It was predicted when her parents didn't say anything.
Arriving at home later than usual with no direct eye contact from parents. They were smiling, talking about their life, smiling at her. But not once did they ask how her day went like usual, how their son had been. They have changed, they were different.
Within the hour of arriving home that night, she wanted to curse Chico. Proclaiming that he ruined everything, it will never go back to the same daily life with her parents. chia knew that if she ever mentions Chico, her Ma and Pa would ignore her, pretending as if nothing happened. And as if he was never there. She was starting to sympathise with Chico.
And whenever she actually mentioned Chico, their attention goes away. Their eyes never meet her, and they won't engage with her until the subject is changed. Chia didn't like that, so she never mentioned him again.
Chia noticed that she recently spent less time in the house and more with her friends and Chico. The following final 3 days in Spain before leaving again were hanging out with the others.
The day they took off, her parents dropped her off, kissing goodbyes and how they're watching her through the TV. Yet, when they saw Chico calling out Chia's name in the distance, they immediately left.
"Chia, my little hermana. C'mon your friends are waiting," he took her luggage and she went to her friends. The whole of the Spain team was there with her family.
(She remembered her friend's first reaction to Chico:
"You had a brother?"
"I know right?")
—
As usual for the Spain team, there was no time for rests. Sure there is, like the 8-hour sleep and eating and toilet breaks. But the only reason why they're the national favourites is because of their stamina and brute strength (Chia doesn't have the strength, but the stamina she does).
On the plane were a few chit-chats in the first class seats (they were the favourites, they get privileges), most of them slept because they knew what would be arriving for them, even if most of them were new this year they were most likely briefed with the experience from older players.
As usual, Reinaldo and Chia bickered a lot ("AT LEAST THE PINK HAIR SEEMS LIKE WE'RE OPPOSITES," "BUT WE ARE YOU UNDER-PICKED STRAWBERRY." "NOT WITH THAT PLAIN LOOKING HAIR YOU GOT,")
"We are located in Block A, the following 3 matches will determine the future of the Spain team. I expect a minimum of a draw and a maximum of a win, no losses are necessary." The briefing already had started, and the newbies were sweating a bit. The originals have heard this briefing a few times. There were only 5 originals: Alonso, Reinaldo, Clario, Fabio, Luther, Bergamo and Chia. Additionally, Chia and Clario were the only ones who started in their very first year, the others joined just last year.
Only 2 of the newbies were first years, the rest were in their 2nd or last years and managed to get in. It was unnerving with this many newbies, Chia questioned the choices. Either way, Chia was more worried about her performance as a forward, it was completely new. Even the other members confirmed how weird it was, but the coach had a plan (to wow the audience it seems).
—
After a day's rest. the training was hell, especially with this new and strict coach.
"Chia! Lower yourself more. Fernando, don't you dare give up! Velasco, your arms are shaking, that is not an exception." Push-ups were the worst, Chia actually thanked Chico (her brother, not the one in her team) for training her in this.
Next was laps, to do the most you can in 30 minutes. As usual, Chia came in first with 21, and Clario followed suit with 17.
Muscles are strained, knees are weak and arms are heavy.
But it was the usual, this is what Spain specialises in and she can't complain. Though the newbies are complaining (in silence) a lot.
"Gods I sure did not miss this!" Reinaldo rolled his eyes, hands on hips and all and breathing heavily.
"I wanna cry!" Chico said while lying on the floor.
The assistant coach, Merina Garcia, blew the whistle to catch our attention. As usual, Coach Pepe pulled out his marker and wrote on the huge marker (what is it with coaches and whiteboards?).
"Ah, this seems nostalgic," Bergamo said.
The coach wrote personal training for each player in hopes of strengthening them. Some of the newbies got training in relation to confidence to face the crowd. Chia always gets the most ridiculous ones, it shouldn't surprise her at this point but there it is.
No. 12 - CHIA
Run up and down the hill, shoot the ball every 10th tree 50x consecutively
Huh, it's only one item.
"Coach I demand a refund, Chia only gets one,"
"CHIA ONLY GOT 1?"
"FAVOURITISM,"
Merina blew the whistle again, Domelgo and Rufino covered their ears out of instinct. They did warn us that Merina loved to use the whistle.
—
Chia woke up very early in the morning, specifically at 5 am. Preliminaries are coming up and she wants to dominate the other teams. The bigger the gap between the scores the happier Chia is. And plus, it's her last year, she might at well go out with a bang.
2 other members walked out of their room yawning. It was Velasco and Emilio.
"Morning, Chia,"
"Morning, Radish"
"HEY-" he flicked his hair to look back, but he was still half asleep so he didn't bother and continued walking to the bathroom.
Emilio whispered under his breath, looking down and walking towards the bathroom as well to get ready for the day. It seems that those 3 (Velasco, Emilio and Chia) want to improve, or at least not behind.
It was really peaceful this morning, the light filtering through the window.
The area designated for Spain was split into 2 main buildings, with a lot of grassy area. There were 2 soccer fields, one was an official and one was a miniature version for small practices. Located across the other side of the location was a hill that she would be seeing for the next week... sadly. It was actually a pain to be away from society and only come back for food and- Wait... what if Chia needed a toilet break? Will she have to do it in the bushes? Oh god, she hopes that there are toilets on that hill.
Update: there are toilets on the hill. Specifically, those cubicles that construction workers use but at least there's privacy (it smells so bad Chia wants to gag).
Chia didn't expect to sweat this early on, it was only 3 minutes in and Chia struggled to shoot 2 trees consecutively.
The first one went to another target.
The second one hit the side and the ball ran away and downhill, Chia had to catch up.
The third got stuck in the trees so she had to climb (there were bugs, Chia doesn't do well with bugs).
The fourth one was out of anger and it actually hit!
But the fifth missed so she had to start from ground zero.
Not only that, but the hill was very steep. Hiking and lifting her legs more to shoot was not ideal.
—
It was 12 am, she was hungry, she couldn't even reach the quarterway mark and her highest hit was 3. Not even her training with Chico could help her now, this was a whole new breed of pain.
Walking back to the dorms didn't help, especially when it was all across the other side of the campus. Chia Romanio, the one and only, was currently sweating as dirt filled her shoes and elbows. She refused to pick up the ball by hand so she's dribbling it back home.
Looking to the right, where the mini soccer fields are were 4 of the players in the same state as her, some had instruments to help them but that didn't look like it was making them better.
Lunch was dead, no one was talking, not even Chia. She was dreading going back but she had to. She promised to prove them wrong and she better fulfil that promise. Everyone was determined to get better, it would be humiliating to be the burden of the team, wouldn't it?
—
She collapsed on the bed at 9 pm, finished at 8 then had 1 hour dedicated to cleaning herself up and self-care. This includes an 8-hour daily sleep schedule.
If she were to wake up at 5 every day then she would have to sleep at 9 pm, which is right now. Yet she can't sleep. She did bring her Japanese books to actually study, Chia can't believe that she wasted 5 months in Japan without studying its language, she wants to cry.
Chia checked her phone, messages from Chico, 1 or 2 from parents and... Kidou?
Kidou
Are you awake?
Cherry
Yeah
Why?
Kidou
There's something wrong with the FFI
Cherry
What do you mean?
Kidou
Have you heard of the disciples of Orion?
Cherry
No?
What's that
Kidou
I can't say much
All I am saying is that when you see someone with an hourglass-shaped mark, light blue and tattooed on their body. Report to me immediately and do not act any different from that person.
You must never show that you know about it
Stay safe
Kidou logged off
What was that all about?
—
For the past 5 days, the schedule was the same.
Wake up at 5
eat breakfast
walk to the hill stretch,
start lunch at 12 am-1 pm
go to gym
strategy meeting at 6 pm-7 pm
free time from 8 pm-12 pm
Slowly throughout the days, the others are picking up on her habits. Recently, she saw nearly all players wake up at 5 am to go to their personal training. And in their yesterday's briefing, on the 7th and final day before a match, they'd go and train as a team. Some teammates also noticed that every night, Coach Pepe would update the board on what they had left.
DAY 5
No. 12 - CHIA
Run up and down the hill, shoot the ball every 10th tree 50x consecutively
Farthest run: 80%
Highest score: 37
This updating system was purely on truth and trust. They keep in track of their own scores and report back, the coach would believe them.
—
[A/N: sorry if it seems rushed. Idk want to add in between without it seeming boring and stretched out.
Also, I just realised that Chia's training is similar to Goujin's when re-watching it. Pretend that it's different please :D]
—
At 11:50 am, Chia finally did it.
Her aim got better and her tracking the hill was much faster and smoother, she even implemented some of her dance techniques and hissatsu to get to the top faster.
The breeze pushed her short hair slightly and the sun was up in the sky... it was not pretty, maybe if it was at dawn or sunset it would be nice but she wasn't suicidal.
Instead of this wash of relief she was treated with extreme hatred for hills and swore to herself that she caught asthma (she knows you can't catch asthma, but still- she was tired and delusional).
The sun was beating down as heavy as a desert. The air was warm and not a cold wind. The soccer ball was disgusting and filled with dirt. Actually, she thinks her hair is also filled with leaves and dirt but she refuses to look.
"I swear I'll murder you Coach Pepe!" Chia screamed to no one in particular.
On the way down she goes, catching up to the ball occasionally so it won't roll to another dimension.
"CHIA HURRY UP," She hears Bergamo screaming in the distance. Adrenaline kicks in from her remaining energy and she goes to jog a bit until she meets the bottom of the hill.
"Oh you look disgusting," It was Reinaldo who called for her and the one who took back his smile.
"It's not like you're any better," Chia replied with his headband wet with mud and one of his earrings ripped.
"I'd rather have a broken earring than that bird nest hair," the strawberry man said.
"Well, I'd rather have redeemable hair than that headband that's too far gone."
"I CAN REDEEM THIS HEADBAND,"
"ARE YOU BLIND? NO AMOUNT OF CLEANING CAN SAVE THIS ABOMINATION."
"HOW DARE YOU CALL MY PRIZED POSSESSION AN ABOMINATION?"
"HOW DARE YOU CALL MY HAIR A BIRD NEST,"
"BECAUSE IT IS,"
"WELL SO IS THAT HEADBA-,"
Fernando coughs behind them. Both of them turned to meet his eye. Chia and Reinaldo stayed quiet while walking towards the dorm to get clean.
"Geez sometimes he's really scary," Reinaldo whispered,
"He can be nice..." Chia defended, "...if you squint really hard."
The rest of the team is making their way back to the dorms to clean up and eat.
All of them think the same thing.
"This training better be fucking worth it,"