“Ai dear, I made you some fresh pickled onions the other day, why don’t you try some?”
The angry pregnant lady soon turned her attention to Yuki, the savior and keeper of the peace. Tetsu had managed to avoid being kicked out of the house by his own daughter, something no one could have anticipated.
After a few minutes, the atmosphere once again turned peaceful.
Naomi who had been keeping a safe distance, pinched Tetsu in the ribs and told him to quickly put his things away. Even she knew that they were no match for their daughter.
“Kenny, are you feeling okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sleep in, even when you were sick with a fever.” Chris had appeared out of nowhere, only revealing himself once the drama had subsided.
“I’m fine, never better.” Ken smiled, “rest is an important part of training after all.”
At his words, the room suddenly went silent. Ken felt many sets of eyes staring at him, as if they were looking at a complete stranger.
“Who are you and what have you done with my husband?” Ai said, wearing a frown.
“Guys… Stop messing with me.” Ken said, letting out a small laugh. What they said was true, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d slept in and skipped training.
“Look who it is, Mister Slacker over here.”
Daichi appeared next to Ken, placing a hand upon his shoulder. He shook his head, feigning his disappointment. “You’ll never become great if you don’t put in the work.”
Now it was Ken’s turn to be dumbstruck, “I only missed 1 run… I’ll go for one in the afternoon after we get to Miami.”
Those in the room laughed seeing how defensive Ken was getting. Yet it was Tetsu who seemed to be the one most animated. He pointed and laughed, enjoying not being the butt of the joke.
At least that was until Ai’s glare locked onto him.
“Ahem, I gotta go to the store.”
“To buy me some more pickled onions, right Dad?”
“O—Of course…”
Ai giggled in response, diffusing the tension in the air. This led to the rest of the room laughing, besides Tetsu who wasn’t sure if he was still in trouble or not.
Later that day, Ken, Daichi and Rohan bid their farewells to everyone before heading to the airport. No one would be accompanying them to Miami, and Steve, Michael and their partners would also be returning back to their homes that day.
They would be staying in Miami for the next 4 days, playing a possible 3 games. Of course if they were to win the next two, the World Series would be over and end in the Ligers victory.
However, while it would be good to win, Ken secretly hoped it would not happen. There was no way he could complete the remaining 700 home runs in 2-3 days.
But Ken believed it would not be that easy to beat the Blue Marlins at their home field. This was especially the case since they still could not use Daichi.
From what his grandfather said, they wouldn’t be playing Daichi until game 4 at the very earliest. Ideally he would only take the field in game 6 when they returned back home to Detroit.
The reason was that he didn’t want anyone to dig into the injury itself. Otherwise people would find out that there were in fact almost no tests on file.
Not only could this be considered negligence, it might also open an investigation into match fixing. Even if proved innocent, having such a stain upon one’s resume as a coach would bring them to ruin.
After all, what organization would want to be associate with such an individual.
So neither Ken nor Daichi complained about the decision.
When they arrived in Miami and went to the hotel, they were greeted by fans outside, held back by security. Ken signed a few items before heading inside. There he and his brother were pulled aside by Mark.
“Ken, I’m getting some pressure to have you pitch again in game 4. Do you think you’re ready?” Mark asked seriously.
“Of course I’m ready,” Ken said, his heart soaring. He had thought he’d need to wait till game 6 or 7 to pitch. Hearing that he’d be able to go sooner, he was of course ecstatic.
“Mmm, good. I’ll probably give you the relief or closing spot. I can’t have you start otherwise you won’t be able to play in game 7 if it comes to that. It’s now confirmed that Daichi also won’t be in the series until game 5.” Mark explained.
Ken nodded, it made sense. While he might be able to physically pitch every day, that didn’t mean it was as effective. There was also the chance of being injured since throwing so fast posed a significant risk to his shoulder.
Even with the fatigue management skill, it was better to be safe than sorry.
If Ken were to injure his shoulder again badly, there was no guarantee that he could recover at all. After all, he had already used the 1 alloted Recover Elixir that he could use all the way back at Koshien.
However there was no regrets. He was almost certain that if he hadn’t used it back then, he would have either died or remained in a coma.
“I’ll do whatever you need me to do, Grandpa.” Ken said, reassuring the older man.
“Good. Go get your stuff up to your rooms and meet back in the lobby in an hour, we’ll be having a team meeting and some film study.” Mark stated, patting both his grandson’s on their shoulder.
“Yes sir!”
Ken saluted, evoking a laugh from the older man.
“That reminds me, did you hear the old man Coach Takashi moved back up to the men’s National Team coach?”
Both Ken and Daichi were surprised.
“I’m surprised you didn’t know yet since you’re engaged to his granddaughter. That old coot called me a few weeks ago, trying to goad me into applying for the US men’s team coach.”
“Really? Why did he do that?” Ken asked curiously.
Mark laughed, “The World Baseball Classic is being held in March next year. He said he wants to beat me again.”
Ken’s eyes shined. He had not played for Japan since he was 15, yet it wasn’t because he didn’t desire to. The thought of facing the best US players while playing for his home country made him feel crazy motivated.
“Okay okay, how about you focus on the World Series first Kenny.” Mark said with a chuckle, shutting him down.
“Err… I guess you’re right.