Episode 92: Programs & Soccer

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All of us were in position. I felt uneasy, but maybe Ivan is nice?

Scratch that. Akio's right. For once anyway.

When the referee blew his whistle, Kuroi and the Brazilian player (I'm assuming he's the captain), suddenly felt... off. Like... something else was controlling him.

And it didn't help since Kuroi had red eyes now instead of black. I took a glance at Ivan, who looked like he had nothing to do with this. 

When Shuuya and Toramaru ran up with the ball, the Brazilian player stole it in a flash. In short seconds, he even got past Kazemaru and Kidou. "Right." I took a deep breath. As he was running towards me, I ran up as well, showing my attempts to block him.

"Roniejo!" 

He got past me in a blink of an eye. Wait, his teammate just called him, right? Didn't that mean that the Brazilian player (The captain, Roniejo) should've passed the ball to him? This isn't good. 

His teammates kept calling out, but there was no response. Afterwards, he got past Shirou, Tobitaka, Kabeyama, and Hijikata. He kicks the ball in the air and makes a shoot, but it misses, going above the goal.

"Roniejo, why won't you pass the ball to your teammates? Don't you trust them?" I hear Hijikata talking to him. "Even if that Garshield loser has been making you suffer all this time, you've been protecting The Kingdom's soccer with them!" Roniejo's teammates stare at them now. "It's for their sake that you've been working hard!" He doesn't respond and walks back to his position, his teammates following him with confusion on their faces. 

I look at Kuroi, and I felt goosebumps all over me.

'His red eyes are glaring at me!'

I had never felt this from him before. I would usually feel at ease, or maybe even feel like I was myself, but now? I'm feeling... scared? I guess that's the right word.

As they went in their places, three of the players marked Shuuya, Toramaru, and Hiroto. When the whistle blew again, it happened again: Roniejo and Kuroi's off-being. One of them had the ball, and Kazemaru managed to pass it to Kidou, and Kidou managed to pass it to me. I ran up with the ball, not noticing the other player behind me.

"Rolling Slide!"

The player came from the front and stole the ball from me in an instant. He runs up to the goal and---

Kuroi takes it from him.

What? What the hell was I looking at right now? Kuroi just stole the ball from his own teammate. He runs up and gets past Shirou, Tobitaka, Kabeyama, and Hijikata once again. He stops in front of the goal, and that's when I felt it:

The feeling of darkness.

"Darkrai's Possession!"

Red and black aura, the tornado-like speed: It was there. I was seeing it again. I saw Endou freeze on the spot, but the shoot was a miss. 'That was a lucky miss... But, how?' I thought in disbelief. 

"What the hell was that?!"

One of the players grab Kuroi and Roniejo by the shirt. 

"Wait, the coach is watching us!"

"Same with Inazuma Japan and the stands."

The player lets go of their shirts, still angry at what happened. If I had the bravery, I would have went up to Kuroi and slapped him. Or maybe knock some sense into him. Anything to make him stop the madness.

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