[Six years ago, Southern Italy – A neighborhood street]
The sound of a ball bouncing echoed along the worn asphalt, mixed with the shouts of two kids.
A young Riccardo fired a shot toward a makeshift goal built out of two backpacks, while his friend stood between them as goalkeeper.
The ball slipped past him.
"What a shot!" Riccardo said proudly to himself.
"Your turn in goal now!" the friend shot back as he jogged to get the ball.
"Okay!"
Riccardo stepped into the goal. While waiting, he noticed a group of older boys walking between the buildings, whispering among themselves with a shady attitude.
"They're here again…"
His friend approached, having seen them too.
"What do we do?"
"Same as always… pretend we didn't see anything. Let's just go, Simone."
"Yeah, I'm with you."
One of the older boys noticed their attempt to leave and smirked.
"Wanna go play at the park tomorrow?" Riccardo asked quietly.
"Yeah, sure—"
"Hey! You two!"
The kids froze. When they turned around, two boys from the group were already walking toward them.
"So, you two playing soccer?" one of them said, mockingly.
"Yeah, but we were heading home. We're tired," Riccardo lied quickly.
"Uh-huh, sure…"
The older boy bent down, snatched the ball from Simone's hands, and started juggling it lazily.
"You guys dream of becoming soccer players?"
"Yes," Simone answered without hesitation.
"Nice dream… I had the same one."
He tossed the ball back to Simone. "Couldn't chase it, though. My useless old man couldn't keep a job, so I had to step up and become 'the man of the house.' Ain't that right, Marco?"
Marco shrugged. "Yeah… same for me."
"We had to drop our dreams and help our families."
He stepped closer to Simone. "And I know things aren't great at your place either, right?"
"H-How do you know—?"
"Everybody knows everything around here," he cut him off. "Your dad lost his job. Now he just stays home drinking. That's why you don't rush back after school. You wanna know what I call that?"
He stared into Simone's eyes.
"Irresponsible."
Riccardo grabbed Simone's hand and tried to pull him away.
"Let's go, Simone. He's lying…"
But Simone pulled away, upset.
"I… I WANT to help my family!"
A slow, almost poisonous smile spread on the older boy's face.
"Well, look at that. Someone who wants to be useful."
He opened his hand toward Simone.
"I can give you that chance. Little jobs. Easy money. Stuff we can't do because, well… we get noticed."
He tilted his head.
"Sounds fair, doesn't it?"
"Simone, let's go," Riccardo insisted, voice shaking.
Simone shoved him back — not hard, but enough to shock him.
"Riccardo… you're my friend. But you don't understand. Not this time. Just—stay out of it!"
The older boy extended his hand again, almost triumphantly.
"Welcome to the grown-ups' world."
Simone took it.
And that was it.
They walked away with him, leaving Riccardo alone on the street. The ball rolled to his feet; he picked it up.
He took a hesitant step forward… then stopped.
"I… I can't do anything."
He turned and walked off, defeated.
[Present day – Classroom]
Riccardo woke up to the sound of the school bell, lifting his head from the desk.
Why am I dreaming about that now…
Nishimura approached his seat.
"You slept through the whole lesson."
"You gonna lecture me too?"
"No, not really…"
Nishimura noticed the dull look on Riccardo's face. "You okay?"
"Yeah… I'm fine."
"Alright. Come on, practice starts soon."
"Yeah. I'll catch up."
Nishimura walked out.
Riccardo grabbed his sports bag, lost in thought.
From that day on, Simone became the perfect errand boy for that group—small, unnoticed, easy to use. And in places like that… things get worse fast.
One moment you're delivering stuff.
The next, you're using it yourself.
And then it's over.
Riccardo sighed.
If I'd insisted… could I have done something?
He tightened his grip on the bag.
No. I couldn't. Some people, when they're desperate, always end up listening to the devil's call.