Chapter 838: Back To Madrid

The plane touched down at Barajas just after noon.

Hiro stepped off the aircraft with his bag over his shoulder, calm on his face. The Spanish sun was high and bright, a sharp contrast to the cool Japanese spring he had left behind, and the air smelled of asphalt and heat and something faintly floral, the familiar scent of Madrid.

A car was waiting for him.

The drive to his apartment took twenty minutes, and Hiro watched the city slide past the window, the wide boulevards, the gleaming towers, and the cafés spilling out onto the sidewalks. It felt like coming home, but only for a moment, because there was no time to rest in it.

Two weeks until the derby.

He closed his eyes. Let’s get to work.

In the afternoon, he arrived at the training ground. However, unlike before, he wasn’t the first to arrive.

He could blame it on the jet lag since it hadn’t been that long since he boarded the plane.

However, he knew that rather than blaming the circumstances, he should be focused on the matches ahead of him instead.

Hiro walked into the dressing room, and the banter started at once.

"Look who finally decided to come back!"

Julian’s voice cut across the room, loud and teasing. He was already in his kit, lacing his boots with a wide grin on his face. "Five goals against Vietnam? Five?"

"Four," Hiro corrected. "Four goals and four assists."

"Same thing."

"It isn’t."

Julian waved a dismissive hand. "You scored four and set up four. That’s eight goals you had a hand in. It’s obscene."

Hiro shrugged. "They were weak."

"They were weak?" Julian laughed. "You made them look like amateurs. I watched the highlights, and that run past three defenders before Ryu’s first goal was disrespectful."

"It was necessary."

"It was beautiful."

Hiro shook his head, but a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Lee Kang-In came over next, quieter and more reserved than Julian but with real warmth in his eyes. "Congratulations on the win."

"Thank you."

"How did it feel, being back with the national team?"

Hiro paused. "It felt right."

Lee nodded. "I watched the match. You looked like you belonged there, as if you had never left."

"I had good teammates."

"You always do."

They shared a brief, wordless look, an understanding between two players who had come to respect each other deeply. Then Diego’s voice cut through the room.

"Everyone. Meeting room. Now."

Their eyes snapped at him, and for a moment the room went quiet. Then, as Diego left the room, the buzz came at once.

However, since the coach had asked them to gather in the meeting room, the players couldn’t afford to sit back and chitchat.

Their chatter continued as they walked down the hallway, into the meeting room.

Soon enough, the players arrived at the meeting room.

The players filed in and took their seats, and the mood shifted as the lighter banter gave way to focused attention. Diego stood at the front with a tactical board behind him and a serious look on his face.

"Good afternoon," he began. "I hope you enjoyed your break, because it’s over."

A few chuckles rippled through the room. Diego didn’t smile.

"We have eight matches left in La Liga and three in the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League quarter-finals are two weeks away." He paused to let the weight of the schedule settle over them. "We are still alive in all three competitions. That is rare, and it is special, and it is not something we can take for granted."

The players nodded.

"Every match matters now. Every point and every goal matters. We cannot afford to slip."

He turned to the board, and then turned back.

"But I’m not here to talk about tactics today. I’m here to talk about mentality."

His gaze swept across the room.

"We have been the best team in Spain for two years. We’ve won the league, we’ve won the Champions League, and we’ve proven ourselves against the best. But this final stretch is different, because this time we are being hunted."

The room was silent.

"Real Madrid is one point behind Barcelona, and we are three behind. They are hungry, and they are desperate, and they want what we have."

Diego’s voice hardened.

"In two weeks, we face Real Madrid in the derby. If we win, we go four points clear with four matches left to play. If we lose, we drop to second."

He let that hang in the air.

"This is not only a match. It is a statement. It’s a chance to prove that we are still the kings of Spain."

Hiro felt the energy in the room shift as the tension gave way to resolve.

"We have three matches before the derby: Sevilla, Valencia, Villarreal. We win all three, and then we turn our attention to Real Madrid." He looked across the room one last time. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Coach!"

The answer was thunderous.

Diego nodded. "Good..." He paused to scan the room. "Now get on the pitch. We have work to do."

Just as the coach said, their schedule was rather packed because the team was holding onto their spot for three trophies, perhaps repeating the feat from the previous year.

The team had won a treble the year before, and this year, the team was on the verge of repeating their past success.

However, that made their road to success even more difficult as the team faced some tough opponents.

Unlike the year before, the title race of La Liga was even tougher as the gap between the top three wasn’t that huge.

One slip, and the team could fall to third place instead.

These remaining games were like a battle to decide the title. Hence, each match was of grave importance.

That being said, one of the matches was the Madrid Derby.

Even if it were just another match, this match still held great importance. But the fact that this match could decide the fate of the league title accentuated its importance to the next level.