So, I thought I would go for a change for once! I have only been translating my main stories lately, but since a very close friend of mine whined at me for not being able to read this properly in its original version, I decided to give my other on-going stories a break and work on this. I'm too weak and indulgent. Meh.
Alrighty. This is nothing but a little tribute to Inazuma Eleven, the first game of the series by Level- 5, and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, which seems to be an inexhaustible source of hidden RoxasXAxel contenthomo signs in the eyes of the fans who are into that, but despite it all it is still a nice game to play. My idea was to write an independent fic for each game, but since I'm unable to make up stories that aren't related to Inazuma Eleven (herpderp), I finally chose to write a crossover and try to tally it in both universes in a somehow decent or acceptable way.
I hope I haven't made any mistakes at placing the story chronologically; if I did, my deepest apologies to fervent fans. I tried looking for non-narrated points in the games so I could talk as much nonsense as I wanted and not ruin the original story, but we all make mistakes sometimes. Especially me.
Also, I'd want to thank Heather (IshidoShuuji in FFnet) and my WONDERFUL girlfriend Roxy for looking at this fic and helping me correct its many mistakes in order to make it sound a little better. It's great to have friends like these...! Thank you so much! ;u;
By the way, for those who don't know those terms, "RTC" is the abbreviation of "Return To the Castle", expression used in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days to indicate the end of a mission, and "hissatsu" is the name by which Inazuma Eleven's special techniques are known.
Well, that's all. All I can do now is wish you a good time... And if not, at least you can make fun of it. Welcome to my first crossover!
~Day 174~
"'…And when I flew, it felt like I'd done it before. Has the guy in red flown before, is that it?' Phew, a little tight, but everything I had to tell today fitted, in the end!" Roxas smiled as he left his pen aside, satisfied with himself. "I'll have to ask Saïx for another diary when I see him…"
~Day 176~
"'Today, I'm using this diary for the first time! Seems unbelievable that I've been here enough time to fill a whole book, and I haven't even written daily…
"'Everything remains the same. Xion's still asleep, and Axel and I have still have nothing to tell each other when we meet at Twilight Town's clock tower after each mission.
"'Today, I've left the fifth seashell by Xion's pillow; it's the biggest I've found so far. Sometimes I feel the need to talk about her with Axel, but I can't gather the strength to start. I've the feeling he might tell me something I don't want to hear. It's hard talking about hunches when you don't even have a heart…'"
Roxas closed his new diary and ran his fingers over its spine: soft and warm to the touch. Writing on it seemed to him like a new beginning, like wiping the slate clean; an unmistakable sign, or that's what he wanted to think, that soon enough everything would go back to its usual course.
~Day 177~
~"Soccer"~
Roxas woke up drenched in sweat. The good thoughts of the previous night had vanished during his sleep hours and had been replaced with blurred nightmares and bleak pictures about his future and his two best friends'.
The Nobody got up from the bed and headed to his room's mirror. He took off one of the black gloves of Organization XIII's uniform —a single black leather hooded coat, plainly adorned with some silver chains, pendants and zipper—, stared at himself and ran his bare hand through his hair. His blond thatch was tangled up and greasy because of sweat. His eyes, usually as blue as the sky, were reddened due to the lack of rest.
He took a quick shower to get rid of the smell of sweat and headed to the Grey Area, hoping his daily mission would clear his head and erase all those weird ideas from his mind.
"What's with that face, Roxas?" Axel asked him in a low voice as soon as he saw how his friend went into the Grey Area, shuffling along. "Seems like ya haven't had a wink of sleep all night."
"I've slept, but I haven't had any rest. I…" Roxas stuttered. He thought about it for a few seconds and, eventually, decided not to tell Axel anything about his nightmares, "…n-nothing, forget it. A bad night, that's all."
Axel made a wry face and scratched the hair on the nape of his neck, red as fire itself.
"Whatever ya say; you know I won't try to worm it out of ya by force. But you know how Saïx is: he loves meddling in other people's business, so if you're feeling bad, at least hide it while you're in front of him, or try to make sure he doesn't pay much attention to your face. Got it memorized?"
Roxas nodded and smiled, happy to see that his best friend understood and respected him, despite everything—: it was a pretty uncommon virtue around here. He moved forward along the Grey Area to where Saïx was, but a voice interrupted him seconds before he could stand in front of his superior.
"Roxas, duuude, whatta mug ya have today! Ya look like a walkin' dead! Whatta night ya must've had, huh?"
Roxas turned his head towards the always indiscreet and excessively effusive Demyx and gave him a look of absolute rancour and gut aversion. Demyx shrugged, wrinkled his nose and proceeded to keep cleaning his very beloved blue sitar, unaware of what such reaction was for.
"Look at my face, Roxas," Saïx ordered sternly.
The young Nobody gulped and let Saïx grab his chin and examine his face carefully. The second in command of the Castle That Never Was and the whole Organization XIII would inspire genuine dread to those who dared look at him from as close as Roxas was doing at that time: his hair, icy blue, framed his face with two long locks that fell from his forehead until his chest; from behind, his hair reached the middle of his back. His expression was tough and cruel, and that X-shaped scar placed right between his cold yellow eyes reflected the fact that he was a seasoned and battle-hardened assassin. If his face was already terrible when calmed, the ferocity and blood-thirstiness with which he fought with his Claymore would have driven more than a hero to insanity… or to the grave.
"You don't seem to be in optimum conditions, indeed," Saïx said. "I doubt you could take care of the Heartless today like you use to, so I'll assign you the reconnaissance mission that I was intending to give Demyx and I'll send him on another minor errand. Much more can't be expected from someone unable to fight."
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm hearin'!" Demyx shouted sulkily from the sofa where he was sitting. "Ya could hold those compliments back a li'l, Saïx."
Saïx openly ignored Demyx's useless contributions to the conversation, cleared his throat and went over to Roxas again.
"Today, we will send you to an unknown world. It's an immense place, countless times bigger than any other world we have seen until now. We have detected a massive amount of Heartless gathered in an archipelago of this world, all located in a very concrete area to be about such an enormous place. Also, we have discovered an anomaly in this world: all released hearts rise and fuse with Kingdom Hearts by themselves, but the amount of hearts is very little, almost undetectable. Your mission consists of collecting all the information possible about the area where Heartless gather and discover the reason why hearts are freed and join Kingdom Hearts. If we manage to discover it and reproduce that power, we might be able to make use of it in the future."
"Then, my mission's to investigate and sweep away some Heartless if necessary, right? Got it," Roxas nodded.
"ForBy now, you'll go alone; we don't know what kind of place it is, but the less fewer of us go, the less suspicions we will arouse. In any case, be careful and try to be discreet."
"I will. Thanks, Saïx."
Saïx remained unmoved by Roxas's sudden gratitude and simply opened the dark corridor for him with a quick hand movement.
"Your mission doesn't have a concrete objective: you can RTC at nightfall. Make the most out of the time and collect as much information as possible in that time span."
Roxas nodded and entered the dark corridor, letting shadows gobble him down and transport him to his new destination.
The young Nobody went outside of the dark corridor and ended up in what seemed to be the span of a bridge. The span was sheltered under the shadow of the walkway itself, but, in front of him, a gorgeous expanse stretched away, ; green and bright, bathed in sunlight. On the left, the waters of a shiny river ran happily, caressing sweetly the animals that inhabited it. The park was crammed with children running to and fro and adults enjoying the beautiful day the skies had offered them. Roxas sighed in relief: everything seemed peaceful and normal.
The Nobody stepped forward and got exposed to the light. He closed his eyes and smiled, immersing himself in that agreeable heat. Suddenly, he no longer felt no more the Sun on his face, as if the day would have been sharply eclipsed, and, unsettled, looked up just in time to see how the round object that blocked the Sun hurled on him at top speed.
He perfectly saw it, with plenty of time. He clenched his hand and a dazzling glow appeared around his fist. With a quick arm movement and a warlike sparkle in his eyes, the Nobody launched himself at the projectile in pursuit of deflecting it.
Everything turned black and Roxas collapsed.
"He's completely dressed in black. Do you think he's one of them?" A tall, rugged boy ofwith little black eyes and close-cropped pink hair said. His skin was fairly tanned beside his mates', and a little mole next to his left eye decorated his face.
One of his mates shook his head. He was a little shorter than the first boy, had brown eyes and straight and yet messy brown hair; one of the plainest haircuts that could be seen around, actually incidentally. Over the cowlick of his hair, a little, unruly lock jutted out, similar to like a sprout.
"I don't think so; he doesn't resemble much the others much … But, truth to be telltold, he does indeed have some weird looks…" He said.
"Don't be silly!" A third one said, the shortest of the three. His face was round and chubby, and the orange headband he was wearing on his forehead stood out. He had brown eyes as round as his head, which, for some reason that no one could understand, would inspire confidence and temper the soul. A big lock of hair fell over his forehead above the headband and two long bangs fell over his ears underneath it, while the two locks that jutted out of the sides of his head would give him a certain feline look due to their uncanny likeness to a pair of cat ears. "One of those things wouldn't have fallen so easily; it must be a person!"
The latter boy rushed to help the wounded person without a second thought.
"W-wait, Endou-kun…! You shouldn't act so hastily like that!" The only girl in the group shouted. Her hair, chestnut too, was shoulder-length and was fixed to her forehead by means of a pink hairpin. Her usual expression would inspire calm and peace, but, at that moment of nervousness, her brown eyes looked as distrustful as her friends'.
The third boy neared Roxas and shook his chest lightly.
"Oi! Hey, boy! Are you okay!?"
"W-what…?"
Roxas opened his eyes slowly. The sunbeams drilled his pupils, and so he had to use his hand as a peak not to get hurt by them. That was when he felt with his fingers the bulge that had appeared in his forehead.
"Phew, what a rest, you finally opened your eyes…!" The very round-faced boy who was wearing an orange headband smiled in relief. "Did it hurt much?"
"N-no, it just caught me a little… off guard," Roxas muttered as he tried to sit up, still attempting to discover what had happened.
"I'm deeply sorry, really!" The boy shouted nervously, bowing deeply in front of Roxas.
"It's nothing… I think. I'm a little dizzy, but that's all. What… what's happened?"
"It's just that we were playing, I kicked badly and the shot diverted too much…! The ball flew off to the bridge, really high, and you suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the ball started to fall and…!"
"Okay, okay, stop apologizing," Roxas said with a groan, trying to stand up with the help of that boy. Once upright, he shook the earth off his tunic and looked curiously at the object that had hit him. "What's this… black and white sphere supposed to be? Some sorta weapon?"
"Uh? A… weapon?" The boy asked wrinkling his face in disbelief. "No, of course not! I told you, it's nothing but a soccer ball. Have you never seen one before?"
"…Soccer?" Roxas answered. "What's a 'soccer'?"
"D-DON'T YOU KNOW EITHER WHAT SOCCER IS EITHER!?" The boy screamed, horrified.
"W-well, I…" Roxas stuttered when he saw the fear face of the person he was talking to. "As not to know, I don't even know where I am…"
"A-ah, so you're a foreigner…!" The boy sighed. "Well, then it makes a little more sense that you don't know, I guess! And it's a rest, in a way…"
"A rest?"
"Ah, nothing, nothing, just me!" The boy said, shaking his hand to play it down. "You'll see how in no more than a pair of weeks of being here, you'll already…! Oh?"
Suddenly, the wind changed. The sky dyed a gloomier colour, without getting totally dark. The boy looked around, eventually centred his gaze in the void and confirmed that his suspicions were right.
There they came again.
"Listen…" He said, looking at Roxas. "I think you should go away as soon as possible."
"Go away? Why?"
"Just listen to me! …It's not easy to explain, but you mustn't stay around here!"
"Is there something that…?"
And then, Roxas felt it too. He diverted his gaze to the point where that boy had focused his before and, indeed, he heard them. Empty and cold moans, only suitable of a being with no body, soul or reason; a being that only exists to torment, destroy… and be destroyed.
But it couldn't be. How could that boy have felt them even before he did?
Who was he supposed to be?
The sound became got closer every second.
"…O… er…" Resounded in the distance.
Roxas half-closed his eyes to try to see better what kind of monster was coming straight at him, but couldn't distinguish anything but a biped body that was dragging itself towards him.
The moan became sharper every instant. Roxas wouldn't usually attach any importance to his foes' groans, since they would almost always be senseless noises, like the ones of an animal, but being so focused on that being's advance was letting him notice something unusual.
For the first time, it seemed like one of those monsters would bewas trying to… speak? Was that even possible?
"…Oc… e… So… ccer…!"
Soccer? Were they really saying that or was he just imagining things?
"Here they come…" The boy snorted, frowning.
Eventually, the beings that emitted such growls got close enough for Roxas to see them clearly.
They were regular young men. Four boys, more or less as tall as him, dressed up in clothes not too different from the ones the rest of the people around were wearing. Nevertheless, even if each one's clothes were different, the four of them had ridiculously similar looks, both in height and body size. They looked like perfect twins, as if they had been mass-produced with a mould. Roxas tried to check if their faces were identical too, but he couldn't manage to distinguish their visages among the darkness.
"What the…!?" Roxas exclaimed with broken voice. He would have sworn they were Heartless, monsters with no soul or essence, but it was just a group of boys. And, nonetheless, they kept causing him a restlessness that he would only feel in front of the enemy.
While he was lost in his thoughts, a spherical projectile came out of the shadows where the group of faceless boys was and headed directly for Roxas. The member of the Organization XIII, still bewildered, noticed the attack too late to avoid it, but the boy next to him intercepted the object with a punch before it hit him. Roxas stood there, looking at it: it was truly similar to the "soccer ball" that had hit him previously, but this one was completely black, and, printed on the leather, a distinctive mark red as blood could be seen.
"You see?" The boy said with a scowl. "I told you that you are in danger in here! Run, quick!"
Without uttering another word, that boy picked up the spherical projectile that he had just hit and broke into a run towards a nearby clay field, where another two boys and a girl were waiting for him.
"Alright!" The boy of the headband shouted to the mysterious group. "We accept your challenge!"
The mysterious young boys smiled a deformed smirk and, at the time, they went over to those boys at full speed, making long and strange leaps. They placed themselves on the other side of that clay ground and stood very still, waiting for their rivals to start moving.
On both sides of that clay ground white constructions which Roxas didn't recognize could be seen: they were made up of two upright posts, a transverse one that joint them from the top and a net that overlooked to the opposite side to the field.
"Someoka, Handa, Kino! Let's show those thingies what we're made of!"
"Yes!" The two boys and the girl that accompanied the boy of the orange headband answered in unison.
The clay field was divided in two by a white line, in which centre was a circle radial to it. Three of the dark boys positioned themselves in the edge of the circle, always inside their side of the field, and the last one placed in front of the posts.
The pink-haired boy and the brown-haired one positioned themselves inside the circle. The girl stood halfway between the posts and the middle of the field. The last to take position was the boy of the headband, who, after tossing the projectile to his mates inside the circle, put on some thick gloves and placed himself ahead of the white structure of his field.
"Get them, guys! Sakka yarou ze!"
The brown-haired boy touched the black ball with his foot and tossed it to the pink-haired one, who started running forward as he controlled it with his feet and legs.
"Get out of my way!" The boy shouted, charging with his shoulder against the first of his rivals and knocking him down. When he saw that the second mysterious young man was about to fall on top of him, he kicked the ball and sent it towards the brown-haired boy.
"It's yours, Handa!" He shouted to warn his mate. The boy focused his attention on the ball, but it soon disappeared from his sight range: a third mysterious young man intercepted the pass in the air and broke into a run towards the opposite field with the ball.
"Stop him, Kino!" The boy of the orange headband shouted cupping his hands around his mouth. The girl ran towards the mysterious young man, slid across the floor and managed to kick the ball, which headed directly for the brown-haired boy's feet.
The boy ran towards the opposite field again, avoided the mysterious young man that pounced on him and sent the ball to his pink-haired mate.
"Score, Someoka-kun!" He exclaimed.
The pink-haired boy jumped, absorbed the pass at his chest and, before the ball could touch the floorground, he kicked it mighty and directed it towards the white structure on the foe field.
"Engulfing… Dark… ness…!" The mysterious young man who protected the structure hissed. He clapped his hands and, according as soon as as he opened his arms again, a dark cloak extended in front of the posts. The ball was absorbed by the darkness as soon as it came into contact with it and, when the cloak vanished in the air and Roxas could see the dark young man again, he realized he had the projectile held between his hands. The mysterious young boy smirked another sinister smile and threw the ball forwards, but the boy of the orange headband, who had left his previous position and had arrived at the opposite field by dashing, cut the pass in one spring and he himself ran towards the white structure.
"It's my go this time! Get ready, you thingy!"
He brushed the ball slightly with his foot as he threw his leg back as far as he could. Meanwhile, the ball gathered power and started glowing with a blinding bluish shine.
"Grenade… Shot!" He shouted as he booted the ball strongly, aiming at the white construction once again.
"Engulfing… Darkness…!" The mysterious young man hissed again, putting up another curtain of darkness before him. This time, nonetheless, the ball dissolved the shadows as soon as it touched them and crossed the cloak the dark young man had put up, hitting his stomach before going right through the inside of the structure and crashing against the net at its back.
"Well done, Endou-kun!" The girl cheered before breaking into a run towards the boy of the headband.
"What a shot, capt'n…!" The brown-haired boy said.
"How very sad to think that the only member of our team that can use a shot hissatsu technique is the goalkeeper…" The pink-haired boy snorted, clenching his fists. "We've to get our act together and learn how to shoot, Handa!"
"I dunno if I'll be able to develop any hissatsu, Someoka-kun, won't it be too diffi…?"
The brown-haired boy's words were suddenly cut short by the mysterious young men, who fell on their knees to the groundfloor and started emitting piercing screams while they held their head.
The boy of the orange headband and his friends stood watching the mysterious young men with a scowl on their faces: a disturbing dark energy started emanating from every pore of their bodies and shrouded them in a smoking shadow sphere. That energy ascended as though it was noxious gas and condensed over the head of each of the boys, making up a coal-black cloud from which surface crimson streaks of lightning of dangerous look sprang up.
The mysterious boys let out a howl of pain right before they stopped expelling dark energy, and immediately after they collapsed on the floor, worn out after such effort. The streaks of lightning that flew over the surface of those dark clouds became faster and more violent as the cumulus rose more and more. Suddenly, as red streaks of lightning travelled around the front of the cloud, a symbol began to appear on that area: a red figure with the shape of a heart pierced by two barbed wires.
The unmistakable mark of the Heartless.
Roxas was shattered. That dark mass was a Heartless of a kind he had never heard about. A Heartless that, not satisfied with snatching away people's heart to breed and thus create more monsters of pure darkness, would also control the innocent and use their material bodies as weapons to fulfil their despicable purposes.
Roxas ground his teeth in vexation. He couldn't believe the existence of such being was possible. He hated seeing how innocent people were being used in such a rotten way just to accomplish an objective they had nothing to do with.
Suddenly, those flashing masses of darkness started emitting a red glow and, before Roxas could realize it, they exploded without leaving a trace of their existence. The only thing that survived the explosion was a red heart that rose quickly and vanished in the air. The sky cleared up all of a sudden, and the dark ball vanished in a cloud of smoke that dissipated in the air in a matter of seconds.
Roxas had just found what he was looking for.
"Matsuhara!" The boy of the orange headband shouted horrified as soon as he saw the true appearance of the mysterious young man that protected the white structure: it was a heavily-built, bluish grey-haired boy with a constant stern expression, but who, despite it all, was an old friend of his and had a kind and helpful heart. He headed for his side in a rush and placed his ear in the boy's chest, who was lying unconscious on the floor. "Thank goodness, his breathing's fine…!" He sighed in relief. "Darn thingies… Why in the world would they have caught Matsuhara?"
"A-ah…! Guys, look…!" The brown-haired boy stuttered, pointing at the true appearance of one of the mysterious young men. "Is… is Sagamineta-san!"
One of the dark boys turned out to be a blond, spiky-haired, enormous-footed and sunglasses-wearing man: the extremely well-known Sagamineta, so-called "man of steel" and local sports star, cover of every sports magazine and even the main character of his own manga. The adult lied equally unconscious. The brown-haired boy approached him, nervous about having his hero so close, and felt his pulse: just like Matsuhara, nothing serious had happened to Sagamineta; he had simply lost consciousness.
The pink-haired boy and the girl assisted the other two mysterious young men, who woke up right away, confused and dizzy. They had a little chat with them, but Roxas didn't get to hear anything.
Once he made sure this Matsuhara was alright despite being still unconscious, the boy of the headband looked back at the bridge and, when he saw that Roxas was still there, sitting on the floor, he ran next to him and helped him stand up.
"Are you okay? Nothing else has happened to you, right?" The boy smiled. It was a warm, shiny and spectacular smile. It would transmit confidence even to those who, supposedly, couldn't feel a thing.
"Ah… Yeah," Roxas answered, glancing down a little and scratching the nape of his neck, ashamed: he was supposed to be the elite warrior, but those boys had had to be the ones to destroy those strange Heartless. "And… Thanks about before. Not for you, those monsters would have knocked me down again."
"Not at all!" The boy answered, widening his smile even more, wherever possible. "In fact, I'm so happy to see that you do realize those thingies are dangerous. And forgive me; after all this and I haven't introduced myself yet!"
The boy took off the thick gloves he had worn during the battle, put them in his trousers' back pocket, grabbed Roxas's right hand with both of his and shook his hand energetically.
"Nice to meet you! My name is Mamoru Endou, I'm thirteen years old, a first-year high middle school student and Raimon junior high's soccer club's captain. Please, be kind to me!" He exclaimed with a bow.
Roxas didn't know that kind of formalities and got scared at seeing such reaction, but he tried to correspond the native with the same gestures and words.
"Uh… N-nice to meet you, yeah. My name's Roxas, I'm a hundred and seve- I-I mean, fo-fourteen years old and… I-I'm…"
"A foreigner, right?" The boy cut him short, smiling softly.
"…Is it really that obvious?" Roxas said with a face that mixed both upset and happiness. All this time he had been trying to make up a cover not to attract attention, but it seemed to have been utterly useless.
"You bet!" The boy laughed. "Look at those weird clothes you're wearing; it looks like you're dressed up as a Shinigami! Also, you have a really weird name and you get so mixed up with words and numbers… But, if it's any consolation, you pronounce our language really well!"
"That's… one consolation, I guess…" Roxas sighed, letting out an embarrassed guffaw. That was his native language and the only one he could speak fluently, but if his nervous stammering had served to pass him off as a foreigner, he wouldn't complain. At least, that way he wouldn't have to give too many explanations.
Both boys kept quiet for a few seconds, staring at their hands, still bound together. Roxas then remembered what he had seen minutes before, what he had been fetching: an alternative way to destroy the Heartless and release their hearts to make them merge with Kingdom Hearts.
"Listen, may I ask you something?" Roxas and Mamoru said in unison, raising their gazes. They both got surprised at the same time and laughed softly as they let go of the other's hand.
"You first, please," Roxas said. "After all, you asked me to be kind and polite, didn't you?"
"Yes, you're right!" Mamoru laughed. "It's about what has happened to you before. When the ball was heading for you, you tried to hit it, right?"
Roxas had no other choice but to nod.
"When you did, when you swung your arm to hit the ball, some… some sort of glow came out of your hands, but disappeared a moment later. Whatever that was, you intended to use it to avoid the bump, didn't you?"
"…You're way more observant than you look," Roxas answered in the end.
"I KNEEEW IT! I knew it was impossible you didn't know what soccer is! That was a hissatsu technique, wasn't it!?"
"…Hissatsu? A… killer technique?"
Mamoru nodded effusively.
"Sincerely… I don't know what you're talking about."
Mamoru's hopes cracked like a crystal when hit by a boulder called reality. The boy fell to the floor on his knees, let his body go limp and sighed deeply.
"…Are you okay?" Roxas asked before driving a finger into his forehead to check if he reacted. Mamoru, not even feeling the pinch, let out another long and sad sigh before answering.
"And here I thought I had found a new member for my team… Someone who would even have a hissatsu of their own…! But… my dreams and hopes have… Have…"
The poor boy, disconsolate and broken-hearted, started crying his eyes out.
"H-hey, calm down, calm down! I have no idea what's all this about a 'hissatsu', but I don't want you to cry because of it either…! I-I'll help you with that team thing of yours, I swear!"
The flow of Mamoru's tears turned off as though it was the mechanism of a tap, leaving as only trace the marks his tears had left in the boy's chubby cheeks. With an even bigger glisten on his face than before, Mamoru stood up, held both his friend's hands between his and, with eyes that expressed endless love, gratitude and appreciation, he addressed a trembling smile of absolute emotion to him.
"W-welcome to Raimon's soccer club, Roxas-senpai!" Mamoru, whose mucus wouldn't let talk, muttered, to whom mucus wouldn't let talk.
"Ah… Y-yeah, thanks."
Mamoru sniffed strongly sniffed the mucus that had was left in his nose to speak better, but his voice was still shaking.
"Oh, b-by the way, what was that you wanted to ask me, my… my new teammate?" He whispered. His voice and breath would shake and a shiver would run down his spine every time he would say 'new teammate'.
"What kind of battle was that you and your friends were fighting against those monsters?"
Mamoru stood watching Roxas closely with a neutral expression and a half-open mouth. The young Nobody smiled a faint smile to try to worm any emotion out of his 'new teammate', but he wouldn't react.
Mamoru's eyes lost all life and he just collapsed in the place. He only reacted to the bump he got on the nape of his neck against the concrete of the ground, what which made him writhe in pain and hurl a series of ridiculously childish whines before standing up.
"…Are you okay?" Roxas asked for the umpteenth time that day. Mamoru stood up suddenly and stack his face right before Roxas's, pressing nose and forehead against the Nobody's.
"Are you telling me you REALLY don't know what soccer is!?"
Roxas shook his head lightly, unwillingly rubbing his nose against Mamoru's. He was starting to feel embarrassed about not having heard that word before, even if it was normal, since he didn't live in that world.
"Then, that from before was 'soccer'?"
"…You must have come from a very weird place to not know it…" Mamoru whispered. "But, yes, that was it."
"Then… Will you teach me how to do it?"
Mamoru's face lightened up like never before.
At that moment, Roxas wasn't yet conscious of what he was getting into.
"Do you understand how it works?" Mamoru asked in a kind voice.
All actual members of Raimon's soccer club had reunited to welcome Roxas in the little hut that served as the club's venue. In spite ofDespite not being an official player yet, Mamoru would already treat him as though he was one of them, and had explained to him in detail all the rules of soccer's rules, besides along with any other technical nuance he would need to know before he would start kicking a ball.
"Uh… More or less. It's not easy to learn all of thatthis all atin one sitting…"
"Don't worry! You'll get it as you play with us!"
"With us?" The pink-haired boy grumbled, who hads introduced himself as Ryuugo Someoka, grumbled. "Do we even know where has this guy sprung from? We can't just trust the first one who gets in our way, Endou!"
"But Someoka…!" Mamoru snivelled. "He wants to play with us, and that's all we need to know!"
"We can't be so benevolent now! Those things hunt us down wherever we go and we can't take the risk to have a spy among us!"
"Don't ever compare me with those revolting Heartless!" Roxas suddenly piped up without thinking. All those present stood staring him. Ryuugo frowned in a clear sign of disapproval.
"Do you know those beings?" Mamoru asked in a thin voice.
Roxas stuttered for a second, but he ended up giving up. He sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, I know them, but it's not because I'm like them! Never!"
"Then, what… what are those things, senpai…?" The brown-haired boy muttered, who said he was called Shinichi Handa, muttered.
"It's… hard to explain."
"Then you better do your best at trying," Ryuugo broached.
Roxas gulped.
"Y-you see… When… when a being yields to the darkness that's inside its heart, that darkness devours him it and turns thehimit into a Heartless: a creature… with no feelings, made of pure darkness, and who acts on its primal instincts. Each new Heartless tries to corrupt new hearts to breed and increase their number, not caring about how many lives he has to take with it to accomplish its objective. They're horrible beings, as you can imagine…"
"That's terrible!" The girl shouted, who affirmed that she was called Aki Kino, shouted. "Is there anything we can do?"
Roxas shook his head, dejected. He had never thought of it before, but he didn't like at all the idea that so many people were suffering right under his nose, without him being able to do anything about it, for reasons they couldn't even understand. He felt a lump growing in his throat and his stomach started turning. He made a wry face, disconcerted by that new and strange feeling, but he tried to keep on talking:
"As long as I know, once the heart has been trapped by darkness, there's no way to save the person. I… I'm sorry."
"But we do managed to do it!" Mamoru said. "When we beat those thingies, they let our friends go!"
"That's because, as it seems, Heartless from here possess people and use their bodies instead of turning them into beings like them. The true Heartless is that cloud that comes out of them, but the heart the cloud appeared from can't be saved."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Ryuugo cut short. "Is it that no one thinks this seems weird!? First, street people don't seem to notice the attacks nor people's disappearances, and then, you-know-who appears and makes himself out to be a know-it-all! Can you tell us where have you got all that info from? What's more, who the hell are you? You haven't even introduced yourself to us!"
"I have told you before, Someoka, his name is Roxas," Mamoru said, trying to defend the newcomer.
"Roxas, what else?" Ryuugo queried, arms folded. "How can we trust someone who isn't from here nor even gives us his surname?"
"…Surname?" Roxas asked. "What does 'surname' mean?"
"You dunno…?" Shinichi was surprised. "A surname's like, eh… your family's name. It states where you are from, what you are, or something like that…"
"I, for example, am Mamoru Endou. Mamoru is my name, and Endou is my surname, the name I share with my family," Mamoru said with a smile. "Do you understand?"
"A name that tells where I come from…"
"You won't tell us now that you don't have a surname, will you?" Ryuugo said cuttingly. "People from all around the world have surnames, so don't you give us any stupid excuses!"
Roxas hesitated.
"But, I… I don't have a family."
Ryuugo half-closed his eyes.
"So you have no family, huh? Wow, how incredibly opportune," he growled.
"…One doesn't choose his origins," Roxas whispered, looking away.
"That's right, but origins aren't everything. Each one can choose their own path!" Mamoru smiled. "Where you come from is the least of it; what really counts is what you do with it!"
So each one can choose his own path, huh… Roxas thought. I guess that rule must indeed work here, but that's not my case.
"I'm still not okay with this!" Ryuugo shouted. "For what we know, this guy could be of the same ilk as those Hatless, or however the hell are called!"
Mamoru, with a serious expression on his face, turned to Roxas and stared at him.
"Roxas-senpai."
"…What's it?"
"Are you one of them?"
"No! Of course not!"
"Then, how come you know so much about them?"
"I… It's just that…" Roxas stuttered. Mamoru folded his arms and kept his gaze on the boy. His face showed seriousness and peace, but no happiness nor anger.
"Now we are friends. We won't judge you."
"Friends…?"
Friends. A taboo word for people of his level, of his ilk. For a being with no feelings, the idea of having a friend was merely an illusion, a way to convince oneself based on the need to have someone nearby. And, despite everything, as time passed and he knew them more and better, Roxas, somehow, felt more and more attached to Axel and Xion, his two best friends. His two only friends. But that was impossible; any kind of emotion he felt was nothing but his imagination, or maybe some memory from his past life.
Or that was what they made Roxas believe.
To get to have friends, feelings or real dreams, Roxas needed a heart. And, to obtain one, they needed the power of Kingdom Hearts. Once completed, it would give their heart back to the empty casings that Nobodies were at that time.
But Roxas never completely understood that all. He limited himself to obeying and trying to help as far as possible.
"Of course! If we're part of the same team, that makes us friends."
"Maybe… maybe you are right," Roxas said with a little smile. "But, before, I'd like to ask you a question."
"You are here to answer questions, not to ask them!" Ryuugo yelled.
"Calm down, Someoka!" Mamoru said, placing himself between Ryuugo and Roxas. "Let him say whatever he has to say!"
Ryuugo grumbled and folded his arms, annoyed.
"If I'm here, it's is to do away with the Heartless, but, for some reason, I can't use my power."
"Are you talking about that strange glow from before?"
Roxas nodded.
"I can't do anything in this world. There's something here that blocks my strength and doesn't let me fight those monsters like I use to. But you can! This 'soccer' of yours… has exactly the same effect as my powers! I hate to admit it, but, while I'm here… I have nothing to do without your help. I'm begging you, guys! Will you help me finish the Heartless off?"
Aki and Shinichi went back. Everything hads turned out well until then, but digging deep on it could be too much of a challenge for them. Ryuugo turned away from the newbie.
"Fight your battles yourself and leave us…"
"Of course we will help you!" Mamoru cut him short.
The other three members of the team turned towards him instantly, horrified.
"What the hell are you saying, Endou!?" Ryuugo screamed.
"Come on, guys, it's our chance!" Mamoru begged. "He's the only one of us who knows those monsters and, after all, we both chase the same goal! Or is it that you don't want to end up this invasion and save everyone?"
Ryuugo growled in frustration. However much it hurt, his captain was right.
"…It's fine. By For now, we'll trust you, 'Just' Roxas."
"Does it really tick you off that much that I don't have a blurname?"
"Surname," Mamoru corrected.
"W-whatever! Is it really that important?"
"Yeah, it is!" Ryuugo snorted. "In Japanese society, one person's origin is very important, and not having it is… is… I don't even know how to describe it! Even if your parents are dead, or whatever, you should have one! It looks like you aren't even from this planet!"
"…M-mM-mamoruMamoru… I-I…" Roxas stuttered, looking at his new friend in the eye.
"You… you aren't from this planet, are you?"
"W-what!? Is this guy an alien!?"
Roxas looked down.
"I-I'm not an alien, but… I'm not totally human either, no. I should… I should have told you so before asking for anything. …I-I'm deeply sorry."
Ryuugo stared at Roxas. He hadn't realized until then about how expressive his eyes were. Certainly, those big blue eyes made him look like a foreigner, but he would have never told he wasn't human. The unknown frustrated him and made him distrustful. But his voice was humble and tremulous, and he seemed to be desperate to get help. He might have a slightly odd appearance, but he didn't seem like a bad person deep inside.
He looked at Mamoru. There was no doubt: unlike him, the goalkeeper trusted the newcomer fully. Experience told him that his captain's discretion used to be correct, but he refused to accept it. He looked at Aki and Shinichi, who kept themselves out of the discussion. They were looking at the alien too, or whatever it was. In their faces was reflected the sorrow they felt for the boy and the fear of accepting his petition due to how dangerous the task seemed to be, but they were plucking up and looking inside of them for the courage they needed to support him.
Ryuugo let out a long and wry sigh.
"Alright, Roxas," he said, still curtly. "I might consider helping you if you tell us what you are and what you are up to… and if you give us a full name we can use."
Mamoru smiled. He wants to help him, I'm sure, but he's making difficulties for him just to stand on his ground. Someoka… Thank you. I'm sure that, thanks to him, everything will end up working out just fine.
"O… okay. I'm what's known as a… Nobody. We Nobodies are the opposite of Heartless: while they take people's hearts, we are born from the remaining body and soul, but the only thing we've in common with those beings is that we can't feel either. Most of our kind lose conscience and acquire a… gelatinous form, but some like me retain a human form and we remember part of our human past. Unlike Heartless, we don't wanna hurt anyone: we just wanna have our heart back and be complete humans again. …I know it's hard to believe, but I swear to you I've never hurt any living being: I just destroy Heartless to release the hearts they've corrupted and send them to Kingdom Hearts. I'm not sure what it is, but my superiors say it'll give our hearts back to us all and we'll be regular people again."
"Your superiors…?" Shinichi asked.
"Yeah. I belong to a group of supreme Nobodies called Organization XIII. I'm called 'XIII, The Key of Destiny' because, when I first joined, I was the only member who could release Heartless' hearts and send them to Kingdom Hearts thanks to my powers. But if I've come here, it's because this soccer of yours has the same special power as my weapon, the Keyblade. It's a fighting style that could serve us much!"
"NO!" Mamoru yelled immediately. "Roxas, soccer is anything but a fighting style! Soccer can be used to strengthen bonds and brace the hearts of those who play it! I won't let you use this sport as a weapon!"
"…Excuse me, Mamoru. I… I didn't pretend to offend you. It's just that…"
Mamoru placed a hand on Roxas's shoulder and smiled lightly.
"Soccer mustn't be used for bad aims, no matter what sort of power it may have in your cause. If you use it as a fighting style, you could hurt someone. If soccer is going to help you fulfil your goals, don't think of it as a tool, but as an ally! The Goddess of Victory does only smile at those who respect and love soccer!"
"I will!" Roxas nodded. "…Even though I have no feelings."
Mamoru looked away for a moment, but then looked at Roxas again and smiled at him.
"We'll get by somehow!"
"And, well…" Roxas said, looking at Ryuugo. "If you really need a surname… I guess the most sensible thing would be you to call me… Roxas Nobody."
Ryuugo snorted happily, closed his eyes and smiled.
"Give this guy the number zero, Endou. I think it suits that name he's come up with down to the ground."
"T-thank you very much, Ryuugo!" Roxas said with a bow.
"Welcome to our team, Nobody."
Without anyone noticing, the night had begun to fall over the gigantic world Roxas hads ended up in. Shinichi, Ryuugo and Aki had already returned home, but Mamoru couldn't leave his new teammate. The captain took the Nobody to the high park of the steel tower, Inazuma Town's distinguishing mark and Mamoru's training spot par excellence. The two new friends, leant against a fence, were looking at the setting sun in amazement, each one remembering moments and experiences that, despite how little or trivial they may look, filled their souls with warmth and affection.
"Had you ever seen a sunset like this? Doesn't it give you the strength to keep going!?"
"Yeah, I know the feeling," Roxas said, smiling. "My friends and I used usuallyto look at the sunset together after the Organization's missions. …Although, carefully thought, I shouldn't call them friends."
"Uh? And why not?" Mamoru asked, tilting his head. "Don't you get along with them?"
"Yeah, but… technically, I can't have friends. Not till I have a heart to feel with."
Mamoru remained silent for a few seconds, lost in his thoughts.
"Say, senpai," he said in the end, "do you worry about them?"
"Of course I do! Axel disappears for days whenever he feels like it and keeps me in suspense. Also, Xion's asleep now and she won't wake up… I leave a seashell by her pillow every day. She did the same for me a while ago."
"Then you don't want to lose them, right? Are they important for you?"
"A-a lot…! If I lost them, I… don't know what I'd do. Being in the Organization would lose all its sense, or… I don't know. I don't even want to imagine it."
Mamoru smiled an understandingly smile at Roxas and patted his shoulder. The Nobody turned and looked at him, surprised.
"What… what are you doing?"
"Don't you get it?" Mamoru said, still smiling. "You couldn't say that kind of things if you didn't have feelings! The worry that you might lose who you care about, that feeling of wanting to look after the rest, or even imagination… all that shows that you can indeed feel! Maybe you didn't have a heart before, but the heart is something that appears and grows from the experiences you have lived, the overcome challenges and the friends you meet during the way! Every good being is destined to have a heart as big as… as the sun! That's what my grandpa used to say, at least."
"That…" Roxas whispered, pursing his lips. "Makes sense, but… I-it can't be…"
"Why not? What prevents a body from generating its own heart?"
"…I dunno. But if so, they'd have told me, right?"
"Maybe your mates don't know everything…"
"It's… possible. Thanks for letting me see a glimmer of hope, Mamoru," Roxas smiled from the deepest of his apparently insensitive soul.
"It's nothing, senpai! After all, friends are for support!"
"Yeah… I guess it's like that. By the way, what does 'senpai' mean?"
"A-ah? Well, you indeed know very little…" Mamoru said, wrinkling his mouth. "Senpai is a word that is used to show respect towards those students who are in a higher year or are older than you! We are thirteen and you're fourteen, so you're our senpai!"
"R-respect?" Roxas stuttered, shaking his hands. "No, please! Just call me by my name…! Besides, I don't attend high school."
"…You are right there. Okay, then from now on you are Roxas!" Mamoru smiled. Roxas smiled back and nodded. "By the way, in which position will you be playing?"
"Po… sition?"
"Yes! I've told you about it: there are forwards, midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers."
"Ah, yeah, I remember now. But, uh, I dunno, actually… I haven't given it any thought."
"How would you like being a defender? We already have a forward, a midfielder and a goalkeeper, but we are lacking someone on the defensive line: we have lumbered Aki with that work up until now, but she's a manager, not a player, and we can't keep on forcing her like that. Well, what do you say? Do you think it suits you?"
"I'm more used to hitting than to covering, but it wouldn't be the first time I stay at the rear… Yeah, we'll do it that way. We lose nothing by trying, I guess…"
"What? No, no, no! If you are going to do it, you must say it with a bigger conviction! How do you pretend expect anyone to take you seriously if you don't!?"
"A-ah? Alright…! I, uh… will be a defender, yeah!"
"Stronger!"
"I… I won't let anyone through!"
"Much stronger!"
"I'll be the best defender Raimon has ever had!"
"You're the first, so it shouldn't be too hard."
Mamoru let out a guffaw, and Roxas couldn't help laughing along.
The sun finally hid between the western mountains.
'RTC authorized. The dark corridor is open,' resounded inside Roxas's head.
The Nobody gulped and resigned himself to obeying, much to his regret. That meeting with Mamoru reminded him greatly of the sunsets he used to spend watch in Twilight Town next to Axel and Xion.
"I… I'm very sorry, Mamoru, but I must go now."
"What? But I was intending to invite you to stay to sleep at my place! You can't spend the night outdoors!"
"No, don't worry about that. I gotta go home, to the place where I live. Also, I'm in a hurry; I still have to go find a seashell for Xion and-"
Mamoru quietened him with a 'shh' and started rummaging in his pockets. He eventually took out a little pebble, totally round and full of notches all over its surface. It had an unquestionable resemblance with a soccer ball.
"I don't know what beach you were planning to go to at this time, but it's already too late and you might get lost. Instead of a seashell, bring her this: it's a rock I found this morning at the riverbank while I was training. I picked it up because its shape was funny, but I think it will come in handier to you. Make your friend feel you worry about her, no matter where you go!"
"Mamoru… Thank you so much," Roxas said in a low voice, taking the little stone carefully. "I know how much soccer means to you. It must be tough for you to let go of something like this."
"Soccer is important for me because it helps me meet great people, just like you! If it's to help a friend, I'd give even my own life!"
"Your own life? Doesn't it scare you?"
"No, of course not! Because helping the ones I care about is the most precious thing to me!"
"You're… incredible, Mamoru. You all are. I didn't think people like this could exist."
"W-well…" Mamoru whispered, fixing his gaze on the floor ground out of pure embarrassment. "I just do what my grandpa would have wanted me to do. He's my role model, you know, Rox…? Eh?"
When Mamoru raised his gaze again, Roxas had completely disappeared from sight.
"'Today, I've been in a new world. It's gigantic, the largest one known until now! And what's more, I've been the first to visit it. They wanted me to check why and how hearts were being released there, and I've found the cause: the inhabitants of that world do something called 'soccer' that is able to send the heart to Kingdom Hearts when the Heartless is destroyed. It's incredible. And, despite that, they don't use it as a weapon, but as a way to strengthen bonds with friends and help people. But the weirdest of it all is that, in that world, I can't manage to summon my Keyblade. I've been able to do it smoothly after RTC, but there was no way I could while being there.
"'Besides, there are some really odd Heartless there that don't corrupt new hearts directly, but they possess people's bodies to attack other beings making use of their strength. But everything isn't bad: I've met some great guys there, too. Their names are Mamoru, Ryuugo, Shinichi and Aki, and they've agreed to help me fight the Heartless: that does also help them save their possessed friends, after all.
"'Before returning, I've been watching the sunset with Mamoru. He thinks that hearts develop by themselves by meeting new people and living new experiences, but when I asked Saïx if that was truth, if a Nobody could actually develop its own heart without help, he has disapproved of me with his eyes and told me that they can't. But I… I don't know, I feel something inside of me. I don't know whether they are feelings trying to spurt out of me or it's nothing but an indigestion, but I do feel something. And, truth be told… I feel that I want to trust Mamoru rather than Saïx. And that's why I've lied and told him I haven't found anything today. Mamoru told me soccer shouldn't be used for bad aims, and Saïx… doesn't inspire me confidence.
"'I haven't seen Axel today except in the morning, but I've gone to see Xion. She's still asleep. I've left her a soccer ball-shaped pebble today instead of a seashell as a memento of my visit to the new world. I think its inhabitants call it Inazuma, so I'll refer to it that way from now on.
"'I hope I'll be sent there again tomorrow. I don't want to leave my new friends high and dry.'"
Roxas left his pen aside and closed the notebook. He caressed its spine again: soft and warm to the touch. Maybe his new diary hadn't brought everything back to its usual course as he hoped, but he couldn't help thinking that all that would lead, once the proper time came, to a change for the better.