After returning from the training camp, Hiro and Shun’s days passed rather smoothly. And even though both of them had spent almost an entire month away from football, the two of them integrated to their daily life at the club right away because of the training camp which they attended.
Other players only returned after 2 or 3 days of their arrival and they also took about a day or two to adapt to the life at the club once again.
Mostly training, studying and playing matches, Hiro and his teammates spent their days. And just like that about four months had passed.
The temperature which was scorching hot in the month of August had now fallen drastically as snow clouds were seen hovering over the skies of Japan.
In the month of December, the weather had gotten really chilly.
Veiling almost the entirety of the sky, snow clouds were reigning supreme. And judging by the movements of those snow clouds, it seemed like it could snow anytime.
However even in this cold weather, a match was taking place currently in the stadium of Kawasaki.
White mist forming everytime they exhaled, players were seen panting heavily while the spectators were enjoying the match dressed in warm clothes.
Rubbing their hands, some fans were blowing hot air from their mouth to heat their cold body. While most of the fans didn’t seem like they cared about the cold. 𝘪𝑎.
Beep!! Beep!! Beeeeeeeep!!
Just then a loud ringing sound of whistle was heard in the pitch.
“We are the champions!!!!”
“Hooooray!!!”
“Yeahhh!!!”
With the sound of the whistle, players halted their movements as most section of stands errupted in thunderous cheers.
“Kawasaki has managed to remain undefeated throughout the season.”
Even among those loud cheers, one voice was standing out. Loud and cheerful, it was the voice of the commentator who was commentating for the match between Kawasaki Frontale U-18 and Kiryu Daichi High School.
“The 22nd and the final match of Kawasaki this season has finally come to an end with them winning the game with a score of 2:1. No team in the history of the competition has been this dominating. And it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this achievement is only possible because of Hiro. Without him, they might have still won the league but they wouldn’t have been able to do it in this way.”
While the commentator was making such comments, Hiro’s teammates were ecstatically running around the field. Congratulating each other, each and every single one of them had big wide smiles on their faces.
Even in this cold cloudy day, their smile was like summer sun which was illuminating brightly in the sky.
Because of cold, Hiro’s nose had turned bright red and steams of sweat could be seen oozing out of his body. Just like an engine oozing steam while cooling, Hiro’s body was reacting in the same way because of the cold weather.
Even so, his breath wasn’t hurried like that of other players in the field. Infact it was rather stable. Part of the reason why his breathe seemed so stable was because he hadn’t played the entirety of the 90 minutes today.
He had only stepped into the field at the 60th minute of the match while the score of the match was 1:1.
Until his arrival it seemed like it’d be anybody’s game. However after his arrival, everything changed.
Kawasaki’s performance instantly shot up as they became more terrifying all of a sudden.
Then at the 81st minute of the match, Hiro scored the winning goal, giving his team the lead, eventually giving his team their 22nd victory in the tournament.
His brows arched and his lips curled into smiles, even in the absence of the sun, his eyes were sparkling. Carrying on a smile on his face, Hiro’s whole face was unsually lit.
While Hiro was on his way to join his teammates, he was suddenly stopped on his track by Kiryu Daichi High School’s ace Takeshi Ono.
“Congratulations on your victory.” Spoke Takeshi as he extended his hand to congratulate Hiro.
His voice deep and his face revealing a smile which greatly contrasted to his usual cold expression, Takeshi didn’t look sad even after losing the game.
“Thank you” replied Hiro as he grabbed his hands, accepting his congratulations.
Even though the two of them hardly knew each other, Hiro could tell that Takeshi wasn’t faking his emotions at the moment. He was genuinely congratulating him.
Sensing no malice or envy from Takeshi, Hiro too politely accepted his congratulations.
Takeshi then smirked a little as he locked eyes with Hiro.
“You really are the rising talent of Japan. I hope you can display that talent of yours in the U-17 world cup too.” Mumbled Takeshi as he retracted his hands.
His voice rather gentle, Takeshi had a smile on his face.
Hiro gracefully accepted his comments as he nodded his head and replied, “As long as we all support each other, I believe we can definitely rise.”
Hiro was quite humble.
As mentioned by the two of them, both of them had been selected for the national U-17 team.
About a month after the end of the training camp, the result of the selection camp was made public.
However players were informed about their selection way earlier.
At the 13th day after the end of the selection camp, Hiro and Shun got the news regarding their trial. Along with the news, they were also sent their respective jerseys.
As per Hiro’s expectations, he got the jersey number 10 while Shun got his favourite number 1 meaning he was the first choice goalkeeper of national U-17 team.
Since Hiro was almost sure about his selection, he didn’t reveal much of his emotions.
Even when manager Makoto revealed the news regarding their selection to them, Hiro’s reaction was rather mild as compared to Shun who started to jump and shout as soon as he heard that he got selected.
Reacting as if he had literally won the world cup, Shun celebrated the news like there was no tomorrow while flaunting his jersey.
Almost for an entire day, he wore his jersey that day. Even when they went to cafeteria to eat, he wore his jersey.
And Hiro heard from Yuya that Shun didn’t let go of his jersey even during his sleep.
He only stopped wearing the jersey after getting scolded by manager Makoto.
Just like the two of them, Takeshi Ono had also received his jersey the same day he got the mail regarding his selection.
Along with the three of them, Yutaka, Akutsu, Taki, they also got selected.
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