Riccardo and Nishimura were walking through the school.
"What are your training sessions usually like?"
Nishimura thought about it for a moment.
"Incredibly relaxed..."
"Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Usually, our assistant coach, Coach Suzuki, leads training. He tries to convey what Coach Ishii wants from us, but the results... leave a lot to be desired."
"I see..."
The two entered the changing room and found Kaneko alone, frantically rummaging through his sports bag.
"Where did I put them...?"
After a few moments, he finally pulled out his boots and sighed in relief.
Only then did he realise that Nishimura and Riccardo had been watching him the entire time.
He stiffened for a moment, then composed himself and adopted his usual arrogant attitude.
"What are you looking at?"
He hurriedly put on his boots and left the changing room, leaving the two staring at each other in confusion.
Riccardo sat down on the bench.
"That was unexpected..."
"Yeah..."
A few minutes later, they reached the pitch, where the rest of the team was already waiting.
Shimizu spotted them approaching and raised a hand to greet them.
"Hey—"
But he suddenly stopped.
Riccardo and Nishimura exchanged puzzled looks.
"Did we do something?"
Nishimura turned around and noticed Coach Ishii's presence.
Everyone was surprised to see him.
"Good morning."
"Good morning..."
The team returned his greeting somewhat hesitantly.
Coach Suzuki arrived beside him.
Nakamura approached Tanaka.
"Now it almost feels like a real football club."
"I can hardly believe it..."
Coach Ishii glanced at the two of them as they chuckled, then stepped in front of the team.
"From today onward, I'll be personally leading all your training sessions."
The boys exchanged disbelieving looks.
"First, do your usual warm-up with Mr Suzuki. Then get the balls and cones."
The team completed their warm-up and collected the requested equipment.
Once everyone was ready, Coach Ishii approached them.
"This Friday, we'll be playing a friendly match."
The boys' faces lit up.
Nishimura stepped forward.
"Who will our opponents be?"
Coach Ishii waited a moment before answering.
"Maebashi Ikuei."
Almost everyone reacted with excitement and surprise.
Only Riccardo looked confused.
"Who are they?"
Yasuda approached him.
"Maebashi Ikuei won the national tournament last year. They're an incredibly strong team, full of talented players!"
"Exactly," Coach Ishii continued. "This match will help me assess the squad's level and put the tactical schemes I'll teach you into practice. The national qualifying tournaments begin in less than two weeks, so get ready. I'll push you to your absolute limits!"
Nishimura watched the coach walk towards an area of the pitch where he had already set up a course with cones and mini-goals.
Shimizu approached him with a smile.
"Finally... after a whole year, I can actually say we're going to have a proper training session."
[Much later]
Shimizu was now sprawled on the ground, completely out of breath.
The rest of the team was exhausted as well.
Riccardo was bent over with his hands on his knees, panting.
"Mamm' mij..."
Coach Ishii looked at everyone with satisfaction.
Then he picked up a ball and tossed it to Ono.
"All right, one last exercise for today... a rondo! Form a circle. Tanaka and Nakamura, you're in the middle."
The two protested in unison.
"Why!?"
The coach looked at them with a mischievous smile.
"I saw you having fun earlier. Now it's time to entertain the rest of us! And I want Aoki in there too. I want to test your interceptions."
The boys formed a large circle as instructed.
Coach Ishii placed several cones around them to mark the boundaries.
"All right... stay inside the cones and use no more than two touches. The team that completes thirty consecutive passes wins. Whoever loses has to run two laps around the pitch!"
Shimizu shuddered.
I don't want to run two laps...
Riccardo observed the distance between the players and the cones.
There are barely two steps between them... With this many players, controlling the space will be difficult.
"All right, begin!"
Ono started play by passing to Koyama, who played it first-time to Sugimoto.
The latter almost lost possession under Tanaka's sudden pressure, but managed to shield the ball with his body and pass it on.
Sugimoto let out a sigh of relief.
"That was close..."
The ball reached Ono, who took two touches before laying it off to Nishimura, immediately pressed by Tanaka and Nakamura.
What a difficult ball...
After spotting a small gap, Nishimura slipped the ball through with the outside of his right foot.
It reached Yasuda, who quickly redirected it towards Riccardo.
But Aoki read the trajectory and intercepted the pass.
"Got it!"
"Damn it!"
Yasuda had to move into the middle of the circle, while Aoki took his place on the outside.
Aoki was the one who restarted play, passing to Ueno, who immediately laid it off to Shimizu.
Tanaka rushed towards him.
Shimizu noticed that his legs were slightly apart and, with a precise touch, sent the ball straight through them.
He then looked at him with a provocative smile, irritating Tanaka.
"Damn it! You again!"
Tanaka increased the intensity of his pressing even further, darting from one player in possession to another.
The ball reached Kaneko, who was closed down by Nakamura and Yasuda.
He controlled it, raised his head and spotted Riccardo completely unmarked, but ignored him.
Instead, he chose to pass to Hamada.
Caught off guard by the speed of the pass and Tanaka's immediate pressure, Hamada could only knock the ball into the air.
"Watch out!"
The ball dropped into Riccardo's area.
As it came down, Tanaka and Nakamura rushed towards him.
Riccardo quickly looked around and used the heel of his right foot to redirect the ball towards his left.
Then he used his strength and acceleration to get in front of both opponents.
Tanaka was left speechless.
What kind of monster is he...?
With complete ease, Riccardo passed the ball to Kaneko.
The latter was surprised by how cleanly Riccardo had handled the ball.
And I'm supposed to compete with someone like this...?
Without even looking, Kaneko sent a no-look pass to Nishimura.
Seeing the level of the rondo rise, Nishimura smiled.
With a first-time backheel, he laid the ball off to Ono.
Ono attracted Yasuda's pressing with his first touch, moved back towards the centre of the circle and played an outside-of-the-right-foot pass to Tamura.
Tamura played it first-time to Noguchi.
The defender, however, miscontrolled the ball, allowing Tanaka, who was still in the middle, to steal it.
"Nice one!"
Noguchi gave him a high five.
"Great interception!"
The two switched places: Tanaka moved out of the middle and took Noguchi's place on the outside, while Noguchi stepped in to replace him.
Tanaka settled into his new position with a satisfied smile.
No one's getting me out of here! There's no way I'm running two laps!
He immediately restarted play by passing to Kaneko.
After a few quick exchanges, the ball came back to Tanaka, with Yasuda now closing him down.
With a quick touch, he switched play and attempted a firm pass towards Aoki.
But Noguchi stretched out with a sliding interception and cut off the passing lane.
Tanaka was stunned.
"Sorry... but I have to take my place back!"
Noguchi gave him a pat on the shoulder as Tanaka stepped back into the middle of the circle, looking dejected.
Shimizu burst out laughing.
"Don't take it personally. You got robbed by our best defender!"
Tanaka immediately caught the sarcasm.
"I swear, the moment you get out of that circle, you won't touch another ball!"
Shimizu stared at him defiantly.
"Don't worry... I'll never end up in there anyway."
The game continued with quick passes, pressing and constant positional changes. The boys were beginning to feel the fatigue, but nobody wanted to be the one forced to run the two laps.
[At sunset]
After numerous exchanges, the team finally completed thirty consecutive passes.
Almost everyone collapsed from exhaustion.
By the end, only Tanaka, Shimizu and Hamada remained in the middle.
Tanaka and Shimizu looked desperate.
Shimizu glanced at Tanaka.
"I lost alongside this idiot..."
"Shut up..."
Coach Ishii and Coach Suzuki approached the group.
"Good work."
Coach Ishii picked up the ball.
"That's enough for today! Tomorrow, I'll teach you our tactical schemes. Remember, I'm still deciding the starting line-up for this match and the upcoming ones, so give it everything you've got if you want to earn your place."
The boys slowly began to walk away.
Tanaka, Shimizu and Hamada tried to blend in with the others.
"Except for you three."
They froze.
"Go run your two laps."
The three reluctantly headed back towards the pitch.
"All right..."
And so they began their first lap.
Coach Ishii and Coach Suzuki watched them in silence.
"After all this time... it finally seems like you're genuinely interested in this team."
Coach Ishii took his eyes off the boys and looked at him.
"Yes. This year, I've finally got players who understand football the way I do."
Coach Suzuki gave a faint smile.
This year is going to be interesting... After all these years, I'll finally get to see Ishii Takumi's true football again.