“In at the edge of the box about to shoot and Masaru threaded the ball through to Akio, who made a run behind while our defenders charged out, instead of shooting it himself. Akio didn’t need much of an invitation as he shot it first time before our goalkeeper could close him down and he made it look easy, because Akio had turned to the corner before the ball crossed the line” Haru said, the storytelling energy draining out of him all at once and if one looked closely, they would notice the glass like sheen in his eyes.
Nobody spoke for a moment.
The noise from the Rec rose again somewhere in the distance a whistle cutting through it, followed by the specific rising shout of a crowd reacting to something none of them at the futsal court could actually see.
Ken leaned back against the wall that was still warm from the earlier sun.
He rested the back of his head against it and looked at Haru with the steady expression it before asking “So that was it?”
“Yeah, that was it.”
“It was a close one, you guys almost won”
“Almost doesn’t count,” Haru said, and Ken shook his head before patting the younger boy as sign of consolation.
Rui stayed quiet a moment longer, gaze fixed somewhere past the edge of the court, he’d listened to Haru without once interrupting and was thinking how the game would end if they faced Gold.
The futsal court had become quieter than it had been when they first arrived, with the noise from the Rec carrying over the surrounding buildings in uneven waves that rose whenever something happened on the field and faded again whenever the game settled into another stretch of play.
Rui remained near the edge of the court with the others, resting more than he was watching, while the Green players finished eating around him, and Haru had said little after explaining how Gold had scored their two goals because there was not much left to say about a game they had already lost when the tournament itself was already moving beyond it. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
Eventually, one of the Red players, Renta, picked up the ball and dropped it onto the futsal surface and letting it bounce once before cushioning it beneath his sole.
Another player stepped toward him, and the ball began moving between them again, first with simple passes and then with the small touches and changes of direction that came naturally whenever footballers were given a ball and enough space to play with it.
One player received with his back half-turned, taking the ball across himself before sending it toward the next teammate, then the next and another who juggled the ball before releasing a high pass, forcing the receiver to adjust his chest and let the ball land on his chest and moved it on.
There was nothing competitive about it anymore, but their bodies had not forgotten the game, and once their legs had recovered enough from the match, sitting completely still had somehow become harder than moving.
Haru eventually joined them, and although his first touch was slightly heavier than he intended and sent the ball toward the edge of the court, he chased it down before it could reach the wall and returned it with the inside of his foot.
The next pass arrived at an awkward height, so he lifted his right foot beneath it and cushioned the ball onto the concrete before using his second touch to send it back into the circle, receiving a teasing comment from Shun about nearly losing the ball and answering with a grin before continuing passing the ball around.
Rui watched them for a while, as his attention drifted between the moving ball and the sounds coming from the Rec.
The crowd noise rose and fell in longer waves now and a long whistle carried across the buildings and caused several of the Green players to slow almost simultaneously, as though the sound itself had reached them and asked for a pause.
Before the passing continued for another few minutes before one of them stopped the ball beneath his foot and looked toward the entrance of the court, and when another announcement followed from the direction of the field, the words were clearer this time. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“Purple and Yellow, get ready!”
The announcement immediately explained why the crowd had become louder.
The final quarterfinal was about to begin.
Haru rolled the ball toward the nearest player and wiped his hands against his shorts before reaching for his bag.
“That’s the last one, isn’t it?”
Rui was already getting to his feet.
“Yeah.”
There was no real discussion after that because nobody wanted to remain at the futsal court while the final quarterfinal was being played only a short distance away, the boys gathered up and made sure they did not leave rubbish scattered across the court, while the ball was left near the middle of the playing surface where their passing had ended.
Haru glanced back at the ball for a moment before following Rui and the others toward the Rec, and although he was still carrying the disappointment of the loss, there was something lighter in his step now that the game was behind him