"Hey, look over there. It's them."
"Them, who?"
"It's Raihishō Middle School. They ranked in the top eight last year."
Two boys in red and brown tracksuits stood in the open walkway beside the local pitch, their boots tapping rhythmically against the asphalt. The tapping stopped when they peeked around the corner, watching Raihishō's players huddle near the benches lined beside the chain link fence.
"Ooh, they have that uber strong ace, don't they?" The skinnier of the two mentioned, "The one who scored three against Kitaura in the second round. Ma…o…kun? Right?"
"No, no— it's Douma, isn't it?" The leaner boy corrected him, rubbing his fingers against his chin. "Wait, he scored three on Kita Middle? No way."
Before they could continue debating on the result of that game, their captain appeared behind them, hands stuffed inside his pockets. "It wasn't three," he said flatly.
"Y'see?" chirped the leaner boy, a little startled by their captain producing himself behind them.
"He scored five. All five." the captain continued, his voice heavy with truth. The two boys froze up in shock, their jaws dropped to their clavicles, "And his name isn't Douma, or Mao." the captain added, "It's Shidou. Ohma Shidou."
The dry dirt and rubber turf smelt familiar. The aforementioned ace sat on a bench beside Raihishō's equipment bag, clad in a green-and-white tracksuit, with a back bent to tie his laces. The other players gathered in a loose circle wearing the same tracksuits, stretching and bouncing lightly on their toes to shake their nerves.
The coach, a tall and lean man with sharp eyes, stepped into the center. What he was saying wasn't audible to the two boys, but they could hear the team's response to the coach's words.
"Roger!" They all said in unison.
"Anyway, their opponents today are that mighty team that stole their chance at qualifying for the All-Middle last year." the captain continued. The boys turned around and leaned forward with piqued curiosity. They didn't have long to wait for a response.
Heavy clicks of multiple boots overlapped each other along the asphalt and grew louder. This band of middle school giants were clad in black tracksuits that had accents of purple. The backs of their uniforms read 'Gintaka Middle School Football Club'.
Ohma's eyes lifted as the black-and-purple figures walked by. Even from this distance, he could feel the pressure of their footsteps. They had a certain quiet confidence about them.
At the forefront of this posse was another third-year student, who was some centimetres above the average height for his age. With an eye colour similar to the accents of Gintaka Middle's tracksuits and straight, jet-black hair of which its bangs crossed over each other, it could only be the team's best 'creator'.
"Isn't that that midfielder who's famous all around Saitama?" The skinnier boy asked into the air for either of his teammates to answer.
"Uh-huh!" The leaner boy answered immediately, cutting off the captain before a sound could leave his mouth. "Gintaka Middle School's ace midfielder, Rio Kagamiya."
"Are you a commentator?" The skinnier boy deadpanned, "Just say his name."
"But I thought it sounded cool…"
"We have a match today, too, second-years. Let's move." The captain clasped his hands over each of their heads and strode away.
"Coach, I'm going to the bathroom." Ohma stood up and stepped past a few teammates who were still adjusting their boots and shin guards. Without waiting for a reply, he veered toward the nearest bathroom.
"Ah, okay. Just be quick, we'll be warming up on the pitch." The coach called out. Ohma still had his back turned as he walked away, so he raised his hand to communicate that he heard him.
Inside, the temperature was lukewarm and the faint smell of disinfectant hit his nostrils. He approached the middle sink and turned the tap, letting the water run. He cupped his palms and allowed water to fill them like a bowl before slapping it onto his face. The chill allowed him to wake up.
He stared at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were narrowed but his mind was filled with static rather than emptiness. As he leaned closer to the mirror and let the droplets of water trace his facial features, the soft click of boots on tile immediately put his guard up.
When he tilted his head to the left, he watched as a shadow under the door turned into who he most wanted to see. Rio Kagamiya glanced at Ohma with sharp eyes, taking in the bathroom as if conquering a new domain.
Ohma's heart skipped a beat, but it wasn't out of fear. He wiped his face, straightened, then met Rio's gaze through the reflection of the mirror.
"Oh, it's you." Rio said. "You're still here?"
"What?" Ohma grunted, "What do you mean by that?"
"I saw your second round match- by means of video tape." Rio elaborated, his hands in his pockets.
"Oh really? Means nothing to me." Ohma immediately scoffed, flipping his head to look the other way. Both of the players' body language told each other that the other was lying.
"It occurred to me that you haven't changed since last year." Rio said, his eyes cutting into Ohma even if Ohma wasn't even looking at him.
"Huh? What're you talking about, Bones?" Ohma hissed, now turning his head back to glare at Rio through the mirror.
"You still rely on reckless and uncontrolled power." Rio paused, but not long enough to let Ohma interrupt, "Football is a sport where physical abilities matter, that's true. The speed to sprint up and down the field; the strength to hold your own against challenges, or make challenges yourself; the power to make unstoppable shots; the stamina to go on for an entire match, or longer. But what are all of those things without technique?"
"What bullshit are you trying to spit at me now?" Ohma challenged him.
"How far could a lummox like you go without technique?" Rio returned the challenge with a cold tone, "You're just third-rate if you think being a meathead will help you."
"The hell? Did you come here just to pick a fight with me?" Ohma's fists clenched, but he wasn't going to rise to his provocations. Moreover, the back of his mind was quite focused on what a lummox was.
"I came here to take a piss." Rio said flatly, "But since I saw you just now, I thought you'd need some pointers after last year."
A match was lit in Ohma's chest. A vein popped very visibly on his forehead, but he managed to keep his composure. "You've got some nerve, don't you?" He clapped back with equal intensity, "Don't be projecting on me just because your body hasn't developed any muscle."
Ohma took an opportunity to leave the bathroom. He was mature enough to know that any more words were pointless and he'd just have to settle it on the field. "See ya," he said.
Now that Ohma had left, Rio stepped further into the bathroom and used the urinal. "That's weird, those two weren't here," he muttered.
Just because your body hasn't developed any muscle.
He'll learn, Rio thought, his eyes razor sharp now, He'll learn what defeat truly is.
When Rio entered the field for warmups with his team, Ohma was already there. Raihishō was performing drills like rondo and triangle passing. Rio took a look at Ohma, who received the ball from a teammate and attempted a finesse shot which flew past the bar.
Meanwhile, Gintaka was much more organised. Their warmups were consistent with great pace. Deliberate shots and calculated passes. Rio released a sigh of unspoken confidence.
Rio eventually got a touch of a ball and was requested a through pass. The playmaker threaded that pass perfectly, and the ball skated on the grass and next to his teammate's foot. All he had to do was slow down and make a perfect hit.
Thonk! The player sliced through the ball and it met the back of the net.
"Nice pass, Kagamiya-kun!" His teammate exclaimed, giving the midfielder a light punch to the shoulder. Rio nodded silently.
About ten minutes later, it was finally time for the match to begin, and now that everyone was in position, the referee could start the game.
Ohma stood beside the ball on the center line, taking a deep breath. Today's the day, he thought, I'll beat that arrogant prick and punch my ticket to nationals.
"Oooh. It's about to start, Iwahara-san, Higo-san." A young man in the stands commented. He was about one-hundred-and-seventy centimetres tall and quite slim. The two boys accompanying him were a year older. One was just over one-hundred-and-eighty and had slightly less muscle than his same-age peer, who looked pretty big coupled with his being just under one-hundred-and-forty centimetres.
"Oh, it is." Said the tallest, who now turned his body to lean forward.
"Why exactly did we come here again, Higo-san?" The shortest asked, addressing the tallest. "Are you sure a middle school tournament is the best way to spend our time?"
Higo turned to the shortest, then back to the pitch. "I wanted to see how good that number ten is."
"Their number ten?" The shortest repeated, looking for who he was talking about.
"On the black team- Gintaka Middle's number ten." The second tallest- Iwahara- interjected, "His name's Rio Kagamiya. A third year."
"Oh, you know his name, Iwahara-san?" The shortest asked. This got Higo's attention too, who turned back to his companions who along with him were unknowingly being observed by two middle school girls.
"Are they high schoolers?" One wondered,
"I think so." The other said.
"I saw him play back when he was still a first year." Iwahara commented, "He feels very different to before, though."
"How d'you mean?" Higo asked,
"Dunno, he had a different aura about him back then." Iwahara answered, "But maybe it's just 'cause he's older, now."
"I suppose that could be the case." The shortest said, now turning his attention to the field.
The referee blew into his whistle, and the shrill signalled for Ohma to kick the ball to his teammate, number eight, in front of him off the bat. The game got going, and the crowd of around five-hundred clapped asynchronously.
Raihishō Junior High shifted into formation quickly, taking in information from the mighty black-and-purple Gintaka.
Number eight controlled the ball carefully and looked around for a brief second before making a soft ground pass to his right winger. Gintaka's midfield anticipated, cutting down the lane and stopping the ball from coming to the winger.
The winger did not give up, however. Instead, he ran around the intercepting midfielders and forcefully received the ball.
"Nice ad-libbing, Tanaka!" Number eight exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief after a fright that his careless pass would lead to a break.
"Good pass, Yoshino-san!" Tanaka returned the compliment. He was now making an advance up his side, managing to cut the ball in and out around his markers.
That was until Gintaka's left back closed in on him, stopping him from taking a heavy touch. Tanaka stopped, leaving the two players in a one-on-one situation.
"Nice, Mike! I'll cover your back!" His teammate exclaimed, waiting behind him in case Tanaka got past.
"Yup, leave it to me." Mike affirmed.
Tanaka performed a body feint, and then accelerated on the other side. However, that was too predictable for a Gintaka defender; Mike intercepted Tanaka's path and stole the ball.
Within the blink of an eye, the ball was already going from the backline to the midfield.
"Nice clearing, Mike!" A teammate called out.
"Ah, come on!" Tanaka exclaimed, as Raihishō's players began to track back.
"You've got that, captain!" Another Gintaka player exclaimed. The ball reached the feet of none other than Rio Kagamiya, who cushioned the ball and began his advance after a quick half-turn against Raihishō's defensive midfielder.
"Sorry!" Tanaka yelled out,
"Don't sweat it, just get back!" Ohma called out, running back from the front-line to the midfield.
"Oh, wow. Gintaka Middle's pretty good, huh." Higo said aloud, leaning even more forward to get a good look at the match's development.
"No kidding." The shortest of the high-schoolers said, "They transition from defense to attack so quickly."
"The way that left-back positioned himself is kind of like you do, Tokida." Higo said.
"Uh, no, don't think so, sorry." Tokida said bluntly, raising his hand dismissively.
"You really don't like being compared to other people, do you?" Higo mentioned, glancing at Tokida.
"Here it comes." Iwahara interrupted, "The counter-attack that starts with Kagamiya as the fulcrum."
Rio's head turned left.
Number eight has his eye on Kawahara, and number two- their right center-back's staying close behind him. Seven's on Nakajima, and four's marking Kimura. Rio thought to himself.
Then right, I could pass to Hayashi, but number three and number three would close in on them. Nakajima might be the best choice; number seven that's on him is still moving at speed, so passing against the direction he's going would throw him off. Here it comes, Nakaji—
A blur came by. It first zipped in-between two Raihishō midfielders, before decelerating in front of Rio, slightly to his left.
Ohma Shidou was now opposing Gintaka Middle School's captain.
"Wow, that number nine on Raihishō is fast getting back." Higo remarked, "Isn't he a forward?"
"That's some good support." Iwahara commented, "Now that number nine is pressing that side, Rio's options on his left are drastically narrowed. It also gives their right winger the chance to slow down so that he doesn't get caught with a pass."
Rio's foot hesitated over the ball.
"Ohma Shidou." Rio muttered under his breath. The forward had himself planted in Rio's passing lane as planned. Not close enough to tackle, but close enough to collapse various options for Rio instantly.
"Bring it!" Ohma exclaimed. Rio's eyes narrowed.
The lummox made it back already? All the way from the front line? Rio thought, It's not like this oaf was smart enough to read it. Was he just anticipating that the ball would come to me?
Rio subtly shifted the ball to his right foot, managing to bait Ohma into overcommitting. Ohma's outstretched leg meant that Rio could tap the ball between it and the other.
With a perfect drive, Rio was now free to make a pass that would split the defence. Just as he was about to make contact with the ball, Ohma produced himself before Rio again as if reviving from that earlier fail.
From the stands, Higo let out a low whistle. "Yeah, that is not normal for a striker."
"That acceleration and explosiveness is crazy," Tokida added, though trying to sound indifferent. "Most forwards don't even bother tracking back that hard unless they're total workhorses. Let alone a striker."
"Not only is he tracking back, but he's completely trying to challenge and halt the attack progressing from the midfield." Higo said, "Most forwards'd just let the midfielders and defense handle the attack after being passed like that."
"Though that kid is nothing like a workhorse." Iwahara interrupted again, "He's reflexively anticipating Kagamiya's movements and responding using his outstanding physical abilities. He took away the pass to number seven and the inside cut. But he's got no clue of the damage that double-edged support defense is doing. Now that there are more defenders focused on that side, that number eight for Gintaka is weakly marked."
Ohma exhaled and then glared at Rio with intensity.
"No pass is going through, mark my words!" He exclaimed.
"You lummox." Rio hissed, "You're still not good enough."
He drew Ohma to the side closer to Tanaka with a slow ball roll, before snapping a pass with his open, stronger right foot that travelled toward his left winger.
"Kimura!" Rio called out to his running teammate. The winger zipped through the open space he had and was making his run toward the edge of the box.
Raihishō's number three tried desperately to close in on him once the ball got close to Kimura, but was quite easily nutmegged by his first touch.
"Dammit. Komatsu, cover!" Three exclaimed whilst getting up in recovery after losing his balance.
The called out left center-back came in to shave Kimura's course, but he was a beat too slow. Kimura executed a smooth La Croqueta to clear himself of his mark.
The keeper readied himself for the shot, spreading his feet and throwing his arms out in preparation. The ball came at him. No- it curved away from him. It was heading toward the top left corner, but this was no pushover of a keeper.
He took one step, then exploded off of his left foot to dive to his right, managing to get a palm on the ball to redirect it back outside of the penalty area's right side.
"Nice save, Moriyama-san!" Komatsu exclaimed, before redirecting his yells to number three, "Clear it, Niwa!"
"Roger!" Niwa called back, running towards the ball to control it. What he didn't notice was that Gintaka's number ten was already running for the ball too.
Komatsu didn't have enough time to yell 'Man on!' before Niwa felt a light palm on his chest that stopped him from moving any further. When he looked up, all he could see was the purple 10 on the back of a black shirt.
Rio controlled the ball perfectly, letting it rest under his foot, before cutting to the outside so that he could make his way to the flank.
"Defenders! Mark a man!" Ohma exclaimed, "A cross is comin'!"
Rio was a lot faster than Niwa who was still chasing after him, which gave him a wide bit of space for a cross.
Niwa trailed behind, throwing himself into a futile slide tackle. Rio pulled the ball back, then accelerated further outside. Immediately, Rio made a nasty and tight medium-height cross that bypassed Komatsu's forehead and reached the space of Nakajima, who might as well have been left open with number two's weak marking.
Ohma chased after the number nine, shooting out a desperate hand in an attempt to stop him from connecting to the ball, but it was already too late.
Nakajima reeled his foot back to charge an awesome volley which rose over Moriyama's outstretched hand and spun into the net.
GOAL!
Moriyama's footing was off, and he was a beat too late to the ball. He'd been left flat on the ground, wallowing in his mistake.
The net quivered; the ball dropped onto the grass and rolled right back outside of the goal line. Gintaka's cheer squad erupted, beating their drums and slamming their horns against each other.
Kimura hopped off of his feet and ran to Nakajima, leaping onto his back in celebration. "Hee-y!" He exclaimed, "What a shot, Najima!"
"Hey now, you're smothering me." Nakajima said, patting the back of Kimura's hand.
"Oh, wow," Higo marveled, "That was amazing."
"You said it." Iwahara added. "Kagamiya is great at creating chances for his team, and his team is great at converting his chances. It's a system that works around him and his passes."
Higo guffawed, "A system? You'd fit right in, huh?" He commented.
"Dunno what you mean." Iwahara said, looking away to avoid Higo's implications.
"How telling." Tokida quipped, despite having an unimpressed expression.
"Rio Kagamiya is something of a complete midfielder," Higo began, "He's got an amazing touch, impeccable control, sharp vision. And to top it off, his passes are so precise and well-thought-out. And he makes them without a second of delay."
"I bet you're thinking, 'I wish he'd come to our school next year', right?" Tokida remarked.
"I have to say, I think it would be splendid if he came to our school." Iwahara testified.
"'Splendid'? Man, you seniors are something." Tokida scoffed.
Are you serious? Ohma yelled to himself, his jaw clenched. His breath caught in his chest as he made eye contact with Rio across the field.
"This pipsqueak is bad news," Ohma muttered. He could feel the pressure weighing on him. However, it wasn't cracking him. It was only all the more reason for Ohma's desire for revenge to grow.
But this was Rio Kagamiya. Number ten. Gintaka Middle School's perfect midfielder. Calm and precise— and for now, utterly untouchable.