Life As Teikoku's Manager (an Inazuma Eleven f.f.)

A Run In With People I Didn't Want To Run Into

        Suddenly, arguing voices from inside the sweet shop distracted us. "Move," a voice said. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint from where. "You can't cut lines!" one of the kids Endou was talking with earlier shouted at the first. Then came Endou's voice, trying to reason with the first boy who's voice kept nagging at the back of my mind, "You guys! Stay in line!"

        "Bad kids! Bad kids!" the elementary kids chanted as the three of us ran to see what was happening. When I finally saw who the first voice belonged to, a shock went through my body. Gouenji had the same reaction when he came to the door two seconds later. It was our former teammates, the Mukata triplets. Well, not exactly teammates, more like my bench-mates.

        They noticed us also. "Gouenji!," the boy in the middle, Musara, sneered, "Long time no see, you loner who ran away from the finals." Then Tomo, Musara's brother, added from the side, "At least you dare show your face to us after all this time, unlike that Inoue Shizuro who disappeared completely. So we'll give you credit...not!" Then the three bursted into haughty laughter.

        I couldn't help but started laughing also. Kidou jumped back and Gouenji looked shocked. The Mukata triplets stopped laughing abrupty and turned toward me along with Endou, the old lady, and the other kids. "What's so funny?" Tsutomu, the last brother, demanded. I stopped laughing also, but giggles escaped through my mouth. "Don't you recognize me?" I asked them. They squinted as they tried to figure out why I looked so familiar. Finally after five seconds, Musara exclaimed,"You're Inoue!". The other two brothers' minds finally clicked, and their jaws dropped. "That's right," I replied, then because I couldn't help it, I added, "Took you long enough. Haven't you been reading the news or watching the TV?"

        Musara crossed his arms and taunted, "I have, but all of them are about the Mukata Triplets, who will win the Football Frontier, like totally." I pretended to be bored, and said, "Oh, then you guys must be desperate. All I saw was me making the front cover of about three sport magazines, two newspapers, five gossip papers, and a small paragraph on you guys in one magazine." Tomo narrowed his eyes. "Don't be so sure of yourself, Inoue. You and Gouenji may have been the victory cards last year, but now it's us."

        "Who are those guys?" Endou asked Kidou. The genius strategist replied, "They're the ones who played in place of Gouenji and Shizumi this year in the finals, the three top of Kidokawa Seishuu." "As expected of Kidou Yuuto, looks like you've got all the information on your potential opponents," Musara commented. Kidou nonchalantly shrugged and replied, "I only remembered it because it's strange to see three strikers on the field at once." I couldn't help but exchange a victory smirk with him. He grinned back.

        "How dare you say that? We proved that we can beat Gouenji and Inoue, we have three strikers that are all better than them!" Tsutomi fired. Endou started walking to the exit, then paused right before he went out and signaled for us to take the conversation outside. Gouenji followed wordlessly, but I stayed behind to give the Mukata Triplets one more glare before Kidou looped his arm around me again and dragged me outside. The Mukata Triplets followed and snickered at the sight of me, the phantom striker who struck fear in everyone's hearts being pulled like a girl. I gave them another glare, but they just laughed louder.

        Finally, when we were all outside, Endou demanded, "What's this about? What's with you guys?" Tomo replied in that haughty tone, "We'll take down Gouenji Shuuya and Inoue Shizuro for Kidokawa Seishuu, no, to satsify the triplet's grudge!" "From the first day you shamed me at tryouts, we hated you, no, both of you!" Musara declared, "So we'll take you down!" Then all together, they chorused, "That's something Gouenji and Inoue knows, so ask them!"

        "Eh? Gouenji and Inoue knows?" Endou asked, then turned to us. Gouenji was looking at the ground, and I turned my face away from Kidou. "Yeah," Tsutomu continued, "You could say that last year in the Football Frontier, Kidokawa Seishuu got to the finals thanks to them." "It's true that Gouenji had a lot of good skill and that Inoue was our joker, but because of that, us Mukata Triplets wasn't even brought out to play!" Tomo said in a dramatically sad tone, as if he was about to pull out a hankerchief and dab at his eyes. Musara was the next to speak. "It's sad, but reality, so we put our dreams in Gouenji, and in Inoue too if Gouenji wasn't enough. But...but...you two never showed up at the finals!"

        The accusation drilled deep into my heart. It was my worst nightmare coming true, my teammates saying that I had let their dreams of victory fall. Endou shouted something back to defend us I think, but I wasn't completely sure. Everything was blocked out, and I felt my world crumbling. My knees felt weak, and I collapsed. If it wasn't for Kidou catching me, I would have been on the ground. All I could do right now was hang onto his arm tightly and clench the fabric of the sleeve. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't stand up, I'm not sure I could even keep living.

        Musara continued like he was reading from the script that would end my world. Every word rang loud and clear in my head. "You two betrayed our dreams! We thought you were heroes, but you ran away like cowards!" I felt myself slipping, and I couldn't do anything about it other than grip onto Kidou tighter. I had thought this desire to not let anyone's dreams collapse because of me was gone after Gouenji had told me I wasn't to blame, but I guess I was wrong.

        Kidou pulled me up and forced me to stand. "Stop. Shizumi didn't quit on her own free will. It was Kageyama's fault! He wanted to make sure Teikoku could win against Kidokawa Seishuu, so he decided to fake a voting to kick Shizumi out," Kidou shouted at the Musara Triplets.

        Endou was shocked at Kidou's outburst, then quickly caught on. "That's right! That day, Gouenji was-" He was cut off by the platinum haired striker. "Stop it, it's over already, The truth won't change!" Gouenji shouted. I could tell he was taking these accusations pretty badly too.

        Musara pulled out a soccer ball from his bag. "Well, since we're here, let's do some scouting," he said wickedly. Gouenji turned around and started walking away, "Sorry, I don't feel up to it." He was near breaking point, so he probably wanted to get away as quick as possible before he started to crack. I had already broke, and it was embarrassing to do it in front of the Mukata Triplets especially. Somehow, it wasn't as embarrassing in front of Kidou. It was probably because he had cracked in front of me before.  "Oh? Are you going to run away again?" Tomu asked, hitting bullseye where it hurted the most. Gouenji stopped. Then Tomu turned to me. "How 'bout you?"

        Kidou took one look at my trembling figure, and told Endou, "I'm taking her home. She'll be better tommorow." The two of us started walking away. From behind, I heard Musara call out on purposely loud, "Ah, it was a shame this is the same Inoue that Hinata-chan saw." He emphasized the name Hinata, but really put the hard note on 'chan'. I stiffened. Then slowly, I turned my head slightly in my signature single eye glare. "Did you just call Hinata 'Hinata-chan?'" I asked, scaring even myself how murdurous my voice sounded. Kidou took a step back, releasing his hold on me, but I no longer needed his support. This anger made my blood boil.

        "Yeah, didn't you know? Hinata's my girlfriend now," Musara continued taunting, this time emphasizing the word 'girlfriend'. I know I was probably a human flame now. "Let's decide this with soccer," I said in the scarily calm, but angry voice which meant the Death Bringer meant buisness. And everyone, especially Musara, should know that you never want to be on the opposite team when the Death Bringer was angry.