One Year Later

"Yuuto, now!! Move up! Move up! The front is open! Go ahead of Miyazaki!"

- - -

Yuuto sprinted down the sideline, paying little attention to his sister in the bleachers. He had worked on his acceleration, and that effort was paying dividends. With surprising quickness, he made an overlapping run to the right of Miyazaki, who sent him a well-placed through pass.

- - -

"Okay. Nice. Alright! Looking good!"

- - -

Yuuto pushed the ball forward, keeping track of both the opposing #3 and Ryuu, who was vying for a good position in the box. Once he saw an opening, Yuuto sent a cross into the penalty box towards the Ooura East #9.

- - -

"RYU-CHAN! GOOOO!!"

- - -

Ryuu quickly created separation between himself and his defender and moved into position to receive the cross. He internally calculated the aerial pass's speed, spin, and path using his dynamic vision and precisely timed it with a venomous volley that threatened to tear apart the net.

- - -

"GOOOAAALLLL!!! Good job, everyone! Good work Yuuto, and Miyazaki!"

Yuki cheered in excitement as she watched Ryuu jog to the corner flag to celebrate with his teammates.

She sighed, thinking about how quickly a year had passed since Ooura Higashi's early exit from the district qualifiers. While parents and teachers have hounded them to focus on high school, she found it difficult to not worry about the team. The match they were currently playing was the tournament qualifying round for the district tournament, which would eventually lead to the Prince Takamodo cup and, finally, the National tournament.

Yuki watched with glee as Ryuu's athletic 182 cm frame strode towards the center line after the goal celebration. While his face remained just as youthful and handsome as before, his body had gone through incredible changes. There was definition and tonality that set the 15-year-old apart from his peers.

"Isn't the guy on the right amazing? And the side back and Ichijyou's combination is seriously crazy."

Hearing a bystander praise Ryuu made Yuki puff her rather large chest out in pride.

'Of course!'

"But that's about it from Ooura Higashi. The whole team is reliant on that three-man combination."

"Oi, oi. Ichijyou is damn near un-guardable. You have to, at the minimum, double-team him to hinder his play."

"Yeah, I can agree to that, but what about the #10 and the #6. Sure they're good, but they can be stopped. And that's without mentioning the rest of the team. Can a team like this really beat stronger opponents?"

As much as Yuki wanted to complain, she knew what they were saying was the truth. Ryuu had fully embraced the concept of a center forward. The teen had greatly sacrificed his playmaking and focused on scoring. Whether through dribble penetrations, one-touch goals, headers from set-pieces, or the occasional long-range shot, Ryuu was becoming a player that could threaten the goal from 30 yards in. Yet…

'It's still not enough. We don't have enough variation. Ryuu is carrying the entire offensive workload, but we don't have enough opportunities to connect to him.'

The Ryuu-fangirl watched as Miyazaki barely missed another threaded pass. She had seen how hard the boy had worked to improve, and while he was much better. The #10 lacked the sense and vision to make pinpoint passes.

"Oh. It's a sub. Ah! The first year. What's his name…."

Yuki's question was unintentionally answered by the group of boys sitting a few rows ahead of her that she was previously eavesdropping on.

"Hey, it's Moroboshi! Why did he go to Ooura Higashi? I was sure he would go to some junior youth."

'I see…so he's good. I wonder how he'll do in an actual match.'

- - -

"Moroboshi!"

The Ooura #10 happily greeted the underclassman but was ignored by the latter.

After Miyazaki received a pass, he noticed that Moroboshi was looking around and assumed that the younger boy was nervous.

'His nervousness won't go until he's handled the ball a little. I mean, it's his first game entering middle school.'

With that thought, Miyazaki sent the substitute a pass.

"Moroboshi!"

In the brief second, before the first year received the pass, he made eye contact with Ryuu. Ryuu's gaze gave nothing away, but his actions showed that he had long understood what the midfielder wanted to accomplish.

"It's the first year!"

As Moroboshi received the ball, the opposing defenders ran to pressure him. Ryuu also backtracked to open up a passing lane.

"Give it to Ichijyou!"

"No. 9 is coming! Cut in!"

However, instead of a direct pass, the gifted first year sent a no-look-through pass to Ryuu, who exquisitely matched the timing of the pass.

1-on-1 with the keeper and Ryuu casually made a chip shot and was already turning around before the ball inevitably entered the goal.

- - -

"That first year is good…A pass through the middle! With this, there are more scoring patterns."

'Maybe we can even make it to nationals.'

- - -

Moroboshi only allowed himself a quiet celebration despite watching the admittedly incredible #9 score.

'Alright.'

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.

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The game eventually ended as a 3-0 victory, with Ryuu scoring a hat-trick for Ooura Higashi.

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Ryuu lazily waved to the girls in his class as he left for club practice. He was greeted at the door by Miyazaki and Yuuto.

"Ryu-chan!"

"Ichijyou! Let's go to practice! Get fired up!"

"Ah. Yeah, let's go."

As they walked down the stairs, Ryuu firmly held onto the side rail as he walked down. The accident had left lingering trauma concerning stairs, and he found descending them challenging. At first, he tried to bulldoze his fear, but it backfired, so he decided to just work on it gradually.

"The city tournament is starting up," said Yuuto, walking alongside Ryuu.

"And a helpful freshman has joined us!"

"Moroboshi," intoned Ryuu in response to Miyazaki's comment.

"His passing sense is good. The through pass from yesterday's game was smart. He made eye contact with me right before receiving the pass and made it through by faking a pass."

"Eh? Seriously??"

"Yeah. Skillful or not, the fact that he made such a play on his first game… He's got serious potential…Hm? What's wrong?"

Ryuu paused while putting on his shoes as Miyazaki and Yuuto stared dazedly at him.

"Well…."

"You saying "potential" has a lot of weight."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Your standards are stringent, Ichijyou!"

"I have to agree to Miyazaki's statement, Ryu-chan."

"I guess…but even I still have much more to work on."

The trio headed outside to the soccer field to start practice.

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.

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"Moroboshi turned out to be quite troublesome."

"Really?"

Ryuu was still surprised that Yuuto had yet to get over that incident.

"It's not like he skips out on practice. I don't really mind."

"Then there won't be any standings between senpai and kouhai."

"Is that even necessary?"

"What!"

"Amongst players, we should all be in equal standings. And if we're going to make a hierarchy, shouldn't the better players have more say because, at the end of the day, it is a soccer club. So, in theory, since I've scored over 90% of our goals, should I be able to order everyone around?

"When you put it like that…but for clubs, it's different."

"How can you treat someone as an equal during a match if you don't treat them as such during practice?"

"Wait, wait, what happened?"

"Right, Yuki, you weren't there."

.

.

.

Moroboshi continued his stretches as he failed to notice a group of fellow first-years approach him.

"Dammit! Moroboshi! You come help too! Move the goal on the other side!"

Unperturbed, the skilled freshman continued his routine.

"Moroboshi! Are you listening?!"

"There are enough people, right? Just do it."

Infuriated by Moroboshi's lackadaisical attitude, the freshman that first approached shoved him just as Yuuto walked out onto the field.

"Moroboshi! Just because you're a bench member, don't be full of yourself!"

Moroboshi's expression slightly hardened, and he took a moment to respond while a different freshman tried to mediate the situation but failed.

"You know. I don't have time to be full of myself. Please, stop bothering me."

"WOW, THIS GUY! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!!"

"HEY, FIRST YEARS!"

"Ah, Oume-senpai! This guy never helps us in setting up the field!"

"Seriously?"

Yuuto took a moment to clear his throat as he adjusted his posture to be one of a stern senior's.

"Hm. Bringing out everything is the freshman's duty. So, let's do it properly, Moroboshi."

"Just let me do my own thing."

"Eh? What?"

"I don't want to mess up my routine work right before practice."

"Well… it's our club's rules."

"Who cares if it's just me."

Yuuto was shocked by how direct his junior was.

"Moroboshi! Damn you!!"

The group of freshmen that had initially come over was even more incensed now. However, the following argument was cut short when Miyazaki's voice called out to them.

"Hey! The other goal isn't out yet! What are you doing?!"

"Senpai! This guy…"

Miyazaki and Chihara stood and looked at Moroboshi reproachfully as the other first years voiced their grievances.

"Moroboshi! It's the rules! DO IT!"

"No."

"Huh?"

Even to Miyazaki, Moroboshi maintained his stance.

"I won't."

"Why you, if you do-"

"Yuuto, Miyazaki, Chihara! Hurry up and help me set up the goal!"

"Ichijyou! Make him do it!"

"These idiots…Stop wasting our precious time and help me set it up. We only have some much time for practice, and I don't want to squander it on a pointless argument."

The three couldn't help but agree. So, they quickly made their way to their ace to lift the goal.

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"He's definitely a character."

"Right. At least you agree with me, Yuki."

"But, like Ryu-chan said, does it matter?"

"Wait, you're agreeing with him?"

"What she means, Yuuto, is that worrying about the dynamics of people who have a maximum of a two-year age gap is a complete and utter waste of time. What gives someone who is older privileges? Respect should be given to everyone, but Moroboshi was far from disrespectful."

"Ha…I guess you're right, Ryu-chan. We should treat each other as equals, at least in the club. I don't know if the other second and third years would agree to that…."

"Who cares? If Moroboshi plays well, they'll be forced to swallow their complaints. Let's grab something from the convenience store before going home; I'm hungry."

Ryuu suddenly increased his pace.

"Wait, Ryu-chan!"

"Eh? Ah. Ryu-chan, Yuki, wait for me."

- - -

"Miki, this isn't good. You didn't even listen to Miyazaki-senpai…."

"…Yama-chan. Who's Miyazaki?"

"What!? You don't know!? The no.10!"

"Ah…No. 10."

"Even Oume-senpai…."

"…"

"The no. 6!"

"I know the face and the number, but I can't remember the names."

"You have no intention to remember?"

"It's not like that. Ichijyou Ryuu, no. 9."

"So, you remember Ichijyou-senpai!"

"He's good…good enough to have joined a youth team.…."

"Miki…You know it's not good to isolate everyone like a tengu."

"Yama-chan, there's no way I can be a tengu. The moment I couldn't make junior youth. My nose snapped off."

"But making everybody view you like that isn't good, you sho-"

"I only want to get better. Much, much better. And it's not everyone…."

Moroboshi felt a shiver remembering the play from yesterday's game. He had thought that he was the one with the best vision on the team, but from the way Ryuu moved, he knew that wasn't true. The #9 had already seen the opportunity and responded as if the play was rehearsed.

'At the very least, I have to reach Ichijyou's level."