Quantum Leap - Vol. 3 I Will Wait For You On The Other Side

C012 Champions

Saturday, 13th May 1995

09:40 am Inazawa Futsal Stadium

The morning went without a hitch the moment I woke up right before any of my alarms goes off and rose immediately from my bed and checked my phone first to ensure I do not miss any messages from Akira. After I had made sure that she had not sent me any messages or anything out of the ordinary since last night, I immediately send one to her myself and informing her that I would be waiting for her at the front of the dormitory so that we would be able to go to Inazawa Futsal Stadium together. It was only 6 am in the morning and it would be great for us to get ready much earlier than usual since we could get some grub together on the way there.

As usual, at 730 in the morning, as suggested by me, Akira was already waiting at the front of her dormitory so that we would be able to take a slow walk and ride to our intended destination. I had brought my personal gear with me so we do not have to rely on the gear that was stored inside the locker room. At least we can straight proceed to Inazawa Futsal Stadium instead of heading to the school and then be sent to the venue there on our yellow school buses.

When we reached our destination, the spectacle at the Inazawa Futsal Stadium had reached its fervorous peak of chants, cheers, drumbeats and whistles, pompom girls and mascots as the emcee announced to the wild crowd of the upcoming championship that would be starting real soon.

I squeezed Akira's hands and informed her that I would go and change to my futsal gear and do a bit of warm-up since the competition would be starting real soon right after the announcement. She bade me good luck as I made a beeline towards the players' changing room where our coach was waiting there for me since I was the last one to arrive. 

Upon reaching there, the coach was trying to apprehend me since I had taken my own sweet time to reach there, "Hey Shiro...Wait...! Don't you run away from me, kid...! How come you are so late and dilly-dally entering this area since you already knew that we would be against the defending champion later on?" I ran past the coach and waved my hands at me as I made my way into the locker room to change to my No,7 jerseys.

After I had changed into my personal gear, I made the opportunity to run the lap around the arena a few times to get warmed up. In fact, the crowd that had gathered here in the Stadium had already made me swelter under the warmth of the spotlights when I happen to run close to them.

As the emcee announced the names of the opponent's players, the other half of the stadium cheered as familiar names were mentioned each time as if they were welcoming the warriors of a chariot race. When it was our turn, the 600+ crowd turned wild and screams of encouragements and the school name was chanted over non-stop with the accompaniment of the drumbeats.

"Asahi... Gaoka...!!! Boom... Boom... Boom... Boom... Boom...!!! "

The chants of our school name and the drumbeats, as well as synchronised claps and stomping of feet, sounded extremely intimidating for the opponent as our school's supporters compete with those who were making the most noise and whose eardrums would burst first... All in the name of sportsmanship and then make the best impression for the opposite s*x, of course.

5 mins before time, all the 10 players entered the area and the crowds burst into cheers, claps, drumbeats and wild whistles once again... To us, it was as if a tiny World Cup of Japan versus England for the finals erupted in the tiny Inazawa Prefecture.

After a short warmup and juggling of balls with the rest of the teammates, we all took our positions. I looked around but was unable to find Akira amidst the waves of people in the grandstand. We stood on our ground in the playing field as the referee let each captain choose the sides of the coin before the toss. Our team won the coin toss, and with the ball at our my feet, I passed the ball to our striker when the referee blew his whistle.

I didn't know if Akira was holding a banner or something but I just think that she would be among her peers within the grandstand. The whole stadium shook with fervourous roars of mixed emotions of encouragement, anticipation and expectations as the ball was passed around the Futsal arena until I caught sight of a loose ball from the opponent's defender. I surged forward and let a tremendous volley towards the goal area...!

*THUMP*

*SWOOSH*

*DANG* *DANG*

The ball struck the upright bar and rebounded within the goal area twice...!! The goalie fumbled and he lost his timing in catching the ball when on the second rebound, all he could do was to watch the ball crossed the goal line...!!! 

Everyone's eyes were on the ball and suddenly our school's supporters went into an uproar of cheers and whistles. The supporters were on their feet as they celebrated our school's first goal against the defending champion and this created a very chaotic scene...!!

"PPPRRREEETTT"

The referee blew his whistle to indicate it was a confirmed goal...!!! The scoreboard changed into 1-0 with our school's leading the way. 

"FALL BACK INTO DEFENSE...!!! PREPARE FOR A COUNTER ATTACK...!!!" It was too early to celebrate as I shouted everyone to fall back. We need to be on the defensive for the first half of twenty minutes. Several chances were created by the opponents to score but we managed to close the defensive line and turn it into an offensive one instead. As the clock ticked close to half-time, our lone striker upfront managed to nudge the ball past the goalie and made the score to 2-0 once he had gotten a direct pass from one of our teammates and did a little jig after that...!!!

The crowd went wild and ecstatic with the score even after the whistle had long blown into half-time. We managed to have quite a lead and it seemed like a sure thing for us to lift the Championship Trophy this year.

Each side took a 3-minute break at half-time and with a short pep talk from our coaches, we decided to mount an all-out counter-attack to widen the gap and to gain more from the remuneration package that was offered by the President of the Sports Committee. Throughout the next 20 minutes, neither side manages to either break the deadlock or gain another goal when the final whistle was finally blown. We were joyous in celebrating the sweet victory while our opponents just stood there in total disbelief that they had lost their much-coveted Championship Trophy to us.

I was simply running around the whole arena when I spotted our President of the Sports Committee standing t the sidelines and was clapping her hands in the air above her head. This made her two ample and jiggly succulent mounds of flesh to jiggle and threaten to burst out from the jersey that she was wearing. I noticed that she was wearing a No.7 jersey and I wondered if the jersey was the one she had managed to snitched from my own personal locker back in our school's locker room.

I raised my victory forefinger and smiled at her while I ran around the whole arena. I saw Akira within the crowd of heads and I called her down to the arena instead. She made her way down and by the time she reached the sidelines, she was congratulating me for the victory and I explained to her it was all due to hard work. When Akira had said her piece, she was standing near the sidelines and I reached my arms out to her and placed it under her arms. With a lift and a kick from her, I managed to hoist her from where she was and into my arms where she got herself soaked in my perspiration.

Akira was surprised at that moment as her front blouse had been drenched in my perspiration and made her own jiggly breasts protrude out more as if there were saying, "Hey, it is me... Come and touch and fondle me whenever you are free, Shiro."

I was so overjoyed and in that spur of the moment, I leaned over and kissed Akira full on her lips. When I finally let her go, I can somehow feel that she was fluttering away like a butterfly and I have to hold her down back to earth. My sweat-soaked jersey had left an imprint right in front of her blouse and had left a wet t-shirt kind of effect that made her bra and the contents that were hiding inside the cups to be seen clearly through it.

I quickly realised it and took off my jersey and spread it across her chest. My immediate reaction was as if I had presented my jersey as a memento after the victorious tournament.

The emcee calmed the spectators in the whole stadium down before proceeding for the presentation of the Championship Trophy, our medals of achievements as well as some certificates. The crowd ruptured into another uproar of ecstasy before finally calmed down when both sides of the team lined up facing the crowds with the Championship Trophy set majestically in the middle of the two teams.

The runner ups went to shook hands with the FIFA Futsal officials before receiving their award certificates and as for us, we received a medal and an award certificate before we finally hoisted the Championship Trophy for all to view. In the honour of winning the Championship, our school anthem blared through the loudspeakers, quietened everyone down as everyone recited after it. 

The crowd then pulled on their noisemakers as well as their confetti when the anthem ended while another round of drumbeats, cheers and noisemakers erupted in the stadium and soon, the merriment spilt on to the streets. Before we left Inazawa Futsal Stadium, a large portion of the crowd stayed behind and cleaned up the whole arena.

We finally went back to our school in our fleet of school buses, with the reverie of joyous celebration following closely behind. It was the first time for us to earn such a victory after being an underdog for several years in the past.

Now, since we have scored twice, one as an individual and one by our teammate as well as our team that did not concede any goals plus winning the championship, I guess we are not going back home empty-handed tonight...

A promise is still a promise, so I have to fulfil my obligations to Akira. It is prize money of ¥23,000. I hope she would not mind counting the small change that I intend to pass her later on that would keep her awake as she counts them up and stores them into coin pouches or whatsoever. Hahaha...!