Kaoru tries to be patient as he listens to Kei's reasoning and thought process, hoping to understand what's going on in his head. He knows that Kei rarely makes things simple, even for himself, especially when it comes to accepting things he's earned.

"So you thought that because you weren't recruited out of high school like Hinata and them all, you wouldn't ever get to be?" He repeats, wrapping his head around this. "Isn't getting recruited a big part of college sports, though? Surely your teammates must have talked about it, or maybe it happened to people from your team last year?"