🗝️⋆｡𖦹°‧★⊹˚˙ෆ
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PLOPPING DOWN ONTO THE nearest bench, you heaved in a big breath of air as you took this opportunity by yourself to reflect on what happend earlier. What you did wasn't special or anything at all, you've pulled moves like that plentiful of times - you didn't understand why you had been praised for a simple play like that, not like you guys won either..
You felt a solid object poke your shoulder a couple of times, expecting it was Meguru; you immediately turned around only to find Isagi staring down at you, holding out your bottle in his hand. "Here." He mutters with a small smile. You freeze for a split second, flabbergasted from the random act of kindness. You couldn't help but scrunch your eyebrows together, puzzled by Isagi's caring gesture - even if he was merely handing over your water bottle to you.
"U-uh.. thanks." You nod your head in appreciation, quickly taking your bottle from his hands, promptly glancing away from the taller boy. You internally curse yourself out for being so.. unsociable and awkward. You wished you could have Meguru's friendly and outgoing personality so people would talk to you more. You didn't like looking unapproachable.
"I think having Isagi as our centerforward was a mistake ! Next game we should have me at the very top of the lineup !" Your attention was grabbed by Raichi's complaints once again, this guy always seemed to be rowdy about something at all times.
Others started joining in the commotion, declaring they'll be the forwards instead next game. Quickly, you were growing tired of the bickering - feeling too overstimulated by the noise pollution. Thankfully, Kuon was quick to end the argument, shutting everyone up to pull them back to reality with his next words.
"Enough already, all of you ! Cut it out !" He looked panicked, which was understandable really. "Do you get how dicey our situation is right now..?!" Of course, your team had already gain one loss, but it seems like the others were too stupid to understand that.
"Five teams play in a round robin tourney. Only the top two will move onto the next round." You already knew that, he didn't need to spell it out for all of you. "Supposing that all teams are about equal and manage two wins and losses, the max number of points they'll have is six." Nodding your head in acknowledgement, you decide to hear him out.
"Therefore, we shouldn't aim for those six points, but instead go for seven !" Well, yeah, obviously ? If we want to guarantee survival, clearly we should aim for the maximum points we can earn. "Team Z is on the verge of elimination. If we lose again, we're all finished." Kuon seemed to be getting more frantic by the minute. "This isn't the time to be thinking of ourselves - if we don't focus on what we can do to win, it's over..!!"
You hummed softly, agreeing with the brunettes statement. Finally someone with a sense of logic. The atmosphere was tensed as it should be, the high possibility of getting kicked out dawning on each and everyone. Until a certain monk decided to be a smartass and open his stinky mouth.
"Then do ya have a plan or what ?" Letting out a scoff, he directs his words to Kuon. "No.. Not yet I'm afraid." The other shakes his head. Igarashi scoffs yet again - in which you quietly glare at the monk from across the room, as if you could come up with anything yourself either, you think.
"It's true." You heard Kunigami from across you speak up. "I think L/N and Bachira's teamwork was great. L/N's goal might be a hint on how to win." The ginger then turned his head to look at you. You kept eye contact, expression remaining blank as always. But on the inside you were a teeny tiny little bit giddy at the acknowledgement.
"N/N's goal was amazing ! It was definitely the best goal of the match." Turning to the oh so familiar voice you were the most accustomed to here, you were met with a butt naked Meguru standing in the middle of the room. "With more of those, we'll win easy for sure !" Turning to face you, he gives you an ear to ear smile. "Right, N/N ? Right ?!" Though you've seen him butt naked plentiful of times, you could never get used it.
Promptly standing up from your seat on the bench, you rushed over to Meguru with a flushed face, ushering him to go and quickly put on some clothes. He whined, saying something about how 'it feels better being naked'.. some.. weird shit like that. Naruhaya perked up from behind Meguru, spouting how a goal like that was just a fluke. You scoffed lowly, biting on your lower lip to prevent saying something insulting to him.
After forcing Meguru to put on some pants, which he finally did after some protesting, you walk back to the bench you were sitting on earlier with Meguru following suit. To your right, Isagi seemed to have an idea about this entire ordeal. "Early in the match, every player including Team X's was only thinking about scoring goals. Wasn't it like playing freestyle back then ?" Tilting your head to the side, Isagi seemed to be on the right track, his words seemed plausible. "I think that a freestyle game is what Ego actually meant by playing 'football from scratch', without any strategies."
"But the chaos stopped when Barou scored his goal. They were inspired by it and naturally chose to keep passing to him. Because he provided that image of scoring a goal, that's why I think they were able to become a proper team." You hum in realization, turning to Meguru as to see if he got the idea too. "Barou became the foundation for his team with his skill. After the 10 other members witnessed his talent, they could improve their own play just by following his lead."
You didn't expect Isagi to be this knowledgeable, you were impressed. Internally, you berated yourself that you didn't realize that earlier. "Football and the teams within it are born from a top-notch striker. I think that's Ego's message for us." Momentarily after the dark-haired boy said his statements, Ego had appeard on the monitor in your room.
"You're all on the right track. Listen up you unpolished gems." A hologram of scores appeard above Ego's hand. "The second match concluded a few moments ago. Team V trampled over Team Y with a score of 8-0." Your eyes widened in surprise, that score ratio was.. humiliating honestly.. You felt a light poke on your shoulder - turning to look at Meguru, the expression on his face was equally filled with astonishment.
"Team V seems super strong. Can't wait to go up against them." He snickered, in response you chuckled softly. So optimistic all the time. In the meantime, Ego seemed to be going off about 'destroying your opponents structure' which you didn't get as you weren't listening to his ramblings the whole time. Why couldn't he just summarize things short instead of going off on a tangent..? It would be way beneficial for your attention span and his breath.
"Only with your weapons you can make a revolution. And only then you will find victory." You blinked, confused - weapons ? Quickly you realized he meant your football weapons. You felt moronic you actually thought for a second he meant real weapons.
♡
"My greatest weapon is.. dribbling."
A sleepy Meguru next to you was on the verge of dozing off any moment now. Currently, Team Z was sitting in a circle, discussing everyone's best weapons. You stayed silent the entire time, taking occasional glances over to Meguru to make sure he didn't fall asleep in an uncomfortable position.
"My best weapon is my awesome shooting technique ! I like to call it my 'sexy football' !" Raichi's loud voice booms throughout the confinement. That was kind of cringe..though you couldn't help but giggle softly - thankfully for you the blonde didn't manage to hear you.
Everyone took turns to say their own weapons they thought were their greatest strength, and some certainly sounded intriguing in your opinion.. It was now Isagi's turn, and everyone seemed to turn their attention towards him. "My weapon.. uhh.. well.. I dunno..?" Oh.. Interesting.. now thinking about it, what was your greatest weapon ? You didn't know either.
Some weren't so amused with Isagi's response, a few poking fun at him for not knowing. "Okay, while Isagi is thinking.. How about.. L/N ?" Kuon then snapped his head towards you. You froze, mouth parted mid-way as you were stuck on what to say in response. "Uhh.. I don't know either." You shrugged, frowning as you glanced elsewhere. The brunette taking note didn't seem to question you along with the others, but some certainly pondered for a moment - recalling back to the time you scored the only goal against Team X.
"Last one.. Chigiri ?" Turning to face Chigiri on your right, he was sitting with his knees up to his chest; hugging them close. The expression on his face seemed pretty solemn. "..Don't wanna say it." The red-haired simply says. "Huh ?! But everyone here's sharing their weapons, come on !" Igarashi turns to face the other with an appalled look. "Sorry, I know.. But even so, I don't wanna."
Raichi, as always had something snarky to say, "Ugh, let's just ignore the princess on her high horse and move on !" As the blonde said, Kuon decided to continue on and form a plan. "From that, I think we should focus on learning to put our weapons to use." Turning your attention to the sleeping brunette next to you, you found him sleeping in a rather uncomfy position - so as the great friend you were, you pulled him gently by the shoulders towards yourself, lifting up his head so he rested nicely on your lap.
You hoped no one commented on your gesture - and thankfully, nobody did. "Good, then it's settled." You perked up, now turning to face Kuon. "For the next match.. We're going with the 'I'm the next 9 !' tactic." Instantly, you thought that was a stupid name, but who really cared anyway. The brunette then started explaining the basic gist of the plan, which was fairly easy to understand overall.
♡
With Kuon's plan in mind, Team Z had started going through special training. Everyone was definitely putting in their all each training session, and in all honesty, it was pretty satisfying to see everyone working together. Obviously, it was impossible Team Z could become a proper team right away; but you could guarantee the next match would go on better than the first for sure.
After a loooonnggg day of consistent training, you headed to the dining hall alone - which normally you wouldn't do, but Meguru had insisted you go first as he was going to take a while showering. Lifting your arm onto the scanner, you watched your tray of food slowly come out from the.. food hole ? Well, whatever it was called, you grabbed the tray and headed to the closest table in your proximity.
Before sitting down, you spotted a familiar white-head along with a not so familiar purple-head sitting with each other a few tables away - the white-haired boy had his head on the table while the other had his hand placed on his back. The white-haired boy looked very familiar, but you weren't sure if it was him exactly.
Placing your tray down onto your table, you slowly sneaked your way over to their table. You were standing behind them, so they hadn't spotted you yet. You contemplated on whether if you should call out for the white-haired, as it would be really, really awkward if it wasn't him. But ultimately, you decided to anyways. Hiding your hands behind your back, you inched closer towards the duo, steadying your breath, you finally called out for him.
"Uhh.. Nagi ? Is that you..?"
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WC: 2022
𝄞𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ 🐈⬛⭒♬ ﾟ.