I Guess I Grew Up

8 years passed by and Hideki Takeuchi is now 12 years old, he passed by Preschool and Elementary like a breeze, taking home honors while doing so. Jon may not have been an honor student in his past life at this stage of his past life but in this life, he wanted to honor his mother's sacrifice to him and award her his school awards. He graduated from Elementary with the highest honor and gave the award to his mother Kanai.

During those 8 years, Hideki still continued to train under his grandfather Ryoma, Ryoma also accepted a coaching job at Shoei Junior High School so he could be up to date in the Middle School scene for his grandson Hideki. Ryoma was right on the money and Hideki was really a prodigy, and most importantly he had the skills to prove it, he had a knack for defense as Ryoma was teaching him defense, and Hideki absorbed the knowledge like a sponge and in turn turned into a defensive menace even as a kid.

If you are wondering if Hideki played basketball in Elementary, there is no organized ball in the elementary level so Hideki only trained in basketball and volleyball. 

Yes, you have read it right, Hideki also trained for volleyball under his grandfather to train his other muscles and skills to swat and slap balls. Volleyball allowed Hideki to react to certain ball situations.

Another weird request of Hideki was to learn gymnastics and cheerleading, these improved his flexibility, mid-air balance, and core strength. 

The last quirky and weird request was that Hideki learns to play string instruments such as guitar, bass, and ukulele.

An update on the other Takeuchi family:

Taeko: Still the same chill grandmother for Hideki and his younger cousins

Ichiro Takeuchi: Married the art director of one of the films that he animated, it was love at first sight for both but weirdly enough they started dating on their second project together and married after their 5th project.

Mayumi Takeuchi: She married her then-fiance and now moved in with her husband. As the couple was close with Kanai, they still visited her monthly to catch up with her. They had a daughter of their own, their daughter was younger than Hideki by 8 years and she was the second grandson of Ryoma and Taeko.

Mitsuo Takeuchi: Mitsuo became a successful video game developer after the turn of the millennia, as their group's second game got really successful and his career catapulted from there. However, his love life has yet to materialize.

As for Kanai, she still works in the same cafe years ago, but she is now the Head of Staff, just two positions higher than when she entered after graduating. But the workload is still the same as her job was just the same as last time, as Head she will micromanage the other staff while she was still serving at the cafe. Kanai's boss told her "Accept the promotion, you'll just have to micromanage them, but you'll still serve the customers as it's a job you are excelling in. Accepting the promotion just means you'll earn more so you can provide more for Hideki-kun" After that point, Kanai just accepted her promotion. For the cafe she worked in, it thrived after the owner did bizarre but effective things to keep the cafe afloat and it did got popular over the years.

Now back to Hideki, he has grown from a little cute kid to a taller cute kid, perhaps a little bit taller, as he looks like a bamboo strewn together, he is tall and lanky as heck. But that doesn't make him weak as he can still contend in strength to other kids, being thin makes him faster than kids with the same height as him and it makes him more agile.

In the old trusty apartment where Kanai and Hideki are staying, they are celebrating Hideki's graduation with the whole Takeuchi family, as they were eating, Taeko asked Hideki "Hideki-kun, where are you planning to go for your Junior High School studies?" Hideki swallowed the food in his mouth and told his grandmother "I'll go to the new school in the block Hanabira Junior High School" 

Taeko nodded at Hideki's choice and Ryoma added, "Oh, that new school? Well from what I've heard they'll specialize in defense as their head coach was a defensive specialist in Japan. Good choice Hideki-kun" Hideki thanked his grandfather "Thanks, Grandpa, also I chose that school since it's closer to home and the cafe so I can bring friends to the cafe." 

Kanai patted Hideki's head and said, "Thank you Hideki-kun" Kanai then proclaimed to the family, bragging, "Well, let's all celebrate that Hideki graduated at the top of his peers. Looks like he inherited his mom's smarts" 

Everybody except for Hideki looked at Kanai with a funny, shocked face like they were unanimously saying, 'damn gurl', Ryoma then looked at her and said, "Are you sure about that?" Now everybody's attention on Ryoma as he said, "As far as I can remember, the only award you had in elementary was 'Most Friendly' young lady, so don't boast everything" 

Kanai rolled her eyes and said "Dad! It was just a joke! I am just proud of my son who's going to Junior High" Kanai sighed and said "Time flies so fast, you were just a cute little baby back then Hideki, and now you're becoming a more handsome cutie angel" Hideki became embarrassed at that comment and didn't talk anymore.

After the celebration before Ryoma gets home, he asks Hideki, "Hideki-kun, are you excited to play basketball in Middle School?" Everybody turned their attention to Hideki who began to have a big smile on his face and said, "Of course Grandpa! I'll try to be the best Middle School player there is." Ryoma was smiling and patted Hideki's head and said, "I'm proud of you boy, I'll see you at the tournament if we match up."