As commanded by coach Fuji, the three of them stepped forward and walked towards the goal-line.
After reaching the goal-line, they stood behind the goal-line while preparing to launch themselves. Yuya with somewhat flustered face looked a bit anxious. Hirato on the other hand was filled with rage and hatred.
His eyes fixated at Hiro, he was glaring at him as if he was going to swallow him alive. Despite noticing Hirato’s contemptuous stare, he paid no attention to him and kept his eyes focused at the finish line which was about 50 yards away from the position he was standing at that moment.
‘Shunta seemed quite agile. But I wonder who would win among us if we were to race against each other.’ Hiro thought while preparing to run. ‘Let’s test it out. I’ll run as fast I can. And I’ll also tell him to do the same. Later we can compare our timing.’
While Hirato was fixated on defeating Hiro, Hiro on the other hand didn’t even consider him his rival. He was more focused on competing with Shunta.
And as they assumed their position and prepared themselves to launch, coach Fuji who was standing behind the half-line accompanied by manager Nozomi and Shun, signalled the other two to prepare themselves to record the time of those three players standing behind the goal-line. 𝐞𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
Beep!!
Just as coach Fuji blew his whistle, Yuya, Hirato and Hiro, all three of them launched themselves towards the half-line.
Hiro’s acceleration was unmatched. From the moment of their launch, Yuya and Hirato who started alongside him were forced to tail his back just within some seconds. They didn’t even come close to challenging him.
Just by looking at them run, one could tell that Yuya and Hirato were no match for Hiro. Hiro finished the sprint in 9.9 seconds. On the other hand Yuya finished the sprint in 14.9 seconds. Despite being a little overweighted, Hirato who was the slowest among them took 16.4 seconds to finish the sprint.
And just as Hirato crossed the half-line, he threw himself on the pitch and collapsed on the pitch. While panting heavily, he covered his eyes with his hands.
“Impressive!! In less than three years he’ve improved so much. I still remember back then during his trial for the club it took him 24 seconds to complete 50 yard dash. But look at him now, he completed the same test in 9.9 seconds. If he continues to improve like this may be soon he can even achieve the top speed of professional footballers.” Manager Nozomi’s eyes gleamed with expectations as he mumbled in awe upon witnessing the progress of Hiro.
As much as Manager Nozomi was shocked to find out his improvement. Yet he wasn’t the only one who was shocked by Hiro’s improvement at that field. Coach Fuji who was standing just beside him had the same expression as that of Nozomi’s.
‘Is it even humanely possible to improve like this? Just how is he able to improve more than twice in less than three years? And he’s only 12 years old? What kind of monster are we training in our youth facility?’ Coach Fuji thought while looking at the time recorded in his notebook.
“Did you see him run? He runs like a wild horse. Yuya and Hirato, they both weren’t even close to challenging him.” One of the players mentioned.
“Yeah!! Did he inherit Usain Bolt’s gene or what??” Another player exaggerated.
And as such the players began to gossip after seeing him run.
“Impressive start from the players of first group. Now let’s continue with other groups.” Coach Fuji intoned.
And with that, players from next group stepped forward and assumed their marks. One after the other, the players competed among themselves.
And just as the final player from the final group completed his sprint, Coach Fuji announced the end of first drill.
After announcing the end of the first drill, coach Fuji and manager Nozomi began to tally the data.
And while they were tallying the data, Hiro’s wandering eyes landed on Hirato who was still at the ground, panting.
While gasping for breath Hirato lifted his chin to take a peak at Hiro. But upon noticing Hiro’s gaze, he quickly diverted his gaze away from him.
And as the coach’s finished tallying the data, coach Fuji began to announce the result of the first drill.
“Okay now. Everyone gather around. I’ll announce the result of the first phase.”
“It was a neck to neck battle between the first and second. And the one who has clenched the spot for the number 1 is Shunta Tanaka with a recorded time of 9.4 seconds. Takahashi Hiro who came in second recorded a time of 9.9 seconds.”
Shunta clenched the top spot by barely outrunning him by a mere 5 milliseconds. Hirato with his recorded time of 16.4 seconds was placed in the bottom third of the first drill.
After the announcement of the result of the first phase, manager Nozomi approached Hirato who was trying his best to avoid meeting eyes with Hiro.
“You should lose some weight Hirato. You’ll only waste your talent if you continue to remain like this.” Manager Nozomi suggested in his gentle tone.
“I admit that you’re talented. But now with the appearance of Hiro, talent alone won’t secure your position on the team. You’re position is in jeopardy.” Nozomi continued.
Hirato couldn’t bring himself to look manager Nozomi in the eyes. Since every word said by manager Nozomi was a fact, he couldn’t even bring himself to talk back anything. Thus, without saying anything, he kept on listening to the advice of manager with his chin lowered to his chest.
“I’m not threatening you Hirato. So don’t take it in negative way. I just want the best of you. And as your coach I can’t watch you wither away without fulfilling your potential. So Hirato give your best.” Saying such in his gentle voice, Nozomi walked away from him.
However even till the end, Hirato couldn’t bring himself to reply to Nozomi.