Yōichi Kiriki/Synopsis

Overview Synopsis Relationships Image Gallery

Background

TBA

Main Story

Yōichi Kiriki first appeared in the tryout match as part of the Esperion's Youth team. Given that coach Tatsuya Fukuda shuffled the original positions of all his players, Kiriki played in the left-fullback position.

He played in the friendly match between Esperion's Youth A-team and Tokyo Shūrin High, with a final result of 9-0 for Esperion.

He participated in the joint training between team A and team B as part of team A-1, together with Enshin Akiyama, Kento Sugawara, Yutaka Yamada, Jun Marchs Asari, Eita Takasugi, Kanpei Kuroda, Masanori Baba and Yūma Motoki.

He was with Takasugi, Akiyama, Taira Nakamura and Kenta Yoshitsune when Haruhisa Kuribayashi appeared after being called back by Fukuda to play for the youth team again. The group welcomed him.

When Ashito Aoi, Kuroda, Eisaku Ōtomo and Keiji Togashi were promoted to team A, Kiriki was revealed to be part of the regulars, and he completed the training with ease when Ashito and Kuroda joined them. In another day, Ashito performed much better and was even able to steal a ball from Kiriki. After the practice, Kiriki acknowledged his performance and briefly talked to him.

Kiriki was a starter against Kashiwa Dai Business High, playing as a midfielder. Before the start of the second half, Ashito replaced Taira due to an injury, and Kiriki tried to calm him down by telling him not try anything unnecessary, and to trust his teammates. He also reassured him by saying that Esperion would score goals. In one of the first plays, Kiriki received a pass from Nagisa Akutsu, and dribbled past Sansho and Yariike, but his pass to Yoshitsune was blocked by Kinoshita. In the next play, he received a ball from Yuma and passed to Yamada, who assisted Yoshitsune in the first goal of the match. When Kuribayashi was subbed in as a replacement for Baba, Kiriki reminded Ashito that, whenever he did not know what to do, he could always pass to Kuribayashi. The final result was 3-0.

Before the match against Tokyo Vans, Takasugi reprehended Kiriki and Akutsu for being too indeferent towards the gap in talent between the regulars and the reserve players in team A. Immediately after, Fukuda appeared and announced that Takasugi, Yoshitsune, Akutsu and Yamada had been summoned by the U-18 Japan national team to play several matches in Czech Republic, leaving Kiriki behind. Fukuda told Kiriki that for the next matches, he would become the playmaker and captain of the team. Akutsu mocked him for assuming that he was going to be summoned and not Akutsu. That night, while leaving the Esperion's facilities, Kiriki crossed paths with Kuribayashi, who observed that Kiriki was terribly frustrated.

Kiriki was chosen a starter in the match against Tokyo Vans, in the midfielder position. As Kiriki had an introverted personality, before the start of the match, it was Tōji Kobayakawa who did a speech to cheer up the team instead of Kiriki. At some point during the first half, Togashi received a pass from Asari and sent a long pass to Kiriki, who dribbled past Ozeki and Ebihara. After that, he sent a cross to Yuma, but he could not reach it. Later, Kiriki managed to trap a pass from Ashito, even though he was surrounded by Nakamune and Yamagashi, and get through their press. Aftwards, he sent a lob pass to Osieck Mino, but the goalkeeper Oguri arrived to it first. In the next play, he received a pass from Baba and dribbled past Minato Jun, but Kunitaka Matsunaga could not reach the later heel pass. At that point, Kiriki started to feel extremely frustrated because his passes, despite being good, were not reached by his teammates. As a consequence, Kiriki considered tossing away his teammates and play for himself. In a later play, Kiriki received a pass from Ashito, but surprised by the fact of being marked by Juri Tatsumi. He decided a one-on-one against Kiriki, but he was surprised by the help of Hidaka, and lost the ball. During the half-time, Kiriki did not wait for Fukuda's speech and went to the restroom, where he was met by Kuribayashi, who blamed him for the bad performance of the team so far. Kiriki assured that since his and Kuribayashi's playstyles are similar, he should understand Kiriki's feelings, and specifically considering tossing teammates if they do not meet Kiriki's level. However, Kuribayashi said that it is not the case because for him, any decisions that does not bring the team and himself to victory is not a good decision. They were later met by Fukuda, who asked Kiriki what was he going to do from now on.

In the second half, Kiriki received a pass from Ashito and faced Jun in a one-on-one. He ended up sending a cross to Yuma, but, again, the cross was not reached. While he was still wondering why his teammates were not reaching his passes, he observed how Baba was replaced by Otomo. Seeing how the team was struggling to bring the ball to the front, Kiriki considered dropping back to help his teammates, but Otomo instructed him to stay upfront and wait for the ball, and he obeyed. Soon after, he received a lob pass from Otomo, and sent another cross to Yuma. This time, Yuma reached the cross, but he could only shot with his left foot and the ball went out of the goal. Yuma apologized later to Kiriki for wasting so many good passes, but he assured him that he learns, and eventually, he would score with one of Kiriki's passes if Kiriki persisted. Some minutes later, the match stopped due to a foul on Ashito, who told Kiriki that he was Esperion's hope for that match, to keep going and, that if he needed to calm down, to look over the field, which Kiriki did. In minute 81, Osieck received a pass from Otomo and sent a heel pass to Kiriki. Kiriki moved to the right flank and sent another cross to Yuma, who, this time managed to score to first goal of the match. After that goal, Kiriki apologized to Asari, Otomo, Togashi and Ryūichi Takeshima for undermining their talent. In minute 89, Kiriki received a pass from Otomo and gave the ball to Ashito in front of the box, who scored the second and last goal of the match, for a final result of 2-0 for Esperion.

In the next days, Kiriki kept practicing as a regular in Esperion's Youth and was eventually chosen to be a starter against Funabashi Academy High. At that very moment, Taira announced his retirement after Funabashi's match in front of his teammates, which took Kiriki and other players by surprise. That evening, Taira gave an explanation about his decision to some teammates who gathered around, Kiriki among them. When Akutsu appeared and urged Taira to retire immediately instead, he was confronted by his teammates and Kiriki commented that Akutsu can not say something like that regardless of the situation. After that argument, Kiriki met with Kuribayashi, Takasugi and Akiyama to talk about Taira's retirement and the importance of wining against Funabashi to honour Taira.

The match against Funabashi started with Kiriki playing as a midfielder, and in one of the first plays, Kiriki, with Ashito's help, stole the ball from Naofumi Futahara and passed to Akiyama. During the next minutes, Kiriki collaborated with his teammates in order to implement the five-lane tactics that was taught by Fukuda during the last years since the times in the junior team. In the second half, Kiriki observed that Funabashi strengthened the defense of his passing line to Kuribayashi by using Futahara. When Ashito was sent off the field because of a penalty that Trepone Rufin scored, Kiriki was summoned by the coaches together with his teammates. He was moved by Akutsu and Kuribayashi's words. When the game restarted, Kiriki tried to tackle Futahara, but the loose ball ended under Gō Tokitō's control. Once the match finished with a final result of 2-2, Kiriki listened to Taira's words and farewell.

Kiriki did not play in the J-Youth Cup match against Iwata Allegrio, and had to saw the match from the bench. However he took chances to give some advice to Kuroda, who was making his debut with team-A. After the match, he went for dinner with the rest of the second-year players, and commented about Akutsu being the new captain. Kiriki supported Takasugi's suggestion of helping Akutsu. Kiriki was chosen a regular in the next J-Youth Cup match against Ganon Osaka, a match Esperion lost 5-1. Kiriki got injured in that match.

Before the match against Aomori Seiran High, while Kiriki was in the rehabilitation room with Mamoru Hotta, Akiyama, who was also injured, and Takasugi, accompanying them, he received Akutsu's visit, who asked specifically Kiriki and Akiyama to play against Aomori, despite not being fully-recovered from their injuries. Both of them requested to play, and were chosen by Fukuda to be starters in that match.

In the first play of the match, Kiriki supported Yamada with a wall pass. In the next play, he performed a corner kick, but the scoring chance was aborted by Eito Makimura. In a later play, Kiriki received a pass from Baba and tried to pass the ball to Ashito, just to immediately receive it back because of the strong press performed by Ryūki Haneda. After that, Akutsu gave him a pass line to bring the ball back to Akiyama. Later, Kiriki received a long pass from Akiyama, but Makimura anticipated the play. In the next play, he received again a ball from Akiyama and passed the ball to Sōichirō Tachibana, but he lost the ball due to a tackle by Renard Sho Moriyama. In minute 33, Togashi sent another long ball to Kiriki but Makimura reached it first. Later, Takasugi made a pass to Kiriki with a header, and Kiriki dribbled past Kentaro Oba with a nutmeg. In the last play of the first half, Kiriki got a ball from Yuma, and after trying a one-on-one against Yuki Konuma and not succeding, he passed to Otomo. That play ended up with Otomo passing to Tachibana, who managed to dribble past Kentaro Tsutsumi and Moriyama, but his shot was deflected by Makimura.

Within the first minutes of the second half, Togashi, now playing as lone striker, hold the ball and passed it to Kiriki, who sent the pass to Yamada in the box. However, Makimura anticipated the play again. Some minutes later, Kiriki got the ball from Asari and after Ashito got Haneda's mark off him, Kiriki tried a one-on-one against Taiyo Fujinaga and sent a pass to Togashi. Later in the same play, Kiriki got the ball again from Takasugi thanks to a faint from Ashito, but his shot was blocked by Ren Kitano. When Aomori changed to the N-box tactic with Ren as their core, Kiriki started to mark him closely. However, Ren managed to dribble past him with a technique that brought memories to Kiriki of Kuribayashi. Later, Kiriki, completely isolated in the midfield due to Aomori's tactics, found himself forced to stop Fujinaga with a foul, and Ren helped him to get up by mocking him by the fact that Kiriki was being manipulated by Ren. After Haneda's goal, Kiriki had the supports of Ashito and managed to steal a ball from Naoki Kiso. In the last minutes of the match, Kiriki collaborated in a play built with Kuroda, Togashi and Ashito, and the latter tried a shot but it was blocked by Moriyama. At the end of the match, Kiriki celebrated the victory with his teammates.

Kiriki played in the final of the Takamadonomiya Cup against Ganon Osaka, and was subbed out at some point during the match. He was visibly touched after the match, in which Esperion won, and saw Takasugi crying. Both of them were comforted by Kyō Shimura. After that match, he went for dinner with all the members of Esperion's Youth team to celebrate the end of the season.

As the winner of the Takamadonomiya Cup, Esperion was invited to participate in the Alkass Cup in February, tournament celebrated in Qatar. He was with Akiyama and Takasugi when, after a practice match Esperion's Youth team had against the senior team, they received a visit from Hernán Garulla, the coach of the senior team. After Akiyama made sure of the truth of Garulla's promise that players would be promoted if they win the first match of the tournament against Barcelona FC, Kiriki promised that they were going to win, since they would be able to play with Kuribayashi. A week after, Kiriki travelled to Qatar by plane with the rest of his teammates. In a meeting the day before Barcelona's match, Kiriki noticed the absence of both Akutsu and Kuribayashi.

Kiriki was chosen to be a starter in the match against Barcelona. In the first minutes, Kiriki participated in the possession football Esperion tried to implement, mimicking Barcelona's football style. However, at some point of the match, Kiriki noticed that Barcelona increased the speed at which they were moving the ball, and Esperion could not use possession football anymore. When that happened, Kiriki was able to keep the composure and play as he usually was used to. At some point, Kuribayashi started to carry the team and draw opponents towards him, and Kiriki, then, decide to support him in the role of playmaking, trying to counter the three playmakers in Barcelona: Alex Falco, Yuri Garulla and Sino Ascari. The two of them brought the ball to the front of the box, but the subsequent shot by Yuma was blocked by Nathan Starless. Kiriki and Kuribayashi were joined by Ashito as a the third playmaker, and managed to take over the midfield. In the next play, Kiriki sent a cross to Kuribayashi, who was inside the box, but Ascari stole the ball and after that dribbled past Kiriki to create a new attack for Barcelona. In the last play of the first half, Kiriki received a ball deflected by David Obsidian, and after cutting inside to place himself in front of the box, he shot. Starless was prepared to block it, but Kuribayashi appeared in front of him to deviate the ball with his heel and introduce it inside the net. The match reached the half-time with a partial result of 1-1.

Site Navigation

TBA