A couple of days later, the trio of Ken, Daichi and Chris arrived at the Tokyo University Campus. Since Chris was part of the coaching staff, they were here a lot earlier than any of the other players.
"You two go to the dorms and pick out a room. There's still two hours till everyone is meant to get here."
"Aye aye sir."
Both Ken and Daichi responded at the same time, unable to keep their chuckles at bay.
This had become their common saying since Ken's outburst at the tryouts.
Judging by Chris's reaction, it was not the first time he'd heard it.
Rolling his eyes, their father ignored the two and quickly walked towards the entrance doors.
Undeterred, Ken let out a stretch after the 1 hour car ride, making good use of the free space in his surroundings.
"Man, I still can't believe we both made it on the team." He said, briefly looking at his brother.
"Heh, speak for yourself. I had no doubts at all." Daichi said dismissively.
His words received a skeptical gaze from Ken, however he decided not to call him out. He could still remember the supportive look he received from Daichi even after he thought he hadn't made the team.
Some things were better left unsaid.
"Anyway, we get the first pick of the dorms."
Ken cheered inwardly knowing that he would not get bamboozled out of a room by Hiroki once more. For some reason he had a terrible win-rate in rock, paper, scissors.
"Sweet, let's go." Daichi moved forward a few paces before he froze in place.
"Wait, do you think Miho will be here already? I mean, she would have come with the Head Coach right?"
"Ah…" Ken's features became dire as he thought about it.
"But it shouldn't matter right? It's not like you two are dating or anything, she just gave you her email address." Ken stated what he believed to be the obvious.
Daichi nodded, but inwardly he was still anxious.
"What if she thinks I don't like her because I haven't sent her a mail?" His face turned grim in the next moment as he began his mental gymnastics.
Ken shook his head in exasperation.
"Dude, I'm sure women aren't like that." Despite only receiving his first kiss a couple of days before, Ken's words were filled with a dangerous level of confidence.
"Y-Yeah, you're probably right."
After finally calming Daichi down, the two walked towards the main entrance of the campus, taking in the familiar sight. They knew exactly where to go, heading left at the lobby towards the dorms.
As they did so, they saw a figure coming from the dorms. She had her black hair tied in a practical bun and wore the National Team jersey which seemed a little big for her size.
Ken felt Daichi tense up beside him, yet he tried his best to act natural. He nudged his brother with his elbow, trying to tell him to say good morning.
"Ow… Ah, good morning Miho." He said a moment later, trying to sound cheerful.
"Hmph."
Miho took one glance at Daichi before turning her head and ignoring him. She continued walking as if he was a piece of poop on the side of the road.
Daichi let out a short gasp, feeling as if his soul had left his body. The way he dramatically leaned on Ken while clutching his heart would have been funny if he hadn't needed to support his weight.
"Ahhhh damn. Looks like she's mad." Ken uttered, watching her figure leave towards the lobby.
He turned his attention to Daichi who seemed to be in a catatonic state of heartbreak and resisted the urge to slap some sense into him.
"Oi, snap out of it." Ken said, clicking his fingers in front of the guy's face.
"It's over… I messed up. Now she'll never like me." He said, sounding like a drunk old man out on the town.
Ken did his best to shift the dead weight of Daichi off of him and back to his feet. However, the bastard weighed far too much for him to move thanks to their height difference.
In the end, he decided to move out of the way and let the lunk fall to the floor, causing a thud to ring out in the empty hallway.
Yet Daichi didn't even react, merely staring up at the ceiling with heartbreak written across his face.
Ken got down on his haunches and stared him in the eyes.
"Alright man, let's think about this from another viewpoint." He said, trying to motivate his brother.
"It's two outs in the bottom of the 9th and we're down in the count. I need you to be sharpen up otherwise we're gonna lose the game okay?"
Daichi blinked a few times before staring at him.
"Who is pitching?" He asked, his face dead serious.
Ken frowned, feeling his irritation rise. "What the hell does that even matter? This is an analogy!"
"What? What do you mean? Am I batting?"
It was evident that his words were going nowhere, therefore he resorted to the next best thing.
"Alright bye."
Ken stood back up and walked off to go find a dorm room, leaving his brother like one would a toddler throwing a tantrum.
"Ah, wait for me!"
Daichi quickly got himself off the floor, abandoning his dramatic scene in order to not get left behind. He soon caught up, yet there were still some vestiges of sadness on his face.
Ken of course wasn't so heartless as to abandon his brother in hard times, so he nudged him with his shoulder gently.
"Don't worry man, you can make it up to her later. She'll be traveling with us to America after all."
"Yeah… I guess you're right."
With that, the two found a dorm that was close to the lobby entrance and entered, dropping their bags off.
On each of their beds was a National Team jacket.