Just as Hiro was about to enter the locker room, Hiro was abruptly stopped by manager Makoto on his way.
“Wait Hiro we need to talk.” Mumbled manager Makoto while standing infront of the door of locker room, blocking Hiro’s way.
Upon noticing manager Makoto infront of him, Shun who was accompanying Hiro, smiled nervously as he hurriedly left inside the locker room, leaving Hiro all by himself, “I’ll… Head inside first.”
Slightly wrinkled face of manager Makoto looked a little stiff at that moment. And judging by Makoto’s stern face, Hiro could somewhat guess what manager Makoto wanted to talk about with him.
Nodding his head, Hiro replied while looking at the direction of Shun, “Umm… I’ll come after awhile.”
Manager Makoto then pulled him aside. And just as they got far enough, manager Makoto started questioning him, “Why did you decide to run away at that last moment?”
‘As expected. He was indeed going to interrogate me for my last play.’ Thought Hiro as he heard manager Makoto’s question.
While he was clearing Shun’s doubts earlier, Hiro was somewhat prepared for being interrogated about his last play by manager Makoto.
Just like how he had made up an excuse while answering Shun’s doubts, Hiro answered manager Makoto’s question with the same excuse while adding few things more to make his words more believable.
“Although it might seem like an excuse. But sir I don’t know if you’ll believe me or not. I can somewhat guess the trajectory of the ball. Although I’m not accurate all the time. My guesses are still pretty accurate.” Ambiguously answered Hiro.
Listening to his vague answers, manager Makoto pondered for a while. As if he was thinking something very serious, he stood still while staring at the floor beneath with a stern expression on his face.
Finally after few breathes, he breathed a short sigh as he turned towards Hiro. Resting his hands atop Hiro’s shoulder, manager Makoto broke his silence, “May be you’re right. I too had such doubts when I saw you catching Nozomi’s and Kensuke’s crosses while training. And you even managed to score a goal by making that decision. However from next time onwards be careful while making such risky decisions.”
His words sweet and his face solemn. Hiro could feel the genuineness behind manager Makoto’s words.
Thus without wasting any time, Hiro sincerely nodded his head.
Manager Makoto then smiled a bit as he removed his hands from Hiro’s shoulder. And just as he removed his hands from Hiro’s shoulder, Makoto added, “Go get changed fast. Some reporters are waiting to interview you.”
Hiro’s face brightened as a smile appeared on his face after hearing manager Makoto’s words. Excited about the interview, Hiro then hurriedly rushed towards the locker room to get changed.
**** ****
Chatter!! Chatter!!
Holding on to their mic, cameras and phones some reporters were gathered in a spacious hall.
Arriving at a large hall filled with reportes, Hiro was filled with excitement. And just by looking at their attires and equipments, Hiro could deduce that only few of them were from famous broadcasting companies while the most of them were probably small time independent reporters with some even being newtube reporters.
In his previous two matches, because of lack of exposure he hadn’t had any chances to provide an interview, despite performing so well.
But now that he had caught the attention of peoples by his outstanding performance, reporters could no longer ignore him. 𝓲𝓫𝒓𝙖𝓭.𝒄𝙤𝓶
And although he had gotten interviewed in his elementary school years, he hadn’t had any chances to get interviewed after moving to Kawasaki which had upset him a little bit.
But finally as he got his chance to get interviewed once again, Hiro felt really happy about it.
“There he comes” answered a man dressed casually in white shirt and black pants as he witnessed the sight of Hiro coming from the hallway.
Just as the man spoke such, every single reporter gathered at the hall, immediately turned towards the direction of Hiro. Even so, nobody rushed towards him. They continued to remain at their place and patiently waited for Hiro’s arrival.
Witnessing their behaviour, Hiro couldn’t help but feel shocked. In his imaginations, reporters were always those people who always seemed like they were in some kind of rush.
Unless they were in some kind of press conference, they always seemed like they were in a rush.
Feeling quite confused, Hiro turned towards manager Makoto. And just as he rolled his eyes towards him, manager Makoto exchanged glances with him while revealing a subtle smile on his face.
That smile answered all his doubts. He could tell that it was manager Makoto who had asked the reporters to not swarm up on him.
“Go ahead. You’ll be giving such interviews more often from now on. So you should treat this interview as a practice interview.” Softly mumbled manager Makoto with a smile on his face.
Hiro then nodded his head and approached the reporters. And just as Hiro approached the reporters, manager Makoto requested, “He’ll be answering a question at a time. So please question him one by one. Also if we find some questions inappropriate to answer, we won’t make any comments. Hope you all will respect our decision.”
And as manager Makoto finished making his request, one of the reporter rose his hands.
Finely dressed in navy blue suit, that man’s appearance looked very handsome.
“Yes please ask your question” pointing towards that guy dressed in navy blue suit, manager Makoto spoke.
“Hello I’m Akiyama Takeuchi from TV Tokyo. I’d like to ask Hiro about his last play. Did you decide to make that run after thinking carefully or did you decide to take a gamble?”
Flashes of lights coming from the camera was shining on Hiro’s face while he was standing infront of the reporters. Even so, his composure was calm despite facing so many reporters at once.
His attitude was unlike any kids of his age. Either while facing this many reporters kid’s of his age would get nervous or act overtly excited. Hiro on the other hand was as calm as night sky aglow with moons and stars.
“It was both. After analysing the opponent players position and opponent keepers touch on the ball, my instincts told me to make that run. So you can say that I gambled after analysing opponent players.” Answered Hiro in a calm way while maintaining a poker face.