Chapter 565: A proud Senior

Indeed, the crest seemed familiar. However, the name although similar sounded a bit unfamiliar. As far as he could recall, there wasn’t any Okami Middle School.

Hiro’s eyes opened wide, his mouth agape.

“Huh? Did you say Okami?” he questioned.

The boys before him nodded their heads in agreement, “Yes, we play for Okami Middle School.”

They had a rather proud expression when they answered. It was almost as if they were playing for some famous football club.

Upon hearing them, Hiro turned to look at Ishikawa as if demanding an answer.

“It was opened about a year ago,” she responded in haste.

Considering the recent fame of the school, it wasn’t a strange occurrence for them to expand. However, he wasn’t aware of it so, he couldn’t help but feel surprised by it.

After that, Hiro’s eyes drifted back to the boys before him. A subtle smile blossomed beneath his mask as he looked at those boys proudly.

Though short, he did graduate the elementary school from there. So, he could be regarded as their senior, shouldn’t he?

Then he asked, “Can you show me your shot?”

The boy appeared a bit reluctant as he said timidly, “But I’m not good at it…”

“It doesn’t matter. I just want to see how you shoot. So, would you show it to me?” Hiro continued, his tone gentle.

The other boy pestered him, “You can’t sully the name of our school, Hiroshi. Let’s show this brother.”

Even with the pestering from his friend, Hiroshi continued to be reluctant. He appeared to have little to no confidence in him. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

Nonetheless, he couldn’t bring himself to refute Hiro’s request for some reason.

“Would you like to go with us?” Hiro asked Ishikawa.

“No, I’ll stay here,” she politely declined the offer.

Then Hiro and those boys headed to the field.

“Did Hiroshi get scolded by that man?” one of the boys speculated as he saw Hiro accompanying the boys who had gone to apologize.

“We need to tell the coach. Where is he?”

Many of the kids began to panic upon seeing the sight of Hiro. Well, seeing how scared Hiroshi looked, they couldn’t help but worry.

“Daiki, who is he? Is he here to reprimand us?” one of the boys asked the spiky-haired boy.

“I don’t know. But don’t worry, he isn’t here to reprimand us. He only wants to see Hiroshi shoot.” Daiki assured.

Upon hearing him, the other kids felt at ease. It’s not that they were afraid of getting reprimanded by Hiro but they were afraid to get reprimanded by their coach.

Fortunately, he wasn’t there. So, they felt at ease.

“Still, why does he want to see Hiroshi shoot?” one of the kids asked.

“Do you think he’s a scout?”

“Although Hiroshi lacks in technique, he’s got power. So, maybe he wants to see his power.” “Maybe he was sent to sneak on us by other schools?”

The kids there ran their imaginations wild as they speculated different possibilities.

“Hiroshi, can you shoot with all your strength?” Hiro asked the boy as he prepared to take the shoot.

Just like Hiro had asked him, Hiroshi took the shot with every ounce of strength he had. However, it went over the bar. The ball traveled far as it covered a lot of distance.

Hiroshi frowned at the outcome, “Just why can’t I shoot properly?”

Hiro cast a complacent look as he thought, ‘His power is indeed impressive for someone his age. But he lacks in technique and confidence. Without these two, you can shoot as hard as you want but the ball won’t listen.’

“Hiroshi, can I ask you something?” Hiro asked the boy. “Answer me honestly, what do you think before shooting?”

Hiroshi answered anxiously, “I…, think that the ball would go astray again.”

When someone admits defeat even before trying that person is bound to fail. With that thought in mind, Hiro immediately recognized the main reason why this poor boy couldn’t shoot well despite possessing impressive power.

And from the gossip he heard around him, Hiro could also deduce that he was influenced by the words of people around him.

They ridiculed his attempt. So, he might have subconsciously started to believe their words that he lacked talent in shooting.

After all, children are like water. They take the shape of the container they are put in. So, Hiroshi might have started to believe that he couldn’t shoot well after hearing him.

“Can you shoot again?” Hiro asked politely.

Hiroshi, however, appeared reluctant. Probably, because he didn’t want to humiliate himself any further. So, he refused Hiro’s request, “I’m sorry. I can’t do this again. Maybe I don’t have a talent for shooting after all.”

“Maybe, I should stick to being a defender,” he added albeit in a low whisper.

Hiro couldn’t find the right words to console him. Even if he were to say something motivating, he might forget.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to force yourself if you don’t want to,” he said politely.

After that Hiroshi stepped away with self-doubts clawing at him. He couldn’t even bring himself to meet eyes with others. He slowly faded into the crowd.

“Would you mind if I shoot a few shoots?” Hiro asked the young keeper before him.

The young keeper didn’t think too much of it and readily agreed to Hiro’s request. It didn’t matter how he looked at him, Hiro didn’t look threatening at all.

Although the mask he wore made him appear a bit mysterious, there wasn’t anything more to it. Rather seeing the thick layer of bandages wrapped in his arm, he looked injured.

“But it wouldn’t be fair for me to shoot from such a close distance,” Hiro said.

Then he further enlarged the distance between him and the goal. He went way beyond the half-line and said, “Would it be alright if I shoot from here?”

The young goalkeeper couldn’t help but look at him weirdly, “You can come more forward if you want to. You don’t have to go through such length.”

After all, although he might seem young, he was already participating in the matches against adults. So, even if Hiro were to shoot at him from the penalty spot, he was confident enough

to stop him.

“What’s that guy doing?”

“Does he think that he’s Ronaldo?”

The other kids couldn’t help but ridicule Hiro. At this point, many even assumed that he was

either drunk or a lunatic.

Hiro, however, couldn’t be bothered about their puny remarks. They were nothing but mere

whispers to his ear.

“No, no, it’s alright,” Hiro yelled.