Chapter 32 champion vs challenger
After hearing that shocking revelation from Endo, Hiro was at loss of words. And even though he could feel the suffering of Endo, he couldn't console him.
He wondered how a kid of that age was holding so much emotions within him.
Even so, he couldn't just sit by and watch him grieve. He needed to do something to cheer him. He then began to make futile attempts to cheer him.
"I'm sure everything will turn out fine. And aren't you glad that he's doing really well?" Hiro exclaimed while trying to console him.
"I hope so." Endo frowned
"Don't worry about it. You'll get to reunite with your brother. And I'm sure everything will turn out fine."
Hiro exclaimed with a smile on his face.
Endo hesitatingly took a peak at Hiro's face. There was a smile on his face and he could feel that Hiro was genuinely worried about him. Upon seeing the gentle smile on his face, he felt a little better.
"Yeah! Everything will turn out fine." He mumbled and revealed a warm smile.
April 2, 2015
Pokari sweat Stadium, Tokushima, Japan
Crowds of spectators were flocking towards the stadium. And a diverse group of people ranging from kids to elderly people were walking towards the stadium with cheerful smile on their faces.
[Welcome everyone to the final of this year's prefectural tournament of Tokushima prefecture. Today we'll be witnessing the faceoff of Ookami elementary school and Ronden elementary school.]
[It's a match between previous years winner and a new challenger. For past few years Ronden elementary school have been dominating the prefectural tournament. And only Karasuno elementary school have come close to challenging them for the past few years.]
[But will things change now? Ookami elementary school have built a really strong team which has even managed to defeat the mighty Karasuno elementary school and they are eyeing towards the throne of the prefectural tournament. Will we witness a change in the history today? Or will Ronden elementary school defend their title?]
"Woohoo"
While the commentator was commentating, suddenly the crowd burst out in cheers. Players began to walk out from the tunnel.
Players of Ronden elementary school made their appearance dressed in white jerseys. Walking side by side were the players of Ookami elementary school dressed in black jersey.
It was a battle of black and white. It was a battle between the champions and the challengers
Usually only the nationals would be broadcasted in the TV channels but due to the immense popularity of Hiro, the local news channel were stationed in the stadium to broadcast the match live in their channel.
"There's sure a lot of people in the stand today." Hiro mumbled in awe upon witnessing the huge number of spectators in the stand.
The final match was being held at Pokari sweat stadium, the home of Tokushima Vortis football club. Tokushima Vortis football club was one of the professional team which played in the J-2 of Japanese football league. Even though it played in the second tier of Japanese league, it had a huge fan following and moreover it contained a large football stadium.
While Hiro was searching for his parents in the crowd, he found Akashi acting weird. He was looking at the stadium from the hole of his hands which he shaped like a binoculars.
"What are you doing?" Hiro questioned, contorting his face.
"Shh!! I'm looking for the scouts." Akashi replied while looking at the stands.
"Why would there be scouts in a kids game?"
"Since it's a stadium of a professional team, there might be scouts of the team. Now don't disturb me." Akashi tried to shrugg him off.
Akashi wasn't totally wrong about his statement. Afterall Tokushima Vortis was a professional team which had a youth team, so it wasn't totally off the chart for the scouts of Tokushima Vortis to be present in the stadium.
He then looked around him and found his teammates acting weird for some reasons. Kuro, kuon and Otsuka, the three of them were lying in the ground with their face facing downwards.
"What are you all doing?" He bewilderingly questioned.
"Uwu~ The grass is so soft. I can feel the texture of these finely trimmed grass." Kuon expressed himself.
For most of them, it was their first time playing in a stadium of professional team. Even for Hiro, it was his first time playing in a professional teams stadium. In his previous life, he never got to play in a professional teams stadium.
Just then as Endo made his way towards them with his face contorted in disdain.
"What's the matter Endo senpai?" Hiro questioned upon witnessing his sad face.
"We lost the toss." Endo sighed.
"Hahaha"
"You scared us for no reason."
"And we thought something serious might have happened."
The players of Ookami elementary school burst out in laughter upon listening to Endo's words.
"Don't worry about the loss in toss, Endo senpai. We've got a game to win, right boys?"
Hiro raised his voice.
"Yeah!! Let's crush them and win the title guys."
Akashi yelled.
"Let's go pack. We've got a game to win."
Saying such, all of them walk towards the center half of the pitch to shake the hands of their opponents. After that discussion, their eyes were glowing with confidence.
Just as they were shaking the hands of their opponents, Hiro's eyes landed on Taki and Endo. While everybody already finished shaking each others hands, they were still holding each others hands. Taki was mumbling something but he couldn't hear him.
While they were conversing with each other, Endo looked extremely sad.
"Let's go Hiro" Akashi called out for him.
While keeping his gaze fixated at the sight of Endo and Taki, he began to step back. As they began to position themselves Kuro yelled;
"Hurry up Endo."
Endo hurriedly ran towards the goalpost.
They were playing in a 4-4-3 formation with Sato and Kuro playing as winger. Hiro was playing a false nine and there wasn't much change in their squad except the only the change being Akashi playing as the starting centre back instead of Kento.
Beep!!
The referee blew his whistle, commencing the start of the match.
Since they had lost the toss, Ronden elementary school chose to pick the goalpost and they were forced to start the kickoff.
Hiro passed the ball back towards Rin.
Ronden elementary school relied on a traditional 4-1-3-2 formation. They had a counterattacking philosophy and relied more on their defence.
Because of their strong defence, they had gained themselves a nickname of 'Iron fortress'.
And although they relied more on their defence, their offence was extremely deadly as well because of their ability to switch between defence and offense.
They were a team to be feared.
Since they had learnt about their playstyle, the players of Ookami elementary school didn't charge forward recklessly. They tried to break the opponents formation as much as they could.
Just like them, the players of Ronden elementary school have prepared enough against them as well. They didn't charge in recklessly and approached them calmly without breaking their formation.
And once again they had to rely on Hiro's dribbling to break their defence.
Hiro began to dribble the ball forward. And just like in the game with Karasuno elementary school, the defenders of Ronden elementary school surrounded him instantly.
But unlike the defenders of Karasuno elementary school who charged towards him recklessly, the defenders of Ronden elementary stayed in their position and kept on observing him, leaving him no space to take the ball forward.
"Tch-"
Hiro clicked his tongue and passed the ball backwards.
They were fully aware of his dribbling abilities and were wary of him.
For almost 15th minute of the game, the ball stayed glued in the feet of the players of Ookami elementary school.
And at the 16th minute of the game, he noticed a space between their defence. Making use of the space, he began to charge the ball forward with the help of Sato and Kuro.
With swift 1-2 passes, they broke free through the defence of Ronden elementary school. With only a defender and a keeper blocking his course, he found himself exactly at the periphery of the penalty zone.
Targeting the top left corner of the pitch, he kicked the ball towards the post from outside the box. The ball touched the tip of Taki's gloves and rolled towards the left side.
"Loose ball-"
Just as he was about to shout, something confused him.
Surprisingly there was already a defender positioned at the left side of their defensive half. The sight of that defender confused him.
That defender quickly played the ball forward and Ronden elementary school started to counterattack.
"Get back!! Get back!!" He yelled as the defender played the ball forward.
Because of the earlier attack, most of their players were infront of the centre line. And so were the offensive players of Ronden elementary school. The two offensive players of Ronden elementary school didn't participate in the defence even though it was threatening for them.
As if they were ordered to stay at the centre line no matter the outcome, they didn't drop back to defend even when they were on the verge of conceding a goal.
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