As the sun was approaching the horizon, the sky was ablaze with the fire of the setting sun. And as the shadow of the house and the wall infront reached the place where they were playing shogi, he realised that he had spent his whole day at Akashi’s house, playing shogi with his grandfather.
“Check!!” Hiro mumbled as he captured Akashi’s grandfather’s king and won the game.
“Well played! It’s my lost.” Akashi’s grandfather admitted his defeat.
It was his 9th victory. Having won 9 times, he had also lost 7 times. They had played a total of 16 games, each one more intense than the previous one.
While they were playing shogi, Akashi had dozed off at a certain point of time.
“It’s getting late grandpa. I need to head home now.” He mumbled as he stretched his body which had gotten stiff after sitting at the same place for almost 9 hours.
“Yeah I think we need to call it a end for today. We’ll play again some other days.” He replied as he began to arrange the pieces. “Just give me a minute, I’ll wrap it up and I’ll walk you to the bus stop.”
“No grandpa! You must be tired from playing all day. I’ll go by myself. You can rest grandpa.” He politely refused his offer and insisted him to take rest.
As he put on his shoes, he bid his farewell to Akashi’s family and headed home.
**** ****
April 11, 2019
Chatter!! Chatter!!
As he reached closer to his school, he heard chattering noise of people coming from the school. There was still some time left for the bell to ring.
Groups of students were gathered infront of the entrance of school for some reasons.
‘They must be waiting for Eric. Perhaps the news regarding Eric’s arrival was leaked somehow.’ He wondered as he witnessed the crowd of students gathered infront of the entrance.
Just as he made his way towards the entrance, he saw a familiar face among the crowd of students. That familiar face belonged to principal Miyamoto Takumi.
“Here comes our champ!!” Principal Miyamoto exclaimed as he walked towards them with a wide grin on his face.
Since Eric had told them that he’d be present in the school to discuss about the contract, his mother was accompanying him.
The crowd of students roared in his praises as they witnessed his arrival.
“Good morning Mrs Takahashi!!” As he walked closer to them, he greeted his mother.
“Good morning Mr Miyamoto.” She greeted him back.
“Sensei!! Why are you standing infront of the gate? Are you waiting for someone?” Hiro questioned.
“Indeed I’m waiting for someone. And that someone happens to be you. I’ll fill you with the details later. But first we need to go somewhere.” Principal Miyamoto exclaimed sounding all excited.
Before he could speak anything else, principal Miyamoto grabbed his hands and began to lead the way. He was left dumbfounded by principal Miyamoto’s strange behaviour.
Usually he was the type of person who would maintain his cool under any circumstances. But that day he seemed a little different.
After passing through the crowd of students, he led them towards the pitch. Even more students were gathered in the sidelines of the pitch than infront of the entrance.
He tried to see past those students gathered infront of the pitch, but he couldn’t see anything. Thr students infront obstructed his vision.
“Everyone move aside!! Move aside!!” Principal Miyamoto yelled as he made his way towards the pitch. .
Hearing his voice, everybody began to make way for them. Just as he entered the pitch, he noticed his teammates gathered in the pitch.
Along with his teammates, several other local reporters were also present in the pitch.
Witnessing the reporter’s with their cameras and microphones, he could somewhat guess about the situation unfolding infront of his eyes.
‘I see!! So this is the reason behind his strange behaviours. He’s probably exited for the interview.’ He thought as he witnessed the flock of reporters infront of him.
“Yoh!! You’re here!! Look at our principal. He’s getting overly excited for the interview. As if it was his first time getting interviewed. Hahaha…” Akashi chuckled.
“But why did he gather all of us for the interview?”
“Well I heard that reporters wanted to take a picture of all of us together with the trophy for the cover photo. Also I’m not sure if it’s true or not, I heard that somebody from Europe is coming today.” Akashi whispered while trying to conceal his voice as much as he could.
“Okay we’re ready to shoot.” A man wearing a baseball cap yelled.
Ding!! Dong!!
Just then the chime of the bell sounded indicating the starting of the school. And as the bell sounded principal Miyamoto began to chase the students towards their respective classes.
Soon the crowd dissipated as the students made their way towards their classes.
With the dissipation of the crowd, the noise dissipated as well. And the interview began to take place in full swing.
“We all know that Tokushima prefecture was previously dominated by the likes of Karasuno elementary school and Ronden elementary school. But out of nowhere a new team emerged and challenged their authority. So we’d like to know how you created such a dominant team?”
“Did you plan it from a long time ago or did it just happen out of blue?”
The reporters began to question the principal.
“We did indeed plan for this from a long time ago. But it wasn’t me who created this team. It’s all thanks to our scout Sakamoto and coaching staffs.”
“If not for our excellent scout, we would have never managed to create this incredible team. So I want to thank our scout and coaching staffs for building such an incredible team. Thank you!!”
Principal Miyamoto took a peak at Sakamoto san and coach Miura who were standing beside him and bowed his head as he thanked them.
Assistant coach Honda had left the team that year. He was preparing himself for the S class license exam.
“Thank you for your words principal Miyamoto. So was it Sakamoto san who managed to scout Takahashi Hiro?” The reporter continued with his question.
“Yes indeed it was Sakamoto san who scouted Hiro. For that I would like to thank him once again. Thank you Sakamoto san. This school owes a lot to you.” Principal Miyamoto thanked Sakamoto once again for scouting Hiro.
The interview was going pretty smoothly.
Just then suddenly a voice from the background distracted them. The voice belonged to the guard.
“No sir! You can’t go over there sir!”
The guard was seen struggling to stop a foreigner from entering the pitch.
“What’s happening over there?” As the noice became vivid, the reporters turned their gazes towards the commotion taking place at the sidelines.
“What’s happening over there?” Coach Miura yelled as he turned his attention towards the commotion.
“Sir!! This foreigner is trying to invade the pitch. I keep telling him that the pitch is off limit for the time being, but he doesn’t listen to me. He keeps on telling me that he was invited by principal Miyamoto. And he’s forcefully trying to invade the pitch.” The guard replied while trying to stop Eric from entering the pitch.
“Let him go! I’m the one who invited him.” Principal Miyamoto yelled.
“You’ve heard it from him now. So can you let me go now?” Eric mumbled goofily.
Upon hearing the words of principal Miyamoto, he immediately released Eric from his grasp.
“Who’s that foreigner principal Miyamoto?” The reporters and the coaching staff questioned as they witnessed the sight of Eric.
Since Eric was still a small time agent, not many people knew about him yet. As of now, even in his home country only a handful of people knew about his identity.
“So the rumors were indeed true. He was the rumoured European.” Akashi mumbled in awe as he witnessed the sight of Eric.
Except Hiro, Momo and principal Miyamoto, everybody else were unaware of his identity. Some thought of him as a foreigner scout, some thought of him as a foreign coach, some thought of him as a foreign player and some even thought of him as some kind of celebrity from foreign land.
Everybody had a different impression of Eric. However nobody thought of him as an agent. Since in football only the players and the coaches are well known among the masses. Nobody thought of him as an agent.
Even though agents, owners and coaching staffs other the coaches are an important part of the football, they aren’t as famous as the players and coaches. Except few exceptional agents and owners, it’s likely that most people wouldn’t even know the name of the agent of their favourite players.
“He’s one of the agent from Europe.” Principal Miyamoto cheerfully exclaimed. “You may have heard players like Jude Bellingham and Kalvin Philip’s who plays for teams like Brimingham and Leeds United in the 2nd division league of English football. He’s the one who manages them. And he has shown great interest in one of our talented player. Usually he doesn’t sign Asian players but this player had piqued his interest. And he’s here to sign him.”
As the principal announced such a shocking statement, the reporters froze in their places. Their eyes bulging, they were left speechless.