While Hiro was moving forward without paying any attention to Takuto, Takuto was still smiling while moving forward. Satisfied with Hiro’s reaction, Takuto looked all smug.
Although he couldn’t see any changes in Hiro’s facial expression, Takuto could still tell that Hiro was pissed by his earlier actions. Which was exactly what he was planning on doing for the whole game.
Sticking as close as he can with Hiro, Takuto was planning to follow Hiro everywhere like his shadow, once the match begun. And for that purpose, his coach had intentionally positioned himself in a defensive midfield position in that match instead of a centre back which was his original role.
Just then as they finished shaking hands with each other, Hiro heard the sound of notification.
[Ding!]
[New quest unlocked]
[Quest info: Achieve a 9 or more rating in the match]
[Quest reward: One golden ticket]
[Failure: Random deduction of stat]
[Note: The quest is mandatory, thus you cannot skip the quest]
Although the quest came out of random, Hiro wasn’t surprised by the notification of the quest. Instead he was confused by the description of the quest.
‘Who will rate me though?’ Confusedly asked Hiro while pondering how he’ll get rated. Since unlike professional matches, there wasn’t any organisation or companies such as sofascore, ESPN who calculated the rating of the players in the league where Hiro was playing currently.
[You’ll be rated by the system. And you’ll be rated on the basis of your contribution, goals, assist, accurate passes, successful dribbles, chance creation and several other stuffs.]
Not only did the system answered his question, the system also provided him detailed information on how he was going to be rated by the system.
Upon hearing the response of the system, his doubts vanished away just like how powdered salt would vanish once it get’s into contact with water.
And now that his doubts were cleared, he began to walk towards his position. Positioning himself in his attacking midfield position, Hiro looked infront of him. Looking around the field, Hiro began to analyse the position of his opponents.
‘Four defenders, two defensive midfielders, three attacking midfielders and a sole striker. So they’re playing in 4-2-3-1 formation.’ Thought Hiro after analysing the position of the opposing players.
“And that guy from earlier is playing defensive mid!” Mumbled Hiro sounding a bit surprised.
While studying about the opposing players, Hiro had learnt that the guy who tried to provoke him earlier was a centre back. Thus, he was a little surprised to see him in defensive midfield position instead of his original place.
While he was thinking of such things, referee took a peek at his watch and blew the whistle.
Beep!!
Passing the ball back, Takumi initiated the kickoff.
Calculating his moves, Hiro pushed forward to support Tatsuki who was pressing for the ball.
Without breaking any sweat, Aomori’s players began to pass the ball among themselves inside their own half. While trying to draw out the opposing player to their side of the pitch, they kept hold of the ball.
Along with the player named Takuto Kuribayashi, another player Yushi who was playing as the centre midfielder was also tailing him.
Although unlike Takuto who was man marking him, Yushi maintained his distance with Hiro. And if one were to see them from afar, they could hardly notice that Yushi was also tailing him. Not too far yet not too close, Yushi was always lingering around Hiro at a distance where he could catch Hiro easily by sprinting for a while.
Occasionally Hiro could feel the gaze of another player named Tora who was playing as a centre defender in that match.
And unlike the two of them, Tora stayed glued to his position. However Hiro could tell that even that guy named Tora was watching his moves.
‘Just like those two morons mentioned, I am indeed getting marked by those guys named Takuto and Tora.’ Thought Hiro while pretending to act like he was getting troubled by them marking him.
While Hiro was acting like he was troubled, those three who were marking Hiro looked rather satiated.
‘So those two morons did actually spill their tactics accidentally.’ Thinking such, Hiro let out a subtle smile.
Cautiously waiting for opportunity, Hiro continued to play the role of the victim.
“Seems like they’re targeting Hiro.” While making a worried face, Akihiro mumbled while biting his lips.
Hiro’s acting was so perfect that he was even managing to trick his own teammates.
“You should probably ask your coach to get you substituted. Afterall you won’t get past me today. Hahaha…” Looking all arrogant, Takuto suggested Hiro to ask his manager to take him out of the game while smiling.
“Tch-” clicking his tongue, Hiro pretended to act like he was trying to break free.
Hiro then began to fall back to make Takuto believe that Hiro was getting restless and his strategy was working on him.
“I’ll follow you wherever you go. Afterall our coach has permitted me to play freely today.” Smiling, Takuto began to chase Hiro. 𝘪𝘳𝒶.𝘤𝑜𝓂
And while he was chasing Hiro, a space created in the spot where he was positioned. However players of Aomori were thoroughly instructed as the centre back and other defensive midfielder quickly covered the space left open by Takuto.
And that was what Hiro wanted to test as well. He wanted to see whether Takuto’s other teammates will fill in his gap or not.
Thus, for some while Hiro continued to act like he was getting restless. Running all over the pitch, he tested different things.
“They’re playing dirty by marking him. That number 4 has stuck to him like a parasite since the beginning of the match.” Spoke one of the fans of Kawasaki.
Hiro’s acting was so perfect that he was even managing to deceive his supporters.
And finally after confirming all of his doubts, Hiro was now ready to take his actions.
Although Aomori’s team did attack them few time while he was testing his doubts. Fortunately the score was still tied with both teams failing to register any goals.
At 33rd minute of the match, Hiro sensed an opportunity. Thinking that they were in control and they had managed to neutralise the plays of the ace of Kawasaki, the opposing team was showing signs of letting down their guards.
Yushi who was one of the player who was marking Hiro, passed the ball back to one of their centre back to attract the players of Kawasaki, so that they could initiate a counterattack.
But just as Yushi passed the ball back, Hiro making use of his skill ‘Lightning steps’ sprinted towards the direction of ball.
The defender who was expecting for the ball was caught off-guard. Even Takuto who was man marking Hiro wasn’t expecting Hiro to sprint all of a sudden.
