Well, I'm back. or at least trying to come back. Warning: Long intro incoming. Another series?! Finish what you've already started, darn it! I keep yelling these words at myself. And don't worry-I will definitely finish everything I've already started. Eventually.
I got this idea while watching episode 48 of Inazuma. I thought, what would happen if Gran/Hiroto never showed up to hinder Burn/Nagumo? I was also greatly inspired by a 'what-if' collab story called Redemption by vanerz and envysparkler. If you haven't read it, it's amazing and you definitely should! After you finish this, of course. Or not. Theirs is probably better, haha.
"I'm Nagumo Haruya. The flame striker you're looking for is probably me." A haughty smirk followed this statement. Burn almost laughed at the disappointment and slight surprise that he saw on the Raimon members' faces. He knew they were hoping for Gouenji. Of course, Gouenji wouldn't come to them, not when Aliea had him on a leash. It was almost too perfect. This rumor about a flame striker was the perfect opportunity to infiltrate Raimon. Well, he had to qualify first, but that would be easy.
"Let me show you...my shoot!"
After he'd showed the two Atomic Flare, they immediately agreed to take him to the other members. It was too easy.
"Hey!" The scarf kid-Fukubi or something-turned suddenly to run up a flight of stairs.
"We found the flame striker!" The lanky one-was it Dominic? Whatever, he couldn't be bothered with their names-followed suit at the same pace. Burn snickered to himself and simply walked up the steps.
Once again, the Prominence captain had to hold in his amusement at the sheer melancholy on everyone's faces. Their expressions were truly comical; had they really been that sure it was going to be their beloved Gouenji? A few of them murmured things about it not being him. They really had put their hopes high.
"Who's that?"
"This is Hijikata. He lives around here. We were asking him a few things."
Burn turned his attention to the one who'd answered. Endou. The one Gran was so enamored with. Why, though? He didn't look like anything special at all. He didn't look weak, but he didn't seem strong either. Of course, appearances could be deceiving. The Prominence captain was determined to figure out what made this Raimon team so interesting to everyone-and so dangerous.
"But there's no need for that anymore." The scarf kid smiled cheerfully.
"The flame striker is this guy, Nagumo."
"That's how it is." Burn said, a trademark sneer still on his face. "I'm Nagumo Haruya. You're the captain, Endou? Nice to meet you."
Endou smiled back at him, but it was a forced smile. "Yeah...Nice to meet you."
"This guy heard we were looking for him and came to find us." The lanky guy explained.
"Do you live around here?" A girl with fluffy pink hair and a weird hat asked.
Crap. He hadn't really thought about how to answer questions like that. "Well, sure." He said quickly, silently hoping that his uncertainty hadn't leaked onto his face or into his voice.
"Really?" Burn jumped a bit as the giant guy from before-Fijikata? Whatever-showed up in his peripheral vision out of the blue. His eyes met suspicious ones. "I've never seen your face around here."
"I've never seen you either." Good, keep going like this. Stand your ground.
A girl with glasses on her head turned to the spiky-haired midget next to her. "What's wrong?"
"He reeks like something of a nasty guy." His yellow eyes were serious.
Crap. Keep cool. Don't let your irritation show on your face. Burn balanced his soccer ball on his foot as an excuse to look at something.
"Show them what you showed us earlier." Lanky guy said.
The scarf kid nodded slightly. "It was a really powerful shoot."
At this, a large wave of pride shot through Burn. He could totally do this. After they saw his awesome shoot, they'd let him in no problem. It would be a cinch. "It'd be boring to just show them."
"Meaning...?" One of the other members questioned. He didn't bother to look at the owner of the voice.
"Why don't you give me a test? See if my strength is good enough for your team with your own eyes." Burn gave himself an internal pat on the back for coming up with such a great idea. "Raimon Eleven versus me. How about it? If I manage to get a point from you, I win and pass the test."
"Even though he wants us to test him, he's arranging it all." The pink-haired girl from before mumbled.
"That's some solid confidence." The coach spoke up from behind him.
"I say it because I've got it." Burn grinned, self-inflating his ego further.
Endou nodded. "All right, let's do the test!"
"This sounds kind of exciting!" The largest member of the team said.
He had them. They really were too friendly. He could easily get this point from them. He had no idea what he was worried about. He would get the point and infiltrate Raimon before they knew what had happened to them.
"Tachimukai!"
"Yes!" A scrawny-looking kid answered.
"Want to try being the goalkeeper?"
"Is that okay?"
What? No, he was going to shoot against this Endou that was so special. "Oh, I can't have that. I want to play with the ones who fought against the aliens." Endou looked almost ticked off by this, Burn observed...almost. "Seriously now."
'I'll show you my crimson flames.' He thought.
Burn waited impatiently as Raimon changed into their jerseys and wandered into their formation. He took this excruciating amount of time to study the players. Some of them didn't look like anything special, but a few looked sharper than the others. There was a guy wearing goggles and a cape. That was kind if weird, even for Aliea standards. He seemed to be respected by everyone on the team, and the way he carried himself let on that he was skilled. The spiky-haired midget that was suspicious of him looked weak at first glance, but the gleam in his eyes told Burn that he was a keen observer, and that he knew more than he pretended to. A guy with brown hair that had a blue-haired girl clinging to his arm at all times had an air of experience around him as well. However,he didn't just pick out the strong ones. A skinny guy with glasses and a high-pitched voice instantly stood out to him as the absolute worst out of then. Why was he even on the team?
Finally, they had finished getting into position. "Are you ready?" The ref called out.
"Have been for ages!" Burn answered, relieved that the wait was over. He looked across the field through the other players to Endou. Here was his chance to see how magical this goalkeeper really was. There was no way he'd be able to stop Aromic Flare, obviously, but still.
"Endou! Get ready for this!"
And then the ref blew the whistle. Burn lightly kicked the ball in front of him. Raimon started running forward to attack immediately. Narrowing his eyes and laughing, Burn sent the ball straight into the air, jumping after it. He laughed again at the exclamations of surprise he heard. He didn't blame them; he was incredible and awe-inspiring, after all. He was far better than a human.
Pink hair girl and scarf kid both tried to stop him with their hissatsus, but the striker easily broke through them. Scarf kid leaped up to try and retrieve the ball, but he just couldn't jump high enough. Burn noticed a strange look in his eyes, but payed it no notice. The remaining two defenders, Fatso and Midget, ran at him, but he jumped up before they could get to him just like the other ones. And then Endou was the only player he faced.
"I'll burn you with my crimson flames!" Burn kicked the ball higher than he had in the rest of this short contest, following after it. "Atomic Flare!"
The fiery shoot zoomed down toward Endou. Burn watched intently as he fell to his feet.
"All right, bring it!" Endou exclaimed, getting into position for his hissatsu. Orange energy surrounded the goalkeeper, but Burn could tell that it wouldn't be enough. He smirked.
"Majin the Hand!" Burn hummed in interest. Endou's technique appeared, but to no avail. Burn's shoot blasted through Endou's defenses immediately. He wasn't bad, but he was no match. Burn was honestly a little disappointed-just the tiniest bit.
Endou sat up in the goal area, shaking his head to recover. A big grin came to his face. "That was awesome, Nagumo!"
Nagumo proudly put his hands on his hips. "Of course. If I join, those aliens don't have a prayer!" It felt a little funny to say that, but whatever. "Did I pass the test?"
Endou nodded as he walked up to Burn. "Of course! Let's play together on the team!" Endou grinned even wider and stuck out his hand. "Great to have you, Nagumo!"
Burn extended his own hand and clasped Endou's. For some reason, he felt compelled to compliment Endou's effort. "Majin the Hand wasn't bad." Endou just blinked, making a slightly confused noise.
"Does that mean that he's gonna be a 2-top with me from now on?" The blue haired girl piped up, pointing a finger at him.
Burn snickered to himself. From what he'd seen, this girl was countless levels below him. "I'll be enough as the only forward."
"He's no pleaser..." She muttered.
"Coach!" Endou shouted over at the bench. "Nagumo's joining the team. Is that okay?"
The coach stood from the bench. "I'll acknowledge that you'd be a good asset to the team. But before that, I have a few questions for you."
"...Crap." Burn whispered, forgetting to voice his thoughts to himself. Luckily, it seemed like no one had heard him. "Sure." He called back.
"If you want to fight with us, I'll have the responsibility of watching over you." She said as she walked over to him. "First off, what school are you from?"
He bit back a curse. Why did it have to be the one question he couldn't fake an answer to easily? "I'm actually...homeschooled." Burn said quickly. He felt a bit proud of his fast thinking, but he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"Homeschooled...?" The coach rested her fingers on her chin, deep in thought. "Hm...I hadn't really thought of what to do in that case..."
Burn swallowed. A slight panic rose in him. Sure, he didn't have to come up with a school, but the coach may ask to speak to his guardian or something along those lines. What was he going to say then?
Sure enough... "I'd like to speak to whoever your guardian is, Nagumo. I need to discuss this with them."
He could feel himself starting to sweat. What the heck did he say now...? Wait, no, he could do this. "They're on a business trip at the moment."
"I see..." The coach sighed. "Do you have any relatives around?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Then do you think you could call your parent for me so that I can explain the situation?"
"Yeah." This was it! He could call someone at Aliea and have them pretend to be his parent! "Give me a minute." Nagumo pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, walking off by himself. He called the first number he saw in his contacts. "Please pick up, please pick up...yes!" Burn put the phone to his ear quickly, glancing back to make sure he was out of the earshot.
"Gazel, it's me."
"Burn? Why the hell are you calling me?"
"There's no time to explain. I need you to find one if the adult staff. I don't care who it is, just find one and give them your phone so that I can talk to them."
"What are you...?" Gazel hesitated and then sighed. "...Fine, but if whatever you're doing gets you in trouble, I never had anything to do with it. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up already!"
Burn could then hear the soft clunking sounds of footsteps. Burn's pulse was racing; he couldn't believe that this had actually worked so well so far. Before too long, he could hear muttering and then what could only be the phone being handed over to someone.
"Burn-sama?" A feminine and mature voice answered.
"Listen, I don't know who you are, but I need you to do something for me..."
"...All right. Thank you." After a short eternity in Burn's opinion, the coach hung up with Burn's 'mother.' He didn't know what the random person had said to the coach, but she seemed to buy it.
"All right, Nagumo. Despite some difficulty, arrangements have been made, and I officially welcome you to the team."
"Thanks." Burn said, his confidence back and his precious worries cast away.
"Nagumo!" Endou took Burn's hand once more and shook it vigorously. "Welcome to the team!"
A sweatdrop appeared on his face along with a confused expression, but that was soon replaced by another grin. "Yeah." After all that-Burn had successfully infiltrated Raimon.
I do want to point out that while Hitomiko was/is involved in the Sun Garden orphanage at least to some extent, she clearly doesn't recognize Nagumo at all when he shows up, so I wrote this story with that in mind. He wouldn't be able to infiltrate Raimon if she had recognized him, after all.