Haku has arrived at the station. He's 10 minutes late, as per usual, but he's not worried because Kaiun is even worse at being punctual than him. Haku leans by the building. This is where he always waits for Kaiun. He watches the people in the Shibuya crowd who were walking past him as he waits. Even in the sea of people, Haku can spot Kaiun walking towards him from a distance. Kaiun does not hold or look at his phone while walking, his body posture is very straight with his left hand in the pocket and his steps are relaxed. Haku can see Kaiun forming a smile when they lock eye contact and as he's getting nearer, Haku leaves the wall and approaches Kaiun as well.
"Where are we going," Haku asked as he fist-bumped Kaiun.
"I want to eat spicy curry rice. Let's go to the Kokomi Curry House."
Kokomi Curry House is a popular curry franchise in Japan where the customers can customize their portion, spice level, and toppings. Haku has tried it once and he chose cutlet chicken as a topping since he's not very adventurous when it comes to food. The cutlet was rather crispy but he can't honestly tell how much different it is from other places. Other than that, they offer 5 spice levels and Haku has tried the Lvl.2 and he remembers it was already pretty spicy. He was scrambling for water and got laughed at and teased so much that day. It's been a while since he last ate it so he got really excited for it. He'll not attempt the spice level though because he's learnt his lesson.
The nearest Kokomi Curry House is pretty much across the crossing so it didn't take them a long walk to get there. When they checked the restaurant from outside of the window, it was already so full of people and most of them were wearing office outfits. Haku noticed there wasn't a single empty set available and since it's around lunch hour, he kind of expected that right from the start. Haku looked over at Kaiun to suggest going to another place but before he could speak, Kaiun spoke to the staff waiting by the front door, "The reservation for two under the name Takane." Haku was surprised. They have never booked a reservation for their meet-up before. He can sense this is going to be different.
The staff opened the door for them and gestured for them to come inside. They stepped in and were greeted by a different staff. He gestured to them to follow him and Haku began feeling nervous as they got further and further into the store. They reached the back of the store and the staff opened the door for them. Beyond the door, there were small private rooms special for reserved customers. Haku has never known Kokomi Curry House has this sort of service before. They were guided into a room by yet another different staff and Haku took a seat. Kaiun, on the other hand, continued talking to the staff for a few moments before he joined Haku at the table.
"I've never known they have rooms like this," Haku started the conversation.
"Me either. I thought we'd just get a table at the main area in front."
Is he telling the truth? Haku didn't dare to ask. Considering the timing, there is a possibility that Kaiun specifically reserved this private room because he wanted to talk about his retirement. Only after Haku snapped back out of his thoughts did he realize Kaiun was looking straight into him. Haku returned the eye contact and he observed a mix of sadness and disappointment in Kaiun's eyes. Haku diverted his eye contact towards the condiment bottles on the table. He felt sorry for Kaiun, for leaving the competitive scene early and without telling him personally first. He is sorry that Kaiun had to find out through the post made by his team and he hoped Kaiun understood why. He knows Kaiun would. He turned his head back to look at Kaiun and this time he saw a hint of hope from his eyes. Is Kaiun expecting me to talk about it first? Haku felt sorry again and lowered his eyes. There is no way he can talk about it now, especially not at this time.
"Here," Kaiun handed Haku the menu. "I have decided what to have even before we got here so you can decide for yours."
"Were you having a craving?" Haku asked as he flipped through the menu book.
Kaiun chuckled, "I've been craving for something spicy and I can't stop thinking of Kokomi's seafood curry so I'm planning to order that with the 5th spice level."
"You're having that? Are you sure you won't die?" Haku asked and they laughed together. "I'll have the cheesy curry."
Haku pushed the button on the wall and a few moments later, a waiter came into their room. After having their order taken, Kaiun began talking again,
"I'll be leaving tonight. It'll take around 18 hours." Haku nodded.
"I am so nervous," Kaiun shared. "Do you think we can perform better this time?"
Kaiun is mostly very silent and inexpressive so the people in the community often refer to him as an otherworldly being or a robot so even though he was asking very seriously, Haku can't help from smiling when he saw the uncertainties written on Kaiun's face. This guy in front of him is the greatest player in their country, highly respected by fans and fellow pro-gamers alike. There are pro-gamers who became one for the sole reason of playing against him too. He'd always come onto the stage confidently and never showed a glimmer of weakness to anyone. However, Haku knows that for a guy like Kaiun to speak with such a tone, there must be an overwhelming pressure on his shoulder right now. He's practically carrying his country's hope on them to come back with better achievement. Haku knows the only thing he can do now is help boosting Kaiun's confidence.
"Kaiun, it's not the question of whether you 'can' or not. You 'would'. You would perform better this time, I know it. I have fought you and I can feel the difference."
Kaiun's face lit up, "Really??"
"Has High King increased the aim training compared to before? You people were hitting heads as fast as lights, we can barely react. We were knocked down before we could comprehend what's happening."
Kaiun smiled proudly and Haku exchanged a smile with him before he continued, "And your strategy has also changed. High King have always been known as a rather defensive team. You would take a step back and old angles in the past, but this time, you were more proactive. You were taking space and would try to grab the advantageous high angle even if it's risky. I think you would play better against the oversea teams who are mostly offensive teams."
"I knew it! I knew you'd understand us best! There's nobody else in Japan but you! You would be able to tell the change in our team." Kaiun locked his hands together. "We made so much preparation for this. We talked and shared our opinions a lot more. It is so fun. I feel we can do it this time."
The door creaked open and the waiter came in with their food. They took a few bite and shared each other foods before they continue talking,
"I noticed you didn't stream as much during the off-season so you guys must've grinded a lot during that period in preparation for this," Haku began first.
"We trained like crazy. 14 hours a day. 12 hours of team practice and another 2 hours of personal aim training." Haku shared gleefully. "The training was so hard that Enju kept bleeding his nose day by day. He was even sent to the hospital once."
"Was it serious?" Haku asked, very concerned.
"It wasn't that serious. Thanks to him, we got two days of rest from team practice after that. It was a good rest but I couldn't wait to return to training during that time so I played a lot of solo games for my personal training."
Haku saw a change in Kaiun's tone. He seemed way livelier and more confident now. Haku is glad he got to help him even if it's just a little bit. The conversation then shifted to about the other teams that'll play in the championship as well. They began discussing the team's characteristics and playstyle and they even began analyzing and predicting the type of changes they'll do to get ahead of the competition. They were so into the discussion that they barely touched their food the whole time.
"I hope we can qualify past the groups bracket." Kaiun said as he finally took a bite of his food.
"No," Haku retorted. "Come back with a trophy."
Kaiun raised his head and looked at Haku with his twinkling eyes and a smile slowly forming on his face.
"I will," Kaiun promised. "And I'll miss playing against you, Haku."