[A/N: a bit OOC from Afuro and Kidou
At this point assume that every character is OOC]
When Chia saw the tie on the screen between Japan and Spain, she had never felt more relieved.
"They look so happy..." she whispered, a bit saddened by the thought that they could perform so well without her.
She should have quit sooner.
Chia turned off the TV in the clinic and rolled over to the side.
They could perform so well without her, why was she here anyway? Her purpose was to aid them in their weaknesses but their brute strength was all they needed to survive. Was Chia the deadweight in this team?
Maybe her scoliosis was a sign to stop, though it may not be as major as it was before. It had gotten bad enough for surgery from Orion.
How was Reinaldo now? Was he sent back to Orion to be "re-trained" or abandoned like- abandoned...
The door opened with a SLAM, Chia sat up to look at the same 2 people with suits.
"Orion..." She hissed.
"You have deemed yourself useless to Orion," The woman said, taking the lead.
"We will re-do the procedure as your membership is revoked," the man continued.
"Re-do what? The surgery happened and my spine is locked with your device, to take it off would kill me!" Chia backed off into the wall, the two came in closer. She was not a medical expert but she knew that the spine is sensitive, so she was surprised when her surgery was successful in the first place.
"We have a fail-safe device, don't worry, it will only hurt a bit,"
Chia blacked out the next.
She could feel every neuron of her spine locking and unlocking in a mechanism-like manner. She tried to scratch her back but the movement hurt more.
...
Clario started running when he could hear the familiar scream. The team's heart collectively dropped by the horrible sound, though it was followed by a string of swearing so she may be fine and found some minor inconveniences.
There was a glimpse of two figured suits exiting the clinic but that wasn't his main priority, he could find them later.
"Chico go!" Clario screamed.
Chico, the second fastest in the team, ran faster to reach Chia. It wasn't by a long shot but he needed to scoop out the potential dangers.
Clario nearly paused in his tracks when he saw the glowing Orion Mark at the back of her neck.
Cherry was facing away from them, huddled in the same curled position with her screaming died down, but she started crying.
"Chia I need you to breathe," Coach Pepe held her hand, hoping to calm down the shaking girl. "Where does it hurt?"
"THE SPINE- MY FUCKING BACK-"
"Did those Orion bitches mark her?!" Bergamo pulled away the hair to see the mark. There was a rim of red surrounding the mark, making it look newly tattooed.
"They were trying to force Chia into Orion?!" a slight growl could be heard from Luther's voice, who was clenching his fist and about to leave-
"Luther don't chase after them." a commanding tone fit for a coach, "they could come with backup, we don't need to lose another one of us-"
"Do you think this was Nosaka's plan?" Emerico whispered but everyone heard it. Chia died down to a sniffle, shaking her head at the response.
Cherry moved to her back, rubbing her eyes and wincing slightly.
"None of-" a sniff "-Japan is Orion-" another sniff.
"Then why did Orion come here after you?" Clario asked, pulling up a chair to sit be Cherry's bed. She shifted more, finding a comfortable spot for her back (the team could tell that her back was hurting again but didn't say anything).
"I don't know!" she covered her face with her hands. That was a lie, she did know, but her friendship and trust were much more powerful than telling the truth. She would never tell a soul of what happened, they believed she was forced into this, and they will keep believing that.
Just play the victim Chia.
"We will have to pull you out of the team," Coach Pepe looked down, his hair covering his face.
Chia opened her mouth.
"No complaints," Clario said.
Chia closed her mouth.
This was it, she was off the team and most likely officially off soccer.
She could imagine it already, her friends becoming professional soccer players while she was working a 9-5 job. They'd probably forget her and think of her as a past.
That part hurts, but what doesn't hurt is her freedom from soccer.
Something that shaped her. She smiled behind her hands.
...
"Kidou?" it was the dead of the night. She was moved to the hospital to check in her spine and a second surgery was performed to remove the device. She may be calling in a fit of rage, but right now she felt loss and she needs to get far away from this place the best she can. She officially quit soccer and now she has nowhere to go, her last resort (and best option) was Kidou. Despite only talking for a couple of weeks during her stay in Japan, she still blindly trusts him.
"Yes? Is there something you need? I saw the news..." Kidou said over the phone.
She took a breath, "Take me with you, far away from soccer. I can become your assistant in your business if you will. Make me useful."
"And what do I benefit out of you?" his tone was amusing, was he taking her lightly? Yes, it's possible.
"A trophy wife if you want-"
Kidou coughed on his drink from the other side.
"-and the ins and outs of Orion, and tactics and training schedule to improve Japan based on my experience of winning the World Cup 2 years in a row. After all, don't both of us want revenge from that government?"
Dead silence from the other line for a few seconds.
"My assistant will come to pack your things, your flight will leave in 5 hours. Everything will be prepared."
"You know, you're an ideal husband for me. You're smart, rich, handsome, tragic background-"
He hangs up.
Chia sighed and plopped back to her bed, not so good for her back right now.
With struggle, she stood up and went through her gifts.
She snapped the rose in half and threw it in the bin. All of the flowers given were thrown away as well.
She was going to regret this. Maybe she's overreacting, but soccer was just a way to get attention and receive the spotlight. Chia was not as enthusiastic and it was showing with her declining performance and her friends improving.
Chia wondered if it would be different if she started in Japan. Where everyone helped each other out and grew to this size.
But losing was too humiliating for her.
She wondered why she chose Kidou as her only hope. Hope is hope and she'll grab every chance.
...
Kidou:
There are a few things you need to do if you want to be my assistant.
Chia was in a first-class aeroplane (of course) and with the aeroplane Wi-Fi she was able to continue texting Kidou- her new "boss"
Kidou:
A contract is ready here, but I will summarize the basics to let you know ahead of time. With an additional request to fit you
Delete your contacts (I know you have over 500, most are unnecessary, only ask contacts for genuine acquaintances and not random strangers)Continue learning Japanese with an addition of English and Chinese another language comes later)
Wait she has to learn new languages? Other than Japanese? English is understandable and Chinese as well. But to learn more than 4 languages is... too much for Chia.
Kidou:
Organise eventsBook accommodationsSchedule meetings
This was too much already, doesn't Kidou have his assistant to do those jobs?
Kidou:
answering phone callsmanage correspondencerun errandsconducting research for projects.
ChiaCherry:
WAIT HOLD ON
I THOUGHT I'D JUST GIVE YOUR ORION INFO AND, IDK, PARTIES.
Kidou:
You said you wanted a job in my business, a personal assistant is the only one you're qualified for.
ChiaCherry:
I thought your butler did that for you
Kidou:
He's merely a home butler and a driver. He accompanies me, your job is different
Do you still want the job? Or is it too much?
ChiaCherry:
"IS IT TOO MUCH?" Are you challenging me?
Kidou:
Is it working?
ChiaCherry:
Yes, unfortunately
At this point just PDF the contract
Kidou:
[link open to "Kidou's assistant contract ;D"]
Did... did Kidou just put a winky face on the file?
Kidou:
Start with the contacts, 95% of them are useless
ChiaCherry:
But my friends...
Kidou:
Do you want to be a new person? let's start with the 'friendship' that you have going on
How would he know that they're useless? Ok fine, she'll start with the contacts.
Kidou was right, she had around 450 people in her contacts and most she hadn't talked to since 3 years ago. Chia was hesitant, but she realised how useless it was to keep them, might as well get rid of some.
...
Chia gawked and placed her hands on the window of the limousine to admire the mansion.
"Are you not going to answer your calls?" Kidou was holding up Chia's phone filled with missed calls and unread messages from her parents, Clario, Luther, Bergamo, Alonso and the others.
"It's too embarrassing to talk to them after the news right now."
"Ah, I see,"
Kidou placed his wine glass of water down while scrolling through his iPad, reading the news of the oh-so-famous Chia Romanio. Despite being out of the public eye, he still wore a dark red polo shirt with a grey vest on top, matching with dark grey pants. Dressed for the occasion of picking up Chia, though it looked to be a formal party wear.
Soccer's girl Chia Romanio collapsed from the pressure of national standards!
It was stated by anonymous sources that Chia Romanio got into a panic attack and collapsed in the middle of the field. Due to the cut in cameras, there was no footage caught, but the fan cam has gone viral with blurry footage of the Spain team surrounding Chia.
Extra anonymous sources also state that due to this accident, Chia has officially quit soccer-
"What are you reading?" Chia stood in front of Kidou, looking down at the iPad. His butler was waiting for them outside of the car.
Kidou gave Chia a basic tour around the place, specifically showing where her room was and giving her a visa.
"If you work for me for longer than 3 years then my company will vouch for you for citizenship in Japan. Since you are not an adult yet, we require parental permission for this contract to be fulfilled."
This time, they were sitting in the lounge room with a fireplace in the corner and a large TV on top of it. The house felt empty when she walked around. Kidou said that his dad tends to go overseas on a business trip as often as 9/10th of the year, and Haruna (his step-sister) lives separately from him in her apartment.
"Do you need me to call them?" Chia pulled out her phone.
"No need," Kidou placed his hand up for a signal to stop, "We already contacted, they were more than happy to sign the contract. Don't worry, I've given them a fair share of money as an apology for taking their daughter away,"
What about them worrying for her? Never mind that- "Can you also create a separate account for my brother? Chico Romanio?"
His eyebrows raised with surprise at this information, and his face returned to normal, "If you work hard enough, then I'll think about it,"
He snapped his fingers and his butler returned with a pile of blank paper and a pen. He also turned on the television to watch the upcoming match, America vs Spain.
Her old team had a sour expression, she would too if she was there. The American team wasn't the same as before, even their white uniform changed into a depressing grey.
"Did you know of this?" Kidou pointed to the screen.
"No, not at all," Chia was getting anxious for her friends. She knew they were capable but it didn't stop her worries.
His phone rang and he took off his glasses to rub his face and answer the call.
Since when did he have red eyes? They look like glowing red rather than the deep red like his shirt.
"Change of plans," Kidou signalled for his butler to take away the paper, "we're making a delivery, come with me to your first task.
...
The paper was for her to write down all the information she knew about Orion without the potential of being hacked. Since there was a new mission, she had to type it in her phone's notes app as they made the delivery.
A hand reached for her hair, and she glanced to the side to witness a- an angel?
He giggled, "No, I am no angel, but I am a god,"
"Excuse me?" she replied.
"Ah, Afuro," Kidou said, "Just in time, the plane leaves soon, come in."
The beautiful blond man, Afuro, was their package delivery?
"Why are we delivering a human?" was this human trafficking?
"I was called to join the Japan team. It was a shame I wasn't there earlier to fight against you, Cherry," he placed a hand over his heart and bowed slightly. What a gentleman! This made her day even better.
"We're going to fly back to the Football Frontier tournament location, we'll do most of our research there either way. I trust that you'll keep your end of the deal?" Kidou held out a glass to Afuro, he took it and nodded, before giving it to Chia.
"Ladies first." she took the cup, slightly swooning over, "May I ask, What are you doing here? I thought you returned to Spain?"
"I got hired by the boss over here," she shook her head in Kidou's direction,
"I never thought Kidou was the type to keep a siren in his grasp," Afuro took a sip.
"And I never knew a God would be acquainted with the mafia boss over here," Chia replied.
"We have a long history," the blond smirked.
"Pause on your flirting, we're here,"
The airport felt more fun with other people with her. They shared snacks and gossiped about their lives, getting to know each other. Chia asked for his number and Kidou glared at her ("C'mon Kidou, I'll talk. to him for longer than a week!" "Is that so? I'll keep an eye on that." "Are you seriously restraining her personal life?" "She's my assistant in training, of course, I will,")
It may be only 3 hours since her last flight but Chia already wanted to get out of the plane. All 3 of them were at a private jet this time, no more mingling eyes so they could roam and talk freely.
"Based on Japan's plays, it was surprising they tied with Spain," Afuro stated, hands clasped together on his lap. Kidou and Chia sat on the couch with Afuro on the other side, in between was a table with an in-build touchscreen. They analysed the playstyles there, and Afuro moved to sit next to Chia so that he wouldn't be seeing an upside-down screen.
Right now, Chia already has a good grasp of Japanese conversation, she may not be able to read hiragana, katakana or kanji yet but verbal communication was useful. The two boys mentioned that she had an accent when she spoke Japanese, but it didn't get in the way of her talking, though she could work more on her pronunciation, especially if a word of 2 different meanings heavily relied on the tone of voice.
[A/N: this means that I no longer need to use italics when someone is speaking Japanese, cause Chia can understand both languages properly now]
"It's surprising too, they sure do have some smart tactics..." Chia rolled her eyes.
"Don't take it to heart, Nosaka may have gone overboard but... I have heard he was given a harsh punishment for that," Kidou assured. Chia muttered, "he better..."
"Now, back to business," Kidou looked over Chia's phone where all of Orion's notes were, "How do you know this information?" Afuro made eye contact with Chia, to his left, Kidou was on her right.
She leaned forward and swiped her hair away to fully show the Orion mark, not glowing anymore but it was visible enough if someone outwardly looked for it.
"I signed up to be an Orion's disciple because of my spine. I was diagnosed with scoliosis and some treatments didn't work." Chia leaned back and stretched a bit, her voice in a 'matter-of-fact' tone, "I got desperate and signed up! I didn't do anything but leak and memorise information so I guess I got lucky?"
"So you are good at memorising. You won't have a struggle learning more languages, yes?"
"I think I'm good," Chia attempted to look away.
2 hours into the flight, they took a break from planning Orion's downfall. Kidou took a short nap in his private room and Chia paced up and down the plane.
"Don't be too nervous about meeting your friends again, they'll surely understand," Afuro was doing his skincare routine.
"How can I not be? I humiliated myself in front of the media!"
"You couldn't control it,"
"But what I can control is right now- I should dye my hair again!" Chia stopped, succumbing to this new realisation.
"Wouldn't it damage your hair? I would hate for it to rot away."
"New look new me I guess," Chia continued pacing, thinking of what her new hair could be.
Afuro couldn't handle her excessive pacing anymore.
"Why don't you dance to pass the time? I heard you were a dancer?" Chia froze, she nearly forgot about that. Her new playstyle in soccer reduced her flair by a long shot, so she barely looked like she was dancing on the field anymore.
Chia was not one to have a stage fright, her delay in reaction was just her choosing her music.
"I don't know what to dance to though, I'm not in the mood for it."
"Well, you do dance to upbeat songs, why not try something new?" Afuro stood up to meet her gaze.
"Is this an offer?" Chia tilted her head, her voice daring.
"Of course, I am also bored on this flight. Let me teach you a few waltz tricks," he offered his hand and Chia took it.
"Waltz? I've never done that before, neither have I danced with a partner."
"There's a first for everything,"
...
When Kidou woke up from his 3-hour nap, they were already halfway through the flight. What he didn't expect was to witness the lounge room's furniture being pushed towards the edge of the wall as his 2 acquaintances were arguing about which foot with waltz music being played on repeat.
Kidou took off his glasses to wipe his face before putting them back on and making a presence, "What are you two doing?"
Chia knew he was pissed with his arms crossed and his foot tapping, "He was stepping on my foot," Chia pointed accusingly to Afuro.
"I was teaching her waltz but she refused to listen,"
"I have more experience with dancing and for sure I know that a spin doesn't look like that,"
"And you claimed you wanted to learn, not teach,"
"And you-"
"Ok stop," Kidou walked towards them, "you two are terrible, let me show you how it's done."
Another 5 hours later, the 3 of them were forced to be woken up when they collapsed on the couch. Their muscles ache from dancing for a full 6 hours, specifically Afuro. Chia was only slightly aching but she still slept through the remaining hours like a log and Kidou barely broke a sweat, yet still joined the others. Both of them looked relaxed and Kidou couldn't help it.
"I am so dead right now," Chia was grateful she only had a backpack and luggage with wheels. The other 2 boys had multiple.
"I thought your training with Spain was hard?" Afuro brushed his hair, looking graceful as his luggage followed behind him with some AI coding. How could he afford that? Was he rich all along? With those looks he probably is.
"This is different." Chia sighed.
Oh, of course, another limousine rolls to pick them up.
"Hey Kidou, how much am I getting paid?" Chia nudged him.
"Get through training first then we'll discuss," Kidou got inside the car.
"Wait, I don't get paid for training?
They were in the car, getting ready to go to Japan's dormitory when instead, they arrived in a... salon?
"What are we doing here?" Chia asked as she was escorted out by Afuro and Kidou.
"You said you wanted a new look," Afuro stated, showing her a hairstyle on his phone.
"Let's live up to the 'ChiaCherry' name," Kidou said.
"How?" Chia was still dumbfounded.
"By picking a cherry red colour, of course," Kidou replied.
"Wait hold up-"
[A/N: Idk if I'm gonna keep this hairstyle, it's more of a temporary change just this moment ya know?
In the future, she'll most likely change hairstyles again but I want to see Chia attempt to copy her brother- Chico.
Or I just wanna see Chia in a different light, instead of the cute and girly type it's more into a "maturing" look?
And mostly because I've been starting to love the cherry red colour, especially on cars. There's something about that colour that just H I T S. like blood on snow.
]