The scene around other professional team was pretty much similar to that of Yokohama F. Marinos. ．
Besides the youth scout of Yokohama F. Marinos, youth scouts of several other professional teams and schools were present at the stadium to spectate the match between Ookami elementary school and Tokyo elementary school.
Even though not many teams in Japan had put emphasis on youth team in the past. However things were changing and many professional teams were beginning to copy the European system.
Instead of buying expensive players, they were starting to invest on young talents. And it hadn’t been that long since professional teams in Japan started operating their youth teams more seriously.
**** ****
“Hiro go freshen up and come down for breakfast.” His mother yelled while he was taking his sweat time fiddling with the system.
“Okay mom!!” He yelled back.
He then closed the system and hopped out of his bed. After getting out of his bed, he began to fold the blankets and started to make his bed.
Ring!! Ring!! Ring!!
While making his bed, suddenly his phone started to ring.
“Who’s calling me this early in the morning?” He wondered as he tried to take a peek at his phone which was located at the top of the drawer beside his bed. “Akashi!! Why is he calling me this early in the morning?”
The one who was calling him was Akashi. As soon as he picked his call, Akashi began to spit his words in rapid fire succession;
“Sup!! It’s me!! What are you doing today?? Are you free?? I got this urge to game today. Do you want to tag along with me to the arcade??”
Hiro couldn’t handle his loud voice and he immediately distanced his phone from his ear.
“Hello!! Hello!! Why aren’t you replying??” Akashi kept on talking. “Hmm…., Perhaps the network’s not working. Or it must be server issues.”
Finally as he stopped his blabbering, Hiro answered the call; “Have you calmned down? And don’t start to blabber like before.”
Akashi then paused for a while.
“So now tell me why have you called me this early in the morning?” Hiro questioned.
“I just want to ask you if you’re free today.”
“Hmm…., I don’t have anything to do today. So I guess I’m kinda free.” Hiro replied after thinking for a while.
“Then let’s go to the arcade together.” Akashi intoned sounding all exited.
“Hmmm…., arcade huh?” Again Hiro began to ponder over the topic of arcade. “Well I don’t have anything to do today. So why not?”
“Then let’s meet at the community park at 10.”
Without even hearing his reply, Akashi hung the call. As if he was only calling him to hear his yes or no, he cut off the call as soon as Hiro agreed to his request.
**** ****
Step!! Step!!
After brushing his teeths, he made his way towards the kitchen. As he entered the kitchen, he found his mother and father sitting silently at the dining table. The room was filled with an eerie silence.
His father lifted his head slightly and looked at him with icy cold gaze. “Come here and take your seat.” He spoke while wearing a serious expression on his face.
‘Why does he look so serious today? I’ve not seen him like that in years.’ He wondered as he walked towards the dining table. He was pondering the reason behind his father’s facial expression. ‘Did I do something wrong to upset him??’
As he took his seat, he hesitatingly took a peek at his father’s face.
“We need to discuss something with you Hiro.” His father spoke while staring at him.
Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong to upset him, he began to worry even more upon witnessing the stern expression in his face.
“This is a serious matter, so I hope you don’t take it lightly.” Takashi mumbled.
Feeling all anxious, he nodded his head. His heart rate spiked and he began to sweat. The stern expression on his father’s face only made him more anxious.
“Congratulations Hiro!! Your talent has even been noticed by Europeans. You’ve got an offer from an european agent.” Suddenly his father congratulated him with a wide grin on his face. His face quickly changed it’s expression from serious to happy. “And sorry about my expression from before. I just wanted to see your reaction. And my oh my you’re pretty terrified. Hahaha”
Takashi was playing a prank on him by intentionally showcasing a serious expression. His father would sometimes play pranks on him out of blue. Takashi and Momo, both of them burst out in laughter as Takashi finished his sentence.
Upon hearing his father’s words, he was left dumbfounded. He then took a peak at his mother’s face. Unlike his father, his mother was a straightforward person who didn’t like prank and jokes.
“What mom!! You too were also involved in his act??” He complained.
“Sorry about that Hiro. I told him not to do that, but he wouldn’t listen to me. So I too joined in for the fun.” She expressed while laughing.
“I’m really sorry about that Hiro. But you indeed got an offer from an european agent.” His father mumbled while trying to hold his laughter.
If it was his younger self, he would have immediately walked out of the room feeling all agitated. But he accepted their jokes and laughed with them instead.
After a while as the laughter died down, they began to discuss about the offer from Eric.
“So he says that he’ll help you develop your career in Japan until you reach 18 years of age. He also mentioned about that, FIFA the governing body of football has brought a new rule into effect. And that rule forbids the club to sign a foreign player before turning 18.” Momo spoke while trying to recall the things Eric said to her in the phone.
“So what do you want to do Hiro? If you agree to the deal then we can talk about the deal tomorrow in your school. He said that he’d be visiting your school tomorrow.” Momo added.
Since he already had a quest from the system, he couldn’t refuse the offer under any circumstances. And it was once in a lifetime opportunity to get scouted by the soon to be famous European agent Eric Parker.
As he would amass fame in his later years, top players from all over the world would dream to work with him.
Just like how Jorge Mendes, the famous agent made possible the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid, Eric in his later years would go on to pull such amazing feats and announce his presence to the world.
And thus, there was absolutely no way he would pass on the chance to work with Eric.
“Let’s just agree to his offer!” He blurted out without a second of hesitation.
“Don’t make your decision in haste Hiro. At least think for a while.” His mother expressed her concerns, sounding all worried.
If she wanted then she could have talked with Eric by herself but since the matter concerned her son’s future, she wanted him to think properly regarding that matter.
She didn’t want him to make his decisions in hurry regardless of the benefit of the offer.
He understood her concerns and the meaning behind her words. She was only worried about him and his future.
“Okay Mom! Let’s talk about the offer with him tomorrow in school.” He mumbled while keeping his cool, locking eyes with her.
“Okay now that the matter is resolved, can we have breakfast? I’ll get late for the work if this continues.” His father blurted.
“Wait for a second I’ll go fetch the cups and plates.”
She then stood up from her chair and walked towards the drawer. After setting the utensils on the table, she began to serve the breakfast.
There was nothing extravagant in the table. Just some rice, miso soup, fish and potato-carrot stew. It was the type of breakfast most people in Japan would have for breakfast.
“Thank you for the food.” The three of them prayed before eating. It was a customary tradition in Japan to pray for the food before digging in.
As they finished their breakfast, his father stood up from his chair and left for his work in a hurry. While his mother started to wash the dishes.
“Mom!! Can you lend me some money today. I’m going to arcade with my friend.” He asked for money from his mother.
Even though he made a decent earning through newtube, he let his parents handle his account. And the money from the newtube would directly go to their bank account. Meaning he had no money under his name, despite being the owner of a successful newtube channel.
However his parents too had secretively saved the money from the newtube under his name for his future use. And he wasn’t aware of that as well.
“How much do you need?” She asked.
“Just 10,000 yen” He replied.
“Huh!! That much?? She was shocked to hear that amount from a kid.
Afterall 10,000 yen was equivalent to 68 USD. And she was still paying him out of her pocket and not from his newtube channel.