11 Shinko Attou
TIMESKIP (5 YEARS)
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Shinko Haru Tournament Finals
The sun had sunken lower in the sky, leaving only a dark sky and a cool breeze.
A plump old journalist by the name of Tanzan Kaneshiro walked into the Fujieda Football Stadium. He was currently hanging up the phone with his friend that gave him a lead to go to this game.
Kaneshiro-san walked up to the turnstile and inserted his ticket next to it, allowing him to walk into the stadium. He steadily walked past the concession stands and into the main part of the stadium. Kaneshiro-san was thoroughly surprised to see almost half of the small arena filled with players that previously lost, and a handful of actual spectators. As he walked near the field he overhead a muscular kid in a football jersey with orange hair say
???: "Damn, we got demolished by Nagasaki Kunimi F.C. so I really can't see any other team beating them."
The announcer for this game, Toshifumi Takeshima cleared his throat, walked up to the microphone and told everyone in the stadium...
Announcer: "The match between Suruga F.C. versus Nagasaki Kunimi F.C for the 2013 Shinko Haru Championship will commence in 10 minutes."
Kaneshiro-san immediately got to his seat and began setting up his cameras and other equipment.
From under the floodlights players from both opposing teams began walking out and lining up shoulder to shoulder. Kaneshiro-san took pictures of each player as they walked out, and even noticed a few players from previous tournaments. Kaneshiro-san was mostly interested in the 2 kids that were about to leave the tunnel.
The first one was Meguru Bachira. He has a slim build, an oval-shaped face, bob cut hair style and bright yellow eyes. The last but certainly not least, the player he was mostly interested in was Sho Shihoin. He also has a slim build, and with short blood red hair that leaves a V-shaped fringe in between his deep heterochromatic eyes.
Sho saw the camera and pointed it out to Bachira. Sho ran his hand through his hair while giving the camera a harrowing grin and Bachira gave an easy-going smile.
Kaneshiro-san was quick with his fingers and took a quick snapshot of their faces. He distinctly remembers hearing about Sho and Bachira winning prefectural awards a year or 2 prior.
It became painfully obvious about halfway through the match that Nagasaki Kunimi F.C were fighting a losing match. They started to get so desperate that they fouled one of Suruga F.C.'s players
On the field, Sho ignored the chattering of his teammates about who should shoot the ball. He picked up the ball and made his way towards the penalty spot. On his way there Bachira came up to him and asked
Bachira: "Can I take the penalty kick?"
Sho: "Sure. I trust you can make it in from here. Just stay focused and calm your breathing and you'll be just fine."
The referee instructed everyone to go behind Bachira and wait for the penalty kick.
The only people left in the penalty box were Bachira and Nagasaki Kunimi F.C's goalkeeper, in between the goalposts.
Bachira followed Sho's advice and shut out all the chatter behind him. He placed the ball on the penalty marker and took a few steps back. Calming his breath he looked towards the referee and noticed that he was already in position and about to blow the whistle.
The referee blew the whistle, signaling for Bachira to take the penalty shot. Bachira slowly ran towards the ball before placing his left foot next to it and kicking the bottom of the ball with the heel of his right foot elevating it way past the goalkeeper's head into the top left of the goal.
Bachira turned around towards Sho with a crazed look in his eyes and celebrated his goal as it was going in.
Kaneshiro-san simply couldn't believe his eyes. They were playing at the high school level, and both of them were soon to be middle schoolers. He was so entranced with their plays that he forgot about the other 300 people watching this match.
Everyone in the arena couldn't yell. If someone was to walk in that arena all they would hear and see is a bunch of kids celebrating a victory over another team on the field and a bunch of overwhelmed adults and other football clubs staring at them in total silence.
Nagasaki Kunimi F.C crumbled to their feet. That final goal felt like a killing blow for all of Nagasaki Kunimi F.C.
The match ended with a score of 5:0 in Suruga F.C.'s favor.
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The following Saturday. March 15th 2013
The spring night moon bathed the Shihoin Ryokan in its cool light
In one of the many rooms of the Shihoin Ryokan, you'd see Sho celebrating his birthday with Yoruichi and Yushiro.
Sho took a seat at the head of the table and waited patiently for Yoruichi. The lights dimmed and out came Yoruichi singing 'Happy Birthday' with his cake in her hands.
Yoruichi and Yushiro: "Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Sho Happy Birthday to You, and Many More"
Yoruichi placed the cake in front of Sho and eagerly waited for him to make his wishes and blow out the candles.
Sho closed his eyes thinking about everything that has happened up until now. He thought
'I know everything happens for a reason, but sometimes I wish I knew what that reason was.'
Sho opened his eyes with newfound purpose and said
"I wish for health, happiness, and truth."
Everyone in the room had a pleased glint in their eyes as they started to talk about yesterday's game.
Sho stayed in his seat as both Yushiro and Yoruichi went into the kitchen to clean up the dishes and put the rest of the cake in the fridge. He arched his back against the chair and stretched his arms out. While in that motion from the corner of his eye he spotted a stack of dust littered magazines He grabbed a few and brought it with him to his room.
Sho was sitting on his futon and was haphazardly looking through the articles when the picture of his face made him pause in his movements
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SHIZUOKA'S OWN DARK HORSE
THIS CLUB HAS SOME PRETTY TALENTED KIDS
WILL THEY BE ABLE TO RISE FOR THE CHALLENGE OR WILL THEY FALL SHORT
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Sho fondly remembers the coach showing this to everyone and getting everyone riled up. He grinned to himself thinking about those memories and tossed the magazine to the side and went straight to a local magazine that talked about him
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SHIZUOKA'S OWN PRODIGY
SHO SHIHOIN [9] THIRD-YEAR STRIKER
WILL HE RISE ABOVE THE PRESSURE OF WILL HE KNEEL BEFORE IT
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Sho would probably say that this was his favorite magazine that wrote about him. It goes in-depth about all of the goals he's scored on previous opponents, and even some of the highlights. Sho continued to read about different articles ranging from good middle schools to foods athletes eat, until sleep overtook him.
