On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Faram Orbius IX

Good. We did it.

"Yeah, it just took some lying and betrayal. No big deal." His head snapped away from the monitor to find the blonde about ready to jump off from the edge of the stands. She jumped to the upper pole of the goalpost before locking eyes with him. He held his hands out just in time to catch her arms and ease her landing.

"Yeah... Just..." It was a little strange. He thought he'll feel the weight of his actions crushing him now that the match was over, but instead, he felt calm.

Perhaps it was her uncaring smile as the rest of Faram gave her questioning glances (glares, really).

"Tsurugi!" An all too familiar voice came from behind him then. The other captain of the field came and gave him his usual kind smile. "Thanks, Tsurugi."

... Why did he feel deja vu?

(Somewhere in the back corner of his head, a memory of the Mannouzaka match went off.)

"I was able to play the best soccer with you. It was fun!"

"Yeah, me too." His own smile dropped slightly as he mentally prepared for whatever would come next. He cast a quick glance at the blonde beside him, who just signalled with her eyes to get it over with. So, he will. "Tenma, I―"

"I know." His grin was as wide as ever. "No matter what happens, you're always our friend."

... Oh. And another deja vu.

(Somewhere in the deep trenches of his mind, his seniors' voices from the first Ragnarok match were echoing.)

Shindou came up to him right then, his own smile present. "Welcome back, Tsurugi."

... Yeah. They are his home.

~~~~~

The ground shook suddenly, scaring everyone but two people on the field. Pillars began to ascend, circling the outside of the stadium, forming a strangely shaped lyre, starting from one side and ending off pointing to the sky.

Cackling laughter resounded through the stadium. "I can't have you using that without my permission. After all, it belongs to me."

A strange symbol appeared on the ground, and as it glowed, Ozrock, along with ten other people appeared, clad in a black and red uniform.

"It is the strongest weapon in the galaxy, filled with Life Energy. It would be such a waste to use that enormous, loaded power to save this pathetic planet."

"What?"

"You promised to use this to extinguish the black hole!" Katora yelled from her seat.

"Promised?" Ozrock bared his fangs as he laughed. "You guys have revived the Cosmic Plasma that had been put down to rest as legend. And I have at last obtained it. The forbidden power that can control even the universe!"

Three pairs of footsteps went forward.

"Ozrock. Did you use soccer for your own intentions?"

"That's right. I care nothing for soccer. Only for the Cosmic Plasma Photon Beam to be completed."

"You used soccer just for that? I'm sure soccer is angry with you!"

Kimiko took a deep breath as she headed back to where the rest of Earth Eleven were standing, holding herself back from retorting. I'm so sorry, Tenma. I genuinely felt shivers hearing you get angry, but that was so stupid! You could've gone with literally anything else! Why?!

And of course, Ozrock couldn't take it seriously either. "Soccer is angry with me? You love soccer so much that you treat it as if it were human? What an infant."