He looked at the date before frowning. Since it was Summer break, he had wanted to head back to Japan before he started his Senior year. That way he would be able to spend time with both Ai and Daichi, perhaps even his old school friends as well.
'Early July… That should be fine.' Ken thought. Although it might be summer break over here, Japan didn't start their break until mid-July.
He was thoughtful for a little while, only for his eyes to light up a moment later, followed by a small grin.
'The end of Mika's training plan will be in a couple of weeks. I'll be able to take the SSS-Grade Physical Elixir before joining the showcase.'
Ken was practically salivating at the idea of improving his physical grades. It had felt like he'd been stagnant for the longest time, yet now he was not far away from breaking through his limits.
Of course he could have taken the Elixir whenever he wanted, but he felt that this way was better. If the System were to ever shut down or upgrade again, then he would at least have some peace of mind that he wouldn't regress like before.
'Ok it's settled. I'll attend the showcase and head back to Japan afterwards for a month or so. Then maybe I can spend time with Grandpa before my Senior year starts.' Ken thought, making his mind up.
He lowered his head and began to send off some messages to his family and girlfriend to let them know of his results. He would save talking about his trip to Japan after hashing out all the details in person with his mother and father.
Once he was done, Steve had already returned from the bathroom. As he opened the door, a horrid smell wafted into the room, mixed amongst the steam of the shower.
Ken turned up his nose and pointed to his friend, "Close the damn door!" he shouted in horror.
Steve froze, but his face soon bore his trademark mischievous smile. "What was that?"
He began to open and close the door, fanning both the steam and the smell it contained into the small bedroom. What was originally just a small stench, suddenly filled the whole place.
"BASK IN MY STENCH!" He shouted, laughing in a carefree manner. That was, until he saw Ken's dark expression.
"Ha…haha, it was just a joke." Steve said, promptly closing the door. However, the damage had been done already.
Seeing Ken's figure approach, still garbed in a towel, Steve panicked, slowly backing up until he was against the wall.
"P—Please no! I'm sorry…"
Steve pleaded with Ken who looked like he was about to enact some violence upon him. However, his pleas turned into a horror-filled scream when he saw Ken about to remove his towel.
"O—Oi what are you doing man?" He squealed, expecting to see a snake and bush revealed from behind the veil. However, upon seeing that Ken was wearing underwear, he breathed a small sigh of relief.
CRACK
At least that was until the towel was used to whip him on his exposed skin.
"YOWCH!"
CRACK CRACK
Around 25 minutes later, both Ken and Steve appeared in the hotel restaurant, only to see the Coach at a large table. Usually they ate apart in their separate groups, but it seemed the Coach had managed to convince the restaurant to put them all together.
"Ken, Steve, come give us a hand." The coach called out, waving them over.
The two walked over, helping to move some of the tables and chairs so that everyone had a place to sit. Soon enough, more and more of their teammates arrived, adding to the bristling atmosphere.
Around 10 minutes later, everyone had arrived at the table and had already begun to grab drinks.
"Okay guys, listen up." The coach called out, getting everyone's attention.
The chatter instantly died down as they all turned to the coach.
"First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for their hard work for this tournament. You all showed that you have the ability to act like professionals, both on and off the field." His words were sincere, and it seemed like he was holding back some emotion.
"I would have been happy with making it to the single-elimination bracket, but it seems like I might have sold ourselves short." He said, letting out a chuckle.
"Pfft, you think Ken would have let us get knocked out in the single-elimination bracket?" Steve piped up, garnering some laughter from the others.
"Hmm?" Ken looked around, only to see his teammates looking at him fondly.
"Yeah, you're right. I underestimated just how much you guys wanted to win. Well, I wanted to take this time to celebrate what we managed to accomplish as a team. Please raise your glasses and lets make a toast."
Hearing this, everyone grabbed their drinks which was mainly soda or juice and held them up. "To the WWBA Tournament Champions."
"To the Champions!"
Despite the drinks not being alcoholic, everyone emptied the contents of the cups into their mouths and slammed them back onto the table. Following this, everyone began to chatter amongst themselves happily.
"Go help yourself to the buffet, make sure you leave room for dessert though." Coach Wyatt added, flashing a grin.
"Come on Mr. MVP, let's grab some food." Steve said, nudging Ken in the arm.
Ken let out a groan. Just hearing the words MVP made him think about the lack of a system mission for the tournament, making him annoyed.
Steve raised his eyebrow in question, but decided to drop it. "I'm gonna eat a lot tonight~" He stated with a grin.
"The next dump you take better be in the public toilets…" Ken warned, his eye twitching.
"Y—Yes sir…" Steve replied, half in fear.
With that, the Gladiators team celebrated into the night together. Having gone through such an experience together, they were closer than ever as a team.
It wasn't until around 11pm that the coach ordered everyone to go to bed. They had a flight back to Austin the next morning, one that they couldn't miss.