The Old Baseball Player System

"Huh? Okay." – Shun was a little confused but quickly nodded. He had just arrived at the field with his friends, and it wasn\'t common for the coach to call him to his office.

Shun quickly went to the clubroom and put on his uniform, then walked to his coach\'s office. He reached the door and knocked.

Tok Tok

"Come in!" – Shun heard his coach\'s voice from inside and opened the door. He entered the room and saw his coach sitting calmly behind his desk, looking at a sheet of paper.

"Sit down." – Coach Yamada said, waiting for Shun to sit before continuing:

"Do you remember I mentioned that I would schedule some friendlies before the tournament?"

"Hm." – Shun just nodded.

"Well, I decided to talk to you first since you\'re in charge of the pitching staff. These are the teams we\'ll be playing against before the Tokyo tournament." – Coach Yamada said as he handed the sheet of paper to Shun. He then spoke again:

"I decided that you\'ll be the starting pitcher in the first game."

Shun listened to his coach\'s words and quickly looked at the sheet of paper, reading the name of the first team on the list.

Hokuto Junior High School

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Shun arrived home exhausted. The boy had pushed himself even harder than usual after hearing the news from his coach. Since Hokuto had won the Kanto tournament last year, they already had a guaranteed spot in this year\'s tournament, so they wouldn\'t participate in the Tokyo tournament.

Because of this, Shun believed he would only have the chance to avenge last year\'s defeat in the Kanto tournament. But it seemed he would get that chance much sooner than he expected.

Shun entered his house and noticed the pair of men\'s shoes at the entrance. The boy smiled, quickly taking off his shoes and heading to the living room.

"Hey, Dad!" – Shun said excitedly as he saw his father sitting on the living room sofa. The man had been away from home for almost a week, traveling with the Yomiuri Giants.

"Hahaha, how are you, son?" – Kenshin laughed happily while hugging his son tightly, not caring how dirty the boy was. Although he loved his job as the pitching coach for the Yomiuri Giants, he missed spending time with his family.

"I\'m good! The coach scheduled some friendly games for the team to gain more experience before the championship." – Shun began to excitedly share the team\'s news with his father. Their relationship had improved a lot after their conversation following Shun\'s defeat to Hokuto last year.

"Oh, that\'s great! Who are you guys going to-" – Kenshin was also speaking excitedly, but before he could finish his question, a slipper came flying in his direction, making him and his son dodge in surprise.

"SHUN TAKAHASHI! WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT WALKING AROUND THE HOUSE ALL DIRTY?" – Shun\'s mother, Aiko, appeared in the living room with an irritated expression.

"Sorry, Mom! I\'ll take a shower!" – Shun realized the source of the slipper when he saw his mother angry. He quickly apologized and ran to the stairs to take a shower.

"Hehe, this kid..." – Kenshin chuckled, trying to lighten the mood when he saw his son running to the bathroom. He then began to return to the sofa to sit down again.

"Where do you think you\'re going to sit?" – Kenshin stopped in his tracks instantly when he heard his wife\'s irritated voice. He looked back carefully and saw her staring at him, holding the other slipper in her hand.

"Haha, I\'ll take a shower, honey!" – Kenshin imitated his son and quickly fled to the stairs to take a shower. Thanks to his wife\'s irritated expression, he realized that after hugging his son, he had also become dirty. Luckily, he hadn\'t sat on the sofa in that state, otherwise, he probably wouldn\'t be around to tell the tale.

After both father and son had taken a shower, they went down to the kitchen. Aiko acted as if nothing had happened, wearing a beautiful smile on her face, but only Shun and Kenshin knew how close they had come to a life-threatening situation just moments before.

The family then began to have dinner and chat happily. Little Yumi had started school this year, and the little girl excitedly shared her playground adventures with her family.

Shun\'s twin sister, Mika, was getting more beautiful every day, and because of her age, Kenshin was already beginning to worry about the idea of his little girl getting a boyfriend.

On the other hand, even though Shun was tall and, after a year, had a much more mature and handsome face, Kenshin didn\'t believe he would see his son dating anytime soon. After all, the boy was an idiot who only thought about baseball and clearly had no talent in the area of women.

Shun happily ate his mother\'s delicious food. For almost a year now, Shun had been eating more every day. Aiko had even started preparing healthier meals and larger portions of protein especially for the boy, which helped Shun develop an impressive physique for his age.

After finishing dinner, Shun said goodnight to his family before returning to his room to "rest". He still had long hours of training in the arena to do. The mere thought of having to see the ghost of the old man yelling at him in the Training Center made Shun sigh.

The boy then lay down on the bed and activated rest mode, entering the arena for another long training session with the old man. Shun planned to complete the arena legendary mission as quickly as possible, so he couldn\'t take it easy.