The bell rang, and Riccardo and Nishimura were the first to stand up and grab their sports bags.
Nishimura looked at Riccardo.
"Shall we go?"
"Yes."
The two were about to leave the classroom when Kagayama approached them.
"Guys, wait!"
They stopped and turned toward her.
"Good luck for the match! Give it your all!"
"Thanks, we'll come back as winners!"
"We're advancing to the next round!"
After saying goodbye to their classmate, they arrived at the school entrance, where a bus was parked with the rest of the team standing in front of it.
"Good morning!" they both said.
Coach Ishii noticed them.
"Good morning… We're only missing Tanaka and Shimizu."
Kaneko spotted something in the distance coming toward them.
"Speak of the devil…"
Everyone turned to look, noticing the two running.
Tanaka touched the bus and looked at Shimizu.
"Ha! See who's faster now!"
"You started before me!" Shimizu complained.
Coach Suzuki watched them with a slight smile. Youth really is beautiful…
Coach Ishii approached the luggage compartment.
"Put your bags in here, then take your seats. We're leaving in a moment."
"Yes!"
They did as instructed, and the bus departed.
[On the bus]
The boys were doing different things: some on their phones, some playing games, some listening to music.
As soon as Riccardo felt the bus slowing down, he noticed the sign on a board: "Koganei High School."
Coach Ishii stood up.
"We're here! Get ready!"
The bus doors opened. The two coaches were the first to get off, followed by the rest of the team grabbing their bags.
They walked into the school.
"Once we reach the field, warm up with Coach Suzuki," Ishii explained.
As they walked, the boys felt the students' eyes on them.
"I feel like we're Real Madrid…" Yasuda said with a slightly ironic tone.
"Yeah…" Aoki replied, looking around.
Two girls noticed Riccardo.
"Did you see that boy…?"
"He's so handsome…"
Tanaka heard their comments and got irritated, moving closer to Riccardo.
"How are you so popular?"
Riccardo looked at him with a sarcastic expression.
"Look at me carefully… why wouldn't I be?"
"I sense some narcissism…" Nishimura muttered.
"Did you say something?" Riccardo asked.
"No… nothing."
They reached the field, where a young man around 25 came out to greet them.
"H-hello! You're Shūdan-teki, right?"
Everyone noticed how nervous he was.
"That's right…" Coach Ishii said.
He eyed him, puzzled. Isn't it obvious from our uniforms?
"Nice to meet you! I-I'm Koganei's coach, you can call me Fujita!"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Shūdan-teki's coach, call me Ishii. And this is our assistant coach, Mr. Suzuki."
"Great! If you want to get changed, the locker rooms are over there!" Fujita pointed at a small building.
"Alright, go get changed!" Coach Suzuki said.
"Yes!"
And the boys did so.
[A few minutes later]
Around the field, several students had gathered to watch the match.
A boy watched the home team warming up.
"Last year they reached the semifinals but lost to Tōen High School."
"True, but that was thanks to Coach Fujita," another student added.
Koganei's number 5 looked around, noticing the opponents hadn't come out yet.
"Where are they?"
"They're changing. I saw them go into the locker rooms," number 14 replied.
"We are…" Noguchi shouted from the locker room.
"Shūdan-teki!"
The roar of the team echoed onto the field, surprising everyone.
Noguchi was the first to walk out, leading the team toward the pitch.
The Koganei students watched them.
"That's so cool…"
They began their warm-ups as planned with Coach Suzuki.
[After warm-ups, the usual pre-match rituals]
The non-starters sat on the bench.
Shūdan-teki's starting eleven:GK Andou (1) CB Noguchi (4)(C), Aoki (27) RB Ueno (2) LB Sugimoto (6) CM Ono (8), Tamura (5) AM Nishimura (10) RW Shimizu (11) LW Tanaka (7) ST Aliberti (24)
Kickoff belonged to Koganei, with their number 9 waiting for the referee's whistle.
When it came, the ball was passed to number 10, who, seeing Riccardo pressing him, immediately returned it to the goalkeeper.
"Good job, Hikaru!" Coach Fujita applauded.
Riccardo pressed all the way to the keeper, who waited for him to get closer before playing it to the right center-back, number 2.
Riccardo burst toward the ball carrier again.
Number 2 passed to number 4, the center-back, who was immediately pressured by Nishimura — which freed their holding midfielder, number 5.
Number 5 made a movement to show himself, received the pass, and bypassed the pressure of both Riccardo and Nishimura.
With space and time, the midfielder looked up, noticing Ono was late marking number 6, one of their two central midfielder.
He passed the ball.
Number 6 checked Ono's movement before receiving, using his body to shield and turn on him.
He advanced, but Ono kept pressing aggressively.
"Man behind you, Minato!" Hikaru called.
Indeed, Nishimura arrived from behind, but Minato quickly played it back to the right winger, number 20, who cut inside, drawing Tanaka's mark.
Number 20 shielded the ball, using his physical advantage over Tanaka.
Minato accelerated suddenly, losing Ono, allowing a one-two.
"Sugimoto!" Coach Ishii called, signaling the left-back to step up.
Sugimoto did so, moving up the flank.
Minato received the ball and advanced, but Ono — faster — caught up again.
"Minato!"
He lifted his gaze and spotted Hikaru approaching, instantly passing to him.
Hikaru played it first-time down the flank, where number 20 pushed forward, keeping Tanaka behind him with his arm.
The Koganei player smirked. Nice job.
But the enthusiasm vanished as Sugimoto suddenly arrived, now almost at midfield level.
He's pressing this high?! I need to…
The winger used a backheel to catch Tanaka off guard, turned quickly, and shielded again. Then he passed back to Hikaru.
Hikaru controlled, thoughtful.
Their coach pushed the fullback up… he read us instantly.
Hikaru shifted the ball to evade Ono's feet and drove forward.
Coach Ishii observed closely, especially Ono and Tanaka.
We already knew those two can't give me solid defensive work, but…
Thinking he was unmarked, Hikaru advanced calmly — only for Nishimura to appear from behind and dispossess him, allowing Ono to double up.
But we'll stop them with sacrifice and desire to win back possession.
Koganei's number 10 struggled as Nishimura poked the ball away.
Both Nishimura and Hikaru were about to fall after pulling each other's shirts.
Hikaru relaxed slightly, seeing the referee ready to blow.
It'll be our foul. I'm safe…
"Hikaru, look!" Coach Fujita called, surprising him.
With the corner of his eye, Hikaru saw something that made him smirk.
While falling, he forced himself to push the ball left, away from Ono.
Ono was sprinting, but from behind Koganei's number 5 arrived at full speed, picked up the ball, and charged forward into open space.
The referee allowed advantage.
Tanaka saw him run and panicked.
Shit!
Number 20 also sprinted, overtaking Sugimoto.
He received the through pass at full speed, but as he controlled it, Sugimoto had nearly caught up.
The two reached the byline — the winger ready to cross, Sugimoto ready to block.
But the cross turned into a feint; number 20 cut inside, sending the fullback off balance.
He spotted number 5 still advancing.
Noguchi noticed too.
He's almost at the edge of the box!
Noguchi stepped forward. Coach Ishii instantly panicked.
"No! Noguchi, drop!"
But it was too late — Koganei's number 9 had run into the space Noguchi left, even though Aoki followed him.
Number 20 delivered a mid-height pass.
Aoki realized he couldn't challenge for the ball, so he positioned himself to prevent the striker from fully turning toward goal.
Number 9 assessed the situation.
If I control it, their number 4 will recover. So…
As soon as the ball reached him, he struck it first time with his right foot toward the near post.
The shot was headed slightly under the crossbar, but Andou had already shifted toward that side before the strike — enough to make a quick leap and tip the ball away with his trailing hand.
The Koganei students held back their explosion of joy, stunned.
Andou got up and celebrated as if he had scored.
"Let's go!"
Then he turned to his teammates.
"Watch their movement patterns!"
Aoki high-fived him, and the players in the box took their positions for the corner.
Koganei's defenders came forward — and Riccardo joined the defense too.
Nishimura observed.
Just as we thought… technically they're nothing special, but their coach gave them precise patterns, and they've already absorbed everything. They're always one step ahead!
Hikaru placed the ball on the corner arc, ready to take it.
Coach Ishii watched intently, then seemed to have an idea.
"Yes… this could work…" he muttered with a half-grin.
6:34 — Koganei 0 | 0 Shūdan-teki