Many thought that Jake was very talented and was lucky to have achieved everything he had, that might even be true, but only his friends and Eva knew how much effort Jake had to make to achieve everything he had in life.
Because Jake was like that his teammates were not angry even though he knew that Jake didn't go to the game because he went running the marathon, because he was doing something that was important to him and Jake always tried harder than anyone and was one of the most responsible for the victories of the team.
So when his friends heard that he wanted to rest Zack soon started thinking about things they could do to help Jake relax, he could think about a lot of things, but it had to be something Jake would like and also not to tire him too much.
After thinking for a while he decided to take Jake and the other roommates to play a Paintball game, it was fun and even though it was tiring it was nothing more than a joke compared to what Jake normally did.
Jake and the others naturally liked that a lot, Zack's brother had to be called because he was the one who knew the places best, besides with Brett participating they would have 6 people playing.
For justice reasons Jake and Zack who were the fastest had to be separated, the problem was that Aaron was also very fast and if a team had two of them it would have the advantage, so Jake said that one group would have Zack and Aaron and the other there would be him and two other people.
So the strongest group, in theory, would stay with Zack and Aaron, Zack and Aaron who knew how fast Jake was accepted that easily because they still thought they were at a disadvantage, if Jake wanted to play seriously they would have no chance of winning.
Other people might think this was overkill, but everyone knew it was true because Jake seemed to be good at everything he did, especially when it came to physical activity.
Jake was not as confident as his friends, he could be faster, have better balance and have a better view, but he didn't think he had much more advantage than his opponents.
Fortunately, Brett was on Jake's team with Williams, it was good because Brett was the only one who had ever played that game and so things were more balanced, in this field that they reserved spending more money the rules were made for this to be more fair.
As only 6 people would play in two teams of 3 players and 3 people were much faster and more athletic, it was decided that they would have no flags and the rules would be eliminations, the team that was eliminated first would lose.
That way, nobody would have that much advantage, everyone put on the protective equipment and received the game's gun, it was called a paintball marker, to be even more fair Brett chose a paintball field that was in a house, so there was no way for anyone to run a lot during the game indoors.
Of course, even if it was a house it was actually like a very big building that should have been a factory, so the players still had to run a lot, and it was not just a building but 2 where there was plenty of space for players to strategize.
They decided to make a game better than 7, so whoever got 4 victories would win, Jake had never played that game and of course, he had never picked up a gun before, even if the paintball marker was different he still had to learn to use it.
Jake's team strategy was for Williams and Brett to go one way and Jake to go alone on the other side, Jake decided that because as soon as he saw someone he would shoot and he didn't want to shoot his teammates.
Jake went slowly and shot the wall a few times to learn how to use the paintball marker, in the first game Zack and Aaron came together on the same side as Jake, he still hit Zack but was eliminated by Aaron.
After that Aaron eliminated Brett and so Jake's team lost the first game, Williams was eliminated first or his team could have won, but after that first game, everyone knew how to play.
Jake also realized that he didn't need to worry too much about accuracy with the paintball marker because his opponents' bodies were
a very large target that was difficult to miss, so he just needed to be quick and aim quickly to hit.
In the second game, Jake knew how the game worked and sought cover on the walls and moved quickly between the walls so as not to be exposed, this time Jake was even less lucky and three opponents tried to face him.
Using the cover of the walls to avoid being hit by the opponent's paintball marker he still managed to eliminate Zack and Haruto before being hit and eliminated, Jake saw that with his agility he thought faster and reacted faster to shoot.
So they won the second game when Aaron eliminated Williams and Brett eliminated Aaron, so the game was a draw and the three realized that they shouldn't risk taking everyone to face Jake.
Brett saw that Williams was very bad at the paintball game and saw that Jake was very skilled, so he decided that they could go together side by side and so the chance of them winning was very big.
In the next game, only Aaron went to the side where Jake was and was eliminated before he could see Jake and Brett, the two soon realized that the opponents were trying to eliminate Williams and would succeed, so the two moved quickly to where William had stayed.
By the time they arrived, Williams was already being eliminated and the opponents were close, so Jake and Brett moved quickly using the cover of the walls so they wouldn't be hit easily.
Luckily they managed to get Zack and Haruto on their backs and thus eliminated them and won for the second time, now Jake's team was winning 2 against 1 against the opposing team, they continued with this tactic and won another 2 games and won by 4 at 1 against the team of Haruto, Aaron, and Zack, they saw once again how unfair playing Jake was.
After that they still went to eat in a cafeteria and had a lot of fun, it ended up helping everyone to relax and not just Jake, after all, everyone had responsibilities and classes at the university to be stressed.
The only one who was more relaxed in class was Jake who knew almost everything during the subjects and so the tests were easy for him, Haruto was the smartest after Jake, but he had to study hard to get his good grades.
What was more relaxed after Jake was actually Williams who was smart too and had Jake to help him understand the lessons and so he got good grades in the tests without having to study hard.
After what happened they went back to the university because Jake would have to train the next day, he was almost recovered and would do a light training the other day with the basketball team, but Jake still wouldn't be back with training for the marathons until he completely recovered.
After winning this marathon in Tokyo, Jake no longer had to train for the marathons until the next Olympics that would be just over two years later, of course, he would continue training and even increase the difficulty of training him by running at a faster pace for improving.
But that was because Jake loved to run and wanted to continue in the marathons for years to come, but he had no reason to take chances and train when he was tired and he didn't need it, Coach Davis understood and supported Jake's thinking.
He even sometimes told Jake to take a few days off without training to let his muscles breathe and relax, but Jake didn't do that and as he had no problem in those years the coach stopped saying that.
After all, he more than anyone knew that each athlete was different and had a different body and metabolism, some needed more rest to get a better time and Jake stressed his body to the maximum to be able to improve.
During training, neither Jake's teammates nor trainer Guthridge knew that Jake was not yet in his best physical condition, they thought Jake had already recovered before the last game.
Jake also saw no need to say that and just trained normally, the training was light because all the players were tired and also because Shammond Williams had not played in the last game and was returning to his ideal condition as well.
The next day came the day of the next game for the Tar Heels team, Jake felt he was completely recovered and would have no problems in that game to have his best performance without needing a stamina bar.
The players were also fine and were determined to give the best that they had in this game, after all after that game they would have a week of rest, Jake had already told the coach that he would go to Miami during that week.
So with a week of rest ahead of them, the players were not afraid to get tired in this game, even so, they had to be careful with the opposing team in this game that was looking for victory too.
The opponent in that game was the Maryland Terrapins team that they had already won this season, even though the Tar Heels team had beaten them, it was a team that was third in the ACC conference and was having an excellent season.
They had great players and a good team and they beat Team Tar Heels this season in the past before Jake went back in time when he wasn't on the team, so Jake knew he had to focus more on that game.
