"As I said, I don't have any official information as yet from the hospital. As soon as we hear anything, we'll make an announcement."
Seiji Hanada wrapped up what felt like his 20th phone call of the afternoon. Ever since the incident occurred, every news outlet was wanting the latest updates on how Ken was fairing.
Unfortunately, even he did not have any information to go off.
He let out a sigh and stared up into the sky. The orange hue of the setting sun against the clouds intermixed with his feeling of helplessness in that moment.
BUZZ BUZZ
"Damn it, what now?" He cursed, ready to throw his phone into the street.
However, his face changed in the next moment when he saw the message was from Chris, Ken's father.
'Ken is fine. Doctor said he made a remarkable recovery, but wants to keep him overnight.'
After reading the message, Seiji felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The instant relief after finding out that Ken was okay was enough to change his mood swiftly.
"I better tell everyone else." He muttered.
The Yokohama players had been even more shocked and depressed than he was, some even forgoing food and heading right to bed.
He made his way back into the residence and was about round everyone up. However, he had found that they were already in the dining room, waiting for the buffet to begin.
Not only this, their depressed demeanor was all but gone, replaced by jubilant expressions and merriment.
Coach Hanada could only look around in confusion. This was not the state that he had left them in not even 10 minutes ago.
'Could they have heard the news too?' He thought.
"Coach! Did you hear? Ken's perfectly fine!"
Shiro who was one of the most depressed and anxious after witnessing the scene, jumped around like a toddler who'd had too much sugar in one sitting. There were unspent tears at the corner of his eyes, showing just how happy he was at the news.
"Yeah, that guy is as tough as nails. No way would a baseball to the dome hurt him at all." Hiroki added with a beaming smile.
The rest of the team agreed with their words, putting on a 'I wasn't worried' facade.
"How did you guys find out?" Coach Hanada asked, his curiosity bubbling.
Ai who was with the other managers slowly raised her hand.
"My mom is close with Ken's mom, so she told me the news not long ago." She admitted with a smile.
She conveniently left out that she had talked to him personally, since the whole team didn't need to know such a thing. Yet it seemed the explanation was sufficient enough for the coach.
Coach Hanada smiled softly. Since the whole incident, none of them had gotten the chance to celebrate their win against Osaka. While it was technically by forfeit, they had clawed to a 2-0 lead and likely would have closed it out in the 9th innings anyway.
Especially if Ken kept his form from the first 8 innings.
He was quiet for a little bit, as if trying to find the right words.
"Alright listen up everyone." He raised his voice, getting the attention of all his players.
"Everyone played a great game out there today and I couldn't be prouder of you all." His gaze moved along the players that he'd been in charge of all this time. While some he'd only coached for 5 months, others like Makoto were over 2 years.
"But, it's not over yet… We still have one more match before we can call ourselves the National champions."
At these words, a hushed excitement fell over the entire group. This was the goal that they'd aspired to for the longest time.
"I know we're a man down, but I still believe that we have the ability to continue our momentum and secure the flag for Yokohama." Seiji said confidently.
"Damn right!"
"ORYAAAH"
"Let's enjoy our victory for tonight and we'll worry about the finals tomorrow."
"YEAH!"
"YOKOHAMA!"
"FIGHT!"
Hearing the loud shouting, Seiji sent a silent look of apology to the staff members who had to put up with such teenage rabble. However, they merely smiled and laughed in amusement at the happy atmosphere.
So the team dug into their dinner, celebrating their victory against arguably the toughest opponent at Koshien.
***
The next morning, Ken was discharged from hospital around 10am.
He could have left as early as 7am, but his Doctor wanted to run a few more tests to ensure that they had missed nothing.
Even after giving the all clear for Ken to leave, Doctor Hige was still perplexed. The primary tests had shown that there was a significant chance of bleeding in the brain which could lead to clotting and intracranial pressure.
Yet only a couple hours after admittance, all of those things had seemingly disappeared.
If it wasn't for the signs of bruising on the side of Ken's head, he would have never thought there was an injury at all.
"Just remember, no physical activity for a few days and if you feel light headed or any nausea come straight back for testing." The Doctor said with a small smile.
"Ah, Doctor. Is there a certain diet I should consider to help recovery?" Yuki asked, her notepad in hand.
"Erm… Not really, just make sure he gets the recommended daily intake of calories."
Ken was doing his best to end the conversation and leave, but his mother kept on asking questions to the Doctor. She began writing furiously in the notepad and opened her mouth once more as if wanting to continue.
"Mom, the Doctor said I'm fine. Aren't Dad and Daichi in the car waiting for us?"
Yet his words fell upon deaf ears. Yuki continued to talk the Doctor about anything and everything she could think of until he began to grow red in the face.
"A-Ah, sorry Mrs. Takagi. I'm being paged."
Then without saying goodbye he quickly left the room, almost running into the wall in his haste to escape.