The Iron Bubble Popped

11. The Iron Bubble Popped

I stood between two posts, underneath a crossbar connecting them. Ready for the game to begin. Each game would take fifteen minutes, without changing halves since there won’t be anything like halftime. A total of sixteen classes will be playing, divided in two brackets of eight teams. Two football fields had been prepared, so a match of each bracket can take place at the same time.

When I checked for Keito’s class, 1-A, I saw them on the other side, meaning that the only way we can face off is in the final.

The match had yet to start, and we already collected our first loss; the coin toss. There’s only one kick-off per game, and that went to the opponents.

“Alright boys, keep it tight,” one of the centre backs, Yoshida, in front of me yelled out.

We played with four defenders, two that’d stick in front of me and two that would move up to join the attack from time to time. In front of them stood the sleepy-eyed Endo as a defensive midfielder. He’s often taking a nap in class, so it’s rare to see him jumping from excitement for an event like this.

The referee, PE-Yamada, blew his whistle, class 2-A passed the ball back; the game has started.

Ozawa instantly ran up to them, pressuring the opponents to pass quickly. Our wingers shortly joined him. The sudden press took them by surprise and they ended up accidentally passing the ball too far, handing us a throw-in.

I didn’t know what to do while staring at them playing. I readjusted my keeper gloves. I bended my knee back and forth to see if it still hurts, but I was doing fine. Besides, an overdose of adrenaline was pumping through my veins, which had me feeling as if I could resist the pain of a falling boulder.

Then, for the first time, their team broke through our midfield.

“Keep it tight!”

Endo ran along with the player in possession, holding his leg up to block the cross, which ended up deflecting it higher. It was coming my way, high in the air. I ran a bit forward, and so did their striker. My legs instantly stopped in motion.

He jumped up, getting ready to head the ball. This scenario felt exactly like a volleyball spike. I could see where the ball was headed. I could feel where my hand had to go.

His head got to the ball, he nodded it down to my left, but I was ready, got low to the ground and deflected it past my left post, behind the backline.

First I thought it was bad that I conceded a corner.

“Way to go, Shima!” Yoshida praised. “Guys, stay focused! Don’t give away space like that!”

But in the end, everything is better than a ball in the net.

The corner was taken quickly… and poorly, flying over everyone, ending up in the feet of our winger, Ito.

He’s probably the fastest in our class, showing exactly that as he sprinted away with the ball. Everyone from 2-A was still returning to position, all but one of their defenders. Ito passed the ball through his legs, it rolled off between him and the goalkeeper, who ran up to it, but seeing Ito’s speed made him hesitate, and as the saying goes, hesitation is defeat.

Ito got to the ball and easily won the one on one with the keeper. 1 - 0 is the score, twelve more minutes to go.

“Let’s go, Ito!!”

After their kick off, we got the ball off them pretty quickly again, though this time it was much harder to break through. We passed the ball around so much that it ended up back in my feet. I was never told that I would be part of the build-up play, so the moment I got the ball, my nerves went up to a new high.

I looked at my defenders, on the left stood one who wasn’t marked. I realised how long I was taking to pass, so I wanted to handle it quickly. I pulled my leg back and got ready to pass.

“Watch out!!” He held both his hands out as he yelled.

I stopped my foot from hitting the ball, and calmly stretched my leg and landed on top of it, pulling it back because it awkwardly laid a little too far from my feet.

The 2-A striker flew by with a sliding tackle not even a second later. Merely missing the ball I pulled away. I turned around and passed the ball to a defender on my right.

“Woah!” “Did you see that?” “Show them, keeper!” it sounded from the audience. To them that must’ve looked like a ballsy move, as if I was fully composed and tried to show off against upperclassmen, but as cool as it looked on the outside, on the inside was nothing but panic.

Yoshida turned around and swung his hand up and down in disbelief.

“Very, very cool man, you damn idiot,” the striker said as he bumped me away with his shoulder.

We got the ball to Ozawa who did a one-two with Ito in front of the goalkeeper, ending in an easy shot on an empty goal.

We’re 2 - 0 up now.

After the captain scored, he gathered the team. “Listen boys. We’ve got quite the lead now, there’s no need to risk losing possession, play it safe. Let’s win this game!”

Everyone returned to position. The moment they kicked off, four of their players sprinted through our team. One of their team mates launched a long ball headed to the right. Our entire team was caught off guard by their change of plans, they quickly found the holes through our defence. From the edge of the box, their winger launched a cross headed to their striker just outside of the box in a near-straight line to goal.

He got the ball in front of him, let it bounce on the ground, then gave a massive kick to the airborne ball, flying right to me above my head.

I managed to punch the bottom of the ball over my head, sending it behind me, over the crossbar as I landed on my back inside my own goal. Conceding another corner.

“Shimaaa!!” Yoshida pulled me off the ground while he yelled at me as if I stood ten football fields away from him. “You’re insane!”

As the other team got ready for another corner kick, I felt many hands patting me on the shoulder. Our goal scorers win us the game and are obviously flooded with praise. But a goalkeeper, the last man preventing the other team’s goal scorers from getting any points, is just as important.

I didn’t know much about football prior to preparing for this event, but seeing it with my own eyes like this, everyone on the pitch serves a purpose that equally contributes to our current 2 - 0 lead. We absolutely can’t let this slip out of our hands.

Someone else from their team kicked the corner this time around. Hitting it much better as well. Though, once more, I could see the trajectory the ball would take, leaping forward, jumping with my hands stretched high in the air and snatched the ball away, tightly clenching it to my body.

“Composure, team! Composure!” yelled Ozawa.

Everyone returned to position. I gently rolled the ball to our centre back who passed it forward, safely so.

“Keep the play wide!” Ozawa yelled from the front as he gestured his hands out wide.

One of our players sent our winger running with a pass far from boot. Risky plays like that were all but appreciated by our captain, since it brought the opponents back in possession.

“Morishitaaa!! Safe! Play safe!”

They continued their attack, swiftly making passes, breezing past our midfield, forcing their way through our defence. Their winger, standing central, shot at target. I took a step to the side, stretched my body out and punched the ball away from goal. Unfortunately landing right in the feet of their striker, standing on the left. I quickly got up as he took a shot at goal, an awkward one that flew low over the ground to my near post, but slightly bounced up on its way to me.

* * *

“Alright mom, the bars of these swings will serve as my goal.” I dropped the tennis ball in her hand. “Throw this as hard as you can, and I’ll try to keep it out of my goal.”

“Oh! I’m not the best thrower, you know?”

“No problem. Because it’s you, I’ll never know where you’re throwing next.”

She laughed and said, “Very nice of you, Ryo-kun.” She bounced the tennis ball on the ground and rolled one sleeve up, caught the ball to bounce it again and rolled up her other sleeve. “Whenever you’re ready!”

“Bring it on!”

She threw the first ball relatively straight above my head. I jumped up to catch it, then threw it back.

“That was the only warm-up throw, get ready for this!”

This time, she threw the ball low, bouncing it off the ground, making it hard to reach with my hands, flying right between the bars of the swing.

“I underestimated you,” I admitted. “Can you do it again?”

“Sure thing!”

* * *

The ball bounced off the ground at extraordinary speeds. I knew my hand could never make it in time, so I stretched out my leg like I trained with the tennis ball.

As if I hadn’t hurt myself enough already, the ball fired off against my knee, flying way over the crossbar into the crowd.

One more corner before the game would end…


…but I lacked the strength in my knee to stay standing up.


I slowly limped my way to the teammate closest by, “Yoshida. I don’t think I can keep going.” He noticed me limping. “My knee’s dead.”

“Substitute!” He yelled out as he did the rotation signal. I don’t believe we have a reserve goalkeeper to begin with, but someone had to put on my gloves and fill in my shoes… because I couldn’t stand any longer.

I continued limping towards the side-line, but suddenly got tripped and pushed on my back, landing on both my knees, making it hurt even more. This entire time I had been upholding my strong façade, but this time I let out a cry as I hit the ground. Turning around to see it was the 2-A striker that pushed me.

Before I got the chance to get angry, teammate after teammate flew into his face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Endo pushed him back.

Yoshida grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him right back, “I’m gonna knock the teeth out off your neanderthal looking head!”

Ozawa also jumped in, grabbing him by the chin, “Shoving an injured junior, to hell with you!”

The referee, PE-Yamada, tried to end the fight, but with little success.

It didn’t take long before people off the pitch started joining in as well. Our team’s entire bench stood on the front line of the fight, their bench more hesitant. People from our year and theirs from different classes also joined. Pushing, pulling, grabbing… everything. My knee hurts. I was side-lined for the remainder of the event for sure. The final whistle in the other game had already blown, our fight over here had just begun.

“Give me your hand.”

Averting my eyes from the chaos, in front of me, with his arm stretched out, stood Keito. He pulled me back up, and swung my arm over his shoulder. Before helping me off the pitch, his feet pointed at the ongoing brawl.

“HEY!!” He yelled out at the top of his lungs. “BEHAVE YOURSELVES!”

One word to grab their attention, two to make them retreat their hands.

“Play with honour!”

He schooled them with three words and nullified the entirety of the fight.

“You gave it everything,” he quietly told me. “Take it easy for now.” With my arm over his shoulder, he carried me to my class.

“I’m sorry, Keito, I wasn’t enough.” He had been looking forward to facing off against each other, being carried to the side made me feel even worse about my stupid injury.

“Not enough my ass. You surprised me.”

He took my arm off his neck. “I never thought you’d be so damn good.” As I sat down, he said his final words. “Rest for now, I’ll see you in the final.”

“How bad does it hurt, Shima?” One of the girls seated behind me asked.

I turned over my shoulder, her name was Sano if I’m not mistaken. With a smile, I said, “So bad, I could cry.”

Both teams got ready for the last corner of the game

Seeing how everyone jumped into that fight at my defence, and now seated here with my class—only the girls, since all the boys are either on the pitch or on the bench—I got the feeling that I am a bigger part of this unity than what I had allowed myself to be.

Before the corner was kicked, I noticed that Katsumata was nowhere to be seen. I wanted to ask the others where she went… but I know all too well what they would think of such a question. The moment that thought sparked up in my mind, I saw her running through the crowd.

Out of breath, standing over me, she panted, “Here… take this… for your knee…” She handed me an ice pack.

“…Thank you.” I pressed it against my knee, hurting it with a single touch… and yet somewhere I believed I could keep going. Like Keito said... I wanted to play him in the final.

The corner was kicked, arching beautifully towards the second post. Endo tried to clear it with his head, but it ended up deflecting against someone else. The ball fell somewhere in the crowded penalty box.

We lost all vision of the ball, nowhere to be seen…


…until it hit the back of the net.


Right as they scored and their class cheered, PE-Yamada blew his whistle, ending the game.

One goal scored in the final seconds, a goal that doesn’t mean a thing to the result. But one that singlehandedly shatters the entire team’s belief.

“Woohoo! We won!” it sounded from behind me, but the people on the pitch seemed to share my feelings about it.

Just how badly will they miss me?

I couldn’t concentrate on a single other match, except for Keito’s. His team was quite frankly worse than mine, but between the posts, there’s not a single person I’d want over him.

The second games rolled around, we were up against the next door neighbours, class 1-C. It was time for our kick-off.

“Shima, how do you fancy our chances?” the rather talkative Sano asked.

Without turning around, to not show my eyes that never deceive, I said, “Easy win.”

As if my words jinxed the game, they stole the ball right after the third pass and drove it up our side of the field, hitting the back of the net soon after.

Our goalkeeper was our substitute midfielder. Not as tall, not as athletic and not the same speed of reflexes. But what he lacked above all was belief. He didn’t look ready at all.

I wasn’t ready either, mentally that is, but physically I appeared confident, it didn’t take long before that make belief turned a little more real, fake it ‘til you make it as they say.

We started off better this time, but as soon as we lost possession, the other team quickly countered. Getting their second goal already.

“Aw man… we really need you in goal after all,” Natsume on my right side said.

I sighed and forced myself up. Limping even worse than before, I slowly carried myself to the side line. I’ve been overheating inside this bubble of mine. Always forcing my way out of the light. Scared of being looked down on, scared of being laughed at. Holding back every word I wanted to say, every facial expression I ever wished to make, every person I ever wanted to befriend, every invite I’ve ever rejected. I slowly felt it breaking as I limped my way to the pitch.

Forcing myself to walk eased the burden on my knee a bit.

Through the creaks, I saw the light seeping through. If not now… then when?

Nearing the line, all my teammates already looking at my pathetic walk, I yelled out, “Ozawa!!”

He shot a surprised look back.

“Do your job! Lead the team!! If they score one, we’ll score two! They’ve already scored two, so we’ll score three!” I kept yelling. Call me crazy, laugh at this crazy fool. Laugh now, laugh tomorrow, laugh as long as you want. My team will end up victorious.

“If they score ten! We’ll score eleven!!”

He clapped in his hands and let out a roar, “You heard him! Whatever happens, happens! As long as we give it our all, nothing else matters!!”

The bubble as solid as iron in which I secluded myself from this group of people… has popped.

I sat down in the sand, a couple of steps away from the side line. It didn’t take long before the rest of our class sat this close to the pitch as well.

“You’ve been a terrible cheering squad so far, you know?” I said to the others when they sat down.

“Ah, give us a break!” I felt a playful push against my shoulder, “You boys ridiculed us with your chants the entire time when we played!”

I laughed, recalling all the silly chants they’d created earlier. “Well, now it’s your turn to make fools of us.” Thinking back to the chants yelled, I whispered one of my own to the same rhythm, “Sleepy, sleepy Endo, open up your eyes. If you nap on the pitch, they’ll take you by surprise.”

After chuckling, they loudly—even Katsumata right next to me ever so softly—sang, “Sleepy, sleepy Endo, open up your eyes! If you nap on the pitch, they’ll take you by surprise!”

No boy escaped a silly chant. The iron bubble really managed to pop.

We won the game 7 - 4. The game after, a nailbiter…

The referee blew his whistle for full time.

…we won 6 - 5.

We had one of the most exciting teams in the tournament, but we really lacked a final man that could keep those balls out of the net. My knee was slowly getting better.

"We reached the final!!"

Though I doubt I'd start the game in this condition.

On the other pitch, Keito's game, the final whistle blew as well, but when I looked at the two goal posts, Keito stood in neither.