章 20: Mental Roadblocks

"Fuh"

There was rough breathing in the air as the particular red-haired fellow struggled to keep himself on two feet. The sweat dripped on the green grass, and the dark uniform was soaked by that sweat as well.

Chigiri was not feeling well, as his teammate forced him to play round after round. He scored countless goals on his arse but could only shoot from a distance and make a lucky shot. But, of course, it means nothing to make such a goal. Dribbling and getting past your opponent makes clear who is better in one-versus-one plays.

Dennis, on this part, was a better player; his speed was no less than his own. Due to the German's legs being extended and intense, he was far ahead in this department than Chigiri's scared self.

Understandably, the redhead's frustrations grew as he couldn't outrun his opponent. The oversized build of the german didn't play a part in this; by the way, Dennis purposely used his speed to catch up with Chigiri.

"Fuh."

Another exhausted sigh left Chigiri's mouth, and he dropped to the ground, panting heavily from all these exhausting sprints. How was Dennis? He was getting closer to the answer just by playing against him. The German was exceptionally good at using anticipation against opponents.

'I hate these kinds of players!' Chigiri yelled in his mind, almost going as far as to curse out aloud. Instead, Dennis used his tongue on the field well, building up the rage in his opponents to make them play mindlessly. 'Didn't know someone could be so snarly inside…'

Chigiri himself could talk to someone else like trash, but this was a different level. Dennis was disrespecting someone else and his existence with one-liners. 'He was so calm in the first few days; he must have been pretending.' Chigiri glared at Dennis while thinking this.

"Your speed, it's such a shame that you don't use it. Your acceleration is freakishly good." Dennis scored another goal and returned to him with a comment that said a lot. Dennis refrained from praising someone else verbally, but this happened now. "I understand why your knees couldn't handle that speed."

But,

"However, what happened has happened, and it can't be changed now. That injury is already in the past, and you are fully recovered physically. You had no trouble running after me; the problem was that you didn't do it."

Chigiri was holding back. That's what Dennis meant, and Chigiri wanted to believe something different. However, his scaredness was getting in the way. This was depressing; he was terrified of getting the injury again.

Both looked at each other, and Dennis asked, "Do you know what I do when I am sad?" Chigiri only shook his head. But, of course, he didn't know what Dennis did when he was sad; he met the dude a few days ago!

"Fucking nothing," Dennis let these words be processed by Chigiri at first, "Because I'm not a fucking pussy."

Blink…

The redhead stared at his teammate, and he couldn't understand the sentence entirely. So then, what was the entire point of the question?

"What am I supposed to tell an already healthy guy to do? You have everything fine, except for your mind, because you are acting like a pussy." Dennis laughed cynically.

He glared into the red eyes of the person, "It's so freaking stupid, afraid to lose your dreams, meanwhile refusing to run. What do footballers do? Fucking crawl?" Dennis' disappointed expression was scary. Chigiri had no words.

"Just think about it, soon the guys like Isagi and Igarashi will be better than your sorry ass." Dennis lifted the football in the air and caught it with his hands. Then he started walking towards the exit. He had no desire to talk anymore. 'That's just pathetic, to be honest.' Dennis commented in his mind as he left the field, leaving Chigiri in complete silence.

… … …

"Push! Push!"

Team Z had separate training, and they had previously allocated some of their free time to spend on training as a team. Teamwork has massively improved since the last game, and each can understand the other better now.

'Don't let Dennis get the ball!" Kunigami commanded his teammates as they struggled to keep the german at bay. Five versus five with one goalkeeper felt like an actual game, as the intensity of it was no different from an official.

Dennis still received the ball outside the box. Previously Iemon struggled to do something else, so he passed the ball out to his teammate.

'Fuck!' Kunigami cursed as Dennis well received the football. He tapped it and sent it in a different direction. Kuon was nearby, and he was the one who got the ball,

Bang!

He attempted to shoot, "Dennis!" Unfortunately, he couldn't score. Gagamaru deflected the shot aimed directly at the center of the goal. However, Dennis was still there to cover, and he ran at the ball that the keeper couldn't properly catch.

'Gagamaru, catch it, please!' Thought the orange-haired guy as he entered the hurdle with Dennis.

The German put more force into his legs and pushed his opponent, "Ahh!"

The goalkeeper was almost there. He dived to be the first who grab the football. Swish! It flew over his face, 'He got it.' He calmly thought as the ball levitated before he could reach it. Dennis' foot was the first to touch football.

Goal!

"Holy, that was good!" Dennis slid with his stomach facing the grass to avoid crashing into his teammate.

This was only one of the pieces of training they did together, there were some more, but only this showed the born fruit. Everyone knew of their strengths now, and they could recognize the meaning in each formation created by Dennis or Kuon.

He didn't wait for someone to help him and stood up on his own. "Man, that was good! We all got some teamwork in us." Dennis commented.

Kuon tapped on his shoulder, "Not only that, but the scores also improved from a previous time. This time, Dennis isn't the only one scoring. I guess it was a matter of confidence and bonding. You weren't wrong about playing against each other. But Kunigami and Raichi," He looked at the two,

"Both of you give fewer passes than others and sometimes do completely useless shots… not to be rude, but open your eyes and lift your head, please."

The words were sort of true, Kunigami could only nod after seeing everyone agree with Kuon's statement, but Raichi wasn't easy to get into an agreement with. He huffed, "My teammates just don't open up! So, I do what I can."

"Well, that too." Kunigami added.

"I would have given amazingly sexy passes, but they don't open up. The dimwits are afraid to enter the box!" His eyes landed on Chigiri and Igarashi, who could not score a single goal or assist. The only one who could do something else amongst them was Isagi Yoichi, but Raichi never said anything about him.

Chigiri's eyes met with Dennis', and the latter only shrugged as if telling the redhead, 'See, Isagi is really becoming better than you, and now you are compared to Igarashi.' Quite literally, that's how Chigiri interpreted that stare.

Everyone was improving rapidly, and he hadn't made progress at all. He was held back, left behind, and nobody cared about him… this was a harsh reality, where he would be all alone to fend for, and truly, if he doesn't decide to act right now, there won't be the time in the future.

'Am I really on the levels of Igarashi?' He doubted that, but he couldn't leave this thought at rest for some reason. If he was better, how come his performance was similar to Igarashi's? His eyes told him he could do everything Igarashi did and way better… but he hadn't done anything.

Chigiri glared at Isagi, the person to whom Dennis also compared him. This was the player that had interested him since the beginning, his progress being the most outstanding. The blue-haired played football with all his heart. Giving his everything during the training. 'Dennis…'

And undeniably, Dennis has played a major role in his improvement…

"Let's wrap up with this for today, you guys can continue if you want, of course." Dennis clapped and once again left the field, leaving his teammates who, by the noises, carried on with the training. 'They are quite energetic today.'

Dennis had some things to do today, one of which was to call his uncle. He took a shower and got refreshed before putting new pair of clothing. Swoop! With a simple movement on his screen, the German made a call. He had to wait for some time, as it was still early in Europe. 'Timezones are a bitch.'

"Romeli khar?" The sleepy voice of someone else answered his call in a little familiar language, which was just as hard as German. The man was definitely asleep. Unfortunately, he had to be bothered by Dennis this night. (I probably wrote this right.)

"It's me, Dennis; I can call later if you want, uncle."

The man went silent for some time, probably went into thinking. "Oh, Dennis. As much as I would have liked that, I'll be busy, so let's talk now. What is it?" He was answered pretty quickly, though.

"Have my dad and mom told you I accepted the project invitation here in Japan?" Dennis went straight to the question and didn't hold back, knowing that his uncle would not be satisfied with his decision.

"Hm." There was a quiet hum, and the atmosphere was tense. "I thought you would consider your situation a little before going there. I watched the press conference by the Japanese Football Association."

Dennis' uncle was a footballer and had some connections in the football world. He knew what to trust and what not. He kept it real with Dennis as well. After all, he was part of the family. "I don't trust Japan's football, not the players themselves, but the way they perform internationally due to lack of experience."

Japan for years underperformed, and only last time they showed a little bit of fight. However, one time doesn't mean anything. Meanwhile, German was a literal powerhouse of talents, even the World Cup winners in 2014. Their scouting and training system… was at least tested before.

"I'm not against you playing there while you are not in Germany. However, the press conference makes it clear to me that the project is insanity. That's not how you make a winning team. Just creating revolutionary striker… they won't mind you at all, Dennis, they are probably searching for Japanese." Uncle said truthfully.

"I know that, but it reminds me of how they did things in Munchen."

"Oh, that proposed idea of the football star, Noel Noa, to create a logically playing football team of eleven, right? The idea was too hyped for it to become a fruitful endeavor, even you left the Munchen in the end."

He was full for his nephew to go to the better academy of Berserk Dortmund, which raised even bigger stars that were being sold on the transfer market for hundreds of millions. "It'll be about money in the end, and for you to think about this, for now, is too early. Just concentrate on fixing your problem. Do you have any progress?"

Dennis sighed, "I'm doing it. There are quite a lot of talented and unique players. I'm getting distracted a little by little." His special ability, which was quite dangerous in his hands, gifted him with many problems and advantages.

"Take your time; Japan is such a place you never know what it might show you. Who knows, they might actually win the next world cup, haha. Although I doubt that. The problem for you right now is finding an appealing challenge that can teach you something new."

Dennis agreed, "Yes, I know. This place seems like the right place for me to find such challenges on a regular basis, and so far, I'm not disappointed in it."

"Still, be careful. Knowing too much sometimes isn't the best."