My Goalkeeping System

Dave woke up by 6:20 AM just like he did every morning, he had forgotten that Emma wasn't there with him expecting to feel her body and cuddle but sadly she wasn't there.

<You told her she could stay with her friend have you forgotten?>

"No, Catherine." He said with a sigh. "I haven't forgotten."

He sat up on his bed and slowly slid his legs into his running boots which were always beside his bed.

After properly putting on the boots, he stared at the door for a while before slowly making his way to it.

<You know you didn't complete two of your bigger daily quests yesterday so you shouldn't miss any of them today>

'I know Catherine.' Dave replied as he slowly made his way down the staircase.

His first destination after making his way down the stairs every day was the freezer in the kitchen.

He took out his favorite-sized bottle of water and quickly took down the contents.

[ Daily quest completed ]

[ Drink two liters of water ]

[ +5 exp received ]

[ 75/200 exp ]

"Do you usually drink that much every morning?" Dave heard Karen say behind him.

'What now?'

He let out a deep sigh as he slowly turned to her to see that she was putting on green pajamas that covered her legs very well but the upper part of her body, not so much.

"Yeah, it's a normal routine," Dave said.

"Oh, I see, do you have another normal routine that you do daily?" She asked moving closer to him.

"Yeah, I have a lot of daily routines," Dave said. "Where is Emma?"

"Uh…she's still sleeping," Karen said. "You think a lot about her, don't you."

Now she had gotten close to him in quite an uncomfortable way but he wasn't going to let himself say uncomfortable as he quickly walked past her.

"Yeah." He said walking into the living room.

"Where are you going?" She asked walking into the living room.

"I'm going for my daily jog." He said opening the door.

"Oh, I thought you would love a little chat with me and maybe a little extra." She said slowly swiping her left index finger across her lips.

"Umm…Karen." Dave called.

"Yeah," Karen answered.

"Are you in a relationship?"

"Not at that moment, I just broke up with my boyfriend." She said.

"Oh, that explains a lot," Dave said before leaving through the door and slamming it shut leaving Karen there to rethink the meaning of what he had just said.

<That was mean, but she deserves it>

"Yeah," Dave said as he ran down the road.

For the few days that he had gone on this jog his completion time had always been fifteen minutes but today, he had arrived at the park at approximately twelve minutes.

"Well, that's an improvement." He muttered as he crashed on the low grass.

[ Daily quest completed ]

[ Run two kilometers]

[ +10 exp received ]

[ 85/200 exp ]

<Yeah, a nice improvement>

[ +1 stat point added to Dexterity ]

'Oh, a reward.'

<You deserve it, just don't slack off and you'll keep getting more rewards>

'I won't.'

<I know humans for not always keeping to their words but don't worry, there's no way you're slacking off with me in your head>

'I will be lying if I said that you don't scare me.' Dave replied as he sat down on the floor.

[ Physical Status ]

[ Strength: 16 ]

[ Dexterity: 8 ]

[ Endurance: 11 ]

The goalkeeper got home to find the sweet smell of chicken stew lingering in the air.

He slowly walked to the kitchen to find Emma standing over the gas cooker while stirring her chicken stew.

She didn't hear him enter the house as she was still busy with what she was doing.

He slowly approached her from behind and once he was close enough, he slowly wrapped his hands around her waist.

She was putting on a purple singlet which exposed the bandage on her shoulder and small black shorts.

"Dave." She said with a smile as she stopped what she was doing and raised her gaze to look at him.

"Good morning," Dave muttered to her.

"Good morning, hope you didn't miss me too much last night?" She said relaxing her head on his chest.

"You already know the answer to that question," Dave said. "You were enjoying yourself with your friend so I'm pretty sure you didn't miss me."

"Is that what you think?"

"That's what I know."

"Well, most of the things you know aren't true so." She said with a shrug.

"Hey."

<That's a mean way to tell someone he's dumb>

'She's just joking.'

"Come here." He said before pulling her closer for a kiss.

"Emma…."

Karen had just come down the stairs at that moment to ask Emma for something and now she had gotten in the middle of the couple who were locked in a passionate kiss now.

"Oh."

"I'll let you finish up now," Dave said after pulling out from the kiss.

He walked past Karen without even looking at her and she stood there looking toward Emma even after he had gone upstairs.

"Karen," Emma called.

"Umm..yeah." She shook her head to snap out of her daze before quickly making her way to her.

_____ ____

Unique FC players were gathered in their locker room with Norman standing in front of the tactic board which had blue and red caps placed on it.

"For this match, we will be switching to the four four two formation." The coach said quickly rearranging the red caps on the board to the four four two two formation.

"Okay," Adolf said.

"Our starters in the lineup will be Norman, Adolf, Aima will be rested and Pirlo will start and then Jonas will be starting in the left back position.

"Midfield will be Minino on the right, Edward will be supporting Ferran from the central midfield and then Harry will be on the left.

"So Ferran is taking the role of an attacking midfielder not like the way he's been doing with the other formation but as a supporting striker," Adolf said.

"That's correct." Coach Norman said before turning his gaze to Ferran. "I want you at the edge of the box during any attacks from the wings, any ball spills and you punish them for it."

"Got it, coach," Ferran said with a nod.

"Finally, our two forwards will be Fred and Carlos, Carlos on the right and Fred on the left."

"Wait, you're not starting Mateo?" Ferran said with a baffled look on his face.

"Trust me, Ferran, Mateo would be starting if this match wasn't being played just a day after our last match," Norman said. "Mateo is still very young and if he starts all the match with all these little spaces, he is likely to get injured and that is not good for the team. The same thing also applies to the rest of you."

"I don't mind, as long as I come on in the second half," Mateo said to Ferran.

"You should be aware that you will be getting benched in the next match against Litno FC, Ferran." Coach Norman said.

"I have a feeling that that match isn't going to end well for us," Mateo muttered.

The coach had gone on to explain the tactics for the match.

Ronino FC were currently in sixth place on the table and one of the things that made them quite a formidable team was their good defense, they weren't that good in attack but their defense and wonderful midfield were enough to break their opponents and a little chance they got, they made sure to make good use of.

Norman planned to break them through the wings and that was why he was starting Jonas who was the fastest wing-back on the team.

If that didn't work, he had plan B which was to shoot from far range and he could shoot from far range better than Fred Miles.

Carlos was also good with far-range shots and then there was Ferran.

"We have to grab all six points from this match," Norman said. "We're just six points away from the conference league spot and winning against Ronino will be a good boost to the team's confidence and points."

"We'll try our best coach," Adolf said.

"Yeah, I know we can do it," Norman said before checking his watch. "We're going to train till it's one PM and then we'll go home and get ready for the match."

"You heard him, get up let's go, we have a match to win!" Adolf said quickly getting up from his seat.

"I'm glad we have a captain like him," Mateo said to Dave as the two walked out of the locker room.

"Yeah," Dave said as he watched Adolf jog into the pitch.

"Yeah," Dave said with a smile on