Capítulo 23: The Best Reward

Shun and Ren arrived at the locker room and began changing. Fortunately for Shun, he had left a change of clothes in his locker. Additionally, there were some old cleats left by a former club player that fit him, so he could train on the field without any worries.

After a while, Kenta entered the locker room. He tried to ignore what had happened and just get changed, but Ren had other plans. The boy with the samurai bun jumped on him and shouted.

"Kenta, you bastard, how dare you lie to your friends! Not dating, my ass! Ahhh, man, I'm so jealous! So, did you get to make out with her, huh?" - Ren asked with a curious look. He hardly had any interaction with girls, so he was excited to hear his friend's stories. But to his disappointment, Kenta didn't plan on saying anything.

"You—Get off me, you damned samurai!" - Kenta started trying to get Ren off him, but the boy was really persistent, and the two began wrestling until they fell to the ground.

"Eh, you guys are here—Huh? REN! KENTA! What the hell are you two doing?" - The team captain, Kazuki Yamamoto, had just entered the locker room and saw the two boys tangled up on the floor. To make matters worse, Ren wasn't wearing his shirt.

"Eh? Captain? This isn't what it looks like—" - Kenta tried to explain but was quickly interrupted by Kazuki.

"I don't care. Shun and Ren, Coach Yamada wants to see you before practice." - Kazuki delivered the message and left, leaving the three friends alone in the locker room again.

"Pftt! Hahahahahahah I can't hold it in anymore! Hey, you two need a room, huh? Hahahahahahah hey Kenta, I wonder what your girlfriend will think when she finds out you're cheating on her with a samurai." - Shun couldn't hold back his laughter after the captain left. He still remembered how Kenta laughed at him that morning, so he couldn't help but get a little revenge.

"You—shut up, you bastard!" - Kenta was irritated by Shun's reaction.

"Hey, Kenta? I wanted to go to your game on Sunday. Is that okay with you?" - A high-pitched voice sounded behind Kenta. He looked back, startled, to see Ren imitating the way Mio had spoken to him earlier. Ren was really good at this, even copying how she timidly twiddled her fingers.

"Hahahahahahahahaha" - Shun couldn't stop laughing.

"You two..." - Kenta spoke angrily, but before he could finish his sentence, he attacked Ren by surprise. He put him in a headlock and started giving him noogies.

"Why don't you try imitating her now, huh?" - Kenta continued to punish his friend.

"Hehe, I'm out of here, I'm going to see what the coach wants. See you later." - Shun quickly fled the locker room when he realized Kenta had turned violent. He only heard Ren murmuring, "Don't leave me" but of course, he wasn't stupid enough to go back.

After a while, Kenta let Ren go. The poor boy's samurai bun was all messed up, but he didn't care. He quickly ran to the coach's office to see what he wanted. When he arrived, he saw Shun leaning against the wall.

"Hey, you're here! I was waiting for you!" - Shun said as if nothing had happened.

Ren walked past his friend without saying a word. He knocked on the coach's office door and murmured.

"Traitor."

Shun played dumb and followed his friend into the coach's office.

"Coach!" - The two friends said in unison as they bowed.

"You two, I'll be brief since it's almost time to start practice. In Sunday's game, I'm going to test you both as starters. Just do what you've been doing in practice, and you'll do fine." - Coach Yamada said as he stood up, walked over to the boys, and gave each of them a pat on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Coach!" - They both said together again as they bowed. Of course, they were both very happy, but they didn't want to look like two idiots in front of the coach, so they just thanked him and tried to play it cool.

"Hm. Let's go, it's time to start practice." - The coach walked past them, opened the door, and gestured for the boys to follow him.

The two followed the coach to the field, but as they approached, they slowed down. It wasn't until the coach entered the field and was out of their sight that they stopped.

*clap*

The two high-fived.

"We did it!" - Shun said excitedly and somewhat emotionally.

"Finally!" - Ren said with relief and excitement, almost on the verge of tears.

This was going to be the first time both of them were starters this year. It might not seem like a big deal, but for both of them, it wasn't easy. Ren hadn't started a game since he joined the team. The boy might not show it, but he had low self-esteem, he doubted himself. That's why he lacked motivation, thinking that no matter how hard he trained, he wouldn't improve. It was only after he saw his friends working hard that he decided to work hard too, not caring about the results, he just wanted to work hard with his friends. As for Shun, before receiving the system, he was about to give up baseball. Then he changed positions and trained like crazy. Even though he received rewards and some of his stats improved, he still had doubts about himself, his talent, and his future as a player. This chance to start, even though it was in a meaningless practice game, was the best reward they could receive.