Later that day, Ken and Daichi met up with Tom House at the Ligers facility while Rohan chose to spend his off day elsewhere.
As they walked into the facility, they saw Tom at one of the nets waiting for them.
“Daichi, are you hear to catch for us?” Tom asked, pleasantly surprised.
“Ken says he’s made a breakthrough, I’m here to test it out.”
“Breakthrough?” Tom raised an eyebrow and looked at Ken curiously.
Ken smiled, “Just wait and see.” He said, being mysterious.
“Alright, go get warmed up, I’ll see what you’ve got.” Tom answered eventually. He was being paid either way, so he didn’t care too much.
Daichi got his equipment on and stood behind the plate, holding his glove up. The two threw back and forth until Ken raised a hand, indicating his arm was warm enough.
“I’m gonna go through my breaking balls. Call for any of them, wherever you want.” Ken said, rolling his shoulder.
Daichi squatted down and called for a curveball first.
He watched as Ken went through his wind up and threw the ball towards him. Daichi’s eyes locked onto the ball, watching it carefully as it approached the plate.
‘This looks the same…’
However, just as it was about to cross home plate, the ball dropped as if it was made out of lead, missing his glove completely.
“Eh!?”
Daichi shot Ken a glance briefly before standing up and picking up the ball that he’d missed.
“So you’ve got more movement in your curve? Not bad.” Daichi called out, throwing the ball back to Ken.
“That’s not all,” Ken said with a grin.
The next lead was for a slider. This was one of Ken’s specialties apart from his fastball, Daichi liked to call it often when they were ahead in the count.
The pitch came and this time Daichi was ready, or at least he thought he was. Even after accounting for extra movement, he missed the catch.
“Damn…” Tom muttered, his eyes wide. “I’ve never seen a pitch break so much.”
By now, Daichi was flabbergasted. He had caught Ken’s pitches for the whole season, but right now it didn’t even feel like Ken was the one throwing.
He went through every one of Ken’s pitches multiple times, trying to get the hang of the new movements. For a full 30 minutes, Tom House watched from the side patiently as the two went through the pitches.
“I’m glad you came, Daichi.” Tom said, “To think that this guy would change so much after only a few days.”
“That’s why I said I had a breakthrough.” Ken replied. He couldn’t exactly tell them it was a skill from the system, but he had a different explanation if they wanted specifics.
“It’s great. Use this time to keep practicing, we want those pitches burnt into both your minds before the Division playoff starts next week.” Tom said encouragingly.
“Let me setup the cameras so I can record this session for review later.”
Ken was getting excited after seeing the reactions of both his brother and the Legendary pitching coach. For a long time, his fastball had been his number 1 weapon, so much that everyone expected him to throw them half the time.
With a more dangerous off-speed pitching repertoire, Ken would become that much more difficult to play against. With this, he had much more confidence to throw a perfect game during the playoffs.
“You said you had a cutter, are you going to show us?” Daichi asked, throwing him back the ball.
“It’s still a work in progress, so just bear with me.” Ken said.
Daichi crouched down and made the call, holding his glove at the ready.
Ken looked at his grip for a moment and nodded, getting into position. His arm whipped across his face and the ball flew out.
PAH
Daichi’s eyes widened as the ball went into his glove. The pitch was like a slider, but much faster. The abrupt movement was almost too fast, even for him who knew that it was coming.
“What do you think?” Ken called out with a grin.
But Daichi was silent for a while before throwing it back.
“Again.”
Daichi crouched down and put his glove out again, waiting for the same pitch.
Around an hour later, the two men left the facilities and headed back home. Along the way, Daichi was silent as he tried to come to terms with Ken’s improvement.
“Just what kind of breakthrough did you have? I’ve never seen your breaking balls have this much movement.” Daichi stated in wonder.
“Well, I’ve been researching how Ryan holds his balls…”
“First of all, gross… Secondly, I thought his grips were unorthodox and could result in wild pitches. None of the ones you threw me felt wild.” Daichi replied.
Ken laughed. Though it hurt his pride a little, Ken had decided to use Ryan as a scapegoat for inspiration on how he improved. Since he couldn’t explain the system skills, it was the only real believable explanation.
“I only make small adjustments to my grips, so it isn’t as risky. That doesn’t mean the pitches won’t be unpredictable, just that they’ll be within your expectations.” Ken added.
Daichi didn’t seem too convinced, but he eventually nodded. “Well, you made a breakthrough at the right time. I think you could definitely throw a perfect game with your pitching now…”
Ken nodded, “our best chance would be the first match, before anyone has had time to study my new pitching style.”
“Mmm. If we go all out in the first match, you might have a chance to pull it off.”
“Of course that depends on you too,” Ken said, nudging his brother.
“Don’t worry about me, you just need to follow my leads.” Daichi replied.
“I trust you little bro, but we should practice some more this week. You need to be comfortable with all my pitches before then.”
“Sure. We can practice after our morning runs for an hour or so.”
Ken felt his confidence soar. His best chance at a perfect game was now here, a chance to clear one of the tasks given to him by the system.