"The ball goes to Teikoku's Captain Mikado!" said Kakuma.
"Begin the attack!" Mikado ordered his teammates.
He turned around and was running towards our goal. [Name] mentally sighed. She stayed behind the midfielders while they chase after Mikado, just in case they got the ball back and have to pass it to a forward.
[Name] manages to get away from her opponents, who were blocking her. She ran away and glanced at a camera crew, coming from the audience.
'Yuuichi must be watching, hm,' she thought. 'He's going to be disappointed when he finds out that...'
Meanwhile, Yuuichi was sitting on his bed, watching the game with a small TV beside his bed. He was glad that [Name] was included in team and was now playing as a forward. When the camera turned to the field, his smile slowly dropped. He noticed Kyousuke was nowhere to be found. He wasn't on the bench either.
"Why?" Yuuichi questioned to no one. "Why aren't you in the game, Kyousuke?"
Back to the game, Mikado continued to run while two of his teammates were next to him. They got blocked by the Raimon's defenders. [Name] noticed someone running up to them. She suddenly ran very fast to stop him from getting the ball.
When Mikado kicked the ball to his teammate, Sasaki, Tenma was going to kick it but then [Name] leaped forward and kicked the ball out of bounds, with the tip of her foot. This shocked the two Teikoku players. It was like she was a ghost that appeared of nowhere.
"[Name]!" Tenma smiled at her. He felt relieved when it was her that kicked it away.
"Incredible! Yukihina [Name] ran all the way from the front just to defend!" said Kakuma.
[Name] sets her hand on her chest as she panted out of her mouth. She looked at Tenma, who came up to her.
"That was so close!" He said with excitement. "I was going to get it but you did a better job doing that! You did great!"
'Why is he being overly excited...?' [Name] thought while smiling at him. 'All I did was kicking the ball out. He does compliment a lot, even the smallest things...'
"Thank you Tenma," she said to him. "That was nothing, really."
"No matter what we do, one of them always ends up free," Kurumada said to the defenders.
"This is tough," Amagi commented.
"We'll have to keep defending to pull through this, I guess," Kirino added.
"No." Shindou started as he came up to the three. "Defending won't help us win. Our opponent is Teikoku Academy. If we want to win...we need Ultimate Thunder!"
Some of [Name]'s teammates had their mouth gaped opened when they listened to their captain.
"Don't be crazy!" Kirino told Shindou, trying to reason with him. "We need everyone involved if we want to block Teikoku's attacks!"
"We can't afford to chance it," Hayami added.
"No matter how small a chance we've got, we'll do Ultimate Thunder as soon as one of us has the ball!" said Shindou. "Got it?"
"But that hissatsu tactic was never perfected," Kurama replied. "Who's going to make the finishing kick?"
Shindou stayed silent for a moment. Before he was going to answer, [Name] next to him stepped forward.
"I'll shoot it in," she volunteered. Shindou, Tenma, and the others to slightly widened their eyes at her, a little surprised to not see her smiling. Instead, she had this serious, determined look on her face as she spoke.
"I'm trying very hard to win with everyone right now. I put in a lot of effort into all this," she informed to them. "I will make it in."
"[Name]-san..." Shindou and Kirino trailed off simultaneously. They both have never seen this side of her before.
"Okay," Shindou nodded at her while Kirino had this awe-struck eyes as he looks at her, "do your best, [Name]."
[Name] only nodded back at him. Tenma and Shinsuke talked about what they were going to do to each other.
"[Name] sure is strong!" Tenma grinned.
Shinsuke agreed with him, "She also motivates the team well huh!? She makes me want to contribute more to the game."
'Seriously...? Me, motivate?' [Name]'s eyes glanced at the two with a bore look deep in her eyes. 'What a joke...'
Shindou noticed her face, trying to figure out what was going on with her. It was like [Name] would just become a robot that was automatically turned off when people didn't have their eyes on her.
Meanwhile, as the game started again, Yuuichi continued to watch the screen. He wondered where his younger brother had gone. Coincidentally, Kyousuke came inside his room.
"Morning, Nii-san," he greeted his older brother. Confused, Yuuichi could only watch Kyousuke walk up and sat down in a chair near his bedside.
"Kyousuke, what are you doing here?" He asked him. "What about your game? You should've been with [Name] and the rest of your teammates."
Kyousuke's orange-colored eyes shifted to the TV next to Yuuichi. "Oh..."
Yuuichi became concerned and worried for his brother. "Kyousuke..." He mumbled.
When one of the Teikoku's player threw the ball back in, Hayami manages to jump in front of Sasaki and head bump the ball towards Shindou. Shindou then kicks it to Hamano and sprinted to the back.
"Shindou!" Hamano shouted.
"Let's do it, guys!" Shindou said to his teammates. "Kurama, Tenma, you two move up!"
"Alrighty." Hamano ran away from a Teikoku player and passed the ball to Hayami. "Hayami!"
While Shindou was sprinting to the defense, Hayami kicked the ball across to Kirino, who then passed it to Amagi. Amagi forcefully kicked the ball to Shindou.
"Here it goes," Shindou shouted, full of determination. The ball began sparkling with lightning when the ball came in contact with him. "Ultimate Thunder!"
[Name] was waiting for the perfect moment to strike the ball. She was carefully watching Shindou kicking the ball to destroy Teikoku's defense. By chance, it actually worked. Shindou successfully did Ultimate Thunder. The ball flew across the field and destroyed Teikoku's defense.
Everyone, both teams (not [Name]), and the managers, had their mouth gaped opened in surprised. They all turned their head to [Name] to fully complete it. [Name] swiftly sprinted down to Teikoku's goal. Whilst the ball was flying in the air, she kicked with all her strength at the goal.
Unfortunately for her, she had fail to complete Ultimate Thunder for her team when the goalkeeper, Miyabino, caught it without a problem. He didn't have to move his legs. The Raimon's team gasped in shocked. They thought it would go in since [Name]'s shoots were very strong. Only Endou has a stern look as he watched her.
"What happened?!" Aoi's eyes widened while covering her mouth with her hands.
"It didn't work?" Midori furrowed her eyebrows. Akane, next to her, had this shocked 'o' face.
With their eyes widened as well, Tenma, Shindou, and the others on the field stared at [Name] from afar. They were all frustrated but not particularly at her.
"Haah, we were so close," Hamano said, putting his hands on his knees.
Hayami slumped his back, sighing, "All that hard work and strength for nothing..."
Sadly, Kirino furrowed his eyebrows, "[Name] almost made it."
Amagi only sighed out of exhaustion. While Tenma tried to cheer the others up with his usual pep talk, Shindou's eyes shifted over to [Name], watching her. He saw that she was standing face to face with Miyabino, talking to her. Though, he couldn't hear them.
"Yukihina [Name], right?" Miyabino said, "You and your team's hissatsu tactic was terrible. Don't go underestimating us-"
Miyabino suddenly stopped talking when he dropped the ball on the ground as his eyes slightly widened at her.
'Do you even...' his thoughts trailed off.
"U-Uh, never mind," he stuttered as his eyes shifted away from [Name]'s. He picked the ball back up. "Forget I said anything."
[Name] simply nodded at him. She backed up to get ready for whatever what was going to happen. One of the Teikoku's coaches ordered Operation Delta Three. Teikoku were divided up and scattered around the field. Miyabino kicked the ball to Ryuuzaki.
"Guys, tighten the defense!" Shindou ordered.
"Okay!" Tenma and Shinsuke shouted back as they ran towards their goal. [Name] silently did the same.
Kurama was next to Ryuuzaki, trying to get the ball back. Ryuuzaki successfully passed the ball to Narita on the opposite side. Then he passed it in the air to Sasaki, which Hayami was unable to reach.
The ball was passed around by Teikoku Academy by some time. One of the players kicked it high to Itsumi. He jumped high to get the ball, which the defenders couldn't get. Shinsuke even failed when Itsumi blocked him in the air.
Itsumi shot the ball towards the goal, only for it to hit the goalposts instead. The Raimon soccer club members were all relieved that they didn't scored a point, except for [Name]. Shinsuke seemed a little upset when he wasn't able to get the ball from him.
Raimon was stuck defending against Teikoku's attacks. Everyone was trying to finish off Ultimate Thunder. Shindou had no luck trying to kick the ball at Teikoku's defenders. By chance, even if he did succeed, [Name] couldn't complete it for some unknown reason.
"What do we do, Shindou?" Kirino asked. "Even when we have full team with [Name] on our side, it's not enough to defend against a full team."
"Ultimate Thunder isn't working either," Hamano mentioned.
"My apologies. I said I'd shoot it in but I wasn't able to kick it in the first time," said [Name], furrowing her eyebrows.
"It's okay, [Name]. We don't blame you," Tenma reassured her, patting her shoulder.
In the Inazuma General Hospital, the Tsurugi brothers were watching TV. Yuuichi was mostly watching [Name] the entire time. But he gradually felt uneasy about Kyousuke's present.
"Are you sure you should be here, Kyousuke?" he asked him without taking his eyes off the screen. He glanced at Kyousuke, who stayed silent, then looked back at the screen. "If you leave now, you can still make it there in time. Kyousuke..."
"It's fine," Kyousuke interrupted him, "they have a full team now. They'll be alright. They don't need me."
Yuuichi glanced at the screen in which [Name] was shown.
"I know that," he said as he tightened his fists on his lap a little. He turned his head towards to Kyousuke. "At least help her out."
"Her? You mean [Name]?" said Kyousuke. "She told me she'd be playing as a forward like me. I heard from the others about what she did in her soccer entrance exam. She'll be fine too."
"She wants help, Kyousuke," Yuuichi said in a firm, serious voice as his younger brother was startled at his tone. "Is there another reason you don't want to play?"
"No, I just think they're all fine," Kyousuke lied to him as he stands up. "I'm thirsty. I'll go get something to drink."
He left the room. He thought about what Yuuichi mentioned.
'[Name] wants help? Help with what exactly?' Kyousuke stared at the soda can in his hand. He forgot about the mission he was assigned until he heard someone calling his name behind him. He knew exactly who that was.
Back at the game, Raimon's defense seemed to be crumbling apart as they were tired. But they still tried their best. After Sangoku blocked the ball, Shinsuke only watched the ball flying in the air.
'If I don't stop them, they'll score,' he thought as he stared at the ball. 'But will I even be able to? I can't even jump high as [Name].'
"Staring at the sky won't help!" [Name] shouted at him as she was trying to get pass Teikoku players. Shinsuke looks at her. "You have the greatest wings than all of us, even me! So use them and fly high towards the sky!"
"Okay!" He nodded at her and ran. 'I got caught up thinking about how to stop the ball that I couldn't jump properly.'
"It's mine!" Itsumi yelled, jumping high for the ball.
"Full Throttle Jump!" Shinsuke jumped higher than Itsumi. He looked up in shock.
"H-He jumped higher than me?!"
Shinsuke yelled as he pushed the ball down with both of his feet with much force. He happily landed back down, successfully.
Endou watches [Name], who was smiling at Shinsuke, from afar. 'Why don't you use your wings too, [Name]? It is because it's slowly crumbling?'
Thanks to Shinsuke, Shindou was able to steal the ball back from Sasaki. Kurama became envious at the fact that a first year was working that hard. He wanted to be the one kicking the ball at Teikoku's defense. Shindou allowed him to and kicked the ball to Hayami. [Name] stood off to the side, getting ready to shoot it in the goal.
They failed when Ryuuzaki revealed his Keshin to Kurama, who lost the ball. One of the coaches of Teikoku ordered Operation Alpha One. Kirino, Kurumada, and the others weren't able to get the ball back from Itsumi and Sasaki.
Once Mikado had the ball, he called out his hissatsu technique called Emperor Penguin 7. Some of these hissatsu techniques and Keshins were intriguing to [Name]. But that feeling kept being washed away.
Colorful penguins appeared and flew at Shinsuke, knocking him down. Then [Name] showed up and tried to kick the ball away to the side like the last few times. But the power in the soccer ball was too strong. [Name] actually didn't have the energy to kick it away so she flew back but managed to keep standing, unlike Shinsuke. Then the penguins flew towards Sangoku, who failed to block them. It would mean that Teikoku scored one point.
The team ran over to Shinsuke and [Name] (Sangoku was used to being hurt as a goalkeeper so they knew he was fine) to check if they're alright.
"I'm okay," [Name] answered them, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand.
Everyone seemed to be dejected. [Name] didn't understand why they were so upset over losing one point. Halftime didn't start yet so they had time to get points. [Name]'s neutral expression changed to a more nicer one when Kirino turned towards her.
"You're always running up to defend when you're a forward," Kirino mentioned to her with a sad smile. He liked how she was multitasking both positions. "As a defender, I'm kinda ashamed of how I can't steal or block the ball just like you did, or at least try to."
His eyes looks off to the side as he continues, "It's embarrassing how a forward is defending the defender, isn't it?"
[Name] tilted her head slightly with a little smile, "I don't find it humiliating at all. I think sometimes the defenders need to be protected too. We're all teammates. All of us has to help and defend each other despite our different positions."
She continued speaking, "I had to do something when Mikado shot the ball, whether it'd be using myself as a shield or kicking it away, even if I failed. I couldn't watch them hurt my teammates and scoring a goal in front of me."
She set her delicate right hand on Kirino's shoulder, making him blush faintly, "Don't be embarrassed about it. But I'm also counting on you to help me out as well when I'm in trouble." She puts her other hand on her hips.
"O-Of course," Kirino nodded, having a bashful smile on his face. "Thank you for that, [Name]-san."
[Name] smiled back at him, retracting her right hand back. After hearing her, Raimon's spirits seemed to be a little better after they lost a point. Tenma's eyes seemed to shine after she spoke.
"That was a good way to put it [Name]!" Tenma grinned. The others nodded, agreeing.
"Thank you," she gave him a closed-eyed smile. "It's times like these we have to encourage one another. Let's do our best this time. I'm very certain we can win this match."
Tenma added more encouragement to the team. When they were caught up in the sweet moment, they didn't noticed [Name]'s smile turned into a hopeless smile, but Endou and Shindou.
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[Author Notes]:
• There are things that probably didn't make sense in this chapter. Maybe it's because I changed some things like Shindou failing the Ultimate Thunder. I hope you guys don't mind that. And don't mind the chapter's title I couldn't think of a better one.
• I'm not good at writing games. I just wanted this game/episode to end please. I was stressing out when I was in my bed, writing this chapter and my Hatsune Miku and anime figures were witnessing it (totally not showing off my figures/acrylic standees and manga collection nuh-uh).
• I need Chigiri Hyoma and Kirino Ranmaru to have a crossover meetup PLEASE.
• I also need the Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road in my Nintendo Switch Lite. I can't wait to play it (I might not have the money to buy it).
• I'm going to Japan again on my Spring Break next week. I'm going to try and find Inazuma Eleven merch there. I can't wait to fly on the airplane (As a person who has terrible social anxiety, believe it or not, I actually love the airports and the airplane).
• I'm selling stuff that I don't want in my bedroom anymore. I have a link down in my bio!
• If there's any mistakes or if something doesn't make sense, please tell me. I sometimes don't edit properly and I wrote this at 6:45am (i did not sleep at all).
• 2,976 words.
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Thank you for reading!