Chapter 1 - Trial Week (1)

Right. I haven't been really honest with what I said just now. I didn't get messages from strangers calling me trash. Those were from my classmates who didn't waste any time in taking the mick out of my error. The butterfingers nickname part actually happened, however.

I walked into my classroom which was full of people I've never met before. I didn't worry much about making new friends however, my best friend from childhood messaged me the night before and told me he's also attending Sakimono and he would visit my class whenever he could.

On one of the tables was my name written on it, Kiibo Yajin. I hung my bag on the table and sat down. I took out my phone from my pocket and stared at it for a good ten seconds or so. I had several games on it but I wasn't feeling the mood to play any of them. I decided to watch my highlights of the tournament last season instead.

Is that narcissistic in some way? Probably. Probably not.

I searched up the quarter-final game I played with my school when we won 3-1. It was special mainly because I won my second Man of the Match award in the final tournament. I don't think I'll be able to replicate this kind of performance.

Watching the highlights gave me a lot of nostalgia for a game that was played a few months ago. The clip quickly transitioned to the opposition's striker taking a swift touch and curling the ball into the top corner. Looking back, even I'm not sure how I got to it in the first place.

'What a save by the Tokyo Main's goalkeeper, Yajin! Keeping his team in the game!'

"That was brilliant!"

"I know, right?" I responded to the person behind me who was watching my screen.

Hold up.

"Where did you come from?" I turned around immediately after realizing someone was standing behind me. That was probably a bad first impression but I'll make up for it along the way.

"That's a pretty rude way of introducing yourself to someone you just met," I was met with a girl with long brown hair with a pout on her face. That pouting expression would soon turn into a warm smile as she put her hand on her chest.

"I'm Teki Shoji, I hope we'll have a good year as classmates!"

"Ah... me too."

We stared at each other. For some reason, I felt as if I was forgetting something. She stared at me as if her eyes were demanding something from me. It took a few more seconds before Shoji decided to get to the point.

"It's a bit rude to not introduce yourself..."

I sighed. What was with this pitiful expression? She is right, though.

"Sorry. I'm Kiibo Yajin."

"That's a bit better!" Her face suddenly turned bright in an instant. She looked as if she was about to say something, but the door opened before the words could come out. It was our homeroom teacher who was just about to start the day.

Instead, she waved at me and went back to her seat. Weird.

. . . . .

"Alright class, that's the administrative stuff done. You may have your break now."

Students quickly separated into their mini-groups they made before homeroom in the morning. I stayed at my seat waiting for someone. That someone would then walk into the class, waving at me.

"Hey, Yajin! Haven't seen you in a long time!"

Cue, Maya Bikei. My childhood friend, and best friend, since we were kids. We met each other when he came in as a newbie in our kids' football team. He was a very shy person back in the day but he was a talented player for sure.

"We just met a week ago?"

"Ha-ha! Serious as always‚ aren't you Yajin?" Grabbing the chair in front of my seat‚ Bikei was now facing me from the end of my table.

"About the trials this week‚ I've asked my coach at Cerezo about it and he gave us the green light for a practice match. Do you want to join us?" Bikei pulled out his phone and showed me the text messages between him and his coach.

"We're left with one goalkeeper at the club right now because he left for South Korea so you can hop on whenever you want.'

I pondered over the request. Bikei plays for Cerezo Osaka's youth team which means this would be experience and useful practice for the trials. The only issue I had was... whether I was imposing on them?

Regardless‚ I had to take the offer.

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"Why not? I'll go for it if you guys can keep up." That sounded too arrogant but I had to boost my confidence one way or another.

"Great! I'll message him about it. I'll send you the details later."

Bikei texted his coach about my appearance in Cerezo's practice match and kept his phone in his pocket. His face suddenly turned serious, off-putting for a guy who spends most of his time fooling around.

"How have you been recently?" Bikei asked with a stern expression which really solidifies the fact he wasn't joking.

"You've asked me that a thousand times already," Sighing, I leaned forward and stared at him straight in the face. "I've gotten past that mistake I made. No point brooding over it, right?"

"Yeah. I was probably just too concerned," Letting out a sigh of relief, Bikei leaned back on his chair and bounced back. "So, how's finding a new club going for you?"

"Terrible. I went for a trial at Kashima and got rejected," Frustrated, I put my hand over my face and started waving my hand around. "I don't know how many failed trials I'll have to go through before I decide to give up."

Bikei chuckled a bit. It's no wonder why he finds it amusing. After all, he's had better luck than me in his career. He was scouted by Cerezo after an official match and rose through the youth ranks quickly. He's now training with the youth team and the senior team at just sixteen years old. Why am I surprised? Outfielders tend to get a thorough look at than us 'keepers.

"You shouldn't stress yourself over it. You had a great tournament last year, I'm confident you'll find a club soon." Bikei got up from his seat and waved before leaving the classroom. I waved back at him and pondered in thought.

I stared at my palms and I kept making a catching gesture. I'm not too sure why.

. . . . .

Bikei messaged me he wouldn't be free during lunch break. He was interacting with his new friends which was a fair reason. I stayed at my seat eating my meal while going throw my old photos with Tokyo Main.

"Hey, Yajin!" I turned to my left and it was the same girl from earlier. She invited herself to sit across me without asking me at all. I let her be since it wasn't much to fuss about.

"Can I help you?"

"Oh, it's okay! I just wanted to have a conversation since you look like you were lonely," It hurts me to say that what she said was true since Bikei was the only person I know in this school.

"You like football?" She asked. I noticed the blue wristband she was wearing with a fox logo on it. I figured she was asking me that because she knew a thing or two about the game.

"Yeah. You too?"

"Mhm! I'm a right winger, what about you?"

"Keeper," I finished my meal and I closed my lunchbox and put it away.

"Wait, was that you on the video I saw earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Really?! Then you must be super good! That save you made was magical!" Her face was practically gleaming with excitement. It kinda weirded me out but I didn't hate it for some odd reason.

"Not really. I'm expected to make that save every time. It's nothing new to me," I casually lied under my breath to make myself seem cooler.

I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and liking all the transfer news related to the club I support. We were in a difficult period where our seasons just kept getting worse so I was glad we were able to make proper signings to move on.

Glancing at my phone without my permission, Shoji grabbed me by the shoulders and started shaking me around for no apparent reason. "Eh? You support Spurs? Why would you?!"

Annoyed, I shook her off me and turned off my phone. "Firstly, it's rude to invade people's privacy. Secondly, so what?"

"Don't be such a party pooper! I'm just joking!" Shoji put her hand over her mouth as if she was trying to hold laughter in. I wasn't mad, more of annoyed. I don't get the banter when it comes to us. So what if we haven't won a trophy in decades? I have no control over how the players play so why come after me?

"Anyways, I'm going to jump classes so can we exchange LINE information?" Shoji handed me her phone which had LINE turned on. She looked genuine so I didn't have a real reason to turn her down. I took her phone and typed in my contact information and handed it back to her.

"Great! Now I can spam bottlejob posts to you!" She exclaimed as she took off. If this was a manga, I'm certain an angry symbol would pop up on my face. I didn't expect to be mocked on my first day.

Great.

. . . . .

"Ha-ha, did she really say that?" Bikei asked me from across the foosball table when I told him what happened to me earlier.

"No kidding. I met her once and she started to abuse me for who I support," we continued having our conversation, ignoring the other people behind us wanting to play the game.

"It's nothing, don't get too caught up over it," Bikei waved my problems off as he scored another goal with fifteen seconds left.

"Easy for you to say," I said as I scored a goal for myself, "You're practically a pro-footballer so you don't give two shits about whatever people say."

"That isn't true," Bikei followed on as he inserted another coin to play a new game much to the annoyance of the waiting players, "I also get mocked whenever my team loses."

"That's because it's a loss. My team gets mocked even if we win. Clear difference," at this point, the arcade staff had to come over to settle the commotion.

"Just don't let it get to your head," we walked out of the arcade after getting kicked out and Bikei was still playing the passive card. Of course, he doesn't want to agree with me because he secretly thinks Spurs are an embarrassment as well.

I rolled my eyes in response.

"Oh right. About the practice match I mentioned earlier, it's tomorrow at our training ground," Bikei sent me a text message with the details in it.

"At Minami Tsumori Sakura?" Bikei nodded to my question.

"The first team aren't training tomorrow so we have permission to use the field," Bikei put his hand on my shoulder, patting it.

"We really have to make the school team," he said. I nodded too.

"Yeah. Afterall, this may be our last chance to play together."