Suddenly Ken was reluctant to open the door, afraid of what he would see on the other side. However, his Dauntless trait seemed to quash any of the fear in his heart in that moment.
A look of resolution appeared on his features as he quickly opened the door.
“Eh?”
Ken stared blankly at the scene laid out before him.
Daichi was shirtless in the middle of the floor, doing core exercises like a mad man. He was covered in sweat, creating a pool beneath him as he worked out.
“Daichi… are you all good bro?” Ken asked, feeling a sense of worry for his brother.
“Ah Ken…”
His brother almost jumped in fright as he heard his voice from the open door. It seemed that he was fully focused in the workout and hadn’t heard anything until now.
He got up off the floor and quickly looked for a shirt. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed about having his shirt off in front of his brother, just that Hiroki with his godlike abs was still asleep nearby.
Daichi glanced at Hiroki on the bed with a look of annoyance before putting his shirt back on.
Ken’s mind suddenly put the pieces together as he thought about what had happened last night in the cafeteria.
“Pfft.”
He quickly covered his mouth to prevent his laughter from peeling out yet his eyes still danced with amusement. Before he could be discovered, Ken turned around and tried to compose himself.
“Wake up Hiroki and let’s go for a run…”
With that he closed the door and waited outside, leaving Daichi in the room filled with questions. It was then that he heard muffled laughter from behind the door.
“Huh? What’s so funny?” He murmured.
“Oi, wake up. We’re going for a run.” Daichi said with annoyance, shoving Hiroki’s innocent and peaceful sleeping figure.
“Snort. Huh? What’s wrong?” Hiroki let out a snort before almost jumping out of bed as he was suddenly awoken from a deep sleep.
“We. Are. Going. Running.”
Daichi spelled out, his annoyance evident. Without saying another word he grabbed his shoes and left the room.
Hiroki blinked in confusion. He had sensed the annoyance in Ken’s brother since yesterday, though he had no idea what he’d done to deserve it.
“Man those brothers are an odd bunch.” He murmured, still feeling half asleep.
Around a few minutes later, the trio began their run around the Tokyo University campus.
Since they had plenty more trials to do later that day, Ken wanted to keep the run light. Yet Daichi seemed to have other plans as he did his best to compete with Hiroki throughout their run.
Ken was growing more and more annoyed as time grew on. He finally got to a point where he just stopped in place, causing the other two to also stop and ask what was wrong.
“Hey man, why did you stop?” Daichi asked, his breathing already labored.
“What are you doing?” Ken asked, his annoyance evident.
Daichi started to get a little defensive, “What do you mean? I’m running of course.”
Hiroki suddenly had a bad premonition and was about to make some excuse about needing to leave. However, just as he was about to move, he received a glare from Ken, rooting him on the spot.
“Why are you expending all of your energy? Don’t you know that we’ve got trials today?”
“O-Of course I do. It’s just that—”
“Don’t give me that crap!” Ken interrupted his brother who was about to make up some excuse. In that moment he truly looked angry, something they hadn’t expected.
A brief silence followed as the two stared at Ken.
“Can’t you see that I’m trying to lessen our pace? We need to conserve our energy for what happens today.”
“Do you not think I can handle it?” Daichi asked, his face turning up in a frown.
Ken walked closer to Daichi and got into his face. He wasn’t sure what was going on with his brother, but he needed it to stop.
Throughout both of his lifetimes of knowing Daichi, he’d never seen him act this childish before.
“There’s something else wrong, and I need you to tell me.”
Ken was firm, his eyes unyielding as he stared at his brother.
Daichi’s eyes imperceptibly flashed to Hiroki in that moment, almost a dead giveaway that there was some tension there.
‘Don’t tell me it’s jealousy?’ Ken was flabbergasted.
At first he thought the whole situation was a little funny, a nice little rivalry that could help light a fire under his brother to improve. However, he could tell that Daichi was not taking it this way.
He let out a small sigh and placed his hand on Daichi’s shoulder before turning to Hiroki.
“You go on ahead, we’ll meet up in the cafeteria.”
Hiroki didn’t hesitate to make a run for it, realizing that he had no place in what was about to come next.
Once he’d left, Ken gripped Daichi’s shoulder a little before letting out a smile.
“This is about Miho right?”
“Eh!?”
Daichi’s face turned red before he quickly backpedaled a few steps. It was clear that he wasn’t expecting Ken to nail it right on the head.
“It’s okay bro, we’re both men. There’s no need to hide such things.” Ken said soothingly.
Daichi paused, looking at his brother’s face, a man he trusted more than anyone. It took a little while, but he finally let out a sigh and began to speak his mind.
“I… I don’t know how to explain it. Whenever I see her I get this feeling inside my stomach.” He admitted.
Ken nodded. He had an inkling that Daichi had a crush on the nutritionist, but his words now confirmed it.
“Is that why you’re being so childish with Hiroki?” Ken said with a grin.
Daichi’s guilty face confirmed it. It seemed that he had felt threatened when Miho had reacted in such a way to Hiroki’s body. That’s why he was also trying to get a killer six pack of his own.
Ken threw his arm around his brother’s shoulder and began to walk along back to the dorms. Though he was inept when it came to women, he was good at problem solving.
“First of all, we need to make sure you get selected to the team. That way you’ll have more time to impress Miho.”
As the two walked, Ken began to lay out a plan for Daichi like a good brother. Of course his main goal was for Daichi to be selected in the squad, so he made sure everything revolved around that point.