Chapter 2: 2014 World cup

Even after more than an hour, he couldn’t feel his consciousness fading away.

Gooooaaaaallllllll!!!!

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaa”

The sudden sound of goal startled him. He startlingly opened his eyes. The sound came from the room above him.

Even after waiting for more than an hour for his consciousness to fade away, everything felt so real to him. Neither was vision getting clouded nor was his body disintegrating. He could vividly feel everything around him.

Running his fingers through his face, he noticed something odd.

“Why is my skin so smooth? And why do I feel that I’ve shrunken in size?”

As he ran his fingers through his face, several questions popped up in his mind. The room was dimly lit by the table lamp beside his bed.

Nothing was making sense to him. But just to be sure if it wasn’t a dream, he pinched his cheek.

“Owww!!! Damn that hurt.”

He screamed in pain.

After pinching himself, he could tell that he wasn’t dreaming and neither was he dead. He then extended his arms to investigate why it felt so small.

His hands were that of child, soft and smooth.

“Arey!! Why is my hands so small?? Is it even my own hands?”

In disbelief, he tried to wiggle his fingers. They moved exactly the way he wanted it to move.

“Huh? Don’t tell me-”

He vigorously pulled the blanket aside and jumped out of the bed. He then ran towards the cupboard. As he approached the cupboard mirror, an image of a child became vivid in the mirror.

Black eyes, Short and dark curly black hair which curled like a noodle and with a red strawberry lips and puffy cheeks, he was dressed in a Barcelona jersey.

In disbelief, he ran his fingers through his face. The reflection in the mirror copied his exact same movements.

“Did- Did I return back?”

His eyes wide open, his face forecasting an expression of shock, he couldn’t believe that he had returned back to the past.

As he continued to stare his image in the mirror, tears welled up in his eyes. And as the tears accumulated, he could no longer hold them back. The tears fell down through his eyes like a sudden burst of monsoon rainfall.

He continued to wept like a kid infront of the mirror. After his tears started to dissipate, he began to wipe off the tears from his face. While his eyes were full of tears, his face revealed a smile.

He was overjoyed to return back alive. After sometime when he could finally regain his composure, he started to look for his phone. 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝑙.

If he remembered correctly then he would have put it in the drawer of the table beside his bed. He walked towards the table lamp and pulled the drawer.

In his drawer there was a memo and a mobile phone.

“I was right, it was here indeed.”

He whispered in a soft voice.

He grabbed his phone and tried to turn on his phone. A picture of Captain Tsubasa from the famous anime Captain Tsubasa appeared on his home screen. Looking at his wallpaper, he chuckled.

He looked at the date and it was July 14, 2014.

“If it’s 2014 then I must be 5 years old.”

He contemplated while looking at the date.

“Wait… wait… July 14?? Am I missing something?”

Something felt like missing, after looking at the date. As if he was forgetting something, he kept on trying to remember what he was forgetting.

“World cup? World cup final?”

He deliriously exclaimed.

July 14, 2014 was the date of the world cup final when Argentina and Germany would face each other.

After remembering what he had forgotten he stormed outside his room and rushed towards the living room. As he reached the living room, there in the couch a person was sitting infront of the TV holding a can of beer in his hand.

Seeing the person, he stopped his movement. He knew who that person was. He was extremely familiar with the person.

“You finally came?”

The man infront of him spoke.

He was caught off-guard by his speech. Unable to respond, he stood frozen infront of the man with eyes full of tears.

“What happened? Are you alright”

The man inquired with a worried face.

The lights of the room was turned off and the only light which lit the whole place was the blue rays coming out of the television.

Upon seeing his eyes full of tears, the man rushed towards him. He then grabbed his little hands and began to wipe of the tears of his face.

“Did you have somekind of nightmare?”

The man exclaimed while gently wiping the tears off his face.

He spoke nothing and continued to wept like a kid. He couldn’t stop himself from crying, afterall it had been so long since he last heard his voice.

As he lifted his face, he could vividly notice the man with black eyes and dark black hair. His face was still the same as he once remembered. Chiseled jawline, sharp nose, few strands of tiny hair across his jaw and beneath his nose provided him a handsome manly appearance. His body constitution was neither obese nor slim. With an ideal bodyweight, he had vividly defined muscles.

The man was non other than his father who he had lost when was age 16. After 11 whole years he was finally seeing him once again for the first time.

Seeing his gentle face, he could no longer hold himself. He threw himself in his arms and hugged him tightly. His father, confused by his unusual behaviour hugged him regardless.

“It’s alright! It’s alright!”

He exclaimed while gently stroking his back.

They remained in that position for a long time. Neither Hiro nor his father Takashi could let go of each other.

“Umm…. Do you not want to watch the world cup?”

Takashi whispered.

He finally remembered that the alarm clock which woke him up was set by him to wake up himself to watch the world cup final together with his father.

He then gently pulled out his arms and distanced himself from his father. And as he faced his father once again, he revealed a wry smile and spoke;

“Argentina’s gonna win for sure.”

“You bet! Germany’s gonna win for sure.”

His father replied back with a smile.

Hiro knew that Germany was gonna win but still at that time he had been supporting Argentina. And his father was supporting Germany.

After an goalless 90 minutes, the game had gone into extra time. Even the first half of the extra time was goalless and the game had gone into the second half of extra time by the time he arrived at the living room.

With score 0-0, the score was tied until 115 minutes. He knew that at 117 minutes, Mario Gotje was gonna score the winning goal for Germany but he kept his mouth shut regardless. He looked at his father, his face was overjoyed with happiness. He could vividly feel his ecstasy.

“Go- Go- Go- Gooooaaaaallllllll!!!!!!!”

His father roared in ecstasy.

Few other voices from the surrounding reverberated along with his cheers. At second half of the extra time, at 117 minute, Mario Gotje scored the winning goal for Germany leading his nation to victory.

After that goal, Argentina couldn’t trail Germany. The final score of the match was Argentina 0 and Germany 1. Germany won the world cup with that single goal leaving every Andreas Messi fan disappointed.

If it were any other moment, he would have been disappointed as well. Infact he cried back then when Argentina lost the world cup. But this time, the smile on his father’s face meant a lot more to him than anything in the world.

“What did I say to you? Didn’t I say that Germany would win the world cup. Hahahahahahahaha”

His father started to laugh maniacally as Germany lifted the world cup.

He was so much overjoyed that he forget that his son was a mere 5 year old.

‘Still the same, I see. No mercy for the opponents. Even if that opponent happens to be your own son.’

He contorted his face while looking at his father, disappointed.

“Just shut up and let me sleep!!”

Another voice came from the master bedroom.

The voice was filled with anger. As soon as he heard that voice, his father instantly shut his mouth.

“We should keep it quite, otherwise your mother’s gonna beat us both.”

Takashi whispered.

The voice filled with anger belonged to his mother. Unlike the father and son duo, she had absolutely no interest in football. She was more on the practical side. All she wanted to do was earn enough money and live a decent life with her family.

Infact even in his previous life, she had always forced him to study well and become a doctor or a lawyer. However his passion for football overshadowed her expectations of him.

Despite his mother’s countless nagging he was hell bent on being a professional football player.