Blue Dream Trail (Soccer) - Episode 14.5

Life in Augsburg is slowly becoming “everyday.”

The entrance to the clubhouse, the smell of the locker room, and the taste of the water after practice.

But… when it came to conversation, I still felt like a stranger.

During practice, I could only hear the words.

“Hinter dir!”

“Links!”

“Faster!”

I understand what it means, but at that moment, my body doesn’t react.

At night, Ren sat on his bed and opened his notebook.

The cover has a few words in both English and German.

But what is written in it is-

“Kopf hoch (head up)”

“Wechsel!” (Change)

“Bleib ruhig (calm down).”

“Erste Ball!” (Not the second ball, first touch!)

They were all words you hear in soccer.

“That’s the German word for a match…”

Ren drew a diagram of his play in the corner of his notebook.

The position to receive the pass in he center. The area to cover. The timing of the tackle.

Next to it, gently write the example phrase.

“‘Komm zurück’ (Go back) probably means that time…”

What I remembered wasn’t Philip’s angry voice.

The goalkeeper shouted immediately after blocking the shot.

“Buckle up!” That was the moment when it sounded more like a shared feeling than just words.

–Don’t memorize words.

–You begin to hear the words as you play.

That must be the rule of “this world”.

Ren turned the page again.

There was a sentence written there that read:

“Once you’re able to react, you’ll be faster.”

Close your eyes. Listen carefully.

Maybe tomorrow on the pitch we’ll understand something else.

He quietly closed the page.