Chapter 157 Ball sense
Reacting quickly, Shun managed to block Hiro's shot. After making that save, Shun rose from the ground. With his mouth twitching as if he was having hard time holding back his laughter, he looked at the direction of Hiro.
Acting as if he had made an important game changing save, Shun then began to dance weirdly while mumbling, "Hahaha.... Oh yeah!! I stopped your shot. I saved your shot." While laughing like a maniac.
Without paying any attention to Shun, Hiro ignored Shun's celebratory taunts and turned towards Tatsuki.
"Since technically I got past you, should we count it as my win senior Tatsuki?" Asked Hiro while looking at Tatsuki.
Just as Tatsuki was about to reply, Shun interjected, "But you still failed to score. So it's your loss."
Hearing Shun's response, Hiro responded peacefully while nodding his head, "Then it's my first loss. Which means I'm down one to nothing."
After that Hiro turned around to face Shun. Staring at him, Hiro asked, "Could you fetch me that ball?"
Asking such, Hiro began to walk away.
'Damn!! He nutmegged me. It's freaking embarrassing.' Thinking such, Tatsuki began to make faces.
And just as Hiro got into his position, Shun kicked the ball towards him. Gently stretching his right leg forward, Hiro trapped the ball in his leg without letting it touch the floor.
Witnessing Hiro's impressive first touch, Shun's eyes widened as he mumbled, "Damn! That touch."
Tatsuki who was trying to come up with a strategy to stop Hiro couldn't stop his jaw from dropping deep while looking at Hiro's impressive ball control.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Is he doing that intentionally to scare me?" Mumbled Tatsuki under his breath, looking all impressed.
"Senior Tatsuki are you ready for the second round?" Questioned Hiro while casually juggling the ball.
"It's no time to act impressed Tatsuki" Mumbling such under his breath, Tatsuki answered, "Yes! Let's do it."
'This time I'll just give my all and confront him head on.' Thinking such, Tatsuki looked at the direction of Hiro with determined eyes.
Hiro then began to dribble the ball towards Tatsuki. Unlike his previous attempt, he was dribbling rather slowly. As if he was taking a stroll on the park, he was walking with the ball.
'Is he underestimating me?' Thought Tatsuki after seeing Hiro's gesture.
'Then I'll make you pay. You shouldn't underestimate your senior' Thinking such, Tatsuki dashed towards Hiro.
'System activate skill Lightning steps'
Activating the skill, Hiro went from 0 km/h to 29 km/h in an instant.
Swoosh!!
Tatsuki who was dashing towards Hiro couldn't even react. He could only feel a gust of wind passing by him.
Still looking infront with a stupefied look on his face, Tatsuki's mind went completely blank for a moment.
Tatsuki was caught off-guard. He had never anticipated Hiro to go that fast in that short amount of time.
'Wtf!! How could someone sprint that fast without any run-ups?' Anxiously thought Shun while looking at the scene which took place infront of him.
Still in his top speed, Hiro approached the goal-post in just mere seconds. And once again, he shot the ball from outside the box.
'Tch- I hit the wrong spot.' Clicking his tongue, Hiro thought just after he released the ball from his feet.
Because of his insane speed, he lost control and couldn't hit the ball at the spot where he wanted to hit.
Afterall to hit the ball whilst still in their top acceleration was a difficult feat to pull off. And most often speedy players would often slow down their acceleration before shooting.
And even for the world class players like Mbappe and Halland, they had to go through rigorous training to perfect their techniques. And Hiro who was only starting to venture in such playstyle, lacked the technique he required to pull off such shots.
Obtaining the talent Kevin De Bruyne's passing sense which had also increased his spatial awareness, he had developed a feel for the ball. And because of that he could somewhat guess if his touch was bad or good.
Just like how world class player's had developed a feel for the ball after spending thousand and thousands of minutes with the ball, he too had developed a feel for the ball because of the talent he acquired via the system.
Despite reacting late, Shun leaped towards the direction of the ball, attempting to save the ball. However unlike the previous time, he couldn't land a touch on the ball that time around.
Disappointed that he failed to make the save, he slowly turned behind him while expecting the ball inside the net.
However contrary to his expectation, the ball was actually at the sidelines instead.
Evading Shun's reach, the ball simply flew away and missed the goal-post.
Seeing the ball at the sidelines, Shun released a sigh of relief, "Phew!!" while crossing his right hand on his chest.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Two to nothing" Proudly mumbled Shun while turning towards disappointed Hiro.
"Tch-" clicking his tongue, Hiro turned around and returned back to his original position without replying anything.
After that in the next three rounds, Hiro slotted each and every ball without any mistake.
Tatsuki who was supposed to defend against Hiro couldn't even managed to get close to the ball. And the more Hiro dribbled past him, the more dispirited he got.
At the end of round fourth, Tatsuki felt so humiliated that he didn't even try to defend the ball in the final round. Letting Hiro lose, he simply stood at his place.
"I guess with this goal, we can conclude that it's my victory." Mumbled Hiro after scoring the final goal.
Tatsuki's eyes seemed like it lost the light in it. Looking completely dull and lifeless, Tatsuki stood frozen in his place without replying anything.
'May be I've gone a little too far.' Thought Hiro while looking at the sight of Tatsuki.
Hiro then went over to the side of Tatsuki to cheer him up.
"Cheer up senior Tatsuki. If I was in your spot I would have been the same as well. Afterall we both play forward so it's completely natural for us to be bad at defending." Saying such, Hiro tried to cheer Tatsuki.
Tatsuki on the other hand continued to sulk his head. Blankly staring at his feet, he looked like someone who's vitality has been sucked.
Unable to cheer Tatsuki with his words, Hiro suggested to change the role, "Why don't you be the attacker this time and I'll be the defender?"
Suggesting such, he proposed Tatsuki to switch the role and continue the training.
Dispiritedly, Tatsuki agreed to Hiro's suggestion.
And for the next five rounds, Hiro simply let go of Tatsuki. Faking his defending skills, he acted as if he couldn't match up with Tatsuki's dribbling to cheer Tatsuki.
Although at times he couldn't defend, he could have still defended one or two times if he had tried. However just to restore Tatsuki's confidence, he acted lame.