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nHearing manager Makoto’s voice, their heart skipped a beat. Meekly exchanging glances with each other, they then began to gesture each other on what to do.

n“Now what? Should we run??” Shun mumbled meekly.

nFrowning his brows, Hiro replied in his muffled voice, “Didn’t you hear him? He has already noticed us. So there’s no point in running now. We’ll only get punished more severely if we do that.”

nAnd while the two of them were taking their sweet time, talking and gesturing each other, manager Makoto was getting extremely impatient by their unresponsiveness.

n“I know it’s you two. So you two better turn around this instant.” Makoto yelled.

nHearing his furious roar, the two of them nearly jumped on their toes. They then slowly turned around to face manager Makoto.

nFurrowing his brows and flaring his nostrils, Makoto was standing inside the pitch, looking like a furious grizzly bear trapped inside a cage.

n“Didn’t we tell you to stay inside the hostel? So what are you two doing here?” Makoto questioned as soon as they turned around.

nHiro quickly lowered his head and apologized sincerely, “Sorry sir. I was just curious about the trial.”

nSeeing Hiro bowing his head, Shun too quickly lowered his head and apologized, “Sorry sir.”

n“He’s new here.” Makoto spoke sounding somewhat disappointed, while looking at Hiro. He then immediately turned his attention towards Shun and continued, “But you’ve been here for 3 years already Shun. And you know how much I hate undisciplined players. And yet you still broke the rule and came to the pitch. Being a senior why didn’t you stop him?”

nHearing manager Makoto’s words, Shun could only keep his head bowed down and apologize.

n“It’s all my fault sir. He’s not at fault. Because of my curiosity, I forced him to take me to the field.” Hiro apologized and tried to take all the blame on him.

nHearing Hiro’s words, Shun while bowing his head, turned his head towards Hiro. Looking at Hiro with eyes full of admiration, Shun was touched by Hiro’s words.

nDespite it being their idea to sneak at the pitch, Hiro was taking all the blame on himself now that they were caught.

nAnd because of that reason Shun was starting to feel guilty. Thus, out of guilt, Shun was about to confess everything truthfully.

nBut before he could confess, manager Makoto interjected him, “I understand that you’re curious. But you two have still broken the rule, so you two will definitely get punished later in the evening. But for now, come inside. We’re in need of some volunteers anyway.”

nThat statement of manager Makoto was totally out of their expectation. Although they weren’t exempted from the punishment, they were still invited to the pitch for the time being.

nAnd as Hiro heard that statement, Hiro quickly lifted his head and thanked manager Makoto, “Thank you sir. Thank you for inviting us inside.”

nSeeing Hiro’s cheerful expression, Makoto shrugged, “Don’t get overtly excited. You’ll still be receiving your punishment in the evening.”

nStanding beside Hiro with his head bowed down, Shun who was about to confess everything truthfully was left dumbfounded.

nAnd seeing Shun still standing with his head bowed down, Makoto spoke, “You too can lift your head up now.”

n“Yes sir. Thank you sir.” Lifting his head up, Shun immediately thanked manager Makoto.

nThe two of them then headed inside the field.

n“Who are those two?” An anonymous guy standing outside the field questioned.

n“They must be academy players.” Another bald headed old guy standing beside him replied.

nWalking inside the field as volunteers, they were tasked with collecting the balls and assisting the coaches.

nAnd even with the addition of Hiro and Shun, the test progressed rather smoothly.

nAnd just as another drill of the second test was about to begin, Makoto called Hiro towards him.

nHaving been called by the manager, Hiro hurriedly ran towards the side of the manager.

n“Hiro can you demonstrate the drill for them?” Manager Makoto asked him to demonstrate the drill that was about to take place.

nHiro nodded his head.

n“So everyone please pay attention to him. He’ll be demonstrating you the drill that you’ll have to perform.” Makoto announced while pointing at Hiro.

n“Who’s he?”

n“He looks younger than some of us.”

n“Is he an academy player?”

nUpon hearing the coach’s announcement, they began to judge Hiro. Staring at Hiro with eyes full of scepticism, the players began to chatter about Hiro.

nHowever that reaction from the players was completely natural. Afterall until then the coach’s were demonstrating the drills. But out of nowhere a young guy who looked even younger than them showed up and became the demonstrator. They simply couldn’t help but fell doubtful about the ability of Hiro.

nAnd among those doubtful eyes, one person raised his hand to question the decision of the coach.

nFair-skinned, black hair and good-looking, that hand belonged to Renji Igarashi.

nSeeing his raised hands, manager Makoto answered, “Yes!!”

nWithout any hesitation, Renji first scanned Hiro a bit and answered, “Sorry sir if I sound disrespectful. But this guy looks even younger than some of us. So I just can’t help but question why you decided to make him our drill instructor. Would he even be able to demonstrate the drill properly?”

nFaced with Renji’s question, Makoto grinned and replied, “He’s been doing these drills for 6, 7 months now. So I’m sure he can demonstrate the skill well.”

nHearing Makoto’s claims about Hiro, Renji put his hands down and silently nodded his head. He had no intention to challenge the authority of the coaches.

n“So if all of your doubts have been cleared up then shall we continue the test?” Makoto intoned while tapping his hands gently.

nHearing the coach’s question, nobody spoke anything and they all remained completely silent.

nAfter that they all made their way outside the pitch, towards the sidelines. Hiro on the other hand made his way towards the right flank.

nStanding 40 yards away from the goalpost, he positioned himself in the right flank preparing to make his run.

nThe drill which they were going to perform that time was quite simple. From 40 yards away he’d have to make his run towards the goalpost while another player would supply him with the cross from the left flank.

nAnd he’d have to sprint so that he could receive the cross. And after receiving the cross, he’d have to either shoot the ball without trapping or shoot the ball after trapping.

nThe post wasn’t obviously empty, since there was a net placed infront of the post. And only the bottom and the top corner had a hole in the net.

nSo along with running and shooting, he’d have to score the goal in those four corners as well.𝑙𝘪𝘳𝘢.𝒸𝑜𝑚

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