Facing one of the best

"Will we finally start doing passes for the last day? That's the only part we didn't do." I asked Lavinho while wondering why all we did was shooting dribbling and defending.

"You asked me to teach you the basics of football to become the best right? So who cares about passing, all that matters is your own individual skills. That's the essence of football, defense will allow you to steal the ball, once the ball is yours dribbling will get you in shooting range, once you're in shooting range all that's left to do is do your job as a striker. Passing isn't a necessity." He said with a dumb smile plastered on his face.

This view on the sport was something totally new to me, even if I read the manga and knew of blue lock experiencing such a viewpoint was something totally new for me compared to my old world who preached about teamwork and team spirit this was the complete opposite.

"So which of those 3 will we do today?" I asked

"All of those, I told you if you successfully impressed me I'd recommend you to the Villareal academy right? You've showed great talent for now but it's nothing special compared to the monsters at the pro level, so for today you'll be on the offensive and will have to try to get past me."

"What?? Isn't that impossible for me at my current level?"

"It's indeed impossible for you but that's your only chance to impress me. Bahahahaha where did all that talk about wanting to be the best go?" He asked while laughing and handing me the ball.

"..." I took the ball in my feet and looked straight ahead while strengthening my resolve and promising to not waste this chance.

------

After 2 hours I realized the difficulty of the task I had at hand. Every single dribble attempt ended in the ball being stollen from me with such ease that it became a joke, he didn't make any single noticeable error.

I even tried to shoot from a distance but he easily guessed it and blocked it, but I knew that even if he didn't block it, it would've probably been out.

During the whole time he seemed to be going easy on me,he kept talking and laughing the whole time, another thing I noticed was that each time after stealing the ball he'd directly start juggling with it again.

I knew I couldn't handle going at it for much longer, I had to try to impress him no matter what. My only chance was to make use of his gimmicks.

After remembering yesterday's reward I thought it might be the best time to use it and my only chance to score. Impressing him wasn't enough, I wanted to score at least once!

'Put all my 10 stats into volley'

[Volley: 12-> 22]

After taking a deep breath I made a sign saying that I was ready to go for it again and Lavinho got in place right in front of me. He didn't even look worried at all and wasn't taking any particular stance.

I went in head first and feigned a dribble to the left then cut in to the right but he easily saw right through it, I knew he was going to steal it so I advanced my left leg to cover for the ball but he still managed to touch it and hit it up the air.

At this point he already considered it his win since I always gave up after he touched it once and started dribbling, but this time was different, while the ball was still in the air after his first juggle I raised my right foot and shot the ball as hard as I could towards the goal, it took him by surprise and even when he tried to stop me it was already too late.

The ball headed straight towards the goal but unfortunately hit the crossbar.

"Ugh" I simply fell down in defeat, I knew I couldn't pull any more tricks, I failed to score. That was the reality, I am way too weak.

"Kid... That was freaking amazing!" For the first time Lavinho seemed genuinely excited.

"What do you mean?" It was his first time praising me so I couldn't help but be a little suspicious.

"That's exactly how a striker should be hahahaha! this volley was way better than all the past ones. Did you hide this trick all this time?" He looked at me with a surprised face.

I simply answered him with a smile, I wasn't really hiding anything but that explanation does give me more credit so I'll be taking it.

"Congratulations Jude you passed. This last move of yours was impressive enough. I'll let you train for 3 more weeks and at the end of the months I'll recommend you to the academy so make sure you improve a bit more until then!"

He said all that while running back towards his car, I tend to forget it but even if he's on vacation Lavinho is still a world known star who's probably very busy, the only reason he accepted to spend so much time with me is his friendship with my dad.

After he left I observed the improvement I had today which was by far the best of this week.

[Ball control: 16-> 18

Dribbling: 17-> 19

Composure: 14->20

Assertiveness: 10-> 17

Attack awareness: 10-> 15]

That's to be expected after so many 1 on 1s against one of the best players in the world.

------

"I heard from Lavinho that you passed and managed to impress him? For you to impress someone with an ego as huge as his I wonder what happened hahahaha" My father was in an extremely good mood today.

Even if he didn't show it, he was pretty disappointed about my dislike of the sport, so seeing me so invested is enough to fill him with happiness.

"Father how did you get to become friends with Lavinho?" I was very curious about the story behind this weird friendship.

"During our youth we both played for the youth team of the Fc Barcha, we were an unbeatable duo, he was the best striker I've ever met, the only one worthy of my passes so we obviously got closer, unfortunately after my injury which put an end to my career we drifted apart a bit, but even now he's still someone I consider a great friend, we're both very indebted to each other. Its just sad that I didn't get to play against him in a world Cup like we promised, it would've been fun."

I knew my father had a great level but to think that he played with Lavinho and that they even formed a duo at some point is hard to believe.

Well anyway it was time to have a serious talk.

"Father what if I don't want to play in Spain at some point?"

"What do you mean?" He was obviously taken aback

"What if I want to represent Japan in the next World cup?" I knew that he wouldn't understand me but I think I need to warm him up to the idea of me going to Japan.

"Why would you represent such a country? Spain's national team is obviously way stronger." He couldn't understand my reasons.

"Well I still haven't made up my mind but I would like to go try playing in Japan next year."

At first he didn't agree to letting me go, especially that if I go I'd probably have to stay there alone since both him and my mom have to stay in Spain for their work.

Finally we came to an agreement that if I managed to win the U15 Spain tournament with Villareal I would be allowed to go.