[PREVIOUSLY]
"Okay, I know you're all excited. As you should, you guys will get an opportunity to play, think of this as a test to see whether you can break through the first team."
Neron and the rest nodded, determined looks on their face.
"Okay, let's begin today's training." Sophia said, as the team started to warm-up.
Neron's mind was on the game, as he warmed up. A smirk on this face as he couldn't wait, the day couldn't come any sooner.
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After morning training, the team retreated back to school to begin the day.
Neron's mind was fixated on the upcoming game, his body filled with excitement in anticipation for the game. So basically, Neron was very excited.
We see Neron on the pitch, dribbling through defenders, a smile on his face. The crowd cheering his names.
"Mr Ne....", A voice called, but it went over his head.
Passing the ball around, Neron dashed towards goal. His eyes focused, his body tensed in anticipation. A player crossed the ball towards him, the ball sailing over the top.
"Mr Nero...,"
The ball reached him, Neron chested it, shielding the defender beside him. His eyes laser focused as he took a touch with his left, before slotting it past the goalie into the bottom left corner.
He slide in celebration, the crowd cheering his name. "Neron, Neron, Neron!!!." But all of a sudden a felt a sharp pain on his head, and all of a sudden, everything blurred out.
"Mr Neron!!!" The teacher who had just hit him on the head, called his name once again.
"Huh, what happened." Neron blinked himself awake. He looked around in confusion. Wasn't he just playing in a match.
He looked beside him, a female teacher standing beside his desk, a ruler in hand, her glasses hiding the glare that was directed at him. He looked at her in confusion. "Uhm, Miss why are you on the pitch." He asked innocently.
The class bursted into laughter at the question. The teacher's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Mr Neron, this isn't a football pitch, this is Arts Class." She said through gritted teeth, using all her energy not to rage at the moment.
He titled his head, you could almost see the gears in his head turning as he tried to comprehend what the teacher had just said. "Arts Class?" He asked in confusion, when did he reach class.
The class laughed even more at that. The final straw for the teacher. "That's it, detention Mr Neron. That'll teach you to pay more attention in class." She said strictly before walking back to the front of the class.
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Baro was seen holding his stomach in pain due to him having laughed so much. Neron had a deadpan look on his face as they walked to the cafeteria for lunch. "It's not that funny."
Baro laughed even more, "Oh yes it is, you were so excited you actually day dreamed in class and got detention. Hahaha." Baro laughed more, annoying Neron even more.
Neron ignored him. Looking up, he noticed the cafeteria was packed, more than usual. Baro's laughter died down after a few minutes, as he also noticed the commotion.
Neron went to a senior, a girl and asked what the commotion was. "Uhm, excuse me what's going on?" He asked.
The senior's head snapped so fast, it startled both Neron and Baro a bit. "You don't know. It's the Ace of Oasaka, Leonardo Moretti. He has it all, looks, money and is good at sports. He's so dreamy and...." The girl kept on rambling on and on, Neron and Baro gave the girl weird glances before quickly leaving her to.... whatever she was doing.
Baro looked annoyed, as because of this they won't be able to go to the cafeteria now. "For fucks sake, so because of some wannabe ace, I can't even eat." He grumbled in annoyance. Today there were serving pudding, and he didn't want to miss it. Pudding was life, can you live without air?The answer is obviously...no. You don't skip pudding, ever.
"Hmm, why don't we go say hello." Neron said, not seeing the big de in saying hello to the opponent. It's not like they were enemies, and maybe he might be a nice person.
"Huh, and why would I do that." Baro rebuked, why the heck should he care about some ace.
Neron looked at him, before a teasing smirk made way to his face. "Oh, you're scared to meet him then, should've just told me. I'll meet him by myself I guess." He said, before walking away.
Baro gained an annoyed look, his eyes flashing white, "Scared, I'll show you scared. Let's go meet this bastard and get on with it." He said before walking forward angrily. Neron had a victorious smile as he followed. He was quite curious why the ace of the friendly team they were to play was here.
After battling through a sea of girls, they had finally made it into the cafeteria.
"Ladies, ladies, relax there's a lot of me to go round." A voice spoke, the cause of the sea of girls. He was sitting down on a bench, girls surrounding him as he was being fed by them like some king.
A strikingly handsome teenager came into view. His hair silky and long, untamed but it added to his style. Hazel eyes stared at them with a sense of superiority, and a small arrogant smile layed on his face.
Designer clothes were draped on his body, sneakers on his shoe and an expensive gold watch on his hand that his rested on, shimmered at them.
"Ugh, I already hate this guy." Baro commented, Neron ignored that and walked forward to greet him.
"Hello there, I'm Neron. I'm part of SEIRAN, the team that'll soon play you in the friendly.-" Neron began, but was cut off as the boy brought down the glasses he was wearing.
Leonardo stared at him, an eyebrow raised. "Uhm, why are you talking to me. I didn't exactly give you permission to do so." He asked.
Neron looked at him in confusion, who needs permission to talk to somebody though, were the thoughts that rang through his head. Neron's lack of interaction with people showing here.
"Oi, we don't need your lousy permission." Baro barked, his eyes narrowing in annoyance. He really didn't like this guy, one bit and to top it off there were serving pudding today, the life source of humanity and this bastard dares interrupt that.
Silence rang through the cafeteria, everyone's attention on the event and waiting to see what would happen next.
Leonardo looked at Baro unimpressed, "Uhm who are you, some hedgehog or something."
Baro's eyebrows twitched, "I'm not a hedgehog you-", but was cut off as Leonardo lazily waved him off.
"Yeah, don't really care." A mocking smile on his face, irritating Baro even more.
Neron had to hold back Baro, less the boy do something he would regret.
"Ohhh, the hedgehog is about to bite me." Leonardo lifted his hands in mock scared.
Neron's eyebrows furrowed, "Hey, I don't like you speaking to my friend like that." He said, his tone serious.
Leonardo held his chest in m exaggeration, "Oh, I was left unaware of my unjustly behavior and I'm so...not sorry." He said, a smirk on his face. "Besides, for people who are part of the sorry excuse of a team, why should I?." He asked.
Neron's eyes furrowed, "Hey, why would you say something like that?"
"Why would I say something like that?" He mocked Neron's voice, the girls around him laughing at that. "Well, because it's true. A team that has never made it out of the groups in their entire history. They're just pathetic even," he mocked more.
Neron and Baro's grew angrier every minute, but before they could say anything. An arm slithered around Baro's neck, and a hand was placed on Neron's shoulder. Looking back, Baro and Neron we're met with Takeshi an Ryoji.
Takeshi smiled towards Leonardo, though the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Oh, Leo, how've you been. I'm quite curious why someone of your caliber is here though." He questioned.
Leonardo looked at Takeshi dryly, "Don't speak to me like we're close. Besides, I came here to see whether this sorry excuse of a school had any decent players." He then stared at Neron and Baro, before shaking his head in disappointment. "Seems like this place only knows how to produce trash, as expected." He laughed at his joke.
Takeshi's smile tightened, his grip on Baro's shoulder tightening. One, for the boy to calm down, and to not do anything stupid, but for him as well.
Neron was no different, he rarely, if ever got angry, but he was livid at the moment, the thought of punching this guy's smug face sounded very enticing at the moment. But Ryoji's grip on his shoulder calmed him a bit.
Ryoji looked towards Leonardo, "Well since your objective has been completed can you please leave. You're disturbing the other students from the cafeteria." He asked.
Leonardo looked towards him, before laughing. His laughter echoing through the cafeteria. After a while, it died down. He wiped a tear from his eyes, "You we're always the funny one. You're ordering me as if I'm below you. One call, and I own this school." He snapped his finger, "That fast. Besides, I was on my way already. I didn't want to be in the presence of a worthless captain anyway." He concluded, standing up to his full height which was quite tall at around 6 foot, just slightly shorter than the 6 foot 1 Ryoji. He turned his back and walked away.
Neron's hair shadowed his eyes "Take that back." He whispered,
Leonardo stopped, he turned back slightly. "Huh, and if don't. Whatcha gonna do about it." He said
Neron looked back up, a determined gaze in his eyes. "We'll win." He said.
"What."
"I said we'll win." He spoke out more, his eyes staring straight at him. "You said we've never made it out of the groups. This will be different, We'll win the whole cup, that's a promise." He finished, a wide smirk on his face
Baro smirking in agreement as well. "Unless of course you're scared to loose that is." Baro taunted.
Leonardo kept quiet, just staring at them. Then he started to chuckle again, which then turned to full blown laughter. After a few minutes he suddenly stopped. His gaze burning into them, his eyes glowing at the challenge. "You two are intriguing, okay then we'll see on Saturday. It'll be so good when I beat you two both." He said, before leaving.
Ryoji turned to his junior, "You know what you two did was quite foolish" He said.
Neron shook his "I know senpai, but what I said I was 100 percent serious. We'll win it all, that's a promise." He said.
"Damn right we will." Baro agreeing too.
Ryoji and Takeshi wete stunned, before a smile made way to their faces.
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[TRAINING GROUND]
We see Neron and Baro doing some pushups, Sophia standing on their backs. Neron and Baro gritted their teeth as they struggled to go on.
"Hah, why did I have to get stupid players again. Just why" Sophia lamented. The rest of the team had pitying looks for the boys.
Sophia looked down at the both of them, before jumping off them. The boys falling face first in the floor, not even bothering to get up as they're hands were burning in pain.
"You just had to provoke him, him of all people." Sophia reprimanded.
"He was looking down on the team, I wouldn't allow that. I know what I did was wrong, but I wouldn't allow that." Neron said stubbornly.
"Besides, we'll just win against the bastard." Baro said
Sophia sighed at the two, massaging her temples.
Daichi looked at Sophia, "But what did they do wrong though, they just said that we'll win the whole cup, how hard could it be." The boy asked innocently.
Sophia snapped her neck at him, "How hard could it be." She began, walking closer to the boy. The others scooting away from him so as not to incur her wrath. "Do you know we've never made it far" She asked, her voice getting higher." Daichi shakingly shook his head. "Because no matter how hard we try, we just can't beat the other teams. They're just better and that's frustrating." Her voice quivering a bit, her emotions high.
"That player right there is one of the best players in this prefacture, but then they're five of them and we have to deal with that. " She said, before dropping her hands to the side in defeat, "Then this team has to deal with a failure of a coach such as myself, no wonder we haven't been successful." She ended
Ryoji gritted his teeth, his frustration evident. Same with Takeshi and the rest of the first teamers, they all looked down in shame at the confession. They always knew their coach would hit a breaking point, so they were blaming themselves for not being good enough.
"That's trash mentality." Baro spoke up, earning shocked looks from everyone. "So what if there's five of them, then we'll just be better. You're already giving up before trying, that's trash. We'll win the dam tournament." Baro finished, the rest agreeing as well.
"Though he could have worded it better, it's true. If we give up before we even try, what's the use of trying in the first place." Daichi then spoke.
Shinji walked up, flicking his hair. "As elegant individuals, shouldn't we go for the biggest prizes no?" He added flamboyantly
Hayato also walked up, "Yeah, we'll beat them and prove them all wrong." He added as well.
"You see coach, we're all in this." Neron began. He then looked down at his hand before he slowly clenched his fist, an excited smile making way to his face. "Besides, I never break a promise, and I don't I tend on doing so. We'll win everything, that I promise." He spoke with conviction, staring at Sophia and the rest.
Sophia blinked at the statement from them, a smile making way to her face, "To be actually schooled by highschoolers." She chuckled a bit, before she bowed, "I'm sorry for that display and being a bad coach, forgive me." She asked.
Neron quickly shook his hands, as he helped her stand up. "No, please don't bow. It's fine, besides we'll all try our best."
The others nodding before their attention turned to Baro
Baro just looked away, not expecting the apology. "It's fine." He said,.the others chuckling at the display. A better atmosphere than what was there before.
Sophia smiled, before standing back up. "Okay, before we focus on the big goal of winning the tournament. We have to focus on the one that's just a week away. The friendly game."
The team nodding in agreement, before they started to practice in preparation for the upcoming game.
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One week later.
[OSAKA HIGH FOOTBALL PITCH]
Standing in front of the school building, the new players were somewhat left in awe as they stared at the school.
It was huge, spanning at least 3 acres of land. If you were to use one word to describe the school, that word would more or less be luxurious.
After entering the school, they made their way to the football pitch. There, the sound of people were heard, meaning this was going to be witnessed by the students of the school.
A coach walked up to them. He's fat frame making way towards them, "Hmm, so you're the team we're supposed to play." He said in disappointment, causing a wave of annoyance to pass through the team. "So where's the coach." He asked.
Sophia stepped forward. "A pleasure to meet you, and I hope we have a good game." She said as politely as she could muster, stretching her hand out for a handshake.
The coach looked towards her hand, before walking away. "The lockerooms are that way." He pointed at a random direction, "Try not to loose to badly." He ended.
Sophia's vein threatened to pop, as she slowly brought down her hand. The others stepping back from her, as they felt her anger.
In one of the locker room, Sophia is giving her final instructions to the guys, pointing at a board. "Our lineup for this game will be as follows:
GK- Kazuki
RB- Takumi
LB- Ryo
CB- Shin
CB-Daichi, to which the boy nodded in excitement.
DM- Ton
CM- Takeshi, the boy merely smiled
CM- Shinji, the boy simply flickered his head in acknowledgement, though there was a presence of excitement in his eyes.
RW- Hayato, the boy excitedly nodded his head.
LW- Neron, the boy nodded his head.
ST- Ryoji
Sophia glanced at Baro, "Baro, I'll need you as a super sub if that's okay. I know you're not okay with it, but please bear with me. " She said.
Baro nodded, "No need to make me feel better, I'm willing to be on the bench." He walked to Neron, "You better not stink the place on, or I'm taking your spot." He said, before leaving the lockeroom for the bench, the other bench players following.
Neron smiled at the encouragement.
"And remember guys, just do you. And do have fun out there." She said, "And one more thing, show that pig not to underestimate us, on three. One....two....three, SEIRAN HIGH." They shouted out in unison.
Neron was in the tunnel, eyes forward. A presence made way to his left, turning his head his eyes meet Leonardo.
Leonardo smirked, "Oh, so you didn't chicken out trash. Ready to loose?" Leo mocked.
Neron merely smiled, his eyes briming with excitement and vigor. "No, I'm ready to win." He replied.
Leonardo merely scoffed before they walked out the tunnel. The crowd of students cheering louder.
As the two teams set up, the two captains walked forward for the coin flip. Ryoji walked forward, and a midfielder of the same height, of not slightly taller, walked forward, he was quite young too. This was the captain of Osaka, Daiki Tanaka
Ryoji brought out his hand forward, "Let's have a good game."
Daiki looked at him, "Let's." He gave a brief nod.
The refree, then did the coin flip. After, it was then decided SIERAN HIGH will start the kick off.
Walking back, Ryoji stood over the ball. He then gazed at Neron, seeing the resoluteness in his eyes, he nodded, Neron nodding back, his mind focused on the game.
"Pheeeeeeew," the refree blew. The match has officially started. Who will win, well read to find out.
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Okay, that's this chapter. This took a while to make this. Tell me your thoughts and critics about this chapter. Want to give you all the best.
Also, throw me some stones please, with a cherry on to