Game Changer | Petalz 🌸🍃

Chapter XXI Part I

Although Sakura is dying to ask why Kazuha would choose Osaka as the destination for their trip, she knows the girl won't tell her anyway. The younger girl can be surprisingly stubborn when she wants to, and so they spent most of the four-hour ride on lighthearted conversations that they've mastered to perfection during Kazuha's two-week recovery period. 

Kazuha tells her a story of how once during a tournament when she was a kid, she was taking the deciding penalty kick, and she was so stressed that she didn't notice her cleat had unlaced, so instead of the ball ending up in the net, it was her shoe. The referee somehow didn't notice that (Kazuha blamed it on her cleat having a similar color palette to the ball they used) and whistled for a goal.

"Everyone present just burst out laughing. The referee quickly realized his mistake and allowed me to retake the kick, but you should have seen that goalkeeper's expression when she dodged my cleat flying at her face." 

Laughing, Sakura imagines precisely that. But her laughter gradually subsides as she notices Kazuha gazing at her with that smitten, lovestruck expression on her face. She clears her throat and looks away, feeling her cheeks pulse with heat.

Throughout the past couple of days, this has become somewhat of a pattern between them, talking until one of them loses herself in the other's eyes. Then comes the realization, the blushing, and an awkward lull in the conversation until they cool off and act again like nothing has happened. Neither of them addresses those moments, though. Yet Sakura knows that sooner or later, they'll have to talk about them, and she's already dreading the day it happens. 

A female's voice announcing their arrival at the destination interrupts her thoughts. They gather their bags and leave the train. 

Outside, the sun has already set, and a distinct autumn chill permeates the evening air. Neon signs flicker, casting vibrant colors onto the pavement, and the aroma of street food wafts from the stalls.

Sakura wouldn't mind grabbing some Okonomiyaki, but Kazuha's walking so fast and with such purpose that she doesn't even bring up the idea. It's not exactly how Sakura has imagined this trip to go. She half expected Kazuha to plan this as a sort of...date? Showing her the favorite places she visited as a kid and telling funny stories related to them.

But that's clearly not happening, and now Sakura is even more confused than she was at the beginning of this impromptu outing. One thing is for certain, though, wherever Kazuha is leading her, she clearly can't wait to be there already. So Sakura resigns herself to patiently follow her along.

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"We're here," Kazuha announces when, after an almost forty-minute walk, their journey comes to a rather anticlimactic end in front of a school's fence.

That is, until Sakura takes a closer look at the soccer field beyond the fence. The place seems vaguely familiar, as if she had seen it already in a movie or a dream. Then she looks at the pavement beneath their feet and back at the vast green grass, and the pieces of a puzzle finally fall into place, further confirmed by Kazuha's next words. 

"This is where I fell in love with soccer, thanks to a girl who gave me her ball," she continues, and Sakura feels her heartbeat quicken with each uttered word. "You know, I may not remember much from that day, but I've never forgotten the smile you gave me."

"Zuha..." Sakur mutters, staring at the girl in complete stupor.

"So when I saw you during the Sendai Cup, I knew right away it was you."

"You knew? All this time, you knew it was me?"

A nod.

"Come on," Kazuha says, throwing her bag over the gate. "Let's play."