Chapter 320 Friendly advice
?Stopping at a spot which was about 25 yards away from the post, Hiro retracted few steps— his eyes converged at the ball and his face looking rather calm and focused. Right now, it was as if Hiro had entered a different zone.
Yuya who was witnessing this scene first hand, compared to a moment before, he could feel the air around Hiro getting rather dense. Noticing the abrupt change, he couldn't help but deeply look at Hiro with his eyes glistening with curiosity, surprise, reverence and fear.
"When you're shooting, you shouldn't be thinking about unnecessary things. Shooting in itself is quite simple. It's just because of our unwanted thoughts we make it look much harder"
Mumbling such while still keeping his eyes fixated at the ball, Hiro eased his body.
"Obviously techniques and other stuffs are important too. But as long as you don't have the guts to take charge what meaning would technique and power have? The ball itself has no will of it's own. It just follows the will of the person in charge of it. So why are you so afraid of taking shots?"
Saying so, Hiro dashed towards the ball.
Bam!!
The next instant after he appeared close to the ball, a muffled sound created a stir in the air— it was the sound of his feet colliding with the ball. And what followed after was the disappearance of the ball from the original spot.
Right now, what reflected in Yuya's sparkling eyes was the image of Hiro with pair of large white wings grown behind his back. Although in actuality, he had only lifted slightly from the ground but what reflected in Yuya's eyes was the image of Hiro levitating with the help of the imaginary wings grown behind his back.
Those wings to him looked like the symbol of freedom.
And unlike him, who was restrained with countless imaginary chains which he had formed himself, right now Hiro was totally free.
Witnessing that magnificent scene, Yuya couldn't stop himself from admiring Hiro. But somewhere in his heart, he also felt quite jealous of this person in front of him.
He had seen this person shoot countless time and most of the time while watching him shoot and play, he'd always feel this oppressive yet soothing sensation full of admiration and jealousy. It was as if he was of a different breed.
Yes he was one of his close friend. And yes having such feeling towards a close friend wasn't a good thing. But no matter how many times he tried to convince himself, he couldn't help but feel this feeling of jealousy and inferiority gnawing on him.
Why is god so unfair? Why does he make some people so talented while overlooks other? Aren't we all his kid? So why does he discriminate so much among his own children?
"You just need to be calm and focus at your target while shooting Yuya. If your concentration wavers even a little, you won't see the result you desire. But however, might I remind you that no matter how proficient you are, you won't succeed 100% of the times"
Acting as if he hadn't done anything impressive, Hiro gave a friendly advice to Yuya who was struggling at the moment; fighting his inner demons.
But even those tender words failed to soothe Yuya because of the inferiority complex he had started to develop after getting promoted.
He was one of the core player of the U-15 team and his performance were highly regarded and appreciated by both his teammates and his coaches in the U-15 team. But after coming to the U-18 team, he hadn't been able to produce such results.
And it just looked that everybody were better than him in the U-18 team. Sure he had seen them play, sure he had even played against them sometimes before. But after Hiro got promoted to the U-18 team, it felt like it wasn't the same team as before.
From training to match performance, everything was different about this team. And he immediately realized that fact during his first training with the team. But even so, he was determined to earn himself a spot in the team.
However slowly and gradually, cracks began to appear in his determination as his performance started to falter with every match. Succumbing to the imaginary pressure he put on himself, finally after 5th match, his determination collapsed almost completely.
Yet he clung on to that remaining determination and here he was right now, venting his anger and trying to improve himself.
But when Hiro showed him how easy the thing he was desperately working on to improve was, it did more damage to him than help him.
True Hiro was just trying to help. But those remarks of Hiro felt like a mockery to his efforts than a positive suggestion or help.
Yet pursing his lips, he tucked his inner feelings as he displayed a rather half-hearted smile on his face while faking confusion, "Haha...., But what kind of thoughts are you talking about? Would there even be time to think while shooting though?"
'You know it well about those thoughts yet you are trying to deny the presence of those thoughts. Seems like speaking further will only worsen the situation'
Upon hearing his ignorant words, Hiro detected Yuya's hesitation to admit his problems. Thus, he concluded not to press on this matter any further for the time being.
"You are a good player Yuya, so don't let those minor setbacks hinder you from advancing forward" tenderly saying so with a genuine smile on his face, he moved closer to Yuya and put his right hand atop his shoulder— looking him in the eyes, he didn't say much, "We believe in you, Yuya"
Hiro wasn't faking when he said those words. He genuinely had faith in him. And it wasn't only because of his friendship with him. All in all Yuya wasn't a bad player at all. He was just too impatient and easily influenced.
With time, he believed that he could at least make it to the professional stage of Japan nonetheless if he couldn't make it to the professional stage overseas.
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