Skill vs Stamina.

“Okay, she’s playing with us,” Leonardo announced to the rest as he came back with Valerie walking behind him.

“Wha- Seriously!?”

“Yeah. She’s better than all of us, so…” Leo looked around. “I’d say let’s make it a 4 vs 7. Three of you be on her team. I can’t do it because I promised to play against her,” he told the rest, later translating for Valerie. “You’re okay with that, right?”

“Yeah, sounds good enough,” she nodded.

“So… how do we split?” one of his classmates asked.

As they started seeing who would go to which team, Leo set the ball on the ground and turned to Valerie. “So let me ask you. I get that you’re skilled, but for how long can you go at 100%?”

“Ah?”

“I’m just wondering. Maybe if I go all out from the start I might be able to cause you some trouble.”

“What are you talking about?” Valerie asked, blinking.

Leo didn’t say any more. Once the teams were ready, the game resumed with his own team’s kick off. He received the ball from his teammate and immediately kicked it high into the air, outside of all other player’s reach as it traveled towards the opponent’s goal. Without missing a beat, Leo ran after it at full speed. Valerie, who had been relatively close to them, followed him without issue, keeping up and even running past him. They both jumped to catch the ball, but Valerie jumped higher, heading the ball back towards one of her teammates with **** precision. But the moment Leo landed, he set off running again at his top speed, taking Valerie by surprise.

He reached his opponent, who was already being marked by one of his teammates and turning it into a 2 vs 1. The guy had **** but to pass, and after two more passes, the ball made its way to Valerie. Of course, Leo ran after her as well.

“Get two people on her!” he yelled, and his classmates ran towards the redhead to try and stop her while he caught up. He tried to get the ball, but Valerie’s dribbling was on point. She easily got past the three of them and scored the first goal.

“Holy crap…!” One of his teammates exclaimed. “That’s unreal!”

Valerie shot a smug grin towards Leo, which he answered with his own smirk. This was only just starting. The first recess was 20 minutes long, and they’d been playing for five of those before Valerie joined them. For the next 15 minutes, Leo was all over the field, almost making it seem like his team of 7 players was actually of 11. He couldn’t match Valerie’s speed, technique and experience, not in the slightest, but what he could do was play at a constant 100% of his capacity without slowing down for a moment. In contrast, Valerie could only do that in short burst when trying to outrun him or run past him. And taking advantage of that, Leo did as much as he could to **** Valerie to push herself to her limits, running after her every time she had the ball and getting in her way as much as possible. In the end, the score was still 4-0 in Valerie’s team’ favor, and though it was frustrating, he took solace in seeing how she’d ended up.

Valerie was tired, though still in better shape than their schoolmates who were gasping for air after trying to follow the pace they’d set. Valerie was panting and fanning her face with her shirt while Leo was completely fine. “Man, that sucks,” he sighed. “Perhaps we could’ve scored a goal if we’d had 10 more minutes.” Valerie didn’t say anything. She pursed her lips and lightly frowned as she looked at him. “And man, I had a whole speech prepared for when we won, too,” he laughed. “If I say it now, I’ll just look like a sore loser.” He hoped his joking tone was getting cross, or instead of a loser he’d be sounding like an asshole.

“…You could be a professional,” Valerie said. “With your Gift, you could be a professional at any sport you wanted, claim the top spots on anything you wanted. If you practiced more… you could maybe even beat me.” She grit her teeth. “You’re wasting your Gift!”

“Perhaps,” he shrugged. “But I don’t really want to become a professional athlete. I know I could, but I don’t want to. Whatever the reason for this talent, I won’t use it for whatever is convenient, but for what I think will make me happy.” A genuine smile crossed his lips as he realized something. “Actually, I think I just got a small hint.”

The bell rang. It was time to head back to class. He waved goodbye to Valerie with a satisfied smile and started making his way back to the classroom. On the way, one of his classmates, the one who’d invited him to play in the first place, caught up to him.

“Dude, how do you do it!?”

“Mmh? Do what?” Leo asked, thinking he would ask about his stamina.

“That!” his classmate said, subtly pointing to Valerie. “Dexter-san, Straight-san, Maeda-san and Chiteki-san! How do you manage to talk so freely with all those gorgeous girls!? Maaan, I’m so jealous!”

Leo groaned internally. If only he knew the headaches these girls could cause. But still… Despite everything, he wouldn’t deny to himself the good that came with all the troubles. He was surrounded by very interesting people.