After school, the duo hopped in the trusty Silverado and headed to the Gladiators for practice. Now that they had truly spoken about the future, Steve seemed to be a lot more determined, rather than his mischievous self.
Ken was feeling rather happy after clearing the air. Back in Japan he had his brother who had helped push him along towards the end goal, but he was lacking this in America, at least until today.
Not only did Steve have crazy potential, he was also the kind of guy that mirrored the motivation and work ethic of those around him. Next to Ken who was essentially a training freak, Steve would never have a day of rest until the end of his Senior year.
Just thinking about it brought a smile to Ken's face.
"You're doing that thing again…" Steve muttered, pulling his gaze back onto the road.
"Huh? What thing?" Ken asked with confusion evident in his tone.
"That damn creepy smile of yours!"
Ken was puzzled, moving his hand up to his lips. He then confirmed that he was indeed smiling for some reason. Feeling a little self conscious, he pulled down the sun visor and looked in the mirror.
What he saw was just his regular smile. He turned to Steve with a blank expression, "Are you making fun of me?"
"Eh? Not really. I mean, since you're like 6'4 and 200 pounds, God had to balance you somehow." Steve quipped, his mischievous smile returning.
Ken blinked a few times, his gaze planted to the side of the guy's face. He looked him up and down before delivering his next line with a straight face, "Looks like God gave you all the wit, but no intelligence."
Steve's face fell, turning to Ken as if he'd just insulted his ancestors. The two looked at each other before bursting into laugher. The sudden dark insult had been too abrupt, yet the two found it hilarious.
The good thing about male friendships was that they could throw heinous insults at each other, yet still remain comrades, even finding the humor buried underneath it all.
As the trip continued, it was quiet for a little while as the two sat in silence. Ken had a few worries that he'd been bottling up for the last week, something that he wasn't too comfortable airing.
However, he felt that the dynamic between him and Steve had progressed enough to bring it up.
"Hey, is that the best competition we'll be facing with the Gladiators?" Ken asked.
"Hmm? You mean the PG tournament last week?"
"Yeah."
Steve turned to Ken with an incredulous gaze, however he quickly remembered that the guy had only been in America for around a month. It made sense that he didn't know.
"Well, last weekend was a regional tournament for San Antonio and the immediate surroundings. You shouldn't be surprised that there weren't many big names there." Steve said simply.
Ken nodded, but before he could ask, Steve continued.
"But with the Gladiators, we also enter National Tournaments with a few of the teams. Since it's a rather big club, we get invited rather regularly."
"Eh? Really?" Ken's eyes lit up. The biggest concern he had with the Gladiators was the level of competition that they'd be facing. However, with this new information, it seemed that he was worried for nothing.
"Mmm. We're actually one of the biggest clubs in Texas. Have you heard of Adidad?" He asked.
"The clothing line?"
"Yeah, they actually sponsor us."
"What!? How come I didn't know that our club was this big?"
"Well, you've only been on the team for almost 2 weeks. In fact, you missed out on the tryouts where almost 200 people turned up for our age bracket alone." Steve replied matter-of-factly.
Ken went into deep thought. He felt a little bad that he'd essentially skipped the tryouts, but there was no doubt in his mind he would have made it anyway. But the fact that the Gladiators was actually a big club left him feeling joyous.
If he could go up against the best teams in the country, not only could he get access to college scouts, but he'd also not die of boredom.
"Thank you…"
"Hmm?" Steve turned his gaze to Ken briefly, only to see him clenching his fists in excitement.
"If you hadn't have introduced me to the travel team, I probably would have missed out on this opportunity." Ken admitted, feeling grateful.
Steve felt his face heat up a little, "Ahem. What are friends for right?"
"Mmm."
Ken sat in silence for the rest of the trip, his mind working. It was such a relief to know that he would not have to patiently wait until finishing High School to face some decent competition.
'Ai, Daichi… For the first time I feel like I made the right decision.' He said inwardly, thinking about his brother and girlfriend.
After over a month apart from them, only now did he feel like it was worth it. This past week he had constantly been questioning himself, wondering if he'd taken a step backwards by making this decision.
He was sacrificing seeing the two who meant so much to him, just to waste away in America. In addition to being homesick and missing his loved ones, he missed his old team and the collective goal of competing at Koshien.
There honestly was nothing like it here in the states.
But now things had changed. With the opportunity to play in large tournaments with his new travel team, Ken felt a surge of excitement and determination. Would the home of baseball be able to challenge him just as well as Japan could? He wasn't sure.
The only thing that he wanted to do now was keep improving, alongside his friend.
'Once I finish Mika's training plan, I'll be able to take the SSS-Grade Physical Elixirs. By then I'll already be as physically fit as some of the best college players.' Ken thought, squeezing his fists in anticipation.