Shiratoya Nae has a crush.

That wouldn't be so espectacular—she had a new crush every other day, after all—if it wasn't on the guy that literally fell from the sky.

You see, it went something like this:

"Hey, Atsuya—pass me the ball, pass me the ball!"

Shiratoya Nae, Hakuren's new princessly addition, sprinted until she was face to face with the team's not-for-much-longer ace striker—Fubuki Atsuya.

Atsuya glared at her, annoyed, and successfully dribbled. "Ha, ha, loser."

"Now, now, Atsuya," Fubuki Shirou said, smiling what he thought was disarmingly. He was running alongside Atsuya, so the smile looked more ridiculous than anything, really, "that's no way to treat a princess— what was that?"

A scream was falling from the sky, and a silhouette was accompanying it.

"WOAAAAAAHH—" Plof!

Suddenly, there was a dark-skinned boy sprawled face-first on the ground. "Auch," he said, sitting up and rubbing his bloody nose. When he realized there were people watching him, he said, "um, hi!"

He looked around, and his beautiful silver eyes met Nae's. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt herself blush.

"Your eyes are so pretty!" Nae squealed.

A meeting for the ages, truly.

Turns out, the boy's name was Matsukaze Tenma, and, apparently, he came from ten years in the future . How cool is that? Nae is the only one of the team who believed him, but what do those idiots know? Nothing, that is.

He has been diagnosed with amnesia due to the head blow, and has been admitted at Hakuren's infirmary until he 'regained his memory'.

"So," Nae said, tilting her head, "what are you going to do now, Tenma-kun?"

His entire face was covered with bandages, leaving only the mouth and his beautiful eyes free. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to have dampened his good mood.

"I'll join your football team!" he exclaims, excitedly. "I could play against the coach, and Gouenji-san, and Kidou-san, and everyone!"

Nae doesn't know who all those people are, but that doesn't matter—Tenma was going to play football with her! Yay!

"Great! Now I won't be the newbie anymore!" (And Atsuya would stop teasing her for it. Two birds with a stone.)

She can already imagine the titulars: Hakuren Wins Football Frontier Thanks To The Prince And Princess- Wait, no, the prince is Shirou. Nae wrinkles her nose.

Eugh .

Much better: Hakuren's Princess And Her Boyfriend Shock The Public By Kissing In The Middle Of A Match.

Perfect.

"If you're going to play with us," a voice from the door of the room said, "you'll have to participate in the incoming tryouts."

Shirou approaches them, that slappable smirk on his face, as always.

"Aw, c'mon, Shirou!" she whines. "I didn't have to do it! Can't he skip it too?"

He couldn't.

Damn you, Shirou. Nae crosses her arms, pouting. Damn you, Daddy.

("You came on the middle of the season," Shirou said, "that's why you didn't do them," Shirou said. "Plus, you're our sponsor's daughter," Shirou said, "that helped," Shirou said.

Uuuugh. She hated it when he got all reasonable.)

Atsuya, sitting next to her, elbows her ribs. "Stop sulking," he says, glaring. He is always glaring—are his brother and he trained to do nothing but one expression? They play the part, at least. "What are you staring at me for? Stop it!"

Nae's eyes slid to the football pitch. So aggressive.

Everyone on the school is on a seat, waiting for the tryouts to start. The team hosts some pretty big tryouts at the start of every school year, and others mid-season, and, it is kind of a big deal. Disappointedly so, as watching kids stumble with balls isn't that exciting.

People mutter with one another, and Nae catches some of the words they say:

"-that crazy kid-"

"-fell from the sky-"

"He's not even enrolled here!"

Nae mind-jinxes each and every one of them. At least, the team, although they didn't believe Tenma either, are supportive. Truly, non-football-playing teenagers tend to get hung up on the smallest details.

"The tryouts start now!" Daddy booms, shutting everyone up immediately. Heh, nice one, Daddy. "First person—Arayuki Tsume!"

A nervous-looking girl steps forwards, her legs trembling. She trips with the ball halfway through the first task.

Her attention drifts away when the fifth tryout-er, Daigo Shindo, dribbles the cones and wiggles his eyebrows, glancing up at her. He is the president of her fanclub, and Nae had lost the count of how many times he has confessed to her. Too many, in her opinion.

Next to her, Atsuya is nodding off on Shirou's shoulder. Contrary to popular belief, he doesn't snore or drool, and, in fact, looks really peaceful. He even makes cute little noises from time to time. Like a cat. A baby cat. A sleeping baby cat.

Shirou is smiling softly (smiling, not smirking!), seemingly not noticing the team's lovestruck eyes on him. Sometimes, she wonders why she puts up with the arrogant idiots, and moments like this are the answer.

Finally, her attention is grabbed again when her father shouts, "Matsukaze Tenma!"

"Go, Tenma-kun, go!" she cheers loudly, and raises from her seat, awaking Atsuya in the process. Oops.

Tenma waves at her, grinning, and her heart skips a beat. He seems a bit nervous, but Nae has confidence in him.

" Nae, " Atsuya growls, but Nae almost doesn't hear him, too busy staring at Tenma.

Daddy blows the whistle, and Tenma dashes to the first task: the normal ball run. Believe it or not, this is the one that weeds out most hopefuls.

This is also Nae's best skill, and it looks like it's Tenma's too, 'cause, in zero secs, he is in the next part—the cone dribbling.

Wow, no, this must be Tenma's best skill; if the other one was flawless, this is— it's—

Majestic.

Tenma has a halo, a something, that draws people in. Everyone is silent, and even Atsuya, who usually doesn't pay attention during these things, has switched frowning by staring wide-eyed at him.

"Woah," Atsuya breathes, and, honestly? Same.

Tenma doesn't notice the unusual attention, though, as he is mesmerized by the ball. He goes on to the third task, and the fourth, and the fifth, and it's kind of obvious he's already made the team.

Nae feels her mind tingling, like she's noticing something but doesn't know yet. Staring at Tenma a bit more intensely, she gets it—he looks a lot like Inamori! Maybe they're related?

Nae snaps a photo as Tenma shoots the ball against Tetsu, who stops it, and sends it to Norika. She pockets her phone in time to start clapping.

"Woohoo! That was amazing!" she yells, and is promptly followed by the rest of the school. "You rock, Tenma-kun!"

Tenma is grinning widely, and looks ready to start jumping of elation. He seems to remember that the tryouts still have not ended, and that he has to move on to let the next person have a go.

Daddy has to blow the whistle a few times to get the public to settle down.

"Matsurame Hisako!" he calls, but honestly, no one's paying attention anymore.

She feels her phone vibrate in her pocket, and pulls it out.

You (16:23): hey is he related to inamori-kun? they look similar ┐( ̄ヮ ̄)┌

[image attached]

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:27): Um, this may sound weird, but Asuto says he is his little cousin, but like ten years older.

There was an image attached of a little, dark-skinned boy with striking silver eyes, holding a ball and smiling shyly at the camera. He clearly was Tenma, and it was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:27): He was joking, but he looked a little worried.

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:28): You may have uncovered drama in the Inamori household, and somehow I'm not surprised. :') :/

You (16:28): hahaha dont worry!

You (16:28): this isnt infidelity its time travel "ψ(`∇´)ψ

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:28): ?

You (16:28): you see he came from ten years in the future cause he was time traveling to some place to visit some prehistoric friend

You (16:29): but a thing happened

You (16:29): turbulences or something

You (16:29): and he fell from the caravan (◎_◎;)(◎_◎;)(◎_◎;) he was travelling in a caravan btw

You (16:29): and he ended up stuck in this time (⊙_ ) and now hes waiting for some other friend to come fetch him

You (16:30): but i think they wont come o(╥﹏╥)o cause if they have a time machine they could have travelled to this poit of time already yknow?

You (16:30): point*

You (16:30): but i dont want to destroy his hopes so dont tell him please ヽ(;^o^ヽ)

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:31): …

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:32): It sounds crazy, but just the right kind of crazy so it's believable.

You (16:32): you really believe me? ┐(゚д゚┐) youre the best!

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:32): Well, not everyone can have a dangerous lack common sense. ;)

Heh, there was the reason why Nae had a major crush on Norika last year. She rolls with everything!

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:32): :o I'll let Asuto know.

You (16:32): thanks!

You (16:32): dont forget sundays sleepover!(〜^∇^)〜~(^з^)-

Norika-chan ヽ(*≧ω≦)ノ (16:32): I won't. Goodbye :)

You (16:32): bye!

Nae pockets her phone, and finds Atsuya opposite her, intruding on her personal space.

"Fucking finally," he says, stepping back before she can say anything. "You're really on a bubble when you use your phone," he comments, and Nae grins unrepentantly. He sighs and tilts his chin to the empty pitch. "Everybody's gone away, it ended three minutes ago."

"Aw, and you waited for me?" Nae cooes, poking Atsuya on his tummy repeatedly. "How cute."

Atsuya swats her hand away, glaring. His cheeks are a bit pink, though, and Nae could can't fight a smile.

She gets off her seat, grabs Atsuya's hand, and drags him off for hot chocolate.

The next day, Tenma is already dressed in his Hakuren uniform—very cute, by the way. He didn't have to do the second part of the tryouts, the exhibition match, because, who is going to deny him a spot on the team with that performance?

They don't receive even a single complaint about that decision, and that really was saying, in a school full of whiny idiots.

"Hey, Tenma-kun, you look dashing in that uniform," Nae says, smiling teasingly.

He makes a cute little noise, gestures widely with his hands, and blushes a little.

From behind her, Atsuya puts a hand on her shoulder. "Nae, stop flirting with the new guy, come and help."

Nae sighs. "Yeah, yeah."

Nae's second Football Frontier is approaching, and with it their first match: Raimon. The team is anxiously training night and day, hoping to win and get revenge this time around.

Nae scoffs, while helping Ryuu move a bench. Even without Someoka, she and Tenma are there! Oh, and Shirou and Atsuya, too.

It is impossible that they lose.

The practice goes smoothly.

Although the team is still reticent with Tenma, the boy's charisma warms everyone to him. He seems to admire Shirou for some reason Nae can't even begin to grasp, and keeps making puppy eyes at him all the time.

(A crush? Perish the thought.)

Nae sighs, heartbroken, as she suppresses a shiver. It's freezing! The last time she remembers Hokkaido being this cold is—

A cough comes from the nearby speakers.

"Attention, students," the headmaster's voice rasps. He sounds bored. "Return to your rooms. A snowstorm is coming—I repeat, a snowstorm is coming. Classes are cancelled for the rest of the week." There's a click, and the retransmission stops.

Nae's stomach drops. She loathes snowstorms.

"Aw, man," Atsuya says, wiping his sweat with his scarf. "Two in three months? That's a new record."

"Yeah," she says, absentmindedly, looking around the chaotic room for her things.

The entire Hakuren school is accustomed to snowstorms, and they follow the Protocol ™ to the T: pick a partner, make a queue, and go to your bedrooms. Usually, Nae picked Juka, but, today, she grabs Tenma's arm, and shouts, "Mine!"

Tenma blinks, confused, and Juka is wiggling her eyebrows at Nae. Cheeky one. It downs in her that Tenma doesn't know the Protocol ™ , so she explains it on the way ("People here, because they are uncultured swines, like to refer to it as PussyManBitch. Not that it makes sense, but whatever"), complete with some flirting, until they arrive to their rooms.

"Bye, bye, Tenma-kun!" she cooes, entering her room. The moment the door is closed, she leans against it and drops.

She buries her head in her knees, and falls asleep that way.

When Nae wakes up, it is with a crick on her neck. She stands up groggily, and looks at the clock—4:56 of the morning. She stifles a yawn and a tremble. It really was cold.

She tilts her head, wondering what to do now. She is sufficiently awake that going back to sleep would be a waste of time, but with the damn snowstorm she can't go out and play football.

After half a second of debating it, she goes to the common room to watch the outside through the giant windows. She doesn't know how much time she spends there, but suddenly there's someone sitting next to her.

Nae does a little jump, startled. Truly, her senses are not great with five hours of sleep, nor while in the state of deep contemplation.

"Uh, hi, Tenma-kun!" she says, smiling wobbly. "Couldn't sleep with all this cold, huh? Me neither."

Tenma looks at her, like, really looks at her, but in a nervous way, if that makes sense. He looks like he's used to being awake at ungodly hours, having deep chats with lots of backstory reveals.

Nae doesn't know why the feeling is so concrete.

"Yeah," Tenma simply says.

Nae doesn't add anything, resigning herself to being enveloped with awkward silence. She doesn't even last two minutes.

"My mom died in a snowstorm," she blurts, as if saying it quickly will make him not understand. Seeing the way his smile dims a little, it doesn't work. "We were at home, and suddenly she realized our dog was outside. She went like, 'oh, no! Minnie!'—that was its name, by the way—and ran directly into the storm. My dad followed her, but. He came back with Minnie in his arms, just Minnie.

"If she had survived, I guess the story would have been fun, but now it's just plain depressing," Nae reflects, sighing. Really, that wasn't a weird way to go; the Fubuki twins' parents died the same way, and it almost got Atsuya too. In fact, that was the thing that took their relationship from teasing close to having-existential-questions-thrown-at-each-other-at-three-in-the-morning close.

Tenma has been quiet during her rant, but with that last sentence he did a little thing with his mouth—between a grimace and a smile.

He doesn't try to offer any words of comfort—she has gotten over it, just in a melancholic mood here—, and instead tells her about the time he almost died in a disturbingly similar situation, but thankfully survived and became a football freak.

(The way Tenma tells the story is very… earnest, and it makes Nae's crush in him intensify.)

They continue chatting until they hear footsteps coming their way, and—oh, is it noon already? Nae honestly hasn't noticed.

She looks at Tenma with the corner of her eyes, and takes a decision. She kisses him in the corner of his lips.

"Thanks for keeping me company," she says, grinning. Tenma smiles back.