The Man Who Received a Spaceship: It Turned Out to Be a Star!? - chapter 5
Chapter 5: Keiichi Yamada, Superhuman?
I returned to my room with the hamburger set I bought at the drive-thru. Placing a tray on the dining table, I arranged the fries, cola, cheeseburger, and the additional plain hamburger I’d bought. I opened the ketchup container they provided and dipped my fries in it before eating.
Until recently, my mind had been preoccupied with converting the gold, but now I realized my body felt strange too. Everything I picked up felt light. When I focused, I could see distant objects clearly. I could make out the faces of people in oncoming cars until just before we passed each other. Physically, I felt no fatigue.
What had happened to my physical abilities? I had to find out.
Testing in my room might disturb the people living below, so I stepped out onto the balcony and tried a light jump. I nearly hit my head on the underside of the balcony above, jumping much higher than expected.
“A special biological organ… This organ enhances the host’s motor functions.” That’s it!
Thanks to the improved motor functions Ein mentioned, it seems I’ve transcended the normal human framework.
I dug out some training wear I hadn’t worn in ages from a storage box at the bottom of my closet and changed into it. The elastic around the waist seemed to have loosened, or perhaps my waist had slimmed down. Looking at my abdomen, while not quite a six-pack, it definitely seemed more toned than before.
Since the loose training pants were a problem, I tightened the drawstring at the waist to keep them from slipping. I changed to a watch with a timer function. I found a 5-meter tape measure, which I pocketed along with my wallet and house key.
Putting on my running shoes, I headed to a nearby park. This park is about 500 meters from my apartment building’s entrance, but when I jogged there at a leisurely pace, my watch’s stopwatch showed exactly two minutes. That’s 15 km/h by simple calculation. I wasn’t out of breath or feeling tired at all.
The park was conveniently empty in the late morning. I drew a line on the ground with my running shoe and performed a standing long jump from inside the line.
My body rose high in a springy motion, and I flailed my legs in the air before landing. I drew another line at my landing spot and measured the distance from the starting line with the tape measure. The 5-meter tape wasn’t long enough, so I marked a point, measured from there, and found the total distance to be about 7 meters and 50 centimeters.
I’m not well-versed in these sports, but I suspect this might be a world record. I wanted to try a vertical jump too, but there wasn’t a suitable wall in this open park to measure against. I have a feeling that would have been quite a “boing” as well.
Confirming I had some coins in my wallet, I headed to a nearby batting center for my next test. Previously, I could barely make contact with 130 km/h fastballs, never managing a solid hit.
I bought two coins at the reception and entered an empty box. After a light warm-up, I selected the 130 km/h fastball option and pressed start.
Standing in the right-handed batter’s box, I swung the bat loosely with my right hand near my waist, then slowly raised it vertical in front of me while eyeing the pitching machine. I brought my empty left hand to my mouth, gave a light cough, then pulled the bat back, stepped slightly forward with my left foot to widen my stance, and settled into my batting posture.
Bring it on!
Whoosh!
With a soft sound, the rotor-style pitching machine launched a soft ball. The ball seemed oddly slow. I swung the metal bat with all my might, but only managed to nick the ball with the bat’s tip. There was an unpleasant smell of burning rubber, either from the ball or the bat’s tip.
For the second pitch, I waited patiently for the ball. When it was about 50 cm away, I started my swing.
BOOM!!
The ball exploded with a tremendous noise.
For the third pitch, realizing a full swing might be too much, I tried to make light contact.
PING!!
The soft ball made a satisfying sound as it flew off the bat, shaking the net at the back of the batting center before falling.
This felt good. I might be able to aim for the home run marker, something I’d never even considered before.
Fourth pitch,
PING!!
So close. 50 cm to the left of the home run marker.
Fifth pitch,
PING!!
“It’s gone! Home run!!”
The energetic in-house announcement rang out.
Customers in nearby boxes turned to look. Can’t blame them for the attention.
Although I had fifteen pitches left, I reset the machine, inserted another coin, and set it to the highest speed of 160 km/h with random pitch types and locations. This was the most challenging setting at this batting center.
Whoosh!!
The first pitch seemed to be a fastball. It felt somewhat faster than before, but I could clearly see the ball flying straight towards me. Slightly low and inside.
PING!!
A line drive flew off the bat, making the back net sway dramatically.
The second pitch was a big breaking curve, dropping just on the outside corner.
PING!!
“It’s gone! Home run!!”
Another announcement rang out.
Deciding that continuing would only draw more attention and serve no purpose, I left the box.
There’s no point in overthinking this. While it might have mattered more if I were younger, becoming a baseball player now doesn’t make much sense. But it seems I’ve become superhuman.
The home run prizes I received at the reception were two boxes of premium tissues. When the receptionist asked for my name, I deflected with a polite smile.