Ken blinked a few times, not expecting to see such a familiar face in the restaurant.
“Alex?”
Alex Cole, one of the pitchers for the New York Yanks grinned and walked up to Ken, pulling him into a hug. It was a little unexpected, but he still went with it.
That was when he noticed another figure at the table behind Alex. His eyes lit up in delight.
“Ma-kun!” Ken called, practically shoving Alex out of the way to go talk to one of his idols. The Japanese pitcher Masaru Tanaka, a legend in Japan was currently seated at the table close by.
“Kenny boy, what a surprise.” Masaru said with a wide grin. The two shared a grand handshake, looking much closer than Ken and Alex beforehand.
“It’s good to see you. You remember my fiance, Ai.” Ken said, gesturing to her, “And this is her mother and father, Naomi and Tetsu.”
“M-M-Masaru Tanaka!?” Tetsu’s jaw dropped, not believing his eyes. Even he, who hadn’t followed baseball in a long time knew who this man was.
“It’s nice to meet you two.” Masaru said, coming over and greeting them both.
Tetsu was having a fanboy moment, struggling to speak proper words.
Nearby, Alex was wearing a wry smile, upset that Masaru was more well-known than himself. He let out a sigh and placed his hand on Ken’s shoulder, “Let me introduce you to our new catcher…”
Alex turned and gestured to the final person seated at the table. Only now did Ken notice the person sitting down casually. The chiseled jaw, symmetrical face and sandy blond hair were striking, he would never forget this face.
“Leo…” Ken’s expression turned solemn and his hands subconsciously balled into fists.
“It is good to see you again Ken.” Leo stated, sending him a nod. “We were just leaving, you guys can have this table.” He said, getting up from the table and walking past the group.
Ken’s eyes followed him as he left the restaurant. It was an odd interaction, and only when he left did Ken realize he’d tensed up so much.
“Eh? You guys know each other?” Alex asked with confusion.
“We’ve played against each other a couple of times.” Ken replied.
“Right, of course. Anyway, it looks like we’re interrupting something, you can have the table, we’ll see you around.” Alex added patting his shoulder.
He turned to leave but then froze, “Ah, wait. I still owe you some money.” He said, fishing into his wallet and counting through the large wad of cash inside.
“…I’ve only got 2 thousand on me.” He said awkwardly before thrusting it into Ken’s hand. “Dinners on me, I’ll pay you back the rest when you get called up to the majors.”
Ken accepted the money blankly, and watched him leave the restaurant.
“Enjoy your dinner, it was nice to see you again Ken.” Ma-kun pat him on the shoulder on the way past and followed after Alex, leaving the group standing inside the restaurant.
Without missing a beat, Ken turned to the male employee who had been trying to get rid of them earlier. “Can we take this table? Or are you going to take that away from us too?”
The man paled. It was clear that his mind was racing, not expecting Ken to be known by the famous Yanks players.
“N—No, of course not. Please wait a moment while we clean the table for you.” He stammered.
Ken nodded, deciding not to make the man’s life too difficult. Meanwhile, Tetsu still seemed star struck, and he began to ask rapid-fire questions towards Ken over the next few minutes.
When the table was finally ready, they took a seat and were soon brought menus.
“Ya didn’t tell me you knew Ma-Kun…” Tetsu was still caught up in meeting a Japanese legend, so that’s all he could think about.
Ken explained the story of what happened in Central Park that day, reminiscing the events. Of course the VIP tickets had caused him to be suspended during the post season, but it felt so long ago that none of it mattered now.
All that remained was the connection he built with Masaru and Alex of the New York Yanks.
Yet seeing Leo sitting amongst them had stirred something within him. The guy had been drafted by the Yanks the same year where the University of Florida had beaten Columbia in the post season.
The fact that he was already in the team showed just how much they valued Leo Cameron as a player.
Ken himself didn’t have any complaints. After all, he’d seen Leo’s stats after using identify, the guy was practically at max stats, it was only a matter of time before he made it to the big leagues.
But even now, Ken was a little jealous.
It was then that he felt something warm on his hand. He turned to see Ai smiling at him, “Should we get a drink to celebrate?”
Ken smiled, seeing his beautiful woman and nodded. He shouldn’t be thinking about such things, they were celebrating Ai’s graduation after all. If he started to brood, it would just ruin the atmosphere.
“You can get anything you want, we’re celebrating tonight.” Ken announced with a grin.
“We can’t read English…” Both Naomi and Tetsu said, looking at the menu in confusion.
“Ah… That’s right.” Ken thought for a while before deciding to order for them.
He got an expensive whiskey for Tetsu and a white wine for Naomi before ordering a variety of pricey items from the menu. At least for tonight, Ken wasn’t shy about spending his money.
After all, what was the point in having so much if he couldn’t spend some of it?
“Holy crap this is smooth!” Tetsu exclaimed, his eyes widening as he looked at the whiskey in his hands.
“How much did this cost ya Kenny? Must have been a pretty penny…”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s a special day after all.” Ken replied with a smile.