Ken and Daichi made their way down to the meeting room, arriving a little early. Seeing as how the door was still closed, they decided to wait in the lobby, only for more and more of their teammates to join up.
Masayuki looked as if he'd just been woken up from a nap as he fell back into one of the couch's. It wasn't just him, many of the players looked fatigued, which was understandable.
They had now been in America for 11 days, if they counted the day that they arrived.
Over this span, they had played 10 baseball games against the best U18 players in the world. The fact that they had been able to hold on this long and remain undefeated was a testament to both their skill and drive.
The group sat in silence as the team started to congregate in the lobby. While they would usually be chatting or messing around, everyone seemed to have hit a wall.
"It all ends tomorrow huh?" Daichi spoke up, his tone laced with hidden emotion.
It seemed as if he wasn't just talking about the World Cup, but the current status quo.
"Yeah… We'll either be bringing back home the trophy, or going home in defeat." Kuro stated, his gloomy aura only adding to the melancholy of the atmosphere.
"What do you mean? We smashed the US team last time, and we'll do it again." Riku replied, not even wanting to entertain the thought of losing.
"It won't be that easy this time." Ken stated matter-of-factly.
He felt everyone in the lobby turn to him in that instant, though he didn't shrink back.
Masayuki sat himself forward and stared at Ken.
"Why do you say that?"
Ever since their last game against the US where Ken divulged his game plan to him and a few others, Masayuki had looked at Ken in a whole new light.
At first he had thought that the guy was a player who used their instinct to play the game, yet he had been greatly mistaken. Not only was he able to pinpoint the patterns in the US play style, he was able to come up with an effective measure to target these quirks.
"Whatever we learned last game will need to be scrapped. I can guarantee that the Coach would have seen through all of our plans by now." Ken replied.
His reason was simple. Because of 3 people… Ryan, Leo and his Grandfather.
Ryan had such a large ego that he would never let his performance down. If Ken knew his personality well enough, he believed that the guy would be reviewing their game like a hawk.
There was also the fact that he hadn't pitched at all in the following 2 games, likely conserving his strength for the finals tomorrow.
The next person was Leo, a man dubbed the catching machine. He was so methodical that Ken was able to use his own patterns against him. Due to the fact that Japan were able to score against not just Ryan, there was no way that he wouldn't figure anything out.
Lastly, his Grandfather… The Head Coach. The man who had taught his own father everything he knew about baseball.
Ken had no doubt that if anyone could figure out what he had done in their game, it was that man.
Masayuki nodded. Not only did he believe Ken, he didn't even ask for any supporting evidence.
"So we're back to square one?" Riku asked.
"Pretty much."
Before they could continue the conversation, a tired looking Chris walked into the lobby and directed everyone to enter the meeting room. Judging by his body language, he'd been working non-stop.
Ken was the first to get up, walking next to his father.
"We're on the home stretch." Ken said with a grin, placing his hand upon his father's shoulder.
"Mmm, 1 more game." Chris replied, flashing his son a grin.
Everyone filed into the meeting room, taking up the empty seats. By now, everyone had already claimed a regular seat that they would take up for every meeting, showing just how often they spent in there.
It took a few minutes for everyone to settle down, but eventually they regained their focus.
Coach Takashi made his way up the front, wanting to kick the meeting off in his usual fashion.
"With our last game against Canada today, it brings an end to the Super Round. Since we have remained undefeated in the World Cup thus far, we're sitting on top of the leader board." He said simply.
There were no flowery words, nor emotion in his tone. It was as if he was speaking about something completely irrelevant to himself and those present.
"Be that as it may, our job is not finished…"
He scanned the faces of his players in front of him with a serious demeanor.
"I could stand here right now and tell you all that you've done a wonderful job so far. I could pat you on the back and tell you how proud I am that we were able to remain undefeated against the best teams in the world…"
"But I won't."
The Head Coach began to pace back and forth, his words channeling directly into the player's hearts.
"I won't do such a thing because it means nothing. It holds no value… Not to you, and not to Japan."
His voice remained firm, yet there was an underlying passion within his words, one that evoked a rising response from those who heard it.
"You don't want words of comfort from me do you?"
"No sir!" The players shouted back in response.
"You're not a bunch of kids who need me to give you a pat on the back and coddle you right!?" This time the coach's voice rose in volume.
"No SIR!"
"Good… I won't mince any words with you, tomorrow will be our toughest game yet. Whatever happened against the US team in the last game was nothing but us catching them off guard."
"We can't afford to be complacent, not against this team… Which is why we'll be making some changes to the line up."