259 Pushing your limits
Chatter!! Chatter!!
Inside the youth facility of Kawasaki Frontale, most of the players were gossiping about the performance of Japan national u17 team in the Asian qualifiers among themselves while having their dinner.
"So they'll be facing Saudi Arabia in the semi finals?" Casually asked Yuya while putting down his chopsticks.
"Yeah, it has only been about an hour since the result of the draw was made public. We'll be facing Saudi Arabia while South Korea will be facing Qatar" replied Shunta.
Yuya's eyes flickered as he mumbled enviously in a soft tone, "Only one more win... and they can play in the world cup. I wish...." Suddenly he paused for a while before tilting his head a little and dragging his words, "I could also represent our country"
While Yuya spoke those words, almost every eyes around him flickered with envy. They all shared a common feeling.
Although they were happy about the achievement of their fellow teammates but more than happiness they felt envious of their teammates who were going to represent their country in the big stage.
As a player, every player would want to represent their country in the big stage. And this youngsters weren't an exception either.
**** ****
The night sky was a tapestry of black and blue, enshrouded by a layer of mysterious grey cloud.
Hidden behind those grey cloud, crescent moon, just like a radiant smile etched upon the face of the night was glowing against the darkness, illuminating the entire night sky with it's luminescence.
A sharp contrast to this tranquil night sky, loud sound of a soft object colliding with some kind of metal could be heard in a dimly lit grassfield.
Thud!! Thud!!
Tracing towards the source of the sound, a silhouette of a person moving in the grassfield could be seen.
"Not enough... Not enough..." Muttered the person with some difficulty.
His voice sounded a little hoarse while his breathing sounded a bit irregular. Based on such signs, one could speculate that this person was exhausted to some extent.
Even so, he didn't remain still at his place for a long time, instead he immediately lifted his tired body and rush forward.
While he continued to sprint, the more closer this person got close to the source of light, the more clearer his appearance got.
Finally as he entered the radius of the light field, his figure became clear to the eyes.
Black hair, eyes as brown as tree trunk, his cheeks a little blushed from exhaustion, he was none other than Hiro.
During his sprint, after slipping down his face, beads of sweat continuously fell on the ground after some interval in an unset pattern.
Hiro then halted his movement all of a sudden as he got close to a ball. There wasn't only one ball, altogether there were four balls lying around him.
Hiro then lifted one of the ball close to him with his feet with only a flick of his feet. As the ball hovered above, he gently lowered his upper body; inturn trapping the ball delicately in his back.
After he trapped the ball in his back, he once again flicked the ball above him. This time, he trapped the ball with his head.
Finally he then rolled the ball down from his head and caught it with his hand.
Although there weren't any people watching him at this moment, he casually displayed such amazing skills for such a simple task of picking the ball.
After that he did the same with other three balls as well.
He then immediately sprinted back to his original position from where he had began his running a moment ago.
As he got to his original position which was about 30 yards away from the post he was facing at the moment, he squinted his eyes as he tried to focus his attention at the top corner of the post.
As he tried to focus his gaze at the top corner, a strange metallic light entered his eyes. And the source of that light was a silver painted ring. At each side of the top corner of the post, a metallic ring was dangling freely while being tied by thread.
While he was focusing at the metallic ring hung on the corner of the post, all of a sudden his black hair dangled and a cold sensation penetrated his body as a cold breeze rustled past him.
Hiro then let out a mouth full of turbid air before starting his run-up. Just as he started his run-up, his eyes flickered with a strange light.
Swoosh!!
The ball after leaving his feet, flew towards the post, curving along the path.
The ball however missed it's taget as it hit the pole of the post instead.
Tung!!
A tung sound resounded as the ball collided with the pole and reflected back.
"So close..." Muttered Hiro in disappointment.
After that he shot the next two balls one after other. While one hit the metallic ring, another missed the ring.
After firing three shots consecutively, he halted his movement for a bit to recover from his fatigue. Although he wanted to continue, he could feel his legs numbing out from pain.
09:00
He knew that he had already surpassed his limit. Yet he wasn't willing to give up.
Sweat fell down uncontrollably from his face. As if he had taken a shower with his clothes put on, the jersey he was wearing was already drenched with sweat.
Despite having an above average endurance, even Hiro was on the verge of collapsing right now. Nobody had forced him to do this, yet he was forcing himself to push further.
Huff!! Huff!!
Panting heavily, Hiro wiped off the sweat which had found it's way to his eyes, blurring his vision.
"499..." Hiro muttered as he lifted his head to look at the post.
That was the number of times he had shot the ball today. He had started to shoot from 5 in the evening and it was well past 8 right now.
Yet it didn't seem like he'd stop anytime soon.
Hiro then while gritting his teeth, forced himself to stand straight.
Sensation of pain ran all over his body as he tried to stand straight. At lightning speed his nerves carried the sensation of pain to each and every part of his body.
"Argh!!" Feeling the sensation of pain, he let out a muffled cry.
Yet he still tolerated the pain with great difficulty by consoling himself saying, "one more... one more shot"
Tucking his pain, he then rushed towards the direction of the ball, aiming at the only ring left hanging on the post.
Swoosh!!
The ball made swooshing sound as it flew towards the post at a rapid pace.
Right after shooting the ball, Hiro's noddle legs could no longer support his stature. He immediately collapsed on the floor.
He could no longer concern himself with the matter of hitting the target.
The pain he had desperately tried to suppress, surfaced immediately as he fell on the ground.
Part of his body felt extremely sore while his legs felt like it was being cut by a knife or hit by a hammer.
His leg muscles kept on convulsing, making his situation extremely miserable. Unable to endure the pain any longer, Hiro finally surrendered to his urge as he let out an agonising scream, "Aaaaaaaa...." filled with intense sensation of pain.
[Ding!]
[The host has completed a hidden quest]
At this time, a voice resounded in his head. However he couldn't care less about the voice ringing inside his head.
Right now, as his muscle convulsed, Hiro couldn't care about anything except the agonising pain he was feeling at this moment.
The night sky although cloudy, still couldn't hide the beauty hidden behind those clouds.
Flickering in the dark heaven, glittering lights of stars could be seen. At the same time, crescent moon while spreading its silver radiance was further accentuating the beauty of the grey clouds.
Even though it hurt like crazy, even though he surrendered to his urges, Hiro didn't close his eyes. He wasn't willing to pass out.
Thus despite this suffering, Hiro tried to hold on to his consciousness.
Gritting his teeth, clenching the cold grass beneath his body, Hiro endured the pain to his utmost limit.
Now people may say, didn't he brought this misfortune to himself? Isn't he the one who's responsible for his misery?
However to answer those questions, we'd need to talk about players who have left their mark in the history.
One such player who has sacrificed a lot to remain at the top is Cristiano Ronaldo.
Everyday he spends hours and hours on gym. Now doesn't he get tired?
Everyday he eats the same repetitive diet food. Now doesn't he get disgusted?
He probably wouldn't want to torture his body, if he could easily attain the spot where he is sitting right now after countless sacrifices.
If we could attain the top spot without torturing ourselves, why would anybody would want to torture their body?
Hiro's situation is the same, he's torturing his body to improve. He's suffering this pain to become the greatest.
No people in history have become great without sacrificing anything.
Success demands sacrifices. And you'd have to accept it whether you like it or not.
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