Just then, the sound of the door opening entered their ears as Daichi entered the room. His face was wearing a dumb smile, making him look like a young kid.
However, upon seeing both Ken and Hiroki staring back at him, his face grew puzzled.
“Why are you too still awake? It’s already midnight.”
“Ken just had a bad dream and woke up now. Why are you only coming back now?” Hiroki responded.
Daichi’s face quickly reverted back to his dumb smile as he was about to tell his tale.
“That’s enough, we have an important game tomorrow. Quickly go to bed, you can tell us in the morning.” Ken interjected, bringing the other two back to reality.
The look he gave Daichi was enough to make him drop his head. He’d been told more than a few times to come back at a reasonable time, yet here he was at midnight trying to sneak into the room.
“Y-Yes sir.”
Daichi moved to his bed, letting out a frown after seeing that the covers were already messed up.
He flashed Hiroki an irritated look before slumping into bed and turning the lamp off, leaving the guy standing awkwardly.
‘Damn it.’ Hiroki cursed inwardly.
***
The next morning, Ken woke up feeling refreshed. He had drifted off to sleep last night after using his new memory recall abilities, something that he regretted. He had already decided never to do this again since he couldn’t control what memories he saw with his subconscious.
The scene he’d experienced, or re-experienced in this case, was his death in his previous life. It was so vivid, that Ken felt like he had died once more, leading to him waking up in such a state before Daichi arrived.
He had been a little worried going back to sleep, but after using Mika’s sleep protocol, there was no such issues afterwards.
It was currently 7am and he was down at breakfast with Hiroki. They had let Daichi sleep for a while longer, wanting him to be fresh for the game.
“What are you doing until the game? Did you want to come work out with me?” Hiroki asked as he plowed into the omelet in front of him.
Ken shook his head, “I’ve got other plans this morning.”
“Hmm?” Hiroki lifted his head with a mouthful of omelet, sending him a questioning gaze.
“Don’t worry about it and eat your food. I’ll catch up with you before we leave.” Ken stated before standing up and leaving the dining area.
He made his way to the meeting room, leaving his friend behind who still wore a confused expression.
Ken knocked a few times on the door before entering. Coach Takashi and his father were the only ones in the room, likely setting up for the coach’s morning meeting.
“Ah, Ken my boy. What can we do for you?” The Head Coach asked, his tone almost too jolly for this early in the morning.
It was clear by this interaction that he was still under the impression his father was going to talk to him about Miho. Ken stuck to the plan, feigning ignorance.
“How much tape of the US team do you have?” He asked, mainly directing the question to his father.
“Hmm? We’ve got all of their games from the World Cup so far.” Chris replied, though he seemed a little confused.
“Do you have a copy? I want to do a bit more research.”
“Oho. I never picked you for one of those types.” Coach Takashi said, his hand instinctively reach up to his goatee and stroking it.
Ignoring the Head Coach, he waited for his father’s reply.
“Ah sure… We have a backup hard drive.” He said, before heading to the desk and pulling out a USB external hard drive.
He moved forward and placed it in Ken’s hand, though he still seemed rather perplexed at his actions. It wasn’t like his son to be doing things like this.
‘Has Daichi rubbed off on him?’ Chris thought in his heart.
“Thanks Coach.” Ken replied with a grin, giving the Head Coach a nod on his way past.
Once Ken left, Coach Takashi sent a look of approval to Chris. He seemed to be please with Ken’s behavior, improving his overall opinion of the boy.
Chris was forced to smile, feeling awkward at the interaction. If they hadn’t come up with a plan the night before, he might have nervously spilled the beans in that moment.
Unaware, or at least unconcerned with his father’s plight. Ken went back upstairs with the hard drive. He still had one of the staff’s laptops and would be spending the rest of his morning going over tape.
With the new Academic trait, he was sure that this was the most efficient use of time.
Upon entering his room, Daichi was still fast asleep on the bed, a smile planted on his face. It was rather obvious that he was having a good dream.
Ken grabbed the laptop and hopped onto the single couch in the corner of the room. He put some earphones in and plugged in the hard drive before skimming through the files.
“Alright, let’s see how effective this new trait is.” He mumbled.
He then spent the next 3 and a half hours pouring over all of the film. He had noticed rather early on that he had more capacity, so he ended up playing 2 clips at once on different sides of the screen.
Yet he didn’t stop there.
Ken managed to watch 3 games at once, yet could still comprehend what was going on in each of them. He focused most of his attention on the 4 players who his father had brought up last night.
“Leo Cameron, Santiago Williams, Samuel Colt, Ryan Smith.”
He said their names out loud, as if to burn them into his mind. As long as he could ingrain their play-styles in his head, finding a way to beat the US would be at hand.