章 45: Bright Sun, Soft Sand, Cold Water - Part 2
So this is youth.
Yamada quickly lost his footing as several of our players tacked the ball off of him. There were a few passes around before the ball was slowly passed back to me. I controlled it and quickly scanned the area before passing it back off.
The pace of this beach soccer was significantly slower than that of normal soccer. It was like everyone was running in slow motion. I could hear the cheers of the girls on the sidelines, it was mostly whenever Furukawa or Kimura were dribbling the ball.
I stayed back in defence for most of the time. It had been quite a while since I last played, and I didn't really want to go all out here.
The ball zipped between players as our team managed to pull off some decent teamwork. Finally, the ball was crossed in, and Furukawa managed to head the ball into the back of the small net. He landed splat on the ground, covering himself with sand.
Our teammates rushed to celebrate with him.
"Ugh! Why can't you guys defend better?" Exclaimed Yamada to his team.
"We're not all soccer players, you know!"
It seemed Yamada was definitely not a very amiable person.
There was a bit more of a commotion before someone kicked the ball and started the game back up. Their team did a little bit of passing around the back, but as soon as Yamada got the ball, he immediately began charging towards our goal.
He managed to actually dribble past several of our players. As I looked at him, I noticed that he had a very determined look on his face. I guess he was pumped up from all the anger. I drifted toward the centre and prepared to tackle him.
He managed to get past another one of our players, but he had lost most of his control of the ball due to the fact that he needed to take a really long touch. The ball began rolling toward me as he charged at full speed. He was determined to get the ball no matter what it took.
He sprinted toward me as I took a small touch of the ball.
When he was close enough to me, he instantly came in for a big slide tackle.
I saw that coming from a mile away and flicked the ball up a little, so it went over his body.
Sand splashed all over the place as I regained control of the ball.
He was really angry now, I dribbled the ball a little so he wouldn't be able to tackle it off me. He kicked my ankle several times as he tried to desperately get the ball.
I passed it off and took a few steps back.
Yamada scrambled up from the ground and began sprinting at the player with the ball.
"Hey, Mizuhara, you're pretty good. Did you used to play?" Asked Okamoto.
"A little bit."
"That was a clean flick that you just did."
"Thanks."
"Yamada's pretty enthusiastic, isn't he?"
"I guess you could say that."
"He used to play in a team with me."
"Really?"
"Yeah, but he didn't get selected for the A-team, so the two of us ended up splitting up. He was absolutely furious when he heard the news. The reason for him not being chosen was because he was too selfish, he never put trust in his teammates, and that resulted in him constantly being out of position."
"Ah, so you guys went to the same club. I guess he's always been like this, then."
"Mhm, we still do. He's mad at me because I'm in the A-team and he's in the B-team. I've tried talking to him about it, but it seems his anger's not going to go away soon."
"That's not good."
"I was hoping that he'd be able to show some initiative today, so I let him be the captain. However, it seems he's not going to be changing his ways anytime soon."
"Ah."
A few moments later, the ball was passed over to us, and Okamoto managed to get control of it. I moved in to tackle him, but it seemed that he had just passed it off.
Everyone ran around for a few more minutes before Yamada got heated once again.
"Why are you guys so useless? Just pass the ball over to me. I'm literally right in front of you!"
"Yamada, this is a team game."
"Shut up! Do you guys want to win or not?!"
Okamoto walked over.
"Yamada, you need to calm down."
"Go away! You're an overrated piece of shit." He grabbed Okamoto by the collar. A few boys ran over, but Okamoto gestured for them to stay back.
"I don't think you understand."
"What do you mean?!"
"It's precisely this part of you that caused you to not be selected for the A-team."
"Shut up! The coach is just an idiot."
"Yamada, let go of me."
Yamada tightened his grip, pinching Okamoto's skin before he let go.
"You need to take a break," said Okamoto.
Yamada was pretty clearly angry, added with the heat. His face was as red as a tomato.
Seeing the mood, most people dispersed and joined up into small groups to have chats. It seemed that soccer time was over. Yamada stomped off towards the ocean as Okamoto and I walked to the drinks cooler. Takeuchi, Kinoshita and Takagi joined us.
"Ah, I'm really not built for sport," said Takeuchi.
"You weren't that bad, especially for someone who doesn't play soccer," assured Okamoto.
Kinoshita moved closer to me.
"You were really good. I was watching," she said to me.
"Thanks."
Suddenly, Takagi pushed Kinoshita into me. Her head bumped into my chest as she tried to regain her balance.
"Whoopsies~"
She giggled as a flustered Kinoshita fixed up her hair.
"Sorry, Mizuhara~" Takagi said.
"Anyways, let's go grab some food," suggested Okamoto.
"Yeah, I'm starving!" Added Takeuchi.
The five of us made our way to the food table, which was completely filled with various different snacks. It was quite a mess as lots of people would take a few bites and leave the packaging open. The others grabbed some food as I waited.
"Are you not going to eat anything, Mizuhara?" Asked Okamoto.
"I already had quite a bit to eat at lunch."
"Ah, that's fine then."
Suddenly, I got a message on my phone.
meet me behind the toilets
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