Chapter 14: Chapter 13: The Final (Part 2)

Amano Suiren:

    "That's perhaps the worst first 5 minutes I've ever seen for any team.", Anjou-san commented.

   "I was hoping for the best, but it really looks like we have already lost it.", even the ever optimistic Rin held her hands on her head. It just shows how bad it has been so far. We are 1-0 down, and also 1 man down because of the red card, and it's only been 5-6 minutes. 

   "Hey isn't it Arawi?"

   "Eh?"

   Arawi-san has suddenly come to the field wearing the goalkeeper jersey. And Sewashi-san is going out of the field. 

   "Wait, so that means Sewashi is injured... that's it, it's over."

   "What do you mean, Rin?", I asked her.

   "Arawi is not a good goalkeeper at all. That means we are finished. I can't imagine what would be the scoreline after full time."

   I looked at Arawi-san. He was talking with his teammates.

   "I think you're too harsh on Arawi-san. I mean even if Sewashi-san play full game, the result will be same anyway."

   "Huh? What's with you today, Sui-chan? Always defending Arawi?" 

   "N-Nothing!"

Arawi Kenji:

  "So listen Kenji. What do you think the crowd want now?", Kouta put his hands on my shoulders to give me confidence and asked.

   "Well, I think they are loving it. They probably want more goals from Yoshida and his team."

   "Exactly. To their eyes, we are the scumbags. So how do you think should we play from now?"

   I thought for some moments and then said,

   "We should play so brilliantly so that they start to appreciate us?"

   "Dude....", Kouta looked at me with a disappointing face. Then he said,

   "We are 1-0 down and also down to 10 men. If we even try to play beautiful football right now, they would at least smash 30 goals before half time."

   "Then what do you say?"

   "Simple. We will play like f*cking scumbags."

   "Oh?... Really? Do you think it's fair?"

   "Fair? Everything is fair in soccer. We will do harsh tackles, time-wasting, play-acting, everything for at least till half time. Our aim is not to concede any more goals till half time. So there's your job... please save every shot I'm on my knees!"

   "I'm sorry but it's in God's hands now, not my hands..."

   "YOU CAN DO IT. Best of luck."

   Then he got back to his position. I also got back to my own position praying to God.

   My first job is to save a free kick. Yoshida is the one who will shoot. Okay... just watch the ball... watch the ball...

   And Yoshida shoots... and the ball hits the crossbar! I was lucky because I had absolutely no chance to save it. I stood still like a statue.

You are reading story A Forced Engagement at novel35.com

   "Dammit! I was so close haha!", Yoshida laughed with his teammates. It seems like these are going to be very long long 80 minutes of my life.

   In the very next minute, they came forward again, this time Yoshida passed the ball to one of the other players who shoots from right hand side. However the shot was too slow, that I managed to save it easily.

   I made a save! Can I go home please?

   Not even 2 minutes passed, they were coming forward again. This time one of the wingers crossed the ball from the left hand side into the box. The ball was too high for any normal player to reach. But it's Yoshida we are talking about here. He jumped astonishingly high enough to head the ball towards goal. There was no chance for me to save it but fortunately the ball just flew over the roof of the net. I survived again.

    I could feel the heat. I'm lucky not to concede till now. But how long could it go on? At this moment I found Amano-san in the crowd. She didn't shout probably because the other two girls were with her but she gestured with her two thumbs. 

    She wished, do your best!

    I'm not a protagonist of an anime which could suddenly become unbeatable after this. But I can make sure not to give up. If she asks me to do my best, I just have to....

   Just as I was thinking this, they were coming forward again. Yoshida basically dribbled past half the team and passed the ball to one of his teammates. However that guy lost his balance while shooting and the ball came straight to me.

   A minute later another shot came from outside the box. I somehow touched my right hand on it to deflect it outside the goalposts. That was close...

   After that I faced countless shots. However for some reasons, they either missed the target or they were so powerless that I could save them.

   I watched the clock and it's 40 minutes up already! And I didn't concede any goals! It is a miracle! I must say I was a little bit lucky though.

   It doesn't mean that we are playing good. We can't even cross our own half. We have ZERO shots till now against them. Everyone of us is defending. And we are playing dirty... harsh tackles after tackles... Luckily we didn't get anymore red cards. Everything just not to concede anymore goals.

   Now even the crowd starts to get annoyed with us. They have started booing our team and I really can't blame them. 

   We were gathered to defend a corner, at that time Yoshida came towards me and said,

   "So you are playing dirty and defensive football just not to concede? I didn't expect you lot to be so coward. Haha."

   "....."

   I didn't answer and only concentrate on the corner. It was poorly taken and the ball went out of the field. The referee blew his whistle and announced half time.

    When we all sat down, Tanaka shouted, "This is not good! Kouta! We are not playing fair. I'd rather lose than playing like this!"

   I joined him, "I agree with Tanaka. We aren't going to win anyway by playing this way."

   Surprisingly Kouta smiled devilishly.

   "You all are idiots. Do you think we are the bad guys?"

   "I mean we are playing bad, aren't we?", Tanaka asked.

   "Oh yes! And we are going to play like this till 80 minutes. For the last 10 minutes it would be different. And you all will get a big surprise."

   "Do you have a trick up your sleeve?", I asked.

   "Oh of course! And we're 100% winning this match."

[To be continued]

Statistics of the match till 1st half: