Half sunken in the west horizon, sun was about to set. Fluffy clouds which were floating in the west sky was glowing bright orange, reflecting the light of the setting sun.
Taking a quick glance at the dreamy sky, Hiro who was dressed in a comfortable tracksuit pushed open the gates of the U-18 pitch.
The usually crowded pitch was somewhat empty that evening. With only few players in the pitch, sounds of ball clashing against the metal mesh fence could be heard from time to time. In one of the goal-post, Tatsuki was practicing his shooting.
Holding his cleats in his hand, Hiro entered the pitch.
Sweat dripping from his face, completely unaware of Hiro’s presence, Tatsuki glanced at the post infront while letting out a deep breath.
Shun who was accompanying Tatsuki by acting as the shot-stopper cracked his knuckles while staring at the ball.
Just then taking a large step sideways, he jumped towards the top right corner of the post while stretching his arms.
Barely managing to land a touch on the ball, he fell down on the ground.
Clap!! Clap!! Clap!!
While trying to pick him up, Shun heard clapping sound. Looking at his left, he found Hiro clapping his hand with a bright smile on his face.
And just as he looked towards the direction of Hiro, Hiro spoke in a cheerful voice while moving towards him, “Bravo!! Bravo!!”
Hearing Hiro’s praises, Shun’s face flushed. Shun then picked himself up and began to walk towards Hiro.
“Sometimes your playstyle reminds me of someone.” Spoke Hiro while walking towards Shun.
‘Although he’s a lot shorter than you in terms of height.’ Thought Hiro inwardly.
“Then that person must be an amazing keeper.” While saying such, he widened his mouth and let out a grin. After that he proudly mumbled, “Just like me” while pointing his thumb towards himself.
“Yeah!! Yeah!! You played well in yesterday’s match.” Saying such, Hiro shrugged.
“Thank you for your praises.” Shun casually thanked Hiro for his praises while pretending a smile on his face. Shun then sighed and continued, “But you stole the limelight once again with your bicycle kick.”
If it weren’t for Shun’s impressive saves, Hiro’s team would have easily conceded more than two goals in the second half of the game.
However despite making such game changing saves, Shun’s achievement in his debut match was overshadowed by Hiro’s performance.
And although he was happy for his friend, there was still a part of him which yearned for the fame and recognition for himself as well.
Afterall being a footballer, Shun too wanted people to recognise him.
Rushing towards Hiro, Tatsuki arrived at the spot where Hiro and Shun were conversing. After arriving at the spot, he spoke while nodding his head, “Indeed this little rascal always ends up stealing the limelight. You should think of your seniors as well.”
They continued to joke around for some time. And besides the three of them, no-one else was on the pitch.
“Hasn’t the coach ordered you to rest? So what are you doing here?” Asked Tatsuki while sounding like an old man.
“I’m pretty sure that the coach said it to everyone. So I could ask you the same question as well?” Hiro countered. 𝓲𝓫𝙧𝙖𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝙢
Hearing Hiro’s response, Tatsuki turned speechless. Having nothing to reply, he began to nervously scratch his scalp.
To ease Tatsuki, Hiro replied while smiling, “Just like you two. I’m here to train as well.”
“Oh! Is that so. Hahaha” Letting out an awkward laughter, Tatsuki nodded his head.
‘Ahh right!! I can test the new skill on him.’ Thought Hiro while looking at Tatsuki.
“Senior Tatsuki.” Hiro called out Tatsuki’s name while he was still laughing.
“Yes?” Looking at Hiro with a puzzled look on his face, Tatsuki answered.
“Can you help me with something?”
“Yeah, what do you want me to do?” Sounding somewhat hesitant, Tatsuki questioned while agreeing to his request.
“I want to test something. So can you defend against me for a while?” Hiro presented his request.
Hearing Hiro’s request, Tatsuki’s eyes glowed with determination. As if he saw that request as an opportunity to humble Hiro, Tatsuki agreed to his request immediately, “Why not? Let’s do it.”
Forgetting that Hiro was a dribbler, Tatsuki spurted out without thinking. Blinded by his desire to teach Hiro a lesson for stealing his spotlight, Tatsuki agreed to Hiro’s request.
And from the moment, he accepted Hiro’s request, he began to strategize his plans to stop Hiro.
‘In yesterday’s match, he was manhandled by Ryui Asada. So I should make use of my physicality if I want to stop him.’ Thought Tatsuki while trying to come up with a strategy to defend against Hiro.
After Tatsuki accepted Hiro’s request, Hiro went towards the sideline to get changed. And since he was already wearing sorts inside his trousers, he was only required to took off his trousers to get ready.
Taking off his trouser, he unzipped his jacket and tossed both the trouser and jacket at the sideline. After that he put on his cleats and rushed towards the pitch.
While stretching his legs, he walked towards the spot where Tatsuki was standing looking completely lost.
“Senior Tatsuki we’ll play best of five. Are you okay with it?” Questioned Hiro after closing in to Tatsuki.
Hiro’s words broke Tatsuki’s reverie. Coming out of his reverie, his body jerked a little subconsciously.
Coming back to his senses, Tatsuki looked blankly at Hiro.
“Are you ready senior Tatsuki?” Questioned Hiro while preparing to launch himself.
Tatsuki nodded his head and answered, “Yes, come at me with all your might.”
‘I won’t use the skill right away. I’ll try to dribble past him normally without using any skill for first few times.’ Thinking such, Hiro began to dribble the ball towardy Tatsuki.
Calm and composed, Tatsuki began to analyse Hiro’s movements while maintaining his position.
Step!! Step!! Step!!
After analysing Hiro’s movements, Tatsuki slowly walked towards Hiro. Tatsuki’s strategy was quite simple.
He simply wanted to catch Hiro off-guard. Intentionally making it seem like he was in no rush, Tatsuki devised a plan where he would suddenly rush towards Hiro to catch him off-guard.
As planned, Tatsuki first approached Hiro slowly. But just as he got close to Hiro, he accelerated and lunged towards Hiro.
Quickly evading Tatsuki’s feet, Hiro lightly tapped the ball and nutmegged Tatsuki as if it wasn’t a big deal.
After sending the ball between Tatsuki’s legs, Hiro accelerated towards the goalpost. Hiro then shot the ball from outside the box towards the post.
Shun reacted quickly and instead of diving sideways, he changed his angle a bit by 15 degree to touch the ball while it was still relatively lower.