My Goalkeeping System

"I don't really have time to do proper workouts so I make sure I run every morning," Emilia said.

She had removed the earpiece in her left ear so that she would be able to hear what he was saying as they ran.

"That's good, and the earpiece?" Dave asked, touching his ear.

"I really love having these in my ears while running, I can run without music but music makes it so much easier and fun too, you should try it sometimes." She said,

"I'm not a big fan of music but I guess I could try it out the next time I'm running." The goalkeeper said.

"Good." She said with a smile on her face.

The two continued their running without saying anything for a while until they had covered five kilometers which meant that they had gotten to the path that led into the forest.

Dave stopped as soon as he got to the area causing Emilia to stop with her.

"What's wrong., is this your limit?" She asked as soon as she stopped but Dave didn't reply to her and just started running down the path.

"Great, a change of route." She said before she quickly turned and started following him down the path.

She wanted to ask him some questions and to do that, she had to catch up to him first and that was what she was trying to do now.

"Hey!" She yelled as soon as she got close enough to him. "So, is this like your normal running route?"

"Well, I just discovered it yesterday but yeah, you could say that," Dave replied.

"Okay, it's a nice route with the trees and everything." She said,

The two didn't say anything much until they got to the hill which had become Dave's driving point on taking the route today.

"A hill," Emilia said with a smile on her face as she looked up at the hill. "Are we supposed to climb the hill?"

"Um…yeah," Dave said with a nod.

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's get over with." She said before she began to make her way up the hill and she was moving way faster than Dave expected.

<That's a good question, what are you waiting for?>

'Don't act like you don't know, Catherine.'

<The quest isn't coming, Dave>

'Why not?'

<Because you completed it yesterday and you didn't find it that difficult, if the hill had a higher height which you didn't reach yesterday then maybe you would have gotten another quest but that's not the case and another reason why you won't get the same quest is that your stats are better than they were yesterday.

"Dave! Are you coming or not!?" Emilia yelled from the top of the hill.

"If only I could find a higher hill." The goalkeeper mumbled before he began to make his way up the hill.

"Took you long enough." She said as soon as he got to the top of the hill. "What was taking you so long down there?"

"It's nothing," Dave said, shaking his head.

"Okay." She said before turning her gaze back to what she was looking at before he got there, the beautiful forest view from up there. "Are you hearing that?"

"It was the same the first time I came here," Dave said. "There's a market behind those trees." He added before pointing toward the area.

"How do you know that? I can't see anything." She said, stretching herself to see if she could see what Dave was seeing but still she couldn't see it.

"Well, you need to be this tall to see it," Dave said as he placed his hand above his head to indicate his height.

"You don't have to state the obvious." She said before crossing her arms.

"I didn't notice it before but now I do," Dave said before moving a little closer to her.

"Notice what?" Emilia asked.

"You're shorter than Emma, slightly."

That wasn't what she was expecting to hear and it seemed to have sparked up a reaction from her.

"Is that so, why don't you lift me so I can see what you're seeing, in other words, lend me some of your height, please." She said, giving him a piercing stare and he didn't know exactly what to think of it.

"Uh….."

"Oh, never mind, let's go check the place out." She said before she began to make her way down the hill.

The goalkeeper watched her until she made her way down the hill and then turned to look up at him.

"Hey! Are you coming or not!?" She yelled from down there.

"Coming." He said before he began to make his way down the hill.

There was a little moment of silence between the two as they walked down the hill before Dave decided to break it with a question.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Shouldn't you be at home getting ready for your seminar?" The goalkeeper asked.

"Relax, the seminar starts by 1:00 PM, there's no need for me to rush." She assured him.

"Oh."

It didn't take long for them to get to the market and looking around the area, Emilia felt an air of familiarity while Dave seemed to be amused as he didn't expect the place to be as big as it was.

Emilia knew within herself that she had been to this place before but she just needed something to jog her memory and it was only after they had taken a few steps toward the area that she spotted the right thing to jog her memory.

It was a large billboard with the drawing of a large thinned tomato with smaller thinned ones below it and the words, 'Sweet Zlensky Tomato' written above it.

"I knew it." She said as the picture had finally come to her.

"Knew what?" Dave asked with a confused expression on her face.

"This is the only place I've ever seen that billboard." She said,

"What are you saying?"

<I think she's trying to say that she's been here before>

"I've been here before, this place is called the hidden market, this is one of the boundaries between Unique and Supreme City." She said,

"Boundary?"

"Yeah, when I was a little girl twelve to fourteen years old, I lived around this area with my parents, this was our main source of groceries and other stuff so I came here a lot with my mom." She said,

"I see, I grew up in Unique City and I've never heard of this place until now." The goalkeeper said.

"Maybe because you didn't go out much besides your training sessions." She said,

"Yeah, you're right." He said.

"Well, since you haven't been here before, how about I show you around, the places I can still remember, that is?" She said,

"Okay," Dave said with a nod.

Emma proceeded to show him around the places she could still remember as there had been some changes in the place and just before they could start heading home, she went into one of the stores to buy something and told Dave to wait for her outside.

'That was really fun, she really knows how to explain things in the funnest of ways.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously.

<Well, she is a reporter, it's in their skill set>

'I guess so.'

It didn't take long before Emilia walked out of the shop holding a medium-sized bag.

"Hey, what's in there?" Dave asked as soon as she got closer to him.

"Just a few items that I'm going to need to cover all three meals today." She said,

"Oh, and you paid for them yourself," Dave said, staring at her.

"Don't worry about it." She said with a smile and a shrug.

She wanted to tell him that it was time for them to start heading back but she didn't like the way she was looking at her now.

"Is there a problem?" She asked.

"No." He said, shaking his head. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Dave had caught her by surprise with that question as she was starting to feel nervous now.

'Why is he asking me this question?'

"Um…no." She said, shaking her head.

<Seriously? I was expecting a yes, I would like to think she's lying but she's not>

'Yeah, same here, maybe she's just cautious.'

"Okay." He said.

"Okay?" She muttered. "Why did you ask?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to know." The goalkeeper replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He said with a nod.

After hearing him say that, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's get going then."

The two had walked quite a distance and were about to leave the market when Dave decided to ask her something.

"By any chance can you be here next week?" He asked.

"I don't know, why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing serious, I just want you to meet someone." He said.

"Meet someone?"

"Yeah."

"Who is that?"

"I have to confirm if you'll be there first before I can tell you." He said.

Emilia didn't reply for a while as she couldn't give him a direct answer.

"Let's get back first so that I can check my schedule and see if it will work."

"Okay." The goalkeeper said.

<There's a chance that this won't work, Dave, it's all a matter of compatibility>

'Why do you always try to ruin things like this with negativity and since when do you know anything about it? I thought you didn't know how human emotions worked.'

<Yeah, I said that>

*****

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