Kapitel 79: 79. Tests

Rei continued to practice his batting with the team separately monitored by Konda for the rest of the whole week. Rei continued to practice his batting the whole week. Iwata separated him and Suzaku from the team to make them practice on their own and get better at it every day.

Rei continued to practice whenever he had time whether it was in the school, at the club, or home in his room. As the weekend came by he did not do anything special and only continued to practice and polish his batting and catching.

He was now able to match his body speed with his eye detection speed but his aim is still off. Rei thought about it hard the past week and understood he wanted to become a batter who can hit a ball where he wants to hit it.

He asked the coach about this and the only answer he got was, 'Practice and understand the pitch coming at you if you can follow the ball and your form is perfect. You might do it.'

Rei understood this and continued to perfect his form. He knew learning about a pitch can only happen if he had much experience under his belt together with his eyes. His form solidified the past week and was able to hit the balls better.

On Sunday night as he was packing his bag for school the next day he remembered something and knocked on Sora's door. The door opened and Rei went inside.

"So what do you need Rei?"

"I wanted to ask you about how to build more muscles." Rei wanted to be able to hit home runs in a game and he knew with his current strength he could only hit to the outfield but not a home run. So he decided to ask Sora who was very built with muscles on how to do it.

"If you want to have more strength then add weight lifting to your routine. Before you go to bed every day, lift some weight, and eat more protein. It helps you. You can take my weights if you want to."

Rei nodded and he went towards the weights Sora had in his room in the corner. He saw various sizes of bundles arranged in neat order. He slowly caressed them with his fingers deciding which one to try and finally took one at the heavier side of the order.

He slowly picked it up and his veins bulged out from the weight. It was too heavy for Rei so he immediately kept it back in the row. He became short of breath due to its heavyweight and took his time to calm down. He slowly went towards the lower end and tried some of them.

He found a pair of weights enough for him to improve and took them to his rooms. He slowly started to lift, He took small breaks in between and completely stopped after 2 hours. He slowly laid on his bed with his arms screaming with pain.

*NEXT DAY*

Rei got out of the house with Sora ready for school. He slowly walked towards the school and both of them divided as they reached. On his way to class, he saw his 3 juniors from the cooking club walking towards him.

"How are you three?"

"We are doing good, Toujou-senpai. How are you?" answered Miki with her blond hair completely tied up.

Rei was stunned at the change seeing all three of them. The three of them completely changed in contrast to what he saw last week. He could see them wearing the proper uniforms and their appearances looked way more dignified now.

He nodded in satisfaction and asked, "How is the club?"

This time it was Momoko who gave him the answer, "It is fine senpai. We started to learn how to cook from the advisor and are getting slowly better at it." enthusiastically as her brown hair bounced when she nodded.

Rei felt happy as he heard them. Before he could say anything, The shortest one in the group Yuki asked him, "Will you ever come again senpai?" cutely tilting her mall face to the side.

The question caught the attention of the other two as they waited for an answer. But again before he could answer they heard someone calling Rei.

"Rei, why are you waiting outside, the school will start soon," asked Keiko cheerfully waving her hand at him walking together with Mizuki by her side.

"Oh, it's nothing I was talking to some juniors. Anyway guys I will come to the club soon when I have time. Continue cooking and when I come I hope you three can cook better. The classes are starting so we should go to our classes." replied Rei before he turned towards the three.

All three of them felt sad they couldn't talk anymore but still nodded and made their way in. Rei waited for Keiko and Mizuki to reach him and all three of them made their way inside.

"Who were those three?" asked Mizuki.

"Oh, the cooking club members I told you guys about."

"Oh it's them, I thought you said they looked a bit more delinquent," asked Keiko.

"Yes, but I guess people change and I am happy they changed for the better."

Keiko and Mizuki nodded as they entered the class. They went to their separate places as the time was almost done and the teacher might come anytime soon. Rei took out a book from his bag titled 'Batter Drills' he made yesterday and started filling it up with the drill he was practicing.

Halfway through he saw the teacher come in and closed it, keeping it back inside the bag.

The rest of the day went slowly, Rei listened to the classes and took down notes. He slept for an hour in between when he felt the teacher was going off track from the subject and completed the dill he was writing in the morning during the lunch break.

He made his way towards the club after the class ended and asked Mizuki and Keiko to not wait for him after theirs is done. He had to take Suzaku to the steam bun shop today as he promised him last week.

He went into the lockers and slowly changed his clothes and came outside. He joined the line and completed all the exercises and Iwata called everyone to give out orders.

"Ok, today everyone let us do your Feilding practice coordination and anyone who misses those laps after practice ends. Suzaku and Rei remain while the rest of you go to your places and be ready."

Everyone dispersed and went to take their places as they were instructed, Suzaku and Rei remained as they waited for theirs. Iwata looked at both of them for a minute and said, "Ok today I will test both of you. Now we will start with you, Suzaku. Rei go wear your gear and come to the bullpen."

Both of them nodded as Suzaku followed Iwata to the bullpen while Rei went back to the locker room. He came out after changing into his gear and went to the bullpen. He saw the coach talking to Suzaku as he reached and nodded at Iwata.

"Ok now let's start your test Suzaku."

Rei went to the plate and got into his position. He stretched and closed his hands getting into the mood and signaled Suzaku once he was ready. Suzaku took a deep breath trying to ease his nerves and slowly got into his form.

Suzaku then pitched the ball and Rei was on high alerts after he experienced the balls last time, waiting for the ball to break. As he expected the ball broke to the left but the surprise was it was not as much as last time. There was a definite improvement in his pitching compared to last week.

Iwata nodded looking at the improvement. He completely disregarded Rei as he knew Rei's capabilities and only concentrated looking at Suzaku's improvement. Rei threw the ball back and got ready again.

After seeing the first pitch well, Suzaku's nerves calmed down as he continued to pitch. Some of the balls went astray but most of them were better than last time. Iwata felt satisfied with the improvement after a week.

"Ok let's stop here. Shidou you did well but you still need to improve more. Rei, take your gear off, and let's do your test."

Rei went back to the locker room and took his gear out. He took the bat he got from Sora out and a helmet he had and went towards the pitching machines. He saw the players practicing their fielding coordination with Akhira hitting the balls.

He reached the machines and stood at the right side of the batter box again. He practiced both sides this past week but only showed right when he was at school. He took a deep breath and was completely immersed in the pitch he was going to face.