Kicking It
Cast:
Minamino Souta - Cure Rhythm's brother - age 15
Takei Nobuo - age 24
June, 2017
Whether it is the middle school or high school division, Aria Academy is known primarily for music. One might think that much would be obvious from the name, but an institution does not acquire a reputation simply because it has an auspicious name. It is likewise rare, verging on unheard of, for the name to change to reflect an established reputation, not least because the reputation often becomes attached to an existing name.
That the name matches the reputation, then, must mean that the name was chosen as an aspiration, after which concrete and successful steps were taken to establish the hoped for renown.
Or it is a coincidence. Such things also happen.
Minamino Souta is not a musician. Although he is a student at the academy, although music classes are required, and although he achieves satisfactory results in those classes, music is neither his first nor his second love.
One of those is soccer.
The academy's reputation for sports is both recent and ephemeral, having been built by a handful of very talented students, many of whom have already graduated. Souta is one of the youngest of those luminaries, and he is determined to have a winning season.
He is currently playing defense. He dashes toward his team's goal, trying to get ahead of the opposing team's passing game. Their offense is strong, and a powerful airborne pass is set to fly almost directly over Souta's head.
He digs in his heels and jumps, flipping backwards so that his feet scythe across the path of the ball. He connects, driving the ball back toward the other end of the field.
He lands and continues running.
After the game, the coach congratulates the whole team. They played as a team, and they won as a team. He doesn't pick out Souta's contribution specifically, even though he was certainly the ace.
Afterwards, he speaks to Souta alone.
"You seem dissatisfied, Minamino. We may not have called you out as MVP, but make no mistake: you are."
"Coach-" Souta shakes his head. "We're a team, right? Everyone brings what they've got. My A game should be better than this."
"That backflip looked like a winner to me. You even got some of the other team's fans cheering with that one."
Souta shakes his head. "It was uncontrolled. I wanted to send the ball straight to Sasaki, not just generally down the field."
"It was the best you could do in the moment and it was amazing. You should be proud of that."
"Coach, I can do better!"
"You should be proud," the coach repeats. "It's fine that you want to improve on it, but save that thinking for practice. Okay?"
Souta seems to accept that, but doesn't immediately respond.
"Minamino, is that okay?"
"Yes, Coach!"