After the Red Matador vs Outei Tsukinomiya Match

[Hello viewers! I'm Eri Kobayashi and I'm here with TBS news (Tokyo Broadcasting System) reporting live from Holy Road Stadium where Outei Tsukinomiya completely dominated the Spanish National Team with an astonishing 11-0 victory. To my left, the rising star and considered by many to be the best youth player in Japan, himself, Tamaki Takashima! Due to his skills in the pre-season and preliminaries, Outei was about to flawlessly make their way to the finals, and is now one of three teams along with Eisei and Hakuren to remain undefeated at this point. Due to his beautiful plays and 'perfect' soccer skills, this young player has earned himself the title 'The Child of Soccer'! Let's find out how Takashima-san feels about this overwhelming win today!]

Ignoring the cameras and microphone that the reporter was holding out to him, Tamaki stifled a yawn and buried deeper into his panda blanket that he had reunited with after the match. Lurking in the comfortable darkness, he felt a mixture of annoyance and confusion bubble up within him.

Nosaka had promised him that he wouldn't have to do anything bothersome like this if he joined the team and up to now this had remained true, with Tamaki successfully avoiding post-match interviews, promotional activities and even obsessive fans due to Nosaka's interventions. Unfortunately for him, Nosaka was nowhere to be seen and Tamaki was forced to admit to himself that he was now trapped.

Wriggling around in his blanket, Tamaki's face popped back out with a deadpan expression after allowing his earlier annoyance to dissipate in the wind. It was more annoying to waste energy on being angry so Tamaki decided the best thing to do would be to get the interview over with as quickly as possible.

"What's upppp?"

Sweatdropping at seeing the midfielder's unenthusiastic face and expressionless voice, Eri decided to ignore the teen's attitude and thought to herself

"Hold it in Eri! You'll be the first to get an interview with Tamaki after this!! All for that bonus money the boss promised for whoever could get the first exclusive interview with Outei Tsukinomiya's new ace midfielder!"

[So, Takashima-san. Despite being a second year, this is your first time participating in Holy Road correct? What parts of your game have you worked to improve as the season has progressed and what have you learned as a player as a member of the team?]

[Parts of yourrrr gameeeeee?]

Slouching his shoulders from within his panda blanket, Tamaki tried to think about it for a minute then replied nonchalantly,

[I haven't learned anything muchhh. Soccer is pretty easyyyyy I guessssss.Yeahhhh]

[Err–Then, let's talk about the match today. The Red Matadors are currently ranked 7th in the world for their youth soccer and are one of the strongest teams in Europe at the moment. Did the other team do anything that was surprising strategically or did they do basically what you expected them to do?]

[No. Easyyy to predict]

Clutching the microphone a little tighter at this point, Eri reminded herself once more.

"It's for the money Eri. It's for the money!!"

[You heard it here first! For 'The Child of Soccer', Red Matador was "easy to predict!". If that's the case, then I'm assuming you talked strategy with your coaches before the match then, right? Did the team implement the plan the coaches laid out for you all or did you end up having to deviate based on the plays?]

[No coach. Just Yuuma-sannn.]

[Oh, Yuuma as in Nosaka Yuuma and the new captain? Tell us more about that, has Nosaka-san been training with the team for long or—]

[Ehhh??]

Eri observed the strange sight before her as Haizaki began to tie Tamaki to his back with the safety harness he always carried with him while Nosaka stood in front of the duo and grabbed the mic from her hands and simultaneously replaced the mic with a business card in one, fluid motion.

[If you want to know more, please contact this number Kobayashi-san and we'd be happy to arrange an interview with you. However, our players are a little tired as you can see so I hope you'll forgive us if we head out first.]

With this, Nosaka returned the mic to Eri whose mouth was still agape as she saw her bonus money begin to get carried away by the silver-haired striker. She couldn't allow this! No way! With this level of content there's no way this would qualify as an interview, Tamaki had barely spoken more than 4 complete sentences!! She needed at least one more, JUICY piece of content.

[ONE MORE QUESTION TAKASHIMA-SAN!! Eisei Gakuen is the current team to beat as the reigning champions especially with all four Celestial Guardians having made superb performances at last year's FFI where Inazuma Japan ranked 3rd. Some have gone as far to say it will be a fight for second place this year. Tell me, what are Outei Tsukinomiya's chances of victory if you end up facing them in finals?]

Hearing the reporter's voice filled with desperation as she shoved the mic closer to his face that was now behind Haizaki's back, Tamaki decided to give her one more answer before he fell asleep. After all, working hard always leads to a more satisfying sleep!

[100%]

Click

Shinkansen, On the Way Home

With the screen turning black as the program ended, Suzaku put it back into her bag calmly while a heavy silence fell upon the car that carried the two teams. Besides Seiryuu who was still sleeping unbothered beside Haruka, the rest all had faces of confusion, fear or interest after watching the match. True to Nosaka's words, the impact at seeing the Spanish National Team toyed around with like second-class players was already taking place in the car as the players tried to process what they had just seen.

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Even Daigiichi who was usually the most upbeat member of the Eisei Eleven felt a bit disheartened as he saw the auras of his siblings flickering wildly with emotion and he began to pat Doi on the back who was shivering beside him. Doi was always the easiest to scare so he reassured him,

"Don't worry! We can't lose as long as we have Aniki on our side! When has Aniki ever failed us before Doi?"

Hearing this, Doi nodded his head, nerves soothed, and the other members began to calm down as well.

Hiroaki, who was the most composed alongside Suzaku, turned to face Saginuma who was standing at the far back with his arms crossed in front of him and asked,

"What the hell was that thing? It looked like that goalkeeper mentioned a 'Keshin' or something? I've never heard of something like that before..."

Saginuma who was similarly taken aback, looked to his right where Aphrodi was busy texting someone on his phone, and asked the other coach,

"I've never heard of Keshins before...how about you Aphrodi-san?"

Shaking his head, Aphrodi's red eyes glinted with an astute light as he checked his phone once more before answering.

"No, I haven't heard of it before...and neither have Endou-san, Kidou-san, Gouenji-san or even Tenma-kun. However judging by that girl's usage it seems similar to hissatsus, but possibly a more concentrated form of energy. I'll need to rewatch it to be certain but it's not something we need to be concerned with right now. Nothing has changed."

Now facing the younger players who were listening to the two coaches discuss the match under their breath, Aphrodi continued with confidence in his voice

"You've all been training diligently the past week, and your efforts won't betray you so don't lose heart now. Keshins or no keshins, victory isn't decided by power alone so don't forget that. If you're feeling discouraged now, then the only solution is to train more when you get back home. There's still a week before the Holy Road Finals begin, so you're going to have to put in 200,no, 300% effort so you don't have any regrets later! Understood?"

"Hai!"

Nodding approvingly, Aphrodi gathered the Raimon players to return to their car while Saginuma pulled the Eisei Eleven closer so they could have their own discussion after they left. As they returned to their seats, Mika, Galahad, Serika and Leonidas looked at each other as they all shared the same thought.

Once they got home, they'd need to start training right away!

One Week Ago, Fukunaga Household

Yuka stumbled slowly into his house after another long day of practice by himself alongside the riverbank. The Raimon team had just left for Hokkaido yesterday and Yuka had chosen to stay behind, though he himself wasn't sure why he had declined the invitation.

Ever since the match between Raimon and Eisei Gakuen in the preliminaries it was as if there was some sort of seed growing within him. No matter how much he trained or how much he tried to stay positive-minded, it was like there was a heavy force wanting to be released from within him. At first, Yuka had tried to ignore the growing, ominous feeling and thought the force had been subdued after talking with Tenma-san but once again...

During the match between Raimon and Teikoku Gakuen, Yuka was forced, once again, to watch helplessly from the sidelines as the 22 brilliant players battled it out with all their might on the field while he was stuck on the bench. It was then that he began to feel the ugly and dark force inside of him rear its ugly head and rebel against the cage that he had put it in.

Yuka had always viewed soccer as a bright light that guided him for most of his life but why?

Just why?

No matter how hard he worked or how fast he chased after that light, he was the only one left on the cold, hard, disgusting bench.

It wasn't fair.

Yuka trained diligently every single day since he was 4 years old. The instant he woke up, he would run around the yard with the ball to practise his dribbling and as he grew older he joined the local team where he practised long after the team practice was over and yet still!

He still wasn't good enough to play!

Even Sadao and Hyun-Ki who had only joined the team this year and were first years like him were already on the first-string while Yuka was still on the bench even in the second-string matches. He had yet to touch the ball even once in an official match while Hyun-Ki who had never played soccer before, already had his own hissatsu! Yuka was sure that he loved soccer more than anyone else on the Raimon team but still! Still...

Ignoring his parents who welcomed him back home, Yuka walked up the stairs to his room where he threw his bag onto the floor and listlessly fell onto his bed. Turning onto his back, he looked upwards where he had put up posters of famous players like Endou, Gouenji, Kidou, Tachimukai, Genda, then moving down he finally found the largest poster in the centre of the ceiling.

Matsukaze Tenma.

"As long as you keep trying, I'm sure you'll find the answer you're looking for!"

"When you grow to love soccer, soccer always answers back to that love..."

That was a fucking lie.

Effort? Perseverance? Love?

Bullshit.

How long did he have to keep going like this? It had been almost a straight 8 years of playing and nothing had changed for him.

Grabbing the blanket underneath him with his right hand, Yuka felt the wicked and gastly, black force within him bubbling with vigorous ferocity. Now taking form within him, the gaseous black energy began to take shape into an inky, oily substance and Yuka closed his eyes as he felt the dirty power fill his body.

He had enough.

Yuka was done.

Yuka was done with this one-sided love.

It made no sense, how could someone like Mika who insisted that she had no love for soccer, be blessed with an incredible amount of talent while someone like him, who loved soccer with every fibre of his being, was unable to improve no matter how much time and effort he put into practising!! Everyday he woke up, he was overflowing with a desperation to play soccer and a futile hope that today would be the day he made a breakthrough and he would find his hidden potential for soccer.

But instead...

Nothing.

Every day he woke up was the same. He would do all the drills instructed to him by his coaches and they would tell him with a sympathetic look in their eyes that he was "steadily improving". There was no magical breakthrough, no unlocking of his hidden abilities, and definitely no significant improvements.

Remembering the endless nights and never-ending practices, Yuka's heart began to beat with a loud murmur that filled his ears. Standing up in one motion, the veins in his hands began to pulsate as he began to violently rip apart the posters on his walls and ceilings with an aggressive fervour that made him resemble a beast, rather than a person. While he did this, Yuka felt the inky black oil fill his lower body and begin to approach his heart and as it did so, he thought back once more to those words.

"When you grow to love soccer, soccer always answers back to that love..."

Ha.

It seemed like it was just him then.

This was soccer's answer.

A complete rejection.

Fine then.

If soccer wanted to reject him, then he would reject soccer.

Letting the black energy into his heart, Yuka finally felt relief. All the anger, helplessness, jealousy, hatred, grief, resentment and frustration exploded and swallowed him whole and he felt his body begin to burst with heat that raised his body's temperature higher and higher and then...

Nothing.

Like hot lava cooling, Yuka opened his eyes again and his eyes resembled black marbles while his pupils became pitch black pits whose bottoms could not be seen.

Yuka...hated soccer.