Future Reflection (Part. 1)

Thursday.

February 13th.

“Anon, what did you want to be when you grew up?”

“What did I want to be?”

His voice hung in the air like the question itself—one I’d never really known the answer to.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I remember wanting to do something that let me move around a lot… but that might’ve just been little me wanting an excuse to run.”

I chuckled.

“I totally get that!” he replied, flashing a goofy grin. “Working up a good sweat feels great.”

The memory of that soccer game lingered in my mind.

“Do you want to be a soccer player, Nova?”

“Of course. Ever since I was a kid.”

“So you’ve always known what you wanted to be?”

“Guess you could say that.”

The way Nova plays is kind of… different. I’ve never actually watched a full soccer match—just random clips online—but even to me, it’s clear he’s having fun out there.

“I think you’ve got what it takes to go pro.”

“You think so!?” He struck a playful pose. “Going pro’s insanely hard, but I’m not losing in high school, no way.”

“Isn’t it tough to go pro after high school, though?”

“Probably, but I’ve never really thought about it.”

“Huh!?” My eyes widened in surprise.

“What?”

“You’ve never thought about that!?”

“Well, yeah. I’ve just never considered the idea of losing.”

How narcissistic...?

“That’s a level of confidence I’ve never seen before,” I muttered, a little thrown off.

“You gotta be your own biggest fan,” he said with a grin. “If I don’t believe in myself, who will?”

I guess that’s one way to look at it. Hard to argue with, honestly.

“So, I’ll ask you again, Anon—do you know what you want to be?”

“…”

He smiled at me patiently.

“You wanna play soccer with me?”

“Are you asking me to play soccer?”

“Will you?”

“Give me a reason.”

“Sure. How many do you want?”

I just stared at him for a second before letting out a sigh.

“You’ve got potential! Sure, it’s obvious you’ve never played a real game before, but you picked it up fast. Remember that tap you almost pulled off?”

“That was just me copying you. It wasn’t natural.”

“And that’s fine for a start!”

“Let’s see where this goes,” I mumbled.

I, Anon Kadekaru, still have no clue what I want to be. That’s normal, I guess—but it’s still annoying.

I wonder what Emi would say… but she’s always so busy helping others.

I wonder what Cloey wants to be…