A True Striker

Nakahara was taken by surprise.

He did not expect Aoi's quick response.

He thought Aoi would hesitate and think deeply before replying.

However, it appeared Aoi was too egoist to even think about it for seconds.

'He won't miss, he says. It was not even an option. Such extreme egoist thinking.'

Yet, if he pondered about it deeply, a true striker would not indeed hesitate.

What if he passed it, and his teammate actually missed it?

Would he not regret passing it?

He would be questioning his confidence afterward, retrospecting why he passed it instead of kicking the ball to score a goal.

He was a striker -- it was his role.

Any striker would be left devastated by such thinking, arousing skepticism that would affect his performance in the future.

He might even quit football entirely for the sake of his mental health.

Somehow, Nakahara was convinced by Aoi's response.

He stared at Aoi and pondered deeply.

'He indeed has the qualities to become a striker. Well, we will see.'

Nakahara nodded, reaching a conclusion on how to deal with Aoi.

He said, "We will see if you still have that mindset once you play on the football field. However, before you do so, to prevent any injury, you must have a warm-up first."

He smiled.

His smile was genuine, evident by his eyes and the smile itself, but Aoi shuddered when he saw it.

He thought to himself, 'I forgot Nakahara Sensei was known as a Smiling Demon. Once he smiles like this, it will leave any students who gain his wrath crippled.'

It was an exaggeration, but Aoi meant to say that the students received excessive muscle pain – to the point moving their muscles would make them scream, thus resulting in them taking an absence.

Nakahara Sensei had been reported because of this incident once, and all he replied was the student lacked any engagement in any physical activities.

Even so, he had been warned by the principal not to do it again.

Regardless, that incident resulted in him bestowing the title of the Smiling Demon.

No one wanted to mess with him, not even Aoi…

However, he had no choice but to receive his punishment in exchange for entering the football club.

Hence, Aoi stood on his ground, waiting for Nakahara Sensei to cripple him.

"Run around the football field and do fifteen push-ups and curls up without stopping. If you achieve that, I will sub you in. "

Aoi gulped.

As expected, he was not wrong.

It would not have been exaggerated to claim the Smiling Demon was not elevating the punishment.

After all, he had to play, so crippling him would not do anything good to him.

However, it was still brutal for him to perform fifteen push-ups and curl-ups without stopping.

His limit was ten, further would need seconds of rest before he could continue.

For sure, tomorrow would be Pain Day for him.

He had no choice but to nod his head and stare at the football field.

He ignored the players, focusing on his peripheral vision that covered the whole football field.

If he was not wrong, the football field was a hundred meters long and sixty meters wide.

Jogging around it would burn his lungs.

He asked, "Jogging without stopping, right?"

"You're right."

He glanced at the Smiling Demon, continuing to have a wide grin on his face, and he gritted his teeth.

He quickly got into it, jumping jacks for ten reps at first.

Nakahara saw Aoi was into it, readying himself as he glanced at his school shoes.

He asked Aoi, "Do you have cleats?"

Aoi halted his jumping jacks, faced Nakahara Sensei, and asked, "Do you?"

Nakahara widened his eyes and guffawed.

The players on the football field were concentrating on the ball when they suddenly stopped, hearing the excessive laughter of Nakahara, and stared at him in surprise.

It was the first time for them to see Nakahara in the hoot of laughter.

However, Oka, who had been dribbling, continued and took the chance to bypass the defender.

They continued their game.

Meanwhile, Nakahara's laughter gradually loosened, wiping the tears crawling on his right eyelids as he said, "You will have to borrow cleats from the player I will sub out."

This time, Aoi hesitated.

It was the first time Nakahara saw Aoi shilly-shally. After all, Aoi would not mind everything that was thrown at him, or he heard Aoi exploding in fury if he was tested.

'This brat had always been quiet, stubborn, adamant… and yet, he was hesitating to accept my suggestion to offer him free cleats.

"What are you thinking?" He asked curiously.

Aoi stared at him, tilting his head earlier as he was hesitating.

His pupils moved on the right side, replying, "I feel like… the cleat would be filthy. After all, it would be filled with sweat."

Nakahara was taken aback, and then veins protruded on his forehead.

His face flushed in fury.

He berated Aoi, "You brat! You still have the choice to be nitpicky. If you don't want it, then don't bother playing!"

Nakahara moved forward, about to slap Aoi's back, when the latter suddenly rushed off.

He watched Aoi jogging at the side of the football field, about to achieve his challenge of warming up.

Time passed by, and he glanced at the field, where Oka scored a goal and sighed.

He was drained, completely exhausted from dealing with Aoi.

He stared at Aoi jogging once again, his eyebrows furrowed.

He was pondering something… he had a hunch about Aoi.

He felt like…

'I hope I am not wrong.'

This time, he was seeing Aoi in a different light.

He was already delighted if Aoi suddenly had an interest in doing physical abilities, but he would be even more if his intuition was right.

He tilted his head upward, watching the cloud in the sky, moving slowly, often covering the football field from the heat.

He closed his eyes, dreaming something, and opened them again.

He lowered his head and raised the paper glued on a solid folder as he took out a ballpen.

He pushed the top with his thumb and wrote below.

He wrote Aoi's name and his possible role.

"Possible position: Striker.

Overall Rating: To be Determined."