Who Was Mistaken As A Soccer Genius In The Anime?

My smile dies the second the door swings open. Gasping, I stumble back as if burned by the deep scowl aimed at me. “You!” I whisper, and at the same time, my arch-enemy’s scowl morphs into a sinister smile. Tyler Brooks raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize you’ve added stalking to your nerdy tendencies,” he finally says, his deep voice causing me to shiver. I feel cold sweat break across my forehead, but I curl my fingers tighter around the strap of my purse. “I’m here to… for… um…” Tyler snorts, seemingly taking pleasure in my embarrassment. “What are you doing here, Garcia?” *** Lila Garcia thought her life couldn’t get any worse as the infamous nerd of Princeton High, constantly bullied by the jocks. But when Tyler Brooks’ parents leave town and they need someone to watch his younger siblings, Lila is roped into babysitting duty. Tyler has always been a jerk to her since day one, but now Lila’s stuck in his world and seeing him as more than just an arrogant football star. In close quarters, Lila learns that Tyler has secrets, and that he isn’t the guy she pegged him to be. As her feelings start to change, and the lines between love and hate blur, Lila must decide if this new version of Tyler is worth trusting, or if she’s just another target in his game.

She is focused, disciplined, and determined to survive her first year at university. He is reckless, irresistible, and the most notorious athlete on campus. When fate throws them together, sparks fly and rules are broken. Falling for the bad boy athlete was never part of her plan, but resisting him could cost her everything. Secrets, rivalries, and a dangerous attraction push them to the edge. Can love survive when their worlds are at war?

Russell James called me plain. He said I didn't have what it took to drive a man crazy, then crawled back into bed with the supermodel he'd been hiding from me. I found out the hard way, with my own eyes and what little dignity I had left. By then, he'd already signed his professional football contract, become a rising star, and decided I was no longer in his league. A year later, my life is falling apart. My mother's surgery is unaffordable. My younger brother's hockey dreams are slipping away. My final semester fees are overdue. Then my half-sister offers me a deal. Seduce a powerful fashion executive at an elite Madrid nightclub and help secure her place in Europe's most prestigious fashion show. In return, my family's problems disappear. I say yes. I spend the night with the man she described. By morning, I discover I've slept with the wrong man. "Connor?" he repeats, amused. "My name's Andre." Andre Fernandez. Real Numancia de Madrid's golden boy. Europe's most sought-after footballer. Forty-eight million followers. A €150 million market value. And the biggest rival of the ex-boyfriend who shattered my heart. Before I can process what happened, Andre finds me. He clears my family's debts and makes one impossible demand: "Be my girlfriend." I say no. Andre Fernandez clearly isn't used to hearing that word. When paparazzi catch us kissing at a high-profile party, the internet explodes. To save Andre's reputation, his PR team pushes us into a fake relationship complete with staged appearances, rehearsed interviews, and public displays of affection. None of it is supposed to be real. Except the longer we pretend, the harder it becomes to remember where the performance ends. Russell sees the photographs and is annoyed at his rival's proximity to me.

I go into business with my childhood friend, Ian Ziegler. The business is a success, earning 1.2 million dollars in profit. Ian gives me my share—a whopping 5,000 dollars. Noticing my dissatisfaction, Ian puts his arm around my girlfriend, Nina Foster, and tosses the keys to his Bentley onto the table. "What, is five grand too little for you? Fine. Since you're so broke, I'll give you a chance to turn things around for yourself. There's going to be a soccer game tonight. We're both going to place our bets. If you win, you can get all 1.2 million, plus my car. "But if you lose, your girlfriend's mine. You'll also have to get on your knees and lick my shoes right here in front of everyone." Everyone else in the room cackles gleefully, eager to watch me humiliate myself. Smirking, I nod. "Sure. I'll take that bet." These people have no idea that five years ago, I'd single-handedly taken down the Northwest Aravian illegal soccer betting circuit. I'd set a trap for a match-fixing syndicate, beating the crooks at their own game. I'd walked away from that life after that. But now, Ian has seriously decided to challenge me to a soccer bet?

One moment I'm chasing after a rabbit and the next, I'm falling down a rabbit hole! What the heck?! This ain't Alice in Wonderland?! Though as I opened my eyes, I soon found out that I was no longer in my original body and that somehow I transmigrated into the light novel, A Fairytale Romance. And that isn't all, the character whose body I transmigrated into... is none other than the canon-fodder, stuck-up, arrogant, and selfish ojou-sama who was nothing more than a comic relief character, Maria Rosendrey. Life truly sucks...

After I was reborn into the World Cup training camp locker room, the first thing I did was not train harder, but quietly watch the head coach running around the room with his phone in hand. "TactiGenie says it pulls from the world's largest database! If we follow the Invincible Spiral tactic it generates, we'll definitely win this World Cup! We'll win every match by a huge margin!" In my previous life, I had objected, saying, "TactiGenie doesn't understand football at all." The captain immediately slapped me across the face. "Don't talk nonsense. Do you think you know more than TactiGenie? Or more than the coaching staff?" In that life, Team Libertas conceded a total of 16 goals across three group-stage matches. The head coach cried in front of the cameras and said, "If it weren't for Christian's words before the match shaking the team's morale, we would never have ended up like this." After a public vote of 30 million people, I was named the person most responsible for the national team's elimination. I received 50 million hateful messages, and in the end, I couldn't take it anymore and jumped from the 23rd floor. This time, when the coach pulled out the TactiGenie tactics board with its AI watermark and win-probability curve, I just smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. "Coach Hudson, this tactic is amazing. I'd really love to play." Then I lowered my head and sent a message to the team doctor. "Theodore, my old Achilles injury is acting up again. Please help me get a medical certificate."