After a brief and slightly awkward conversation with Kei, Ken grabbed his things and headed towards Hiroki and Daichi's room. As he walked along, the news still hadn't settled in.
Everything felt so surreal.
Ken had to pinch himself a few times on the way, to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
When he finally arrived at the room, he found Daichi once again in the middle of doing some core exercises. His earlier dazed expression was filled with determination.
Once he saw Ken he quickly stood up and approached him with excitement on his face.
"We did it bro, everything is going according to your plan."
He could hardly contain his excitement as he bounced around like a kid in a candy store.
"Plan?" Ken tilted his head in question.
If Daichi wasn't so pumped up right now, he probably would have noticed that something was amiss. Yet since his mind was only on one thing, the object of his affection, he let out a nervous laugh.
"Ha ha, you're so funny big bro." He replied, slapping Ken on the arm.
"O-Ow, what the heck?"
The jolt of pain seemed to have jogged his memory, bringing his fraudulent plan back to the forefront of his mind.
'Ah crap… I thought he'd forget.'
Instantly, Ken started to feel some trepidation as he stared at Daichi's expectant expression. Only now did he regret his earlier words to his brother.
"Y-Yes… Of course I didn't forget little bro hahaha."
Ken slapped his brother on the back a few times, a little harder than was probably necessary in that moment.
"Good! So? When should we go talk to her?"
Hiroki who was nearby was not sure what they were talking about. However, after hearing Daichi's next words, his eyes widened in shock.
"H-Hey Daichi, about Miho. Did you know she's th—"
"I'm serious Ken, let's go with the next step of the plan."
Daichi didn't even let Hiroki finish the last part of his sentence as he was too eager. He grabbed his bags and draped his arm around Ken's tall shoulders before walking out the door.
Hiroki was left by himself in the room, feeling a rush of anxiety. However, in the next moment he let out a sigh and shrugged.
"As long as it's not me hitting on the Head Coach's Granddaughter…" He mumbled.
Thus, the two brothers walked down the hall in order to complete the next step of the plan. Even if the plan was made by someone with no knowledge of women, nor relationships in the least.
Perhaps it was the blind confidence of youth that would allow someone with Daichi's intelligence to trust a long time virgin with his love affairs. Or maybe it was because he thought Ken would have experience with Ai.
Either way, Daichi had unknowingly misplaced his trust in the wrong person.
Ken who looked as if he was marching to his own execution quickly tried to brainstorm ideas.
That was when he remembered.
'Isn't Mika a woman?'
He was so overwhelmed with joy that he actually stopped dead in his tracks, prompting Daichi to give him a questioning look.
'Mika what—"
[Mika is an AI powered by the system. Mika is neither male nor female.]
The cold and monotonous voice didn't even allow him to finish the question, instantly squashing the embers of hope that had begun to spark from within.
He frowned in the next moment.
'But aren't you binary? Since you're kind of like a computer program.'
[…]
[Activating Flatulence protocol]
'AH NO WAIT! IT WAS A JOKE'
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT
Ken who was standing in the hallway of the dorms, suddenly became the epicenter of an explosion of deadly gases. There was something like a shock wave which rattled some of the nearby open doors.
Daichi stared in horror at Ken who had all of a sudden stopped before letting out an outrageous fart.
A moment of silence ensued in which no one reacted.
In the next moment, Ken was like the wind as he bolted down the hallway at full speed as if he had just committed a crime, Leaving Daichi to stare at his retreating figure.
His face morphed in the next moment as the deadliest part of the attack surfaced, drilling into his nasal passages with ill intent.
"Dude what the hell was that!?"
"Argh man it's in my mouth."
"BLEEERGH"
The sounds of the affected players entered Daichi's ears as he was suddenly snapped out of his confusion.
'Oh no… they're going to think it was me!'
As the players started peaking into the hallway to see what had caused the disturbance, they could only see a flash running towards the doors to the lobby.
"Who the hell was that?"
"Dude just dropped a bomb and ran for it."
Daichi felt his heart race as he finally managed to make it outside. Thankfully he had managed to remember his bag amidst the turmoil, meaning he wouldn't have to go back to the battlefield.
He saw Ken a bit further away and was about to confront him about what had happened, however he quickly halted in the next moment after seeing who he was talking to.
'Miho? What's going on?'
"Ah Daichi, just the man I was talking about." Ken said with a refined smile.
'Eh?'
Miho turned her attention towards him, her beautiful green eyes filled with question.
Instantly, Daichi became encumbered by his emotions after seeing her pretty features looking at him wordlessly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ken beckoning him to come forward.
Finally, he managed to get his body to move and stepped forward to enter in the conversation.
"Uh, hey." He said, sounding a little thick headed and slow.
Resisting the urge to face palm, Ken tried to steer the conversation before Miho lost interest.
"Ah, I was just telling Miho here that you were also interested in nutrition and sports science." He flashed a look at Daichi, as if to tell him to play along with it.
Daichi inwardly panicked however, he soon nodded like a pecking chicken.
"Y-Yes, I'm always looking at ways to improve my health and performance on the field." He managed to say, surprising Ken a little.