Scouting

The next day after the practice game both Ichiro and Akira headlined in a column in a local news.

It was titled: Birth of a Rivalry: Ichiro Watanabe vs Akira.

Ichiro was still asleep dead tired from the game when he got a phone call from Hiro.

Ichiro: Yes?

Hiro: Bro you're in the local news!

Ichiro: So?

Hiro: What do you mean so?!

Ichiro: So means so. If you have nothing else, let me sleep.

Hiro: Its nearly lunchtime!

Ichiro ended the call.

Ichiro: Lets take a look at my newly gained stats. Status!

[Showing status]

Name: Ichiro Watanabe

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Level: 6

Strength: C-

Speed: A-

Endurance: C+

Agility: B+

Dexterity: B-

Baseball IQ: A+

Abilities:

-Aura

-Gauging opponent's strength

Elixirs: 5000

[Status Shown]

Ichiro: Wow my stats have changed from levels to grades and I have unlocked Aura, cool. A new ability too, that will help me judge my opponents. I'm a much better player now! 5000 Elixirs too! Show types of balls!

[Types of balls available]

Fastball: A-

Cutter: A-

Power Curve: B+

Ichiro: LETS GO!!! Fastball and cutter as A-!

Mother: Ichiro stop screaming!

Ichiro: Sorry!

Ichiro: Lets use the Elixirs. Store!

Ichiro browsed through the store and found what he wanted: batter's eye (A+) for 5000 Elixirs exactly.

Without hesitation Ichiro spent his Elixirs, emptying his balance.

Ichiro: Show batting ability!

Contact: B-

Power: C+

Bunt: C+

Batter eye: A+

Ichiro: At least now I have somewhat respectable batting ability.

Ichiro closed the system and went to Sakura's house to surprise her. On the way he bought a couple of sweets from the bakery.

Ichiro knocked at the door, to be received by a man, wearing jeans and a loose shirt, who looked like he was in college. Ichiro assumed he was Sakura's elder brother.

Brother: Who are you?

Ichiro: Uh...I'm a friend of Sakura.

Brother: Is that so? I'll call her.

Sakura's brother retreated inside the home and went to find Sakura. After 2-3 minutes, out came a girl sporting a smile and her beautiful light brown hair.

Sakura took Ichiro by his hand, who was lost in her beauty, and took him to her room, closing it shut.

Sakura: You should have called me! I would have made something for you.

Ichiro: Its alright. I got a couple of things from the bakery.

He opened the bag and the both of them sat down on her coffee table, taking a croissant each.

Sakura: Are you feeling down because you lost yesterday? I know how serious you are about baseball.

Ichiro: No, it would be foolish to expect a win against a national level team like that in our first game. Rather I'm quite pleased with the result, with the only exception of giving up 2 hits in the game.

Sakura: Really? I was so worried that you would be really sad, which made me sad.

Ichiro's heart hit the floor when he heard that and he buried Sakura in a hug. Sakura smiled and reciprocated his love.

Ichiro took her face and kissed on the lips, suprising even himself about how bold he was. Unexpectedly for Ichiro, Sakura took his face in her embrace as well as the two didn't part lips for a while.

Ichiro: I love you.

Sakura: I love you too.

They continued their love-filled dialogue for a while, exchanging smiles and emptying the bag of sweets.

Sakura: Want to stay over for dinner? I'll cook for you.

Ichiro: Another time, I have training in another 10 minutes.

Sakura: Well train hard. Oh and one more thing...

She went back to her room and got 3 notebooks.

Sakura: Here, I know you haven't done your homework, I'll allow you to copy only for this weekend. And you better get my notebooks tomorrow to school, otherwise I'll be in trouble too.

Ichiro kissed on the cheek and left.

Sakura's brother: That your boyfriend?

Sakura: Chris! You saw that!

Chris: Haha! Your first boyfriend right?

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On the way back to his house, Ichiro suddenly had a realization.

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After changing his clothes, Ichiro went to training in the bullpen and went to the local snack shop with the entire team, as the guys had bonded quite well. As they were getting ready to go back home, a man dressed in a suit came up Ichiro.

Unidentified man: Are you Ichiro Watanabe?

Ichiro: Yes. Who are you?

Unidentified man: *smile* Sorry for not introducing myself. My name is Kawashima and I am a representative of Ichiren, which is one of the four super high schools built this year for people who excelled in all fields. I assume you know about these super schools?

Ichiro: Yes, state of the art facilities. The government pumped billions of dollars into these super-schools for the purpose of cultivating the most talented students or athletes in the nation.

Kawashima: Correct. Yesterday one of our scouts was out here watching the match between your team and Teitou, as they are a national level team. While scouting, we found your pitching ability impressive. We know that the tournament hasn't even started yet. But we want to present you with a formal offer early so that you don't go to the other school.

Ichiro: An offer?

Kawashima: A roster spot next year, reserved. This means you will have a spot on the 18 man roster going for summer tournament, no competition. Of course, you will have to come to our school to avail that offer. Oh I haven't told you where we're located. We're based in the East Tokyo region with one other superschool, so it will be an extremely competitive region.

Ichiro: I would like to get some time to think about it.

Kawashima: No problem, take my card, if you accept the offer just e-mail me or call me. By the way, these offers are for a limited time only. I hope you understand that these scholarships are very hard to come by, especially for baseball, which is the most popular sport in Japan.

Ichiro nodded in response and left the parking lot of the snack shop.