Lost in his own reverie, Masao who was quietly sitting outside the pitch was blankly staring at the clear blue sky above.
The sun was already at it’s zenith, shining brilliantly. Few white clouds were also floating aimlessly in the vast clear blue sky. It was a peaceful sunny day.
“But can that guy even play?” With his brows arched, Hiro asked while looking at the sight of Masao, sounding somewhat skeptical.
“I heard that he used to play football in his elementary school.” Rin answered vaguely.
“Well if you say so. Then let’s go and ask him. There’s no problem in asking once afterall.” Saying such Rin and Hiro both walked towards Masao.
“Masao do you want to play football?” Rin softly asked after getting near to Masao.
Masao who was staring blankly at the sky couldn’t notice the presence of Rin and Hiro, until he heard Rin’s voice.
Hence the sudden voice of Rin which came out of nowhere scared him. Hearing Rin’s voice, he startlingly leaned backwards with his hands supporting his upper body.
Noticing his terrified face, Hiro tried to calm him down by mentioning their reason of approaching him; “Don’t be scared. We’re only here to ask you, if you want to play football with us.”
Masao was at a loss of words and he kept on staring at them without saying anything.
“He doesn’t look right in his head? Or does he always act like this whenever someone approaches him?” Hiro whispered softly after noticing Masao’s reaction.
“He often get’s picked on by Masato and his gangs for his meek appearance.” Rin whispered back.
“Who’s Masato?”
“He’s that big guy who sits at the last bench.”
Totally forgetting the topic of their visit, they kept on talking between themselves.
Noticing them gossiping among themselves, Masao who had regained his composure stood up and began to walk away without saying anything.
“Why doesn’t he complain to the teacher about the bullying?” Hiro asked.
“I’m not sure. I guess he’s just scared to do so.”
“Ohh! Then let’s talk to him about that matter too after the match.” Saying such, he turned his attention towards Masao.
But Masao was nowhere to be seen. Confused by Masao’s sudden disappearance, Hiro questioned while looking around him; “Where did he go?”
“Ahh look!! There he is. He’s walking away.” Rin intoned while pointing at Masao who was silently walking towards the main building.
“We gotta stop him.” Saying such both of them ran towards Masao.
It didn’t take them long enough to catch up to him. They appeared before him in no time. Noticing them infront, Masao stopped his movement as well.
“Masao please help us out this time.” While panting heavily, Rin begged Masao.
“Yes Masao. We’re really lacking a player. So please help us this time.” Hiro added.
Noticing them bowing infront of him, Masao couldn’t turn them away. Thus, he reluctantly accepted their proposal.
“Okay” Masao replied meekly.
“Thank you Masao.” Feeling grateful, both of them thanked him.
After that all of them walked towards the field and began to arrange the team.
**** ****
The team was then divided between Shun and Hiro. Shun took almost all of the amazing player in the field, leaving Hiro with all novices.
The only decent player in Hiro’s team was Hidetaka. And besides him, he could tell that all the other player in his team were practically novices.
Masao being a wild card, he could only rely on Hidetaka.
“Yugo may have a face of a fox. But Shun’s the real fox among us. That sly fox took almost all of the amazing players.” Hiro thought while looking at Shun’s team.
Afterall Shun’s team consisted of Yugo, Yuya, Shunta, Shun and Kin.
“You don’t have any complaints regarding the team right?” Yuya asked while revealing a playful smile in his face.
“Why would I have any complaints?” Hiro’s mouth twitched a little while replying. “I’m totally happy with my team. So now let’s start the game without any delay.”
“Hahaha… Yes let’s start the beating. I mean let’s start the game.” Yuya laughed sounding all confident.
Since Hiro was placed in a team of noobs, Yuya and the rest were confident about their victory.
The game then began with kickoff from Hiro’s team.
Masao playing as their sole forward, Hiro was playing in his original position of an offensive midfielder. Since they had no decent defender, Hiro had asked Hidetaka to play as defensive midfielder to cover both defense and offense. 𝒃𝒆𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝒎
Masao who played as their forward passed the ball back to Hiro and signalled the starting of the game.
From the moment of kickoff, Kin who was full of energy rushed towards Hiro.
Looking all smug, Kin approached Hiro who had the ball in his feet at that moment.
Hiro easily dribble past Kin without any difficulty. But Kin didn’t stop chasing him even after getting dribble past.
And as mentioned by Shun earlier, Kin was indeed an athletic person.
Although he lacked technique and gaming sense, his physicality was no joke.
Despite dribbling past him several times, Kin continued to chase after him like a mad bull in rage.
‘Just how much can this guy run? Does he not get tired? But I’m sorry to disappoint you my friend. I’d never lose to anybody when it comes to endurance and stamina.’ Hiro thought while dribbling the ball forward.
Few minutes after the start of the game, Hiro was already infront of the goalposts. Kin who was reluctant on defending against him was still behind him.
With Yugo and Shunta infront, Hiro was charging towards the post from his left flank.
“Well this much is expected. We didn’t think anyone in our team could stop this monster afterall.” Shunta mumbled while noticing Hiro coming towards him with the ball in his feet.
“Yugo! Keep your position and follow me. I’ll try to push him out of position.” Saying such Shunta rushed towards Hiro.
As suggested by Shunta, Yugo followed him while maintaining his position.
With the two of them preventing him from cutting towards the middle, Hiro was forced to dribble the ball towards the flank instead.
However while everybody’s attention was focused on Hiro, Masao the meek looking guy had made his run towards the box without being noticed.
Noticing Masao’s run, Hiro crossed the ball inside the box towards Masao.
Shun came forward to punch the ball.
But the trajectory of the ball was a little off. It was headed towards the edge of the penalty box. Masao who had predicted the direction of the ball quickly changed his path and ran backwards, towards the spot where the ball was going to land.
And as the ball fell down, Masao trapped the ball in his chest and shot a beautiful volley towards the goal.