The Old Baseball Player System

Classes were normal, but Shun couldn\'t focus on them at all since all he could think about was how he would face Kasuga\'s batters tomorrow.

When the bell rang to signal the end of classes, Shun looked at his notebook in surprise, he hadn\'t taken any notes all day... To be honest, he hadn\'t even noticed the time passing. But for Shun, this time wasn\'t wasted, as he had formed several different plans in his head for dealing with Kasuga\'s batters.

Shun went with Kenta and Ren to the school\'s baseball field, and when all the team\'s players had arrived, Coach Yamada began practice.

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Meanwhile, Ryosuke Sugano, the talented first-year center fielder who had been kicked off the Shoto Junior High baseball team, was on his way home. It had been almost a week since Ryosuke was expelled from the team, and in the past few days, he had been suffering from boredom, with nothing to do.

In Japan, it was common for kids to spend several hours every day training baseball. Especially Ryosuke, who, before joining Shoto, had been part of a junior league team and had been used to training every day since he was little.

Ever since Shun had seen Ryosuke\'s abilities, he thought it strange that the boy hadn\'t joined any senior league team, but after seeing his attitude, he guessed what had happened.

Ryosuke was, without a doubt, an extremely talented player, and even though he was far from reaching his full potential, his current skills were good enough to make a difference on any middle school team. But on the other hand, Ryosuke was arrogant, selfish, lazy, and reckless, traits that were not well-received in Japanese baseball, even if you were a super talent.

Shun presumed that Ryosuke had crossed the line with his junior league team, and because of that, he wasn\'t promoted to the senior league. And Shun\'s guess was pretty accurate. Ryosuke had been the star of his team last year, but his arrogant and selfish attitude got him kicked off the team, in a way very similar to how he was expelled from Shoto.

When his team was losing, he got irritated with his teammates\' poor performance and ended up making a series of reckless plays. Not only that, but when his former coach tried to correct him, he was disrespectful.

Ryosuke was walking absent-mindedly on his way home, but when he finally reached his house, he saw a young man leaning against the wall, looking at him with a smile.

"Hey, bro!" - The man said cheerfully as he walked toward Ryosuke. That man was Ryosuke\'s older brother, he was 20 years old and a professional baseball player.

"Hey, Kyo! What\'s up?" - Ryosuke tried to act casual, but he couldn\'t help feeling a bit uneasy seeing his brother in the situation he was in.

His brother\'s name was Kyosuke Sugano, and he was practically Ryosuke\'s hero. Kyosuke had always been a great baseball player, and in high school, he caught the attention of professional scouts, being selected in the NPB draft by the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to play as a shortstop.

"Let\'s take a walk?" - Kyosuke asked with a smile, and Ryosuke just nodded with a bit of hesitation.

The two brothers started walking together, and after a while of silence, Ryosuke couldn\'t hold back anymore and asked.

"How are things going with the Eagles?" - Ryosuke asked curiously, normally, he kept up with all the news about his brother, but this past week, he had been a bit disconnected after being kicked off the team.

"Oh, things are good! The coach told me I\'ve been playing well. He said it won\'t be long before I get called up to the main team." - Kyosuke spoke confidently, but inside, he wasn\'t as sure. Even though he was very talented and had been drafted right after high school, he hadn\'t yet played a single game for the NPB main team.

In Japan, NPB teams had affiliate teams, known as farm teams, which played in a sort of Japanese minor league. Kyosuke had been playing in that league for a few years, developing as a player. During this time, he had gone through various hardships like injuries, slumps at the plate, and fielding errors. These were normal challenges for a professional player, but of course, he hadn\'t come here to complain about his difficulties to his little brother.

"I heard you were kicked off your new team." - Kyosuke got straight to the point, speaking in a calm voice.

"Mm." - Ryosuke nodded, embarrassed, with nothing to say about it. As proud as he was, he knew he wasn\'t exactly in the right, and his brother was the last person who would go easy on him after he messed up.

"Ahh, you never change, do you?" - Kyosuke sighed in disappointment, then looked at his brother, who was hanging his head in shame, and continued:

"Well, since you don\'t have practice anymore, you\'re coming with me tomorrow!"

"Where are we going?" - Ryosuke asked, surprised. He had expected to get a scolding from his brother, so why was he inviting him out?

"To watch the sixth round of the Tokyo tournament." - Kyosuke said with a smile.

"Huh? I don\'t want to go—" - Ryosuke looked confused but quickly voiced his lack of interest in watching his former team\'s game.

"I don\'t care! Nobody asked if you wanted to go or not, you brat!" - Before his younger brother could protest, Kyosuke spoke sternly, giving him a tug on the ear.

"Ow! Ow! Okay, I\'ll go!" - Ryosuke whimpered in pain and quickly gave in.

"Hehe, good boy!" - Kyosuke said with a satisfied smile as he let go of his younger brother\'s ear, he had already achieved his goal.