As if the road was vaporising, heat waves were rising from the empty road while the sun was almost at it’s zenith.
Even so, despite the glorious weather, bunch of kids were gathered at the bus stand in the roadside.
Probably to shade themselves from the sweltering heat, those bunch of kids were all clustered beneath the roof of the bus stand.
Fanning his sweaty face with the help of his hands, one of the youth who was lethargically leaning his body against the wall while sitting at a seat placed at the bus stand, complained, “Senior Akashi, when will senior Hiro arrive?”
“He should be here anytime soon.” Replied Akashi while looking at one of the direction of the road.
With beads of sweat clustered in his temple, Akashi’s face was somewhat reddish.
“Akashi, you should have set the time a little earlier. You know how he used to be always late for school.” Another youth who’s condition was almost similar to that of the previous youth, lethargically mumbled as he heard Akashi’s reply.
And while they were complaining, Akashi’s impatient eyes were getting even more impatient with the time.
Vigorously tapping his feet against the ground, he was impatiently staring at one end of the road while occasionally stretching his head and squinting his eyes to get a better view of the scene infront of him.
Finally after few minutes while he was still looking, a figure appeared from the direction where Akashi was looking at currently.
And that figure belonged to none other than Hiro. Witnessing Hiro heading towards them, Akashi excitedly yelled, “There he is.”
And as he mumbled such, two youths who were lethargically leaning their body against the wall, quickly rose from their seat as they looked into the direction where Akashi was staring.
“Look at him walking. He probably doesn’t even realise that he’s late.” Gritting his teeth one of the youth muttered while staring at Hiro. And judging by the tone of his voice, it was clear that he was pissed.
Hiro on the other hand was walking normally without any care. Completely carefree, he wasn’t even aware of the fact that he was late for the meetup.
Finally as he witnessed the sight of his friends infront of him, he began to wave his hands. Smile on his face, he was genuinely happy to see his friend after so long.
And even though he clearly knew that he was way older than them inwardly, he was still a thirteen year old kid outwardly.
So just because he was older than them inwardly didn’t mean that he couldn’t make friends with the kids of his age.
Infact Hiro had already accepted the fact that no matter what his real age was from the inside, he still had to mingle with the kids of his age if he wanted to look like an ordinary person. Afterall it would have been extremely weird if he started making friends with people who were like the age of his dad.
Just like the calm before the storm, for a while Endo, Rin and Akashi remained completely silent even after Hiro’s arrival.
Hiro on the other hand was dumbfounded by their strange behaviour, “Why are you guys not speaking anything?”
Just as he asked such question without even realising about his mistake, his nonchalant expression triggered them. 𝑟𝒶𝒹.𝘤𝘰𝓂
The three of them then errupted at the same time, “Why are you so late?”
“Do you even realise what time is it now?”
“We’re supposed to meet at 11. And it’s already 11:35.” Pointing at his watch Endo exasperated.
The sight of three of them yelling was like a dragon spitting fire. Giving Hiro absolutely no chance to defend himself, they continued to nagg him for his unpunctual behaviour.
“You’re probably the only Japanese who’s always late.” Endo sneered.
“Yeah! I thought that you’d change after going to Kawasaki but you’re still same senior Hiro.” Ichijou Rin who was the youngest among them, spoke grumpily.
And while they were spitting fire, Hiro kept on apologising. It took a while for the anger inside them to get totally extinguished.
After a while, Akashi sighed as he spoke in a forgiving tone, “Anyway, it’s great to see you after so long.”
Nodding his face, Endo’s once grumpy face revealed a smile as he spoke calmly, “Yeah, it’s great to meet you after so long buddy.”
After exchanging greetings with each other, the four of them then boarded a bus to head to the amusement park.
The night of Hiro’s arrival, they had planned this trip. And while a lot of people couldn’t make it because of personal reasons, there were quite a lot of them who didn’t come because they weren’t close to Hiro during his time at the elementary school.
While on their way to the amusement park, Hiro suddenly questioned Endo, “How tough is the west league senior Endo?”
Currently just like Hiro, Endo was also participating in the Takamado Premier League. But unlike Hiro who was playing in the east league, Endo was playing in the west league.
Upon getting scouted by “Shizuoka Gakuen High School” of Shizuoka prefecture right after the nationals, which is one of the powerhouse football school of not only Shizuoka prefecture but also of Japan, Endo was currently playing for Shizuoka Gakuen High School in west league.
Unlike Hiro who had enrolled through special admission and had also readily obtained the position in the starting eleven of both Kawasaki Frontale U-15 and U-18 team, Endo had struggled a lot to become the starter of his team. Infact for first few months of his middle school, he wasn’t even the second choice goalkeeper of his team. And only in his second year of middle school did he actually became the second choice goalkeeper. But once he was given opportunity, the journey after that was rather smooth.
“We’re doing okay. We’re still in the top four. But those guys from Sagan Tosu and Vissel Kobe U-18, they’re monsters.” Replied Endo while contorting his face in fear.
“Specially that guy Shinnosuke Kido, he’s simply unstoppable. Everytime he gets ball in the attacking third, he becomes a goal machine.”
“Which team does he play for?” Questioned Hiro as he remembered something after hearing that name.
“He plays for Cerezo Osaka U-18.”
Just as he heard the name of the team, Hiro immediately blurted, “But isn’t C Osaka at the bottom of the table?”
And as Endo heard Hiro’s question, Endo sighed, “Phew!!”
“He’s getting pulled behind by his team. He’s a phenomenal player and he’s also the top scorer of our league. With 8 goals in 11 matches, he’s leading the goal scoring chart but despite the amount of goal he scores, they have still lost most of the game until now.”