During the training session, the sidelines of the pitch was covered with crowds of students. A lot of students were flocking over the pitch to witness them train.
“Just why are there so many kids gathered over there?” Coach Miura complained.
“Haha.., May be it’s all because of Hiro. They’re probably here to see him play. He’s become somewhat like a celebrity.”
Honda san chuckled.
As coach Miura and assistant coach Honda were conversing with each other, Hiro was preparing to test out his newfound talent against Endo.
While Endo was scanning the goalpost and screaming at the players of Ookami elementary school to cover up the gap in the wall, Hiro was walking towards the center half of the pitch while holding the ball in his hand.
“Is he planning to shoot the ball from the centre half?” Coach Miura bewilderingly questioned.
“Seems like it sir.” Honda san answered.
Both of them were baffled by his actions. But as Hiro began to step back from the ball, they began to stare at him with eyes full of anticipation.
He took few steps back and paused for while. While keeping his eyes fixated at the ball, he was preparing to launch himself.
“Sigh~”
And as he released a deep sigh, he ran towards the ball. The players who acted as a wall, blocking his shoot course, looked at him with eyes filled with terror and nervousness. Endo tried to cover as much gap as possible to stop the ball from entering the net.
But before he could even react, the ball went past him. All he could feel was the swoosh sound of the ball as it touched the net.
“What!!”
“The ball flew like a missile shot from a canon.”
“Did you see that?”
The expression of shock displayed by the students who were standing beside the pitch said everything about that goal scored by Hiro with his newfound talent ‘Freekick of Ruberto Carlos’.
After that match with Karasuno elementary school, they didn’t struggle much against the opponent they faced in quarter finals and semi finals.
At quarter final, they defeated Sawamura elementary school with a score of 4-0. Similarly at semi finals, they defeated Kankoku elementary school with a score of 3-1 and booked their spot in the finals from 1st segment. They cleared quarter final and semi final of the tournament without breaking much sweat.
And in both of those matches, he wasn’t even required to use his skill. Thus, he couldn’t demonstrate his newfound talent.
From 2nd segment, Ronden elementary school came out as victor after barely defeating their opponent with a single goal lead in semi finals and booked their spot for the final. Everybody expected Ronden elementary school to make it to the final from 2nd segment.
However contrary to their expectation of 1st segment, Ookami elementary school came out as a victor instead of Karasuno elementary school which was shocking to many people.
“So you’ve made it to the finals of prefectural tournament.” Takashi questioned Hiro while both of them were playfully passing the ball.
“Ummmm”
Hiro silently nodded his head.
They were having a father and son moment with each other. Just then Takashi paused.
“What’s your dream Hiro?” Takashi questioned.
“Why are you asking about that now?”
Hiro mumbled awkwardly. And as he playfully took a peak at his father’s face, he couldn’t speak anything. His father wasn’t asking him such questions out of nowhere.
“I want to be the best footballer in the planet.”
Reverberating to the emotions of his father, he bluntly stated that he wanted to be the best footballer in the planet. .𝙘𝒐𝒎
“I see.”
Takashi mumbled with a satiated look on his face.
As the day of the final was approaching, the players were starting to get nervous. Even with the confident boost from winning against Karasuno elementary school, they were still having nervous breakdowns because of the final.
It was totally natural for those players of Ookami elementary school to have nervous breakdowns, afterall it was their first major tournament. And moreover on their first ever major tournament debut, they reached the final after defeating one of the powerhouse football team of their prefecture.
“What are you doing over there Endo senpai? It’s already time to head home.”
Hiro questioned Endo, who was sitting all by himself beside the goalpost even after the end of the training.
“Oh it’s you Hiro. Nothing much, I’m just enjoying the fresh air. And shouldn’t you be heading home? What are you doing over here at this time?”
Endo replied while blankly staring at the sky.
“No, my mom will be arriving a little late today. So I thought, I might as well shoot some balls.”
Endo didn’t reply anything and continued to stare at the evening sky above his head. After a while, he stood up.
“Are you worried about the match against Ronden elementary school?” Hiro questioned.
However Endo didn’t reply anything. Just as Hiro was about to leave, he heard something.
“I’ll be facing against my brother.”
Endo whispered.
“Huh! You have a brother?” Hiro exclaimed in awe.
Nobody in the team knew much about Endo. He was one of those few players in Ookami elementary school’s team who was very secretive about his information. He didn’t talk much outside the field and mostly preferred to stay alone.
Since he was transferred to Ookami elementary school the same year as Hiro joined Ookami elementary school, nobody knew much about him.
“Yeah! He studies at Ronden elementary school and he plays for the Ronden elementary school’s team.”
“If you don’t mind me asking about his name, can you tell me his name?” Hiro politely asked for the name of Endo’s brother.
“Don’t tell anyone about it. He’s name is Kurosawa Taki.”
“Huh!!!! Kurosawa Taki!! How??”
Hiro’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t believe that Kurosawa Taki was Endo’s brother. He was at a loss of words.
“But your last name doesn’t even match with each other?”
Unable to believe that Kurosawa Taki was his little brother, he bewilderingly questioned him.
“Yeah! That’s because we’re not blood related.”
Endo then began to tell him about the relationship he had with Kurosawa Taki.
Taki and Endo were originally orphans who stayed at the same orphanage. Endo was abandoned by his parents before he could even remember and Taki lost his parents in a car accident.
Having been born from a illicit relationship between two young couples, he was abandoned by his parents infront of a orphanage before he could even remember.
He spent most of his years at orphanage, until someone adopted him.
During his time at the orphanage, he met Taki when he was about 6 years of age. Taki was only 2 years old when he was brought at the orphanage by his relatives after the death of his parents in car accident.
Even though he had relatives who could take care of him, non of his relatives wanted to take care of him and thus they decided to sent him to the orphanage. That’s how Taki ended up at the orphanage.
When Taki was 2 years of age and Endo was 6 years old, Endo met him for the first time. Taki was still a young child who hadn’t even stopped drinking mother’s milk.
And the orphanage lacked the required personnel to look after every kids in the orphanage. Having been grown up in the orphanage, Endo used to often help the caretakers with their jobs and take care of the kids even though he himself was a kid.
Taki being one of the youngest in the orphanage required a lot of attention. The caretakers of the orphanage couldn’t attend to him all the time as they would need to take care of other kids as well.
At that time Endo stepped forward to take care of Taki and took care of him like his own younger brother. He fetched him milk, kept him entertained and even sang lullaby to him. Everytime when Taki used to cry, Endo would immediately rush towards the caretaker to inform them about his condition.
That’s how both of them grew close to each other. That’s what Endo believed.
For almost two years Endo took care of Taki in the orphanage. And suddenly on one faithful day when Taki was about to turn 4 years old, he was adopted by some well to do family.
And after almost a year of Taki’s adoption, Endo was adopted by a middle class family as well.
But after that adoption, Endo never saw Taki again. Until he caught a sight of him, once again in the squad of Ronden elementary school during the opening ceremony of the prefectural tournaments.
“I’m really sorry about that Endo senpai.”
Hiro began to apologize.
“No, No you don’t have to be sorry. I’m sure he doesn’t even recognize me now. So it’s alright.”
Endo exclaimed while faking his smile.
It had almost been one year since he last witnessed the sight of Taki. And he wasn’t even sure if Taki would even remember him or not.