After having his dinner, at around 8 PM in the afternoon, inside his dorm room, Hiro was lying on his bed with his face facing the ceiling.
At that time Shun, Yuya and Shunta, all three of them were gathered in Yuya’s room conversing about the earlier match between Kawasaki Frontale and FC Tokyo.
While staring at the ceiling above, absent mindedly, Hiro was pondering about his performance in the earlier match against Chiba Middle School.
‘I should work on my passes more. And I should be more mindful of my surrounding. Even during that first goal, I couldn’t see the run of Hidetaka. Had I realised him being behind me I would have behaved differently.’ He thought while thinking and analysing his earlier actions.
‘Although dribbling and pace are my main arsenal. I’m playing as a playmaker. And despite being a playmaker my assist stats are not so good. So I think I should focus more on my vision, passes and physicality for the time being.’
Despite performing really well by contributing four goals and an assist in the earlier friendly match, Hiro was still not satisfied with his performance. Reflecting on his actions, he was trying to learn from his mistakes.
“Ahh right!! I still have that unused golden ticket. May be I should use it now.” Mumbling such, he rose up from his bed.
‘System acti-‘
Knock!! Knock!!
And just as he was about to activate the system, he heard a knock on his door.
Since he knew that Shun wouldn’t be back before 9 or 10, he was baffled by that sudden knock on the door so late in the night.
Hearing the knock, he turned his attention towards the door and answered meekly, “Who’s this?”
“It’s me Yugo.” Lazily answered Yugo from outside the door.
“Oh!! It’s Yugo.” Releasing a deep breath, he then walked towards the door and opened the door.
Outside the door Yugo was standing dressed in his pajamas. His pajamas consisted of a wiggly long hat and baggy shirt and pant.
His fox like eyes were almost closed as if he had just woken up from a sleep and he was still feeling sleepy. And even after opening his door, Yugo was simply standing there without uttering a single word, as if he couldn’t see or hear him.
“Yes Yugo do you have something to say?” Hiro mumbled.
But Yugo remained completely silent with his chin lowered.
‘May be he’s here to complain about my plays in the earlier game.’ Hiro pondered while looking at Yugo silently standing infront of his door with his chin lowered.
He then offered him to come inside his room, “Or do you like to come inside and discuss what you were going to say?”
“Yawn~~”
Hearing Hiro’s words he yawned before opening his mouth to say something.
‘So he was only dozing.’ Hiro thought after seeing him yawn.
And after yawning, Yugo replied, “No it’s fine. I was just here to deliver the message from the coach. He wants you to come to his office.”
“Me?? Why does he want me to go to his office this late in the night?” Hiro questioned sounding somewhat confused.
“Yawn~~~”
Yugo yawned again before replying, “How would I know? He just asked me to deliver this message to you.”
“I’ve finished my task. So it’s upto you whether you want to go or not.” Saying such he walked away.
While watching Yugo vanish from his sight, he pondered, ‘Strange!! Why would the coach want to meet me alone this late in the night? May be he also wants to talk about my plays.’
‘Guess I’ll continue the draw after a short trip to the coach’s office.’ Thinking such, he then left for the coach’s office after closing his door.
**** ****
With nobody present in the hallway, the hallway leading to the coach’s office was ghastly silent. Some moths were fluttering around the L.E.D bulbs above the ceiling.
After reaching near to the coach’s office, he took a peak at coach Nozomi’s office. But there was no light coming from his office.
Instead the light was coming from manager Makoto’s office. Noticing the light coming from beneath the gaps of the door of the manager Makoto’s office, he then walked towards manager Makoto’s office and knocked the door.
Knock!! Knock!!
“Yes come inside Hiro.”
Just as he knocked the door of manager Makoto’s office, he heard manager Nozomi’s voice from inside the door.
‘Why is manager Nozomi replying from inside manager Makoto’s office.’ He thought before opening the door.
And as he opened the door to Makoto’s office, he noticed both manager Makoto and manager Nozomi seated at the chair opposite to each other. Noticing both the coach’s, he froze at the door. ｂ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟ｌ.
“Come inside! We were waiting for you.” Replied Makoto, the chubby old man.
“Yes!! Excuse me then.” Mumbling such, he entered the room while closing the door behind him.
Manager Nozomi then stood up from his seat and offered his seat to Hiro.
“Please sit here.” Saying such, he walked towards him.
“It’s alright sir. I’m comfortable with standing.” Saying such, Hiro tried to refuse his hospitality.
But manager Nozomi insisted him to sit down, since they were going discuss something really important with him.
Giving in to manager Nozomi’s insistence, he then took the seat and sat down.
And just as he sat down, manager Makoto infront opened his mouth to speak, “I’ll be direct with you Hiro. We’re thinking of promoting you to the U-18 team. And I know this sounds ridiculous but please hear us before deciding.”
Both the managers were fearful of him rejecting their proposal. Afterall it hadn’t even been a month since he had arrived at the hostel. And he had only played a single match with the U-15 team thus far.
His age was also another matter of concern. Since there was also a possibility that he’d have to face against several professional players who were already playing professionally for a club playing in J-1. They were fearful that he might reject their proposal because of those reasons.
But what they didn’t know was that he was more than willing and prepared to play for the U-18 team.