April 9, 2019
Ajinomoto stadium
Chofu, Tokyo
The final match between Ookami elementary school and Tokyo elementary school was about to take place infront of a packed stadium.
It was a bright and sunny day. The sun was shining brilliantly in the clear blue sky. With few white clouds drifting across the clear blue sky, the average temperature of the day recorded a whopping 33 degree Celsius.
While making his way out of the tunnel, he raised his hands over his temple to shade his eyes from the bright rays of sun and casted a glance at the roaring spectators in the stand.
Even in that hot weather, people were shouting and cheering at the top of their lungs. Sweat dripping through their face, their faces were all red.
People cheering, drums rolling, the atmosphere around the stadium was extremely lively.
Different people exhibiting different kinds of emotions, the crowd looked extremely energetic.
Mesmerized by the energetic crowd infront of him, he stood frozen in his place. He couldn’t take his gaze away from the crowd infront of him.
“Slam!!”
“Finally here right?” Akashi came from behind him and playfully smacked him on his back.
“Indeed we’re finally here.” Hiro exclaimed while keeping his gaze fixated at the spectators infront.
Even though he never got to participate in the nationals in his previous life, he had always had that dream of playing in the final of nationals once in his life. Unfortunately he could never fulfill that dream in his previous life.
Let alone play in the finals of nationals, his team couldn’t even qualify for national in his previous life. But since the finals of nationals were broadcasted nationwide, he used to watch the finals on television. And those energetic chants from the crowds and the emotion packed dramatic game always mesmerised him in his previous life.
“I have been dreaming of this moment for so long. And that dream has finally come true.” Hiro muttered in a muffled voice with a smile on his face.
“Huh? What did you say?” Unable to hear his words clearly, Akashi bewildering inquired.
“Smack!!”
“Nothing! I said we should win this tournament this year. And to do that we need to hurry up to the stage first. The last person to reach the circle is the cousin of monkey. Hahaha…..” Hiro returned back the earlier smack and ran towards the pitch.
Akashi chased after him.
After failing four times previously, his dream of playing in the nationals was starting to fade away. As depressing as those failures seemed, he didn’t lose hope and persevered through the situation. Finally after persevering through those painful defeats, he made it to the finals of the nationals in his fifth attempt.
The match was taking place in the home ground of FC Tokyo, one of the teams belonging to the first division of Japanese professional leagues.
Tokyo elementary school being situated in Tokyo often played practice matches with the youth team of FC Tokyo. And thus Ajinomoto stadium was like their second home ground.
Even though the venue of the final match of nationals were chosen at random, somehow Tokyo elementary school had gotten lucky that time around. Having an unfair advantage of playing in their own home ground, there were a lot of supporters of Tokyo elementary school in the stands.
An estimated number of 20000 spectators had showed up for the match between Ookami elementary school and Tokyo elementary school.
One of the reason behind the huge crowd was because of the appearance of a famous personality in the crowd.
Ookami elementary school being the winner from the Shikoku region and Tokyo elementary school being the winner from Kanto region were facing against each other in the final of the tournament after defeating several other regional winners in the nationals.
Hiro and Akashi were already in their 5th year of elementary school at that time around. And many of their senior players from the time when they were first years were already in middle school and high schools.
Players like Endo, Kuro, Sato, Kuon and many others had already graduated elementary schools. Most of them were still playing football in middle school and high school teams, while few had given up on their dreams of becoming pro. It was totally reasonable for them to give up, afterall that was a dream they dreamt while they were kids.
After defeating Ronden elementary school in their first year, they went on to play regional tournaments and came out victorious from their region. They then participated in the national tournament as a representative team from Shikoku region.
Unfortunately there stay in nationals remained very short as they were knocked out in the very first round of nationals by Tokyo elementary school. The same Tokyo elementary school, they were facing in their fifth year. They not only eliminated them but they also humiliated them by winning the game with a score of 4:1.
In their second year, they again managed to defeat the teams in their prefecture and came out victorious from Tokushima prefecture.
However in the regionals that year, a team from Ehime prefecture managed to secure a narrow victory over them with a score of 2:1.
The game was tied until the last minute. And just before the final whistle of the referee, a boy named Sora with curly hair and short stature managed to secure victory for his teams.
He broke the dreadlock between the two teams by assisting a brilliant goal from the defensive half of their team towards the forward at the opponents half.
In their third year Karasuno elementary school humbled them with a score of 3:0 in the finals of the prefectural tournament and sent them home empty handed.
Even though they were reaching the finals of the prefectural tournament consistently, they faced a major problem. They were lacking players with winning mentality. The new players which joined their team performed really well in group stages and knockouts. But almost in every big matches, they’d start to get anxious and end up ghosting the game.
It’s not like that they lacked talented players, it was more like they lacked the players with confidence. And even though Hiro carried his team on his back and performed exceptionally well in all those previously held tournaments, he couldn’t lead his team to the ultimate victory all by himself. There was only so much he could do all by himself.
The fourth year was no different as well, they were sent home by a team from Osaka in the semi finals of the nationals.
**** ****
During those four years, he scored more than 80 goals in the tournament. More than anyone had ever managed to achieve.
Posting videos on newtube once or twice a month, he garnered a massive fan following of 989k subscribers and earned a decent revenue to support his parents.
His fame only continued to rise as he performed well in those tournaments. Some people in Japan even started to compare him with the likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Cesc Fabrigas and other genrational talent. .
But while he was growing in Japan another brilliant individual was also showcasing his talent in the Japanese first division league.
Joining the famed youth development facility of the world ‘la masia’ at the age of 10, he had impressed the people of the world.
Due to legal issues regarding his transfer, he had to return back to Japan in 2015. The same year Hiro’s team won the prefectural and regional tournament and qualified for the nationals.
At the age of fifteen he was already playing senior level football in japan. Many considered him the real jewel of Japanese football.
Despite being younger than him, Hiro was often compared with that generational talent of Japan who was showcasing his skill in J-1 league.
The wonderkid of Japan also known as the Japanese Messi ‘Take Kubo’ was impressing the people with his skillful dribble and gameplay.
**** ****
While the referee was preparing to start the match, Akashi came over to his side to whisper something in his ear.
“I heard that Take Kubo is here in the stadium.” Akashi whispered.
“So what if he’s here?” Hiro shrugged him off.
Even though he pretended like he didn’t care about the presence of Kubo from outside, his inner voice said otherwise.
‘The generational talent of our nation is here to see us play.’ He thought to himself.
Just like the people of Japan, he also admired Kubo in his previous life. Kubo was only 8 years older than him but unlike him he had already performed in Europe.
‘I wonder what he’s doing here? He’ll probably go on a loan to Yokohama F.Marinos in august. He’s probably here right now because he plays for FC Tokyo right now.’ He thought to himself.
“Is he feeling threatened about his title” Akashi chuckled.
“Why would he feel threatened?” Hiro replied dumbfoundedly.
“Obviously because of our Soccer Wizard. Hahaha…”
“Yeah! Yeah! Now go back to your position. And don’t blabber much. Watch over Ken, he’s a little slow.” Hiro instructed Akashi while pointing at the keeper of their team.
“What about Sasaki and Gen?” Akashi questioned.
“There’s no problem with Sasaki. However I’m worried about Gen. Even though he’s not selfish anymore. But under pressure he starts to get anxious and his old habit starts to take hold of him. So I’m a little worried about him.” Hiro exclaimed his worries.
Ken, Sasaki and Gen who were with them at the Senior vs Newbies match had made it into the first team after the departure of several senior players.