8 [8] Campus Tour (1)

"We have the state-of-the-art facilities..."

Sakura, the tour guide spoke eloquently with a smile as she led the visitors around the academy buildings.

And as she had just finished explaining the history and intricacies of the school, someone suddenly raised their arm within the group.

"Yes, darling?"

Sakura called out to Izumo who by the way was the one who had raised their hand.

"I heard this school happened to house one of the best soccer teams in Japan"

"That's right, darling. The Aoba Academy has been the reigning king in Kansai for 4 years"

Sakura explained with a proud smile as the group was in awe and listened in fascination.

Perhaps it was due to the reaction of the others that Sakura became immersed and blabbered nonstop about the excellence of the academy...

In short, she was just bragging.

'I should have just kept my mouth shut'

Izumo rolled his eyes since he only meant to ask that question out of boredom, he never expected her to get so into it.

And now, he had no choice but to force himself to listen and stand there, waiting for her to finish just to resume the tour.

'This is taking way too long'

Izumo concluded after seeing the woman hadn't stopped chatting for the past hour or so.

He wondered internally how she could keep up without feeling thirsty at all.

Does she admire this school that much?

'I'm... kinda impressed'

Izumo remarked, clearly feeling her passion for this school.

Unfortunately for her, he didn't plan to wait another hour for her to finish as he quietly and sneakily left the group.

As for Haruto, Izumo decided to leave him be since the boy was so engrossed in listening and didn't want to ruin his happiness.

'Have fun, I guess?'

Izumo thought as he took one final glance at the group before turning around and heading out of the building.

"Finally..."

Izumo expressed as he let out a breath of relief and stretched his arms up in bliss.

"Hah... so, where art thou does the soccer team practice?"

Izumo asked himself as he brushed his chin and looked around his surroundings, speculating which direction he should head off first.

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"Who're you looking for, Aiku?"

Aiku who was looking around the stands, heard a voice call out to him and turned around just to see a young man in a buzz cut standing behind him.

"Hm? Oh, it's just you, Captain"

Aiku smiled and greeted his captain which the young man responded with another greeting as well.

Seeing Aiku still glancing around the stands, the Captain had a feeling or an inkling of his reason.

"Ain't you looking for that kid? I heard he was something else"

The Captain asked after someone from the reserve team told him about the match Aiku had participated in for fun last week.

"Yeah... that kid was good"

"For ya to say that must mean that kid's a real deal, huh..."

The Captain grinned and started to develop some interest, already having thoughts of wanting to meet this Izumo guy.

"I'm sure, that'll kid come. In the meantime, why don't our genius here focus on the upcoming match instead"

"..."

"It'll be embarrassing if the reigning king of the south were to lose to some nobodies"

The Captain jokingly smirked while Aiku just shrugged his shoulder with a passive expression.

"There's no way we'll lose"

Aiku declared, clearly having full confidence in winning.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... so full of confidence. Our dear genius here really's on another level"

"..."

"Well then, shall we start warming up?"

The Captain proposed with a smile as he watched their opposing team for today's match walk onto the field.

Aiku on the other hand just gave a glance at the opposing team for a few seconds before he turned his gaze away and looked back toward the stands one final time.

Seeing that the kid was nowhere to be found, Aiku brushed the back of his neck and felt slightly disappointed.

"A pity..."

Aiku had originally wanted to show off and perhaps persuaded the kid to join the team since he truly wanted to see how far the kid could go.

He wanted to see with his own eyes how much of a genius the kid was...

He wanted to know if the kid had the potential to surpass him...

He, Oliver Aiku had never realized how lonely he was being at the top.

He had always been told how gifted he was which had given him pride and the ambition to aim of becoming the best striker.

But lately, he had grown somewhat desolate and his passion has gradually dwindled particularly in the past year or so.

His coach with whom he had put his trust and faith had kept telling him to assist the team.

Naturally, he felt indignant but in the end, he relented and gave in. Even though his heart had told him it was wrong, his faith in the adults had told him otherwise.

After all, Aiku was just a mere child and had been raised to see adults as nothing but wise and perfect beings who are always right.

Go play for the team...

Soccer is a team sport...

Be the anchor for the team...

It has always been about the team and that team and nothing but the team.

And at that point, Aiku had deluded himself into thinking that they were right and believed that he could still become the best striker if he persisted.

Indeed, it was how it was and will always be even in the future...

Until he met Izumo that is...

It was the first time he had ever seen someone play so selfishly.

He had never seen that kid pass once to his teammates during the match but for some reason, the kid still somehow managed to garner their respect, including him.

It was something Aiku never understood.

How could that kid become the anchor of their team when he wasn't even playing for them?

He could tell right away since that kid never bothered to hide his intention at all which only further confuses him.

At the same time, he couldn't help but think If that kid had been the same age as him...

Would the match have turned out differently?

Would that kid have won against them instead and through such a selfish play as well?

It was truly unthinkable for someone like him...

Someone who had thought that to win a game, you need to support your team...

To play as a team player...

But that kid made him see soccer differently...

That there was more to it than he thought...

It was the reason why Aiku wanted that kid to enter his school and join the team so that he could observe him closely.

To see whether that kid truly was the real deal.

"We're starting, get ready"

The Captain informed Aiku, snapping out of his thoughts as he turned his head and saw his coach in the distance, gesturing toward them to begin preparing for the match.

"Got it"

Aiku nodded and nonchalantly cracked his neck to the side before he proceeded to head toward his team with his captain by his side.