After a long and relaxing Sunday, Ryo and Ren had completely recovered from their intense game. Now, they were on their way to school.
"It's so hot… I don't know how it's still April," Ren said, fanning out his shirt.
"I know, right? It feels like summer already," Ryo replied.
"I hope Coach goes easy on us today. I don't want to collapse during practice."
"Stop exaggerating," Ryo said, poking his brother's side. "You'll be fine. You were able to carry me even after Saturday's game."
Ren reluctantly groaned in agreement at Ryo's sound logic. After all, nothing they did today could be more difficult than that game.
As the houses went by and the streets changed, they finally made it to their school. They always aimed to make it to school at least fifteen minutes early, giving themselves time to settle in without rushing. They had done the same today and walked into school along with other students who came at the same time.
It was common for students to get to school a bit early, so there was already quite a crowd filtering into the school.
Ren and Ryo kept up their light banter as they walked, but Ryo found it increasingly difficult to pay attention to their conversation.
The reason was simple.
Everyone's staring at us.
He knew that quite a few students attended the football game, but Ryo had not expected to draw this much attention. It's almost as if everyone knew the final score—and who scored them.
Most of them are probably staring at Ren since he is more popular. But still…
"Look! It's Aoyama-san. I heard he scored two goals!"
"Isn't Aoyama-senpai so cool? I wish I were as good as him."
"Next to him is his little brother, right? He scored one too!"
All around them, whispers followed. Ren was clearly the center of attention, drawing admiration from older and younger students alike for his stellar performance in the game. Ryo didn't mind—Ren deserved it. They wouldn't have won without him.
"Ryo? Are you listening?" Ren's voice snapped him back to their conversation.
Oops, I spaced out. "Ah, sorry, what were you saying, Ren-nii?"
"Unbelievable," Ren sighed. "I said we'll be heading to the restaurant tonight. Mom wants to teach me a few things after practice."
"Oh, really?" Ryo said, surprised. Ren didn't start helping out this early in my previous life.
"I wonder if Mom is going to let me handle the register," Ren said excitedly.
"Huhh? You? At the register?" Ryo gave him a dubious look. "Are you sure you can even count change properly?"
"Of course I can!" Ren rebuked.
"Really? Then, how much change would I need if I gave you 2000 yen for a 1370 yen meal?"
"Umm… let's see…" Ren mumbled, scratching his head as he tried to do the mental math.
"Hurry up, Ren-nii, the customer is getting impatient," Ryo teased as he calmly changed his shoes.
"Si—Six hundred thirty yen!" Ren stammered out under the pressure.
"Correct!" Ryo said with a smile on his face. "Now, what about two 5000 yen bills for a 7380 yen order?
"I think you're right, Ryo," Ren said dejectedly, not even bothering to answer the question, "maybe I shouldn't handle the register."
"With enough practice, you'll get it. But don't worry, Ren-nii, I'm sure Mom has something more fun in mind."
"I don't think washing dishes is fun, though," Ren muttered, his shoulders slumping.
Oh… he's got a point.
Without much time left before their classes started, the two of them went their separate ways to class. Ryo climbed up to the third floor and stopped in front of his classroom.
He placed his hand on the door handle, and with a deep breath, he slowly slid it open. As he looked inside, Ryo was surprised to see everyone chatting normally, with none of them paying attention to him.
Huh? I thought I was going to get swarmed like a manga protagonist.
Ryo acknowledged that maybe those super-popular male characters that get flocked around only existed in manga. Despite all the excitement outside the building, nobody seemed too interested in him here. Ryo had anticipated a commotion when he entered the class, but maybe he had overestimated his popularity a little.
Or maybe they're just too young to really care.
"Ryo-kun!! You're game was so good on Saturday!!" Kazuki shouted from across the classroom, eagerly waving him over.
"Kazuki-kun, you watched the game?" Ryo asked as he sat down.
"Yeah, of course, I was able to watch since my sister took me to the game." Kazuki said, "But it was so awesome! You had two assists and even scored such a cool goal."
Why am I not surprised by his sister's antics anymore?
"Ah, tha—"
"Your first long ball was insane!" Kazuki continued, not letting Ryo get a word in. "All your brother had to do was put his leg out to control the ball. And your corner kick? It was such a smart play! When did you two come up with that?"
"Kazu—"
"Oh, and your goal was so good! You didn't even control it and still hit it so well. I was so excited when you scored, it was like—"
"Kazuki-kun!!!" Ryo said loudly, interrupting his blonde friend by grabbing his shoulders. "Please calm down."
Kazuki froze, realizing his monologue had been a bit too passionate. He frantically looked around, flushing red from embarrassment, and apologized to their classmates.
He really is still a kid.
"Thank you, Kazuki-kun," Ryo said gently. "If you want, I'll tell you more at lunch, so let's focus on class first."
"Okay! Sounds good!" Kazuki agreed, completely forgetting his previous embarrassment.
He's so cheerful… Sometimes a bit too cheerful, though. Ryo shuddered at the thought of twenty Kazukis talking at once.
Speaking of which, I hope Ren's not having a hard time. Then again, if I didn't get much attention, he should be fine—
—————————————————————————————————
"Ren-kun, you played so well!"
"You were so cool!"
"How did you score that corner kick, Aoyama-san?"
"Please teach us, sensei!"
"How are you so good?"
The moment Ren had opened the door, all of his classmates flocked around him like ducks waiting to be fed. They mobbed him, firing off questions faster than he could answer.
How do I even get to my seat? He sighed inwardly. I didn't think it'd be this bad.
Ren already had some experience with this from the previous year, but this was on a whole other level.
Where's Yuto when I need him? Yuto had been in the same class as Ren ever since they first started school, and they naturally became friends. Although Yuto was not quite as good at football as he was, Ren was envious of how easily he could handle crowds. He would have been able to talk his way through this in seconds.
However, Yuto had not made it to class yet, so Ren was left to fend for himself.
"Everyone, I'll try to answer your questions, so please speak one at a time," Ren said formally, hoping to calm the situation. His words barely made it out of his mouth before being drowned by the onslaught of questions.
Hahhh… I guess I'll wait for Yuto to rescue me.
—————————————————————————————————
"Are you alright, Ren-nii?" Ryo asked, standing over his brother. "You already look exhausted."
Ren was currently lying in a fetal position on the grass with his hands under his head and his eyes closed. He completely ignored everyone else around him as they got ready for practice.
"Yeah… just give me a minute," Ren answered without even moving.
I guess he's had a tough day. I don't think I've ever seen him this tired.
"Okay, but don't slack off during practice, though," Ryo said, even though he knew Ren would.
Ryo, meanwhile, was full of energy, eager to test out his new skill for the first time. After the game, he barely had time to review his notifications, but when he did later, he hadn't expected to see so many.
Other than his new skill, the progress he was most excited about was his stats. They had increased quite a bit, similar to how they had risen much faster after the first team practice.
[Overall: 30 —> 32]
It seems that increasing the level at which I play affects how much my stats grow—almost like I gain more XP for a higher difficulty.
Most of his stats saw an increase in one way or another, but the most impressive one was Feinting.
[Feinting: 30 —> 40]
While most of his stats increased by 1 or 2 at most, none of his stats ever increased so much in one go.
Why would my Feinting Stat go up so much with one game?
Ryo ran through the possibilities for such growth, and then a realization hit him.
My skill! Did acquiring Misdirection boost my stats?
Ryo's logic was simple. Misdirection was a skill purely dedicated to dribbling and feints, so what if the skill boosted his stats directly?
That's the only logical explanation. So a new skill increases its corresponding stats? But why didn't The System tell me this when giving me the skill? Did it turn on an auto-reply function as an excuse to slack off?
As he inwardly voiced his protests, Ryo brought up the other important notification he had missed.
{Skill Grade Increase!}
—[Crowd Support (E) —> Crowd Support (D)]
{Crowd Support – D}
—[When The Skill Is Activated, A Temporary Boost In The Overall Stat Is Given Based On The Crowd's Cheers. The Higher The Rank, The Higher The Boost In Stats. Can Only Be Activated Once A Game.]
Ryo knew that his skills could be upgraded, but he wasn't exactly sure how to upgrade them. Luckily for him, The System had provided a follow-up explanation on the matter.
{Notification}
—[Skills Are Ranked On The Following Scale: F –> E –> D –> C –> B –> A –> S –> SS –> EX. Most Skills Have An Upper Limit To Their Rank. Currently, The Player Can Increase The Rank Of Their Skills By Repeated Use Or As A Reward From Quests.]
I guess it makes sense. It would be too broken if all my skills reached EX rank. But a potential quest reward can be a skill upgrade? That's nice.
Ryo snapped his attention back to his surroundings and stretched on the grass, glancing over at Ren.
"Guess I'll find out how strong it is during scrimmage," he murmured.
He wanted to test out how powerful his B-rank skill was, so he was itching to play. Soon enough, the head coach stepped onto the sidelines and called everyone over.
"Everyone! Gather around! We're going to start today's practice by going over Saturday's game."
Ren immediately shot up as he heard Matsumoto, completely refreshed, almost as if he had never been tired to begin with.
Holy shit… How does he do that? I need Ren's ability to completely recover with a five-minute nap.
As Ryo envied his brother's power-napping abilities, Matsumoto didn't hold back on his critiques as he addressed the players.
"Just out of curiosity, how much ball possession do you think you had as a team?"