One Day After the Match vs Eisei Gakuen, Raimon Outdoor Field
“It’s up. Teikoku beat Seidouzan 3-1 meaning the winner of our match will decide who will move on to the Holy Road Finals”
Looking around in confusion at what Kenji was saying, Sadao turned to Gabriel who was beside him and tiptoed to try to whisper
“Wait, so we aren’t eliminated yet? How exactly does Holy Road work then senpai?”
Unfortunately for Sadao, Gabriel didn’t know the definition of whisper so he answered loud enough for everyone to hear their conversation
“Err- Not sure to be honest Daiguji-kun. I just moved here you know so I’m just following Makoto around”
Rolling his eyes, Kenji couldn’t stand listening to their stupidity any longer and decided to graciously inform them
“Ahem”
Coughing to gain their attention he turned around his laptop and pulled up a screen showing 4 square blocks.
“As you can see the Holy Road Preliminaries are now divided into 4 blocks : A,B,C and D. In each block are 4 teams meaning 16 teams were selected based on their records in the pre-season to participate in the first selection round. Though Eisei Gakuen and Outei Tsukinomiya as the champions and runner-up respectively from last year are automatically granted a spot in the preliminaries…Not that it mattered considering both were undefeated in the pre-season as well.”
“We are currently in Block C along with Seidouzan, Eisei Gakuen and Teikoku Gakuen. Eisei currently has 2 victories, Seidouzan 0 and we’re tied with Teikoku at 1. Considering the fact that Eisei is almost guaranteed to win against Seidouzan next week, the winner of our match will decide who proceeds to the Finals where the top 2 from each block will battle it out in a single elimination style tournament.”
“I wouldn’t be too confident either just because Teikoku lost to Eisei 0-7. It’s clear that Eisei was going easy on us in the first half for whatever reason and unlike us, Teikoku is a perfect team in terms of coordination. What makes them even scarier is their new tactic ‘Penguin Carnival’ which is what secured them the victory against Seidouzan the other day. If we don’t come up with a countermeasure we’ll end up just like Seidouzan…”
Closing his laptop, Kenji looked around but the air was heavy after their spectacular loss to Eisei yesterday and the mood only worsened listening to him talk about Teikoku Gakuen.
Trying to lighten the mood, a loud voice reverberated on the side where the team had gathered, Makoto put his hand behind his head awkwardly before saying
“Ah, well we’ll come up with something somehow, it’s not like Teikoku is the only one that has beaten Seidouzan right guys?”
Pushing up his glasses in annoyance, Kenji snidely replied
“If by ‘come up with something’ you mean do a ‘let’s do our best’ strategy like we did against Eisei then we might as well give up—”
“No need to be so sad, Aihara-kun. Here have a cookie”
Pushing away the cookie that was being shoved in his face away Kenji tried to back away but Gabriel was so huge he had nowhere to escape so he meekly accepted the cookie.
“Never thought the piggy would be useful but he finally got that annoying chihuahua to stop barking. Good job Gabriel!”
Gabriel widened his eyes in surprise at her thumbs-up and smiled widely before thanking her
“Thanks Yamashiro-san!! Glad to be able to help. Here, you and Takasugi can split a cookie”
Grimacing, the couple belatedly regretted hopping into the conversation before giving up and accepting one of the chocolate chip cookies that Gabriel baked every morning and thus always brought around with him.
Meanwhile, ignoring the chaos that was going on over there, Galahad turned his head while sitting on the grass to look at the younger bespectacled transfer student who had just moved to Raimon from Korea and was writing furiously in his diary or maybe a journal?
“Sorry about yesterday Hyun-Ki. It must have hurt trying to block all those shoots yesterday…If only I was stronger….”
Clenching his fist, Galahad remembered what Seiryuu had told him yesterday.
“If a dog wants to bare his fangs…he should have the skills to back it up!”
The Eisei striker wasn’t wrong…but he got bad vibes from the older boy regardless…
“Ah, no worries Galahad-senpai! I got plenty of inspiration yesterday thanks to them. Feeling the power of their hissatsu shoots has my brain overflowing with new ideas for my manga!!”
Galahad sweatdropped as he watched Hyun-Ki push up his glasses ominously while laughing to himself
“Hehehehehe”
Staring off into space beside him, Mika interrupted the two in order to ask Galahad out of the blue
“Why are you playing soccer Galahad?”
“Huh?”
Taken by surprise, Galahad braced himself for the scolding he was about to get due to his stupid response but instead of asking him whether he had memory issues or not, Mika repeated her question
“What are you playing soccer for?”
“Err–”
Scratching his cheek with his finger, Galahad tried to think about it before replying but while he was mulling it over, Mika continued to talk facing the sky as if she was having a conversation with herself rather than with another person.
“You know what Fukunaga-kun told me? He said he just likes soccer for no particular reason at all? Isn’t that utterly ridiculous, how can you like something so illogically? Everything you do has to have a motive behind it, a way to profit or else there’s no point in doing it at all…”
As Mika’s voice trailed off, Galahad detected something in her voice that he had never seen before from her. Was it…jealousy?
Shaking his head, Galahad told himself there was no way Mika would be jealous of someone like Yuka and decided to answer her initial question.
“I guess I started playing soccer because Kageyo wanted someone to practice with while we were growing up…and then I ended up having to continue playing in Jr.High because of the scholarship…but I guess it wasn’t all bad since I got to meet you by playing soccer right?”
Mika’s face finally turned to look at him and realising what he had just said Galahad’s face turned beet-red before waving his hands in front of him in a panic and hurriedly clarified his statement
“And by you, I mean the team of course! You as in ‘You all’ I didn’t mean you in particular obviously…”
Oblivious to the panic in his voice, Mika took his words at face value.
“I see…”
Clap Clap
“Are you all ready for practice today? We’ll be learning something new today for the upcoming match with Teikoku Gakuen so start warming up!”
Aphrodi, who had just arrived, watched as the eleven Raimon players chaotically began to get ready with a pleased expression on his face.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Perfect”
The Eisei match had gone exactly as he had hoped, whether the Raimon players would be able to bounce back from this would be up to them however…
*************************************************************************************************************
Evening, Raimon’s Outdoor Field
“Oof”
Tripping over his own feet, Yuka let out a frustrated groan. Despite practising non-stop ever since he had trained with Mika at the riverside grounds he still couldn’t dribble around the cones he had set up with ease.
Watching from the sidelines during the Seidouzan and Eisei matches had been fun… but he really wanted to join Mika and the others on the field rather than only cheering from the bench. Seeing all the amazing hissatsu techniques had only further motivated him, while Yuka laying on the ground wondered to himself
“When am I finally going to get my own hissatsu technique?”
Reaching his right hand upwards towards the sky, Yuka couldn’t help but feel a bit discouraged as he recalled his conversation earlier in the day with Mika.
“Hi, Kuroha-senpai! I was wondering if you could help me with—”
“Oh, Fukunaga-kun?”
Eyes lost in thought, Mika kept walking towards her bag and cut him off
“Are you keeping up well at practice? Keep up the drills alright?”
Waving, she threw her bag over her shoulder before heading to her limo where a butler was waiting to open the door for her.
Having no chance to speak up, Yuka was forced to just wave back as he watched her limo drive away.
While Mika's words had been nicer than her usual style of speech… it wasn’t exactly what he was hoping for.
Sighing, Yuka slapped his cheeks and got back up. There was no time to be depressed!
“......”
Well…maybe there was a little time to be depressed.
Slowly moving to pick up the ball that had drifted away he was surprised to feel a swift wind beside him as a brown blur picked up the ball and began to dribble it around the cones he had set up.
The blur was moving so fast he couldn’t even see who it was, and the mysterious figure’s movements were even quicker and more sharp than Mika’s…
Finally, stopping with his back turned, it appeared to be a teen with brown hair but he couldn’t see the mysterious player’s face before hearing a refreshing sigh.
“Ahhh! That was fun! I haven’t done that in a while!”
Turning around he saw amicable, round gray eyes look at him stare at him before he broke out into a smile
“Soccer sure is fun right?”
There was no way Yuka couldn’t recognize that face.
“TTTTTTTEEEEEEENMMMAMAMAAMAMAMAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“MAAAAAATTTTTSUZKAZEE TENMAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“This can’t be real!!”
Pinching his cheek, Yuka’s face began to turn pink from the pain and his eyes began to water.
“Wow! This is awesome!”
Running up to approach the older boy, Yuka shoved his face close to Tenma’s in disbelief and excitement.
“What are you doing here? Last I heard you were studying abroad in Argentina preparing for the pro league! According to the rumours you’ll be one of the youngest players to go pro right? Right? Right?”
A bit embarrassed Tenma laughed it off before replying
“Ah… well yes but that’s a secret between you and me ‘kay?”
“And as for your other question, I haven’t been to Japan in a year so I’m taking a week off and decided to come here on the way back from the airport” pointing to his suitcase beside the bench showing he had rushed here first rather than his own house.
Looking up and down at Yuka, Tenma guessed he was probably on the Raimon team but decided to ask to make sure.
“So are you a player for Raimon?”
“Yup!!!”
“....”
Yuka responded eagerly before trailing off with a bit of a sad expression on his face that didn’t escape Tenma’s eyes.
“Complicated huh? Well, as long as you never give up and make it to the very end I’m sure you’ll find a way through all your problems!”
Kicking the ball lightly to Yuka, Tenma motioned his head to the younger boy who still seemed a bit discouraged.
“Whenever I’m trying to work something out I play soccer, because who better than soccer to teach us about soccer!”
Brightening up hearing the positive words from his senpai, Yuka smiled before nodding his head.
“You’re right! As long as you have faith in soccer, soccer is sure to respond!”
“Exactly!”
30 Minutes Later
Yuka laid down panting, after the intense dribbling the two had just finished. Tenma really didn’t know the definition of taking it easy.
Sitting next to him, Tenma stared at the boy kindly before opening his mouth
“So you’re having trouble keeping up with the other members?”
“Yup, pretty much. I guess I don’t have that much talent…but I really want to get better quickly!!”
“I see… I had a few teammates in a similar situation to you Fukunaga-kun”
“Really???”
“Yup! In my first FFI I had a lot of teammates who were really new to soccer so I was a little worried at the start… but it all ended up working out as they came to love soccer because when you grow to love soccer, soccer always answers back to that love”[1]
Standing up while he said that, Tenma brushed his hands on his pants a few times before reaching out to help up Yuka who was beaming at him.
“So as long as you keep trying Fukunaga, I’m sure you’ll find the answer you’re looking for!”
Buzz Buzz Buzz
“But speaking of answers, I need to answer this call so I need to head out first.”
Pointing to his phone, Tenma hurriedly grinned before grabbing his suitcase and dashing away.
“Gooooood luckkk Fukunaga-kunnnnnnn!!!!”
Leaving as quickly as he had come, Tenma was gone before he knew it and Yuka was left trying to process what just happened and slapped both of his cheeks to make sure it wasn’t a dream before breaking out into a grin himself.
“When you love soccer, soccer always answers back… I knew it! Nothing else to do than keep practicing then”
Cheering himself on, Yuka picked up the ball again to start dribbling around the cones as darkness slowly settled over the field.
*************************************************************************************************************
Same Evening, Raimon Riverside Field
Finishing her daily run, Mika took out the hair tie she had used to pull her hair back in a short ponytail and sighed as she looked at the field where she had decided to rejoin the soccer team with Yuka.
Despite it only being a few weeks ago, it felt much longer to her, as she stared melancholically at the setting sun with each ray painting the sky with an orange-pink brushstroke that beckoned the coming darkness. With the wind blowing her hair around again, she just brushed it off her ear, recalling the events that had taken place since then.
"Fukunaga-kun, why do you like playing soccer so much?”
“..I guess I'm not really sure myself?”
She had irrationally given into Yuka’s ridiculous demands to rejoin the soccer club…
“Total Eclipse!”
She had uncharacteristically gone out of her way to help Galahad with his family issues.
“God Knows!”
Clap. An image of her high-fiving Serika appeared next in her mind.
She had even started to get along with Serika again after all these years…
“Mika, I was wondering if I could review the data for the upcoming match with you.”
“MIKAAAA, It’s been so long since I’ve seen you and the other second years! You guys have all grown up so much in just a year!”
“Hi Mika, I’m a friend of Makoto’s from France! Here, you should take these cookies I made with you home!”
“Oh, if it isn’t our little Ms.Demon Queen? It’ll be nice to have you around again…I always enjoyed watching the faces of the people you made cry last year”
Kenji, Makoto, Gabriel, even Nariko and Naoki…
So much had happened and everything was changing quickly…
Too quickly…
Mika hadn’t intended or anticipated for any of this to happen and she knew what her mother would say for a situation like this…
“Mika, always remember that you are a Kuroha. Kurohas never bow down to anyone and everyone else you meet are either tools for you to use or worthless commoners that have no place breathing the same air as us. Their mere existence is absolutely disgusting and they should be viewed as dirt, only good to be walked on…”
And yet…
What was this feeling? This feeling while she played soccer was something that she could never talk about with her tutors or parents.
“Dragon Genesis!!”
Bold blue eyes stared deep into her wary purple eyes…
“Why are you even playing soccer?”
“Why are you even playing soccer?”
“Why are you even playing soccer”
Crouching down to hold her knees, Mika looked much more vulnerable than she usually does and her usual frigid demeanor was stripped away as Seiryuu’s words haunted her mind.
“I-I-I don’t know”
“I don’t know why I’m playing soccer…”
“What’s the point of all this?”
“That’s an excellent question Young Lady”
Spinning around so fast, Mika almost fell over only to see a lean but muscular man with long white hair that draped past his shoulders bent over peering down at her. His violet eyes were a bit darker than hers but his face looked strangely familiar, though she couldn’t put her finger on where she had seen it.
“Who are you?”
“Just a passing old man”
Mika raised an eyebrow at that, despite calling himself an old man he appeared to be in his 30s max but was likely in his mid to late 20s.
“It’s quite rude to eavesdrop when a person is monologuing to themself you know”
“It’s also quite rude to let a lady cry alone” said the man with a faint smile on his face.
“I can most assuredly inform you that I was not crying Sir, after all that would be a most egregious waste of energy”
Pretending not to hear the girl’s strong denials, the man just picked up the ball easily with one foot before beginning to juggle the ball.
“You know Young Lady, a friend told me once that if there’s something you want to find out about soccer, then just play soccer!”
Watching the older man laugh to himself as if he had said something funny and Mika began to wonder if this man was crazy or not. Deciding to grace him with a response however she replied
“That sounds like something a certain idiot I know would say”
“Mmm, well they say being an idiot is the first step to becoming smarter”
“...”
Speechless, Mika began to debate whether or not it was time to initiate Operation : Avoid Crazy Homeless Man Before He Kidnaps You, though she knew her secret bodyguards would probably render him immobile before he could get very far anyway.
“I was like you once, you know Young Lady? I was so angry and full of hatred that I completely forgot what the point of playing soccer was in the first place, but when I had lost my way…soccer showed me the path I needed to take.”
Seeing the man’s eyes turn serious, Mika unconsciously tensed up as the wind continued to nip at her ears and couldn’t help but ask her question
“So what was the answer you came to? What was your reason for playing soccer?”
“That’s something that’ll you’ll have to find out yourself Young Lady”
“...”
“Don’t roll your eyes, there’s no value if I give away the answer so freely after all.”
“I think we’re done here Mr.”
“Ah, I see the Young Lady is mad now. How about this, as an apology I’ll teach you something you’ll need for your next match against Teikoku Gakuen. Consider it a gift from a soccer loving freak as compensation for listening to an old man ramble today.”
Narrowing her amethyst eyes, Mika weighed the pros and cons. She had been so distracted by the match against Eisei she had completely forgotten about their upcoming match against Teikoku Gakuen. It wasn’t completely impossible that this man knew something she didn't know about what Raimon needed right now but who exactly was he? She knew most of the active soccer pros from Japan but for some reason she just couldn’t put a name to the face of the man in front of her…
Whatever
Her father always said to take anything you think will be useful even if you have to take it by force so why should she turn down a free gift now? Even if he wanted something later she could always send him away with money.
“Alright Mr.Passerby, let’s see what you got”
*************************************************************************************************************
Saturday, At the Afuro Estate
“Coach please teach me Heaven’s Time”
Taking a calm sip from his tea, Aphrodi took a glance at his niece who was trembling with suppressed anger with quite an ugly expression that didn’t suit her face. Sighing, he put down his tea before cooly asking her
“And why do you want to learn that technique?”
“Obviously so we can win!!”
Cocking an eyebrow, Aphrodi decided to sip his tea and allow her to think a little more
“.....”
“Well, I don’t think that’s the only reason. Be honest with me Serika”
“......”
Clenching her fists into balls, Serika tried not to grind her teeth as orange-yellow eyes popped up in her mind
“Just because a penguin has wings doesn’t mean it can fly I guess hmm?”
“Is there anything going on inside that pretty head of yours?”
Eyes turning bloodshot from anger and almost tears in her eyes Serika looked back up at her uncle.
“I’m not going to let… ANYONE LOOK DOWN ON ME…EVER”
Letting out another deep sigh like that was what he had expected to hear, Aphrodi smiled sympathetically at his niece.
“Perfect the Hissatsu Tactic : Path of Lightning that I introduced this week and I’ll teach you Heaven’s Time, but not a second before” emphasising the importance of the condition he had set forth for her.
Snorting in derision Serika protested the injustice of this
“And why should I do that? I don’t need a stupid hissatsu tactic with those useless servants. As long as I’m the strongest, we'll be able to win against any team… including Eisei Gakuen!!”
Ignoring her protests Aphrodi stood up and motioned for her to walk with him through the garden before posing a question to her
“Serika, you’re a smart girl. What exactly is the ‘Path of Lightning’ missing right now?”
Without pausing to even think Serika replied
“Isn’t it obvious that a tactic like that would never work Uncle? The ‘Path of Lightning’ is a tactic that allows a team to move the ball up the field at lightning speed, only touching the ground at the start and finish with each player touching the ball once, while also passing it instantaneously upon receival.”
Relieved that she had actually been paying attention during the training session where he had explained it he was a bit impressed that she had already analysed it to this extent.
“You didn’t answer my question though Serika” Aphrodi reminded gently.
“Like I said, it’s obvious why it won’t work. Unlike me, those servants on the team would never be able to react to the ball fast enough while simultaneously analysing the optimal path the ball should take to move up the field. Unless there were 11 of me…!!!”
Aphrodi just let out a smile hoping that his niece had finally picked up what he was trying to point out.
“That’s it! There can be 11 of me! I’ll just have to make all the servants into perfect working machines that can obey all of my orders in a snap instant!”
“HOHOHOHOHOHOHOH”
Watching his niece continue to laugh maniacally to herself, Aphrodi just sweatdropped before seeing Serika quickly run back inside the manor.
Was this actually going to be okay
For the first time since he had begun as Raimon's coach he was starting to have some doubts.