"Did I get a new mission because I failed another one?" Lucas asked himself, still on his knees, lamenting his defeat.

Priiiii! A whistle blew from one side of the field. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Mr. Yamamoto taking his old metal whistle out of his mouth.

"Please gather everyone here." Mr. Yamamoto said, gesturing with his hand for all the players to come forward.

Tired and very sweaty, Lucas stood up and walked to the edge of the field where all the players of the soccer club were gathered.

"Today's practice was very good and much more intense than usual. Can any of you tell me why?" Mr. Yamamoto was the coach of the soccer club and also a physical education teacher at School Wushia, so he was very didactic in his conversations with the boys.

One player raised his hand. "Is it because the summer championships are coming up?"

"Very good, Kaue. I think that's the main reason, too. Everyone on both teams was doing their best because they wanted to be in the starting lineup for the opening game of the tournament, right? I admire that about you guys. And it's not just me..." Mr. Yamamoto pointed behind him, and there were several students from the other clubs watching them through the bars.

"Wow, they're really fast. Do you think they can do well this year?" One of the spectators commented to his friend as he turned to leave.

"I don't know much about soccer, but they seemed to be trying hard. If they show that will in the league, they'll impress." The other replied with a shrug.

Mr. Yamamoto drew a small smile on his wrinkled face. "You see? Even the other students are starting to notice how hard you work. So you should know that even those of you who don't start in the first team in the first game will still be able to help us a lot during the championship. After all, substitutions exist in soccer to make the game more dynamic and fun."

The coach, with his wise face and small eyes, looked at his students. They were all tired and worried.

"I can see that you're all waiting for something," Mr. Yamamoto said in a calm voice that cut through the silence like a knife. "I know you're anxious to know who's going to start the first game, but I'm going to reflect about it. It's not the kind of thing you decide on the spur of the moment. I'm going to watch the training footage, analyze each of you, and consider not just today's performance, but your effort, your dedication, and your tactics. You deserve that consideration."

There was a collective murmur of mixed relief and a minor disappointment. Lucas felt a mixture of conflicting emotions. Part of him was relieved that there was no immediate decision, but another part longed to know the outcome.

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"I will send a message to each of you individually later, informing you of my decision and the reason for it," Mr. Yamamoto continued, nodding. "For now, you are dismissed. Rest, rehydrate, and prepare for Saturday. Remember, the road to victory is paved with hard work and perseverance."

The players began to disperse, walking slowly toward the locker rooms.

Lucas dragged himself along with them, feeling the weight of fatigue on his shoulders. He entered the locker room and began to change. Every movement seemed more difficult when he was too tired, but as a former office worker with back pain, it wasn't that bothersome.

As he walked to the school's exit gate, Lucas saw someone standing there waiting for him. It was Baro.

"Shall we go?" Baro asked with his usual serious face.

"Yes." Lucas replied.

However, Baro noticed that Lucas' answer seemed more automatic than usual, so he asked:

"You're still thinking about the game, aren't you?"

Lucas nodded.

"Are you worried about not being in the starting lineup because you played badly today? If so, don't worry too much. The coach will look at your performance in other training sessions and you played well when you came on at the end. You even scored a goal."

"I know, but the competition in the first team midfield is very tough. Even if I played well for a few minutes, it might not be enough and..."

Slap!

Suddenly, Baro slapped Lucas' back. "Don't overthink it, Tanaka! Just trust..."

"It's easy to talk about being the team's leading scorer and... Wait a minute, why do you call me by my second name and when it's Kenji, you call him by his first name?" Lucas stopped walking and asked.

Baro gave him a puzzled look. Lucas' question seemed to have an obvious answer, but it wasn't obvious to Lucas. Baro looked down and scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit.

"Ah, so you forgot our promise..." Baro began, his tone lower than usual.

"Promise?"

"Do you remember when we were sitting on the park field after a game a few years ago? We were talking about the names we wanted on our jerseys when we turned pro."

Lucas blinked, trying to remember. The last fourteen stressful years had etched over many of his old memories, erasing most of them, but then the aforementioned memory slowly resurfaced.

On that day, Lucas Baro was laughing and dreaming far into the future.

"Ah, yes..." Lucas murmured as the pieces fell into place. "I chose Tanaka because..."

"Because it's your grandfather's name, and you said you wanted to honor him." Baro added with a slight smile. "And I chose Baro because, well, it's my family name."

Lucas laughed. "Sound cool? It doesn't sound like something you would do these days."

"But it's a promise. I won't change it until we go pro."

So many years had passed since Lucas had a casual conversation with Baro. It was too nostalgic for Lucas to walk home in the evening.

He and Baro had been close friends since they were kids, because although they had different personalities, they shared the dream of becoming professional soccer players.

However, that friendship ended sooner than either of them expected, specifically after that summer league. In Lucas' past life, Baro had a great championship and was the second highest scorer, while Lucas did what his position required and distributed passes. In the end, Baro was chosen to participate in the JFA's big project to change Japanese soccer: the Blue Lock. And Lucas Tanaka went on to play in regional championships with Wushia College until the end of high school.