Kimiko watched from the balcony as, as all second halves go, they switched their sides of the field. Now, Inazuma Japan was on the side furthest from her, meaning that Storm Wolf was the one right below her.
Meaning if Kyousuke gets to do more shots, I can see it up close like a front row seat!
It had been a long time since she last saw him play up close. Even in the previous match, when she went to scout their progress with Hakuryuu, because they were late, they only saw the last part of the match, so she felt that it simply wasn't enough. Seeing his newest hissatsu fly past her during their face-off gave her chills, and she wanted to experience that again.
"Guys, let's start by taking back a point first!" Tenma called.
"Yeah!"
She smiled at the sight. "You can do it, guys!"
~~~~~
As soon as the kickoff, Storm Wolf's entire team began to move in different directions. They used their pass work and dribbling skills to get through them almost immediately.
They started playing seriously, huh?
"Alright, let's work with each other!" Tenma called. "Steal the ball, and bring it up through passing!"
Manabe and Minaho made a point to work together to steal the ball, but they got through with Silk Road. Getting past Tetsukado, they used a power shot, but it was just barely stopped by Ibuki's bare hands. And their attacks just kept on coming.
Shindou was able to steal it back for a moment, but the enemy captain immediately took it back. After a few rounds of clashes, Storm Wolf took their next point with a feint.
"It's still a 2-point difference! We're just warming up!" Tenma kept up with his encouragement as usual, but none of the others seemed to buy it. "It's okay! A chance will come to us if we don't give up trying!"
"But we can't even touch the ball..." Matatagi said.
"I'd hate to lose, but we've done our best." Tetsukado added. "We've made it this far. No one will look down on us for it."
... There is someone. Tsurugi didn't need to look back to know his friend was boring holes through them with her stare.
"No! I don't want us to lose like this! I won't give up!"
"But captain..."
"I understand how you feel, but some people are just better than others." Minaho stated. "That's reality."
"I don't want to calculate it, but the probability of us winning is a low percentage." Manabe said.
"Does that give us an excuse to give up?! We won't know how it will turn out until we've fought to the last second! I won't give up! Because... I don't want this to be our last match!"
"The... last match...?"
"I see... You're right." Minaho said with wide eyes. "If we lose this match, there will be no need for Inazuma Japan anymore. Coach will grant us our contract terms and we'll all go our separate ways..."
"Does it matter, really? Even if we lose, we'll get what we want in our contracts." Matatagi said.
"I know that!" Kusaka yelled. "I know that, but I just can't let it end like this! Joining this team helped me to face myself for the first time in my life. By meeting the captain and playing soccer with everyone... I don't know if it was really because of soccer or not... But if I stop here, I'll lose something... I feel as if there's still something left for us to do!"
"... I think so too." Sakura agreed. "Until now, all I thought about was making myself look good. But that feeling I had when I worked together with everyone to win..."
Minaho and Manabe exchanged smiles. "That goes for us too."
Konoha nodded.
"Let's do this, everyone!" Ibuki suddenly called out, smirking. "We've made it this far already. I want to go even further than where we are right now. I don't want to lose in a place like this!"
"Even further..." Tetsukado nodded at himself. "Yeah... Let's do it, everyone!"
You better do it, or I'll be mad at you for all of next week!
He pointed a smirk up as he took his position at the center of the field. Without replying to her thoughts, he started the next kickoff.
Matatagi tried to run past them with his speed, but the enemy had more skill to take it from him. But it being done out of anger, the ball was headed for Kusaka instead of his own teammate. He passed to Manabe, who got it to Shindou, and then Minaho and Tenma.
"Sakura!"
The pink haired girl caught the ball and started running up. An opponent went to take it from her, so she stopped in her tracks. She started spinning, a pink light rising from her toes, forming a hoop above her head. She grabbed it and leaped, surrounding her opponent in swirling pink ribbons, getting through.
"Beautiful Hoop!"
She passed it back to Kusaka, who turned into his berserk form and scored their next goal with Kyoubou Head.
"Alright! One more point to go!" Tenma cheered. "We can do this!"
"Yeah!"
But the next round got even tougher. After Storm Wolf's kick off, they moved even faster than before. Minaho managed to steal the ball with his Copy Cut, passing it to Tenma, who tried to score with Shin Mach Wind, but the goalkeeper was able to stop it using his own hissatsu, Twist Reach. Eventually, they got through them and made it in front of Ibuki, who wasn't able to stop a surprise hissatsu attack from their captain.
"... We couldn't keep up..."
"Is this the end for us...?"
Immediately, the team's spirit fell once again. But Tenma kept his up.
"What's wrong, guys? It's not over yet! We want to move ahead even further, don't we?"
"But it's a two point difference..." Tetsukado said.
Sakura looked down. "We're short on time, and it's not only one point we have to take back but two..."
"Then, we'll get two points at the same time!"
... Wow, even for Tenma-level positivity, this is... He couldn't help a smile forming as he exchanged nods with their senior.
"Two points at the same time?!"
"Yeah! We can catch up that way!"
"But captain, this isn't baseball." Kusaka interjected. "We can't get two points at the same time."
"We don't know that until we try!"
Tetsukado sweatdropped. "But it's just not―"
"Wait." Manabe suddenly said, pushing his glasses up. "It's possible."
"HUH?!"
~~~~~
"Those are the faces of someone with a plan." Kimiko muttered to herself as she continued to watch. Her eyes met with her best friend's for a moment, letting her show him a curious smile. She got a smirk in return. "I'm going to love every second of this."
It was Inazuma Japan's kickoff. Tsurugi kicked to Matatagi, who made a back pass all the way to Minaho. The orange haired boy headed it over to Ibuki, who caught it.
"Move up!" The keeper ordered.
And they all did.
She felt her jaw dropping. "Whoa! I haven't seen this kind of strategy since Ragnarok!"
The obvious move for Storm Wolf to take after that was to head over and try to make a pass cut after the ball was thrown, which they did, but Ibuki was able to jump even higher and, with his basketball skills, throw even further.
"Minaho!"
The orange haired boy received it perfectly. He passed to Shindou, who gave it to Kusaka, and then Nozaki. A defender managed to steal the ball from her, but Tetsukado was in his way, looking more than a little nervous.
"Tetsukado!" She heard Tsurugi yell not too far away.
Suddenly, he looked more focused. If I don't want to be eaten up, look at everything without looking away.
'Eaten up'?
He did a few jumps before going into a fighting stance. His body moved side to side, and he used the moment to steal the ball back from his opponent. "Footwork Draw!"
"Tetsukado!"
"Captain!"
Tenma was in the right spot to make the attack. "God Wind!" And it went in before the keeper could react.
The score was 3-4. They were still one point behind.
And then, it was time for Storm Wolf's kickoff. Within seconds, Tsurugi stole the ball and used Bicycle Sword right then and there. From above, it looked much like an arrow as it headed into the goal.
"I-Incredible! Inazuma Japan catches up to their second point almost immediately!"
... WHAT THE HELL?!!!
She was smiling. Or at least, she felt like she was, but with how big her mouth had opened, she wasn't sure it could be seen that clearly.
They... They predicted their movements! How did they do that?! It's obvious when you have a birds-eye-view like I do right now, but... But they...?! A-And that was so fast?! And, and, and―! Oh my god, KYOUSUKE, YOU'RE SO COOL!!!
Will you SHUT UP?!
She jumped when his voice entered her head.
Thanks for the compliment, but I can't celebrate my own goal with you screaming in my head like that!
A-Ah... Sorry, I got over excited... I didn't realize my ability activated.
I didn't say you can't do that, I'm just telling you to not YELL.
Ack―! Okay, okay! I get your point! She let out a small chuckle and smiled down at him. Go get that final point, Kyou! You can do it!
~~~~~
He gave her another smirk before turning his focus back to the pitch.
They barely had any time left and with Storm Wolf's kickoff, the ball was in their opponents possession. Three of them got through to their defense. Tetsukado went to take the ball while Manabe and Minaho tried to mark their ace. However, the pass was made to the other one, who was heading straight for Konoha.
For a moment, the little girl froze up. But then a bright aura surrounded her as she jumped and took the ball.
The stadium went to a standstill for a brief moment to recover from the surprise, but Tenma's call got it to move again as he received the pass. He got through with Z Slash and handed the ball to Matatagi, who got the goal with Parkour Attack.
The match ended with 5-4. Their win.
"ALRIGHT!!!"
Just as Tenma yelled and pointed his fist to the sky, waves of light shined down on the whole stadium. The audience turned quiet, Storm Wolf's appearance changed completely, and a spaceship appeared in the sky.