The Second First

It was a quiet morning for Sho as he sat down at his desk writing down his goals. He folded up the small piece of paper and put it into the drawer. He got into a matching black t-shirt and shorts and was quickly interrupted by Yoruichi as she said

Yoruichi: "Sho breakfast is ready"

Getting out of his chair, he went to eat his food. Yoruichi made omelets and a vegetable smoothie. As Sho sat himself at the table, he heard his phone beep and noticed he had gotten a message, he took his phone out of his pocket, opened it, and read out a message he got from Bachira.

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Bachira: "Could you come over in about a hour"

Sho: "Yeah sure, I'll be there as soon as I finish my breakfast with my family."

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Sho finished with his nutritional breakfast and made his way out of the ryokan. He lightly jogged until he reached Bachira's house.

He knocked on Bachira's door and politely waited for him to open it. He was greeted with Bachira's mom pointing towards the kitchen and said

Bachira's mom: "Bachira's in the kitchen getting a bagel."

Sho helped himself in and walked to the kitchen as Bachira's mom closed the door and went into the living room to finish her painting. As Sho was walking to the kitchen, Bachira walked out of the kitchen with a bagel in his mouth and went to high five Sho. Before their hands met, Bachira karate chopped his head. With a mischievous grin Bachira took the bagel out of his mouth and said

Bachira: "Let's talk in my room, I've got some questions for you."

Bachira opened and closed the door for Sho as they both sat on the floor of his room. In between them was a small tv, broadcasting a professional football match.

Bachira: "We haven't talked about it but I wanted to ask if you were gonna be going to the local middle school?"

Sho closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He handed the invitation he got to Shizuoka Gakuen Junior High School to Bachira and waited for what he had to say. Bachira took Sho's hand and surprisingly said

Bachira: "Holy cow, you got an invitation to that school. I'm happy for you, If I were in your shoes I'd take this opportunity and have some fun."

Sho was grateful to hear this, he should have known better than to think Bachira would get angry at him. Sho smiled and said

Sho: "I was expecting you to get a little angry but we can still play together during the weekends. It sucks that we're both 12 and can't be a part of Suruga F.C..

Bachira: "Oh right I totally forgot that Suruga F.C. was for ages 12 and under. I always wondered why Ryuuji left when he entered middle school."

Both Bachira and Sho cleared their heads and settled their differences, spending the rest of the day watching football games, and practicing new football moves.

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TIMESKIP (2 WEEKS)

'Another first day of school huh'

Sho thought as he awoke. Putting on his white collared shirt, with a dark blue tie, a dark blue blazer and long dark blue trousers that went around his ankles. He crossed off the first Friday of school off the calendar.

Sho loosened up the tie and made his way to Yoruichi's room to wake her up. He walked down the hallway to her door and gently knocked on her door twice and said

Sho: "I'm gonna head out, the schools a 30 minute bike ride from here so I'm gonna take Yushiro's bicycle.

Sho heard an alright through the door and went on his way out of the ryokan, not before grabbing a sandwich from the fridge, his backpack filled with school supplies, his duffle bag filled with football essentials like shin guards, cleats, extra shirts and shorts, and of course a ball.

Grabbing the handles of the bike he carted it off onto the street, Sho got on Yushiro's bike and rode it towards Shizuoka Gakuen Junior High School

On his way to the school, Sho silently admired the sakura petals and cool spring breeze.

Sakura petals littered the ground as Sho put his bike into the bike rack and made his way through the crowd of people to the school board. He almost immediately found his name under class 1-E and made his way out of the crowd to the front of the school. He saw an older lady and kindly asked

Sho: "Do you know where room 1-E is?"

The old lady pointed him towards one of the many hallways in the school and said

Old Lady: "Your class should be on the right."

Sho said his thanks to the old lady and made his way into the class and promised himself to set a good example and not sleep through it.

After his long day he silently thought

Sho: 'I stayed up for all my classes and set a good first impression with all of my teachers and classmates.'

Sho stayed after school, to clean up the classroom and go to his first day of football practice. He went straight to the locker room he remembers from when he got the tour. Sho could hear a loud commotion going on through the door and quietly opened it. Almost as soon as he opened it, everyone went quiet.

All eyes were on Sho as he opened the door to the locker room. Every player looked right into Sho's heterochromatic eyes and waited for him to talk.

Sho: "Oh sorry am I not supposed to be here, I wanted to change for the tryouts today."

People began murmuring before an average sized player with blond medium long hair, and golden eyes walked up to Sho and put his hands on Sho's shoulders and said

???: "Newbies go out to the field and wait there for the tryouts. This locker room is only for 1st and 2nd string players.

The average sized blond began guiding Sho out of the locker room and inaudibly whispered something into Sho's ears before closing the door on his face.

Sho made his way out of the hallway into one of the main fields and thought to himself.

Sho 'I wonder how long you'll last under the pressure before you kneel beneath it.'

He switched his pair of shoes out for cleats and made his way over to a group of people in a line shoulder to shoulder listening to what Coach Kataoka had to say.

Coach Kataoka: "So I want all of you to go over to the end of the field and start running laps around the pitch.

Everyone began walking to the end of the field before Coach Kataoka interrupted them and said

Coach: "Sho where do you think you're going, come over here."

Sho slowly walked out of the sea of people and approached Coach Kataoka. The rest of the players began talking to each other and set their eyes on Sho as he began talking to the coach.

Sho: "Am I in trouble coach?"

Coach Kataoka: "No but I want you to sit out of today's practice and get to know your teammates.

Coach Kataoka: "You're already a part of the team, you're gonna be starting in the 1st string. I'm gonna start you against Akikawa Chugakko on Monday. I'm gonna send over some film on Akikawa Chugakko, so spend the weekend studying your opponents and preparing for the game.

Sho: "Alright but what am I supposed to do today coach?"

Coach Kataoka: "Like I said earlier, I want you to go to the locker room I showed you a few weeks ago and introduce yourself to your new teammates."

Sho walked off the pitch with a distraught look on his face and made his way into the school. He met the end of the hallway as it split to the left and right. Sho knew the locker room was down the hall to the left but decided not to bother with them and went the opposite way right out of the school.

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means someone is reading a text, reading a newspaper etc.

Next chapter: Otou-san's Hofuku (Father's Retribution)