A Minor Misfortune
Yohan often visited Hailey's house, and every time he did, he was astonished all over again.
It felt like a grand mansion.
In truth, it only seemed like a grand mansion from Yohan's perspective. In reality, it was simply a comfortable home for a reasonably well-off family. Still, the interior and exterior were polished enough that most people would have called it a fine house.
After stuffing themselves on the American Christmas feast Caroline had prepared until their stomachs were ready to burst — and then polishing off dessert for good measure — the two of them headed companionably up to Hailey's room.
"Don't you want to hang out with Aunt Carrie?"
"Hang out how? Mom's busy."
"She's home and she's busy?"
"Yeah. She's got a lot to do."
"Huh… Oh, right — I've got something for you."
"Something for me?"
Yohan gave a meaningful smile to Hailey, who tilted her head in curiosity, and pulled out the object he'd packed into his bag that morning.
It was a wooden doll about the size of two children's fingers pressed together.
"This is for you. A present."
"What is this? A wooden doll?"
"Yeah."
"It's ugly."
"…"
Yohan's face transformed the moment he heard Hailey's appraisal of the gift. The look of sheer devastation told her, instantly, that he had carved it himself.
"Hey, hey. If something's ugly, you just say it's ugly — what else are you supposed to say? Still, I like it."
Hailey offered what consolation she could. Yohan's voice drooped as he asked,
"You really like it? You're not lying?"
"Yeah. It's the first present you've ever given me. Of course I like it."
"Then that's enough."
Only then did his expression ease. He sat down right beside Hailey, who was perched on the edge of the bed, and pointed at the doll's mouth — a crooked little opening he'd carved into the wood.
"This little guy talks too much, so…"
"Oh, there's lore?"
"Once you've got a character, you need a story, right?"
"Fair enough. Okay, go on — I'll play along. He talks too much, so what?"
"He's like you."
"Huh?"
"The talking-too-much part. That's like you."
"Ah… me?"
"Yeah."
Hailey squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again. She turned to Yohan and narrowed her brow.
"Hey."
"Y-yeah?"
"You really have a death wish, don't you?"
"No."
"Then why say something that makes me mad?"
"I was complimenting you. Why are you mad?"
"How is 'you talk too much' a compliment?"
"Because when you're with me, you talk a lot — so I'm never bored…"
"Oh. That's what you meant?"
"Yeah."
"Then you could've just said it in a way I wouldn't misunderstand."
"You misunderstood?"
Now that she thought about it, it really did sound like a compliment. She also knew perfectly well that Yohan wasn't the type to be snide, so Hailey waved it off.
"Never mind. Forget it."
Around Yohan, Hailey was developing a remarkable capacity for letting things go. She was still a beginner at it, but given enough time, even his endless stream of clueless remarks would stop getting under her skin. And today was the first day he'd ever given her a present — so a little ribbing like that was easy enough to forgive.
"Whenever you talk so much your throat starts to hurt, pick this up and show it to me."
Yohan was still building out the doll's lore. Mildly intrigued, Hailey asked,
"And then what happens?"
"It means you want to rest."
"What kind of system is that? If I want to rest, I can just rest whenever I feel like it. How about this instead — when I've got something to say, I hold it up. When I raise it, you shut your mouth and listen."
"Oh. That's good. But I'm going to have to refuse on grounds of potential abuse."
"I'll only use it when you don't listen."
"I've never not listened."
"Whatever. I'm keeping this safe, so just watch a movie."
"Okay."
Completely taken in by a topic change that was, for a child, surprisingly deft, Yohan leaned his back against the wall of the bed and looked up at the large wall-mounted TV in Hailey's room. She worked the remote with practiced ease and put a movie on.
"You're really going to watch this?"
Hailey had chosen a horror film. Not the ghost kind — just a teen creature feature full of jump scares.
"We already agreed to watch it. Why? Are you scared?"
"Not really."
"Liar. Your face is full of fear."
"I'm seriously not scared…"
"Then watch."
"Fine."
"I'm turning off the lights, too?"
"Yeah."
Hailey eyed Yohan, who was acting as if nothing were wrong, half-convinced he was bluffing. She switched off the lights, sat down beside him, pulled the blanket over them both, and turned her eyes to the TV.
And so the next morning arrived.
The well-oiled hinges swung open with a soft whisper. When calling them down for breakfast produced no response, Caroline went looking in Hailey's room — and the sight on the bed made her smile so hard she could barely hide it.
They said they were watching a monster movie…
Hailey was fast asleep, clinging to Yohan's arm like a cicada. Yohan was deep in dreamland himself — and unlike Hailey, whose face was scrunched in a frown, he slept with a peaceful, almost demure expression, eyes gently closed.
The picture was easy enough to reconstruct. Yohan watching the movie with a shrug. Hailey startling at every jump scare… Then, once the credits rolled, insisting on the cozier inner side of the bed, and kind-hearted Yohan telling her to go ahead. The whole sequence played out in Caroline's mind.
They're practically siblings.
As time went on, Hailey and Yohan — already close — only grew closer. She would never admit it, but their outward behavior made it plain how fond they were of each other. Things like resting her head on Yohan's stomach as a pillow while he lay down, or holding hands as they walked around without a second thought… Beyond that, there was simply very little either of them hesitated to do around the other.
Sleeping in the same bed, like this, was no different.
Boy and girl. Even as children, she'd expected different interests and a certain friction when they spent time together — but watching the two of them, she realized that had been a prejudice. Of course, Yohan's willingness to accommodate Hailey played a part, but even accounting for that, it all felt remarkably natural. As if they'd been next-door neighbors their whole lives — childhood friends from the start.
This is nice.
It wasn't only that Hailey had grown close to Yohan. Ever since they'd come here, her troublemaking had dropped off dramatically. Lately she'd even made friends beyond him — Emma and a few others, classmates she'd met when she was handing out snacks in class. And the days of whining to be sent back to America had grown fewer and fewer…
Thinking how glad she was that they'd come here with Hailey, Caroline quietly closed the door.
Lorenzo Lucca's praise of a single prospect during the behind-the-scenes of an advertisement briefly became a topic of conversation in AS Roma's local community. But only briefly.
Praising your own club's youth players was an everyday occurrence in football. And since he hadn't given a name, people figured Lorenzo had simply been offering a bit of lip service.
As for the subject of that praise — Yohan went about his days without the slightest idea that Lorenzo had said any such thing.
So the new year rolled on, the cold winds of winter passed, and spring arrived.
At present, a fierce contest was underway between Roma and Lazio. Whenever the two clubs sat near each other in the table, the atmosphere grew scorching. Especially with a European competition berth on the line, the already bitter rivalry between the two sets of fans tended to boil over.
In situations like that, even members of parliament would cut meetings short to watch a derby match. That was exactly where things stood now. Late in the season, Lazio sat fourth — the last Champions League spot — with Roma right behind them in fifth, and the points gap was so narrow that the fire had flared up both inside and outside the clubs.
That heat carried down to the Primavera and the rest of the youth ranks — Roma's Pulcini included. And in the middle of all that, Yohan and his teammates found themselves facing Lazio.
They should've cancelled it. Or at least postponed…
The Roma Pulcini coach was deeply uneasy about this match. A week ago, everything had been fine. But then Roma had beaten title contenders Juventus and Inter for back-to-back wins, while Lazio had been tripped up by lower-table sides for two straight losses — and the points gap had closed in an instant. Whether in the stands or on the pitch, the contest was about to get a whole lot uglier.
Situations like this — not quite force majeure, but close enough — weren't uncommon. That was why, at the Esordienti level and below, both clubs took special care with derby matches whenever things heated up this way. Both managers had stressed that this was essentially a friendly, hoping to keep the risk of injury down. Youth players whose hearts were already full of club loyalty had a tendency to get rough.
But all their efforts came to nothing.
Crack—!
"Aagh!"
"Wh—!?"
Tweet—!
A boy who'd just had the ball taken off him by Yohan, unable to contain a flash of temper, went in for a tackle — and committed a foul he never should have.
Yohan on the ground, clutching his ankle. The Lazio youth player, who had meant to be physical but never intended a tackle like that, unable to hide his shock. And the players, the referee, and the medical staff all rushing toward them…
Damn it.
Thinking that the match had already gone to hell this early, the coach stepped onto the pitch and looked over Yohan from behind the medical staff.
"Ugh… that hurts. Mm…! That really hurts quite a bit."
His voice, at least, carried a certain calm composure — as if he'd merely tripped over a rock. His face, however, was twisted through every possible grimace. And because the impact had landed near the anklebone, a proper examination would be needed.
So the coach called over Coach Mauro and sent Yohan to the hospital with the medical staff.