Three months ago...The summer vacation is just around the corner, everyone is excited, and not just because school is over, but actually because it"s the start of the summer sports championships.
In all the schools, students were extremely eager for this particular event, it is a national event where schools compete every year against each other in a variety of sports seeking to win most of the championships.
So before the start of the event, there is nothing but hard work and a lot of training. Usually, the students prepare themselves with great pa.s.sion and motivation, which is the case for everyone this year as well, except for one 13 years old middle schooler who wasn"t prompted about all of this.
At around 5 p.m. in Kyoto city, in the Kansai region of j.a.pan, a training football game was being held in Hoshiyomi middle school between its home team and one of their rivals. The coach had great expectations for the team, everyone worked hard this year, and as he established the best training plan for them, their performance was undoubtedly at its peak. Their defense was impenetrable, however, they lacked a player with an offensive scoring att.i.tude, as a result, none of the teams have scored yet and the game was about to end.
The coach was sitting on a chair beside his team"s bench unsatisfyingly observing the game, he knew he had to do something to unlock this situation, both teams had a great defense, so none of them could score. He slowly put his hand in his pocket and brought out his stopwatch. "10 minutes left before the end of the game." He said. "I guess there is no harm if I ask him to play now."
The coach turned his eyes away from the game and looked towards a boy not far away from the field, the boy seemed to not be giving any interest to the game. He was one of the coach"s best players, but he skipped much of the morning practice and he seemed like he didn"t want to hang out with people. The coach then quickly stood up and put on his coach cap, then walked towards the boy.
He was a 13 years old boy, a second year, his hair had a golden blonde color and his eyes were extremely black. He was born and raised in j.a.pan, but only his mother is j.a.panese, that"s why he had that foreign look. The boy was standing on his left hand and balancing a ball between his feet when the coach was walking towards him, it was a move that required a lot of skill, but he was doing it so easily. So As soon as he noticed the coach, he used his hands to jump and quickly stood up on his feet, his body was very athletic and lithe.
"Luke, are you ready? you have to go in, we need you out there!" The coach said.
The boy"s name was Luke. He had a face so innocent that the coach could clearly see his expressions of discomfort after hearing his words. The kid then swallowed his saliva and said stressfully. " Hmm... Coach, I"ve been willing to tell you something...". He rubbed the back of his head from awkwardness and then continued." I think...I will quit the te"
"Stop thinking about this nonsense!" The coach interrupted him. "You are wasting your potential like this, I will not let a talent like yours go down the drain!"
"But Sir, you know what I mean..." Luke said.
"I know what you mean, I know exactly what you mean!" The coach replied. He remained silent for a moment, then he broke his silence with a sigh and crouched down putting his hand on Luke"s shoulder. "Son, I know what you"ve been going through, but you have to move on, and try your best to improve your circ.u.mstances. If you give up now, you"ll always be a quitter!"
Luke didn"t talk, he just kept listening to his coach"s words, he really admired him and sometimes he feels like he is the only one who can really understand him.
The coach continued."I"m sure that if you go out there and prove yourself, your friends will surely accept you. Do you think you can do it?". He ended his speech with a smile.
Luke was still hesitant, this was really stressful for him although he agreed in the end.
The game was intense still everyone was cheerful and having fun but when the coach declared a subst.i.tution, the vibes changed instantly as the players noticed that Luke was going to play.
"Tsk, not him again..." One of Luke"s teammates said to another.
"Man! I really feel uncomfortable playing with him..."The other one replied.
Luke was an excellent player, but even so, his teammates really hated him, he knew exactly why, but he couldn"t do much about it, so he just kept ignoring them.
The game resumed, less than 10 minutes until the end, Luke"s play was really amazing, seconds after his entry and he already made a shot in the opponent"s goal, but he barely missed. The other team"s goalkeeper kicked the out ball really high, one of Hoshiyomi"s players was a good defender, he intercepted the ball and made a long pa.s.s to one of their attackers who after a short run found himself surrounded with defenders. As he struggled to make way for himself, he spotted Luke on the right side of the field waving for him to pa.s.s the ball, he was completely free and could easily score from there. But his teammate refused to pa.s.s and kept dribbling.
"MAKE A Pa.s.s d.a.m.n IT YAMATO!" The coach yelled.
Yamato freaked out from the coach"s loud scream and made a messy pa.s.s to Luke, it was a bit high, but surprisingly Luke made a spectacular jump and caught the ball. As soon as he landed, he rushed through the defense with high speed and agility until he was face to face with the goalkeeper, he adjusted his posture and then gave the ball a powerful kick, GOAL!
It was an amazing goal that Luke had just scored, he jumped from excitement as the referee blew the goal whistle, he was so happy that he was helping his comrades to win, however, none of his comrades felt the same happiness. He turned towards them to share his joy, but sadly, he was faced with total rejection from their side, no one congratulated him nor showed any bit of gratefulness. He could see nothing in their eyes but hatred and nonacceptance. It was then when he lost all hope in the team, and it was then when he knew that he will never be accepted by someone ever again.
The last 3 minutes of the game were brief, Luke didn"t do much, he was feeling too depressed to move a muscle, but even so, they won the game, one goal to nothing. The teams gathered at the end and saluted each other while the two coaches were having a discussion. When everyone had finished, the coach escorted the visiting team to their bus, as for the others, they went to their locker room to shower and dress up, it was going to be dark soon.
No one spoke to Luke, everyone was having great conversations, as for him, he just set on the corner of the room wearing his clothes quietly. Suddenly, an argument started between two other players, Haku the goalkeeper was complaining about how bad Sawamura"s play was. It wasn"t long before the argument quickly became offensive bullying. Haku had a s.h.i.tty personality, he enjoyed making fun of others, and he was good at it. And as usual, no one stepped up to stop him, but Luke just couldn"t take it anymore, Haku always does this and he has to stop, so Luke shouted. " Cut it off already!" and he stood annoyingly in front of him.
Everyone was laughing at Sawamura at first, but when Luke spoke, it got silent and awkward real quick, it always does when he tries to say something.
Haku feeling provoked spontaneously said something to Luke that the school prevented the student from saying to him. " What are you going to do about it? Kill me too?".
These words were Luke"s deepest fear, whenever someone tells him that, he starts remembering some horrifying past events and feels strong anxiety. So he took a light step back and tightened his grip with frustration. Some of Haku"s friends came and pulled him away telling him that the coach might come at any moment, and he may get in trouble, so Haku calmed down. Everyone was feeling uncomfortable about what just happened, so they left as soon as they could. Luke turned around and asked Sawamura. "Are you okay?"
Sawamura was intentionally ignoring Luke and he quickly picked up his belongings. As he was about to leave and without looking at Luke"s face, he said "I"m sorry, but my parents told me to stay away from you." and then he left leaving Luke in the room.
Luke sat alone for a while, thinking about today, he likes to imagine himself having a normal life, it makes him feel a bit of ease and gives him hope for the future. Suddenly, he starts hearing a voice inside his head calling him by his name, repeatedly and softly. It was a voice he usually hears when he"s alone, he doesn"t know the source of it but it drives him crazy sometimes. Did he lose his mind? he may have, maybe he can"t take this anymore, perhaps he reached his limits, those were the questions in Luke"s mind right now. He grabbed his bag and left the room, on his way he pa.s.sed by the coach"s office, the coach wasn"t there, so he dropped a letter under the door, it was his quitting letter, that was his final decision, he"s leaving the team.
It was 6:30 p.m., the reddish clouds of the sunset were getting swallowed by the darkness of the night while Luke was slowly walking home. He could still hear that weird voice in his head, he"ll always remember the first time he ever heard it for the rest of his life because it was the same day when he lost his best friend, Shimizu Kei.
In his first year, Luke had a friend called Shimizu Kei, they used to spend all the time together, it was Kei who convinced Luke to join the football team. At that time everything was normal for Luke and he was accepted by his social circle... Until that day.
Somewhen before the new year, Luke and Kei had a small fight on the field and they didn"t talk for days, it seemed like their friendship was over. But in the morning of a normal school day, Kei was found dead on the football field stabbed by a large knife on his throat, and Luke was found knocked out not too far from him. It was a shock to the whole school. The surveillance camera showed footage of Luke deliberately stabbing his friend after a fistfight they had last night and then losing consciousness. But Luke denied all of that, saying that it wasn"t him at all and that he and his friend never fought that day, they were actually trying to solve their stupid problem from days ago.
During his trial, the shreds of evidence weren"t in his favor, so it was obvious that he will be sent to a minor penitentiary to continue his studies there. Until an inspector named Jonathan Willow showed up, he took a strange interest in the case and came up with new pieces of evidence that proved Luke"s innocence, as a result, he was released.
But this strange occurrence and the leaked video of the surveillance cameras made the student and their parents ultimately label Luke as a murderer. And so from that day on, no one talked to him anymore.
This was a hard experience for a 13-years-old boy. Sometimes he thinks that the voice he hears is Kei"s calling him form the afterlife, and sometimes he thinks it"s just a mental flaw.
Luke reached his home, he took his shoes off and went directly to his room, he was very tired. Whenever he enters like that, his parents know that he had a bad day, they feel worried about their child.
He quickly changed his clothes and jumped on his bed, he kept thinking about this day and tried to forget all about it like he usually does until he falls asleep.
######
It"s 8:30 a.m., Luke suddenly woke up to that voice again, but this time it was louder and clearer than ever. As he has already quit the team, he was free today, he didn"t intend to wake up that early, but the voice was so loud that it woke him up. This time he could hear it with his ears not just inside his head. "It"s coming from outside!" he said. He quickly threw on some clothes and rushed outside to check it out. The house was empty, his parents went to work early while his little sister had school pastry work.
It was a cloudy day, maybe it"ll rain, the street was empty and silent, unfortunately, the voice has suddenly stopped. Nonetheless, Luke kept searching effortlessly, he was sure that he heard someone calling him. But after a while, he lost interest in the voice and just looked up and admired the view of the cloudy sky. Suddenly a huge figure just landed several feets behind him, Luke heard a heavy thud and immediately turned around to check it out... but out of terror and disbelief from what he saw he completely stopped moving, his body became paralyzed from fear.
It has been thousands of years since someone encountered one of these, but today, Luke just did, right in front of him stood a blue flashing silhouette of death!