After the celebration of Aomori high school came to an end, the game then resumed normally with the kickoff of Kawasaki Frontale U-18.
While trying to regain their lead, players of Kawasaki fiercely put pressure on their opponents by going on attack right from the kickoff after conceding the goal at 44th minute of the game.
And while the players of Kawasaki Frontale were trying to regain back their lead, referee was constantly checking his watch, time and again.
And just as 45 minute passed in referee’s watch, referee then added another 2 minutes as additional time.
Standing outside the sidelines, manager Makoto was staring at Hiro who had the ball in his feet with a mixed feeling of excitement, anticipation, fear and nervousness. Almost on his toes, Makoto was about to jump from his spot.
With only few seconds remaining for the end of the first half, Hiro was trying to break through the defense of Aomori Yamada High School.
Shaking his mark and getting past another defensive midfielder, Hiro was about 30 yards away from the goalpost.
With his teammates completely marked, he had no other choice but to take the shot. Thus just as referee put his whistle in his mouth, Hiro released the ball from his feet at the same time.
Waiting for the outcome of Hiro’s shot, the referee was holding on to his breath while looking at the ball which was flying towards the post.
Just like how manager Makoto was on his toes, holding on to his breath, fans of Kawasaki had almost the same reaction. Holding on to their breath, they were anxiously staring at the ball with their eyes wide open.
Masanaga Isomura, Aomori’s goalkeeper leaped towards the direction of the ball while stretching his hands to his utmost limit to save the incoming ball.
However despite his efforts, the ball still slipped through his fingers.
Tung!!
Slipping through the fingers of Isomura, the ball then hit the pole and bounced away. And just as the ball bounced away, the referee who was holding on to his breath, loudly blew the whistle while drawing air from his diaphragm.
Beep!! Beep!! Beeeeeeeep!!
[And with this, the first half has come to an end. For a moment, it seemed like Kawasaki was going to take back their lead. But unfortunately it seems like the luck isn’t on their side today. Even so, we cannot berate the attempt made by Hiro. If only that shot was lowered by about a degree or more, it would have surely went in. But alas! If that happened then there was also a possibility of it being saved. With that said, the first half has ended in a tie.]
After the referee’s whistle, with his hands rested atop his thighs, Hiro was panting while sulking his body, looking at the post infront.
Beads of sweat formed on his temple was running down his face while he was gasping for his breath, looking completely disappointed.
Although the distance was quite far away, he was still expecting to score a goal.
And while Hiro was sulking infront of the opponent’s penalty box, Tatsuki began to slowly walk towards Hiro.
Placing his hands on Hiro’s back, Tatsuki then began to apologise all of a sudden, “Sorry”
Whilst still remaining in the same position, Hiro slowly turned his head towards Tatsuki to face him.
“Why are saying sorry?” Asked Hiro while looking at him with a baffled look on his face. He couldn’t understand the reason behind Tatsuki’s apologies.
Lowering his head, Tatsuki then answered with great difficulty, “It’s because…. I couldn’t free myself from my mark that you were forced to make that shot.”
Hiro could clearly see how difficult it was for Tatsuki to confess his faults to him. Thus, in order to soothe Tatsuki’s worries, Hiro took the blame on him.
“You don’t have to say sorry. I choose to take the shot not because you were marked. But I had seen a space that’s why I decided to take that last shot. So even if you were free, I wouldn’t have passed the ball to you.” Calmly answered Hiro. There wasn’t even a bit of regret in his words.
Upon listening to the reason of Hiro, Tatsuki lifted his head and replied playfully with a smile on his face, “You greedy bastard”
After that the two of them exited the pitch along with their other teammates.
Tatsuki who was feeling a lot better after hearing Hiro’s reasons, cheerfully made his way towards the locker room while joking and giggling with his other teammates.
Hiro on the other hand followed them silently without speaking anything. As if he was contemplating something, he didn’t utter a single word while walking towards the locker room.
‘Apart from ‘Lightning steps’ I don’t have any other useful skills which I could use right now.’ While slowly making his way towards the locker room, Hiro thought.
‘Ahh no! I do have that skill magic vision. May be I can use it to check the stats of their best player. But I have to be careful while selecting the player to use that skill.’
Remembering about the skill ‘Magic Vision’, Hiro began to contemplate.
To find out the most influential player of Aomori, Hiro then began to analyse the first half of the game.
Although Takumi seemed the most influential to fans and other people, for most part of the game, he was totally useless. 𝓲𝓫𝒓𝙖𝓭.𝒄𝙤𝓶
And even without the help of system, Hiro could tell Takumi’s strong points. So he didn’t bother to use the skill Magic Vision on Takumi.
Finally after thinking for a while, he decided to use that skill on Yushi. The guy who was always observing him.
Although Yushi made a mistake at the 33rd minute of the match by giving away the ball which resulted in Kawasaki’s goal. That only happened because of Hiro’s X-factor which neither Yushi nor anyone else in his team was aware of.
Plus that guy was executing beautiful passes while also keeping Hiro in check.
Using the skill Magic Vision on Yushi, Hiro began to take a peek at Yushi’s stats.