Present, One Day Before the Holy Road Finals. Zeus Academy Strategy Room
"Hey, Hey! Khronoa-san, are you paying attention? We're trying to decide on a formation for our upcoming match against Susanoo you know!"
Looking up brightly as if she hadn't been reflecting on their last match of the preliminaries the past 30 minutes, Khronoa blushed with shame at having been caught and stopped mid-nod, knowing Rhea (who had recovered quickly) wouldn't fall for her bluff.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about some things..."
Reading Khronoa's mind, Rhea gave a tired smile knowing the striker was probably still worried about what had happened in their previous match against Outei, considering it had been announced that Zeus's upcoming opponent was Susanoo Academy, the first 'sister' academy for Project Mars. Watching the match between Outei and Red Matador had done nothing to soothe the member's worries, especially with the horrific reveal of their 'Dark Keshins' and Rhea put down the pointer she was using for their strategy presentation.
Sensing the mood drop like a rock, a man at the door clapped to gather their attention and held his hands around his mouth to form a makeshift microphone in order to bellow "Hey! Don't tell me I wasted my time training all of you the past two weeks! What's with the glum faces everyone??"
Hearing the familiar low voice, Khronoa's yellow eyes blinked rapidly as she took in the view of the handsome man with fair features, calm dark-blue eyes, a sharp jaw and an amicable smile that just by looking at it, raised the team's morale.
"Fideo-san!!"
Jumping down the stairs to the centre of the room, Fideo sat down on the table at the front of the room casually as the Zeus members excitedly crowded around him.
Prometheus, who was Fideo's biggest fanboy on the team, jumped up and down in place while exclaiming,
"I thought you had already left for Italy last night!!
Giving a small "mmhmm" in confirmation, Fideo rested his hands on the table beneath him before a more sombre look spread across his face. "I was heading to the airport when I got a text from Aphrodi-san asking if we could meet up" said Fideo with a certain level of gravity in his voice, while the Zeus members' ears pricked hearing the name of the most famous alumni from their school be brought up.
Squinting her eyes curiously, Selene interrupted brusquely, "So you gonna tell us what all you fancy pro people talked about bro or what?"[1]
After two weeks together, Selene had already warmed up to Fideo and had dropped formalities with him long ago much to Khronoa's embarrassment. Despite the older man reassuring her she didn't mind, Khronoa couldn't help herself from grabbing Selene's fingers from behind to remind the other girl to maintain some degree of formality.
Smiling with his eyes, used to Selene's way of speech, Fideo looked around before asking in confirmation, "I'm sure you all saw the Outei Tsukinomiya vs Red Matador match last week? Well, after some research and discussion with soccer experts across the Football International Association about these 'Dark Keshins', we've come to the conclusion that...
At the Sun Garden (Kira Hiroto) :
At Hakuren (Tsukishiro) :
At Dragonlink (Senguuji Daigo) :
At Raimon Strategy Room (Aphrodi) :
"We have no idea"
"WHAT?!" yelled out the Zeus members in unison after waiting in suspense for Fideo's explanation on the weird spirit-like things they had seen the Outei members use in their match. Fideo Ardena was a winner of the Ballon d'Or, Captain of Italy's national team, vice-captain of Inter Milan and they knew he was close with many of the leading members of the soccer world in his generation. If he was saying he didn't know then, were Keshins even something of this world?
Sensing the upcoming clamour, Fideo raised his hand to silence them before continuing, "Well, that's our official answer at least. With no data and no direct studies we can do, we're very limited in what we can say officially at least. Endou-san and Kidou-san both hypothesise that Keshins are some sort of materialisation or manifestation of a person's internal energy and feelings toward soccer. Similar to hissatsus but in a more concentrated and potent form. However, Aphrodi-san and Queen Katora proposed an even stranger thought..."
Tapping his chin thoughtfully, as if contemplating aloud to himself, Fideo pensively murmured below his breath, forcing the Zeus members to lean in closer and huddle around the tall man,
"That somehow, the internal energy created through soccer is opening portals to other worlds and creating a connection between them, allowing the Outei members to access power from beings of these other worlds..."
Unable to hold back his excitement any longer, Prometheus had stars in his eyes while interjecting, "What? Other worlds? Are you talking about alternate universes?!! I thought that was something only in movies Fideo-nii!"
"Pah, It's obvious he's messing with us Prometheus, what are we five?" scoffed Selene, who was having a hard time wrapping her head around the idea of other universes.
However, not wanting to reject the idea just yet, Rhea spoke up, "Hold on, just a moment, Selene-san. It's been well documented that the energy generated when we play football is extremely potent. I mean, just look at hissatsus! Not to mention, we saw this directly in the Grand Celesta Galaxy tournament when Tenma-san and the others saved Faram Orbius and our entire galaxy by powering the Cosmic Plasma Photon Cannon."
Hearing this, Menoetius nodded in agreement on the side. He had always been a big fan of the idea of aliens and was ecstatic that he would no longer be called delusional or insane after the release of footage from the Grand Celesta Galaxy two years ago and the announcement Earth would be joining a United Galaxy Organisation as a council member.
"Captain-san is right! If aliens are real, who's to say that alternate universes aren't real as well? Who knows, there could be a universe where someone like Fideo-san never even plays soccer!"
Khronoa began to caress her left hands' fingers with her right slowly, as she watched with careful eyes while the other Zeus members began to chat excitedly amongst themselves. If Keshins were 'gates' of sorts to other worlds, wouldn't that make Outei Tsukinomiya even more dangerous than they were in the preliminaries?! Would the strength they had built up with Fideo-san be enough for the storm that was to come? She had been more certain when they were training...working as a team, it seemed like they could do anything as long as they had each other, but now it was hard for her to say...
"Khronoa-san."
"...!"
Looking up, she found that Fideo had gotten up from sitting atop the table and walked over to her, who had been standing at the fringes of the crowd of members surrounding him. He gave her a confident smile before opening his mouth to ask, "Do you still remember what I told you while we were training? What's strongest–"
"Doesn't stay that way forever. But the next strongest thing is always waiting inside of you..."
Finishing his sentence, Khronoa looked downwards as she recalled the older man's words but unable to empathise with the true meaning of them, her voice trailed off weakly.
"I know that things seem uncertain now, and it's true that Outei is wielding an incredible and unknown power we haven't seen before but in all my years as a soccer player, I have seen many, many strong players come and go and the the thread that units them all is a love for soccer. When you love soccer, that passion creates an incredible evolutionary power within that takes you to new heights so don't forget that passion, okay? Trust your teammates, and together you'll find a way."
Still unsure, Khronoa nodded meekly while bowing deeply, to thank Fideo for his advice and saying his last goodbyes, he left the room while the Zeus members prepared to head home as well for the opening ceremony that was to take place the following morning.
"Come on nee-chan! Mom said dinner is ready so let's get going! She made soba since she knows it's your favourite!"
Prometheus was chatting happily with Theia and Crius as he waved goodbye to them, before shouting out to Khronoa who was still standing in the same place Fideo had left her in, mulling over his words to her as they continued to take up all of her brainspace.
"Coming Pro-chan!"
Khronoa made sure to put a smile on her face, not wanting to worry her brother who she was concerned was still dealing with the aftereffects of 'My World' and briskly walked to the door where he was waiting.
She was Zeus's pillar.
She shouldn't–
She couldn't have doubts. There was no question of if or how, it was up to her to protect the team no matter the cost.
Hakuren Gym, 21:30. Night Before the Holy Road Finals Opening Ceremony
"Right where I thought I'd find you, Ryo-channn~"
Huff Huff Huff
Ryoga was panting heavily, seemingly having just finished at the chest press machine and accepted the water bottle Tsukishiro tossed him while motioning with his other hand for the towel.
"Towel, Tsukishiro"
PFFFFFFFHH
Spitting out the liquid, Ryoga cursed her with his eyes, realising upon a sugary taste overloading his taste buds, that she had swapped his drink with an energy drink and swept up his hair angrily.
"Sorry Ryo-chan, the towel is for me~" replied Tsukishiro as she pointed to the now wet towel that she had neatly used to block the liquid spat out of his mouth.
"Fuck off"
Ignoring the profanity that lacked its usual punch and the uplifted middle finger that had no heart to it, Tsukishiro followed closely behind Ryoga as he began to leave the gym.
"Someone seems on edge today, wouldn't you say, Ryo-chan?"
Ryoga could hardly be bothered to reply so he instead gave her a withering look as he debated whether or not to entertain the tall co-captain who was clearly bored and looking for someone to entertain her. He almost never saw Tsukishiro train so until their exhibition match at the opening ceremony tomorrow she would need someone to kill time with and he didn't know why it always had to be him.
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Not saying a word, Tsukishiro continued to pester him with penetrating questions,
"It'll be nice to see Leo-chan again, don't you think Ryo-chan? It's been SO lonely ever since he left! I hardly know what to do with myself!"
Hearing that name be brought up, a pair of dead, orange eyes appeared in Ryoga's head and pissed off for some reason he looked upwards at Tsukishiro's enigmatic, white face. Ryoga hated that crescent smile that she made with her eyes as if she could see straight into his mind and was only asking to be polite, or more accurately to rile him up. She had been this way since the day that they had first met and besides her height, almost nothing had changed about her. Despite knowing each other for almost 10 years now, he still felt like he knew almost nothing about the other teen and stared at her with a touch of wariness. He couldn't even say with confidence that she would play in their match against Raimon in the quarterfinals, not that he cared.
They would win regardless of whether she played or not.
Finally arriving at a decision after exiting the gym, Ryoga ignored the obvious playful glint that was in Tsukishiro's eyes, like a cat waiting for its prey to move, and answered "Goodnight Tsukishiro", leaving the Winter Lady alone under the lamp that marked the diverging paths.
"Goodnight Ryoga" whispered Tsukishiro before disappearing into the darkness as well.
Susanoo Indoor Stadium, Night Before the Holy Road Finals Opening Ceremony
"HEY! HEY! I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE YOU DUMBASS GIANT!"
Ruffling his hair angrily, the boy who had just entered the dark stadium felt all the hairs on his body rise like an irritated cat. He was already annoyed as it was having been relegated to the B team for Project Mars but to make matters worse, he had been stuck with the most annoying of the graduates from Nosaka's stupid Project Mars program.
Well.
Correction.
All of the Project Mars graduates were mentally sick in one way or another so they were all annoying bastards in their own, unique and wonderful ways.
"GAH GAH GAHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Feeling rage enter his bones, the boy began to pull on his hair before rolling on the ground while screaming at the top of his lungs and in the empty stadium, only his horrific screams could be heard echoing throughout the space.
"AHG AHG AHGGGGGGGG!!!!"
So annoying. So fucking annoying! All those stupid, bastards on the Outei Tsukinomiya team. They were in his spot!! HIS position. HE was the original forward for Outei Tsukinomiya.
WHY WHY WHY!!!
He was the one supposed to be standing next to Nosaka.
He was the one supposed to be fighting alongside him.
He was the one supposed to be supporting him during Holy Road.
All so he could one day stab in the back and take everything away from him and leave him with nothing...
But now he was a glorified babysitter for a useless botch who was scared of her own shadow.
Standing back up, the boy flipped his hair to the side as if the temper tantrum had never happened and turned on his phone's flashlight to begin looking for her.
No.
He could speed this up.
"GIANT BITCH. I'm giving you TWO seconds to show yourself. If I have to hunt you down after that...I guess I'll just have to burn this entire stadium down"
"U-U-Um. That wouldn't be good Kaibushi-san. Nosaka-sama just had it built this year, I don't think you'd be able to afford to pay for the construction costs..."
Turning his head to where the voice was coming from, Senna Kaibushi saw a girl who barely fit underneath the front seats in the stands, crawling out. Wearing a hoodie that was many sizes too large for her, there was a very cute fish on it that complemented the bright pink that hurt Senna's eyes no matter how many times he was forced to look at the ugly hoodie because he was unfortunately born with eyes that had 20/20 vision.
Senna walked over, before grabbing her by her hoodie but because she was so much taller than him he could only grab a handful of the fabric at her stomach. However, Senna didn't care and viciously began shrieking at her with deranged eyes and saliva splattering from his mouth.
"YOU BETTER PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL OR I SWEAR EVEN NOSAKA WON'T BE ABLE TO SAVE YOU."
Then, smoothing out her hoodie until no wrinkles were visible, Senna grabbed her trembling hand and ignoring the tears that were falling on his head began to walk her back to the dorms.
Outei Tsukinomiya Dormitory, Night Before the Holy Road Finals Opening Ceremony
Yuka stared upwards at the plain, white ceiling that was now enveloped in shadows as night fell over the dorms. After spending the past two weeks living here, he was surprised to find the training regimen that Nosaka had prepared for him was...pretty normal.
He slept 8 hours every day.
He ate 3 meals a day (albeit on a strict diet that was given to him at Nosaka and the nutrition team's discretion).
He trained for 8 hours and was forced to rest for the other 8 hours, of which he spent studying old matches and tactics with Nosaka.
At first, judging by how suspiciously the older Outei captain had recruited him, he half-suspected he was going to be offered performance enhancing steroids, forced to offer up a sacrifice to some demons in a ritual or be hypnotised by a strange machine. But the Outei captain had done none of that and instead took him for a tour of the facilities (emphasis on the plural) and introduced him to some of the new recruits who were to be trained and sent to the sister schools Nosaka had planned out like Susanoo Academy.
While Yuka had yet to understand Nosaka's ultimate goal, whatever it was didn't matter to him as long as he could have the chance to step on everyone else and even soccer itself.
And it would all begin tomorrow.
Or so Yuka had thought...
Earlier in the Day
"What?! I'm not playing in the quarterfinals, why not?"
Nosaka drummed his fingers lightly on his thigh, while Yuka shouted indignantly at the pink-haired youth who was sitting at his desk rifling through some documents given to him by his secretary. Looking upwards, Nosaka took off a pair of reading glasses before sighing and sitting upright.
"Calm down for a moment and think objectively, Fukunaga-kun. I might be a miracle worker, but I'm not a god. We've already made excellent progress considering your remarkable lack of talent but rushing into a match right now when you're in such an incomplete state would only hinder your growth."
"What about those stupid 'Dark Keshins' or whatever you call them? Can't you just show me how to use one? Isn't that the whole reason you recruited me in the first place?"
Hearing Yuka bring up the 'Dark Keshins', Nosaka's lips hardened while he looked at Yuka's black eyes carefully.
"...The 'Dark Keshins' aren't something your body will be able to handle as you are now...You are more astute than I give you credit for. It's true. I recruited you because I recognised an affinity for a 'Dark Keshin' lying dormant within you but you don't know what you're dealing with yet so just forget about it for now, it's nothing you should concern yourself with."
Yuka stood with his mouth agape for a few seconds,frustrated by the logical rationale and felt a fire bubble within him, which he barely managed to swallow down. However, seeing this reaction Nosaka sensed Yuka's residual dissatisfaction with his decision and smiled brightly and opened his mouth to speak once more.
"I haven't let you astray just yet, correct Fukunaga-kun? So, keep trusting me and I'm sure you'll find the upcoming matches very enlightening, understand? Speaking of which, I believe it's time for you to begin the next phase of your training..."
Clapping his hands ominously, the sound echoed in the large office and Yuka had no choice but to stay silent as he was guided away from the room by a group of large men, dressed in black and white uniforms. Exiting Nosaka's office shortly thereafter, as Yuka walked alongside the tall men in the dark hallway, he clenched his fist in his pocket as he reminded himself...
This was his last chance...
He would show them all.
Just how disdainful soccer truly is.
Sun Garden, Night Before the Holy Road Finals Opening Ceremony
Despite the strange events that had been occurring and Hiroto coming over in the evening to update them on the latest news on the 'Dark Keshins', it was surprisingly quiet at the Sun Garden and after diligently brushing her teeth, Haruka peeked into Seiryuu and Daigiichi's room and saw Seiryuu standing by himself in the room.
"What you looking at—"
"MMMPPHHH!!"
Shushing Daigiichi who had snuck up behind her by slapping her hand over his giant mouth, Haruka motioned with her head to the interior of his room where Seiryuu had picked up the very worn-out, stuffed dragon doll that was the only décor in his otherwise bare side of the room. The blue had already faded from age, and there were clear signs of exquisite needlework where tears had appeared but besides those, the stuffed doll was in surprisingly good condition for something that looked like it was older than some of the Eisei members.
Recognising the grey-blue doll vaguely, Daigiichi asked, "Isn't that..."
"Yup, that's definitely the Captain's favourite plushie! I've seen him sewing it up a few times, so I recognise it."
"...?!"
Turning their heads around in perfect synchronisation, Daigiichi and Haruka almost leapt out of their skin as Suzaku's autumn red eyes blinked innocently at the two younger siblings who were spying on Seiryuu from outside the cracked door. Then, proceeding like she hadn't just frightened the souls out of their bodies, Suzaku commented, "I've only seen Captain take out that thing when he was doing try-outs with Hiroto and Hitomiko-san and..."
"After we won Holy Road last year..." finished Haruka.
Suzaku nodded shortly before ushering the two over.
"Come on you guys, let's leave him alone for now. Daigiichi, you can come hang out in our room for a bit and I can kick your butt in Mario Kart while we wait."
"You're on Suzu-nee!"
Gleefully racing ahead, Daigiichi left the two girls in the dust while Haruka couldn't believe how relaxed he was with the Holy Road Finals starting tomorrow.
Whatever...it was time to remind them who the Queen of Mario Kart was and why it's Wendy Koopa!
Raimon Riverbank, Night Before the Holy Road Finals Opening Ceremony
[Here you go, Galahad-nii]
Turning back upon hearing the robotic voice from Leonidas's tablet, Galahad accepted the water bottle gratefully and took a refreshing sip after their intense but short practice. After just coming back from a meeting with Aphrodi who had updated them on the Galactic Football Federation's information on the 'Dark Keshins', the coach had ordered them all to go home and rest up for the opening ceremony that would be happening in the morning but unable to relax, he, Leonidas, Mika and Serika had headed over to the riverbank to get some light practice in before the Holy Road Finals finally started.
[Mika-nee looks nervous.]
Galahad's eyes followed Leonidas's gaze to where two tall girls were doing some odd-looking partner stretches together to crack each other's backs. At an initial glance, Mika seemed to be the same as usual but upon closer inspection he could tell that her eyes seemed a fraction more bothered than normal.
Putting the water bottle into his bag, Galahad motioned to Leonidas that it was time to go, grabbed the others' bags and stacked them atop his back and proceeded to do a walk-dash over to the girls with Leonidas following closely behind.
"All set to go?"
Flashing a grateful smile, Mika's eyes motioned with her hand to accept her bag back but Galahad just shook his head while pointing to the four bags and explained, "I figured I could do with some extra training...so it's fine! We should hurry anyway, the next bus leaves in 15 minutes."
Mika gave Galahad a dubious look but nodded her head in concession. Her mind was still unable to wrap around the news that Yuka had quit the team while they were off in Hakuren. Upon their arrival, Aphrodi had received a notification from Yuka alerting him of his resignation much to the team's surprise and it had seemed to come completely out of the blue to Mika.
In fact, she initially had doubts about whether or not he had been coerced into resigning by some less than savoury folks, but had been reassured by Aphrodi that this was Yuka's decision and was forced to drop the issue.
Though one week had already passed since then, she found her thoughts still drifting towards the enthusiastic young boy who had always been present at their practices but now left behind an uneasy absence.
"Phew, that was nice!! I'm so hungry, we should get some takoyaki before we take the bus, what do you think Mika?"[2]
Before she knew what happened, a pale, octopus-like arm had wrapped around her right arm, linking the two girls and she turned to the right where Serika was pouting in starvation, unconcerned with, in her words, "the annoying servant boy 2 giving up".
Lost in thought, Mika nodded mindlessly, leading Serika to excitedly drag her by the arm to the nearby Takoyaki cart with Loenidas walk-skipping to catch up to the two long-legged girls.
However, unable to shake Yuka from her mind despite attempting to distract herself with more practice for the upcoming Holy Road Finals, Mika wondered if her actions could have prevented this from occurring.
The last time she had seen him, he had seemed a little disturbed with something but she had brushed him off hurriedly...
What was it that he had said?
Unable to remember due to the rush she was in when they had last spoken, Mika shook her head in vexation when a sweet, fried smell wafted underneath her nose.
"Hungry?"
Blinking a few times to process the image before her, she observed Galahad holding his arm out with a skewer with a takoyaki ball that had a perfect golden crisp with flakes falling off. Though the fragrance usually evoked a savoury aroma, today she felt a bit sick in her stomach looking at the crispy, octopus ball and shook her head and raised her hand to push the skewer away from her face.
"No thank you..."
Seeing Mika's face fall as shadows from her hair cast a gloomy mood while answering, Galahad felt an uneasiness settle in his bones. He couldn't explain it or even pinpoint exactly what he was feeling but he knew something was wrong.
Unbeknownst to Galahad however, Mika was also watching his face carefully and realising that he had probably caught on to her mood, Mika quickly turned away to hide her face and soon heard trivial jibber-jabber leave her mouth before she even realised she had opened it to speak.
"We should hurry up so we don't miss the next bus. We have to get up early tomorrow as you know so there's no time to waste Mr.Yozora."
Then with a perfect spin, she promptly turned her back to him and began to walk briskly to where Serika was yelling at Leonidas to wipe his mouth with a napkin whilst in the middle of doing it for him, leaving Galahad by the cart with two Takoyaki skewers.
As Galahad watched Mika get further and further away, he judged by her awkward response just now that she was still a bit shaken after all the events that had happened up to now and probably didn't want him pressuring her anymore than she already was.
Letting out a complicated sigh, Galahad handed the skewers back to the Takoyaki owner, no longer in the mood to eat himself and swallowed back his questions for her before running to catch up with the others.
Galahad would later come to regret this decision.
All he had to do was reach out at that moment...
Just one word.
Anything.