"What the hell man?" Steve complained, dragging his sore body towards the dorms. "That coach is even worse than you when it comes to training…"
"Mmm, I had a feeling he would be like this." Ken replied, remembering the smiling expression on the coach's face as he essentially tortured them.
"I'm sure it won't be this bad during the season." He continued.
The two made their way back to the dorm and showered before going to get some dinner. Thankfully the dorm had a few options, so they didn't need to go far to find food. With their schedules, there were only 30 minutes between classes, not leaving much time to eat through the day.
"Alright, I'm heading to sleep. I'm too sore to do anything else." Steve said, hopping straight into his bed.
"Ahem… You need to study." Ken said, sounding like a typical Asian parent in such a situation.
Steve sat up right away, his expression incredulous. "You want me to study on the very first day of college? What are you, my mom?"
Ken was silent for a few moments before nodding, "I guess you're right. But from tomorrow night onwards, we'll be adding study into our schedule." He stated, not allowing for any discussions.
Instead of replying, Steve grunted and rolled over, covering himself with the blanket. It was clear that today had taken a lot out of him.
Ken stifled a laugh, heading over to his own bed. Since this was the first proper day of his college life, it would take some getting used to the routine. However, living on campus made things a lot easier.
He laid down and got out his phone, opening the recent messages. He'd been so busy the last 24 hours that he hadn't even had the time to reply to his girlfriend.
Ai was only 40 minutes away, staying on campus at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The reason why he'd missed move in day, was because he was busy helping her set up and spending as much time as possible together.
The city in New York reminded him of Tokyo a little, with its bustling streets. However, the constant honking of horns took a bit of getting used to, as well as the less cleanly streets.
The two messaged back and forth for a while before Ken was beginning to get a little sleepy. He placed his phone down and opened up the system out of habit, going through his status window.
'I still have the Platinum and Diamond tickets from the pitching missions left to use.' He thought, his finger hovering over them. Ken was reluctant to use them just yet, not because he didn't want the rewards, but he wanted to learn as much as possible before doing so.
Even on the first day of training, he was able to improve his batting technique after only 10 minutes of consultation with the coach. With this in mind, he decided to keep them in storage until the season started.
Feeling his eyes getting heavy, Ken drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Ken woke up for his morning run, dragging Steve out of bed with him. After finishing the workout, the two went over to the Dodge Fitness Center instead of back to the dorms.
"Why are we going here?" Steve asked curiously. They didn't have baseball training in the mornings so it made no sense to him.
"Yoga." Ken responded nonchalantly.
Steve's eyes widened but he didn't outright reject it, his mind filling with certain possibilities. Ken happened to see the odd look on his friend's face and frowned.
"Don't get any weird ideas. I've heard that they're pretty strict with who joins." Ken warned him.
"Yeah yeah, whatever."
Upon arriving, Ken went to the place where Kaden had mentioned and eventually found the room. The moment he opened the door, 10 sets of eyes turned and stared directly at him.
"H—Hey, sorry if we're interrupting." He said, feeling a little awkward.
"Ken! Come in, come in. We're just getting started. There's some mats over there, get yourself situated." The guy seemed quite happy that he arrived, making Ken feel a little better.
The other people in the room were all college girls, apart from Kaden and his brother Ayden. Ken tried to wave and be polite, but all he received was a few frowns before being ignored.
Feeling that something was off, Ken felt suspicious. But it wasn't like he could ask them directly what was wrong, so he did as he was directed and grabbed a couple of mats, one for himself and one for Steve.
"Here you go." He said, handing Steve the mat. However, the dude was not paying attention, his gaze locked onto one of the girls who was wearing tights.
Ken rammed the mat into the guys ribs, causing him to jump in fright. "W—What was that for?"
He leaned in and whispered, "Keep your eyes to yourself. The last thing we need is to be labeled as creeps."
Steve nodded, realizing his mistake. It wasn't often that he would see girls like this, especially since growing up home schooled.
Kaden then began the yoga session, taking everyone through the stretches step by step. He had surprising flexibility, demonstrating the moves first before going around the class and helping out.
Ken was able to perform the stretches rather easily, but someone struggled far too much.
"Steve, you need to relax man. Arch your back here, and squeeze your butt cheeks." Ayden directed, standing directly above Steve.
"I'm trying man!" He exclaimed.
"No no, here let me help."
SLAP
"EEEK!"
Like a cockroach, Steve scurried along the ground as he was slapped on the behind by Kaden, leading to the room erupting in laughter. Whatever manliness he had been portraying had crumbled after the girly scream left his mouth.
However, Steve was too horrified to realize. His eyes locked onto Kaden with fear.
"Haha, sorry man I had no choice. You weren't tightening your glutes." He said with amusement.