After sorting things out with Taki, Endo walked towards his teammates who were jumping and humming in joy with a smile on his face.
“Did you sort things out with him?” Hiro approached him and questioned him upon witnessing his smiling face.
“Yeah! We had a peaceful conversation with each other.” Endo smirked.
“I’m glad you sorted things between yourselves. Now let’s join the party.”
Hiro didn’t want to pry more on his personal information and thus he ended his sentence without saying much.
“What are you two doing over there? Hurry up!! The award ceremony is about to begin.” Honda san who was celebrating the victory with the players called out for them.
“Championes~ Championes~”
His teammates were gathered in a circle and celebrating their victory over Ronden elementary school.
[Congratulations Ookami elementary school for becoming the champion of Tokushima prefecture. And with this match the prefectural tournament has come to an end. With this victory they have booked themselves a spot in the regional tournaments which will be held a week from today. They’ll be up against the winner of Kagawa, Ehime and Kochi prefectures.]
[Now let us honor our champions. For that I’d like to request mayor Yamada to come up to the stage.]
Suddenly an obese old man with a silver arched mustache on his face, dressed in a black suit and leather shoes, made his way towards the pitch from the tunnel. He was the mayor of Tokushima prefecture.
As he made his way towards the pitch, the crowd burst out in cheers. While making his way towards the players, he waved his hands at the spectators.
[I’d also like to call the owner of Tokushima Vortis to help mayor Yamada with the prize distribution.]
Another elderly person dressed in a navy blue suit with silver hair made his way towards the pitch.
Seeing those two men, the crowds burst out in cheers. They were extremely excited to see the appearance of two famous personalities of Tokushima in the pitch.
Those two mens exchanged handshakes with each other and greeted each other. After that they exchanged greetings with the coaches of the two teams.
“Congratulations coach Miura. I must say you’ve gathered quite an impressive team.” The owner of Tokushima Vortis complimented coach Miura while shaking his hands.
There was a hidden meaning behind his compliments. And coach Miura quickly understood the meaning behind those praises. “Indeed they’re a bunch of talented kids that could play for Tokushima Vortis in the future.” Coach Miura cheerfully accepted his compliments.
“If so I’ll be holding on to your words coach Miura. Hahahaha” The owner of Tokushima Vortis laughed heartily.
After exchanging greetings with the respective coaches of two teams, two young lady who looked like they were still in their early twenties walked towards the field dressed in maroon blazer and skirt. With some light makeup in their faces, they were dolled up.
Each carrying a box and a flag in their hands, they walked towards the centre of the pitch, where the two famous personalities were gathered.
As those ladies were walking towards the centre of the pitch, Hiro heard a voice from behind him.
“Would you look at those O nēchan’s(big sisters), they’re really pretty.” Akashi smirked while looking at those young ladies.
“Huh? Where did you learn those words? You shouldn’t be saying those stuff at your age?” Hiro exasperated. “And where were you hiding all this time?”
“Oh! I was at the locker room. I had to fetch something.” Akashi dumbfoundedly replied.
“Weren’t you pissed like a moment ago? So how come you’re all smiles right now?” Hiro intoned. “And also what did you fetch from the locker room?”
“This!!”
Akashi pulled out a black coloured banner from behind his back. He had tucked the banner inside his t-shirt.
“What’s this?”
The banner confused Hiro. He then curiosily took a peek at the banner. It was black coloured banner with a figure of Oni(japanese mythological demon) drawn in the middle. There were some words written above and below the Oni. The words read as such; “Fearless Oni Gang”
“What?? Akashi what’s this?” Hiro exasperated
“It’s a banner” Akashi replied dumbfoundedly.
“I can see that it’s a banner. But why are bringing a gang’s banner in the field?”
“It’s my grandfather’s gang’s banner. So I’m displaying it while we take photos. Hahaha” Akashi replied goofily.
“No, you can’t bring this out. The tournament forbids players to display any kind of banners that doesn’t belong to the school.”
“Huh! I can’t bring it with me?”
“Yes you can’t. So go put it away.” Hiro exclaimed.
Akashi frowned upon listening to Hiro’s words. He contorted his face and started to walk towards the sidelines.
Witnessing his sad face, Hiro felt sorry for him.
“You can take it out later when you’ll get a chance to click photo with your grandpa. I’ll help you take the pictures.” Hiro mumbled.
“You’ll do that for me? Thank you Hiro.” Akashi’s mood lightened up as he heard the consoling words of Hiro.
The players of Ronden elementary school started to exit the stadium with empty hands and bitter face.
Only the champions of the tournament were awarded with a honor plaque and a honor flag. No medals or trophies were distributed for individual players.
Since there were a lot of prefectures in Japan, the japanese football association only provided the winning team with a honor plaque and a honor flag to reward them for their triumph. Individual players weren’t awarded with anything for their achievements.
Trophies, medals and certificates were only distributed for the national tournament.
[Now I’d like to call the coach and captain of Ookami elementary school infront to receive the honor plaque from mayor Yamada]
At the centre of the pitch, mayor Yamada along with the owner of Tokushima Vortis and two other young ladies were gathered.
It was a customary tradition for the winner to receive the honour plaque from the hands of the mayor of the respective city.
“‘Go Captain!! Let’s go Coach”‘
And as coach Miura and Endo made his way towards the centre of the pitch where the award was distributed, everybody started to cheer them. 𝓫𝓭𝓸𝓋𝓁．𝓬𝓸𝓂
The reporters who were at the stadium broadcasting the match rushed towards the center of the pitch to take a better view of the award ceremony.
Mayor Yamada unboxed the box which contained the honor plaque and handed it to coach Miura. Owner Nakamura san handed the honor flag to Endo. The honor flag was something that was provided to the school who had won the prefectural tournament.
And unlike honor plaque that flag was passed like a baton. Only the winner’s would get to hold it for the rest of the year. And if they wanted to hold on to it they’d have to again win the prefectural tournament.
And that particular honor flag belonged to Ronden elementary school the year before. It was a symbol of pride.
[Even though every player in the Ookami elementary school performed exceptionally, there was one player who stood out among the rest. Scoring a whopping 14 goals in the tournament, he was the highest scorer in the tournament]
[And even though he didn’t get anything as a reward for his achievement because of the tournament protocol. I’d like everybody in the stand to wake up from their seats and give him a standing ovation. That’s the least we can do to show respect to such an unbelievable talent.]
The commentator requested the crowds to give him a standing ovation for his achievement. And as he finished his sentence, everybody in the crowd stood up.
“Sniff!! Sniff!!”
Somewhere in the crowd, a person was seen crying. With eyes full of tears, she held her mouth to cover her sniffing voice. “All this people are standing for my little boy. Honey! Am I dreaming? Sniff!! Sniff!!” Hiro’s mother questioned Takashi with eyes full of tears. She couldn’t hold back her tears upon seeing so many strangers showing respect to her son.
Even though Takashi was on the verge of crying himself, he held his tears and acted tough. With his chest puffed, he proudly replied “No honey! It’s not a dream. Our son have earned this respect through his actions and hardwork.”
Witnessing such a massive crowd cheering and showing respect to her son, she got emotional and began to wept.
It was his first time getting such an ethereal treatment. In his previous life, he was considered a failure. Let alone receiving a standing ovation, aside from the people close to him, he didn’t even have a single fan who supported him.
Witnessing such a large crowd giving him standing ovation, tears started to form in his eyes. The scene infront made him emotional.
“Why are you crying?” Akashi inquired upon seeing his eyes full of tears.
He gently wiped of the tears from his face and replied “I’m not crying. It’s just I got dirt in my eyes.”
He tried to hide his tears.
“Yeah! Yeah! It must be dirt.” Akashi smirked.