As manager Nozomi faced that fat old man infront, his face lit up and a smile formed on his face. Manager Nozomi then extended his hand to shake the hand of the old man infront and spoke in a cheerful voice, “Hahaha…. Glad to see you Tanaka.”
The fat old man with silvery white hair infront was the head coach of the Chiba Middle School.
“Glad to see you too Nozomi.” The coach of Chiba Middle School greeted him back with a smile on his face.
They then began to cheerfully exchange greetings with each other.
If one were to look at those two gossiping with such big smiles on their faces, they would probably think that those two were quite close to each other in a good way.
However the reality was actually very different. Both those old man infront were forcing a smile on their faces in reality.
“I heard that the club didn’t held any trial this year. So I guess you’re back with the same squad from previous year. I feel so sorry for you Nozomi.” Tanaka mumbled while revealing a pretentious sad expression on his face.
“But don’t worry Nozomi we won’t be hard on you.” Tanaka continued with a wry smile on his face.
And as he forced a smile on his face, the wrinkles on his face became even more vivid.
Hearing such words coming out from the mouth of coach Tanaka, Nozomi’s mouth twitched a little and his face tightened. And as his face tightened, his nerves across his forehead got exposed all of a sudden.
Still he maintained the smile on his face and kept his cool. However the smile on his face still couldn’t completely hide his real emotions. It was clear that he was pissed by coach Tanaka’s remarks.
“We still have promoted some of our academy players. So our squad is not entirely made up of the same players from before.” Nozomi replied while maintaining his smile and keeping his cool.
He still wasn’t willing to disclose the addition of Hiro to him. And thus he didn’t mention anything about Hiro at all.
“Good for you Nozomi. I just hope that your team won’t concede three this time like before. Hahahaha…..” Mumbling such Tanaka laughed and released Nozomi’s hand. 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘦𝑡
He then began to walk towards the entrance of the school without hearing his reply.
“You” Unable to reply anything, Nozomi gnashed his teeth while looking at the back of coach Tanaka.
“Follow me. I’ll guide you to the pitch.” Tanaka spoke while walking towards the school.
Upon witnessing the actions of those two coach’s infront, Hiro couldn’t help but wonder if something was going on between them.
“Do they have some kind of beef with each other?” Hiro asked while looking at the sight of manager Nozomi who was fuming at that moment.
“Yeah!! They’re kinda like rivals since their younger days. Also we lost 3-1 previously when we faced them in Takamado Cup. So I can guess coach Tanaka must have provoked him by mentioning about that loss.” Shun replied with a straight face.
“Everyone let’s go.” Manager Nozomi yelled and began to tail coach Tanaka.
Following the command of manager Nozomi, all of them followed his lead and entered the school.
**** ****
The players of Chiba Middle School were already on the field, warming up for the game against Kawasaki Frontale club’s U-15 youth team.
And even though the players of Chiba Middle School were warming up in the field infront, the first thing that he noticed as he reached the pitch was the size of the pitch.
“The pitch’s size is quite similar to ours.” Hiro mumbled without thinking, while staring at the pitch of Chiba Middle School.
“Pft- hahahaha That’s our Hiro. He’s more concerned about the pitch than the opposing players.” Yuya laughed after hearing his remarks.
“Ahh right. I nearly forgot about them. Even though the coach had mentioned about them before, I couldn’t remember all of them.” Hiro mumbled while scratching his scalp.
Noticing his quizzical face, Shun offered to help him, “It’s alright. I’ll tell you about them.”
Shun then began to re-introduce him about the players of Chiba Middle School. And while Shun was telling him about the opposing players, manager Nozomi called them.
“Shun, Hiro what are you doing over there. Go and change your clothes.”
“Yes sir!!” Replying such both of them hurriedly ran towards the changing room.
And as all of them came back after changing into their jersey’s, manager Nozomi commanded them to warm up for about 10 minutes.
“Go and warm up for a while. The game will start after ten minutes.”
Hearing his commands all of them then started to loosen up their stiff bodies.
“Seems like the opposing team has brought some new players.” One of the player of Chiba Middle School commented while looking at the sight of Hiro and few other previously reserve players.
“Look Chris. There’s a guy who looks as good as you.” A guy with long hair and small face spoke while pointing at Hiro.
Silky smooth blond hair and turquoise blue pupils with sharp nose and a chiseled jaw, Chris Philips facial features were well defined. With a handsome manly appearance, he was a tall blond guy of height 5 feet 9 inches.
Compared to the other players in the field, he was a titan.
Despite being a British, he had been temporarily studying and living in Japan since 2016 because of his father’s job.
Hearing such words, Chris turned his attention towards Hiro. He then began to scan Hiro’s appearance.
And as he completed his observations, he spoke, “He’s a decently good looking guy. But he still won’t hold a candle against me. You need to get your eyes checked Kuroda.”
“Sigh!! Well I wonder if there’s even anyone whom you consider better looking than you.” Heaving a sigh, Kuroda sulked and replied meekly.
“What are you guys talking about there? The coach is calling us to gather.” Another guy with tanned skin and brown eyes interrupted them while they were conversing with each other.
And as all of them gathered, coach Tanaka began to instruct every player their roles.
“Kuroda!! Everytime you get the ball at the flank of the final third supply a high ball inside the penalty box. Do you understand?”
Hearing coach Tanaka’s instructions, Kuroda nodded his head.
“And Chris you. Just do your job as usual. Make use of your height and head the ball inside the net. You can do that right?”
“Yes sir!!” Chris nodded his head.