"Ahhh man that was tough."
"Yeah, I thought we'd be given a short break before Nationals."
The sound of teens chattering amongst each other sounded out as they made their way back to the common room after a long practice. The smell of sweat and dirt filled their nostrils, a familiar scent to everyone by now.
Daichi had a faint smile on his face despite feeling a little fatigue. Now that he knew his brother had kept his end of the promise, he was more than motivated to compete well at Koshien this year.
The him of a couple months ago could not compare to who he was now. After figuring out his goals and aspirations, Daichi was no longer plagued with any apathy, nor was he distracted during games.
He had morphed into an integral part of an already stacked Osaka Toin roster.
"Hey guys hurry up, the game has already started!"
A voice came out from a dorm room, urging them to come watch.
"Hell no, I'm gonna go shower first." Daichi quipped, feeling as if his uniform was going to stick to him perpetually if he didn't remove it now.
Daichi had made some friends on the team in his 6 months in Osaka. Apart from Kouichi, he had another 4 or so close friends who gathered after practice to watch the pro games.
"Alright hurry up otherwise you'll miss it."
Since practice had gone a little later than usual, the game had already begun.
Around an hour later, Daichi walked into the room feeling fresher than ever.
"What did I miss?" He asked, taking a seat on the bottom bunk.
"Only the whole damn game!" Jing responded, feeling a little irritated.
"Hey hey, we all know Daichi needs time to pamper himself."
"Yeah I heard he plucks his eyebrows in front of the mirror"
"Ahhh, is that why Kou-chan confessed to him? Does she like that style?"
Soon the four teens in the room were taking shots at Daichi, criticizing his long stints in the shower and letting their imaginations run wild.
Kouichi blinked a few times, looking at Daichi as if he'd only just met him.
"Do you really pluck your eyebrows?" He asked earnestly.
Daichi's eye twitched in irritation as he heard these words, his gaze focusing on the gullible Kouichi.
"HAHAHA."
The entire dorm broke into laughter, attracting the ire of the wide-shouldered youth.
"Alright, you asked for it." Daichi said, leaping over the bed and quickly going for a rear naked choke on the nearest perpetrator.
Yet this did nothing to stop the laughter that was echoing within the dorm room.
Kouichi still felt a little confused, but he turned to the TV just as the announcer started shouting.
"It's going… going… GONE! Nishinoya from the Warriors smashes a home run into deep right field. That's his 10th home run for the season."
The camera panned into the crowd where a tall boy stretched out his glove and easily collected the home run ball. He was wearing a Yokohama Warriors jersey and pants, looking out of place in the crowd.
"Eh… EH!? K-KEN??"
Kouichi shouted aloud, not expecting to see such a familiar face during a live broadcast of a professional game.
After hearing Kouichi's shout, everyone quickly turned to the TV, though none faster than Daichi. He quickly released the submission hold and turned his attention to the screen.
He saw Ken's tall figure holding up the home run ball with a smiling expression. Before sitting down, he handed the ball to a woman next to him who was wearing a cute white sun dress with yellow flowers on it.
Daichi gawked as he saw the two on the screen. Having not seen his brother for almost 6 months, he felt as if he was looking at a completely different person. Yet he instinctively knew it was him.
If that wasn't enough, he could see his mother and father seated on Ken's right side. They looked happy, filling him with warmth.
"Who is Ken?" Jing asked in puzzlement.
Seeing as both Kouichi and Daichi recognized the guy, the others were also curious.
"He's my brother." Daichi said with a warm smile.
"Eh!? You two look nothing alike."
"Adopted brother…" He clarified.
"He also played on the same team as us in middle school." Kouichi said, before adding, "He was also the Ace until our final year."
"Ahhh, so he mustn't have been that good then." One of the teens said matter-of-factly.
Kouichi paled at these words, looking at Daichi's reaction. Whenever he had brought up Ken previously, Daichi's mood plummeted. He was a little anxious as to how he'd react after someone said such a thing.
"He was injured, so he took a year off pitching." Daichi said, not going into too much detail.
"But he's still a great player. Him and my father taught me everything I knew about baseball before I came here."
A few of the others didn't seem satisfied with such a remark, yet no one said anything. They were emotionally intelligent enough to know not to badmouth someone's brother.
However, there was always one person…
"I mean, he can't be that great right? You were on the same team yet only you and Kouichi received scholarships." Jing said, shrugging his shoulders.
The others in the room didn't speak out against this, since it was also their true feelings.
Yet a wicked grin formed on Daichi's face in response. He thought it was funny that these guys who hadn't even made the first team would be looking down upon someone like his brother who had worked his way through to Nationals.
"I guess you guys will just have to wait until we face them at Koshien to see if he's any good or not." He puffed out his chest with pride, peaking at their changes in expression.
"Huh? He made it to Nationals?"
Even Kouichi seemed surprised at the news, his face brightening. In reality, he had a high opinion of Ken who had been nothing but supportive towards him, even after he took the Ace spot away.