Kunigami sat there. Nothing but shame on his face, hands trembling while he still tried processing the reality of the situation he was in.
They lost. Him and Reo were the losers.
His mind flashed back to when the match ended.
-
Reo and Kunigami laid on the field, shocked and frustrated.
They lost. One of them would have to go home.
The two in the losing team watched as Ryusei whispered something into your ear before walking off, not without giving the two a quick, almost mocking glance. The same grin was still on his face.
"Y'know.." You began, slowly walking up to the two before kneeling down on the floor, right in front of Reo and Kunigami couldn't help the feeling of jealousy form in his gut. He knew exactly where this was going and what was going to happen.
"I really don't know what a gem like you is doing in this lame project." You yawned, looking Reo in the eyes while he only gulped.
"You don't seem to have any special attributes. You're not incredible at anything.. but, you're also not complete dogshit at anything. You're quite peculiar, Reo. You seem to be decent at almost everything, though you don't have a strong suit." You began, watching as Reo's face contorted into one of confusion, though his eyes held slight anger in them.
"We can change that, though." You grinned.
Slowly, you raised your hand to cup the purple-haired boy's cheek. "Come on, Reo. I wanna play soccer with you."
And then, Kunigami recalled Ryusei's words.
"I'd rather have purple topknot.. than a puny, naive hero like you. Let's go, M/n-chan." The three walked out, but Ryusei stopped at the door and looked back.
"People who can't destroy themselves.. can never create explosions."
-
Kunigami balled his hand into a fist and banged it onto the wall as he walked into the 'losers' door.
This was a feeling he had never felt before. An emotion he has never wanted to feel before.
It was gut wrenching and he couldn't do anything about it.
"Dammit.." He muttered through grit teeth, leaning his weight against the wall. He was quite unstable.
'I.. I lost! What.. was I lacking? What.. did I do wrong?' He thought.
'I.. I wasn't able to become the world's best striker. My dream ends here and now.' And Kunigami could feel the brief touch of tears kissing his cheeks. This was so unlike him.
Looking down, his previous look of frustration was quickly replaced by one of surprise.
There was an arrow on the floor that said 'select' on it and had two options, one going to the right and the other going to the left.
Kunigami looked up, and that's when he saw it.
'What is this..? There's the exit.. and another door..'
He stared at the other entrance which seemed to be glowing in all it's glory.
The text on top of it read two simple words.
'Wild card.'
-
Walking down the winners hallway was a nice change, and with a new member on your team only made the experience more exciting.
You and Ryusei were trailing behind while Reo was in front of the two of you, still trying to figure out everything that had just happened.
"Wow! Wasn't that fun?" You suddenly cheered, head turning to Ryusei who only chuckled.
At the sound of happiness in your voice, Reo perked up, clearly disturbed.
'He acted completely different on the field..' He sweat dropped.
-
As the three of you went to the rooms you were all gonna sleep in, Ryusei decided on ditching, heading off to who knows where. He was probably just going to practice.
Reo looked at you. "Aren't you going?"
"No-pe! I never practice when I could be playing games," you grinned, letting out a laugh before acting on what you just said and hopping onto the bed, pulling out a nintendo switch from besides you.
'That switch.. I bought that same model for Nagi on his birthday..' Reo frowned, looking down with an annoyed look in his eyes.
You peered at him curiously.
"Who's Nagi?"
At this, Reo jerked up and let out a strange noise that was mixed with both surprise and embarrassment.
"Nobody. How do you know him?"
"Aha. I don't."
"Then how-"
"You've been muttering his name a lot is all" you smiled back at the boy whose cheeks were turning red. You couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or something else.
You noticed Reo's mood shift when talking about Nagi.
"Well, I think he's a loser that isn't worth crying for if he left just like that, y'know? I mean, why would a slob like him leave you.." You muttered, genuinely confused. "You're way too pretty for that"
At this, Reo looked down, fiddling with his fingers. This was very unlike him. He was used to getting compliments quite often, I mean, he was apart of the Mikage family after all, but this was different. He had never gotten complimented by someone who was able to share the same beauty attributes as him.
"Uh.. Thanks..?" Reo muttered, then his eyes widened.
'How the hell does this guy know about all of that?!'
-
The next three-on-three match that you played was against a couple of randos.
Their names were Kei, Tora, Kurona.
Actually, Kurona was cute. He reminded you of a shark, so when you, Ryusei and Reo win, it was obvious who you wanted on your team.
The match soon started with Ryusei getting the kick off. He passed to Reo, for a change. This was one of the many way's he tests people on the kickability meter.
Reo received the pass perfectly though stumbled a little. He wasn't used to passes with so much force behind them and Ryusei's passing abilities weren't as good as his scoring abilities.
Kurona immediately went to Reo's path, arm wrapping around his torso to lock his view from the ball and to also push him away.
Reo quickly looked around, checking to see who was near him.
Ryusei was quite far away while you were only a few meters away from him, so Reo decided on passing to you.
"Kagami!" He called out, looking in your direction before kicking the ball over to you with medium strength and speed so it was easy to receive.
"M/n" You corrected, trapping the ball under your shoes before turning around, kicking the ball in a circle while doing so.
You were 54.5 meters away from the goal, you calculated.
'I can make this shot, actually. If I'm being technical, even if I miss, which probably won't happen.. Ryusei is close enough to grab the ball back anyway.' You thought, and before anyone could process what was happening, a large bang sounded through the field.
The ball was going at record speed, making it's way to the goal.
"It's gonna miss, I mean it ain't even near the net.." Tora muttered in slight shock before composing himself. There was nothing shocking about a missed goal, even if the technique was absolutely jaw droppingly perfect.
Just as Tora thought the ball was going to hit the metal bit of the goal, his eyes widened when that in fact did not happen. It went straight into the goal after doing a nice curve just before reaching the goal. A curve ball with high speed and strength behind it. The technique was impeccable.
"Nice one, M/n!" Reo cheered as he jogged up to you, Ryusei trailing behind him with a giant smirk on his face before quickly running up, soon jumping on your back.
"Just four more. I wanna see if any of these guys' can explode."
-
The rest of the match went the exact same as the previous one. After you scored the 1st goal, you assisted with one more goal being scored by reo and Ryusei scoring the rest.
The match was going completely in your favour with the score being 5-1
The opposing team was laying on the ground, sweat dripping off their faces and their breaths coming out puffy and laboured.
Tora and and Kei seemed to be taking the loss the hardest while Kurona was still standing, though he still looked tired he didn't necessarily look sad.
"I wanna pick the cute shark guy!" You cheered, already walking to the defeated group.
Reo nodded, agreeing with your decision while Ryusei didn't really care.
After all, Kurona was the only who stood out to you in terms of both looks and playing style.
-
The three of you walked out, this time with a new addition to the team.
Kurona Ranze.
-
Soon, time ended up flying by and somehow, Igaguri ended up on your team again.
The last match was the four-on-four match, the winning team picking a fifth player then advancing to the final game against the world 5.
This time, Ryusei ended up picking the player, and he thought it would be a good idea to pick Igaguri, but both you and Reo already knew why, in fact even Kurona had an inkling.
Igaguri was just another punching bag.
-
And now, before you knew it, there was only 10 minutes until the third selection's world all-stars game.
In the short time span that you and Reo had been playing together, the two of you got quite close.
You knew why, of course.
It seems that this Nagi left quite a dent in Reo's mental state. They must've been best friends. Actually, nah. They seemed a little to close to just be friends, and you had only heard about Nagi, never seen the two interact.
"Are you nervous, M/n?" Reo asked you, voice tilted with curiosity as both him and Kurona looked at you.
"Not really," You laughed, "Actually, I'm super excited. Wanna know why?"
Both Reo and Kurona sweat dropped at your childish antics, but soon Reo responded. "Uh, yeah, why?"
"'Cause I'll finally get to see child genius, child prodigy, the one and only God sprinter, Julian Loki!" You cheered and the rest of the team could swear they saw stars in your eyes.
"You seem to know a lot about him.." Kurona muttered, Reo nodding slightly in agreement.
"I do! I've been a fan since day one!" You proudly yelled, now the rest of your team standing in front of the third selection door.
"You reckon I have a chance with him? Ah, who am I kidding, I'm losing my breath just thinking about it. Guys, catch me when I fall." You put a dramatic hand to your forehead and close your eyes to initiate your point.
"Yup. M/n-chan is a total freak. No better than his own obsessed secret admirers." Ryusei grinned while you only smiled, not denying what he just said.
Reo Kurona and even Igaguri looked at the two of you with confused and weirded out eyes.
-
Finally stepping into the new field, the five of you saw another five silhouettes at the other end of the room.
On the right side stood Adam Blake and Leonardo Luna, on the left side stood Dada Silva and Pablo Cavasoz and in the middle stood Julian Loki.
Damn, they looked cool.
-
8.6k READS IS INSANE TYSMSMSMSMSM
anyway pushing my loki agenda onto y'all cuz hes underrated and deserves more