??? P.O.V.
I really believed I had some kind of talent for football.
But no...
Everything I tried to stand out at just didn't work. There was always some prodigy—or even a genius—who surpassed me in just a few days.
Ever since I was a child, I asked my mother to take me to a football school. And she did...
My mother was one of the only people who continued to support me, even when everyone else was against me.
All I wanted was to relive that time—maybe then I'd learn to play football properly.
---
Narrator P.O.V.
Hiro Nagami was an average young man from Japan. Practically a regular Japanese guy who aspired to one day become a famous football player.
Too bad that dream never materialized due to his lack of talent.
It was kind of funny, to be honest—kids half his age already showed abilities that set them apart. But he didn't.
He started trying to be a goalkeeper… but never managed to stop a shot.
What kind of keeper is that?
Then he moved to center-back, but didn't have the stamina to keep up with attackers.
So he tried playing full-back, but he didn't have enough speed—essential for that position.
Midfield? Not a chance. Too many responsibilities in a single match—you had to attack and then fall back to defend. And he wasn't good at either.
And finally, his last hope... becoming a striker!
That should work, right? You just push the ball into the goal when someone passes it to you…
At least that's what he thought. As a striker, your main job is to be fed incredible assists from the wings. And that did happen.
But the boy still couldn't finish well.
He couldn't even score a single goal in 60 attempts!
In football, there are many levels of players—from bad, to amateur, to genius.
He was below the bad… below amateurs… even below children.
Football was definitely not for him.
---
20XX, Shijo‑Dori – Gion, Kyoto
A group of friends were playing football on a small public court in the city. Among them was a man named Hiro—24 years old.
He hadn't aged badly despite various crises in his life. He lived a normal, uncomplicated life.
But it was far from what he truly wanted.
His biggest dream remained unfulfilled. He would never become a football player—his own fault.
"Here, Nagami!" a brown-haired youth called his name, raising his arm and moving closer to the goal.
Seeing the opportunity, Hiro tried a through pass—but he kicked a bit too hard and the ball flew beyond the fence around the field.
"I'll get it," Hiro said with a sad look. If he knew how to play well, he'd have nailed that pass—even without looking.
He walked off the court to retrieve the football. Heavy rain covered the sky overhead. That dark night would be unforgettable...
He ran a few meters after the ball and saw it had come to rest near a row of trash bins.
Approaching them, he noticed a metal plate thrown in the trash. But that wasn't the problem. What surprised him was that it was in the plastics bin.
Who in their right mind would do something like that?
As the good Japanese citizen he was, he grabbed the metal plate to dispose of it properly. But that was the greatest mistake of his life… or maybe not.
Just as he neared the correct bin—a powerful lightning bolt struck the metal plate in his hands. And since humans conduct electricity too, his fate was sealed.
A strong electric shock surged through his frail Japanese body, incapacitating him completely.
Now fallen to the ground, Hiro gazed at the rainy sky with melancholy. He was sad that he wouldn't be able to return the ball to his childhood friends. Yet he felt a strange happiness knowing he died doing a good deed for nature.
That should surely earn me a place in heaven, right?
About to close his eyes and fall into death's embrace, the boy made one final, innocent wish—the one that revealed everything he longed for in his brief life:
"I just wanted to have been an amazing football player."
He cried—and finally closed his eyes with a single tear trailing down his cheek.
---
That place was cold. He liked that—the heat had been one of the few things he hated while alive.
But extreme cold wasn't to his liking either. Many people died from problems caused by the cold.
Putting that aside, we see Hiro floating through this vast, infinite space—wondering where the other souls who suffered the same fate were.
His thoughts were interrupted by a brilliant light and a portal opening before him.
From within the portal, a strange man emerged wearing an even stranger mask—resembling a plague doctor's, but more colorful. He was dressed in a formal black suit, similar to those worn by wealthy businessmen.
Before Hiro could speak, the man began to say:
"I bet you have many questions now… But before you ask yours, let me make you a proposal."
The man spoke, and immediately two glowing orbs appeared in his hands—one radiating a deep purple, the other orange.
Hiro opened his mouth in awe—he had thought the man was just another soul who died and ended up here. But apparently, this "man" was something more.
"I will give you an incredible ability in exchange for something of yours."
He extended his hands, pointing the orbs at him.
"And what would that ability be?" Hiro asked, not even concerned about what he would have to give.
"It's my power." the man replied simply.
"Your power?! How does it work?" Hiro asked, astonished. An entity offered him its power—it sounded suspicious, but he didn't care.
"To steal other people's abilities!" the man said, smiling under his mask.
"Steal?!" Hiro shouted in surprise—he hadn't imagined having something so powerful in his possession. But now, seeing this would be the ability he gained, he feared the price he had to pay.
"As a condition to receive this power, you must regress several years in your life…"
"What? And that's supposed to be bad…? It's better than I expected!" the boy thought, feeling he had just hit the jackpot.
"However, the years you go back will be subtracted from your total lifespan. In other words, if you go back 10 years in the past, you'll lose those 10 years of your life."
The man concluded, disappointing the boy.
It seemed too good to be true—but still a great deal to him.
This power would fix his most obvious flaw… his lack of talent.
"Where do I sign?" Hiro asked. He accepted the conditions of the deal, aching to return to the past and live his life again—with a cheat in his hands this time.
"All you have to do is shake my hand and think of which year you want to return to." The man said, extending his hand to seal the pact.
Hiro, without hesitation, shook the man's hand—and the same electric shock that killed him coursed through his body once more.
---
The shock finally ceased. Hiro looked around and realized he was back in his old house in Shibuya—the city he lived in before moving to Kyoto.
He gazed at that room with deep nostalgia and felt genuinely happy after so many years. He didn't even need to look at the calendar to know he had returned to the past.
This time, he would do things differently.
With the help of the SSS-Rank Talent-Stealing System!