The Old Baseball Player System
Chapter 22: Lying Bastard

Shun ran into his school, heading to the second-year floor. He stopped in front of his classroom door and took a deep breath. He had run 3 km from his house to school.

On the one hand, this was good because now he only had 20 km left to complete the Old Man's mission, but on the other hand, he was about to enter the classroom completely late, sweaty, with wrinkled clothes, messy hair, and of course, with his lunch in hand.

*Opens the door*

"Shun, you are—" - The English teacher, James, saw his student arriving late and was about to scold him, but he was interrupted by the boy's quick actions.

"Sorry, Mr. James, I'm late!" - Shun quickly bowed and apologized while still holding his lunch.

"You're not just late, boy, where's your backpack?" - Mr. James asked in his American-accented voice. He was an American who had moved to Japan and married a Japanese woman. His blond hair and tall stature were evidence of that.

"Huh? My backpack? It's right here..." - Shun was confused. He looked at his shoulder, where his backpack should have been hanging, but saw nothing. Only then did he realize that when he dashed out of the house to avoid his mother's wrath, the only thing he grabbed was his lunch, leaving his backpack behind.

Shun felt the stares of the entire class and began to feel embarrassed. His face turned as red as a tomato.

"Hahahahahahaha" - He heard the laughter of all his classmates, which only made him more embarrassed. He could even hear the Old Man laughing inside his head.

[HAHAHAHAHA, I said you were stupid, but I didn't expect you to be this stupid, boy!]

"Just go to your seat, boy," - Mr. James sighed as he watched the boy walk to his seat with his head down.

Shun reached his desk and sat down. He then looked to the side and saw his friend Kenta clutching his stomach, unable to stop laughing.

Shun felt like hitting his friend but decided to give up and just focus on the lesson. He definitely wasn't the studious type, but English was the only subject he put effort into. His grandfather was American, and as a Major League fan, Shun wanted to understand English, but unfortunately, even though it was the only subject he worked hard on, it was his worst subject in school.

After the classes were over, Shun had lunch with Kenta. The two friends then headed to the baseball field for team practice.

"Hey, Shun! Kenta!" - The two friends heard Ren's excited voice. The boy with the samurai bun came running toward them before continuing.

"Hey, Kenta, do you know if your girlfriend is going to bring her friends to Sunday's friendly game again?"

"A- Mio's not my girlfriend!" - Kenta blushed and quickly denied it.

"Huh? I didn't even say her name, and you're already denying it! I knew it, something's going on between you two, right?" - Ren questioned the embarrassed Kenta with a smug look.

"Nothing's going on! Besides, I don't even know if she'll come to our game on Sunday." - Kenta replied.

"Ehhhh? I don't believe you! Shun, do you believe this guy?" - Ren pulled Shun into the conversation, expecting his friend to help him tease Kenta.

"Huh? Sorry, what were you talking about?" - Shun had been lost in thought when Ren's voice snapped him out of it.

"Hey, man, are you okay? You haven't been yourself since you arrived late this morning," - Kenta asked, concerned, as Shun had seemed a bit out of it all day.

"Eh? Hehe, I'm fine, don't worry. I was just thinking about my training today," - Shun had received a lot of new information last night, and he still needed time to process everything. Of course, he wasn't lying when he said he was thinking about his training.

He still needed to run 20 km, complete a new, harder list of exercises than the previous one, and finish his 100 pitches and 500 swings, all before the end of the day. And to make matters worse, he was already exhausted from running 20 km today.

"Huh? Thinking about your training? Man, what's wrong with you? What happened to my friend?" - Ren said incredulously. Shun had changed a lot in recent days, but he wasn't the only one.

After three days of watching Shun train like a madman, Kenta started joining him in the workouts. He didn't do the 100 pitches for obvious reasons, but he completed the entire list of exercises with Shun. After two more days, Ren began to feel bad about going home alone while his friends trained, so he joined them to complete the daily exercise routine.

Before Shun could respond to Ren, he heard a cheerful female voice calling out to them.

"Kentaaaa!!" - A pretty girl shouted. She had beautiful black eyes, her black hair was tied in a ponytail, and she had a small nose and a lovely smile on her youthful face. That was Mio Shimizu, Kenta's 'girlfriend.'

"Hey, Mio!" - Kenta said, embarrassed but clearly happy to see the girl. He ran toward her so she wouldn't get too close to the two idiots.

"Kenta, I wanted to watch your game on Sunday. Is that okay with you?" - The girl spoke shyly, nervously twiddling her fingers.

Kenta was about to respond but then remembered something. He looked back and saw Shun and Ren standing side by side, watching him with envious eyes. Kenta then gave them a cold look, one that clearly said, "Get lost!"

The two friends got the message, and even though they didn't want to leave, they weren't willing to irritate Kenta.

They then headed to the locker room.

"That guy is really one lucky bastard," - The boy with the samurai bun said with a pained expression.

"Hm, he's a lying bastard" - Shun nodded with an expression just as pained as his friend's.