Chapter 33: Family (1)

After the two had made up in the middle of the street, they finally arrived at Ken's house in good spirits, almost forgetting the entire encounter with Daichi's mother. The amazing smell of a well-cooked dinner floated in the air as Ken announced their arrival. "We're home." "Welcome home. Did you fetch Daichi?" His mother asked before turning around. Her smiling expression instantly sank as she saw the bruises and scratches on Daichi's face, as well as the tear marks that had been left. "Daichi, dear, what happened!?" She rushed forward and cradled his face in her hands, inspecting him like a cat fawning over her kitten. "Kenny, I certainly hope this was not your doing." Her tone lowered to an icy level, causing Ken to shudder unconsciously. Thankfully, Daichi quickly cleared up the misunderstanding and explained what had happened. However, the truth only made Yuki's face turn even uglier as she heard the tale of the abuse he had been subjected to. Once he was done, she took a step back and fixed her apron. "Let's have some dinner first. There's a spare room you can stay in tonight, and you can borrow some of Dad's pajamas. I'll wash your uniform tonight so you don't have to go home." She said, turning her attention back to the stove. "As for what happens moving forward, we'll wait till my husband returns from America tomorrow." Yuki's voice quivered, clearly trying to hold in her anger. Ken's adult brain kicked into gear as he thought about what his parents would decide. The most likely outcome would be that they would invite Daichi to move into the spare room, but would Daichi's mother allow it? He quickly got out his phone and took some photos of Daichi's injuries after telling him to trust him. The boy agreed, and Ken quickly stashed away his phone, containing all the evidence he needed to keep that woman away. Despite the circumstances, dinner went well, with the two boys stuffing their bellies with all they could contain. They were tired, not only from baseball practice but also emotionally spent after everything that had happened. "Kenny, show Daichi to the spare room and where the bathroom is. Your father is on a flight right now, so I will have to wait until tomorrow morning to talk to him. Head to bed early and get some good sleep." Yuki gave her orders and began to clean the kitchen dutifully, albeit a little rougher than usual. The boys only had enough energy to get cleaned up and head to bed. The thought of studying never crossed their minds as they finally settled in. Daichi fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, feeling safer and more secure than he ever had in his life. Ken, on the other hand, felt his mind wander. He wanted Daichi to move in with them more than anyone else, but he was also aware of the realities of adulthood, especially when it came to bills. He wasn’t exactly sure of his parents' financial circumstances, but he figured his dad was decently paid by the Yokohama Warriors. His mother, on the other hand, was a stay-at-home wife, meaning she had no income. Ken felt a little stressed, worrying that they might not be able to afford the expenses that came with adopting another 15-year-old boy. However, there was nothing he could do about it. The legal age to work in Japan was 16, which meant he couldn't help out, even if he wanted to. He was technically from the future, so maybe he could make money from betting? However, he never really paid attention to things he could bet on, as he never had spare money. In the end, he would have to wait and see what his father decided to do tomorrow. He quickly said a prayer, hoping that everything would turn out okay and Daichi wouldn't be forced to live with that woman ever again. Before sleeping, Ken consumed the last remaining Balance and Coordination Elixir, feeling a wave of nausea wash over him before his head hit the pillow. The next morning, Ken woke up feeling a little groggy. He checked his alarm clock and saw that there was only one minute until the alarm was scheduled to go off, causing a wry smile to appear on his face. It was unlikely that an extra minute of sleep would have made a difference, but there was still a tiny speck of annoyance that came with waking up before his alarm. He quickly brought up the system to see how effective the Elixir had been. [You have consumed: C-grade Balance and Coordination Elixir.] [Balance and Coordination grade has been increased by 1!] PHYSICAL FITNESS: (Avg. C+) - Balance and Coordination: C+ - Agility: B- - Strength: C- - Stamina: C The wry smile remained on Ken's face as he saw the notification. He was a bit disappointed that the Balance and Coordination Elixir had only yielded an increase of 1 grade, but there was nothing he could do about it. However, it wasn't that bad in retrospect. He had a feeling that the C-grade Elixirs would lose effectiveness altogether once his skills reached a certain threshold. He quickly got changed and headed out of his room to wake up Daichi. However, he could already hear him talking to his mother downstairs while she sipped on her morning coffee. "Morning," Ken said with a smile, making his way downstairs. "Morning, Ken," Daichi replied, his face still sporting the battle scars from the previous night, yet he seemed in good spirits. "How did you sleep?" "Like a log!" he replied, breaking out into a stretch. "Ready for our morning run?" "Of course. Mom, we'll be back in an hour or so for breakfast." Ken said, waving as he walked out the door. "Take care, you two. Your father should be home very shortly," she replied, returning the wave.