Lukas got out of the shower, a blue towel wrapped around his waist, his still damp hair fraying in the wind as he blew a hair dryer through it.
He walked into his room. Walked past the full body mirror close to the wardrobe. Stopped. And back tracked.
"Wow—it sure is nice to be young again." Lukas said gently as he admired himself.
"But I definitely wasn't this fit."
Throughout his days at the academy, he had always been fit enough to play average academy ball, but he didn't look this fit.
Visibly defined abs and pecks, a lean but fit physique. He looked like someone had drawn him to life.
"I probably could cut a sheet of paper with this jawline." He said, tracing his index finger along his jawline.
[*Once again, you're welcome.*] TT's voice rang in his head again.
"Yeah yeah yeah, the mighty TT, I am forever grateful." Lukas said with a playful smile.
He checked the time, and it was still 10:30 AM. To him, it felt like a new day, but this was still his first day since he returned to the past.
"I should go see my friends at the academy."
***********************
Lukas thought back on his last conversation with his former coach a week ago when he was dropped from the SV Darmstadt academy.
"I'm sorry Lukas, but the club has decided to drop you." Patrick Kurt, the manager of the SV Darmstadt U17 team where Lukas played at the time, said to Lukas with a sorry expression.
"As you must have known, this season has been a tough season for the club.
The first team suffered relegation from the Bundesliga on its first season after being promoted, even after all the spending from the management to keep us in.
They are now rushing to cut costs, and for some reason they think the academy is a great place to start.
I'm sorry kid." He added, obviously feeling regret for not being able to stop the dismissal from happening.
At this point, tears were already welling up in Lukas' eyes. He had heard the rumors of cuts when the first team's performance in the Bundesliga wasn't going according to plan, with SV Darmstadt sitting unopposed at the bottom of the league.
He had prayed it wasn't gonna get to that, but as the season progressed and the table shaped itself, SV Darmstadt still clung to their position, unwilling to surrender to FC Koln, VFL Bochum, or Union Berlin.
It became clear that they wanted the position more than the other contenders, but it didn't really matter as Koln, Bochum, and Darmstadt, all went down to the 2. Bundesliga, with Union barely making it out.
Now the season was over, the investments to stay in the Bundesliga deemed a failure, the chopping block was set, and Lukas was first up.
Patrick looked at Lukas, who was still forcing himself to not breakdown in tears embarrasingly in front of his about-to-be ex-manager.
"I know it's difficult Lukas, and I wish I could help, I really do.
But we can't risk facing further budget cuts from the management. If we do, we might not even be able to compete in the new U17 Bundesliga system that will be implemented starting next season.
We could only release you and some other players who aren't up to par or the management won't get off my back"
"I understand coach." Lukas responded, still heartbroken even though he had expected it when the coach called him to his office after training.
"You can always come see your friends at the academy during training. You've been here for 8 years and you will always be a part of the Darmstadt family."
"Thanks coach." His voice deflated, as he walked out the manager's office.
*****************************
That was last week, but he hasn't gone to visit them yet. He couldn't even get himself to leave the house for the past week.
After deciding to go the academy, he got dressed with his casual wear.
A blue baggy denim shorts and plain white T-shirt. A black adidas campus 00s, with white socks.
The distance from his house to the academy grounds was walkable, but Lukas decided to take his bike.
"It sure is nice to see you, old friend." Lukas said with a smile as he unlocked his bike.
"When was the last time I rode this. I can't even remember." He added with a laugh.
As he cycled through the neighborhood, Lukas looked around him—the very familiar but still strange surrounding. Twenty years were enough time to change a lot of things. And in the future he came from, a lot had changed.
Students from TUD, were everywhere. Most were heading to the university, some were in Cafe's drinking coffee or having a late breakfast due to an early morning lecture.
It was a lively, but cozy city. Not as overcrowded as hub cities like Frankfurt, Berlin, or Munich. But this comes with it's own disadvantages for Lukas because he knows to achieve his goals, he will definitely need to leave this cozy city of his, and move to a big city at some point.
This was something Lukas never did in his previous life. Something he never tried to do—getting out his comfort zone.
But with a second shot at life, it will be foolish not to.
Lukas arrived at the SV98 youth academy in Kastanienallee 61, and greeted the security personnel as he went into the facility.
A decent-sized facility, it had 2 football pitches side by side, a smaller one for the U8 to U15 teams and a bigger one for the U17 and U19 teams. The first and reserve teams trained at a separate location. By the side of the smaller pitch, stood a 2-storey building for both administrative and training purposes.
This was where match recordings were reviewed for tactical training, and where the academy's doctor and clinic were located.
Though already familiar with the environment, Lukas still took his time to take it all in.
"It has been a while since I came here." Lukas thought to himself as he looked around.
"I see you took me up on my offer, kid." a familiar voice rang out from behind Lukas as he was staring at the U8 kids passing the ball to each other.
"Mr. Patrick" Lukas turned and answered with a smile as he saw his former coach.
"I didn't have much to do today so I decided to come see the boys train." Lukas added as he shook hands with Patrick.
"You're welcome, anytime. You can join us in training today if you want." Patrick said.
This surprised Lukas as he had never heard of an unaffiliated player being allowed into an official training even in the academy, unless for a tryout period.
"Is that allowed? Won't there be a problem?" Lukas asked, managing to hide his surprise.
"It's fine. We still have a while before the next season starts, and this is just a training session focused on running drills. Nothing tactical or of the sort." Patrick, looking at Lukas to guage his reaction.
He still remembered how Lukas was holding back tears when he was let go a week ago. And since he had been a member of the academy for eight years, there was no harm in allowing him to train with them this once.
Lukas smiled, turned back around to look at the other pitch where the U17 team were gathered doing some drills ran by the assistant manager.
"I would love to if you'd have me." He responded.
"Isn't this literally a way up served to me on a silver platter?" Lukas thought to himself.
He knew it was not a try out, nor was it anyone expecting him to dazzle—but that was exactly why it was the perfect opportunity.
What would happen if a single training showed that he was a lot better than he was when dropped?
In the previous timeline, he never came to the SV98 training ground again after being dropped. His father, Javi, had gotten him a chance to tryout for the FCA Darmstadt team a few days after he turned 17.
FCA Darmstadt, a team that competed in the 7th tier of the German football league pyramid—the Gruppenliga, but he failed to even pass the tryouts.
This was a devastating blow to his confidence as a footballer, and he moved his goal from playing, to supporting the German national team. But that too, didn't amount to anything.
But now, with TT, he has been given a chance to prove he belongs in this sport. To prove that his passion, and hardwork, were enough to push him to the top.
And he wasn't going to give up that opportunity.
"Meet Layla at the reception desk, she will give you some training gear. You're not a guest, so you know where the locker rooms are, change up, and come to the pitch."
"Alright sir." Lukas answered as he turned and headed to the reception area.
Patrick watched him leave as he thought to himself.
"I can't put my hands on exactly what, but something has changed with this kid in just one week I haven't seen him."
He turned around and headed to the U17 players on the pitch.
"Well I guess we'll see."
And 'see' he surely will.
A/N: Enjoy, and please leave a comment if you have something to add or say. Or just an encouragement will do. It motivates me to see that other people enjoy my imaginations.
Also I would like your inputs on if I should change the name of the novel from "Become A Football Legend" to "The Time Training System" What do you guys think?