While all of his teammates roared in ecstasy, Hiro stood still at his place, blankly staring at the ball. His lips tightly shut and his eyes reflecting disbelief, Hiro had a complicated look on his face at the moment.
On one side, his teammates were rejoicing. On another side, opposing players were grieving. And then there was Hiro who was neither happy nor sad, frozen at his place with a complicated look on his face.
Alas! He had failed the quest.
After some moments, Hiro then turned his attention towards the side where his teammates were clustered, celebrating joyously.
There in the crowd, the centre of attention was Renji.
Big wide smile on his face and his eyes gleaming with joy, he was letting out euphoric roars while waving his hands at the crowd, celebrating his goal.
Looking at Renji's big wide smile, Hiro started recalling the moment where he witnessed the failure of his quest and aslo the failure of his meticulously crafted plan.
Just at the last moment when the ball was approaching it's final hurdle which happened to be the hands of the opposing keeper, Renji appeared between him and the success of his quest.
Sticking his head in between, Renji changed the direction of the ball, inturn stealing Hiro's only chance of completing the quest.
Although it was questionable whether the ball could have evaded the reach of opposing keeper or not, Renji's intervention had surely caused him to fail his quest.
Right now, Hiro could neither bring himself to celebrate Renji's goal nor could he get angry about Renji's goal.
He could only stare at Renji blankly and lament his fate.
Just because he wasn't happy, didn't mean he resented Renji as well.
Whether it was for good or for bad, he couldn't tell as his sight was blurred by his obsession to complete the quest.
Although he had planned meticulously to complete his quest and everything seemed like it was falling in place as well, however not everything goes as per one's wishes in the world.
"And with this goal, Kawasaki have won both the match and trophy of the best U-18 team in Japan. And what a way it is for them to win the trophy. They definitely have won the match in a style of their own. Their names will be carved in the pages of history and their names will be remembered for years and years to come."
"23 matches and no defeat, for the first time in the history of this tournament has any team been this dominating. And I doubt their record will be broken any time soon"
While praising Kawasaki's achievement, commentator's gaze landed on Hiro who was standing all alone, excluded from his teammates, "With that being said, why is Hiro standing over there all alone?"
Despite noticing Hiro's pitiful state, commentator couldn't just casually speak his heart on the mic. He had to be careful about his words as Hiro was the main man of the tournament.
Making random comments would surely create some problems for him. He'd even have to face backlashes of the peoples.
"Perhaps he's having hard time believing that his team has finally won the tournament?" Commentator guessed.
Hiro then straightened his back as he lifted his head, heaving a deep sigh, "Phew!!!"
White mist came out from his mouth and floated above, eventually vanishing in thin air.
And as he released a deep sigh, he raised his chin to look at the sky.
Partly clear, just like his mind right now the sky seemed a bit blurry to him. And the sun, though present, appeared dim and distant, struggling to cast it's light rays on the earth surface.
Even so under the presence of that dimly lit sun, snow accumulated at the roof of the stadium was slowly melting.
The chill in the air although cold felt quite refreshing right now. And even in that noisy stadium, Hiro could feel the sound of his heartbeat.
Finally he inhaled a deep breathe as he tried to clear his mind. The crisp cold air felt rejuvenating to him.
Finally he let go of his worries.
Hiro then slowly made his way towards his teammates. Joining his teammates, he mixed with the crowd.
Every single one of his teammates looked extremely happy right now. All of their faces contained big wide smiles.
At the same time, from the sidelines manager Makoto along with other coaching staffs and reserve players were rushing towards their side.
Together with the whole squad, the intensity of the celebration only continued to increase. The ambience of the stadium turned festive as every fans of Kawasaki indulged themselves in the celebration which was taking place at the moment.
From one side to another, players of Kawasaki roamed the entire field, celebrating their victory with each and every single fan present in the stand.
And as they approached the stand where Hiro's parents were seated, Hiro noticed the bright smile on his parents faces.
While his mother's eyes were full of moisture, his father's eyes were brimming with pride. He was very proud of his son's achievement.
Seeing their happy faces, his heart felt even lighter and full at the same time as his lingering worries all vanished away.
He was no longer worried about the failure of the quest.
Hiro then finally revealed a smile as he waved his hands towards the direction where his parents were seated.
The crowds continued to chant victory slogans as they continued to celebrate their team's victory.
Not only in the stadium but outside the stadium as well, people were celebrating their victory.
Infront of the television screen, many people were rejoicing their victory.
Outside the electronic stores people were clustered infront of the television screen rejoicing the scene unfolding infront of their eyes.
Even the passerby who weren't interested in football were stopping to inquire about the reason behind the celebration of those people gathered infront of the shop.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say but whole of nation was paying attention to the match.
In the stadium.
Finally after celebrating for a while, the organisers brought the trophy out.
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