Tsukiko could tell by herself. Teikou’s player seemed more nervous than they started. Seiyo’s team, on the other hand, seemed determined to score.
The beginning of the second time was almost a replay from the first half’s last five minutes. Even though Seiyo lacked the quality, they pressed forward, and if not for the goalkeeper, would be winning by now.
Teikou, on the other hand, couldn’t exchange more than three passes without losing the ball. And the worst was that the players were starting to feel the pressure. They made more fouls in the first twenty minutes of the second time than the entire first half.
“They’ll end up finishing the game with a player short like this,” Yui voiced Tsukiko’s worried and the girl bit her nails again.
Barely two minutes had passed when Teikou’s number six made another foul. When the referee showed him a yellow card, no one from the team protested.
“Hey, Teikou’s making the last substitution,” someone from the bleachers said.
Tsukiko turned to the bench. The coach talked with someone, but she couldn’t see who it was. Her breathing was short and rapid, but when the player walked to the sidelines, the girl beamed when she saw the number seventeen on his back.
“It’s Taiyou-kun!” She pulled Yui’s sleeve.
“You’re right. For a first year to enter now… I’ll bet he’s more nervous than the rest of the team put together.”
Yui was right. Even from this distance, Tsukiko could see the boy’s legs trembling. He walked to the sideline, so stiff the girl thought he would trip at any moment. Before she realized it, Tsukiko to get as close as she could to him.
“Good luck, Taiyou-kun!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Taiyou-kun, along with everyone else, turned to her. The boy’s face became an alarming shade of red, but he smiled, though stiffed, and nodded his head, barely moving his neck.
As Number Six walked to Taiyou-kun, Tsukiko sat on her seat. Though her face was red, she smiled. Yui looked at her and sighed without saying a word.
A little more than ten minutes had passed and the situation had changed. Though they were still not playing as good as the first half, Teikou seemed to loosen up a bit. But they weren’t close to scoring.
“They got better after Taiyou entered,” Tsukiko said, a note of pride in her voice.
“Yeah,” Yui agreed. “Guess the third and second years realized if a first year’s playing, they were too awful.”
“So that’s why he entered?” Tsukiko snapped at Yui, suddenly angry. Even though she herself realized it, the thought of the coach using Taiyou-kun like that annoyed her.
“Don’t get mad at me,” Yui said calmly. “The boy isn’t the main character. He’s not gonna score the winning goal. He’s not playing to make up for the team’s nervousness, but even so, he’s helping. There’s no reason to get angry when he’s playing his part.”
Tsukiko bit her lips and turned back to the field. It was true Taiyou-kun hadn’t made much difference so far. The few times he touched the ball, did his job as left back and cross it, though ended up being useless. One was too high and the other the defense intercepted, but the third one was just perfect. If that Nine wasn’t so late, he would’ve scored thanks to Taiyou-kun, Tsukiko complained in her head.
“Run, Seventeen!” one of the spectators screamed.
The ball ended up with Taiyou-kun again, but this time there was no one around him to stop him and he ran. When he was almost near the corner, the boy prepared to cross the ball… but Seiyo’s defender appeared out of nowhere and intercepted him with a sliding tackle.
Tsukiko held her breath as she watched Taiyou-kun fall forward and laid down on the grass.
“Foul!” Yui and the spectators screamed almost in unison. The referee blew the whistle and showed the yellow card again.
Time seemed to stop for her. Only when Taiyou-kun pushed himself up, Tsukiko breathed out in relief. “Thank goodness he’s okay.”
After checking if Taiyou-kun was okay, Teikou’s number eight went to complain to Seiyo’s number four. His teammates had to contain him, but no matter how much they tried, he screamed as he grabbed Four’s shirt. Eight only let go when the referee showed him the yellow card.
“He needs to calm down,” Yui said and Tsukiko agreed.
It took a while, but everyone calmed down. The players positioned themselves inside the penalty area.
“Seventeen’s gonna cross it?” a spectator said. “Isn’t he a first year?”
“Yeah. It should be Eight. He’s the best, but…”
Tsukiko didn’t need to listen. Number eight had been in charge of the free kicks, but he was so nervous everyone made him get away from the ball.
Taiyou-kun was the only one near the ball. Except for his chest moving up and down slowly, he was a statue. Even after the referee blew the whistle, the boy didn’t move. After what felt like an eternity, he ran.
The play seemed surreal to Tsukiko. The ball flew in the air and number eleven jumped above everyone else. With his back against the goal, he smashed the ball with an amazing bicycle kick. The goalkeeper stretched as much as his body allowed, but even with his entire wingspan, he could do nothing beyond watch the ball stretch the net.
Tsukiko didn’t join Yui and the others celebrating the goal. The girl only had eyes for the boy. Taiyou-kun had a blank expression on his face, almost as if he couldn’t believe himself. But when his teammates joined to hug him, he showed a smile the girl had only seen a few times.
“He looks so cool,” Tsukiko whispered with a gentle smile on her lips.
“Yeah, even I can’t disagree with that,” Yui said.
Tsukiko looked at her friend and blinked. “Did I just…”
“Yeah. You just said that to everyone to hear.” Yui laughed and Tsukiko blushed, but she didn’t look away.
“It’s not a lie,” she mumbled
Yui chuckled. “Let’s just hope they can keep the score this time.”
“Don’t say that!” Tsukiko placed both hands on her ears. “You’re giving room to bad luck!”
Before her friend replied, the referee blew the whistle. Seiyo’s team ran towards Teikou’s goal with almost every player.
Teikou reacted with the same manner, defending with every single player. Seiyo tried and tried, but the defenders didn’t let the ball inside the area, kicking it any side far from their goal. In the last five minutes, Seiyo had over four corner kicks.
“What? Three minutes?” A spectator screamed at the referee.
Tsukiko turned and saw the referee holding up three. “Why so much extra time?” the girl pulled Yui’s sleeve again.
“That free kick took some time,” Yui said, crossing her arms, her face serious.
“Ah, damn it!” Tsukiko messed her hair and turned to the field. Three minutes is nothing! It’ll go by just like this, she said to herself, hoping it would happen like that.
It didn’t. Time moved so slowly it seemed it had stopped altogether. Every time Tsukiko pulled her phone, the hour never changed. Never three minutes felt so long, not even in school, not even waiting to respawn in a game!
Tsukiko didn’t think it would come, but finally, the game was in the last minute. Seiyo still attacked, but Teikou resisted with everything they had. Even Taiyou-kun panted, but he too didn’t stop running for a second.
“It’s the last play.” Tsukiko heard someone saying.
Seiyo had a corner kick again. Their goalkeeper ran to the other area. The players from Teikou surrounded him, but the tallest one barely reached the chest. Seiyo’s Ten sweated and panted just as everyone else, but he still kicked the ball on the same strength as before.
It was hard to understand what happened. All Tsukiko could see was everyone pushing each other and suddenly three players fell. The girl pressed her hand so hard it became white when she saw Taiyou-kun was one of them. The ball hit the boy’s elbow and in the next instant, Teikou’s Nine kicked as far as his tired legs allowed him.
The referee’s whistle resounded over the field and Teikou’s players and supporters celebrated. But suddenly everything grew silent as everyone realized referee wasn’t pointing to the center of the field. His hand pointed to the center of the area, to the little round mark.
Almost like a wave, angry yells replaced the silence. “What? It was a foul from Seiyo!”
“Are you blind?”
“What’s happening?” Tsukiko asked Yui.
“Penalty kick,” her friend answered with a heavy voice, her breathing hard and slow.
Tsukiko widened her eyes and looked at Taiyou-kun the next instant. The boy bit his lips and looked down. His teammates surrounded the referee, yelling and pointing to Taiyou-kun, but the man in yellow shirt shook his head. He ignored the players, got the ball and put on penalty mark.
The spectators lamented. “Now it’s up to Agaha-kun.”
Tsukiko knew what would happen if Seiyo tied the game now. It would go to overtime and even though both teams were exhausted, it would probably be as the beginning of the second half. Come on, goalkeeper-kun, come on, she prayed in her heart.
After Teikou’s player stopped complaining, Number ten stood a few steps from the ball. Between him and the goal, there was only Agaha-kun. Tsukiko brought her hand to the mouth to bite the nails, but there were no nails left to bite.
The referee blew the whistle. Ten stood where still, staring between the ball and Agaha-kun.
Tsukiko held her breath when Ten ran and kicked the ball. The goalkeeper chose the right side, but he wouldn’t make in time.
Agaha-kun stretched his hands and his fingers touched the ball lightly. The ball hit the post and went to the sideline.
Taiyou-kun ran, faster than anyone. He got the ball and kicked as far as he could. The ball was still in the air when the whistle echoed again. Everyone turned to the referee. The man in yellow shirt pointed to the center of the field.
Only then, everyone cheered. Tsukiko hugged her friend, jumping in happiness.
“That was a great game,” Yui said by her side, but the girl barely heard her friend.
She had eyes only to Taiyou-kun. The boy panted as he stared the ball with a blank expression Only when his teammates congratulated him, he managed a smile. But Tsukiko noticed he was forcing.
“It’s your job to take care of that. You know, as a friend,” Yui whispered to Tsukiko. She stood up and stretched her arms. “It ended up being more interesting than I thought, thanks for dragging me here. But the rest is up to you.”
Tsukiko watched her friend walked away. After the enthusiasm left, she found herself drained. Everyone started to leave the bleachers, but she still hadn’t found strength to stand. I wonder if I’d feel like this cheering for Kobayashi-kun? She thought for a while, but soon shook her head. I doubt it, she told herself as she forced herself up.
The teams had already greeted each other and now exited the field. Taiyou-kun talked with a teammate. Though he smiled, Tsukiko could tell he felt more relief than happy. Instead of celebrating, he’ll think only about the penalty and what could’ve happened.
Hope no one complains, Tsukiko thought, standing near Teikou’s locker room.
“It wasn’t our best, but we showed we can handle pressure,” she heard someone inside screaming. Probably the coach. “And great game, Agaha. You too, Fuyuzora. Now, remember to rest tomorrow. Monday we’ll start training for our next adversary.”
Tsukiko waited as the players left the locker room. Some of the boys looked at her and blushed when she met their eyes, but most were too tired to notice her. She waved at Mitobe-kun and Kazama-kun. And as she expected, the boy was the last one.
“Hey Taiyou-kun. Great game,” she said with a smile.
“Thanks,” he said in his low and polite tone. The boy looked at her and smile, but it was so thin it might as well not be there at all.
Even though it would suck to me, he should celebrate with his teammates, she thought, walking by his side. But I know he’s not in the mood to that.
“Hey, how about a hamburger? My treat,” she invited him and offered her hand.
“Hm,” Taiyou-kun mumbled. With his head down, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
Tsukiko saw the tears coming down his face and immediately raised her eyes. “Hey, it’s raining,” she said, looking at the clear and sunny sky. “We should pick up the pace.”
“Hm,” he mumbled again.
Tsukiko kept quiet. He wants to say, she knew, so she waited.
“I almost ruined everything,” he said after a while, squeezing her hand tighter.
Tsukiko wanted to say everything worked in the end, but she knew those words wouldn’t work with him. She stopped and forced him to look at her face. “You should stop thinking about what could be. Yes, you made a mistake that could’ve cost the game,” she said, cleaning his tears with her thumbs gently. “But no one blamed you. That’s the great thing about soccer. You have your teammates to cover up for your mistakes.”
“But…” Tsukiko placed a finger over his lips. She already knew what he would say.
“Instead of dwelling on your mistakes, learn with them.” She rested her forehead on his and smiled. “And make sure you never make them again.”
When she leaned back, Taiyou-kun placed his hand on his forehead, right where she touched him. After a second, his face relaxed and he smiled like the Taiyou-kun Tsukiko loved to hang out. “Thanks.”
Tsukiko blushed as they started walking again. Suddenly she felt an urge to tease him and leaned closer. “You looked so cool during that free kick it made my heart beat faster,” she whispered in his ear. “If you keep showing that side to me, I’m gonna end up falling for you.”
Taiyou-kun blushed and looked down, but Tsukiko saw the smile on his lips. A real one that did make her heart beat faster.
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