Sapporo, December 2015.

Young Tomoaki Makino was a talented player, a disciplined defender surging from the barren land of Hokkaido. He had just led his team to the National Middle School Winter Tournament for the first time in their history, only to be screwed up in the first round of the tournament quite badly by a powerhouse team.

However, that was far from enough to make the boy feel dejected.

No, if anything, he was more ecstatic than ever. After all, even with him exiting the tournament in the first round, the boy still managed to get a scout’s attention. This time, it came from the local overlord team, Sapporo Otani.

"Listen, Makino-kun. You are a terrifying defender with the discipline on your duty that I can see from greatness. There are still a few holes in your game here and there, but we at Sapporo Otani can help you fix that and turn you into the mighty defender you are destined to be! Come with us and grab the greatness with your own hand!"

At that time, the strong words from Sapporo Otani’s scout were the sweetest seduction that he had ever heard, and like the naïve boy he was, he believed completely, promising to go to Sapporo Otani straight away.

Not that there was anything wrong with his choice, per se. After all, even though he would like to go to the more developed prefecture, Sapporo Otani was still the best team in his hometown, and they had so many chances to compete at the highest level in the country.

Not only that, their cooperation with the local J-League club, Consadole Sapporo, was already well known across the island. It was not the best team in Japan, but the modern facility there would definitely be enough to help high school players take a step further in their careers.

All the young and aspiring footballers would definitely be lured by this luxury, and Makino was also included in this list.

"Tomo-chan! Why are you sweating so hard this early?! Are you secretly training by yourself again?!" A middle-aged woman, the owner of a small fish stall in Hakodate, scolded the boy sternly. "What did your teacher tell you about overtraining?! You could hurt yourself, you know?! Do everything in moderation!"

That woman was Tamako Makino, the boy’s mother. She had been so worried about her boy after he came back from the national tournament, as he was so obsessed with his training. Hell, the woman even asked his head coach for guidance, and the man had to come and warn Makino sternly about what would happen if he continued to be stubborn.

Unfortunately, it seemed that none of those words stuck in his brain.

"I know, Mom! Stop nagging at me!" Makino wiped the sweat on his face, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "It is just a conditional training! Something to keep me sharp! The high school intensity will be different, you know?! Everyone will be taller! Stronger! I have to prepare first, or I will have no place in the team!"

Seeing the stubbornness on her son’s face, the woman let out a worried sigh before turning around at the patriarch of the family to complain.

"Old man! Look at your son! He is so stubborn like a mule, not even listening to his mother anymore! This must be from you, right?!"

The old man who was busy butchering the fish on the stall, Yoshio Makino, glanced for a second before waving off her concern casually. "Don’t worry too much about him! He is almost an adult, he knows the consequences of his action!"

"How could you be so cold to your son, Old Man?!" The woman stomped her feet angrily, starting another round of bickering in the house.

Makino himself didn’t really care about that. No, he was so used to it now, knowing exactly that this was their love language. Instead, he put his focus on the list he put on his desk, which contained all the training menus he targeted to be done every day.

"Hmm... 10 km running is done, sprint-jog training and lateral movement training... Let’s do it later. Push-up, sit-up, squat... As expected, Saitama’s training menu, while ridiculous, is still effective for a boy like me. This might be difficult, but I heard Cristiano Ronaldo did even worse in his youth, right? There is no way this light menu could kill me, right?"

His thoughts kept jumping all over the place, trying to figure out everything on his own.If his old coach could hear his thoughts, Makino would’ve been scolded mercilessly at this point for forgetting the danger of training without any supervision.

Still, the boy insisted on doing this training, and nothing went wrong until the tryout day.

Yeah, just because he was scouted didn’t mean he would be recruited. At the end of the day, scouts could only recommend, but the final decision still had to be made by the head coach. The only way for that man to see each of the recommended players’ abilities, though, was through a tryout.

"Listen, guys!" The team’s head coach raised his voice, attracting everyone’s attention with one shout. "This is your only chance to get into the team! Do your best and don’t make yourself disappointed!"

"Yes, Sir!" Around 20 players shouted simultaneously, knowing that this was the biggest event of their lives.

Makino himself also shouted with the same enthusiasm. He was jumping around giddily, feeling excited about this. After all, the boy also preferred this method. At that time, he was still a hot-headed teenager who hadn’t achieved anything, eager to prove to everyone else that he was the best.

For a moment, everything went perfectly for Makino. He was not the best player on the team, but he still stood out more than any defender in this tryout. His physical state was excellent, his judgement ability was above average, and more than that, his on-the-spot command showed his brilliant game IQ.

However, his nightmare came when they were in the aerial duel scenario, where the boy failed to reach his best height in his jump. At that moment, no one thought too much, since it was normal to lose a duel like that. However, all the people there finally realized something was wrong when the next thing they heard was the piercing scream coming from Makino.

"AAARGH!"