Shun arrived ho exhausted, and without saying much, he went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. The boy then went downstairs and headed to the kitchen for dinner. It was still a bit early, and Mika hadn't co ho yet.
But Shun decided not to wait, he simply served himself and ate alone at the table. He ate a lot to replenish his energy, but soon after finishing his al, he stood up and headed toward the stairs.
"Good night." - Shun said before going up the stairs and entering his room, so focused on tomorrow's ga that he didn't even realize he was acting a bit strange.
"Good night, dear. Rest well!" - Aiko said with a smile, but as soon as he went upstairs, she looked over at her husband, worried.
"Do you think sothing happened?" - Aiko asked, her concern visible.
"Hehe, don't worry, dear. He's probably just in the zone. I used to get like that sotis before pitching in big gas." - Kenshin replied calmly. As a pitcher himself, he understood that it was normal for pitchers to withdraw and concentrate before gas.
In fact, for Kenshin, who had seen many different pitchers with all kinds of crazy pre-ga rituals, the way Shun was acting seed pretty normal.
"Hmph! Baseball idiots!" - Aiko huffed, a bit annoyed. She didn't mind these things, but she definitely didn't like seeing her son act like he was in another world.
---
Shun lay down and quickly entered the arena, heading straight to the training center.
"Hey old man, can you do that thing again?" - Shun looked at the ghostly silhouette of the old man and asked.
"Oh, of course! You really liked that, huh?" - The old man said with a smile, and in just a few monts, the system notification sounded in Shun's mind.
[DING]
[Review Mode Activated]
As soon as the system's voice spoke, two other silhouettes appeared in the training center, specifically in the bullpen. On the mound stood Shota Imai, the ace of Kasuga Junior High, and in the batter's box, the first batter from the team Kasuga defeated in the fifth round.
Pitch by pitch, Shun watched as the fifth-round ga he had seen from the stands was replayed in front of him by holograms. After the first inning, the holograms changed, and Kasuga's batters appeared in the box.
The ga continued in this way, obviously at a faster pace than real life. When Kasuga was on the mound, Shun observed from the batter's box to familiarize himself with the opposing pitches. And when Kasuga was batting, he watched the ga from the mound, trying to spot weaknesses as he imagined pitching to Kasuga's lineup.
Shun's only regret was that he couldn't use the holograms to train, as he did with the José Martínez hologram. But just being able to watch Kasuga's ga as many tis as he wanted, from various angles, was a huge help, giving him a competitive advantage for tomorrow's match.
Shun had only discovered this feature yesterday after the old man told him about it. When he found out, his first instinct was to be furious with the old man for not revealing such a useful feature sooner, but he held back. He did his best to get more information from the old man, trying to find out if the training center had any other super useful functions he didn't know about.
But unfortunately, the old man remained silent, leaving Shun in suspense. It seed like he'd either have to look for new functions himself or wait for the old man's goodwill.
Shun continued watching the Kasuga ga until he felt satisfied. Then he pitched in the bullpen against José Martínez, imagining he was facing Kasuga's lineup. Of course, the fact that the José Martínez hologram kept sending his pitches flying out of the stadium didn't exactly boost Shun's confidence.
---
Shun woke up in the morning feeling nervous, quickly putting on his running shoes and heading out for his daily run. After 20 km, his mind was much calr, solely focused on strategizing against Kasuga's batters, doing his best not to let the growing pressure consu him.
This ga would undoubtedly be the most important ga Shun had ever played. If they won the sixth round of the Tokyo tournant, they would be one of the two teams representing Tokyo in the Kanto tournant.
The biggest tournant a middle school team could dream of joining, a competition that brought together the two best teams from seven different prefectures, plus last year's finalists, for an epic 16-team tournant vying for the coveted title of Kanto champions.
For players not in the senior league, the Kanto tournant was probably the best place to be scouted by top high school baseball programs. But for now, all this was still just a dream for Shun.
A dream that wasn't as far off as it seed at the beginning of the year, but still a dream. The good part of all this was that it was in Shun's hands to turn that dream into reality, he could lead his team to the Kanto tournant with his pitching.
Shun returned ho and took a shower. He paid close attention to make sure he packed everything he needed for the ga in his bag before finally heading downstairs to eat breakfast quietly.
After talking with her husband, Aiko decided to let Shun be. Even though she didn't like seeing her son in another dinsion, she didn't want to interrupt his focus and be responsible for a possible loss. All she could do was support him as much as she could and hope for her son's team to secure the victory today.
Shun walked to school, and before he even realized it, he arrived much earlier than usual. He sat down in his seat, looking out the window, lost in thought as he reviewed all his plans for today's ga. After a while, Kenta arrived in the classroom, and soon after, Ren also showed up.
However, when the two saw their friend deeply focused, they didn't say much and simply sat down quietly. After all, Shun wasn't the only one feeling the pressure of this ga. Kenta and Ren, especially as third-years like Shun, fully understood that this was their last chance to reach their dream of stepping onto the Kanto tournant stage.
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