The next day, Ken woke up feeling fresh. He hadn’t had too much to drink, precisely because of what was happening today.
“I’m getting married today…” Ken muttered, sitting up from the bed.
It felt like he’d waited years for this moment, and he should feel nothing but happiness, but there was some anxiety as well. Not because of Ai, but because of the burden that had been placed upon his shoulders.
Even now, Ken had trouble wrapping his mind around the situation.
“Come back to bed Kaori…” A voice called out from beside him, half asleep.
Ken’s eyebrow twitched and he slowly turned to see Shiro on the other side of the bed.
“Shiro… What are you doing in my bed?” He growled with annoyance.
However, the guy grumbled something and rolled back over, still half asleep. This only served to annoy Ken even more. He lifted his leg and kicked the guy hard, causing him to shoot off the bed and onto the floor with a yelp.
“Get up, we’re going for a run.” Ken barked, grabbing his things to get ready.
Shiro cried softly, “Not the training demon again…” He thought he’d left all of this behind after graduating High School, but he could only blame himself for sleeping in Ken’s room.
With tears in his eyes, Shiro got dressed and ready for a workout.
Upon reaching the lobby of the hotel, Ken saw both Steve and Daichi chatting to each other, dressed in their gear.
“You guys were waiting for me?” Ken asked in surprise. They had not scheduled to meet this morning for a run, but it seemed that even without this, they knew he’d be going for a workout.
“Heh, if there’s one thing we know about you brother, it’s that you never miss your morning run.” Daichi said with a grin.
Ken paused, but then let out a chuckle in response. “I guess you’re right.”
As they walked out of the hotel doors, Ken realized something. He turned back and looked at Steve, Shiro and Daichi, narrowing his eyes. These guys were all catchers, ones that he’d played with at various stages in his life.
‘It feels like I’m collecting pokemon…’ He mused inwardly.
“Oi, you just thought something rude.” Steve said, pointing at him accusingly.
“Huh? No way,” Ken shook his head.
“Yep, you definitely did.” Daichi insisted.
“You’re imagining things. Let’s go already.” Ken started his jog, warming up the muscles. Since they were in Tokyo, he didn’t need to plan a route beforehand, he’d run here many times before.
His merry group of pokemon kept up even as he increased the pace and broke out into a run. At some point he reached the halfway mark and decided to turn around. Only then did he realize that Shiro was not with them.
“Where did Shiro go?” Ken asked with confusion.
“Hmm? I’m sure he was behind me at some point.” Daichi replied.
“We’ll probably see him on the way back.”
20 minutes later, they saw a short figure sprawled on the side of the road, looking like human shaped roadkill. People avoided the sweat soaked figure, but Ken recognized him.
Slowing down, Ken nudged the figure with his foot. “Rise and shine Shiro, we’re heading back.”
“You go… I’ll catch up.” Shiro’s muffled reply came back.
Ken shrugged, “Don’t take too long, we still need to eat and get ready for the wedding later today.” He said before starting the run once more.
Once the three were gone, Shiro raised his head and looked around, making sure they were out of sight. He quickly pulled out his phone and did something before casually getting up.
He sat against the wall, playing a game on his phone for about 20 minutes before he got to his feet. A taxi pulled up close by and he got in. “Drive a little slow and drop me off 200 meters from the hotel please.” Shiro told the driver.
“No problem.”
Some time later, he arrived at the destination and exited the vehicle. He could see that the three others had arrived and were stretching out the front of the hotel.
“Hehe, the perfect crime.” He chuckled.
With this, he began to jog slowly towards the hotel, pretending to be dead tired.
“Oh, you made it Shiro.” Ken said with surprise. “Nice work, we thought you would have taken at least another 20 minutes to get here.”
Shiro sucked in a few deep breaths before responding, “What can I say? I’m still fit.”
However, he heard a beep from the street where a car pulled up.
“Um sir, you left your phone in the taxi.” The taxi driver from earlier shouted, getting everyone’s attention.
Shiro patted his pockets and realized that he indeed did not have his phone with him. His face dropped.
Daichi and Steve began to laugh hysterically, while Ken’s expression darkened. Shiro shrunk back, realizing that he’d been caught in the act.
He quickly shuffled towards the taxi and thanked the man before returning with his head lowered. Even now, Steve and Daichi were laughing hard, making the situation even worse.
However, this wasn’t High School anymore. Ken eventually gave in to his laughter and pat Shiro on the back, “You’ve got a lot of balls, I’ll give you that.”
Shiro’s eyes widened in shock, “You’re not mad?”
Ken shook his head, “You’re not a professional so its fine. Just make sure you keep up your fitness, otherwise Kaori might dump you.”
Shiro was silent for a few moments before letting out a sigh, “You’re right. I’m gonna go run another 2 miles, I’ll meet you at breakfast.” He said, turning on his heel and breaking into a run.
Ken hadn’t expected the guy to take his words so seriously, but he let out a chuckle anyway. “You guys go ahead, I’m gonna join him.”
“I’ve got some gas left in the tank, I’ll come along too.” Steve said with a grin.
“Me too.”
Like that, they all joined Shiro for another run, each wearing a big smile.