August 10, 2023
Currently inside a moving bus filled with people; majority of them being teenagers dressed in identical clothing, Hiro's figure could be seen beside the window in the middle row of the bus.
While his eyes remained shut, his head which was leaning against the seat was swinging freely along with the motion of the bus.
Ti and again while the warm rays of the sunlight which penetrated it's way from the gap of the dangling curtain fell upon his sleeping face, his fair skin glowed like a golden sculpture under light.
However not only Hiro, countless other kids who were present in the bus were in similar condition as him.
While so covered their face with scarf, jersey and other clothes to veil themselves from the light, so were leaning their head against the seat infront of them.
With only few being exceptions who were either listening to music on their headphones while gazing outside the window or reading books, most of them were dozing currently.
And while most of the curtains and windows in the bus remained shut, so were open.
And from those open window, a refreshing gust of cold wind was blowing while carrying the fresh scent of the nature.
Along with the wind, golden rays of the sunlight was also creeping inside the bus from those open windows, making the interior of the bus glow in golden colours.
Rustling sound of the wind and flapping sound of the curtains as it danced along with the wind was filling the entire bus.
And coupled with the soothing golden light of the sun, the ambience around the interior of the bus was quite dreamy.
Just as one of the teenager seated infront of Hiro pushed aside the curtain beside him and opened the window, a gust of cold breeze ca rushing towards Hiro, inturn sending a chill to his warm body, forcing him to open his eyes.
Along with the flapping curtain beside him, his hair also dangled freely as it danced along with the wind coming from the open window infront of him.
Feeling the sensation of the cold wind brushing past his face, Hiro tried to open his eyes. However because of the wind coming from infront of him and also the golden light which directly fell onto his eyes, he imdiately shut his eyelids, once again.
Hiro then tried to slowly lift his eyelids. And as he squinted his eyes, he was graced with the sight of molten sky glowing in golden, yellow, red and orange hues.
Dreamy bubbles of golden light filled part of his vision as he looked at the setting sun in the distant horizon. Although the light was sowhat overbearing to look at, it wasn't bright enough to hurt his eyes.
After so seconds, Hiro finally opened his eyes fully.
The distant hills where the golden rays of the setting sun was flowing smoothly was glowing ethereally while the molten clouds which were hovering above the setting sun and hills was making the scenery extrely picturesque to look at.
Sparse forest consisting of various trees which stretched from the foot of the mountain was ending it's trail after reaching the periphery of the field where different crops were planted.
Breathing in the fresh air coming from the open window and looking at the picturesque scene outside the window, Hiro's heart was filled with tranquillity while his eyes were glowing warmly.
His face solemn and his mood tranquil, Hiro continued to look at the scenery outside the window without uttering a single word.
He was completely lost at the mont.
At tis his vision was obstructed by trees as the bus passed through the forest and at ti his vision was obstructed by so electric poles erected beside the road.
It was evident from the vast field outside the window that currently they were moving along a countryside.
Although it only felt like it happened yesterday, almost about half a year has passed since Kawasaki's triumph over Sagan Tosu. During that ti period nothing much have taken place in Hiro's life.
Training, playing football, studying, goofing around, his life had mostly revolved around football.
Afer so break, the league had already resud. And right now, half the matches of the season had already been concluded as well.
However this ti around, they hadn't won every matches of the league like the previous ti. Although they were comfortably sitting at the top of the league, Kawasaki had also lost 3 gas out of 11 gas they've played so far.
So senior players who had graduated highschool had left the team while so fresh players like Yuya and Shunta had moved up the ranks and joined the team.
Hiro's goal tally was still as impressive as ever in the league. With 11 goals under his na from 7 starts, he was once again dominating the score chart of the east league.
Coming back to the present.
After so mont of sightseeing, Shun who was sleeping beside him with a thin scarf wrapped around his eyes, pulled down the scarf and spoke in his sleepy voice, "Are we there yet?"
Hiro replied softly while keeping his gaze fixated at the scenery outside the window, "No... It might take so more ti"
Casting it's ethereal rays above the hills, forest, field and every surface in his vision, as if the sun was chasing him, it was following him everywhere while the bus was moving forward to it's destination.
"The view of Chinese.... Yawn!! countryside is no different than Japanese countryside. Yawn!!" mumbled Shun while yawning.
With the world cup nearing, currently they were in China to participate in the Asian qualifiers.
To participate in the U-17 world cup which was going to be held in Indonesia in November, 20 elite team from asia were competing for a spot in the world cup in this Asian qualifiers.
Teams were split into groups of five into four different groups; A, B, C and D.
And Japan were placed in group B along with countries like India, Vietnam, Jordan and Philippines.
However among these 20 teams, only two were going to participate in the world cup with Indonesia being exceptions since they were hosting the world cup so they were getting a free pass.
Hiro pretended to ignore Shun's rants as he kept focusing at the beautiful scenery outside the window.
While looking at the scenery outside the window, his thoughts started to drift elsewhere.
'It's a pity that we won't get to face South Korea until the final.' thought Hiro as he was looking forward to playing against South Korea.
Not because he held any animosity against South Korea but because South Korea was one of the most toughest team in the Asian qualifiers.
And if his mory served right then along with Japan, it was also one of the team which made it to the world cup.
Because of the influence of player like Heung Min Son, Hwang Hee Chan, Kim Min Jae, Lee Kang In and many other famous korean footballers who played overseas, Korean football was developing rapidly.
And because of the fact that Japan and South Korea were close door neighbours and also both were one of the most powerful team in Asia, there was a feeling of rivalry between the two countries.
South Korea was the one of the most difficult opponent to play against in these qualifiers.
So other teams which were to be feared were Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia, Yen and also the dark horses India and Vietnam which were both in their groups.
The qualifier would have been even more tough if the teams from Oceania such as New Zealand and Australia joined the qualifier as well. However Oceania, they were holding their own qualifier.
"I sincerely thank the organisers for placing us in such an easy group" chuckled Shun, his tone carrying mockery and thankfulness.
Sure enough, he was taking other teams in his group lightly.
His tone filled with arrogance got on Hiro's nerves as he shot a cold gaze at Shun. While giving side-eyes to Shun, Hiro's eyes glowed with a cold glow.
His tone deep and his words threatening, Hiro reprimanded Shun's statents, "What makes you so sure that we'll co out in top?"
Shun who wasn't looking at Hiro's face, failed to notice Hiro's cold gaze. And also because of the sound of the wind, he couldn't hear Hiro's tone clearly. Thus, he had absolutely no idea that his words had pissed Hiro.
"Because they are all small fry" replied Shun casually.
His tone extrely proud and his face smug, sure enough he didn't consider the team in his groups as threats.
Although Shun had a hardworking and unwielding personality, Shun also had a proudful personality.
As there's a saying, there's no such thing as perfect humans.
And just like the saying, Shun also had his flaws. And that flaw was his arrogant personality. He took pride in his skills and he also learnt from his failures but at the sa ti, he also liked to flaunt his skills.
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