Inside the locker room.
"Everything is going just as we anticipated." said Coach Ikeda standing in front of the chalkboard. "But be careful, they'll likely change their approach in the second half."
We nodded.
It was time to return to the field.
The whistle blew for the second half. Ide rolled the ball to Mihashi for the kickoff. He was immediately pressured by a Hanawa player, so he turned and passed it back to Nakai.
Nakai took a moment, scanning the field calmly, then sent a precise ball forward to Kuramochi, positioned wide on the right flank.
Kuramochi controlled the ball cleanly but tried to take on his marker with a step-over. The Hanawa defender didn't bite, he lunged in and cleanly stole the ball.
"Damn, sorry." Kuramochi muttered as he turned back.
Hanawa wasted no time. They immediately switched into a counterattack. The ball was carried swiftly up the middle.
Yamada sprinted in to intercept Kazuo Tachibana, but Kazuo calmly sidestepped and laid the ball off backward to one of his midfielders in support.
"Get back!" I shouted, already retreating.
Hanawa's midfielder controlled the ball with a single touch and looked up.
"Now! Play it!" Masao Tachibana called out, surging into the right side of the box.
Soda was already in motion, anticipating another one of their aerial plays. He leapt early, positioning himself to intercept a cross... but the ball didn't come high.
Instead, the midfielder sent a sharp, low-driven pass skipping across the grass — right between two defenders — and straight to Kazuo, who had ghosted in near the penalty spot.
"This one's going in!" Kazuo shouted with determination. He took the shot instantly.
The ball sneaking just past Tsuji, our keeper, who had dived but was a fraction too late.
"Goal by Kazuo Tachibana!" roared the announcer over the stadium speakers. "Hanawa's not done yet, could they be staging a comeback?"
The crowd buzzed.
We repositioned ourselves on the field.
Back at the center circle, Mihashi placed the ball, ready to kick off. This time, he passed to Ide, who calmly started carrying the ball up the pitch. Instead of forcing the play, Ide opted for a more controlled buildup, exchanging a few short passes with the defenders and midfielders to regain rhythm and composure.
But Hanawa was no longer the same team as in the first half, they pressed harder, faster, and with a new intensity. In the chaos of a misread pass, Hanawa intercepted. Our backline, shaken and briefly hesitant, failed to reorganize in time.
Masao Tachibana, broke through the center. A teammate slipped the ball through a gap in our defense.
Soda sprinted into the space, but failed to completely stop the ball which, even though he touched it lightly, went into the goal.
"Goal for Masao Tachibana! Hanawa is doing it, they're coming back into this match!" the commentator exclaimed, his voice riding the wave of the crowd's roar.
"My fault." Soda said to Tsuji, who replied. "No, it's me. I should have stopped it."
'So that's how it is.' I thought, narrowing my eyes as I looked toward their half.
"There's not much time left." I muttered under my breath, already moving toward the center circle again.
Kick-off.
The ball was played back quickly. Nakai spotted a gap in the midfield line and fed a low, piercing pass straight to Ide, who had made a clever diagonal run into space.
Ide didn't stop, with one look up, he saw me peel off my marker and timed his pass perfectly.
The ball arrived at my feet in stride.
One-on-one with a defender, I pulled off a tight elastico, snapping the ball from outside to in and slipping past him before he could react.
Another opponent lunged in to close the gap, I touched the ball slightly forward, then whipped around him with a clean self-pass, sprinting past and collecting the ball again like it was on a string.
I was in the box now.
The goalkeeper charged out, spreading himself wide. I wound up as if to shoot with power, he bit, diving to his left.
But I never intended to shoot. I let the keeper commit, then calmly tapped the ball into the opposite corner.
The stadium erupted.
"It's his FOURTH goal! Orochi is unstoppable!" cried the commentator, practically breathless. "You can't take your eyes off him for even a second!"
As Hanawa scrambled to restart from the center, the referee blew the final whistle.
Azumaichi FC 4 — Hanawa FC 2.
The match was over.
After the final whistle, we made our way toward our opponents to shake hands, as a sign of mutual respect. The tension from the game slowly faded, replaced by sportsmanship.
"Good game." said Masao, breathing heavily but smiling. "We'll come back stronger next time." added Kazuo, determined.
I shook their hands silently, acknowledging their effort. As we left the pitch, the crowd erupted in applause. Some fans were shouting my name. I had now equalized the top scorers ranking.
Later that evening, in our hotel room.
The atmosphere was calmer. Soda was lying on his bed, one hand behind his head.
"That was the toughest match we've had so far." he said thoughtfully.
"Yeah… It's been a while since I conceded two goals." Tsuji muttered.
I had just stepped out of the shower, dressed in my pajamas, towel draped over my head as I dried my hair.
"That was nothing." I said, looking around the room. "There are still teams moving forward."
Soda sat up.
"You're right, and next up is Furano." he said, pausing for a second.
I nodded.
It was the next morning.
Only 8 teams remained in the tournament, out of the original 48.
Since there were other quarterfinals scheduled before ours, we decided to go watch them.
Meiwa FC secured their place in the semifinals after a 5–1 victory over Kasai.
Nankatsu SC, on the other hand, crushed Shinjo with a staggering 7–0 win, putting on a complete display of team strength.
As the final whistle blew and the crowd buzzed with excitement, I stood up from my seat, stretching slightly.
"Alright. It's our turn now." I said, signaling to the rest of the team. We left the stands and made our way to the locker room to get ready.
On the way, we crossed paths with the players of Musashi FC. Jun Misugi walked at the front of the group, calm and composed as always.
"Shin, don't forget." he said meeting my gaze.
I gave a small smirk. "Don't worry, Jun." I replied. "But maybe you should start worrying about your next opponent."
I tilted my head subtly toward the Nankatsu players, who were still celebrating their win.
Jun followed my glance.
He didn't say anything, but I could tell, he understood exactly what I meant.