Metropolitano Stadium, 78th minute
The roar was still echoing around the stands when Hiro stepped onto the pitch.
Ten minutes was all Diego had given him, ten minutes to remind the world who he was, or to show them who he had become.
He jogged to his position with careful, deliberate strides, and the grass felt alive beneath his boots. The floodlights burned bright overhead, and the noise pressed down on him like a physical weight.
This was his first match in a long time, and he expected himself to be somewhat anxious. However, to his surprise, he wasn't feeling pressured at all.
Instead, what he felt was closer to coming home.
The first touch came almost at once. Lee Kang-In, who had set up Julian's goal earlier in the half, laid a simple pass into Hiro's path, nothing special at all. But the moment the ball met his foot, something shifted.
