Next Day After School
"Ne, Inoue! You're late!" Gouenji shouted teasingly as I finally ran up to the practice field, fifteen minutes after school had ended. "Well, sor-ry! It was because somebody *cough* you *cough* didn't tell me that the field was in the front of the school! I spent ten minutes searching for a soccer field in the back, going to all the other sport clubs asking where it was. But nooooo they would only laugh at me, thinking that I am one of your fangirls. Then finally this blonde guy from the track club told me it was at the front of the school, and now here I am. And do you know how much more time it takes to change out of the girls uniform than the boys'? You have to make sure that none of the cheap public school uniform fabric rips, and that it doesn't get wrinkly. And I ran into a little trouble in the girl's locker room when the girls from the baseball club gave me a hard time about the whole Inoue Shizuro thing, thinking that I only did that because I was a pervert. Then I had to spend two minutes straight explaining to them that no, I did not have fantasies of fucking you, which, in fact, is very very disturbing, and that I had never saw a boy changing before or has been in the same room as a boy changing other than Sakuma on my first day as Teikoku's manager but that's a completely different matter!."
When I was finally finished ranting, Gouenji and Kidou, who was standing next to Gouenji, were bent over clutching their stomaches and laughing like crazy. "Why didn't you let me enroll as Inoue Shizuro?" I demanded towards Gouenji as I marched over to the two boys. Between his laughing and gulps for air, Gouenji managed to reply, "You wanted to regain your lost reputation, remember?" "I have a feeling you only did that to get back at all the time I scored more goals than you," I fumed. Still laughing, Gouenji replied, "So what? I had more fans than you." "Your're just jealous you didn't have someone like Hinata," I retorted, a spring of truimph in my words. Suddenly, Kidou's expression grew serious. "Who's Hinata?" he asked crossly. Gouenji quickly grew silent and stared at me. "Uh...," I stalled, trying to find an excuse. Crap, I had accidently let a little of my past slip, and for some reason my gut told me Kidou was not going to be happy about this if I told him the truth. Luckily, Gouenji distracted Kidou by shouting, "C'mon! Practice is starting!" I shrugged at Kidou, than ran toward the field and gave Gouenji a thankful smile when no one was looking. Or so I thought. Little did I know about the studying gaze of two gray orbs observing me carefully.
Since I had missed out on the first fifteen minutes which Raimon had spent on stretching and warming up, I was too do a quick five minute stretch as Raimon jogged their daily laps around the field. After they were finished, Hibiki-kantoku gathered us up in a huddle. He explained a few things on getting used to the new spacing and timing, so today's practice was dedicated to learning how to work with the new players (me and Kidou), passing, and teamwork. Kidou's sister whose name I finally learned was Haruna came up to us holding a wooden crate with only a small hole on the top. We were instructed to reach in and pick a ball up, and people with the same colors were going to be partners for the first exercise.
I was one of the last people to go since I was in the back. I reached into the hole and pulled a ball out. It was a blue. My eyes instantly scoured over everyone, and with an internal groan I found out it wasn't Gouenji, or Endou, who I was at least okay with. It was the boy with the turquoise ponytail who used Honoo No Kazamidori with Gouenji. Heck, I'd even be fine with Kidou if it meant not having to partner up with members of Raimon, who I'm sure didn't like me at all because of my playing style and untrustworthy connection to Kageyama.
But the coach's decisions were law, so I had to bare with this for twenty minutes, then I could just go back to playing soccer the real way. We started off with this weird thing where we had to sit back to back and link our elbows together then try to get up. I instantly felt uncomfortable and aware that even though he would probably never show any love interest in me, I was still a girl and boys touching me always made me alarmed.
Let's just say that we did not agree even for the first five seconds together. I wanted to observe the other pairs to see how they succeeded and failed first, while the other boy argued that that wasn't actually teamwork and that we were supposed to figure it out on our own. Then I countered saying that everyone always observed the opponents move in a match, and he responded that this was about learning teamwork, not competition. So I asked him why we would need to practice this if we were never going to use any of the skill on the field. He just unlinked himself, shook his head, stood up, and walked over to kantoku to try to reason with him why I was on the team. Then Gouenji walked over to them and said something I couldn't hear but was probably in my defense, then Hibiki-kantoku sighed and gestured one of the other groups to switch partners with us.
The next boy was even worse. He was the pink haired striker who I insulted during our match against Senbayama, so obviously, he didn't like me, and I didn't like him much either, resulting in another argument about how I wasn't putting my weight in correctly. I retorted that he was probably twice as heavy as me in the first place so it wasn't my fault, and he got so angry that he tried to punch me. I ducked, then kicked him in the crotch, resulting to another boy crying to the coach. Hibiki-kantoku could only sigh in frustration at how badly I was getting along with Raimon. Finally, he told us that we would practice our individual hissatsu shoots against Endou to boost our offensive power, probably because he couldn't stand me anymore. I had no objections against this. Kuroi Hane Taifuu needed to be faster, even faster than my glory at Kidokawa Seishuu if I wanted to beat Poseidon.
Gouenji went first, impressive as always. But it was....shall we say....boring. His Fire Tornado never got stronger, nor weaker. It didn't evolve either, and a variation never grew from it. Next up was the pink haired guy. I assume his name is Someoka because Endou was shouting at him. When he used his move Dragon Crash, I could tell it was a teeny bit stronger every time he used it. See, me and Gouenji had reached our golden age already, and while he's maintaning it, I wanted to surpass it, to grow stronger. Like a phoenix.
After the soccer ball bounced off Endou's fist, it rolled over to a guy watching us play. I didn't notice him there, his presence was suspicious. Not dangerous suspicious, but secretive suspicious. Just by a glance, I could tell he was a guy who was a master at something and was hiding it.
The mysterious newcomer picked up the ball and smiled. Then he charged onto the field. Could it be that soccer was his talent? He used a move I had never seen before which he named Spinning Shoot. Endou blocked it with God Hand, but just barely. My prediction had been correct.
Aki and Domon came back from who knows where, and from what I could pick up was that the three were childhood friends or something like that with history together. They went to the bench to catch up, leaving us to practice in peace.
"Okay, Endou. I'll make it in this time!" Someoka growled. I turned to him. "Just a little helpful advice," I said quietly, "Imagine your foot is gathering energy, and release it all at once." "As if I need your help," he snorted, but I noticed that he still tried what I told him to do. And by everyone's surprise, it did go in this time. "Whoah!" Endou, Someoka, and pretty much everyone else on the team but Gouenji and me exclaimed. "Told'ya," I smirked. Without turning to give me eyecontact, he muttered in an embarrased tone, "Fine. You have my gratitude."
Endou then called out for the new boy to join us, so he and Domon ran up into play. The new boy had the ball first, and he dribbled it down toward our side. He easily got past two of our defenders, so I rushed from where I was standing beside Gouenji to where Kidou was guarding, already ready to provide defense backup. That was why I always got picked as midfielder. This boy may be the master at ball handling, but I was the master at ball stealing and shooting.
The boy had a tough battle with Kidou, and just at the last moment when I thought Kidou would win, the new boy got past him, as if it was all planned out. He came charging toward Endou. "All right! It's going to be a penalty kick showdown between me and him!" Endou cheered excitedly. "Sorry, Endou, but not yet," I could barely contain my own excitement. It was time to put my speed and stealing skills to the test with someone who was on my level. Faster than I've ever gone before, I dashed so that I was now standing between the new boy and Endou. "That speed..." I heard the turquoise haired boy whisper with fear.
"Come at me with all you got," I said to the boy. He slowed down and smiled. Was this some kind of fool-the-opponent trick? "Pretty girls like you shouldn't play on the field with the boys where you would get dirty," he told me sweetly. All the excitement melted away, and anger replaced it. He thought I was a girl, so I would be too weak to play soccer. That was why he slowed down, he didn't take me seriously. I will show him, I hate boys who underestimate girls, that was why I dressed up as a boy before...so I wouldn't be judged....
"Oh I'll show you what a 'pretty girl' can do. Just as well you show me what an 'asshole' like you can do," I fired back, adrenaline pulsing through my body and the blood pumping in my ears. Raimon gasped at what I just said, but Gouenji widened his eyes as he realized what I was about to do. I never tolerated being underestimated, and I had a lot of that during my Kidokawa Seishuu days when I was all skin and bones compared to all the muscular boys. Even when I earned the name Death Bringer, many teams still took me easy until they were destroyed by me on the field. It wasn't until Chi Sakura Mai did I really strike fear in everyone's hearts just by my name and appearance.
"Hey, Inoue, calm down," Gouenji shouted panickily at me, his attempt to stop me from going overboard. I ignored him. It was time to show him my true potential.
"Ah, I'm sorry if I accidently hurt you," the boy said innocently, unaware of my anger about to be released. Now those of you who have faced the Death Bringer or seen him (or her, your choice) play in real life will know that you never want him angry at you. Why? Because I could go faster when I was angered by being underestimated. It fueled me foward to go past my limitations.
The boy started out by dribbling it in an easy jog, probably thinking that he would be able to pass me with that. I stayed still with bent knees and narrowed eyes, waiting for the right time. Everyone watched intently, worried why I wasn't moving. Only Gouenji knew. Thump, thump, thump, now! I sprang forward, almost faster than the eyes can see. Caught by surprise, the boy stumbled, and I dashed by him. No one saw what happened. It wasn't until I got to the other side that they saw me with posession of the ball. The boy who I had stolen the ball from could only stare at me with mouth gaping in shock. Casually, I punted the ball to Someoka and strolled to the benches. "You've succeeded of played you're part as an asshole, so I'll play mine now too."
"Wait, let's try that again!" he shouted, which surprised me. I turned around with eyebrows raised, "Sure, I was hoping I could play against the 'real' asshole anyway." From the bench, I heard Haruna whisper to the green haired manager, "Did she just officially nickname Ichinose 'asshole'?" The latter only sweatdropped.
One Hour Later...
"Oh man, are they still at it? I want to play against Ichinose," Endou complained. "Now you know how torturous my practices were with Inoue. Everytime we were evenly matched in something, she would make me compete with her until she won," Gouenji replied. Kidou walked up to the platinum haired boy. He signaled for Gouenji to follow him, and Gouenji did just that when Endou wasn't looking. Kidou led them to where they couldn't be heard behind the trees.
Teehee, this chapter contains a lot mystery~ (hehe, I'm getting in touch with my inner Riki Ryugasaki). Who's Hinata? Who was watching Shizumi? What are Kidou and Gouenji doing/scheming?And no, Kidou is not making out with Gouenji behind the trees. It also seems like Shizumi has developed some sense of friendship (not love, that's just gross) with Someoka and Ichinose. NOTE TO READERS: This is not becoming a Kidou x Shizumi fic. Sakuma and Genda WILL come back soon, and Fudou will appear too most likely. But Sakuma and Genda definitely. Thank you Lotus Sword for pointing this out.