***
The next day, Ken woke up feeling refreshed. Mika's sleep protocol, paired with his fatigue management had worked its magic. 7 hours sleep was more than enough for his mind and body to recover from the tension of the past couple of days.
Since it was 5am, Ken was ready for his morning workout. He stretched and headed towards the front door, turning the light switch on.
Instantly, Steve who was on the other bed, let out a groan of displeasure. With deft movements, he covered his face with the pillow, blocking out the light.
Ken's expression turned sharp, his inner drill instructor coming to the surface. He walked over casually and ripped the sheets off the guys bed. Yet it had no effect as Steve rolled over, trying to go back to sleep.
"So you have chosen death…"
Without a word, Ken cracked his neck and walked over to the bar fridge, collecting a bottle of ice cold water from the door. A wide grin crept onto his face as he thought of what kind of reaction his friend would have.
However, he hesitated. "How much is a bottle of water?"
He inspected the costs on the counter and almost had an aneurysm. "$6 for a water!? This is…"
"Totally worth it."
Without second guessing himself, he slowly approached the bed and cracked open the lid on the water bottle. He took a quick sip, only for his teeth to ache from how cold it was.
Ken lifted the bottle of water and judged the distance, letting out a satisfied nod. Then he tilted the bottle, watching as the liquid pour onto the unsuspecting Steve.
"EEEEK!"
The moment the water made contact with Steve's drawers, he let out a shriek, not unlike that of a little girl who had been frightened. He immediately scrambled to his feet, looking down at his now wet underwear, confusion written all over his face.
His hands quickly reached down, as if ensuring his parts were still attached before letting out a sigh of relief. Yet as he raised his gaze, he saw Ken drinking a bottle of water, staring at him indifferently.
"Did you piss yourself or something?" He asked nonchalantly.
"Y—You! Don't act like this wasn't your fault!" Steve instantly put two and two together, pointing his finger accusingly at his friend.
"Stop messing around. Go and get yourself cleaned up, we're going for a run." Ken acted like nothing had happened, yet inwardly he was chuckling darkly.
There was nothing more satisfying than messing with Steve, it truly made the monotonous days seem more bearable.
In truth, Ken's days consisted of brutal training and practice day-in day-out. This had been the case since the final year of middle school. If it weren't for his friends and teammates along the way, he probably would have burnt out by now.
While he might have made jokes about Shiro in the past for his incessant whining during training, just having him present was enough to make things fun.
Eventually, Steve managed to get himself off the bed and head into the bathroom with a new change of clothes. A few minutes later they were headed outside to get their workout in.
Surprisingly, Latrell and Max were waiting for them both in the lobby.
Latrell was one thing, but having Max there was not what Ken had been expecting. Yet now that he thought about it, seeing how serious the guy was yesterday, it made a lot of sense.
However, Ken didn't make a big deal out of it.
"You guys ready?" He asked casually.
"Mmm, let's do it."
Thus, the four left the hotel and began their morning workout. Since it was summer, the sun rose a little earlier than usual, so they only had to run in darkness for around 20 minutes.
As usual, Ken took the lead and set the pace. As soon as they could see the sun, Ken turned to the others and grinned. "Alright, warm up is over, let's go."
He took off, leaving the others behind in the dirt. The three stalled for a moment before increasing their speed and trying to keep up with him.
Around 40 minutes later, the trio was spent. Max was the worst out of the bunch, falling onto the ground and sucking in huge gasps of air as he tried to recover.
Both Latrell and Steve were still able to stand, albeit out of breath. Ken looked to be the best out of everyone as he paced back and forth, keeping his muscles warm.
He looked left and right, even looking at the direction where the sun was rising.
"Ah crap…"
All three players turned to Ken, feeling a pit in their stomach.
"Don't tell me…" Steve said between his labored breath.
"How do we get back to the Hotel?" Ken asked, looking at the others.
A colloquial groan rang out between the three. The problem with Ken setting the pace and running in front, was that he never had a planned route in advance, he just ran until he thought it was enough.
This meant that he would often get them lost, making it difficult to return. Steve was then forced to ask passers by for directions, which was beginning to get annoying.
"Why didn't you research a route yesterday since you also got lost on the last run?" Steve complained, his heart still beating out of his chest.
Ken sent him a glare, "Why don't you research a route then? Nothing's stopping you."
"I would, but you're the one who leads the damn run!"
Ken shrugged, "So pass me and lead the run yourself?"
Steve blinked a few times, feeling exasperated. He knew that when Ken got like this, there was no way of bargaining with him.
"How the hell can I pass you when you run so fast? Ya damn Antelope." Steve muttered under his breath, grinding his teeth.
"Eh? Did you say something?" Ken asked, placing his hand to his ear slowly.
Steve sighed, shaking his head. He looked around and saw a person jogging nearby and decided to intercept them, asking for directions.