A few letters were scattered on the table where Reina and her father sat, searching through the mails.
"How on earth are we going to find it with all these mails?" Reina expressed her frustration with a sigh.
Maybe without them checking properly, a recruitment letter must have been here the whole time, which was why Reina's father asked them to recheck.
While Zico was having his bath.
"I don't know, Reina, but if we manage to find it, Zico will be very happy," he said.
That was what kept Reina going again. She nodded, feeling completely energized, and started unfolding all the mails and reading them.
However, after checking all the mails, none of them was related to football. They both sighed, resting their backs on the chair.
In their moment of despair, the doorbell rang, and Reina stood up to get the door. Opening it, she was surprised to see a mailman.
"Um, is this apartment sector eight?" the mailman asked but got no response from Reina. She kept quiet.
On top of that, she was stressed out, having read through hundreds of mails today.
A mailman was the last thing she wanted to see. Reina wordlessly took the letter and shut the door.
She reached her seat and dumped the letter on the table. "What is in it?" her dad asked.
Reina let out a dragging sigh of exhaustion and picked the letter. While reading it, her dad was staring at her, and all of a sudden her expression was full of excitement.
"Dad, you won't believe it," said Reina.
"What? Is it what we've been looking for?"
"Oh no, that's not it. This is a letter from Thug Boys' concert. I got invited."
Her dad was completely disappointed. Now Zico was walking down the stairs to get bad news again. "Did you find it?"
Before the old man could reply, the doorbell rang again, and this time it was their father who approached the door.
A man in a black suit was standing right in front of him. The quality of the suit wasn't the type an average salaryman could buy.
So whoever this person was, he worked for big names and was getting well paid for his full-time job.
"Does Zico live here? Former Real Shine City player, ace striker with a broken knee," the man said.
"Uub, son, I think this one's yours. Please come in, sir."
"Negative. I am here to retrieve Zico Tsubasa. Behind me is the bus. We can't afford to waste any more time."
"Hmph, that's how you guys work these days? No notice, no mails?" That was what the boy resting his back on the door said—Zico.
The man recognized Zico from the file he was given. No doubt this was the boy, because it also said something about him being an egoist.
"As a player, we believe you should always be ready. If you're not, I'll be leaving now."
Zico sighed. His sister was busy jumping about the Thug Boys' concert mail that she didn't know what was happening right now.
Mr. Tsubasa turned around to look at his son. "Are you sure?" he asked, because he knew Zico's knee had only just begun to recover.
Suddenly, the bus the recruiter mentioned honked, signaling them to hurry up. Zico nodded as the recruiter started walking towards the long black bus.
"I will be fine, Dad. Right now this is the only way I can think of getting rid of those nightmares."
Mr. Tsubasa faked a smile. He was really sad watching his son leaving. And Reina stormed through the front door.
"Zico!" she cried out and ran towards her big brother, hugging him tight with her face buried in his black hooded sweater. "Don't let them bully you this time," she muffled.
Zico smiled and ruffled her long dark hair. He approached the bus. After closing his eyes with a clenched fist, he walked in.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Reina heard her father say weakly, though even he was unsure.
Inside, he saw different faces but recognized one—the captain of the football team in his school.
They didn't let him play though, because the principal never allowed it. He wouldn't want to risk getting the school shut down because a former star got his knee completely damaged in his school.
So he was very cautious.
The bus was very concealed on the inside. There were no windows for those inside to see what's outside.
So before they got there, no one had a single clue. The bus, however, stopped in front of the gate, with the door open and the recruiter telling them to step out.
When they all came out, they saw it wasn't just them. There were about twenty more buses like theirs, and all the recruits were walking through the gate.
The building was very huge, a black cube structure, with a name boldly written on it: [All Star Program].
Right in the middle of nowhere, only mountains, trees, and rocks surrounded the vicinity.
"Hey, you recognize me, don't you?"
Zico completely ignored the captain of his school's football team. The guy was walking right beside him. "Yo, I know about your knee."
Those were the words he said that made Zico spare him a stare but quickly look away and walk fast away from the guy.
"Some egoist, uh!" said the captain.
"Aren't we all?" a random kid replied—red-haired with a black eye patch on his left eye. He seemed to be playing a video game while walking.
Upon entering the building, it was already crowded. Zico noticed the number that was 990 the moment he stepped through the door turned to 991.
He looked behind him, and the next person made it 992. With that, he made his way through the white hallway and arrived at the main hall filled with different players.
"Dude, I recognize that guy. You played for New Arsenal under-21 last year."
"Man, I can barely spot any goalkeepers in here."
"Yeah, probably we are all mixed CFs, AMFs, and CBs. I'm having a hard time finding a goalkeeper."
"Oh, there's one. The only one, I think."
The players who knew each other were already making groups of friends, talking among themselves. To Zico, it all seemed like murmuring.
He wasn't that good at socializing, and after his injured knee, he never called anyone his friend. So Zico made sure no one recognized him and wore his hood.
All of a sudden, the lights switched off, making them all quiet, and as they turned back on, the holographic head of a female appeared at the far podium.
"Welcome, shall we begin?"