24th March 2025
It was very silent. Bar Ren's panting in his nets. The wind whooses past.
"DAMMIT!!!" Ren screams "I WAS SO CLOSE!!!"
Kisaki just watches as Ren punches the ground in anger.
"Your name's Ren... Right?"
"Yeah..."
"Ren, that was the most fun game I've ever had! Thank you!"
Ren is shocked at this reaction.
"Tch. Whatever... I'll beat you next time..."
"KISAKIIII-KUNNN!!!!"
A man shouts, they both look at the source to see Kisaki's bus that he missed. "I'll be training for next time, Ren.
Goodbye."
Ren doesn't say goodbye back, and Kisaki walks off.
'Walk off... I won't say goodbye until I've beaten you! Yorunobu Kisaki!'
25th March 2025
Ren walk into school, his mind replaying the 1v1 the day prior.
'I hate this school...' He thinks.
Ren only has one real friend, who's waiting for him at the gates, Nobu Kawahara.
"Nobu!" Ren shouts.
"Oh, Ren!" Nobu shouts back.
Ren walks up beside him,
"We can't lose like that again, Nobu..."
Nobu stays silent. "Think I don't know that, dumbass?"
"Yorunobu Kisaki came to my house yesterday"
"WHAAAAAAAAT!?" Nobu screams, drawing the gazes of some bystanders. "WHAT HAPPENED!?"
"I 1v1'd him... First to five goals."
"You probably lost 5-0, Kisaki is a bea-"
"5-4, I lost 5-4"
Nobu is speechless, "Are you... A God!?"
Ren chuckles.
"No seriously! He just scored 9 goals singlehandedly on our whole team of 11, so of course I'm shocked that you lost only 5-4!"
"Well it started off pretty bad for me, I was 3-0 down in a couple of minutes... But I started being able to analyse his movements easier... And I just got better and better to the point I'd say we were nearly equal..." Ren says, the match still playing in his head.
"Oh my God... We have to tell Coach Suganuma!"
"What? We have Engli-" Nobu picks up Ren and starts carrying him, "I can walk!!! I CAN WALK!!!!"
...
Nobu drops him in front of Coach Suganuma. "What do YOU want?" He asks.
Ren rubs his head, before standing up. "I lost to Yorunobu Kisaki in a 1v1 5-4."
The Coach is shocked, "You did this!? The only one who could do something like that is Sakamoto!"
"Sir I did this..." Ren corrects him.
"You're lying... SAKAMOTO!"
Itoshi Sakamoto, the Left Winger walks out of the Coaches office, he has bags under his eyes, with a dazed look.
"Sakamoto, I need you to play a 1v1 with Takashi!"
Itoshi looks at Ren and Nobu and his face lights up, "Oh sure, coach! I can do that!"
...
The ball sits on the kickoff line.
"You go first Itoshi" Ren offers.
"Okay! You're going to regret this!" Itoshi jokes. The Left-Winger starts dribbling the ball.
'So sluggish... How far ahead is Kisaki from the rest of Japan. Since it's first to three goals I should have this over in five minutes.'
Ren sticks his foot out and grabs the ball. "How'd you?"
"Knuckle!"
The ball flies from the halfway line, and switches direction and slams into the top right corner.
1-0
Coach Suganuma and Nobu are speechless.
'Look, coach! This is the new Ren!'
"That's a great goal Ren!" Itoshi compliments as he kicks it off kickoff.
He plays with the ball with his feet.
'Whoa! His dribbling's not as sluggish...'
Ren tries to take it, but Itoshi cuts it to the right and starts running towards the net.
'Muscles go!'
But he can't run as fast as yesterday.
'Dammit, I ran too fast, too much! I'll have to take things slower.'
Itoshi slots it into the bottom right corner.
1-1
Ren starts dribbling with the ball.
Itoshi is sloppy with his foot work to keep up.
'Too easy!'
Ren beats him,
"Knuck-"
Itoshi jumps up and blocks the shot.
'No way... How fast is this guy adapting to me?!'
Ren gets the ball again, and starts dribbling it. But Itoshi's footwork is amazing.
'I can't get past him!'
Itoshi gets the ball off of Ren.
"Knuckle!"
Itoshi shoots Ren's knuckle ball into the net.
'This guy... Is copying me almost perfectly!'
2-1
'Dammit! I'll have to evolve again!'