Bessoted (By you)

IV: Birth of a monster

As much as [Name] wanted to say he had done his best, he'd be lying if he did so. Although in his opinion, he doubted he'd get a score too high from the one he got even if he did do his very best.

"Ack! I wonder if I'll even make it on the team!" Kioshi cried out from beside him while shaking his hands nervously. "Everyone else got scores so much higher than mineeee!"

Turning to look at the other boy, [Name] merely shook his head fondly before offering a kind smile. "You did your best, so I'm sure you'll make it." 

"You really think so?" The brunette's voice was quiet as he looked at him with a pout. [Name] could've honestly laughed at the expression if it weren't for the fact that the other kid was genuinely showing signs of insecurity. While he may still be young, that didn't mean he couldn't pick up on social cues.

"Mhm." Although picking up on social cues didn't exactly mean he knew how to comfort someone else, it just meant that he knew what not to talk about and avoid.

"That doesn't sound convincing!" Kioshi cried out once more before raising his arms and engulfing [Name] in a tight hug for emotional support.

"Hey!-" Reacting a bit too late, the blonde kid went tumbling down with the brunette landing on top of him. 

"Ow." [Name] blankly spoke as he looked up at the sky while sprawled out in a starfish style. While the impact didn't really hurt, it just felt appropriate to say it.

"I'm so sorry!" Kioshi immediately moved to get off of the much smaller kid under him. "I didn't mean to make us fall!"

"It's fine." [Name] shrugged off the whole ordeal behind him as he easily got up and brushed himself off. While he hated getting dirty, he'll let this incident slide. After all, Kioshi didn't exactly mean to do it on purpose.

"I'm just really nervous about this tryout thingy," Kioshi admitted in a quiet tone, his eyes avoiding all forms of contact with his as a red hue started to coat the edge of his ears. "I really like football..."

"Honestly, you'll be fine." [Name] gave the other a small pat on the back. "Now cheer up, I think the coach is going to start explaining the second phase of the test." And without waiting for the other, he started walking over to where the others were standing.

"HeY- Wait for me!"

Slightly colliding with [Name]'s back, Kioshi managed to still himself enough in order to prevent the incident of falling like earlier to happen again. 

"Alright, I'm pretty sure I've gotten everyone's physical data." The coach concluded with a cough. Nodding his head, the older man looked at the group of kids before changing his demeanor into a much more serious one. "As I've said before, you will be tested in two different ways. Since the first one is already done, we'll be heading into your second trial." The coach then turned towards a maroon-haired kid wearing the team's jacket with a jersey holding the number '1' underneath it. "Haizaki, if you will."

Nodding, the mentioned kid started to hand them red-colored bibs with different numbers printed on them.

'Don't tell me...'

"As you have most likely deduced by this point, you're going to have a practice match with none other than the starting players themselves." A few of the kid's in the same line as [Name] paled at the announcement while the mentioned regular players simply had cocky smirks on their faces.

"Unfortunately, since we don't have enough players on both sides, we'll only be having a 6v6 unlike the usual 11. We also won't be doing the regular 90-minute match and will only do half time seeing as your parents will kill me if I hold you kids back longer than I already am. Understood?"