On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Sazanaara I

Faram Orbius planted a spy in our team, sent helpers to our opponents, and is trying to marry our ace striker? She kept herself from groaning in exasperation and focused on the more immediate issue. With her gun still pointing at him, she stood up and took a few steps closer. He neither moved nor changed his expression.

She took a deep breath. "You said you'll just be here until he comes back. Any idea on when that would be?"

"Nope." He shrugged casually. "But my contract lasts until Earth either loses or makes it to the finals, so my guess is, you'll find him on Faram. Though, they never specified how he'd be returned. They'll just contact me when they deem my work is done."

"You're so laid back about all this..." She let out a sigh and lowered her gun when she realized that he really wasn't a threat to her at the moment. He put away his own gun as she tucked hers back into her jacket. They had a silent but mutual agreement not to spill to anyone about the weapons the other carried. "Then, what are you in this for? I know that by sending you here, your client is somewhat doing us a favor to make sure Earth Eleven focuses on the match instead of worrying about their missing member, but kidnapping and imposing as someone else is still wrong. So why are you doing this?"

Depending on his answer, she thought that she could forgive him. After all, blackmail was something she was greatly familiar with. Whether he's doing it for his family, or friends, or―

"I'm a mercenary, kid. Morals and shit got nothing on the riches I'm gonna get."

She slapped him. It happened so fast that even she herself was surprised. But she didn't regret it, because at least it was made clear right then and there. He will never be the real Kyousuke.

The fake didn't seem to take it personally either. He still had that smirk up as he regained his balance. "Right. You've always been an impulsive one. And no matter how smart you are, your way of thinking is so childish."

"I didn't ask for your opinion." She scoffed. "Listen. All I care about is making sure my best friend gets back safe and sound. I assume that the only way to do that is to win all the way to the finals. Since you're not here to sabotage, then that would make my first priority helping you pose as Kyousuke."

"Helping me? Well, that wasn't at all what I expected, but I'm listening."

"You have his memories, so I'm not going to help you recreate his personality. You figure that out for yourself." And there's no fucking way am I going to help him replace my real Kyousuke completely. "I'll just be covering you if anyone suspects anything. I'm sure you're aware of this, but Tenma is the one you need to watch out for the most after me."

"That, I know already."

"But you can't let your guard down around the others. Shindou-san and Aoi are his friends too. We also have Minaho, who's the son of a detective, and Ichikawa-san, who is an actor. They have sharper eyes for fakers than most."

"Noted. There's also Morimura Konoha, who apparently has everyone's habits memorized for whatever reason."

Konoha? Well, I have heard about how observant she is. "And last, but not least, for now..." She turned to the monitor, where the recording of the soccer battle was still on pause. "You have to sit out of the next match."

"I'm aware." He gave a single-shoulder shrug. "I plan to just tell the coach I'm sick. No big deal."

"Hm... I guess we could just pretend you caught my cold or something."

"My turn to ask." He suddenly spoke up. "I gain the rewards for my contract at the end of this. But what do you gain? What is it that you want from me? Aside from the information from my brain, that is... Though, you don't really need to make this pact if that's all you wanted..."

"Like I said, all I care about is getting my Kyousuke back safe and sound. I'm willing to do whatever it takes for that to happen. So if my only option is to use you to deceive everyone to keep them focused so that we'll make it to the planet he's on, I'll do just that."

"... This is coming from the one who tried to lecture me about how imposing as someone else is wrong."

"No one's perfect."

His smirk got even wider at that. "You know, I think I could make a good merc out of you. Your motivation is the only thing that needs a little tweaking."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I have enough on my plate with my crazy brother constantly plunging his own family into danger for fun." She sighed before nodding slightly. "Alright. Then, to seal the deal, give me your name."

If she could say that she needed the name to perform some kind of ritual or use her powers to bind him to their agreement, she would. But she didn't have that sort of ability. She just wanted to know what to call him since she can't exactly avoid him forever to make their lie believable. She also can't just keep calling him a faker all the time, and there was no way in hell she would ever acknowledge him as Tsurugi Kyousuke.

He raised an eyebrow at this, the first expression change he gave since the entire conversation started. But it was gone as soon as it appeared, and his smirk returned in its place. "Fair enough. I don't want to be called by that fake name when I'm with someone who knows my true personality anyway." He held a hand out. "Manuuba Gibutsu."

She took it and they shook. "Awful to meet you, Manuuba."

"Likewise."

~~~~~

The next day, practice was a little bit more chaotic than usual. She was glad to see that the team was making sure not to let the pressure get to them, but the concerns they had for the match was making them― specifically, Tetsukado― play recklessly. Though that inspired the team slightly to use their voices more in hopes of confusing the opponent, Ichikawa pointed out that they would still be able to see what they were truly thinking, and thus render their trick useless.

Meanwhile, Shindou and Ibuki were having their usual one-on-one sessions, with the musician giving his usual level-headed advice to calm the keeper down. Minaho seemed to take an interest in what he said. She hoped that was a good sign.

To top it all off, the entire team had gotten used to the gravity. She made a note to continue making menus that involve the team training outside as much as possible for the remaining planets so that the whole situation on Sandorias wouldn't occur again.

At the end of day, as they went to check out the stadium, she and the fa― Manuuba exchanged looks. They had acted as 'normal' as possible in front of all the others, with only the amount of their banters decreasing slightly. No one seemed to notice, though, that was because they were all preoccupied by the more immediate problem before them.

When they separated to rest for the night before the match, they nodded once.

This charade can continue.