Japan is a country that places significant emphasis on sports, with a well-established system starting from kindergarten.
Over 60% of kindergarten activities are focused on sports and outdoor activities. Their first principle of education is: having a healthy body is the foundation of all learning and life.
As a result, many students have at least one or even several sports they enjoy or are good at, and you won't often find situations where a PE teacher takes sick leave or the school soccer field is unavailable for football.
Moreover, compared to the top academic students, students involved in sports clubs are more popular with girls in high school.
In Aoba, physical education classes are held with three classes together, and the activities change every month.
Last month, they practiced volleyball and track and field, and this month, it's tennis and soccer.
After a brief warm-up session, the PE teacher, Fujiki, explained all the movements for tennis and announced free play.
"Takashi, what are you thinking? Come on, let's play soccer."
Tanaka Kotaro bounced the ball and came up to Takashi.
Takashi, feeling down, sat on the grass: "I'm not going, I'm not in the mood."
Tanaka Kotaro gently tapped the soccer ball with his knee, causing it to lightly bounce and land on his left knee.
The height was nearly the same as before.
"I'm talking about soccer."
Tanaka Kotaro looked confused: "Our national soccer team won yesterday, didn't they? Didn't they beat the other team 7-0?"
"I wouldn't even dare to lose 0-7 in a video game, how could we lose 7 goals!"
Takashi had mentally prepared for a loss while watching the game yesterday.
He just didn't expect a 0-7 score, with only one shot on goal the entire match.
He couldn't even manage to foul the opponent properly.
The other team had 20 fouls without a yellow card, while his team had 9 fouls with three yellow cards.
The last 0-7 score, he had to go back to the Three Kingdoms period to find something similar — Zhuge Liang's seven captures of Meng Huo.
Yesterday, Takashi's heart almost stopped watching.
"Which side are you on?"
Tanaka Kotaro quipped, his tone as if it were obvious: "That's normal. The other team isn't like the one from thirty years ago."
"Alright, stop talking about that. Let's play soccer. Everyone's here, you're the only one missing."
"You go find others, I'm not good at soccer."
If it were ping pong or basketball, Takashi would be pretty good.
Soccer, though, he hadn't played much.
Back in his hometown, it wasn't even about the field, it was about finding enough people.
He only played a couple of informal games in college, and he was the guy standing around doing nothing.
Tanaka Kotaro looked at him in surprise: "You don't know how to play?"
"Is it that surprising that I don't know how to play?" Takashi retorted.
"If others don't know, I'm not surprised. But you always give off this 'I can do anything' vibe, like Doraemon."
"I'm human, not a god. It's perfectly normal to have things I'm not good at. Go play with someone else."
"If you don't know how to play, I'm even more determined to call you in."
Takashi gave him a glance: "You want to see me embarrass myself?"
Takashi patted his butt and got up from the ground.
"I don't know how to play soccer, but don't think I can't kick people."
Tanaka Kotaro's face immediately turned green.
After taking a few steps, Takashi suddenly thought of something, turned back with a meaningful smile and said:
"By the way, my idol is Ramos."
"Ramos, the one with Pepe."
Upon hearing that, Tanaka Kotaro felt like his world was falling apart.
There were over 60 students in total, from three classes.
It was easy to form a soccer team.
At noon, the sun was shining brightly.
Tanaka Kotaro ignored the strange looks from his teammates and, as if preparing for a formal match, strapped on his shin guards.
The PE teacher acted as the referee.
The PE teacher blew the whistle, and the match officially began!
Tanaka Kotaro's team kicked off.
From the start, their formation was aggressively pressing forward.
In the middle and forward positions, the ball moved quickly, with frequent positional rotations, showing an overwhelming sense of pressure.
The soccer ball was passed around at an extremely fast pace.
'They're this good?' Takashi thought in surprise.
"Just play casually. The other team is made up of actual soccer players."
Ohtani Shota ran past Takashi and explained to him.
Takashi followed behind while asking: "What about our team?"
"Five from team one, two from team two.
In terms of starters, we have more players, but there are quite a few of us who are dragging the team down. And soccer is a team sport."
"How do we play with seven against eleven?"
Takashi nodded in his mind.
He observed the field and, despite the overall pressure from the other team, it didn't seem like they would concede a goal right away.
It was just unclear how long they could hold up.
"That little bastard Kotaro mocked me. He said he's going to beat us 7-0."
"Does he think we're pushovers?"
Ohtani Shota was annoyed.
The other team had soccer team starters, and he admitted that they were better at soccer.
But he was still a strong player in baseball, so who were they looking down on?
"I'm planning to teach him a lesson."
"How do you plan to do that?"
In the 10th minute of the match, Tanaka Kouta received the ball on the side, turned around, and used a quick step and shoulder dip to shake off the defending player.
Just as he was about to accelerate, before he could make any move, Takashi saw the right moment and violently charged at him, unintentionally lifting his elbow.
Ohtani Shouta quickly followed, joining the attack.
Facing the coordinated offensive of two muscle-bound boys, Tanaka Kouta was completely knocked over onto the grass.
When he fell to the ground, he was dazed.
He looked up and saw that it was his two best friends who had knocked him over, and his heart sank.
Other brothers fight side by side, but you two just charge at me like you're trying to kill me.
Takashi seized the ball and passed it forward.
The ball wasn't going fast, and the deviation in its trajectory wasn't much.
Douro Yuuki easily received the ball.
He gave Takashi a thumbs up.
"You guys are playing for real, huh?"
Takashi then looked toward Tanaka Kouta.
Tanaka Kouta rubbed his side with one hand and used Takashi's help to get up.
"You could have just hit me, but why did you lift your elbow?"
"What do you mean by lifting my elbow? You were the one who crashed into it."
Takashi corrected him.
"Where did you learn that move?"
Tanaka Kouta was genuinely curious.
That was a very slick foul, with Takashi's little move being so hidden that it caused others to suffer without getting a card.
It was definitely something to learn from.
"So you're also a disciple of the Mamba?"
"Yeah, you better watch out, or I'll keep elbowing you."
"Interested in joining soccer?"
"I can't play soccer."
"No worries, just go out there and elbow the opposing team's main player. I heard a tough guy called Shijo Mikado is coming to the school, and their school is our main rival!"
Takashi murmured, "Shijo Mikado?"
That name sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where from.
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