The Old Baseball Player System

"Hehe, how are you, kid? Satoru was telling me about you, it seems like you\'ve improved a lot, huh." - Masahiro said with a smile as he placed a hand on Shun\'s head, messing up the hair his mother had carefully combed.

"Huh? Talking about me?" - Shun asked, confused. He didn\'t understand why Hana\'s father would be talking about him to Masahiro.

"Hahaha, don\'t worry, kid! He only said good things about you! In fact, I\'ve never heard him speak so highly of a pitcher\'s form like that before..." - Masahiro said with a laugh.

"Oh." - Shun finally understood. Last year, after the home run derby, he went with his father to Satoru\'s office to check his pitching form. He remembered that even though his form wasn\'t perfect at the time, Satoru couldn\'t help but praise Shun\'s mechanics.

At the time, Shun thought they were just normal compliments, but it seems he really impressed Satoru since the man talked about it even to Masahiro.

"So, how about showing your uncle your form now, huh?" - Masahiro said with a smile, unable to hide his curiosity.

"Now? But we\'re in the middle of the party..." - Shun said, confused. His uncle didn\'t expect him to start pitching right here in front of everyone, did he?

"Hahaha, of course not here, kid! Satoru has a mound we can use outside! Oh, wait a moment, Shun." - Masahiro was explaining to Shun, but when he noticed José Martínez eating, he told Shun to wait for a moment while he went over to talk to him.

Shun watched silently as his uncle and his idol talked, but unfortunately, they were speaking in English, so Shun had no idea what they were discussing.

After a minute or two, Masahiro returned to where Shun was standing, with José by his side.

"Let\'s go!" - Masahiro said with a smile, and without waiting for Shun\'s response, he started walking outside, with José following beside him, still chatting in English.

"Ehh?" - Shun didn\'t know how to react. He just followed behind his uncle and his idol, while his mind raced with a thousand thoughts.

Was he really going to pitch for his uncle? In front of Major League legend José Martínez? What would these guys, who were used to seeing the best pitchers in the world, say when they saw his uncontrollable slider?

In an instant, Shun realized he was no longer inside the Hoshinos\' house. He was now outside, looking at a dirt mound and a home plate set to professional dimensions. Nearby, he saw a large table filled with men drinking and laughing.

"Hey Satoru! Do you have a glove and some cleats we can lend Shun here?" - Masahiro called out loudly with a smile, putting his arm around Shun\'s shoulder.

"Haha, of course! Come over here, Shun!" - Satoru stood up from the table and headed to a nearby storage locker. Shun watched as Satoru opened the locker, and he was surprised by what he saw. There were various gloves and cleats of different sizes, all in excellent condition.

"Pick your size." - Satoru said to Shun, pointing to the locker.

"Hm." - Shun nodded while he started picking out his gear, realizing there was no turning back now. He couldn\'t back out anymore.

"Ohhh, Masahiro-senpai, are you going to be catching?" - A young man asked. He was sitting at the table but wasn\'t drinking anything. That was none other than Japan\'s future superstar, the man who reached the final of last year\'s home run derby and faced José Martínez on equal ground. That was Masato Murakami, first baseman for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

"Hahaha, of course! Who else would catch the pitches from Kenshin Junior, huh?" - Masahiro said enthusiastically as he went to the locker himself to pick out a catcher\'s mitt.

"What\'s going on?" - Suddenly, Kenshin appeared outside the house, looking at his son in the middle of his friends, asking suspiciously.

"Oh, Kenshin-senpai, you\'re here. We\'re testing your son!" - Haruki Shibasaki, the catcher for the Hanshin Tigers, said excitedly.

"Hehe, we\'ve all heard Satoru praise his form. It\'s time to see if Kenshin Junior is the real deal!" - Another man said while taking a sip of his beer. He was a retired professional player from Kenshin and Masahiro\'s era.

"Hahaha, alright! If you all want to see, then watch! Show them what you\'ve got, son!" - Kenshin laughed and said excitedly, giving Shun a thumbs up before grabbing a beer for himself and taking a sip.

The reason he wasn\'t worried about it was that he knew his son\'s capability. After all, Shun had asked him for many pitching tips over the past year. And if there was one thing Kenshin had confidence in, it was Shun\'s pitching form. Not even he, a legendary pitcher, had as mechanically perfect a form as Shun.

"Alright, let\'s warm up your arm, Shun!" - Masahiro said enthusiastically as he made his way to the home plate.

"Alright." - Shun had just finished putting on his cleats when he responded. For some reason, he wasn\'t as nervous about pitching in front of all these professional players anymore.

In the end, seeing all these guys so excited just to watch a young pitcher throw made him realize that all these professional players were just like him. They all loved this game called baseball.

"Hehe, let\'s do this!" - Shun got excited as he calmly threw the ball towards Masahiro\'s glove behind the home plate, just to warm up his shoulder.

PAH