As the doors slid open, Ryo stepped off the train and into the cool fall air. He was loosely carrying his bag, barely keeping it from touching the ground as he moved through the station. Ryo could scarcely contain his excitement as he went towards the exit, making sure not to walk too fast.
Ren was following closely behind, and further back, their parents moved through the light crowd calmly. They had left home early that morning to catch the train that would take them to their game.
The game was at a well-maintained stadium in the neighboring city of Ueda. And although Ueda was comparable in size to Nagano, its train station was noticeably busier.
I wonder how many of these people are here for the regional games…
"Wow, it's so nice," Ryo muttered as he walked out of the station. He stopped to look around, admiring the concrete buildings around him and the crowd walking past him.
"What do you think, boys? How is the city?" Their dad asked as they stood in front of the station.
"It's nice. It's very lively with all these people," Ren answered.
"I agree, it's definitely different from Nagano. How about we go eat before your game? We can walk around and see more of the city on our way to the stadium."
With only a light breakfast before they left, they all agreed to go eat lunch a bit early. As they made their way deeper into the city, they passed clusters of locals and tourists, both roaming the streets and waiting on the sidewalk to get into restaurants.
"Wow, look Ren-nii!" Ryo said excitedly as he pointed above the treeline as they turned the corner. "That castle is huge!"
Ren's eyes looked to where Ryo was pointing, and he immediately matched his brother's excitement. "Wow, no way! It looks so cool! It would be so awesome to live there."
"I know, right? It's too bad we are not lords from 300 years ago." Ryo answered.
"Maybe we could live there if we were samurai."
"Samurai don't exist anymore, Ren-nii."
"Do you think we can live there if we dress as samurai?"
"Where would you even get a samurai's hitatare Ren-nii? You would also need a katana and a wakizashi to be a true samurai."
Before Ren could argue any further, their mom called out to them. "Ryo, Ren, if you take too long, we won't have time to eat before your game."
Ryo glanced at his sulking brother and grinned. "Don't worry, Ren-nii. Maybe you'll get to live in a castle someday. But first, let's go eat."
—————————————————————————————————
The two of them had to push through a dense crowd to meet up with the rest of their team. The venue was a general athletic, open-air stadium, featuring a track that ran around a lush grass field, which was converted into a football pitch for the tournament.
The stadium had recently been renovated, allowing the stands to accommodate more people, and with the regional tournament, seats were set up on the track, allowing for a total occupancy of nearly 20,000 people.
With such a large venue, the volume of people was something neither Ryo nor Ren had experienced.
"Do you really know where to go, Ryo?" Ren asked skeptically. Ryo was tugging lightly on the hem of Ren's jersey as he led him through the crowds. Their parents had left the two of them earlier since they had to make their way to the stands, so the two of them went to switch into their football jerseys.
"Yeah, all we have to do is go to the sidelines. Coach said that we'll have a spot to wait in while the previous game finishes."
Slowly but surely, they made their way through the stadium and met up with the rest of their team—or at least a fragment of it.
The moment they stepped onto the sidelines, they were met by coach Matsumoto. "Ryo, Ren, I'm glad both of you made it," he said, clearly relieved. "I heard from several players that they were stuck in traffic longer than expected."
That's not good. If too many are missing, we will have to forfeit the game.
"Hopefully everyone arrives in time, but most of them will not have had a chance to warm up. I'll be counting on you two to hold the team up at the beginning of the game."
Ryo tilted his head as he looked past the coach.
So far, only Taiga, Kenta, and Tomoya are here. This might be tough if half the team starts cold. Worst case, there might be a few reserves starting.
"Yes, Coach! We will do our best," Ren affirmed.
"Good, I suggest you two gear up and start stretching right away."
"Yes, Coach."
They both immediately got ready and went through their stretches, determined to give it their all during the game.
I wonder whether The System will give me a quest today. I would really enjoy having a new skill.
"Hey, Ryo… Aren't there too many people here today?" Ren asked suddenly, glancing nervously at the stands. Ren had been to a regional tournament before, but this was the first time he seemed to truly notice the audience.
"What are you talking about, Ren-nii? This is a regional tournament, of course there will be a lot of spectators," Ryo replied casually.
"Yeah, but I didn't think there'd be this many," Ren said, looking at the stands all around him. "How many people do you think this is? 2,000?"
Oh, poor Ren… Should I tell him that it's closer to 20,000? I don't remember ever seeing him this nervous before a game.
"Well, you see…" Ryo started, hesitating whether to break the truth to Ren.
"Ren, that's way too little," a voice said from behind.
"Too… little?" Ren said, confused.
Ryo turned around and saw Sato Kenta, their goalkeeper, standing behind them. He had been one of the best goalies in the league, with only nineteen goals conceded over the entire season. In truth, his remarkable goalkeeping had been one of the factors that allowed Ryusei to be at the top of their group.
"This stadium can hold 20,000 people when completely full, Ren."
"T-twenty t-thousand?" Ren stammered.
"You also know that all the games are being televised, right?"
"Y-yeah, I know."
"That means about 100,000 people in our prefecture will be watching our game," Kenta said, driving the point home.
Ren froze, seemingly losing all thought, as if his soul had left his body. Seeing him in such a state reminded Ryo of popular tech gags in his previous life.
'404 not found' is really appropriate right now. No, no, no, 'Ren.exe has stopped working' is even better. His face is priceless.
Ryo was trying his best not to start laughing at his brother, who was trying to process the implications behind Kenta's words. It was only after a few minutes of stretching that Ren finally accepted the idea of so many people watching him play.
Did he seriously not pay attention to the stands when he was playing last year? Or did it just not register in his mind until this year?
"Ren-nii, are you ready to warm up now?" Ryo said, standing back up.
"Yeah, let's warm up," Ren replied. "Let's take it easy until the game finishes up."
"Good idea."
Since they had to wait for the previous teams to clear the pitch anyway, there was no reason to rush their warm-up. The two of them passed the ball back and forth, keeping an eye on their team's situation.
"It looks like we are still missing a lot of people, and the game will start in thirty minutes," Ren said, looking over at their team. "What do you think happened for the traffic to be so bad?"
Ryo thought about it for a minute. There is only one main highway connecting Nagano to Ueda. If something bad happened on the road, then the traffic could get awful.
"I don't know," Ryo finally spoke up. "Maybe there was an accident?"
"Maybe. Let's hope everyone gets here before the game starts."
Soon, cheers rang out across the stadium as the previous game ended. One team was celebrating their win, crowding around each other and jumping up and down. The other team could be seen with their heads down, lying on the ground, or even silently crying at their loss.
Regionals was such an important event that most professional players in Japanese football have participated in the tournament. Advancing through the tournament meant recognition across the prefecture, and sometimes even nationally, so every player put in a great deal of effort into preparing for the tournament.
It must be hard to accept a loss when you did everything you could to win with the stakes as high as they are.
After congratulating each other on a good game, both teams evacuated the pitch, and within minutes, Ryo and Ren were able to move to the pitch to practice.
Ryo paused right before he crossed the byline. The sudden scale of the stadium hit him. When he was practicing, he didn't feel that much pressure, but now, with thousands of people watching his every move, he couldn't help but feel slightly nervous.
His heart beat faster as he took his first step forward.
This is it. My first time on a grand stage. He looked at Ren slightly in front of him, who also looked as if he had stepped onto a pitch for the first time. And I'm sharing this stage with Ren.
Ryo walked slowly to the goal on their side, looking around at the other players occupying the pitch. At this point, there were eight other players from their team present, but half of them usually started as reserves. So they were far from their ideal lineup.
On the other side of the field, there were eighteen players all practicing in pairs. Each of them had an ebony black jersey with red numbers and highlights outlining their kit. Even their long-sleeved undershirts were black—the entire team carried themselves with military-like discipline.
Lida Alto FC U-12. They won't be an easy opponent.
Based in Lida, situated a few hours away from Ueda, Lida Alto FC was a well-known club in the J-League, and especially famous in Nagano prefecture, with a team present in each age group. The U-12 team hosted their youngest players, most of whom were in their final years of elementary school.
Ryusei had often played against youth clubs in their group, since they made up most of the teams competing at the U-12 level. Although football was still an increasingly popular sport in Japan, most elementary schools lack the necessary funds, infrastructure, or participation to host their own football teams.
Instead, students had to join football clubs outside of school, and as a result, school teams like Ryusei or Takayama were rare in the U-12 league.
One last time, Ryo scanned the crowds. Although there was a lot of movement during the transition between games, many spectators remained seated.
Not far behind the sidelines, Ryo spotted his parents in their seats. A nice perk was that the seats near the teams were reserved for the players' families. Ryo had a slight smile on his face as he watched his parents talk between themselves.
Today's the day to show them a match worthy of our school.