April 7th, Thursday, 2022
Spreading it’s warm rays across the surface, morning sun was shining brilliantly. Occupying few vacant spots, fluffy white clouds of different shapes and sizes were also drifting freely in the blue sky.
Chirp!! Chirp!!
Basking in the morning sun, few small birds were chirping while sitting in the branches of trees planted in the roadside.
That day’s morning was rather peaceful and dreamy.
Until a silhouette of a boy appeared in one end of the road.
Fair-skinned, sharp nose, thick brows, his medium long black hair was covering most of his forehead.
Beads of sweats formed in his temple were all merging together and running down his face, while he was pedalling his bicycle.
‘Shit!! I’m gonna be late for the training.’ As if he was in some kind of rush, he thought while pedalling his bicycle.
Despite panting heavily, his eyes didn’t show any signs of exhaustion and looked rather full of energy. However as if something was troubling him, he looked rather anxious and panicked.
‘If I don’t reach the training ground in time today, coach will definitely eat me alive.’ Thinking of his coach, a shiver ran down his spine.
“No I won’t get late.” Shouted the boy as he began to pedal harder.
His loud voice which came out of nowhere scared the nearby birds sitting in the trees. Fluttering their wings, they all flew away after hearing his voice.
Finally after about 5 minutes of bike ride, he arrived infront of a school gate. Atop the gate was a banner which read as such; Aomori Yamada High School.
Huff!! Huff!!
Pausing his bicycle, he stood infront of the huge metal gate to catch his breath. Looking to his left and right, he began to search for people.
“Am I the last one to arrive?” Unable to find anybody around him, he questioned to himself.
“Sigh!! Seems like I’ll be running laps again.” Heaving a pitiful sigh, he mumbled.
After that he headed inside the school. Parking his bicycle in a hurry, he grabbed his bag and began to run.
Running towards a building which was just infront of a football pitch, he entered the building.
“What took you so long today Takumi?” A fair-skinned, black-haired boy questioned the boy from before just as he entered the football pitch after getting changed.
“I stood up late watching football yesterday.” Replied Takumi with a awkward smile in his face.
“What about yesterday’s Tamagawa clasico?” Asked the boy after hearing Takumi’s response.
“We won’t be facing either of them until next week. So why bother watching them now?” Acting uninterested, Takumi shrugged.
“The guy whom I mentioned to you previously. Also the guy who’s leading the goal scoring chart in this year’s Takamado Premier League, he scored yet another two goal in yesterday’s match.” Responded the black-haired dude infront of him.
“So what if he scored two more goals. I’ll catch up to him in no time.” Sounding a little arrogant, Takumi replied.
“In only two matches he has scored 6 goals.” Mumbled the guy infront of him.
“6 goals” Lifting six fingers and showing it to Takumi, he repeated.
Hearing the words said by the guy infront, his face flushed and he hurriedly replied, “I too have 3 goals under my name. And if I score 3 goals in tomorrow’s match, I’ll tie with him in no time.”
Noticing his flushed face, the guy infront smiled and said, “Yeah. You can score a hattrick. Afterall you’re our ace.”
“But anyway, do you want to watch some highlights of yesterday’s Tamagawa clasico?” Continued the black-haired guy.
“Are you out of your mind Reichi? The coach will kill us.” Takumi exasperated.
“Hahaha… Look around you.” Reichi replied while laughing. “The coach hasn’t arrived yet.”
Hearing Reichi’s words, Takumi began to look around the pitch. Looking around the pitch, he couldn’t find his coach in the field. And as mentioned by Reichi, he found that his team’s coach hadn’t actually arrived yet.
“Sigh!!”
At first, he breathed a sigh of relief after failing to find his coach since he won’t have to run laps for arriving last. Then again, he questioned, “Why has he not arrived yet? He has never gotten late before.”
“Hmm… I’m not sure.” Shaking his head, Reichi replied.
“So do you still want to watch the highlights?” Continued Reichi.
“Well… let’s watch it” Nodding his head, Takumi answered.
“Wait a bit. I’ll go fetch my phone.” Saying such, Reichi left the field in hurry.
**** ****
Lying in his bed, Hiro was blankly staring at the ceiling above him.
‘Is Tomoyasu all right? He didn’t look fine to me. And the coach’s haven’t told us anything either.’ While thinking of the injury which Tomoyasu suffered in yesterday’s match, Hiro pondered with a worried look on his face.
“That bastard Tsubasa. How could he laugh after injuring someone to that extent.” Gnashing his teeth, Hiro mumbled while remembering the moment where he witnessed Tsubasa’s crooked smile.
“Sigh!!”
“But what can we even do. It’s not like I can go and beat him.” Inhaling a deep breathe, Hiro let go of his anger.
Hiro then rose from his bed and began to stretch his body.
“Although it’s a good thing we don’t have any morning training today. But it’s still kinda boring to lay in bed.” Mumbled Hiro while stretching his legs.
“How did I turn up like this? I used to love sleeping back then. What happened to the old me?” Thinking about his past self, Hiro mumbled.
“May be I’m changing.” Hiro guessed.
“Ahh right! I should use that silver ticket which I’ve got from yesterday’s quest.”
“System activate”
[System activated]
Leafing through the holographic blue screen, Hiro directly headed towards the roulette section.
[You have one silver ticket available]
[Do you want to use it?]
[Confirm] [Cancel]
“Confirm” Pressing on the confirm, he waited patiently for his reward. 𝘪𝘳𝘢.𝒸𝘰𝑚
The roulette wheel then spun for a while and after few seconds it landed in one of the card.
[Congratulations host has obtain skill Lightning steps]
[Skill: Lightning steps]
[Skill description: The host can achieve his top acceleration immediately without needing any extra movements]
[Skill duration: 8 seconds]
[CD: 30 minutes]