“Next.”
“Daichi Takagi, 5’10 catcher. While lacking in athleticism, he was the best batter by a good margin. Coach Takashi would probably need to speak to his catching abilities.”
Chris called out his own son’s name and felt anxiety begin to grip his heart. He had to stay impartial in this moment, so after saying a brief introduction, he handed it over to the head coach.
***
Meanwhile in the cafeteria, Hiroki, Daichi and Ken sat down with their food in silence. Though they had performed the best they could, one couldn’t help but get anxious when they knew what was at stake.
It wasn’t just them, majority of the players who were in the cafeteria bore some level of anxiety.
The only outliers were Riku and Masayuki who either had immense confidence, or had experienced this situation enough times to get used to the feeling.
Daichi let out a small sigh before looking down at his food. Although he hadn’t eaten since breakfast, he had lost his appetite.
“Ken, what time do you thi—”
Daichi’s words died in his throat as he witnessed the sight in front of him. Ken had his rice bowl above his head and was shoveling it into his mouth with his chopsticks greedily.
He looked like someone who had been starved for days, not a mere 5 hours.
Seeing this, Daichi felt his eye twitch in irritation.
“How can you be so carefree Ken?” He asked, gripping his fists.
“Mmm?” Ken looked at his brother with a confused gaze while trying to chew and swallow all the contents in his mouth.
He was only able to answer after a while.
“It’s out of our control, why should I be anxious?” He said simply, almost as if he didn’t truly care about the result.
In reality, it was likely a result of his Dauntless trait. While it didn’t specifically state so in the description, it seemed to dull any negative emotions like stress and anxiety, allowing Ken to function properly in any circumstance.
Of course Hiroki and Daichi did not possess this cheat-like trait like Ken, however seeing his carefree attitude had seemingly rubbed off on them a little.
“Are you gonna eat that?”
Ken who had finished his 4th serving of rice, pointed to Daichi’s plate and asked.
Out of nowhere, a growl like that of a dog protecting its food came out of Daichi’s mouth, causing Ken to yank back his hand.
In the next moment Daichi began wolfing down his food as if he was scared it’d be taken from him.
Hiroki watched on with exasperation as the two brothers stuffed their faces like a couple of wild dogs.
‘These two really are something else…’ He thought inwardly.
Just as he was about to tuck into his own food, he felt two sharp gazes from Ken and Daichi who had finished their food and turned their attention to his.
“D-Don’t you dare… That’s my food!” He yelled in a hushed tone.
However, he was too slow to prevent two of his side dishes from disappearing from his tray.
“Oi! That’s mine.” Hiroki cried out.
Yet the two rabid dogs didn’t listen to him, shoving the food down their throats.
This only left him with one choice, eat everything before they could steal even more of his food.
By this time, the other players in the cafeteria had already heard the commotion over at the 1st year’s table. They saw the peculiar sight of what seemed to be an eating competition between the 3 teens.
“Looks like we’ve got some lively juniors.” Riku stated with his usual grinning expression.
Masayuki lifted his gaze towards the trio and couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Those 3 are monsters, I’m not surprised that they act like it off the baseball field.”
Riku raised his eyebrow, “Oh? That’s rare coming from you. I thought that you looked down on first years.”
Masayuki’s eyebrow twitched, feeling some annoyance.
“I never said that… Plus, can those guys even be considered first years?”
“What do you mean?”
He let out a deep sigh before responding. “Each one of them are monsters. A pitcher with a 100mph fastball, a dude with the physique of a Greek god and a catching prodigy who is wicked with the bat.”
There was no jealousy in his tone but he sounded exasperated.
Riku let out a hollow chuckle, “I don’t think having a physique of a Greek god has much to do with baseball.”
Masayuki gave his friend a look which said something along the lines of “You know what I mean.”
“Mmm, it’s true I guess.” Riku said while shrugging his shoulders.
If there was one term that Riku could be described with, it was probably “Happy-go-Lucky.”
Instead of getting caught up in the details, he just went with the flow or perhaps rolled with the punches would be a more apt description.
“So do you think they’ll get selected?”
This time it was Masayuki’s turn to shrug.
“We’ve never played under Coach Takashi before so how would I know.”
As the minutes ticked on, even the players who had been holding up alright through lunch were starting to crumble. Waiting for the results was probably the hardest thing for a player to do.
Even after an hour had passed there had been no word from any of the staff.
The players were too anxious to leave the cafeteria, just in case they were not present for the results. At the same time, they weren’t told they could leave after lunch.
Tap tap tap
Everyone’s ears perked up as they heard the sound of footsteps ringing in the hallway towards the cafeteria. A few of the players stood up in order to confirm that it was indeed the coaching staff returning from their meeting.
The staff walked into the cafeteria with Coach Takashi and Chris at the forefront, holding a clipboard in front of them.
“Thank you all for waiting. If we call your name, you’ve been selected as part of the 2017 National Team for the World Cup.”
Chris’s words rang out, causing those in attendance to quickly swallow their anxiety and pay attention.