Blue Dream Trail (Soccer) - Episode 7

Morning classroom.

Before the bell rang, Ren was writing in his notebook.

What was drawn on the page was not a mathematical formula, but a diagram of a formation.

A circle and an arrow. A short version of the uniform number. And notes like “7 → back” and “14 → cut in.”

“Ren, are you… Drawing a soccer diagram again?”

My friend in the seat behind me peered in, laughing.

Ren stopped writing with his pen and smiled, looking a little embarrassed.

“Yeah. I just wanted to sort it out a bit.”

I couldn’t get yesterday’s matchup with Onizuka out of my head.

The speed of that step. That moment when he was forcefully overtaken. I read his movements correctly, but I couldn’t stop him.

I can’t see the words being written on the blackboard.

The content of today’s lesson and the conversations around me seemed as if they were on the other side of a membrane.

————————————————————————————-

Evening. The dining table at home.

“How was school today?”

In response to his mother’s question, Ren simply replies with a vague “yes.”

Dinner was pork shogayaki (fried ginger pork). I knew it was a nutritious meal.

“You’ve been coming home late lately. Are you getting enough sleep? Have you eaten?”

“Eating. Sleeping.”

That wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t accurate either.

My mother opened the fridge and pulled out a small container.

Chocolate pudding.

“You liked it, didn’t you? When you were little, you often ate it with a tired look on your face.”

Ren picks up the spoon. He takes a bite. The sweetness slowly spreads throughout his mouth.

“Thank you.”

That one word carried a little more power.

————————————————————————————-

The ground after practice.

There was only one light left.

Ren was alone, repeatedly juggling the ball, rolling it around at his feet.

Whenever my rhythm is disrupted, even a little, the image of Onizuka flashes through my mind.

“I thought you were there, dear.”

When I turned towards the direction of the voice, Hiiragi was standing there.

He is still wearing his tracksuit and is holding a plastic bottle in one hand.

“Hiiragi-san… why?”

————————————————————————————-

*Hiiragi’s viewpoint

“I thought I was hiding.”

He laughed at that, but I knew it.

It was still there last night.

No, that’s not all.

His eyes have changed a little recently.

Even though I still haven’t sorted out the doubts within myself, I still try to move forward…

There’s no way I could just leave someone like that alone.

That’s how I used to be, too.

I was called in to skip a grade, and it didn’t work out at all.

All I could do was run. All I could do was scream.

He’s a lot calmer now than I was back then, but–

I felt like deep down, I was battling the same thing.

So I waited.

————————————————————————————-

Hiiragi received the ball and stopped it at his feet.

“How was that guy, Onizuka?”

“…He was strong. I couldn’t stop him just by reading his mind. I felt my limits.”

“That’s what I said a long time ago.”

Hiiragi’s voice lowered a little.

“When I was called up to skip a grade, I was completely helpless. I felt so small.”

Ren looks at Hiiragi in surprise.

“Even Hiiragi-san?”

“Me too. But–“

Hiiragi lightly tapped Ren’s chest with his finger.

“It’s not about ‘can I win?’, but ‘what can I do to win?’ You should be able to think of that.”

Ren lowered his eyes and nodded slightly.

————————————————————————————-

On the way home.

The cold night wind brushes against my cheeks.

Ren looked up slightly and exhaled.

“…I have no choice but to do it.”

On that pitch. Against that opponent. To face them once again.

The depths of my chest feel a little warm.

The fire of the “revolution” is still small.

But surely – a light was beginning to light inside the lotus.