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Inside a three storeyed building which was located at a certain distance away from the Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium, two people were seen talking to each other while sitting at a table in a large hall with lots of dining tables and kitchen wares.
“Isn’t the club planning on recruiting any new player this year?” A tall guy with a lanky body spoke.
“I’m not sure about it either. The club hasn’t organised any trial for this year. So may be no new player will join us this time.” The other guy with a small rounded face, who was seated opposite to the previous guy replied while grabbing a piece of fried shrimp from his plate with his chopsticks.
Because of the pandemic, the club hadn’t organised any trial for the year 21-22. And even for the U-18 team, the club had simply decided to promote the previous players from U-15 team.
Both of the two guys who were seated at the right corner table in the cafeteria had a bowl full of rice, a bowl full vegetable soup and a plate full of fried shrimp placed infront of them.
Just then another guy with somewhat tanned skin and lanky body made his appearance towards the table where the two guys were seated while carrying a tray full of the same food as that of the two guys infront.
“Yoh Hirato! Yoh Takekazu! What are you guys talking about?” Saying such in an enthusiastic voice, he placed the tray full of food atop the table and sat down.
Takekazu Yokodera was the name of the tall guy and Hirato Hyakukai was the name of the other guy with a round shaped face.
“Oh it’s you Shun. We were talking about this year’s trial.” Hirato replied while turning his head towards Shun who came out of nowhere and sat beside him.
“So it’s about the trial huh?” Shun mumbled while stuffing a chunk of rice in his mouth.
“Since the club had cancelled the trial for this year, shouldn’t we face less competition for the spot in U-18 team this year? May be this year we might even get a chance to be promoted to the U-18 team as well.” Hirato intoned feeling all excited.
As mentioned by Hirato, the cancellation of trial by the club that year had indeed increased their probability to rise to the U-18 team.
Since they had to compete among themselves and not with other new players, the probability to rise to the U-18 team was rather high that year.
Nom!! Nom!!
“Before talking about the promotion, you should probably work on losing your weight first Hirato.” Shun mumbled with a straight face while stuffing his mouth with food.
“Hahaha…. Yeah!! He’s right.” Takekazu laughed as he heard Shun’s words.
Hirato who was grabbing a shrimp with his chopsticks, increased his grip all of a sudden and tore apart the shrimp into two pieces as he heard Shun’s remarks of him.
“A player should talk with skills not with body Shun.” Hirato exasperated.
He then abruptly turned his head towards Takekazu who was sitting infront of him and spoke in fury; ．
“And what are you laughing at you bald monk.”
As mentioned by Hirato, Takekazu had a clean shaven head and somewhat rounded face like a monk.
Hirato who also happened to have a rounded face was somewhat overweight. With a rather small height of 4 feet 4 inches as compared to the two other guys seated alongside him, he was somewhat of a shorty.
However in terms of footballing talents, he was much more talented than the other two guys.
“Well at least I don’t look like a freaking squirttle. Hahaha….” Takekazu laughed while mocking Hirato’s height.
“And what exactly have you pulled off by being a 5 feet 5 inches central defender? The only thing that you’re good at is winning the aerial ball. You do remember the time when Sawamura from Yokohama F Marinos nutmegged you for more than 5 times in one single match right?” Hirato began to dug out the past mistakes of Takekazu after listening to his taunts.
And as such, they got into a quarrel after the appearance of Shun. While they were arguing with each other, Shun kept on stuffing the food in his mouth while enjoying the show which he had orchestrated infront of him.
After a moment of insulting each other, they came to a realisation.
“Why exactly are we arguing with each other?” Hirato questioned.
“Exactly!! Wasn’t it Shun who gaslighted you?” Takekazu nodded his head while pointing his finger towards Shun who was seated beside Hirato with mouth full of fried shrimps.
“I only said Hirato to lose weight. After that it was all you guys.” Shun mumbled with a straight face as if their arguments had nothing to do with him.
“Well yeah he’s right too.” Takekazu mumbled after hearing him. He couldn’t put the blame on Shun, since what he had said was all true.
Unable to put the blame on Shun, both of them silently turned their attention towards their plate. And as they turned their attention towards the plate, they found their shrimps missing from the plate.
Realising that they have been played by Shun, they abruptly turned their head towards him to vent their anger.
However at that time, Shun rose from his seat and spoke;
“I’m done guys. I’ll be leaving now. You guys can take your time.”
Saying such he began to walk away, as if nothing had happened. Takekazu and Hirato who had turned towards him to vent their anger were left dumbfounded by his actions.
“What just happened?” Hirato questioned while staring blankly at his plate.
“Nothing much! We got played by him. While we were busy arguing with each other, he ate the shrimps from our plate leaving us with only rice and vegetable soup.” Takekazu replied with a dumbfounded face while staring blankly at his empty plates.
**** ****
After about 2 and half hour plane ride, Hiro landed at the airport of Kawasaki with his father.
“Should we head to the hostel right away or do you want to stop at a restaurant to eat something first?” His father questioned him while exiting the airport.
Since he had already been there previously, the club hadn’t provided him with a guide that time around.
“Let’s eat something first and after that we’ll head to the hostel.” Hiro replied after a brief second of thinking.
“Then wait here for a minute. I’ll go look for a cab.” Saying such, his father walked towards the parking lot where the cabs were usually parked.
“I’m finally here. I’m finally one step closer to my goal.” He mumbled while looking at the bright blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds.
The sky was unusually bright that day. With the sun at it’s zenith, the ambience around him was rather cold that day.
Despite the sun being at it’s zenith, the temperature wasn’t as hot as it used to be during the month of june, july.
“It’s not as hot as it used to be. I guess the winter is approaching.” He mumbled while keeping his gaze fixated at the sky above.
“The days will only get colder now. Nonetheless I must keep the fire inside me ablaze.”