Volume One: The Boy Who Loves Football

Prologue: The Unruly Ryan Howard

Several girls walked in from outside the door, and as soon as they entered the classroom, they called out loudly in one direction: "Kevin CarterKevin Carter, we have good news! Want to hear it?"

In their line of sight, a tall, well-built boy who was talking to someone else turned his head. He had a dark complexion, closely cropped hair at the temples, and looked very energetic. Especially his eyes—unusually large for a boy, bright and lively, as if he could speak with just a glance.

The girls were a little dazed by that look, forgetting to speak.

"What good news?" The boys around Kevin Carter grew anxious when the girls fell silent.

"Yeah, come on, say it already!"

The girls snapped out of it and rushed to say, "The school football team is recruiting new members!"

"I saw the poster on the notice board!"

"It says the official tryouts are in a month..."

The boys waved their hands dismissively: "Oh, that's all? We already knew about that!"

"Huh, you did?" The girls, who had come to share the news, sounded a little disappointed.

"Hmph, when it comes to football, we care way more than you do!"

Kevin Carter, who hadn't spoken yet, nodded to the girls: "Yeah, they already told me. We were just talking about it."

"Ah..." The girls blushed at his response. "Um... then Kevin Carter, you definitely won't have any problems, right?"

"Of course!" Before Kevin Carter could answer, the boys around him spoke up for him. "Come on, look at our Mr. Carter—he's had professional training, and he was the MVP of the Antong Cup in middle school! That's the best middle school player in the whole province!"

"If he can't make the high school team, there must be something shady going on!"

"Exactly! If they don't pick Mr. Carter, are they going to pick that Ryan Howard kid? If Ryan Howard gets picked, that's the real scandal! There must be some backroom deal!"

At the mention of Ryan Howard, everyone—boys and girls—burst out laughing.

The classroom of Class 2, Grade 1 was filled with cheerful air.

※※※

A short, skinny boy was running up the stairs of the school building, his movements a bit clumsy. As he rounded a corner, unable to stop in time, he crashed into the wall and had to push off with both hands to change direction, like a bouncy ball ricocheting between walls.

Amid the flow of people going up and down, he nearly bumped into others several times, stumbling as he ran. Sometimes he even had to use both hands and feet to climb the stairs, but he never slowed down, just left a string of "Sorry!" and "Excuse me!" behind him, dashing upstairs without looking back, leaving all the angry glares and scoldings behind.

After reaching the top, there was a fifty-meter corridor ahead—a straightaway. He sped up toward his classroom.

He was getting closer and closer to the finish line, but just then, a chubby boy suddenly walked out from the back door of the classroom!

The boy waved his arms and shouted, "You go left, I'll go right!"

The chubby boy froze for a moment, then did as he was told and moved to his own left.

At the same time, the boy quickly veered to his right.

And then... the two of them, unsurprisingly, collided head-on.

"Crash!"

"Ouch!"

"Damn!"

※※※

The cheerful atmosphere in the classroom was interrupted by the commotion at the door, and everyone turned to look.

"What's going on?"