Sakuma heaved a heavy sigh as he walked slowly to Raimon's middle school. Truth was, he had planned his summer holidays with friends and family, unfortunately, he received a text message from his football coach, Kudou, instructing him to attend their little club meeting.
"Ahh… I envy Gouenji," Sakuma could hear a familiar voice as the huge, metal grilled school gate came into view. Their infamous goal keeper, Endou Mamoru and his former captain, Kidou Yuuto was already there, leaning against the wall, facing each other as they engage themselves in a casual conversation.
"I'm sure he is siting in the aeroplane right now, flying to Hawaii… How come he can go on a vacation while we're stuck here, in Japan with god-knows-what meeting?"
Kidou was about to say something to calm Endou down when Sakuma's approaching figure caught his attention. "Sakuma," he called. "You're just in time…"
"You guys received coach message too?" Sakuma asked curiously.
"Yes, we did," Endou answered in annoyance. "Damn that coach for ruining my summer."
Sakuma was startled by Endou's grouchy attitude. He never seen Endou behave this way, especially when it is related to football. He turned to Kidou, seeking for answers on Endou sudden mood swing. Kidou smiled and answered, "he had made special plans with Natsumi since it's their first summer together, sadly he had to cancel everything in the last minute after he got coach's message. We had a discussion about this meeting just now, on our way here, and we concluded that this meeting might have something to do with football. Let's just say he is disappointed."
"I thought couch say we have no trainings and tournaments this summer? He said it's a reward for winning the world cup…"
Sakuma saw the sudden changes in Kidou's face. He suspected Kidou might have bad feelings about this meeting. "I know, Sakuma," Kidou said. "We have to wait for the coach and others to arrive."
Just after Kidou replied Sakuma, both of them heard Endou mumbled "finally he decided to show up" loudly. They turned and saw their coach walked up the small hill along with Fudou, Genda, Someoka, Kabeyama, Kazemaru and Domon behind him. What surprised them most was Gouenji's made his appearance too. Endou quickly jogged towards him.
"I thought you are already on your way to Hawaii!"
"That," Gouenji gave a sheepish chuckled while scratching his right cheek with his forefinger. "My father cancelled our trip because the hospital needs him urgently."
"That's too bad…" Endou's shoulder slumped. He was expecting some souvenirs from Hawaii.
"At least I get to spend my summer with Ichirouta," Gouenji said as he slung his right hand over Kazemaru's shoulder.
"There is no time for vacation topics," coach Kudou's deep and clear voice caught the boys' attention immediately. "The reason I called you here is because I had received a sudden invitation from the Football Frontier Association to join a friendly tournament camp in Ruffort Abbey, England."
"I thought you are giving us a break for this summer," Someoka interrupted to coach rashly. He had a lot to say about the sudden activities, but when he saw the glare from coach Kudou, he shut his mouth and looked elsewhere.
"Anyone has anything to say," coach asked around while looking at the boys' face one by one. After receiving no respond, he proceed 10 seconds later. "As i was saying, I received a sudden invitation by the association. I have no intention of disturbing your summer holiday…" coach glared at Somoeka and Fudou, whom he already had a rebellious argument with on the way to Raimon's middle school earlier. He also purposely rephrased the 'summer holiday' to irritated his students. "but they insisted us to join this camp. I've already informed Fubuki, Midorikawa, Hiroto, Tachimukai, Tsunami, Kogure and Tobiramaru. Unfortunately, Tachimukai is unable to join us because he is busy helping his family, so I had to find Genda to replace him. Tobiramaru, on the other hand, is already in America with his family. That is why I had to ask Domon to go in his place."
Domon raised his right hand to get the coach's attention. "Why aren't the managers here," he asked as soon as coach Kudou gave him permission to speak. His question made the boys looked around them, finally noticing the absence of the 3 girls.
"Ruffort Abbey only have male dormitory, so they discourage me to bring the girls."
"This is an odd camp," Kabeyama whispered to Kazemaru and Kazemaru passed Kabeyama's statement to Gouenji when Gouenji gave him the 'what-did-he-say' look.
"We will gather here again tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock sharp. Hibiki-san will drive us to the airport after roll call, understand?"
"Yes, coach!"
Coach Kudou nodded before he dismissed the boys. He was curious and amused at the same time when he saw Endou dashed down the hill to god-knows-where. Behind the speeding Endou, Gouenji and Kazemaru were holding hands while walking down the slope slowly. They were too engrossed with their conversation that they did not realise Someoka and Kabeyama sneaking behind them, attempting to interrupt their little date until it was too late. He also heard Genda mentioned 'chat with my pretty boy' to Sakuma before he bid him good-bye.
"I should have just let them enjoy their holiday," coach Kudou thought.
"Is everything all right, coach," a voice behind coach Kudou made him jumped. He turned and saw Fudou and Kidou looking at him. He also saw Sakuma standing few feets away behind the two intelligent boys.
"I say, is everything all right, coach?" Kidou repeated his question patiently, studying the coach with his infamous red eyes beneath his blue-rimmed goggles.
"You should answer us quickly, coach," Fudou folded his arms. For once, he did not showed his usual grin. "We saw you cringed everytime you've mentioned Ruffort Abbey."
Sakuma felt the situation becoming tense. He quickly approached Fudou and Kidou, intending to pry them away from the coach in case it got violence, especially when Fudou is around. What he did not expect was the coach dropped his head, looking at his black, leather shoes like it had attracted him. "Both of you should know about Ruffort Abbey…"
"If you knew Ruffort Abbey is bad news, why did you accept the invitation?" Kidou asked, more like demanding for answers.
"I tried," coach replied, looking up at Fudou and Kidou. "I tried to pull the team out, but my pleads fell onto deft ears. I also found out England and Italy team withdrew themselves from this camp, that was the reason why they ignored me. They did not want to lose anymore participants."
"Tell us about Ruffort Abbey…" Fudou demanded but coach Kudou pretended that he did not hear his question. "Go home. It's getting late… You have to be here early tomorrow," he said before he excused himself and walked away.
"Tsk, I swear he avoided my question," Fudou cursed. He unfolded his arms and tucked both hands in his canvas, brown pants' pocket. "Fine, I am going to find out about Ruffort Abbey," he said as he walked down the hill without saying good-bye to Kidou and Sakuma.
Kidou and Sakuma watched Fudou's back disappeared from their sight before Kidou turned to Sakuma and asked, "you want to grab something to eat before we go home?"
Sakuma blushed at Kidou's invitation. He could not open his mouth to speak, so he just nodded his head.
Kidou chuckled at Sakuma's cute behaviour, "let us go then, I'm hungry…"
To readers, this update is not an ordinary update. I've edited it to make it more interesting...?
I have improve, but it not just stop there. I still have a long way to become a very good writer. Yes, I still have problem with my grammars. I will try my best to improve continuously. Thanks for you support, readers, followers, subscribers and friends. I appreciate your support.