The Old Baseball Player System

"Hey Kenta!" - Shun said excitedly, even before his friend sat down.

"Hey man." - Kenta responded, surprised, not expecting to see his friend so animated in the morning.

"Man, did you see the Home Run Derby yesterday? José Martínez was amazing! Did you see him hit that last home run in the final? It was incredible! He did this, and then like this..." - Shun began talking excitedly, imitating José\'s swing.

"I—" - Kenta tried to respond to Shun, but it seemed like Shun had forgotten they were having a conversation.

"Ohhh, and when he eliminated Matsuda with that incredible hit? He did this, and then like this, it was so cool!" - Shun continued talking and imitating the Home Run Derby champion, not realizing his friend was trying to say something.

"I—" - After Shun finally stopped talking and looked at Kenta, Kenta opened his mouth, but just as he said his first word, another voice interrupted him.

"Good morning, kids! Let\'s start the lesson!" - A masculine voice, speaking Japanese with a clear foreign accent, came from the direction of the door.

Mr. James entered the room with a smile, making Shun straighten up in his chair and pay attention to the man. The English class taught by Mr. James was the only subject where Shun put in his best effort to focus and learn.

"Ahh, forget it!" - Kenta sighed, realizing he wouldn\'t have a chance to say what he wanted. He, too, began paying attention to the lesson.

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"Ahhhhh, why is English so hard?!" - Shun complained as he left the classroom.

"But we didn\'t even have grammar today, the teacher was just chatting with us..." - Kenta seemed confused by his friend\'s frustration and spoke with a puzzled expression.

"Shut up, you genius bastard! I\'m not like you, who can learn everything without even trying!" - Shun quickly snapped back, annoyed. His friend Kenta wasn\'t just lucky in love and good at baseball, but he also got excellent grades without much effort.

The two friends then began walking toward the school\'s baseball field, descending the stairs from the building they were in and arriving at the school courtyard.

"Oh! Kenta, look!" - Shun spotted three boys talking and quickly smiled as he pointed at them and called his friend\'s attention. Shun didn\'t even wait for a response before running toward the three.

"Shun, wait!" - Kenta noticed that the three boys seemed to be arguing heatedly and tried to warn Shun, but he was already running toward them.

"Hey Daigo! Sora!" - Shun shouted as he approached the boys. A young man, who had his back turned to Shun, turned around, surprised by the sudden shout.

"Hey Jiro, how are you, man? Daigo told me you had the flu, but I knew there was no way our ace could be taken down by a mere cold, hahaha!" - Shun said excitedly, putting his arm around the shoulder of the nerdy boy. He then looked at Daigo and Sora, not noticing the strange expressions on their faces, and said:

"You guys are heading to the field, right? Let\'s go together!" - Shun spoke with a smile.

"Eh, Senpai—" - Daigo quickly tried to say something, but he was cut off by another voice.

"I\'m not going!" - Jiro said seriously as he pushed Shun\'s hand off his shoulder.

"Huh? Jiro, I know you were sick, but it\'ll be fine as long as you don\'t push yourself too hard!" - Shun kept smiling as he spoke to his kohai.

"Shun Senpai, I\'m not training today. No, I\'m not training ever again... I quit baseball!" - Jiro spoke loudly, but with his head down, unable to look Shun in the eyes.

"Huh? What the hell did you just say, Jiro?" - Shun\'s expression changed the moment he heard Jiro\'s words. He tried his best not to explode with anger at that moment.

"I said I quit baseball! I\'ll never play baseball again in my life!" - Jiro was frightened by Shun\'s reaction, but he quickly gathered the courage to look Shun in the eyes and speak determinedly.

"What?!" - Shun couldn\'t hold it in anymore. He remembered his captain Kazuki\'s words, and a mix of emotions exploded inside him. Frustration, anger, disappointment, all the emotions he had been trying to suppress surfaced in an instant as Shun grabbed Jiro\'s collar tightly.

"Hey, man, what the hell are you doing? Do you want to get suspended?" - Kenta reacted as quickly as possible and immediately pulled Shun away from Jiro. He had never imagined Shun would resort to violence like this.

Jiro looked in shock at Shun\'s anger-filled eyes. The boy then turned his head, as if embarrassed, and quickly ran out of the school.

"Let me go, Kenta!" - Shun shouted angrily as he broke free from his friend\'s grip. He looked furiously at Jiro, who was running out of the school, clenched his fists tightly, and then turned and walked back toward the field.

Kenta, Daigo, and Sora followed behind Shun in silence, none of them having ever seen him this angry before. The four of them arrived at the school field, and Shun realized he was too worked up, so he decided to head to the club room to cool off.

Since currently only Shun, Daigo, Sora, Kenta, and Ren were still on the team, the club room was empty. Shun entered the room and quickly opened his locker. He took out a dented helmet and sat down on the bench.

Shun gripped the helmet tightly, remembering the scene of his captain throwing that same helmet to the ground moments before telling Shun he was quitting baseball.

All the bad emotions Shun had been trying to hide erupted at once, anger, disappointment, the fear of failure, all the emotions he felt after being defeated, all of them spilled out as tears of frustration streamed down Shun\'s face.

"I can\'t let this happen!" - After some time, Shun made up his mind. He stood up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and put the dented helmet back in his locker. He then picked up his phone and dialed his father\'s number.

"Hey, Dad, I\'m sorry..."