On The Side Of The Pitch With You

The Day Off

"Don't slip in the bathroom."

"Shut up, Kariya!" She rolled her eyes at his snickering before making her way up the stairs. "Kyou, I'm borrowing your shirt!"

He froze just as he was about to clean up his plate. "Why?"

"Because we're staying inside for the whole day and I want to wear something comfy."

"You have your own."

"Yeah, but none of them are oversized. Your stuff is perfect."

"You're going to take it no matter what I say, aren't you?"

"Yup!"

So he didn't bother to say anything else. The rest of them sweatdropped as the girl made her way back upstairs. She came back a few minutes later in one of his red shirts, though unlike him, she didn't roll the sleeves up. Because of that, only the tips of her fingers were visible from them.

"How many of those do you have?" Shindou asked.

"Enough." Was his reply.

"Then you won't mind if I take this one home?"

"Don't even think about it. You already stole three of my clothes."

"Oh, you found out?"

"I only have one light blue jacket and it was just gone from my closet the day after you stayed over. That was enough to get me to look through everything else."

"Dang it... Then, how about admitting I look cute?"

"You look stupid."

Click!

They both turned to the brunette holding a camera. "You two make a good couple."

"Huh?" She blinked before the words sunk in, making her shake her head. "Akane-san, it's not like that. This is just normal for us."

"Unfortunately." He muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You didn't bother denying when Zanark called you her boyfriend though." Midori pointed out.

"He said that as a jab. It wasn't worth bothering to correct, and there were more important things to think about at the time."

"...You two are impossible to tease."

The blonde smiled slightly, taking her seat by Kinako again. That was when she realized.

"Why didn't Tenma come?"

"He went to the school to see Fei and Wondeba." Aoi said. "He's been worried about Coach Endou since what happened yesterday."

"Did you need him for something?" Shinsuke asked.

"No, I just thought he'd be here since he was the one that wanted to offer to help us get home before aunty called." She leaned her head back, humming. "Endou-san's a Chrono Stone now, huh..."

The air suddenly turned heavy.

Shindou's fists clenched on his lap. "We almost got him back, but..."

Zanark tossed the purple stone over to them, only for someone in full white to grab it. A bright light was emitted, and when they regained their sight, they found the person had gone.

"And on top of that, Zanark escaped." Kirino muttered.

"But he was willing to give him back." Kimiko pointed out. "He was surprised when that man appeared too."

"Maybe so, but..."

"What really confuses me is..." Her hand reached up, mimicking that person's movements when he caught the purple stone. "He... was the one who got me to leave America early."

"What?"

"You know, the guy in a white robe that had all this weird technology that told me about how you guys were trying to save soccer." She roughly recited her description from their first return trip to God Eden. "He appeared in front of me one day and told me all about what happened, starting from Tenma's encounter with Alpha, all the way to you guys fighting in the Japan versus America game. Then, I saw the news about the soccer ban and headed straight back."

"So that person is on our side, right?" Kinako asked.

"That's hard to say since we don't know what they could be doing to Coach Endou right now..." Taiyou replied.

They went silent for a while, getting more and more worried as more and more thoughts came. Eventually, Kimiko was the one to speak up again.

"Overthinking isn't gonna help, so let's watch something instead!" She got in front of the TV and pulled out a CD case. "Kyou, which one is Shuuya-nii's last match before he became Holy Emperor?"

He took one glance at the case's cover and said, "Fifth from the back."

They all gaped at him. He really is a Gouenji fanboy.