-Third's PoV-
Next day on Raimon, the chairman received an upcoming call, it seemed Endou will continue as Raimon's coach, the chairman's face drained of all colour, he was expecting Fifth Sector to fire him! This turn of events was unbelievable! He messed up his hair on an attempt to stay calm, which did not work, he wanted to expulse that coach, with al, his heart and he had expected Fifth Sector to cooperate!
Morning practice had started, though, it was interrupted when a certain player slide down the hills of the pitch.
"Use me on the next game." He ordered, everyone started objecting. He was a Seed, a fact well known to all of them, he would end Raimon soccer team, they didn't want him to play.
"Coach, he is a seed!" Endou decided to ignore their comments, he already knew that bit of information.
"Okay you will be taking part in the game." Tsurugi was taken aback by his coach's answer, his hazel eyes locked on the browns of his coach.
"I don't know what you're thinking of, but I don't care! I promise I will take you down!" And all Tenma wanted to do was ignore Tsurugi, there were times in which it was tough for him to understand the striker.
"We are aiming for a victory, that's all." Endou told the navy blue haired boy. Tsurugi did as if he hadn't heard the man.
"Well there is another order, coach, Raimon loses again!" Tsurugi said said amazed. Minamisawa pushed his hair away of his eyes before stating a through to some of Raimon's players.
"There is no need for you to destroy it, Raimon team is already in the bin." Everyone stared down to the floor. Tenma was the one who broke the silence.
"This shouldn't be happening, we should be able to play freely, I-I won't let them take Raimon down. I want us to play as we know!" He shouted. Kageyama's eye fix on his metallic ones, he had his fists tightened against his sides. He spoke at last with as much venom and a most furious face as he could master.
"Only if you hadn't joined us this wouldn't be happening! You are stealing soccer for us! It isn't Fifth Sector or Tsurugi the ones that are destroying Raimon, it is only you!" Tenma's eyes widened. Jack was right, wasn't he? At last someone said his fears out loud. The truth no one seem to say to him, he couldn't handle the stairs the other one was sending his way, he knew all too well that nobody would stand up for him, even little Shinsuke was shut to the core. It was then when Minamisawa walked up to Endou.
"I quit." He calmly said, the way he spoke made third and second years beg for him to stay; Takuto's voice was loud. "Please Minamisawa!" Yet, off he went.
At the end of practice, once he had changed, the captain decided to talk with his coach. His mind was a total caos, he didn't know what to do, yes, yesterday he had things clear, now, with Sangoku's position, Minamisawa's departure...
He finally found him, in front of the old club room.
"I... Endou-kantokun, I might have chosen the wrong path. I was only looking for myself! What kind of captain am I?" Silence formed. "Yet, yet I want to play! What shall I do?" He asked. He saw as Endou closed his eyes and recalled the formation of his own team, this matches were they won because of all the training they did, all the hardships they had to battle against...
"Do you know why I came back?" Takuto shook his head. "I want to shut down Fifth Sector but, I can't do this alone, I need your help. We need to work together, do you choose free soccer or the one Fifth Sector wants you to play?" He smiled at the captain. "That it's up to you." With that being said, he left Takuto with his own thoughts.
Tenma started to believe, he believed in Kurama's words. Was he the one destroying soccer? 'Oh you are, you are just stupid for trusting on you. Tsurugi is not the one who is tearing apart the team, it is really only you!' Tenma believed, he wants them to play, but not... 'I don't want to steal their soccer.' He tried to answer back, he had somehow regained force to speak up. 'But do you want to play freely and that's the thing thing!' Jack repeated him. "No it's not!" Tenma shouted, covering his ears with his hands, trying to muffle the voice.
He found himself in front of the hospital, had he been walking towards it? Why did he intentionally walked in that direction? There was a time, he remembers lively, he was nine years old, he was in great need of some bandages... he had the hospital very close... he stole some.
He needed them now, he could tell from the feeling he had in both arms: he knew they were covered with coagulated blood. He entered through the back door, the one reserved to doctors only.
He walked in, he didn't bother to see if nurses were in sight , he turned left, then right, he entered a supplies room and took five bandages with him. He was not caught on the act. He found himself leaning on the wall of the hospital, he had just finished taking care of his bleeding arms when a blue haired boy walked past him.
"Tsurugi! Why are you doing this?" The brunet asked, even if it was his fault Raimon was in such a situation, he wanted to know if the striker had any reason behind his facade. "Don't you want to play without orders? You have carelessly kicked a ball around, I am sure of it!" The other boy didn't even look at him, he ignored the words the brunet pronounced. Tenma went to the riverbank and sat himself close to the river. In that moment he let himself relax. Until noon he decided to stay by the river and listen closely to the waves.
Next day, during morning practice, their coach decided to tell them his purpose. Why did he return? Many had asked themselves that same question.
"I want to take Fifth Sector down, I want soccer to be played freely, as it used to be!" He was met with disbelieving faces, not many thought that would be the reason the Great Endou came back; specially when most of the team stood by Fifth Sector's side. Tomorrow would be the match again man Manouzaka Junior, in which Tsurugi would be playing, even if most of the team were not ready for that to happen yet and, for them, the match was a lost cause.
-Tenma's PoV-
"Guys, I hope you have a cold about the question I asked. Are you siding by me or are you protecting Fifth Sector's soccer?" Endou asked us and he was answered straight away by the chorus of "Fifth Sector" Which was formed by the second and third years. He respected their decision for now and nod, though, it was clear that it wasn't what he had wished to hear. "What about you, Tenma?" He asked me.
"I thought and thought, I am still going to play against, I want to recover soccer!" I yelled loudly, followed by Shinsuke who nodded vigorously, Takuto, Sangoku and our newest addition: Kirino. I hadn't give it much of a thought, according to my ethics standards this soccer was stupid, useless, unclean... I wanted to recover the soccer I used to play. "But, I want to play with everyone!" I said motioning to those who clearly still will be staying on the bands. Tsurugi was getting more and more irritated by my words, I could tell, but I knew they had reached him, if his dazed amber eyes were anything to go by.
"Raimon will loose." He said to me, calmly.
"I won't lie to soccer." I said back, I heard him say "Tsck" I nearly laughed. That sentence made him go mad, I bet he wanted to hit me until I understood soccer is no living being. I nearly cowered at the thought, but, it just wasn't the right time to ran away.
Everyone was on their positions, Kurama went up to me and whispered: "If you try to win, you will have to go past me."
Then, he walked to of the centre of the pitch. I could tell Kirino was thinking of possible ways to attack, the only conclusion he hit was not to pass the ball to Tsurugi, he was a Seed, he would probably side with Manouzaka. Or so his eyes told me, I have always been very good at reading people, that has caused me many problems... I decided to focus on the game.
The whistle sounded, there was the Manouzaka kickoff, quickly, Kyousuke tried to block them with his body, charging towards the captain and battling for ball possession. Raimon team was confused, too confused to do anything when their striker shot from that distance to the goal. I was in shock, I had seen the moves he did, of course but... I didn't expect that from him. He had followed the order.
"Don't act like that, I thought you were manipulated by them!" The captain laughed and patted the naive blue haired boy on the shoulder, the hazel eyes boy turned to stare at him.
-Third's PoV-
"I will destroy Raimon, I will take the matter into my own hands if I need to." The goal made Shindou shiver in anger. Why did the coach and let him play? He thought: now, the order was completed, no worse, they had an enemy on the team. The game resumed as number 6 past to 10, who decided to put much more force than needed in the pass, which was directed to Amano's face; Takuto noticed and so did Tenma: that was not a common pass, it was meant to make as much damage as possible, luckily, Amano recovered quite quickly.
"Are those guys...?" Kirino spike his thoughts.
"Yes, they are planing to hurt us!" Tenma shouted in confirmation. The other captain got the ball and hit the brunet with it, he made a pass to one of their strikers who pushed Shinsuke down. 'He dares to hurt my friends!' Tenma thought, he quickly tried to steal the ball, he was hit with it instead.
Sangoku couldn't stand him, he went up to play, I couldn't stand not helping his team, who do you like to stay and do nothing.
"The goalkeeper shouldn't leave his spot!" The same striker sent the ball straight to his stomach.
-Shindou's PoV-
Why, why does this have to happen again? I thought staring at them hitting my teammates, my team, the team I had to lead was breaking apart because I couldn't stand up to these people.
"Oh, that's Captain Shindou blaming himself! Go and blame yourself!" That hit made my breath go away, my chest hurt so bad. Is it not possible to bring soccer back? I question myself.
"It is possible, and, if we don't, then who will do it? I had a voice behind me, telling me to continue, to fight: Tenma, the one that would always stand up. The sight I saw was not... appealing, I felt myself crush with the floor: his appearance was the same as when we were fighting against Dark Knights. His eyes were unfocused until they fixed on mine, he tried to stand up, to end up on the floor again. I closed my eyes.
"It's over!" I heard that see you, yet, Tenma stole the ball, he got surrounded he battled for it, he lost it, they started hitting him repeatedly. I couldn't stand Tenma's muffled screams, nor the referee who was doing nothing, nor the cheering public, I just got submerged on my own blame and suffering.
"I am protecting my own soccer!" Tenma yelled once the ball collided with his side. He jumped above the group of players, he shot with all he had left, he felt heavy, his feet were heavy, his arms were probably covered in black and blues, he felt sore, yet, he scored, the goalkeeper couldn't believe he didn't notice the boy standing in front of him. And I couldn't believe how incredible that first year was. We have tied and it was all thanks to him.