After a few minutes, Shun stopped feeling pain, and a warmth began to spread through his body, giving him a sense of relief. But this feeling quickly vanished when the old man's voice sounded in his head.
[So, kid, how about you start treating me with more respect from now on? I'm really here to help you, but I don't have to put up with a rude child.]
"You old bastard! How the hell do you ask for respect right after tricking me again?" - Shun said, clearly irritated, feeling wronged by the old man's shamelessness.
[You really are a difficult child, huh? Well, then why don't we make a deal?]
"Huh? What kind of deal?" - Shun asked, clearly suspicious. He wasn't stupid enough to accept a deal from the old man without thinking it through.
[It's nothing much, as long as you treat me with respect, I'll do my best to help you. As I said before, since you passed my test, I have no more complaints. Besides, even if you say I tricked you, all the rewards you earned were very good, and you haven't even realized the best reward I've given you yet.]
"Huh? What reward are you talking about?"
[You really haven't noticed yet? Kid, you ran 40km yesterday but are completely recovered. Do you really think that's normal?]
"Ehh that—" - Shun was surprised to realize the old man was right, but before he could say anything, he heard the system notification in his head.
[THE OLD BASEBALL PLAYER SYSTEM
System Level: 2 (1000 coins to upgrade)
User: Shun Takahashi
Age: 14 years
Coins: 10 coins
Missions *
System Shop (locked)
Arena (locked)
Inventory *
User Statistics:
Overall: C
PITCHING: F+
BATTING: C-
FIELDING: B
RUNNING: B-
GAME IQ: C-
Physical Conditioning:
Muscular Strength: D-
Agility: C
Flexibility: F+
Coordination: F+
Body Balance: E-
Stamina: C-
Mental: C
Overall Potential: S
User Skills:
4-seam fastball (E+) (locked)
Hunter Eyes (SS+)
Master Thief (SS+)
Contact (A+)
Chase (A+)
Dive (C+)
User Quirks:
Divine Recovery
Break I]
"Holy crap! I've improved a lot, my overall, most of my stats, even my stamina improved so much without even using a stamina elixir." - Shun was happy, and rightly so. This was the biggest increase in his stats since he received the system. However, as Shun continued reading, he noticed he had received a new quirk and opened its details.
[Divine Recovery:
Increases the user's recovery ability.]
"Is this the reason I'm rested even after doing all that training yesterday?"
[Hmph. You finally get it, kid. Without this quirk, forget 40km, you'd be dead tired just from the updated physical training. This quirk will allow you to train much more, consequently improving your physical conditioning, and you'll also be able to complete more difficult missions and earn better rewards. As I told you, I'm here to help you, kid. Shouldn't you be thanking me now?]
Shun thought this quirk was very useful indeed, but after hearing the old man boasting, he decided to stay quiet and ignore him. There was no way he would thank the old man or anything like that. Shun then remembered something, and he felt his stomach growl loudly from hunger.
"Ahh, I didn't eat anything last night, I'm starving!" - Shun got out of bed with the intention of eating. Since he had gone to bed later than usual and without the help of deep sleep mode, he also woke up a bit later than usual. He then noticed a strange smell, looked at his clothes, and only then realized he had slept without taking a shower or changing clothes.
"I better take a bath first." - Shun raised his arm before deciding. The young teenager was too smelly, if his mother found him in the kitchen like that, he would definitely get a beating.
The boy took a thorough bath to make sure all the stink was gone, then quickly got out of the tub and put on just a pair of shorts, heading downstairs quickly without a shirt.
He entered the empty kitchen and quickly opened the fridge, looking for something to eat. He decided to make some eggs, so he turned on the stove and put the eggs in the frying pan. The boy was calmly whistling and cooking when he heard a scream that almost made him drop the pan on the floor.
"Ah! Shun, why are you naked??!!" - Shun heard his twin sister's voice.
"Mika, why are you screaming? I almost burned myself!" - Shun said, surprised, as he turned his head to see his sister. However, when he looked in her direction, his mind went blank.
"Eh?" - Shun didn't know what to do when he saw his twin sister and two other girls standing beside her. The two were clearly embarrassed to see the boy without a shirt.
"You idiot, go get dressed right now!" - Mika shouted, waking Shun from his thoughts.
"Ah!" - Shun realized he was still shirtless, feeling his face heat up with embarrassment as he quickly headed to his room to put on a shirt.
The boy then went back down to the kitchen after putting on a T-shirt. When he arrived, the three girls were sitting at the table. His mother, Aiko, had also arrived in the kitchen and was preparing breakfast. She also took care of the eggs that Shun had left on the stove when he ran off to change.
"Bro!!" - Little Yumi appeared behind Shun before he could say anything. The boy hugged his little sister and placed her in a chair before sitting down next to her at the table. He then gathered the courage to speak.
"Hey Kaori, Hana, sorry, I didn't know you were here." - Shun said awkwardly, clearly embarrassed.
"My butt, you didn't know! I had already told you they were coming to sleep over!" - Mika had no intention of letting her brother off the hook so easily.
"Huh? I- I forgot." - Shun became even more embarrassed, he had really forgotten, but his sister didn't seem to care much about that.
"Pftt! It's okay, Mika, you don't have to be so hard on him. It's been a long time since I've seen you, Shun. You've gotten taller, and your face has become more mature too, don't you think, Hana?" - One of the girls gave a small laugh before talking to Shun. She was Kaori Saito, with brown eyes, black hair, and a very pretty face. She had been friends with Mika and Shun since childhood. Shun always got along well with her, but after he didn't get into Tokyo Nakano and went to another school, they drifted apart.
"Hm" - The other young girl simply nodded shyly at Kaori's words. Her name was Hana Hoshino. She had beautiful green eyes and blonde hair, a perfect face, though still a bit youthful due to her age. She had also been friends with Mika and Shun since childhood. Shun looked at the girl and couldn't stop his heart from beating faster, he liked her. Even after so much time without seeing her, he still liked her. Shun looked away, he might like her, but he didn't have the courage to do anything about it, probably because he knew she didn't like him that way.