My Four Superstar Ex-Boyfriends

Chapter 6: Budějovice

One Day Later ......

Emily: "You guys are asking why I don't take you guys to practice shooting? So ...... you guys don't usually practice shooting on your own? Oh no, that's beyond me. You guys start by telling me that you're taking this year's varsity tournament seriously and want to do well in the South Bohemian State Varsity Soccer League, but then you attempt to practice everything on just an hour and a half of practice every day? I would have thought that practicing something like goal shooting would have been something that you would have practiced on your own time after the hour and a half of combined practice was over. After all, shooting practice doesn't require anyone else to cooperate with you, does it? Of course, you can also book the goalie's time, cooperate with him, and come along to practice. But my advice is that the goalie's time is precious, and he can't be with each of you. You'll have to practice on your own, and then go back to the goalie when you have something special in mind."

One week later ......

Emily: "For reasons you all know, I can't very well communicate with you in the language you're so good at, so today I've brought in Carolina to be my assistant. She will be here every Friday or Saturday to assist me in explaining tactical ideas to you. So, the first thing I need to talk to you about today is the use of the circle grabbing exercise in real life. Generally speaking, there are several formations that are often used in modern soccer. I'll start with a couple of four-back formations. They are 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-2-1, 4-3-1-2 ......"

Two weeks later ......

Emily: "Boys! Look what I found for you! At the back of the school, where no one usually goes to the fence, there is a grassy area! You can use chalk to put a dot on the wall or draw a soccer ball! Then practice kicking the soccer ball to that spot! Until you can kick the ball to that spot no matter where you stand and kick it, three meters or ten meters away from it, I think you guys will make great progress!"

In Emily's third week of taking over this varsity team, they will be playing in the first round of this year's South Bohemia State Interscholastic League. If they do great in the South Bohemian interscholastic tournament, they will be able to play in the national tournament with strong teams from other states in the Czech Republic!

But according to Strawhead Luther and Freckleface Matz, they've never made it to the Czech high school nationals. And, there's only one Heinz on their team who possesses decent ball skills, as for the others ......? LOL, that's a long way off.

"I think that if they let us play basketball along with our soccer games, then my basketball skills would be better than theirs." That's how Matz expressed it when talking about South Bohemia State's traditional powerhouse.

After really figuring out what the other party meant, Emily only remained silent and twisted her face to look away as well as into the distance. After a long period of silence, Emily finally stood up all at once and spoke, "Alright! Since you all say that these teams are strong and powerful, then I'll go and see just how powerful they are this week!"

Emily, as the coach of this group of boys, was much shorter than they were, and his every move usually gave off a particularly gentle feeling. But standing up, let the boys sitting on the grass look up at her chubby figure, but especially have a kind of she is very "huge" feeling!

Tilting his head up to look at Emily, who was planning to leave, Luther, who had already changed his opinion of Emily quite a bit over the two weeks he had been together, immediately asked, "Going ...... to where? To see who?"

Emily: "Budějovice! The capital of the South Bohemian region! I've got to go see last year's South Bohemian state championship team!"

Despite both Luther and Matz doing everything they could to convince Emily that they should come along with them, Emily eventually turned them down! Joking aside, these two had too many ideas, too many thoughts, and too much nonsense, and taking them there would expose their identities. So Emily had left Luther and Matz behind and moved their weekend training session to Sunday after checking with the high school network of students to find out that last year's South Bohemian State Championship team would be practicing on Saturday.

So Emily, with Heinz as her interpreter, went to the only coach station in town on Saturday morning, where she "bumped into" Luther and Matz!

And, since Emily didn't come to the bus station with Heinz, but had agreed to meet them there, when she arrived, all she saw was the varsity trio standing together chatting happily! But Cthulhu! It was when they met up with her that Heinz said "Hi" to her, along with the other two boys! They had the nerve to say "hi" to her!

Emily sucked in a sharp breath, having no idea how to lose her temper when she needed to because of all the years of being good-natured! And how she was supposed to lose her temper with the kids in a language they weren't even familiar with yet! In their coaching capacity!

Yes, in their capacity as coaches!

But before Emily could formulate how she should phrase her thoughts, Matz over there had already spoken, "Coach! I want to tag along with you to see South Bohemia State win last year!"

Emily: "I ...... I ......"

Emily, whose reflexes are often too long, says "I" twice and can't think of anything to say! It was also at this time that Heinz came out to intervene and said, "Look! The car's here!!!"

Hearing this relief from Heinz, Luther, who had always been a man of action, simply grabbed Emily's bag from her hand, and said with a caring senior citizen's look and matching action, "Ms. Emily! Quickly! Get in the car with us!"

I'm not going to Budějovice today! I'm going to see last year's Asian Army of South Bohemia today! The brats give me back my bag!

Emily hadn't even been able to hold the words in before she was already being helped onto the bus by the brats on the varsity team! This made her have to remind herself over and over again: I'm their teacher! I need to act like an elder!

But then she saw the two assholes from the varsity team sitting in the row next to her, wearing big headphones, blasting the song "Don't Baby!" loud and clear, but not making any noise, just acting like mimes and singing their hearts out! Emily thought she really couldn't be cool!

"Heinz." Emily trailed off as she called out the name of the varsity's top scorer who was sitting in the seat right next to her.

Upon hearing Emily call his name, Heinz scratched his head in embarrassment and smiled awkwardly, signaling that he was listening and that he was listening.

Emily: "When I asked you to get me a ticket for the bus yesterday, you already got them both tickets together didn't you?"

Heinz: "Pretty much ...... that's it."

Emily: "It seems like you have a knack for handling relationships between players."

Heinz: "Don't you dare say that, I just can't say no to them. Why should we hide who we are? We went to the weekend practice of last year's South Bohemian State champions fair and square, and we'd welcome them to come over and see ours."

Emily: "......"

Emily was dumbfounded by such a high school junior, which left her with no choice but to dig out her e-books from her bag and read the latest autobiography published by the current Manchester United manager. She felt that it was important for her to learn how successful managers handled the locker room, both in terms of being able to mingle with the people, but also in terms of not getting screwed over by the asshole boys and then banding together to bully them!

Heinz: "You're reading the Manchester United manager's autobiography?"

Emily: "Yeah, I have to learn something from it."

Heinz: "So which is your favorite world manager? For example ...... What do you think of Barcelona's current manager?"

Emily: "Him, he is a tactical genius. You have to be very perceptive to be one of his players, and if you can't understand his tactical ideas, it's impossible to fit into his team. But he's a little too cocky sometimes."

Heinz: "He ...... 'conceited'?"

Emily: "Ah, you could interpret it that way, he never believed in himself more than he believed in anyone else. You can refute him, but he's never going to pay any attention to your rebuttals."

Having said that Emily continued to focus herself on her e-book, and then she realized that the tall and handsome high school student sitting right next to her hadn't taken his eyes off her since she had said that. So Emily turned her head quizzically, as if to ask the other person if there was something she wanted to ask herself.

Heinz: "Listening to you, it would give me the illusion that you know him and are familiar with each other."

Emily is stunned, and then just smiles, but doesn't say anything.

The small town of Kromlov where Emily was now temporarily living was not far from the capital of the state, Bujejovice. It could be reached in about an hour or so by bus. And the bus serves a variety of cold as well as hot beverages, and they can even get cappuccinos on board! On the way from Kromlov to Budějovice, the town is alive with green and dotted with brightly colored houses.

In fact, the road from Kromlov to Budějovice is dotted with the vast Branski Forest and the 1,083-meter high peak of Klecki. Around Bujejovice there are also basins, dotted with fish ponds and even sand dunes with a unique landscape.

It seems that the whole of South Bohemia is a patchwork of lush forests that you can't see the end of at a glance. If you were to drive through this way in your own car, it seems you could take your own picnic basket, stop the car at any point, spread out a huge square of cloth blanket and start your own weekend picnic.

The red-roofed houses built along the meandering river in the small town of Kromlov make for long stops. And in Budějovice, in addition to the red-roofed houses, there are many white, ornately shaped Gothic buildings. But either one is filled with a Czech fairytale atmosphere.

Perhaps the boys who grew up here won't realize how beautiful the place they live in really is.

"All follow me! I know how to get there!"

Upon arriving at the coach station, Luther, who was always hyper-active, waved his hand this way, signaling for everyone to follow him, which led Emily, along with his two little friends, to a bus stop not far from the bus station. There, there was able to reach the school where the South Bohemian State High School Interscholastic League Championship team was located.

Oh, the championship team of South Bohemian State, what on earth was that supposed to look like?

Emily thought that it must be a lot more juvenile than all the teams she had ever watched. But honestly, after seeing those top teams of the world in Europe's top five leagues play against each other, it would be a particularly different kind of fun to go back and watch these amateur teams made up of high school students.

For the kids here, soccer is a hobby, a hobby that they are willing to give up their time off to fulfill, not a career. Perhaps most of them will have a job that has nothing to do with it after they finish their studies. But they will keep in touch with their teammates from their student days, maybe get together once a week and finish a soccer game together!

But who's to say that these boys, who don't come from a prestigious background, won't definitely end up on the road to professional football?

Emily and her team fantasized about many, many obstacles before entering the school of last year's South Bohemia State Championship team, but the final entry was surprisingly smooth. The varsity team is very well known in the area, with many students from other schools coming over to watch them play on the weekends.

When Emily followed Heinz and the others inside, Luther just told the doorman in a very bossy manner "She's my dad's girlfriend after he divorced my mom!" Then the group of them were easily let in by the doorman. All the while Heinz was whispering in the background to scare Luther, "You'd better pray that she never realizes what you just said."