Stella rushed over to Shou to help him up after being hit with Kota's fierce shot. This made the triplets even more aggregated than ever when they saw her getting so close to another male. Erika was about to comment even more about the triplets' behaviors, but Shou stopped her. He did know them for a long time, being in the same team once after all, so he knew how to pacify them a bit.
"I'm okay. Sorry for getting in the way of your tennis practice and interrupting your time with Stella-chan." It seemed that Shou's observation did come in handy sometimes; the way the triplets became aggregated to him when Stella was involved (no matter how little) didn't escape his eyes. "But Kota-kun, your kick was amazing. Playing tennis is such a waste. You should be playing soccer, right?" To soften the triplets even more, he placed some well-placed complement after he apologized.
The triplets came closer to them, one on each side of Stella and the last one in the back was holding her hand as if to protect her from Shou.
"Huh?" Kota said confused.
"Is this what you came here for?" Ryuuji asked, wonder what else was coming since Shou hadn't approached them ever since they left the team.
"We won't be playing soccer under that terrible coach." Ouzou added on as the other two nodded in agreement. Stella was confused; just what did their former coach did that was so wrong in their eyes that caused the triplets to leave the team when they love soccer as much as her.
It turned out that Shou didn't came to get the Furuyas to rejoin the Momoyama Predators, instead he and Erika wanted to recruit them to form a new team to play against Rosa's feeder teams of the Nadeshiko league team (women league team). There were two problems with it. One was that playing feeder teams won't get them fired up, if they want to play soccer it will be much mor fun and challenging to play Rosa instead. But Shou told them that if they can defeat the feeder teams then they might be able to challenge Rosa too, so the problem was soft. There was the second problem. At first the triplets didn't want to play with Erika due to her being a girl and, from what they saw with her shoot, her skill level was even on par with Stella's (note: Stella is as good as the triplets in sports). Thankfully Erika didn't pay any attention to them or else her temper will explode again, she was also asking to have Stella joining. Stella could feel her heart about to burst in excitement and without thinking for an answer she gave an "OK", unknowingly to her that the trio glanced at her for a second. The triplets were also filled anticipation and along with Stella's agreement, they join up on it. Now they only needed three more players and then they will have nine players. In the end Shou thought about the other three players who were once on his team might also join, so they went to the park near the apartment complexes.
They were looking down at three players from a hill side. The trio stood in a triangular formation playing soccer. They were the so-called "3U" due to their last initials are "U": Yuuto Ukishima, Kei Uchimura, and Tarou Uematsu. Ryuuji took the soccer ball from Shou and shot it aiming at the soccer ball that 3U was using. With his great accuracy, the balls collided with each other and bounced away, but gained the three's attention. With smirks on their faces as if they had to absolute confidence that the 3U will join, the triplets ran down the hill and walked up to speak with the other three.
"Those three are pretty good. But is it really okay to leave it to the three of them?" Erika asked Shou.
In turn Shou told her about the 3U using middle school entrance exam to quit the team but in reality it was due to the Furuyas leaving, so if the triplets ask them they will agree. This time Erika did listen to him unlike when she was on the train (see CH 4). It was as if Shou was using the triplets to gather more members. As they were talking, they noticed the six people below was smiling/smirking up to them. It seemed like they've agreed.
