet, if our Ace isn't in top shape…"

Makoto placed his chopsticks down and turned his muscular frame towards Tatsuya. His expression was as serious as they came.

"I don't know about you, but I fully trust Ken. He's the pillar of the team and has never let us down. So stop worrying about stupid things and make sure you do your job and get on base today."

Tatsuya was a little taken aback. He hadn't expected such a speech from the captain, yet it made sense in a way.

Perhaps he himself was nervous, and had looked towards others as a way to escape facing his own feelings. His face flushed red briefly, thinking about how lame he must have sounded.

"Ahem. I'll get onto base today, just don't be lame and get me out on a double play like last game." Tatsuya said, throwing a verbal jab.

CRACK CRACK

"So you have chosen death…"

Makoto cracked his knuckles and stood up, showing his imposing physique and instantly intimidating the sharp tongued Tatsuya.

Feeling his impending doom coming, the fleet footed youth quickly ditched his food and ran for his life. read-more-at-MvLeMpYr

"Save me!"

A few of the staff members in the kitchen saw the commotion and couldn't help but laugh. Since the Yokohama team had been staying here, they had gotten used to the rowdiness of the teenage boys.

Some even looked forward to the entertainment provided by the youths.

"Ahhh there goes Tatsuya and the Captain again." Hiroki said with a wry smile.

"I wonder what he did this time?" Yusuke said with a chuckle.

Gauging the reactions of the teens, this wasn't an uncommon occurrence. However it would always end the same way.

"OOOOOF"

Thud

Hearing the familiar sound of Tatsuya's body crumbling to the floor after a gut punch, no one reacted, too busy attending to the food in front of them.

It was already 7am and their game started at 12 today. Since it was the Semi-finals, there was only 2 games played, one at 9am and the final game at 12pm.

Ken ignored the commotion around him and focused on his food, or at least that's what he wanted everyone to think. He had the system window open in front of him, taking one last look before the fated game.

MAJOR LEAGUE SYSTEM

SYSTEM LEVEL: 4 (10880/100,000 Major points to level up)

NAME: Ken Takagi

AGE: 16

TALENT ASSESSMENT: S

POTENTIAL: SS+

MAJOR POINTS: 10880

USER MENU:

-STATS

-MISSIONS

-SYSTEM SHOP

-LOTTERY (Locked)

-IMAGE TRAINING

-IDENTIFY

-TRAINING PLAN

-MENTOR

USER STATS:

>Physical Fitness: S+

>Pitching: SS-

>Fielding: B-

>Game Intelligence: B-

>Mental: S

>Skills: 20

PHYSICAL FITNESS: (Avg. S+)

Balance and Coordination: S+

Agility: S+

Strength: S+

Stamina: S+

Surprisingly, his Agility and Strength had increased a grade thanks to his training, jumping up to the S+ grade. Everything else remained around the same, but that would probably change after the tournament with the rewards on offer.

He took the opportunity to bring up the mission window and check his progress.

MISSION: Summer National Tournament

*Task 1: Strike out 50 players [54/50] [Completed]

*Task 2: Hit 6 home runs [5/6] [In progress]

*Task 3: Make the Quarter Finals of Koshien [Completed]

*Task 4: Make the Semi Finals of Koshien [Completed]

*Task 5: Make the Finals of Koshien [In progress]

*Task 6: Win the National Tournament [In progress]

*Task 7: Win player of the Tournament [In progress]

REWARDS:

>Task 1 rewards - 3000 Major points

>Task 2 rewards - 3000 Major points

>Task 3 rewards - 7000 Major points

>Task 4 rewards - 7,000 Major points + Gold Lottery ticket

>Task 5 rewards - 10,000 Major points + Gold Lottery ticket

>Task 6 rewards - 15,000 Major points + SS-Grade Physicality Elixir

>Task 7 rewards - 15,000 Major points + SS-Grade Mental Elixir

Hidden Task: Throw a shutout - Platinum ticket [Claimed] Searᴄh the NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Ken nodded in satisfaction. He already had gained quite a few Major Points this time around, however his sights were eyeing the SS-Grade Elixirs.

The two SS-Grade Elixirs would be a great boon to his current grades, so he didn't want to miss out.

'I'll just have to hope this is enough to take down Daichi…' He thought, bringing up the next window.

[Curveball: 91.8% proficiency]