"Aagh! I think one of my contact lenses came
out!"
Naomi is lying sprawled on the ground, having just
endured a tough tackle from Tomoko that was evidently strong enough to knock
out one of her contact lenses. Tomoko has already scrambled to her feet, and a couple
of the other girls are now rushing over to help. "Are you alright,
Naomi?" asks Fiona.
Naomi rather unsteadily starts to get to her feet. "I'm
fine," she says, "but my right contact's come out."
"Sorry!" said Tomoko. "It's hard to
control your tackles with all this mud."
It's only a few days until our first game of the season,
against Kobe Leonessa. We've had a couple more friendly matches since our 1-0
victory over Saitama, and we won all of them. Now we just have to remain
focused, keep up our training, and go for the best results we can. Kobe
Leonessa recently enjoyed a period of total domination, winning three
consecutive titles and four consecutive Empress' Cups, so it's going to be a
tough first game for us.
Our preparations haven't exactly been plain sailing,
either. Our training ground doesn't seem to have good drainage, and it's been
raining a lot over the past few days, with the result being that the pitch is
now rather chewed-up and muddy. It's not a great playing surface, but it's all
we've got. We can't use the Sapporo Dome itself except on match days. The end
result of all this is that Naomi is now missing a contact lens.
"Do you want us to help you look for it?" asks
Konoko.
Naomi shakes her head. "Nah, it's okay," she
says. "I always bring spares, just in case something like this happens. They're
disposables, anyway, so it doesn't really matter if I lose one." I have to
admire Naomi's maturity. She's only 19, but she already has a very professional
mentality. Bringing spare contact lenses with her in case she loses one is a
very sensible thing to do. It also makes me wonder if this has happened to her
before.
Fiona nods, acknowledging Naomi's decision, then calls out
to me. "Hey, Katsumi! Naomi needs to go put a new contact lens in, should we
keep going in the meantime?"
I nod curtly. "Yes please," I say, before
addressing Naomi. "Do you need any help getting to the changing
rooms?"
"No, I'm fine," says Naomi. "Thanks
anyway." She covers her right eye with her hand, blocking out the blurred
part of her vision. She should be able to see normally like that, but at the
cost of her depth perception. I'm sure that won't be too much of a problem for
her, though.
As Naomi passes me, heading towards the changing rooms,
the rest of the girls carry on with their exercises. Currently we're doing a practice
match, with nine players on either side. Because there are nineteen players
overall, that means someone has to sit out; however, to make it fair, the
player sitting out rotates every five minutes. Conveniently, this works out so
that everyone gets ninety minutes' worth of playing time, with a fifteen-minute
break in the middle as well as the five-minute breaks everyone gets when they
sit out.
Right now it's Ritsu sitting out, and as the game begins
again in earnest, she's sat on the bench beside me, her leg constantly
jittering as she watches the others play. I'm not sure if the leg-jittering is
a sort of unconscious tic, or if she's just anxious to get out there and resume
playing again. If she is, she's being quiet about it. I'd been half-expecting
her to ask if she could go back on again while Naomi was out.
[AUTHOR NOTE: At this point you will be given the choice
whether or not to let Ritsu back onto the pitch]
I decide I might as well ask. "Wanna go back on for
a minute while Naomi's putting her contact lens in?" I ask.
Ritsu smiles and nods. "Thanks, Katsumi," she
says. "I wanted to go on, but I didn't want to sound impatient."
"Alright," I say, smiling. "Your five
minutes will probably be up by the time she comes out anyway."
Ritsu nods, and heads back on to join the game while
Naomi is busy putting her spare contact lens in. In the meantime, the team with
the one-woman advantage have been mounting an attack, with Yura tearing through
their defence like a hot knife through butter. From about ten yards out, she
strikes a vicious shot, but Miyuki makes a daring leap and manages to just palm
it wide for a corner. Not a bad save. Aliona may be out first-choice goalkeeper
by some margin, but that's not to say Miyuki isn't talented. In fact, having
been training with them for over a month now, I'd say all our players are
fairly talented. We might have a shot at a top-three finish after all, if we
play our cards right.
No comments:
Post a Comment