CHAPTER 4 : Timeskip

~ 5 years later ~

I am now 11 years old this year, time sure flies so fast. I was in the middle of my morning run right now. I started running like this every morning when I was 8, I still remember how I beg my old man that day to let me run to build foundation for my stamina and we got into argument that day as he was saying I was too young to go outside alone but as always he give in with my charm. Not without condition though hehe I was allowed as long as he's with me, that's my mother decision for him. So he had to wake up every 5:30 in the morning starting that day to accompany me in my run.

When I was 10 they allowed me to finally have my morning run by myself saying I was old enough to not get lost on my own now. As if I'd get lost! I'm not a kid!

Well physically I guess I am, but mentally I am an old man in my 30's -_-

I haven't joined any baseball team yet as I don't plan to do so at the moment. I planned to build my body for now so all I did is practice by myself at the park and do exercises which my young body could handle.

I plan to start playing baseball with a team when I'm in highschool, since I don't need the experience of playing with kids at this age it's not beneficial for me. I already have plenty of game experience in my past life, hell I was drafted in MLB when I was 19 in my last life, played 2 seasons for the hornets as a pitcher but unfortunately I injured my shoulder after that I tried hard to get back at my game but it's not possible anymore because the damage is serious. My shoulder can't handle the stress anymore as the doctor said but I can't part with baseball so I decided to be the assistant coach for coach Anderson as he offered me the job back then.

What an unpleasant memory of mine. I just shake my head off while continuing my run to get those bad memories out of my head. I resolved myself that in this life I'll treasure this chance that I've gotten.

What I've found strange is that when I got the chance to finally search around the net, I've found out that this world is different than the world in my memories. I can't find the records of the famous baseball players in MLB here when I tried to search it online. I thought at first that it's just because the information is not accessible at Japan but boy I was so wrong about that!

It's not because they're not accessible here but rather those people I know don't exist in this world. So I come into conclusion that this world is a different world than my last life.On which I don't really mind or care about that because I can play baseball again and I'll make it so that I'll become the best in the world in this second life of mine. That's how big my ambition in this life since I wasn't able to achieve that in the past.

First things first is I have to lay the foundation in order for that to happen and I know what to do. Practice, practice, practice and work harder than anyone else. I thought as my brown and blue eyes shine with determination.

"hahh ,hah ,ha" sound of my panting as I finished my 10km run. I'm outside of our gate now trying to steady my breathing before going inside. One thing I found interesting is my body in this life has unlimited potential and recovers faster than I could imagine, It's impossible for 11 year old kids to run for 10km without collapsing but I could do it. My parents think I only run for about 5km distance in total starting from home and after going back but they were so wrong.

I found out about this peculiarities when I'm too caught up in my thoughts in the past that when I've checked I've already run 7km without rest. As I make my breathing stable I made my way towards our house, and I've smell the aroma of my mom's cooking so I made my way towards the kitchen first.

"I'm back! " I told them smiling, dad is also there at the dining table having his coffee in his usual pajamas and sando as it's Sunday he doesn't have work today.

"Go wash up above and come down for breakfast after young man" mom said on which I mimic a soldier salute and left after saying 'aye aye captain' on which she just smiled and dad was laughing.

That's our usual interaction every morning here at home. Which I hold dearly in my heart.

While washing myself I thought of asking dad to catch for me later this afternoon since he doesn't have work today. The last time he catch for me is 3 months ago because of the nature of his work he have to travel around so we doesn't have time for it lately. He got this job when I was 10 saying it pays much better than his last job.

If it's up for me I don't want both of them to work anymore, I want them to enjoy life as much as they can which is I'm going to give them in the future.

"I have to work harder" I muttered to myself while in the shower.

Time flies by and it's afternoon now as our usual Sunday family bonding we're watching baseball at the television, It's an MLB match between rockets and phoenix both teams is pretty strong so the game is close the score is tied at 5 for each team going into 7th inning now.

"Let's bet who'll win this game Jiro!" Old man said looking me in the eye smiling which I replied with 'yes' with a knowing smile on my face too.

"I'll bet the phoenix is going to win dad"

"Alright then it's the rockets for me, so the catch is if you win I'll buy you a new pitching gloves of your choice but if you lose you just have to massage my back everyday for 2 weeks since I won't be going far from kanagawa during this time" he said smiling at me.

"Okay deal! Don't regret what you've said when you lose dad! GO PHOENIX!" I said then turning my eyes on the TV cheering for the phoenix loudly.

"GO ROCKETS!" dad cheered too loudly not wanting to lose to me.

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!!" We heard mom shouting from the kitchen since she's baking cookies for us again on which me and dad just look at each other and just laughed.

In the end my phoenix team lost, on which my dad cheered loudly chanting about his free massage this week. It irritates me seeing his gloating face so.

I checked the time and it's 4:30 in the afternoon so I asked my dad to catch for me.

"Dad let's go play catch, I'll show you my pitches so don't get shock later okay? Hehe"

"Ohh, someone got a big head" he said teasingly on which he followed with "let's go Jiro! Show this old man of yours what you got there during the couple of months that I was away" he said smiling.

"Okay let's go get our gloves dad" I said on which he nods and both of us go upstairs since my pitching gloves and baseball is in my room while his mitt is in their room.

3 months is long dad, I've grown faster than I thought I would during this time. I thought smiling imagining the expression of my old man face later.