Chapter 6 — Resuming the Game
Sato watches Riccardo talking to Shimizu, visibly surprised.
"It seemed like a difficult play..." She then glances at Yuzuki, who is beaming like a puppy with a brand new toy. "It seems like you think so too."
"It certainly was! I have to try things like that with the other girls!"
Yuzuki is about 1.68 meters tall, with medium-length dark red hair that is the same shade as her eyes.
On the field, as everyone takes position to resume the game, Kaneko approaches Aoki and Aoyama, visibly furious.
"How did you both not stop him!?"
Aoyama steps in front of him confidently, ready to react to Kaneko's attitude.
Aoyama is about 1.87 meters tall, with medium-length dark hair streaked with dark green and piercing green eyes.
"We tried, but he turned between us in a split second! If you're so confident, why don't you try to stop him yourself!?"
"Kaneko, calm down! Focus on the game!"
Kaneko turns to look at the bench, where Coach Suzuki is signaling him to calm down.
He then turns to Aoyama with an expression full of anger, as if he's about to explode, but somehow manages to hold it in.
Huffing, Kaneko heads towards the center of the field to take the kickoff.
As he walks, he glances at the scoreboard:
Team 1 0 — 1 Team 2
Time elapsed: 5 minutes
Just before the game resumes, he grabs Tanaka by the right arm.
"Try to make more crosses like the one you did at the beginning."
Tanaka retracts his arm.
In a sarcastic tone, he replies, "Of course I will... I'll just try to score next time instead of hitting the goalie."
Kaneko gives him a determined look.
"Don't worry. I won't miss the next one!"
Coach Ishii looks at the players on the field, his expression determined and confident.
He then turns to Nishimura.
"Nishimura!"
The player looks back at him.
"You saw it, right? Then... you know what to do!"
Nishimura seems perplexed by the coach's cryptic words.
Meanwhile, the referee blows the whistle for the restart.
Kaneko passes the ball to Tamura, who sees Tanaka calling for the ball on the left flank, just like their initial play.
But instead of passing, Tamura pushes some more, until Nishimura steps in to press.
Seeing the pressure, Ono steps forward.
"Pass it here!"
Tamura passes the ball to Ono and goes around Nishimura.
Ono spots the opening and returns the pass, bringing Tamura forward.
Tamura continues his run unhindered, until Hamada steps forward to block.
Enomoto appears to Tamura's left, offering support.
He receives the pass, but Shimizu is right on top of him, pressing him hard.
Enomoto still manages to get free with his left foot and throw a high pass, clearing the midfield and heading to the right flank, where Nakamura awaits.
Nakamura runs out in great strides, speeding past Yasuda, but Sugimoto reads the play brilliantly and intercepts the ball with a powerful header.
Noguchi, seeing Sugimoto's intervention, charges up.
"Nice shot, Sugimoto!"
The second ball reaches Ono, who arrives first, speeding past both Nishimura and Yasuda. Using his speed and physicality, he shields the ball and advances.
After a few touches, he throws a long pass forward to Kaneko.
Kaneko uses his body to hold off Noguchi, who has pushed to the edge of the box to tackle him.
Kaneko then notices that Koyoma is also approaching.
"There!"
Someone calls out to him. Kaneko looks up and sees Enomoto on the left side of the pitch, followed closely by Nishimura.
Without hesitation, Kaneko throws the pass.
Enomoto immediately touches the ball with his right foot, directing it to Tanaka, who is charging down the left flank.
Shimizu was lagging behind, doing everything he could to keep up.
Tanaka didn't stop the ball, he pushed it forward, trying to get even further away from Shimizu.
But just as he did, Ueno came charging in, even faster.
Before Ueno could reach him, Tanaka back-heeled the ball toward Enomoto, who was heading toward the box.
Enomoto received it. Hamada ran toward him.
With composure, Enomoto controlled the ball, shielded it, and escaped the pressure.
Meanwhile, Yuzuki's excitement was growing by the second.
"They're moving the ball at an insane speed!"
Sato smiled, puzzled.
"I'm having a hard time keeping up with what's going on..."
Immediately afterward, Enomoto passed the ball to Tamura, who was left unmarked.
Tamura looked up to see Kaneko running toward the box, with Noguchi struggling to physically hold him back.
Tamura touched it with his right foot and prepared for a long pass, but Riccardo came charging in.
Kaneko noticed.
"Watch out!"
Tamura threw the pass, but just as the ball left his foot, Riccardo managed to touch it with the tip of his left foot, slightly deflecting it.
Yuzuki gasped with emotion.
"He saved it!"
The ball flew straight to Shimizu, who controlled it and rushed forward: practically the entire opposing team was blocked in their own half of the field.
Both Coach Ishii and Coach Suzuki reacted immediately.
"Counterattack!"
"Back off!"
Supporting the counterattack were Riccardo, Nishimura and Yasuda.
Shimizu led the attack. Tanaka joined him to support him. He raised his head and threw a pass to the outside of the left to Nishimura.
Under pressure from Ono and Tamura, Nishimura quickly passed to Riccardo, who received the ball with his back to the goal, just outside the penalty area.
Riccardo turned. Aoki was right in front of him, but he also saw Yasuda advancing on the left flank, followed by Nakamura.
Riccardo prepared to pass, feinted with his right foot and cut outside, escaping the pressure.
He moved into the space vacated by Shimizu, where Nishimura was running diagonally behind Aoki.
Kuwahara moved into the box to cover, leaving Tanaka alone on the flank with Shimizu and Riccardo.
Riccardo passed to Shimizu, who used his body to shield the ball from Tanaka, who was pressing him hard.
Shimizu saw Riccardo enter the penalty area, with Aoki chasing him closely. At the same time, Nishimura came out of the area, still marked by Kuwahara.
Shimizu slowly rolled the ball towards Nishimura.
Nishimura turned towards Riccardo's run and, with a delicate touch, slipped the ball into his path.
Riccardo was a few steps from the near post, with Aoki clinging to him.
"Second post!"
Yasuda was at the far post, chased by Nakamura and almost caught by Aoyama. Tamura also filled the area, positioning himself between them.
But Yasuda's call took Yamauchi slightly off his line to anticipate the pass to the other side.
That small shift left a small gap between the keeper and the near post.
As the ball fell, Riccardo braced himself, holding Aoki at bay with his left arm.
Then he sprang with the instep of his right foot.
A perfect shot, like a missile.
The ball was aimed perfectly in that small space.
Yamauchi failed to react in time.
The net bulged.
The scoreboard changed: 10:00 — Team 1: 0 | Team 2: 2