The Old Baseball Player System

Shun lifted his leg while propelling his entire body forward. The boy planted his right leg firmly on the ground, rotating his whole body toward home plate, channeling all his strength into the ball in his hand as he whipped his arm forward.

WOOSH

Jiro and Sora admired Shun's perfect form, all his movements were fluid and exuded a terrifying aura. At home plate, Daigo focused intently on Shun, and the moment the ball left Shun's hand, he did his best to predict its trajectory.

The ball's speed was fast, but it wasn't as intimidating as Jiro's fastball, for instance. Daigo watched the ball spin wildly and positioned his glove at the top left of the strike zone, but just moments before the ball reached home plate, it slid downward and horizontally.

POFT

"Damn it!" – Daigo yelled in pain when he felt the ball hit his left foot. He couldn't believe that a ball at that speed broke so much right before reaching home plate.

"Oh, crap! Daigo, are you alright?" – Shun asked worriedly upon seeing the ball strike Daigo, quickly running over to check if he was okay.

"Hm, I'm fine. Sorry, senpai, I should've paid more attention." – Daigo spoke with an apologetic tone. It was really frustrating for a catcher not to be able to catch his pitcher's pitches, and poor Daigo had to endure this with two different monsters, Jiro and Shun.

"Don't apologize, Daigo. It's my fault, my control is still really bad." – Shun spoke with a bit of regret. Of course, he didn't do it on purpose, but he didn't want to hurt anyone with his pitches, especially the team's only catcher.

"Jiro, take Daigo to the clubroom and help him put ice on his foot." – Shun then looked at Jiro and spoke. It was better to prevent a minor injury from turning into a major one.

"I can continue, senpai!" – Daigo spoke with determination. His senpai had only thrown one pitch, and he didn't want to hinder Shun's training.

"It's alright, Daigo. If you push yourself too hard and get injured, it'll be worse. We need you in top shape for the tournaments." – Shun understood the boy's stubbornness and put a hand on Daigo's shoulder, speaking with a smile, trying to convince him.

"Hm, okay." – Daigo agreed, a bit embarrassed, but in his mind, he promised that this wouldn't happen again.

Sora also helped Jiro take Daigo to the clubroom, leaving Shun alone with his thoughts in the bullpen.

"At this rate, it won't work... I need to master this pitch as soon as possible." – Shun spoke to himself, thinking. He then opened the system menu and selected the details of a specific skill.

[Slider (SSS+)

*22.5% mastery of the pitch*]

After completing the perfect form mission, Shun finally managed to learn the legendary pitch. The pitch in question was this slider. However, as impressive as this pitch was, Shun had a big problem.

The system had forbidden him from using other pitches until he fully mastered this one. This meant that his pitching arsenal was limited to a single breaking ball that he could barely control.

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[Don't rush, boy. As long as you continue training as I instruct, you'll be able to control this pitch.] – The old man's voice echoed in Shun's head.

"Hm, I know, but I'll have to manage with just the slider for now." – Shun spoke thoughtfully. He knew it would be nearly impossible to reach 100% mastery before the Tokyo tournament, considering it took him months to reach 22.5%.

[Hahaha, if your concern is the tournament, there's no need to worry. Even if you don't fully master this pitch by then, you'll definitely perform well.] – The old man laughed confidently as he spoke.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" – Shun asked, suspicious, not understanding where the old man's confidence came from.

[Hahaha, it's a surprise, you'll see soon!] – The old man laughed excitedly, making Shun grit his teeth in frustration. This old man loved keeping secrets from Shun, and it drove him crazy.

Shun gave up talking to the old man and continued his pitching practice. After completing his 100 daily pitches, he left the bullpen and went to the batting cage, where the other team members were training.

DONG

DONG

DONG

Shun arrived just as the rookie, Ryosuke, was batting. The boy was skillfully hitting most of the pitches to the outfield, which impressed most of the team members.

"He's not bad!" – Ren said while watching Ryosuke with his arms crossed.

"Not bad? He's probably already better than you!" – Kenta rolled his eyes upon hearing Ren's words and decided to tease his samurai friend a bit.

"What did you say, you bastard—" – Ren was about to curse Kenta in every language he knew, but he was interrupted by Shun's voice.

"What do you guys think of this guy?" – Shun approached his two friends and asked while watching Ryosuke bat.

"He's good." – Kenta replied honestly.

"Hmph! He's not bad!" – Ren grumbled quietly. He couldn't stand the idea of having another handsome, skilled boy on the team. How was he supposed to find a girlfriend like this?

"Don't you find it strange?" – Shun asked, surprising his two friends.

"What's strange?" – Kenta asked suspiciously.

"Why would someone as skilled as him come to an unknown school like ours?" – Shun replied with another question.

"Makes sense..." – Kenta seemed to have grasped something and nodded.

"Huh? What makes sense? What the hell are you guys talking about?" – Ren asked, the young samurai completely lost.

"Dude, you know girls don't like dumb guys, right? How do you expect to get a girlfriend being this stupid?" – Kenta spoke with a teasing tone, but the moment he stopped talking, the young samurai jumped on him, knocking both of them to the ground.

"You bastard! Take back what you said!" – Ren spoke with difficulty as he wrestled with Kenta on the ground.

"You scoundrel, let go of me!" – Kenta didn't hold back and fought back.

Shun felt the stares of all the younger players and sighed. These guys were supposed to set an example for the new players...