The Star

Prologue

Akihito Tham was what people considered as a 'good' son. He always managed to ace his studies without tuitions, unlike the most others whom their typical competitive Singaporean moms would spend so much money on tuitions even though it was hopeless for some of them. Apart from that, he also took up several part time jobs to lessen his family's financial burdens after his good-for-nothing father walked out of their lives and at the same time, supporting his younger sister's dream of being an idol which also generate a lot of expenses. Probably due to his selflessness towards his mother and sister, he never thought about his own wants and needs so thus, he had no friends since primary school. 

But he never complained even when it was the same for secondary school at Raffles Institution, cause he had never tried to mix in due to the consideration of his studies since he always had to do his shifts after school and had no time for homework. 

Which was why he was glad that his mother decided to move to Japan after he finished Sec 1, where the city they were going to stay in had a lower average cost of living compared to in Singapore .( True, as a local, it is really expensive to stay here. Bro, manga is so expensive here. Why would they charged $14 USD for a Black Butler manga!?)There were also other reasons- one, his mother could only speak Japanese so there were more job opportunities for her, two, the place was less boring for him.

Junior High school in Kamakura, he did not want to repeat it again because it was tedious as hell. The school hours were longer and everybody needs to join some club after school. He attended Shunrai Junior High School which was supposedly to be quite prestigious; he only got in due to a scholarship provided by the government. The school was apparently famous for producing soccer players like Sae Itoshi and many more which was why the soccer team was a powerhouse not only in the prefecture, but the entire of Japan. So, Akihito decided to try his luck for a spot as he thought that since there were a lot of members in it, it would be alright for him to skip some sessions but little did he know...

It was the day for the try out and the coach, an old man who somehow still had the energy to teach soccer, look upon the boys, Akihito included.

" I appreciate that many of you first years are interested in the club but I am sorry to say that not everyone of you is going to make it due to our limited vacancy in the club..."

Lies. Akihito thought. He was just sugarcoating his words and in reality, he was just saying that he only accepts students who are good at the spot.

"We will began the tryouts by having an interview. The seniors will be the ones who will conduct them." The old coach, Takahashi, continued. " After that, we will have 2v2 matches between you and the last five standing will officially join the club. Good luck, everyone!"

Finished with his speech, Coach Takahashi walked away and sat on a bench together with all the other senior members of the soccer club. He then called out one of them who seemed to be a second year, a teal-eyed boy who appeared disinterested with the whole selection process.

"Rin, as the captain, you go first."

Immediately, there was a buzz among the students. From what Akihito had heard from a pair beside him, Rin was Sae Itoshi's younger brother and was also considered as a prodigy for he managed to grab the position as the captain despite being a second year.

Though annoyed, Rin still obeyed his coach and stood up with a list as he began to recite the names of the participants. Surprisingly, Akihito's name was the first one he read out.

" Akihito...Tamo? From 3-5." And also no surprise, he also mispronounced his name like any typical Japanese. Since his mother did not manage to settle her divorce with his father, Akihito still kept his father's surname which was hard for Japanese to pronounce so his full name was typed out in English for school records. Akihito was actually surprised that Rin got his first name right when it was written in English. He assumed that Rin knew English.

Akihito raised his hand. The first years gawped at him in surprise, probably either due to the fact that there was actually a third year among them or that Akihito was scrawny for his age with a baby face and had a unique surname.

Hated to be stared at, Akihito sent them a glare. " Don't you have anything better to do than to stare at me?" 

Instantly, they fell silence and turned their heads away. Rin gestured him to follow and Akihito did as he was told.

Then interview was pointless in Akihito's opinion, and he knew that Rin felt the same way. The questions include, " do you know how to play soccer?", " why do you want to join the soccer club? and " do you think that you are good at it?". Akihito had only read the rules online so he could not say that he got the experience or have the skills. He knew that the other students would lie their ways in but then he decided to be honest like how he always was and gave short answers. 

After all, I will not make it anyway. He thought initially, but to his confusion he somehow managed to make it to the second round.

The following 2v2 matches were conducted by the third years and some teacher-in-charges. The rule was that the first team who gets 5 points would be the winners while the seniors would act as goalkeepers.Due to the fact that Akihito was newly transferred from overseas and had no experience whatsoever, he got to team up with Rin whom the later just scoffed. "Its a waste of time." Akihito could hear him for he has sharp ears and he did not blame him.

The game started with a kickoff by Rin. Seeing the ball on his feet, Akihito recalled the moves by famous footballers he had randomly seen online. He then decided to imitate one of them by doing a spin with his body with the ball to get away from one of the defenders before doing several random moves he came up on the spot to get away from another. Akihito was amazed that they even worked. 

Rin was taken aback at first as he did not expect that Akihito could actually run fast in spite of his small built.The heck? Are those Ronaldinho's step overs?  Those were the only thoughts that surfaced in Rin's mind as he watched the skinny Singaporean boy with blue purplished hair kicked the ball into the goal. Is this guy seriously a beginner? Coach Takahashi had instructed Rin to only assist Akihito but from what he had seen, he needed no assists at all.

His train of thoughts came into a halt when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Rin, we are done." Akihito said, wiping some sweats off his forehead. Speechless, Rin looked around the field and noticed that their opponents who were obviously bigger and taller than Akihito, were laying on the grass as they panted for breath.

The score was 5-0, in Akihito and Rin's favour.

And that was how Akihito began his first club in Japan and the birth of the golden pair 'Double strikers of Shunrai'.

A/N: If you are curious about Akihito's appearance, he was basically the male version of Ai from Oshi No Ko with a contrasting personality.

Raffles Institution is the no.1 secondary school in Singapore where they do college prep courses and its a boys school.

I hope you know where is Singapore but just to say, it is a country in South-east Asia and you can literally find all kinds of people there though majority of them were Chinese race, including me(so if any of you who are racist, you are welcome to not read my story. I hope none of you are racists though...) Which is why Akihito's surname is Tham and has a Chinese name.