The next morning, as usual, it was Kumiko who woke up the earliest among the team. Hell, she even did it before the sun rose that high on the horizon. Well, it couldn’t be helped, since she was the only girl here, which meant she wouldn’t need to share a room with the others. At least, no matter how anxious the girl was, she didn’t have to worry about her friends disturbing her.

Then, one by one, her players came to the lobby for breakfast, and she couldn’t help but blink in amusement at the sight of them walking and groaning lowly like a bunch of zombies. Last night, Kumiko got a chat from Higo telling her that so many players suffered from insomnia, and it looked like the boy didn’t exaggerate here.

"What happened to you guys? Having a late-night party?" She asked with her lips twitching a little bit.

"Oh, it is terrible, Senpai..." Hiroshi groaned, his body slumped against the chair next to her weakly. "Hori, Jun, and Kenji have this crazy idea of getting us to play games till all of us drop! We played so many things like FIFA to League of Legends, but it was like torture! All we wanted was just a good night’s sleep!" He whined.

In return, Kumiko just snorted at him. "That is definitely your fault. Who in their right mind would play a game to help get sleepy quicker? If anything, you should’ve just read a book, you know?"

"Shishida-senpai, no need to rub it in my face like that!"

Well, she didn’t really mind the main players getting exhausted. After all, it was normal for them to be like that a day after the game. Also, they wouldn’t have any hard training later, probably just a conditioning one for the bench players and some relaxation for those who worked the hardest.

Still, before that, Kumiko had to hold a meeting about something else.

"Make sure that everyone has their own breakfast before 9:30, and go gather in the multimedia room for a quick meeting. Even if we don’t have a training session today, we can start our preparation from behind the desk." She asked Hiroshi who was the closest to her.

"... Just go, Shishida-senpai. Leave the rest to me..." The boy waved lazily.

Kumiko narrowed her eyes slightly at him, not sure whether Hiroshi was sober enough to hear her or not. In the end, she couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh, knowing that he shouldn’t be in his best state right now.

’Oh, well... The worst thing here will be me barging in their room and waking them up forcefully, but that’s not too bad, right?’ She muttered unconsciously.

Fortunately, it seemed that Hiroshi was not as drunk as he was. Soon enough, while she was preparing the room for the meeting, the players arrived one by one. Some were still yawning and playing with their own phone, while the others were enjoying the snack that the hotel provided after breakfast was over.

"Man... Usami, I don’t know how much your father pays for this shit, but this place is crazy!" Hori exclaimed.

"Yeah, I mean, breakfast and snack?! That should be for those who paid more, right?" Yuji couldn’t help but ask, looking at his friend curiously.

In return, Usami just fidgeted with his hair while his eyes gazed downward, mumbling so lowly, "It is not much..."

"Huh?" The others blinked and turned around at him, couldn’t really hear his words.

"I mean, it is not that much..." Usami repeated his words again, this time a little bit louder. "This is my family’s hotel, so my father gave a 50 percent discount to us. Shishida-senpai knows about this."

This snapped everyone else, with even Kumiko arching one of her eyebrows slightly.

"Really?! This is your fucking family’s property?!"

"Damn, Usami! I know you are rich, but not that loaded!"

"Hey, a 50 percent discount with this facility is crazy! Your father is generous as hell, Usa!"

Usami himself wanted to shrink his presence as small as possible. He was always a shy boy, and the thought of the others being in awe of his family’s wealth didn’t sit quite right in his stomach. He would be okay to keep this secret, but the boy didn’t want to let ridiculous gossip spread. So, the best way to do it was to go frankly, telling the others some truth while also hiding the real number.

"Okay, stop bothering Usami-kun, everyone! We have something to focus on today!" Kumiko raised her voice, clapping to gain everyone’s attention. Soon enough, all the boys found a seat for themselves, trying to get comfortable while waiting for Kumiko to get ready to speak.

"First of all, we don’t need any congratulations again, right? I mean, yesterday’s sukiyaki party should still be enough, right?" The girl opened the speech with a teasing smile.

"No! Senpai, we still want more!"

"Yeah! Barbeque will be ideal in this cold weather!"

"I heard the ramen here has a rich broth! We have to try it before we go home!"

Kumiko smiled when she saw them like this. At least, while they had quite deep bags under their eyes, their spirit was still there, ready for the next game.

"Oh, well, that would have to wait for after the final, unfortunately." She giggled lightly at their groan. "For now, though, we still have one thing to discuss, which is... This!" Right after that, the projector showed a slide with one big title in it, enough for everyone to read clearly from the spot.

HOW TO STOP YUWELL CARLSON

Seeing this, all the players, especially the defenders, perked up immediately. They all knew that, while Sapporo Otani was more than the Swedish striker, at the end of the day, the boy was the sharpest spear on that side. Stopping him would mean killing at least half the offensive power of the home team, and that would be a big number for them.

Watching their reaction, Kumiko couldn’t help but nod in appreciation before starting to speak again. "Well, let’s start our discussion today..."