When Did This Guy Learn How To Play Football?

Kaga was in disbelief. He watched the goal being played earlier, focusing only on what Aoi was trying to achieve.

After Aoi deceived the defender and managed to get past him, he scorned Aoi's despicable tricks.

He saw Aoi's mouth move, setting his gaze at Oka, conquering the bald player with the scissor dribbling technique, seemingly wanting to distract his defender, and succeeding.

Obviously, the defender did not believe him, but due to his curiosity and how Aoi made it appear believable, he turned his head and was stunned to see Oka running ahead of his dependable teammates.

He also lost Aoi for a second.

Of course, it did not take long until he managed to catch up to him.

Kaga could clearly see how Aoi was making erratic movements after he saw Oka being choked by the goalkeeper and the bald player.

Furthermore, the fair battle was broken by the appearance of the midfielder.

Kaga could recognize the midfielder; he was a senior, after all, and they played together last year, too.

He was also a dependable midfielder, even becoming one of the starting players on the team.

He was a right midfielder who supported both defense and attack.

He was versatile.

With his appearance in the battle earlier, the battlefield took a drastic change.

It would be difficult to grasp if they could score or not - either the right midfielder would be able to steal the ball, or Oka managed to press the bald player and score the goal, or the bald player and the goalkeeper completely managed to kick the ball away from their side.

However, as Aoi was making erratic movements, sometimes dashing to the right and then left, he suddenly seemed to have concluded when he saw the right midfielder appearing, running behind his back.

Kaga ruminated, recalling the purpose of Aoi's erratic movements, and finally fit the puzzle.

Aoi was trying to shake the defender away while he was looking for the chance to steal the ball.

Furthermore, he made sure that the bald player's line of vision was completely covered by the midfielder, completely neglecting his presence.

He glanced at Aoi, still standing while he was about to be hugged on all fours by the screaming and running Oka, and grunted.

'When did this guy learn how to play football?'

***

Nakahara kept a poker face, but inwardly, he was shaken.

He had been observing Aoi from the start, albeit was distracted and astonished by Oka performing a successful scissors.

The usual dribbling technique Oka had mastered last year was the Elastico, or what others called Flip-Flop.

It was a quick movement where the player pushed the ball with the outside of the foot and then immediately pulled it back with the inside of the same foot.

It was very useful in shaking the defender, who thought Oka would advance on the left side but then pull it back to the right side, passing them without effort.

However, the bald player had gotten to that move, and in whatever direction Oka wanted to deceive him, he was unshakeable.

As a result, Oka was forced to utilize other dribbling techniques, such as the Step-Over, where the player steps over the ball, faking direction to throw off the defender, and the Cruyff Turn, feinting a kick but instead dragging the ball behind the standing leg and turning away from the defender.

He was successful at passing the bald player at first, scoring a goal even, until the bald player managed to stand in front of Oka like an immovable mountain again.

Nakahara was very satisfied to discover such a player in his first year entering their club, even crowning him the title of "Immovable Mountain" in his mind.

However, Oka actually managed to learn scissors – although it might demand a laborious practice to master it, the fact that he was successful on his first try, the first it was shown, at least, was a satisfactory improvement.

However, there was Aoi… the erratic, or what he must have called, Enigmatic Aoi…

He had an idea or two about Aoi's intention before he scored the goal, but even then, it was baffling.

After all, he was on the further left side, expecting the pass, but when he perceived Oka would lose the ball or score, he retreated, not until the midfielder entered the fray and followed him behind.

He discerned Aoi intentionally disappeared from the bald player's line of vision due to the midfielder blocking his presence.

However, how would he know the midfielder could successfully press the bald player into a defensive position?

How could he know that the free defender - the player restraining him earlier - would not be able to send the message, or failed, at least, to the bald player and was confident he could obstruct the ball in the specific place and time?

Now that he recalled…

The most bugging question was…

How did Aoi even know when the ball would come, how, where?

And what could be the origin of his confidence?

Nakahara stared at Aoi, who was being embraced on all fours by Oka, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Aoi was nonchalant, patting Oka's back, while his emotion remained ambiguous.

Same with Nakahara, who kept a straight face; his mind was filled with endless questions.

'When did this guy learn how to play football?'

"When did your boyfriend learn how to play football?" shouted a feminine voice on his right side.

Annoyed by their clamor, he turned his head and saw a group of girls asking and teasing a short-haired, pretty girl, bashfully lowering her head.

He recognized the girl and processed the question he heard…

He was dumbfounded.

'Izumi and Aoi are now in a relationship? I mean, I do have an inkling that Izumi had feelings for Aoi, but that guy…'

He focused on Aoi again, and, as always, even after scoring a goal, his face remained ambiguous, no hint of joy could be sensed from it.

'That guy is always nonchalant, though. How? Did Izumi share fake news?'

He shook his head, inhaled, and exhaled.

'This guy is an enigma… My first wonder has not been answered yet.

When did this guy learn how to play football?'