Sakura woke up early that day. She might've even been the earliest. She headed out and breathed in the fresh morning air. Seeing as no one else was awake, she decided to take a walk near the mall and see if it was open. If it was, then maybe she could do some early shopping to get herself in a good mood for practice―
Spiky, navy blue hair caught the corner of her eye.
So maybe she wasn't the first to wake up after all.
Tsurugi was standing on the edge of the central square, facing in the direction of the train station. He held a soccer ball in one arm and something else in this other hand. Something way too small for her to see from this distance.
Just as she mulled over whether or not she should greet him, his head seemed to drop before turning to the road leading to the Seaside Stadium.
Huh... I wonder what that was about.
~~~~~
"Here is the information for our next opponent, Australia's Big Waves." Manabe said, pulling up the charts. After breakfast, he had called them all to the meeting room to show them the information he managed to gather. "According to the data, their average score per match is 7.67. They always win by a wide point margin."
"So they're a team that possesses outstanding offense." Tsurugi concluded.
"The issue would be how we can defend against them." Tenma added in.
"Data only consists of numbers." Minaho stated. "Once we have an actual match with them, I'll uncover their weak spot."
Shindou's fists tightened on each other. "By then, it'll be too late."
Manabe was going to continue, but he was cut off by the door opening. Kamata stood there with a large smile on her face. "Sakura, your parents are here to visit."
The pink haired girl had wide eyes when she heard. She headed out to meet them, but Tsurugi was almost sure her expression darkened when she did. But that wasn't any of his business, so he'll ignore it for the time being. He shifted his focus back to the meeting, just as everyone else had.
~~~~~
The day of the match came fast. They didn't have a set strategy for it yet, but they had to go for it regardless.
They spread out across the field as they waited for their opponents. Most of them got into partners to warm up. Matatagi and Tenma, Kusaka and Tetsukado, Minaho and Manabe, and the girls together. Meanwhile, Tsurugi and Shindou stood in front of Ibuki, the former with a ball under his foot.
"Come on!" The keeper called. Tsurugi made his usual power shot and the white haired boy was able to block it easily. Immediately, it was like he got an ego boost. "Did you see that? I won't let anyone score a goal through me anymore!"
"We'll see how it turns out in a real game." Shindou coldly stated.
"You just leave the goal to me!"
But of course, he wouldn't. Tsurugi could only stare after his senior with an internal sigh.
When their opponents arrived, they headed into positions. It started with his and Tenma's kick off. Tenma dribbled as far up the field as he could, but he was blocked by the other captain. It was stolen off of him, but then it was taken back before another opponent got through. Their game went back and forth, but Big Waves were the ones pushing them back.
Sakura's throw in was next. She gave it to Tetsukado and called for it to be passed right back. When she fell short, they thought it was a miss, but she used her gymnastic abilities to get to it before the enemy could.
Getting out of the pinch, Shindou ran up beside Tenma, who had the ball next. It was passed over to him, and... "Kami no Takuto!" He threw the line out to the field. "Nozaki!"
"Eh, me?!"
"Run!"
"O-Okay!" She ran along the path laid out for her.
"Kusaka!"
"R-Right!" And so did he.
He then passed the ball to Sakura, who then kicked it for Kusaka to pass along the line. Matatagi received it.
"Over here!" Tenma called.
"Okay!"
Tenma kicked it to the front of the pitch, where Tsurugi was waiting.
As the ball flew across the sky, he ran to catch up with it before jumping up, making a bicycle kick. "Bicycle Sword!" A dark energy surrounded it, and as he landed, it exploded, shooting straight towards the goal.
The whistle blew. He made the match's first goal.
"When did you come up with a new hissatsu?!"
He only smirked at Tenma's words. He couldn't exactly tell him that it was something he came up with while secretly training with Ibuki, or that he practiced it on his own in the middle of the night when their curfew was at 22:30.
He looked back to their part of the field. The mood of the whole team was lifted, and they were all excited to play the rest of the match. That was good. It was what he hoped for.
Though, he supposed he was a bit too eager to show it off. Shindou too. They showed their cards before the enemy did. That was going to be a bit of a problem.
In the next kick off, Tenma was able to steal the ball from them using Wonder Trap. He passed to Shindou for him to use Kami no Takuto again, but it was nullified by the enemy's hissatsu tactics, Suck Out.
Four of them surrounded Kusaka, who had the ball. And then they ran circles around him, creating a vortex of water that sent him flying.
Fortunately, Shindou himself was able to steal the ball back before they could make it to the goal. He tried again, but Matatagi, who was on the end of the line, was also caught by their tactics. He then tried it with Tenma, but while the brunette was able to make a pass before the move was complete, the other captain blocked the ball, sending it out of bounds.
Tsurugi and Shindou ran over to him to make sure he was alright. The brunette only sighed. "That defense renders all of our offense useless."
"Yeah, it's like we're fighting with the ocean."
Shindou frowned. "But that's strange. Aren't they supposed to be a team with outstanding offense?"
Tenma turned to him in realization. "Now that you mention it, their play style is completely different from the data."
Tsurugi's eyes narrowed. "Was the data we got wrong?"
"Whatever the case, we can't use Kami no Takuto anymore."
"Oh no..."
They'll just have to find another way.
On the plus side, they were still in the lead. The down side was that it wasn't by much. A single goal could be closed easily. They had to at least take another to start feeling truly secure.
But of course, that didn't happen.
With Megalodon, the enemy captain takes a goal. They were now even with 1-1.
And the team seems to be making more errors than usual. But with every error, Sakura was nearby to fix it. As amazing as her feats were...
"What's wrong?" When they got to the bench, Tenma asked Minaho, who was staring rather intently on Sakura.
He pointed to her. "She should be able to respond faster with her reaction time, so I was wondering why her plays are always at the last minute."
"Eh?"
"Perhaps there is a reason for it."
Meanwhile, the girl walked over to their other female team member, who Aoi was pressing an ice bag on. Sakura clashed with her rather roughly in an attempt to get the ball, and since the other girl was much smaller, she took a harder blow.
"I'm sorry about earlier." She apologized, but the smaller girl turned away, almost terrified.
Kusaka saw and smiled dubiously. "I don't want to believe it, but you didn't do that on purpose, did you?"
"Don't be silly!"
"But when you get involved, Nozaki, everything gets messed up." Tetsukado stated.
Matatagi nodded. "Yeah. The rhythm of our offense gets cut off, or our chances turn into close calls."
"The results end in ways beyond my calculations." Manabe said. "Why won't it go well, I wonder?"
"I don't know anything!" She continued to argue. "I only want to bring results for the team!"
The second half isn't going to go too well, is it?
Tsurugi's attention snapped over to the bench when he heard the all-too-familiar voice inside his head. Their coach and trainer was there, along with Mizukawa. No one else.
Goddamnit, Kyousuke, get a grip. Even as he scolded himself for using that voice again, he had to agree with it. The next few minutes were going to be rough.
The second half started with Big Waves' kick off. However, Shindou was able to steal the ball and pass it up the field. But just as Tenma made a pass to Matatagi, Sakura jumped in to take it. She lost the ball immediately after, making Shindou have to clear it.
In the next throw-in, Kusaka got the ball and since Sakura was the only open one, he passed it to her. However, two of the enemy members immediately came after her. She tried to pass it to Shindou, but they were able to cut in easily.
And another Megalodon went in.
The team was clearly unhappy about it, and it seemed to be getting to her. In the next round, she lost the ball again and the team captain nearly managed to score another goal when Ibuki pulled out a hissatsu of his own.
"Wild Dunk!"
The ball was stuck in a hand-shaped crater.
"He did it!"
"Ibuki!"
"YESSS!!!" He smirked. "How was that! Did you see that, Shindou?!"
But Shindou still only had a blank look on his face. "That's what the goalkeeper should be doing."
It looked like he was going to pick another fight, but when the defenders came to compliment him, it seemed to dissipate bit by bit.
"Ibuki!" Tenma called. "Our goal is in your hands, goalkeeper!"
Standing beside him, Tsurugi also gave a smile.
Ibuki's smirk returned. "Yeah!"
He and Tenma exchanged nods before heading back to their positions.
"Sakura...?"
He looked back to find the brunette stopping to stare at the girl. Her fist was clenched tightly. Upset even though the shot was stopped? He wondered if it was jealousy, but if her sad face was anything to go by then... Pressure, is it? Because she's falling behind? Or... He shook his head, stopping himself. For now, let's just see how things will go.