Finally, Kuro broke the silence, changing the subject.
“I heard we have film study this afternoon. It really feels like I’m back at school.”
“Yeah you can say that again.”
Both Daichi and Aki groaned, agreeing with the sentiment.
It was only Ken and Hiroki that seemed to be confused.
“What do you mean it feels like school again? Do you guys study film after practice?” Ken asked, mirroring Hiroki’s thoughts.
This time it was everyone else’s turn to look weirdly at Ken.
“Are you telling me the winning team of Koshien doesn’t watch film?” Aki’s mouth widened in shock.
Ken shifted a little uncomfortably. He felt as if his coach’s abilities were being questioned, yet he eventually held firm.
“I mean, we watched film of the teams we were competing against in Koshien the night before and would have a meeting. But never prior to then.” He replied.
Hiroki nodded in response.
The other 3 players were taken aback, yet that only lasted for a little while before Aki started complaining.
“Damn it, I’m gonna give it to my coach when I get back.” Aki said with annoyance.
“There’s no way I’ll be studying film in the future, unless its for big games.” He continued.
Kuro finally had a gloomy expression to match his features.
Studying film was probably the most boring aspect of playing for a High School baseball club, yet the top team of this year did not have to go through such things. Wasn’t this a testament to how useless this was?
Once again everyone was silent at the table, yet this time the atmosphere was dull.
Only after everyone started eating for a while did things start to return to normal.
“Hey isn’t that the guy who got two home runs at the Koshien finals?”
Suddenly, Ken’s ears perked up as he heard the next table over chatting away. He turned his head to see a couple of university students pointing to their table, their eyes on Hiroki.
“Wow he looks even more cute in person.”
“I really liked the one that batted first, he was really hot. Where is he?”
Hiroki happened to overhear some of the words describing him and instantly flushed red. He couldn’t help but lower his head in embarrassment.
Just as Ken was about to give him a bit of a hard time, their next words caused him to freeze in place.
“Ah, there’s that pitcher that got smashed in the head by that ball in the semi finals!”
While the earlier words were said a little softly, these were almost shouted, causing everyone in the vicinity to stare directly at their table.
Daichi who happened to be the catcher during that fateful play, quickly hid his face, not wanting to be recognized by the loud students.
A flash of annoyance crept onto Ken’s face as he quickly stood up from his chair and approached the loud group of girls.
He leaned in closely with a stiff smile painted on his face.
“Hey, would you mind keeping it down a little. We’re trying to eat here.”
However, it seemed to have the opposite effect that he wanted. The girls in question didn’t seem to like getting talked to in such a way by a mere freshman from high school.
The ironic thing was that the High Schooler had been more mature about the situation than them who were practically adults at this stage.
Just as the girls in question were going to make a ruckus, a girl appeared next to Ken and nudged him out of the way.
Upon seeing this new arrival, the group of girls suddenly paled.
“Film study starts soon, you guys should go and get ready.”
Miho’s voice sounded, causing Daichi to swivel his head in her direction.
Ken took a brief look at her before nodding. He could tell that if she hadn’t intervened, he probably would have had all sorts of insults slung at him for no reason.
“Come on, let’s go.” Ken said, grabbing his food tray and heading back up to the front of the cafeteria.
Everyone quickly followed behind apart from Daichi who lingered for a few moments.
Miho watched them leave with a small smile on her face before turning her attention back to the trio who had been making a commotion.
“We’ll be here for 4 days. If I hear another word of you causing a disturbance, I’ll be sure to let the Dean know.”
Without waiting for a response, she waltzed away, no longer paying attention to the group.
Ken had seen the small interaction which made him wonder what kind of connections Miho must have to pull off such a thing.
He had originally found it a little odd that the National Team would have access to the Tokyo University Campus, even if it was only for 4 days. Ken also didn’t think that the Head Coach’s name would be able to pull strings at such a prestigious college.
‘There must be more to Miho than meets the eye.’ Ken thought inwardly.
Ken and the others made their way back to the dorms before hitting the showers. Not long later they all made their way to the meeting room which was located not far from the cafeteria.
Upon entering, it looked like a typical university classroom with plenty of chairs that sloped upwards, rather similar to a theater.
With the white screen which had been lowered from the ceiling, it looked even more like they had arrived to watch a movie.
Ken had arrived with the same group that he’d had lunch with. They decided to head closer to the front since there was only 16 players in the team total.
Around 10 minutes later, most of the team had shown up.
Coach Takashi was the one to speak first, welcoming the players.
“Alright, before we start talking about the upcoming World Cup, I wanted to share with you our vision for the team.” He said, his hands clasped together behind his back.