Dressed in striped light blue and blush pink coloured jersey, players of Sagan Tosu U-18 were standing in a queue at one side of the tunnel.
Queued up side by side were the players of Kawasaki who were dressed in their home jersey which was a combination of dark black and dark blue.
There wasn’t much gap between the two teams at the moment, just enough to fit two people side by side.
Despite the limited gap, players of both sides were mostly minding their own business and rarely interacting with each other.
Some players praying while some players looking unbothered, some players eyes glowing with determination while some players eyes desperately trying to focus, overall the atmosphere inside the tunnel seemed pretty tensed.
While the front part of the tunnel was illuminated by the bright light coming from outside the tunnel, most part of the tunnel was dark and dimly lit by red light.
Bright light wasn’t the only thing which was coming from outside the tunnel. Thunderous sounds of cheers was also reverberating from outside the tunnel.
Reflecting the red light, Hiro’s sharp brown eyes were glowing crimson red, seemingly looking like eyes of demon.
Behind him, his teammates were standing in an erect position just like soldiers preparing to go on a war.
Hearing the roars of the fans coming from infront, most player’s heart was pounding faster. And with every passing seconds, some players were getting even more anxious.
Even Hiro who was usually calm on such situation was quite exhilarated by the cheers of the fans coming from outside the tunnel.
Slightly lowering his head, Hiro then raised his right hand as he tried to feel his heartbeat.
Dung!! Dung!!
And for sure, his heart was pounding faster.
‘I wonder how many people are present in the stadium today. Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? No, judging by the sound coming from outside the tunnel, it seems like that there’s even more spectators today’ thought Hiro as he slowly raised his head to look infront of him.
The mere thought about performing infront of so many people thrilled him.
And that feeling of thrill further fueled his determination as the flame in his eyes burnt uncontrollably.
“Now let us welcome the players of both the teams who’ll be performing today”
Just then they heard the announcement of the commentator. And as they heard the announcement of the commentator, both the team started moving.
Step!! Step!! Step!!
The more closer he got to the entrance of the tunnel, the more clearly and loudly Hiro heard the roars of the fans.
Clap!! Clap!! Clap!!
Finally as he exited the tunnel, what awaited him and other players was a thunderous sound of cheers and applause from the numerous fans seated at the stands.
“Honey, look our son has come out” pointing her finger at the direction of Hiro, Hiro’s mother exclaimed.
“This is only the begining honey. We’ll have to get used to seeing him on the big stage” replied Takashi while making a proudful expression.
Both of his parents were truly grateful to see him progressing in his life. Both of them were aware of his love for football, thus they were genuinely happy seeing him standing on such a big stage.
Slowly sweeping his gaze across the huge stadium, Hiro felt even more exhilarated as his heart started beating faster.
His heart wasn’t pounding because of anxiousness, rather it was pounding out of excitement. .𝒎
With only few seats unoccupied, almost the entire seat of the stadium was currently occupied by numerous fans.
‘Woah!! I’m going to perform infront of this many people’ Hiro mumbled in disbelief inside his heart.
He couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of people present in the stands.
The 68000 capacity National Stadium was filled almost to the brim.
Even so, Hiro maintained his composure as he kept his cool.
However not everybody had such abilities as Hiro. In presence of that many people, legs of most of the players had softened and their face had gotten a bit pale.
The sheer number of fans present in the stadium had overwhelmed them to the point that they were starting to blackout.
“Soo…. Soo… Soo many people” Shun shuddered as beads of sweat started forming on his forehead even before the start of the match.
Not only Shun but almost every player from the both the teams felt a cold sweat penetrating their body.
This was their first time performing infront of that many people. So obviously they’d be overwhelmed.
Standing at the pitch right now, their earlier preparation to steel their mind seemed totally useless as their mind started to go blank.
Inhaling a deep breath, Hiro inhaled the crisp cold air as he tried to freshen his mind. .𝒎
“Finally the day to decide the ultimate winner has come. And I’m really grateful to get invited to become the commentator for such an amazing match” spoke the commentator.
His voice carrying a hint of gratefulness, his voice was resonating all over the pitch.
And while the commentator was commenting, coin toss was taking place between the leader of both team to decide the side of the pitch.
“One team with an impressive record of 22 match undefeated while the other team barely managed to clench the spot at the final, regardless of their situation, both of this two team fully deserve to be standing on this pitch right now.”
And as the coin toss concluded, players of both the team shook hands one last time before positioning themselves in their respective position.
Standing over his position, Hiro took a final glance at the system screen.
[Quest: Score a perfect hattrick]
[Requirements to complete the quest: Score with your left foot, score with your right foot and score with your header]
[Reward on completion: Holographic practice dummies]
[Penalty on failure: random loss of one acquired talent]
Looking at the screen, Hiro couldn’t help but frown. Although the reward was tempting, punishment was even more harsh. Not to mention the quest itself. This quest was rather hard even compared to all the other quests he had done before.
Scoring three goals in a final was already a hard thing. But to make matter even worst, he had score a perfect hattrick.
Although he had the talent Ambipedal because of which he could use both of his leg equally well, how could the opposing team allow him to score a goal in the final?
Since he had already revealed his cards on many occasions, for sure the opponents would have studied his play and prepared accordingly.
And Sagan Tosu U-18 team was even notoriously known as the team with impenetrable defence.
Scoring a perfect hattrick against this club in the finals, it was like stealing prey from the mouth of hungry tiger.
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