Chapter 239 Taste of his own medicine
Just as Tominaga Nijichi spoke about the theme of the challenge, sound of the notification from the system started ringing in his ears.
Hearing the sound of the notification, for split seconds Hiro's gaze averted from Tominaga Nijichi before it landed on Nijichi, once again.
Checking the contents of the quest, Hiro subtly lifted the corner of his lips as he let out a sly smile.
'A quest out of nowhere? Right what I needed. With Roberto Carlos's Freekick this quest is gonna be a piece of cake' thought Hiro while cackling inwardly.
Sure enough, Hiro had forgotten that he had already lost that talent quite a long time ago.
Just as he was thinking about using the talent Roberto Carlos's Freekick, a sudden thought flashed in his mind as he was hit by a sudden realisation, 'Right!! I don't have that talent anymore. How could I forget?'
Thinking about the moment where he had lost the talent, his smile faded away and his expression turned blank all of a sudden. A sudden feeling of emptiness gnawed upon him.
"So do you have the guts to accept my challenge Takahashi Hiro?" Firmly questioned Nijichi while staring at Hiro with his eerie black pupils.
Hiro who's eyes were fixated at Nijichi, rolled his pupils above Nijichi's head. Atop his head the holographic blue panel of the system was showing it's contents.
However right now as he was faced with Nijichi's question, other contents of the quest seemed blur as his eyes were only focused on two things.
[Reward: Host can select one item as per his wish from the system shop]
[Failure: You'll lose half of your attribute points]
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtCurrently Hiro had around 300 attribute points which he was saving to upgrade the system. Obviously he could have also upgraded his attributes, however after weighing the pros and cons, Hiro had found it more feasible to upgrade the system for long term benefit.
Tasting the horror of the failures after that final match between the champions of east league and west league had left a deep impression on him.
Not only that encounter with his past self in his dream had made him think about long term, it had also made him more wise than before.
While skimming through the contents of the quest, Hiro suddenly thought of a devilish method to minimise his loss, 'What if I spend all these attribute points right now? That way I won't have to lose any points even if I failed. Hahaha....'
[Note: The quest has been issued taking your current attribute points into consideration. So your attribute points are freezed at the moment]
Just when he was planning about exploiting another loophole of the system, the system spilled water on his plans and once again, his smile faded away, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth inturn causing him to contort his face in irritation.
Hiro's actions of looking away from him gave Tominaga Nijichi an impression that Hiro wasn't taking him seriously which further fueled his desire to crush Hiro.
Although unintentional, Hiro's goofy behaviour was getting on Nijichi's nerves. However he still maintained his composure and continued to show that same indifferent expression.
Finally Hiro sighed helplessly as he replied sluggishly, "Fine... then let's do it"
"But I'm sure you wouldn't want either Hanagaki or Shun to be the keeper? Or do you want to go with Hanagaki as the keeper?"
Hanagaki was the keeper of Vissel Kobe U-18 also the ranked 2 keeper in the national U-17 team.
As Hiro asked question to Nijichi, he shook his head.
"Then that let us with only one option, Kurosawa Taki" mumbled Hiro after thinking deeply for a short while.
As he mentioned about Taki, both of their gaze drifted towards Taki who was currently stretching his upper body.
"Then Kurosawa Taki it is" Nijichi agreed with Hiro's suggestion.
And as such the two of them asked Kurosawa Taki to be the keeper for this challenge.
"What are those three doing?" Questioned one of the player as he found Hiro, Nijichi and Taki preparing for the challenge.
"Are those two going to compete?"
"Ohh!!! Seems like they're dueling"
"Isn't that Hiro and Tominaga Nijichi?"
"Those two giants are competing?"
"Damn!! I wanna see who comes out on the top"
Such gossips filled the entire pitch as Hiro and Nijichi's duel piqued interest of every player in the training camp, right now.
The gossip about them dueling spread like wildfire and soon it got to the ears of every player present in the field.
And while Hiro and Nijichi discussed about who was going to shoot first, players of national U17 team started to flock around the side of the pitch where they were going to conduct their duel.
"It's gonna be best of five. One from the left corner, one from the right corner, one from the twenty yards, one from 30 yards and one from the half line. Do you agree with this set-up?" Asked Nijichi as he explained about the detail of the duel while pointing at the spots from where they were going to take the freekick.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHearing his explanation, Hiro nodded his head at first. Then again, he raised a question, "What about the walls? Or are we going to shoot without any walls?"
Because of the ongoing situation, Nijichi had forgotten to think about that aspect.
However even though he had forgotten, he didn't lose his cool. Instead he immediately answered in a haughty tone, "How can it be considered freekick without any walls. Obviously we'll select the tallest players to act as the walls"
Saying so, Nijichi walked towards the crowd and brought some players along with him. Each and every single one of them being either the tallest or sharpest or with high jumping power.
Sure enough, he wanted to defeat Hiro fair and square.
Feeling Nijichi's earnest intentions, Hiro let out a subtle laughter, "Hahaha... Seems like he's damn serious about it. Then why don't we check his stats"
As he muttered those words, he willed the system to use magic vision on Nijichi in his heart.
[Name: Tominaga Nijichi]
[Overall grade: B+]
[Potential: ????]
[Wow-factor: Freekick specialist(A), Penalty specialist(A), Poacher(B), Powerful long-range shot(B+), Instant acceleration(C)]
"Damn!! Every single one of those wow-factor corresponds well with his position." Mumbled Hiro in awe as he witnessed Nijichi's stats.
Tominaga Nijichi was a striker. To be more precise he was that typical number 9, who's sole job was to score goals. In short, he was like a goal machine in development.
While he was still in awe, he chuckled as he figured the reason behind the theme of the duel, "Hahaha... So that's why you chose this challenge huh? May be I'm tasting my own medicine this time"
Hiro laughed heartily as he thought about how all those players felt when he had such amazing talent to score freekick from anywhere.