Chapter 34: One Thousand

To Hiro, the long speech from the coach landed on deaf ears. Luckily, he wasn't the only person who found changing into their sportswear much more interesting than listening to the coach.

The standard set of soccer shoes couldn't be said to be very comfortable, but it was still better than the flat sneakers most people wear to class.

Seeing that everyone was more or so ignoring his speech, the coach sighed helplessly.

He eventually clapped his hands and called out, "Alright, alright! I'll give you three minutes to split into two teams, and other than declaring your respective goalkeepers, I don't care about the rest. You know what to do."

In a moment, a horde of students moved to the other side of the group.

Meanwhile, Hiro was too lazy to even bother with the shuffling. Vanti and Zyd stood nearby, also waiting for the shuffling to be over as they watched with clear interest.

Honestly, the second-year sophomores were more or less familiar with the base level of each other's skills, but very few of them would stay behind in the club if they couldn't make it into Group A after an entire school year.

Thus, while Hiro spotted the occasional sophomore seniors in the crowd, they typically maintained a low profile, not trying to stand out at all.

In Hiro's team, Vanti somehow ended up as the team captain. Hiro didn't even notice when Vanti had put the captain's armband on his left shoulder.

It had to be said that this guy's social skills were top-notch. Soon, the two teams were deployed onto the field, while those who were unlucky enough to be ostracized were left on the benches.

Well, some people were like Marcus, voluntarily choosing to sit this one out. S~eaʀᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Damn," looking around, Hiro noticed that more than half the players were in the position to play in forward positions.

There were no defenders near the penalty box at all, while only three people stood in the midfield positions; right, left, and center respectively.

While the coach was about to whistle for the kickoff, hordes of students suddenly showed up to watch the match.

All of them were freshmen.

From their shouting and cheering, Hiro realized that some of them were already die-hard supporters of a handsome guy on the other team.

His name was Kenshin, and he was an international student judging based on his appearance and complexion.

Well of course, how could I forget about such a cliche thing? This must be the popular foreign student.

Hmm, I'm also considered a foreign student, right? A super foreign student?

As Hiro thought to this point, he heard his own name being yelled out. Looking over, he saw Bella together with some of her classmates on the other side of the soccer field.

Of course, Bella wasn't yelling, though she instructed her friends and followers to do the cheering in her stead.

However, Hiro quickly noticed that many people were shouting his name, but they were looking at the wrong guy.

Damn, they're not sincere at all! They only know my name and that my hair is red, so they're cheering anyone with red hair?

Understanding that his popularity was on the line, Hiro's mind turned and he quickly raised an arm to wave at Bella.

He put on a smile he thought to be bright and confident, but he underestimated how impactful his current level of handsomeness was.

The moment the girls locked on their target and confirmed that he was adequately handsome, they exploded with louder cheers.

The soundwaves from the two sides, the 'Go Hiro' soundwave and the 'Go Ken' soundwave crossed the soccer field and clashed fiercely.

Unknowingly, people from both teams started to pack off little by little, leaving Hiro and Kenshin standing on opposing ends on the field, in a direct confrontation.

Hiro hadn't expected this sort of development.

While he and Kenshin stared at one another blankly, the coach's temper exploded as he yelled loudly.

"Stop wasting time! Get in your positions or leave the team!"

No one knew where he got the megaphone from, but no one cared either. They quickly shuffled back to their positions, and Hiro stood next to Zyd in preparation for the kickoff.

As the whistle blew off, Zyd kicked a straight pass to Hiro's feet before he ran back to the defense line.

At the same time, at least six students penetrated the halfway line from both sides and charged toward the opposing team's penalty box.

After receiving the ball, Hiro began to familiarize himself with its weight for a few seconds before testing it out by passing the ball to a random student.

Even if he had professional soccer skills at the moment, he still needed to get a feel of his environment, the ball, and other factors independent of his inherent skills.

For example, the skill level of his teammates.

Another example, the environmental factors and how they influenced his speed, maneuverability, and the ball's trajectory in the air.

Further away behind the touchline, every fished out their phones and began taking photos before posting on their personal iMessage newsfeed.

However, what Hiro hadn't expected was that the students didn't even follow the basic one-two; one-two passing technique.

Everyone was so damn adamant about showing off their supreme dribbling skills.

A random student gets possession of the ball, runs with it, gets tackled then loses the ball.

Then, the next follows in their footsteps, then the next, and the next.

At one point, Hiro stood still for a moment before he started to furiously rub his head, feeling both angry and amused.

Everyone was shouting for a pass, and once they got the ball, they turned deaf and mute with a smug expression that called for a beating.

Luckily, there were only so many students on the field. Soon, Vanti and Zyd took possession of the ball.

One of them was a seasoned second-year sophomore student while the other was a talent when it came to situational awareness and passing skills.

They quickly rushed toward Hiro's corner and included him into their fold, advancing in a triangle formation.

At first, Hiro found it a little awkward to handle the ball, but his {Professional Combat Skills} and {Professional Soccer Skills} overlapped in some areas, allowing him to quickly adapt to using his muscles in the ways of an extreme sport.

From breathing, regulating his strength, distribution of force when sending and receiving the ball, and his situational awareness thanks to his new intuition gained from the {Espionage I} skill.

Soon, the trio easily penetrated the halfway point and reached the opposing team's defense line.

Seeing that both Zyd and Vanti were occupied fending off for themselves, Hiro's pattern of movement changed.

He preformed a feint, and instead of passing the ball over, he dragged it along the curve of his shoes, pushed it a few metres ahead, and executed a full-blown sprint before the defenders midfielders could react.

Just like his team, there weren't any defenders in the penalty box area, leaving Hiro all alone to confront the goalkeeper.

Goes without saying, it was an easy goal with the furious ball embedded into the top right corner of the net.

"Ez!"Hiro shouted a term that confused many students, but no one cared about it and simply followed the herd mentality to shout along.

"Ez! Ez! Ez!"

The coach blew the whistle and announced the goal, while Vanti was quick to jump onto Hiro's back from behind, almost tossing the latter to the ground as he shouted.

"Amazing shot! Haha, I don't know what 'Ez' means but heck, Ez!"

Hiro didn't bother explaining some gaming terms from his past world such as 'Ez' or 'GG.'

In any case, the pronunciation was very similar to the word easy in multiple foreign languages from this world, so it wouldn't take long before someone figured it out.

Someone who captured the entire attack on his camera quickly uploaded the video on the iMessage newsfeed while tagging Hiro, Zyd, and Vanti in the post.

Quickly, many similar posts followed.

Since Hiro didn't place any privacy measures towards friend requests, anyone could add him as a friend and become a follower by the tap of a button.

Thus, while he was arguing with Vanti, he heard the system's chime in his mind, notifying him of the constant infusion of friends to his interpersonal relationships window.

Hiro was more than elated, and this enthusiasm that bubbled inside his heart was searching desperately for an outlet.

Thus, he quickly urged his teammates to vacate the opposing team's half of the field and prepare for the kickoff.

Although he wasn't the captain of the team, he still carried the aura of a big shot from the previous momentum, and no one dared defy his words.

For the rest of the game, Kenshin also displayed his skills with long passes, dribbling, and shooting.

However, one player couldn't carry the team on his own. When the ball was intercepted, it would quickly find its way to the golden trio of Hiro, Zyd, and Vanti.

Whenever that happened, Hiro was almost guaranteed to score a goal.

The game eventually ended with a score of 5:3, with Hiro's team winning.

While everyone was happy about the win, Hiro was happy about something else…

He reached the benchmark of 1,000 friends!