Knock Knock Knock

"Yuka?"

Fixing his dark complexion, Yuka responded to his mother's voice with a relaxed tone in his voice.

"Yeah, mom?"

Peering into his room, Yuka's mother cautiously looked at her son, knowing he had been in a rather poor mood as of late. Widening the door, upon seeing Yuka calmly sitting on his bed with a tranquil expression on his face, she beckoned him with her hand and told him,

"Come on down honey, one of your friends is waiting for you downstairs. It's not good manners to keep a guest waiting."

Under his mother's gaze, Yuka made sure not to show his displeasure and instead nodded lightly at her words but as his mother headed back down the stairs his face darkened as he began to wonder who was waiting for him downstairs. The Raimon team had already left for their training camp with Hakuren and Eisei Gakeun and he had yet to tell any of his classmates his address...

Getting up from the edge of his bed, Yuka decided to head down the stairs but stopped motionlessly as he saw a tall boy with a composed figure sitting casually at the dining table with his parents over tea and mochi snacks as if he had visited many times before. Giving the older boy a quick scan, Yuka understood why his parents had gotten so comfortable and so quickly at that. With spiky, pink hair and sharp, grey eyes, he had a handsome outer appearance that suited his gentle demeanour but unlike his parents, Yuka wasn't so easily fooled.

Sitting down across from the older boy, Yuka motioned for his parents to leave the two alone, meaning the two boys were now silently staring at each other in the dining room. Despite the affable smile on the pink-haired boy's face, Yuka could sense a powerful and malicious spirit hiding within him that radiated palpable spite and malevolence. Though it would be considered toxic to most people, rather than feeling uncomfortable, Yuka could sense his own darkness rise up in response to the dark energy as the two auras being released, clashed and sparked in the room.

"....."

"....."

The pink-haired boy finally gave a satisfied smile at this and recalled his aura before breaking the tense silence,

"Do you want to play soccer Fukunaga-kun?"

"....."

Upon hearing the other boy's words, Yuka gave him a look of suspicion while remaining silent.

However, seeing that the other boy had no intention of speaking until he gave a response, Yuka instead spat back,

"I don't even know who you are so why don't you stop pretending like you know a damn thing about me."

"Oh! My apologies, how rude of me."

Despite apologising with his words, Yuka didn't sense a single trace of sincerity from the other boy who had a shit-eating grin on his face that gave Yuka an unpleasant feeling in his stomach.

"My name is Nosaka Yuuma and I'm the captain of the Outei Tsukinomiya team. I'm sure you've heard of us, haven't you Fukunaga-kun? Well, after some consideration, I decided you'd be a perfect fit for our team and so what else was there to do but to scout you out? After all, it's not like Raimon is a team that could properly utilise someone with your potential but I think you already know that, don't you?"

Snorting, Yuka looked down before slamming his hands on the table beneath him while exuding a hostile air that almost reached a murderous degree.

"Are you mocking me right now? If so, I'll give you 3 seconds to get the hell out of my house!"

"What, me? I can assure you that I'm speaking from the very bottom of my heart Fukunaga-kun. I'm a bit hurt that you could misconstrue my intentions so maliciously."

"...."

"I have no intentions of playing soccer anymore, so get out. We're done here."

Done with the conversation, Yuka made a move to stand up when he heard Nosaka yell out,

"You don't want revenge?"

"....."

"Aren't you sick of it all? Mika, Seiryuu, Tamaki...all gifted players who were born with great talent while people like you...I'm sure you've already heard it before. Some of us were meant for greatness while others were meant to be the stepping stones for the 'geniuses' to walk on. And so, people like you...You'll keep playing soccer in Jr.High and maybe do it at a low-level in Sr.High. You'll graduate and go to university and eventually you'll be playing just for 'fun' with your friends on the weekends while people like Mika will be playing in the Pro League. They'll be set on a path of fame and glory while you'll settle down with a family, have children who are similarly unremarkable and be forced to watch the people you played with in Jr.High reach the top of the world while you remain a fodder who finds 'happiness' in the small moments of your insignificant life."

Hearing Nosaka's poisonous words enter his ear like a snake, slinking towards its prey, Yuka's entire body began to tremble as he envisioned the image Nosaka had so explicitly painted.

Seeing Yuka's reaction, Nosaka smirked and continued in a low voice,

"Doesn't that make you just want to fuck it all up? Follow me, and I'll grant you the power to do it. It'll be the perfect revenge..."

Picking at his arm, Yuka gave a steady look at the confident Outei Tsukinomiya captain who detected a wary interest in the younger boy's pitch-black eyes.

Hmph.

This was enough for today, pushing too hard would only have the opposite effect of what he wanted. Pushing his chair back, Nosaka stuck one more mochi snack into his mouth and waved casually to Yuka who was still considering his offer.

"I'll be sending you an invite to one of your practices on LINE, so make sure you don't miss it Fukunaga-kun."[1]

Slam

Yuka heard Nosaka close the door behind him and remained seated with a hardened expression on his face.

"Some of us were meant for greatness while others were meant to be the stepping stones for the 'geniuses' to walk on"

"They'll be set on a path of fame and glory while you'll remain a fodder who finds 'happiness' in the small moments of your insignificant life"

"Doesn't that make you just want to fuck it all up?"

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As Nosaka's words occupied his head space, an ominous smile spread across Yuka's face. Looking down at his phone, he saw the invitation Nosaka had sent him with the date, time and location of the practice match he mentioned in their prior conversation.

It looks like he'd have to see for himself whether this Nosaka guy had the bite to match his bark...

One Week Later, Teikoku Stadium

"I'm glad you were able to join us today, Fukunaga-kun. Looks like I'll have to make sure we show an extra good performance today since you're watching."

Tch.

Yuka gave a disgusted look when he saw the Outei Tsukinomiya captain walk over with his smug grin that seemed to be permanently attached to the older boy's face. As he suspected, the pink-haired captain really did have a nasty personality. Despite making it seem like he would only be seeing a casual "practice", tension filled the stadium and the Teikoku Eleven looked as if they were all in a "do or die" mode on the sidelines.

Looking back at Nosaka, Yuka raised one eyebrow and asked

"Only 9 members?"

"Mmm. Let's just say two of our members don't play quite as nicely as the others do. You understand, right Fukunaga-kun?"

"Whatever"

Yuka indicated he was done with the frivolous conversation, and followed Nosaka who led him to the bench where 8 other players were warming up. However, upon seeing the two boys walk over, a willowy girl with luscious lemon-yellow hair that descended in bouncy curls and matching neon-yellow eyes, approached the duo and opened her mouth to speak,

"Who's this Nosaka-san?

"This is Yuka Fukunaga-kun. He'll be joining us as a new member soon so make sure you show him your best performance today. We can't have him thinking we're some sort of second-class team now, can we?"

"Is that so..."

Carefully lowering her eyes to take a look at Yuka, the girl held her hand out and waited as if she were waiting for it to be kissed.

Scoffing in disbelief, Yuka's upper right lip twitched and he asked contemptuously,

"Am I supposed to know you or something?"

"Little bitch"

"What?"

Clapping her hands in a cute manner, the lemon-haired girl rested her head against her hands and quickly covered up

"Oops, nothing! Teehee!"

"Oh my god! What an ugly boy! No wonder, Captain-san brought him here. It's only right to allow the ugly to bask in my beauty."

Yuka looked to his right where a tall, skinny boy with violet, wavy hair and snake-like eyes had appeared and was posing dramatically.

"I'm sure a boy with your level of ugliness has an equally ugly name so there's no need to introduce yourself. However, I'll graciously allow a peon like you to hear the beauty of my own name : KOTAROU KAWABATA! Make sure you remember it!"

The slim girl who had been pushed aside by Kotarou's entrance pinched her nose and lifted her face in apparent repugnance.

"Ugh, get out of here Kawabata-kun! Your cologne smells absolutely awful!"

"Oh, Fukushima-san, it seems you'll never understand what true beauty is if you stay like this. What a shame! You have the potential to be one of the chosen, if only you applied yourself!"

Leaving the two to squabble, Nosaka led Yuka over to the bench and took his phone away from him and explained,

"Team protocol until Holy Road begins, hope you can understand."

Winking, Nosaka got into his uniform before quickly running onto the field to begin the match.

Tweet Tweet Tweet

Spotting the black and yellow hair of the body standing in the centre of the field, Yuka recognised the Teikoku forward from their match against Raimon as the match between Outei Tsukinomiya and Teikoku began : Hachi Sasu. As the captain of one of the most prestigious Jr.High soccer teams in Japan there was no doubt he had experience and ability to match Teikoku's reputation but...

Teikoku just didn't give off the same dangerous, almost poisonous, feeling that the Outei team did.

Taking note of this and Nosaka's confidence into consideration, Yuka suspected he was in for a one sided beating today.

Hissatsu Tactics : PENGUIN CARNIVAL!

Rushing forward, Hachi whistled in unison with the 3 other Teikoku members as a wave of penguins were called forth to attack the Outei members.

"Oh."

Finding himself unable to move due to the army of penguins, a blue-haired boy with strange, strawberry pink eyes watched as the Teikoku ace striker got into a position to kick in front of the empty goal since Umika had decided to pass on today's match.

Hmm, since Umika wasn't here today it looks like he'd have to fill in for her. Grabbing the stuffed pig he brought with him onto the field, he tossed it high up into the air.

EMPEROR PENGUIN 7!

The Outei defender let out a cry as he tossed his stuffed animal high in the sky. Soon a large circle blocked out the sun and as it continued to fall, the circle began to take shape until an enormous pig landed in front of the goal and gave a rough side tackle to the incoming penguins.

HELP ME BUTA-CHAN!

The boy meekly accepted the ball from the giant pig who had passed the ball to him and gave a kick upwards into the air to pass it to Nosaka.

"Nosala-kun!"

Jumping into the air, Nosaka tried not to roll his eyes as he heard the blue-haired boy get his name wrong yet again. Like his twin sister, Nosaka wasn't fully convinced Junpei Gujin was right in the head but at the very least he followed orders well unlike Umika.

Smoothly transitioning upwards, Nosaka began to fly up into the sky before kicking it high above him and jumping after the ball whilst creating a blue ripple. Then spinning a few times, he caught the ball once more while continuing to kick the ball higher and grabbed the ball between his knees. Finally, with the ball, he began to run across the air creating blue ripples with each step before landing far into Teikoku's side of the field.

SKY WALK

"Ryouhei!"

Hup.

Arching his back, Haizaki let out a loud roar as a dark shadow loomed behind him. Materialising, the shadow took form as a pitch black figure with bright red eyes and a dark scarf appeared behind him. Then, the field began to change into a rocky floor as the sky darkened with clouds appearing in the stadium.

Boom

With a violent thud, an enormous axe fell onto the ground violently while the figure picked up its axe and raised it. Charging it with a violet darkness energy, Haizaki jumped up and kicked the ball with his heel while the figure crushed the floor with its axe.

DARK KESHIN : Ankoku Shin Dark Exodus

MAOU NO ONO!!!

Boom Boom Boom

Fiercely flying forward, the violet shoot threw aside the Teikoku members powerfully and smashed into Teikoku goalkeeper, Ikki Yamamoto's stomach, sending his body flying back into the net.

Mouth agape, Hachi fell to the ground, knees trembling, as he saw the field completely destroyed and the sight of his his teammates rendered unconscious. Beginning to sweat with fear, Hachi knew that their loss would mean the end of Teikoku's soccer program but there was no choice...

"STOP! We surren–"

"I don't think so! You're not allowed to stop until we say so!"

SHARK THE DEEP

Cackling, Haizaki bent forwards then lifted his right leg behind him as a blue-violet energy began to surround his leg. Then kicking the ball, a violet shark fin appeared in the ground as it sliced through the field. Then, approaching the Teikoku forward, Hachi's body was swallowed up by a giant shark and carried towards the Outei Tsukinomiya goal.

"Umika-nee said not to allow any goals today, Ryouhee-kun."

Seeing that Haizaki was about to score an own goal, Junpei stood in front of the menacing shark that still carried Hachi's unmoving body within its jaws and then laid on the floor in a kowtow position.[2]

"I beg of thee, please send me your aid Enma-sama!"

A deep voice resounded through the field, as a dark shadow appeared behind Junpei.

"Hmph. Who dares bother a friend of the king!"

Materialising, the shadow took the form of a humanoid figure with ruddy skin, amber eyes and spiky blond hair. Adorned in a traditional royal outfit, the figure had a red, long-sleeved garb with maroon-coloured stitched sleeve and a maroon-coloured, gold-trimmed sash worn over the shoulders that was connected by a golden ornament across the chest.

DARK KESHIN : Yokai Ruler, Lord Enma!

Giving a haughty laugh, the keshin grabbed a fiery red sword and threw it up in the air spinning then made a deep slash with it that generated a fiery red explosion in front of the incoming shark.

HELLISH ENMA BLADE!!

Srrrrsh

Hachi's body rolled around on the ground a few more times before stopping alongside the ball in front of the goal. With all of the Teikoku members' bodies lying prone on the field, Nosaka snapped his fingers to summon a brigade of workers to take the defeated team to the school hospital. He turned to talk with Yuka but as he turned his head to check out the bench he found the black-haired boy had already left.

Excellent.

Smiling to himself, Nosaka knew that meant he had achieved everything that he had planned for this match and stared upwards at the ceiling of the Teikoku Stadium.

It seemed all he would have to do was wait then...

Yuka Fukunaga would be the final key needed to ensure Project Mars was completed flawlessly...

All for the sake of true soccer.

6 Days Later, Japanese National Television

[Hello viewers, this is Eri Kobayashi of TBS News! Today the JYSA will be announcing the brackets for the Holy Road Finals and we know the 8 finalists will all be watching with anticipation for who they'll be facing in the quarterfinal matches! Let's see the results of the random pulls right now!]

Holy Road Finals! Let the Tournament BEGIN!