The good news is.

"Hey mom, I hope all of you guys are fine and doing okay. Randy, Andreas and dad too. Tell them I said hi, but that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to tell you about how I keep making bad choices." Anthony dribbled passed Byron and shot into the goal.

A little 20-minute scrimmage between both the A and B teams representatives, a little scrimmage that's all it was and that's all they said it would be. So what the hell are these scores?

"And that makes 26." Joseph sighed. "Somehow I thought this would be more entertaining, Paul sure has a lot on his hands.

"I wonder who said this would be a good idea," Xavier said panting.

"It does help though." Byron wiped his sweat.

"Help build more stamina and increase my tolerance for shame, maybe it is doing that."

"See, you get it."

They played on half the pitch with the B team using the post as their goal and the A team using the entire middle line. The A team was getting ready to play in the Red Base under 21 league and Andrew, Johannes and Gilbert were the three players that didn't make the team selection.

The league was being played in Oklahoma and although Joseph had made his first eleven and six subs he still needed to know what reserve players to take with him, Hence why he proposed the match. That and he wanted to see how much Byron had improved, was he improving as a midfielder or as a striker? he already knew the answer but nothing beats seeing it for yourself.

"Let's get one." Xavier shot the ball into the air, hoping to get a direct shot that passed the middle line but Gilbert jumped and got the ball, ultimately retaining their clean sheet. "Johannes." Gilbert passed to Johannes who was being marked by Byron but immediately the ball reached Johannes, he opened his legs and it passed right through, landing at the feet of Andrew.

"27." Andrew shot the ball and it slammed right into the top corner of the post. If the B team were going to get a goal before time up they needed to put what they observed into consideration and that was what Byron had been doing since the match started.

"Notice how Gilbert doesn't move around too much, trying to enter passing lanes and such. That's because he's a goalie. Johannes is a defender although he plays like a midfielder, the way he tackles and passes are dead giveaways and we all know Andrew is their midfielder." Byron explained to the makeshift team.

"I see, so what do we do with that information?" Xavier asked Byron.

"We score, using their weaknesses to our advantage."

Xavier passed the ball to Byron and he took the ball forward, the first obstacle was Andrew and there was only one way to stop midfielders and that was by passing. Byron passed the ball to Max and immediately Andrew turned his gaze, Max passed the ball back. Successfully completing the 1-2 pass he had been practicing with Nagisa for a while.

Byron was still with the ball and Andrew chased him from behind, Xavier also came up to help the attack because there was no need for him to defend when they were 27 down. The second obstacle was Johannes who wouldn't fall to a simple 1-2 sequence pass so they had to try something more audacious, something that could be completed 1 out of four times. Byron tapped the ball up and kicked it backward, he looked behind to see if Andrew was close to him and that was all he needed to get an image of where Xavier would be.

"You've really gotten better at these blind passes and shots, how did you place it so perfectly even though I moved? Well, none of that matters." Xavier hit a deep low pass to Max who was being defended by Gilbert.

Max saw it from the corner of his eye, the one place the ball needed to be. He crossed it over to the space in front of Byron and the striker dashed at the ball and set himself up for a volley and again Joseph was right.

He wasted too much time planning his run and waiting for Max to pass that he was read by Johannes who already ran in front of him. The ball was already going to the defender and he would clear the ball back to Andrew but their attack wasn't over yet.

Byron knew the exact positions of everyone on the pitch and even though he didn't look back, he could visualize off the last image one of the three paths Xavier had taken and the one he decided to believe was the one that said Xavier had come up a little closer. Maybe in this situation, Max would've dived and scored without thinking but he wasn't Max.

"It's not ending here." Byron stretched his leg out and kicked the ball backward, it wasn't deliberate so it wasn't the most accurate pass but it was good enough.

It wasn't perfect but it wasn't off to the left or right, it was a move made in a haste but it still felt like it was aimed at him. Despite Byron not knowing where he was the pass landed in front of him. "Sometimes I wonder how much you see." Xavier smiled as he volleyed the ball passed the middle line.

They didn't win the match by a long shot but they were proud of themselves, if they could keep up the level of play they exhibited at the end they would surely evolve.

"Now, the good news is. We scored a goal," Byron said panting while his back rested on the grass.

"And the bad news is... There's no way we're going to training today." Xavier splashed water on his face.

"Which means double training from Cory tomorrow." Max cried out.

"If only someone said to not do this."

"It was fun though." Byron smiled.

"That I won't deny." Xavier smiled as well.

27-1 the scores between the A team and B team 3 on 3 scrimmage, Joseph watched them as they smiled on the pitch but all he could focus on was Byron. He had finally developed his vision and could now visualize where the players might go even when he wasn't looking at them. The boy is rapidly improving and maybe it is time to switch his position.

"Fascinating."

*************************************

"Hey, mom." Byron would've wanted to give them the news in person but they lived in Kansas. Marion was too far away from his home town and he couldn't afford to go back.

"Hey sweetie, how was it? Anything go wrong?" His mom asked.

"No mom. Everything's all right. I got in."

"Oh thank you, Jesus!" She screamed and he could hear Andreas as well as Randy screaming as well.

"We're here baby, just know that. Any time you want to call we are here for you."

"Yes, mom." Byron answered almost tearing up.

"Talk to you tomorrow sweetie it's already late, you should get some shut-eye."

"I will."

"Love you."

"Love you more." Byron hung up and went outside with his ball.

Byron kicked the ball against the wall and thought to himself, he wasn't considering it very heavily but there was a thought in the back of his head that told him to quit Marion but after hearing the voice of his family excited at the news there was no way he was going to pull out.

"I will see this out to the end." He kicked the ball against the wall and as it returned he heard Nagisa call out his name.