"Hey, if the Ace wants to eat with a knife and fork to keep his fingers clean, there's nothing wrong with that." Latrell spoke up for Ken, sending him a nod.
"Ay? I just clean my fingers like this." Steve said, sucking the juices of his fingers exaggeratedly, making some rather odd noises in the process.
Ken almost dropped his cutlery, staring at the guy as if he had two heads.
This only caused the table to erupt into laughter. It was a rather odd affair, almost as if the team was coming closer together in this short span of time.
Coach Wyatt saw the scene and couldn't help but smile widely, his mustache mirroring the shape of his lips. If one squinted, they would find an uncanny resemblance to the Cheshire cat.
His eyes landed on Ken with mixed emotions. He had been coaching for almost 15 years, yet this kid was the most talented he'd come across, especially at the tender age of 18.
Having been an NCAA player for 4 years during college and going undrafted, he played around in the minor leagues for a few years before calling it quits. If it wasn't for his undying love of the sport, he would have left it behind for good.
'This is why I do it…' He thought.
It wasn't often that he became sentimental, but finding such a player really stoked something from within him. Even if it had only been a week, he could feel the drive and determination from Ken, something that he wished he possessed.
"Coach, has the schedule been released for tomorrow?"
A voice snapped him out of his reverie, bringing him back to reality. "Ah, yes. I'll email it to you."
***
The next morning, Ken woke up at 5am sharp and could hear the soft snores of his roommates. It was still dark, but his great eyesight managed to cut through and locate his friend.
Ken walked over to the sleeping figure and nudged him, "Time for our morning run." He said softly. After receiving no response, he began to nudge harder, only to see the guy stir awake.
Steve opened his eyes slowly, staring up at the figure who had awoken him. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust, but what he saw made him jump in fright, dumping adrenaline into his system.
He gawked in horror at the devious smile that stared at him through the darkness.
Steve did the sign of the cross, whispering a prayer for protection from the demon who had appeared in his room.
"Dude… Stop messing around and get dressed. We're going for a run." Ken said, raising his eyebrow in question. With that, he moved towards the door, unaware of the fear he'd just invoked in his friend.
It took Steve another minute to calm his beating heart and understand what had happened. He was not really a morning person at the best of times, yet he still followed Ken, albeit like a man who was being sent to the gallows.
However, once they started their run, Steve began to get into it. He wasn't opposed to things like this, but he was never really pushed to do so, nor did he have the motivation to do it himself.
'I could get used to this.' He admitted, getting into a rhythm.
"Alright, warm up is over. Let's start the workout." Ken said beside him, instantly kicking it up a gear.
"Huh!?" Steve saw the guy's figure pull ahead at a fast pace, causing him to almost curse under his breath. It was clear that his expectation of a light morning run was not what Ken had in mind.
He did his best to catch up, but Ken's figure seemed to get farther and farther away from him. It was only after around 30 minutes that he saw the guy stopped in the middle of the pathway, waiting for him.
Upon arriving, Steve bent down with his hands on his knees and began to suck in deep breaths. He didn't even address Ken, focusing on his own flailing lungs and lack of oxygen.
Only after almost a minute did he look up, only to see the tall guy looking around with a weird expression on his face.
"What is it?"
"Mmm… I have no idea where we are."
"…"
"HUH!?" Steve blurted out incredulously. He had been so focused on trying to catch Ken's figure that he hadn't paid attention to any of the twists and turns they encountered along the way.
Not only this, the sun was not even out yet, but they were now lost.
"I guess we'll just turn around and hope for the best." Ken said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.
Before Steve could retort or even properly catch his breath, Ken began to run back the way they had come from.
"W—Wait for me!"
Almost an hour later, Ken finally arrived back at the motel they were staying at and nodded in satisfaction. Thankfully, he managed to ask another person on their morning jog for directions.
Ken waited out the front, completing his usual cooling down stretches. All up he estimated they ran around 12 miles which was more than what he would run back in Japan.
Of course, this wasn't intentional, just that he'd taken a few… Detours.
Around 10 minutes later, a figure appeared from the pathway, his every step sending sweat flying onto the ground. The sound of heavy panting filled Ken's ears as he watched the sorry figure of Steve arrive.
"What… The… Hell man…" Steve spoke in between his gasps for breath. However, he seemed to be far too tired for any sort of confrontation, collapsing onto the ground in the next moment.
Ken shook his head, feeling a sense exasperation as he looked at the sorry figure before him.
'Will he even be able to keep up with the Mika's training plan?" Ken said inwardly, having his doubts. This past week could be considered a test, however, the real training would start after the tournament.