Another Confrontation

Kuon and Dennis followed the hallways and found themselves in front of the training football field right away. They were hearing the noises coming from the inside, indicating that someone else was already there. Who could possibly be doing anything there on this night?

The two glanced at each other and just shrugged. They went in anyway, only to discover that someone else was Barou. He wandered around the field, shirtless, shooting and practicing his moves. His rage was visible in his eyes as he kicked the football with all his might.

'It's him.' Dennis' brown-haired teammate couldn't forget his performance during the game and was terrified to see him here alone on the field at night. His work ethic is seriously scary, how much he is sweating right now…

Not impressed by this at all, the German just looked at Barou. The latter noticed them not too far away from him soon after, and the first thing he did was to shoot the football with even more rage emanating from his face. "Kuon, this might get a little bit heated, but don't try to interfere with me."

Kuon flinched and took a step back. "Huh, what do you mean?" He wasn't going to start a fight, right?

"Barou, came crawling to the field after losing the match? What? Don't those two goals satisfy you?" Dennis smiled and grinned, displaying his shining white teeth. Barou had taken a few steps away from the football and got closer to the two. He glared into Dennis' eyes and stayed silent for some time.

"And you've spent the entire game running after me like a rat. Removing me from the game so that the idiots on my team lose."

Dennis laughed mockingly, "Shut up." He didn't even try to hide his expression. The words were coming from someone who scored a similar amount as him and was saying that right in front of his eyes, "Just bear your ass with the fact that you lost to me."

"Want to go at it again? This time your teammates won't be there to help you out, nor will there be someone to mess with my play."

Kuon waved his hands around, "Guys, let's just calm down." But his words didn't work, he was ignored. Scaringly, the two were talking calmly throughout their conversation, making the situation chilly. Why was Dennis acting so out of place? He never acted like this before; was it because he wanted to ridicule Barou?

"Again," Dennis closed his eyes, covering his blue pupils. He took a calm breath before speaking out, "You speak too fucking much for someone who lost. Let me make it clear to you, every time you lose, you become more unworthy to be called 'King.' Oh yeah, you are a self-proclaimed king…"

After saying this, he turned around and motioned for Kuon to follow him; his teammate instinctively followed him, "Let's get going, it appears we won't be able to freestyle today."

Barou stayed strong to his mentality, but not to embarrass himself with more words he didn't pursue the German. He would try different ways to win against him, and hopefully, that happens quickly. He still has a lot of time.

He continued his practice and heard Dennis call him out again, "Oi, Fake King! Get some rest; I'm coming back with boots and a suit."

… … …

"Dennis, you can't!" Kuon tried to warn his teammate against playing Barou. He wasn't going to say it directly, but the brown-haired Japanese didn't want to lose. He was getting some hope after all; finally, he had a teammate who was a good player and cared about winning.

Shaking his head, Kuon proceeded to explain more. "I'm sure you know that you might get injured by playing against him! He is crazy; he might do some unexplainable things."

"I'm happy that you are worried about me so much, but I won't let myself get injured against anybody else. Bad memories of getting injured. I'm fully prepared for such situations nowadays." His voice contained some serene emotions, but he wasn't let down by them. There was some more to Dennis that Kuon didn't know.

"The thing is, we will be playing one on one with the goalkeeper in the goal. You know that game, right?"

"Oh yeah… Wait, when did I agree to play that?!"

Dennis bumped his fist into Kuon's shoulder, "Come one, don't be scared; I won't shoot with too much strength." He joked, of course… or maybe not; his shots can hurt if received incorrectly.

"Fuh," Kuon sighed. "Fine, but I'm only agreeing to this because I should be there to watch over you guys. Who knows what you guys will do when there are two hotheads running around the field trying to beat each other? What has gotten into you right now…"

"Nice, come on, this is just a game. I want to only strengthen my authority since that guy doesn't understand that he isn't on my level." Kuon felt Dennis' previous demeanor and personality flip, did he care so much? "This is just a personal affair; sometimes I just have to prove that I am better."

It's like when a newbie joins a football club and every oldie is trying to pick on him, trying to showcase their strength and make sure that they are still the leader. This sometimes can work, and sometimes it can not, however, this time Dennis didn't care about not working. He saw this situation as a win-win for both him and Barou; they can prove to each other that one has to still work hard, and, meanwhile, the other can prove that he is still far ahead.

'I'm not getting clowned by some hedgehog; the dude was obviously never picked on in P.E. classes.' He returned to the field before Kuon, who followed him soon after. Not sure if serious confrontations like these ones were allowed in between the matches, but if they were forbidden, it'd be a shame.

Their goalkeeper today was going to be one of Dennis' teammates. Someone would definitely think that their opponent would use that to his advantage and tell the goalkeeper to let him score, but Barou and Dennis were above that. They both knew that the goalkeeper, in the end, wouldn't matter at all.

"You know the drill, and so do I. We play until ten; whoever gets to that number first wins." Dennis picked up the ball and threw it to Kuon, gesturing for him to take a position in the goal. Barou and Dennis stood inside the box, waiting for the goalkeeper to blindly throw the football in their direction.

"After this," Dennis said to Barou before the football was thrown, "you'll be requesting a rematch."

"You are too confident." Barou 'tsk-ed' and the ball was thrown into the air.

The German took off first and predicted the trajectory the football would take. Barou was behind him when he masterfully received the ball with his chest. It slid down his front and landed on his foot. 'Barou, you are lacking.'

The Japanese boy had his legs spread and his knees bent a little. His left shoulder was aimed at Dennis, and assuming he was going to move his right leg to the left, his entire body was positioned so that he could tank the guy while intercepting the ball on the right. This was one of the things you shouldn't do against Dennis,

'Getting physical against me?' He had almost eighty kilograms of mass on his body and power enough to tank the horse. His speed was no joke, either. Dennis displayed the quickness of his feet instantly; he just saw Barou budge, but he kicked the ball in one direction and moved in a second. Confusing his opponent.

'What the hell…' Barou was already behind, Dennis two seconds later was already on the ball, and bang! Even though he said he wasn't going to shoot with too much power, it was still enough to make him scared of taking the hit. Kuon didn't even move at all as it blitzed into the net.

"Caught you off-guard, huh?" Dennis looked at Barou, questioning his inactivity in defense. He did better than this during the match. "Well, it doesn't matter. I scored. Start again, Kuon!" The brown-haired boy reluctantly picked up the football and launched it the same way.

Barou had decided to act quicker this time, but unfortunately, Dennis had no intentions to let go of this. Every play mattered to him, so when he arrived at the spot where the football would land first, the hedgehog bumped into him from behind; it was just a minor bump to interfere with his reception.

The strength German held in his legs was too much; just this bump wasn't enough to knock him off balance. 'It is still mine.' The ball came down flying at high speed, and his leg was located precisely to get it before Barou. A little noise was heard by Barou, ' Shit he got it.' It landed on Dennis' foot.

Swish!

'What?!' Barou was caught by surprise; the ball went between his legs, essentially nutmegging him. He turned around to run after the ball, but the German was still behind him as he was attempting to hold him back with his hands.

The German just pushed himself more, and as his boots dug into the grass, he picked up the pace and quickly caught up to Barou. Their shoulders were battling against one another as they raced. Barou was having a difficult time. Dennis was pushing against him more and more, getting a better foothold to get the ball.

Kuon watched the guys from a distance. 'Dennis... is too strong.' He had to comment internally. The sheer absurdity of these boys colliding was something else. It looked like a wrestling match, but they were both trying to use their abilities, can't blame them much. 'I knew he was better prepared physically than others, but not to this extent.'

'How can a person have such balance?!' Barou was questioning all his previous training, which he poured so much effort into. Could it be that it was never meant for him to be the strongest? He is into this for years and gets swept off by a European so easily.

The pressure on his knees was increasing as the German pushed him more and more to the side with his shoulders. Running became a hustle and fearing to strain his knees more, Barou had let go and didn't pursue the duel. While Dennis only dashed forward and effortlessly seized the football.

'You can't be serious!' Kuon's eyes widened like a pan as he saw the unthinkable. The ball literally jumped up as Dennis' foot stomped next to it, and in mid-air, the German already launched the football with his strong foot. Kuon internally had to apologize to Barou, he didn't even try to stop this ball.

He just let it enter the net, not that he had a chance to block it, his jump wasn't enough to reach the far nine.

"Start again, I'm getting warmed up."

… … …

The unbelievable display of skills from Dennis continued, it was becoming more and more like freestyle, this reminded Kuon of watching a football compilation that showed the skills of multiple players, but the German was doing it in one game. The score was already five to zero, in Dennis' favor. "That's ridiculous."

Kuon couldn't help but mutter. Dennis wasn't just a good striker, he knew how to dribble, but as if when he was at the most important part he decided just to end it with a shot. It was obvious that he wanted to dribble, but refrained from doing much of it.

The goalkeeper was distracted by his thoughts when Dennis once again gained possession of the football and was in front of Barou in a relaxed manner. He had a straight posture and waited for Barou to make a first move.

"Hmph!" He budged, just for a sake of it made a sound to sound like he was putting in the effort. It was a provocation by him to see if Barou would try to steal the ball from him.

No, Barou didn't move at all; he stood in a defensive position at some distance from Dennis. He did a similar thing again, and just as he expected, Barou didn't have a reaction. He controlled his expressions well and didn't even give away a hint to his opponent; that's why he succeeded in doing a perfect heel flick.

Above Barou's head, the football took off in an arch. It wasn't launched high nor low; it was done so well that before it landed on the ground, Dennis had already run around the guy and received it softly. Kind of like how Barou did against Isagi during the match,

"What, surprised to see your move being used by someone else?" Dennis mentioned before dashing to the goal and scoring, turning the score 6-0. "Don't worry; you aren't the only one who feels the same way. Just to reassure you, this is a pretty well-known move, just a tough one to do in the game…

…You are nothing special, Barou."