"Huh..." A girl with beautiful silky and shiny black hair that flows all the way down to her waist looked down from the soccer stadium at the winning team, Inazuma Japan. The wind blew, it was almost autumn... she shook out the leaves that got stuck in her hair out with slight annoyance. "So that's soccer." Honda Romi watched as the captain of Inazuma Japan, Endou Mamoru, leaped into the air happily with his team mates surrounding him, raising the cup up proudly.
"Miss, would you like something to eat?" Beside her, a staff member offered a tray over. Romi scanned the items on the tray.
"Hm... then I guess I'll choose this orange." Romi smirked and took an orange from the tray, but to everyone's surprise, instead of just eating it, she took out a stick, threw the orange up in midair, and bat at it with the stick hard. The orange soared above the crowd's head and towards the goal.
"Huh?" Mamoru's sister, Endou Junko, was located in front of the goal. She stared at the orange spinning high-speed towards her. By goalkeeper instinct, she made a grab at the orange, causing it to spray juice all over her face... she was definitely not happy. But it's quite amazing... that strength and speed. She looked towards the crowd to see who had hit the orange, but at that time, Romi had already left the stadium. Inazuma Japan... be prepared for a shock tomorrow.
The team said goodbye to their fellow rivals and friends from the other international teams. When suddenly, there was an announcement... "Inazuma Japan, please come to the peacock stadium immediately." "I wonder what happened?" Mamoru said while in the middle of saying goodbye to Fidio. "The flight has been delayed, too." Fidio remarked as Mamoru's grandpa and Rococo headed back towards them. "We'll go with you, Mamoru."
"Y-yeah..."
The teams head towards Peacock Stadium with Mamoru in the lead. A figure suddenly appeared to greet them in front of the gates. "Welcome, Inazuma Japan." The voice sounded awfully familiar to Junko for some reason. "I'm glad that you could come."
"More like we were forced to because of the announcement..." Rococo sweat dropped.
The stranger went on with a cool voice, "Please proceed inside." She was just about the turn and go in when Gouneji Shuuya grabbed her. "Yes?"
"Why exactly did you call us here." Shuuya asked with a menacing glint in his eyes. The stranger did not even flinch. She stared calmly into Shuuya's eyes and replied with the same cool voice from the beginning, "You are here for a match."
"A match?" Kidou Yuuto was the one who spoke this time.
"Yes, a match with us, Inazuma Japan." It was a different voice this time, the teams looked up to see a beautiful dark haired girl leering down at them on top of the stands. "I am their captain, Honda Romi, pleased to meet you." The girl's tone was polite, but no doubt, cold.
"Lier, we're Inazuma Japan." Tsunami Jousuke said with confusion. "Are you saying there are two Inazuma Japans? And since when did the captain became a girl?" He received a cold glare from Romi.
"In our hometown, questions can not be asked." Said a boy with grey wavy hair and brown eyes. He was also expressionless. Man, where do these guys come from? Mamoru thought as he stared at the players from one to another. All of them had perfect features on the outside, but somehow, they look dull and bored. Their faces look as if they were carved from stone, none of them showed any specific feelings.
"This match is quite special." Just when the air was running cold, a boy with brown hair that were shaped like whirlwinds appeared from behind Romi. "It's a baseball plus soccer match. Please come in." The boy beckoned the teams inside the stadium. The first years were quite reluctant and were glancing at the other Inazuma Japan players with nervous glances. "Don't worry, they don't bite." The boy laughed as he pulled Kabeyama and Kogure inside. "I'm Mats- I mean, I'm Sato Showtaro by the way." This boy was quite different from the others, he was bright and cheerful.
Once they finally saw what the field looked like, Mamoru started to understand why Gorou said this was a baseball plus soccer match. There was a home plate and the other three bases. There was also a bat on the ground, while two walls opposite of each other were goalposts. "How are we supposed to play this?" Mamoru was stunned as Romi tossed him a baseball. "We don't play baseball..."
"Easy," Romi put on a cap and turned it sideways a little so that only her right eye was shown. She picked up the bat and walked towards home base. "You can use either this bat or your leg to hit the ball." Romi explained, "I'll demonstrate it first." She beckoned the grey haired boy from earlier to the pitcher's hill. The grey haired boy prepared to pitch. "Ready when you are, Gibson." Romi said. Takehito Gibson was his full name, Mamoru guessed that he's probably a mix or something, even though he looks more Asian... Takehito pitched the ball, to Mamoru's astonishment, Romi stuck the bat into the ground and used it to hoist her body upwards, she kicked the ball with her foot.
"Homerun!" Showtaro cheered, "As expected of captain!"
"Your captain looks as if she knows how to play soccer, though." Yuuto said with suspicion spiced in his tone.
"You have a point there, Kidou-kun." Junko murmured, "There's no doubt that she's a baseball player, but that leg power..."
"You can also score by kicking the ball into the goals." Takehito dedicated to the two walls. "Is everything clear?" The Inazuma Japan soccer team nodded roboticall... Whata strange match.
"Sound fun!" Mamoru said cheerfully, as usual.
"Let us start then." Romi pulled her cap straight and swung the bat over her shoulder.
"Wow, that was some match..." Mamoru said, sweating. "I never knew baseball and soccer could be this fun when played together!"
"I know right? Soccer is the best sport ever." Mamoru looked up in surprise at the speaker, it was none other than Romi. The wind blew, Romi's cap fell off her head. Mamoru could see her face clearly now, she was smiling.
"Who are you, exactly?" Yuuto came along to stand beside Mamoru while the rest of Inazuma Japan baseball team came and lined up behind their captain. They looked quite different compared to when the two teams first met. Everyone had a soft smile on their face.
"Thank you for teaching us what soccer is." Romi bowed towards Mamoru and the others. "It's time to say goodbye, I guess..."
"Y-yeah..."
Romi looked towards the side, "Ten years ago, Inazuma Japan lost the match because their captain got severely injured from an accident that was deliberately caused by a rival team's coach. Because of that, soccer disappeared from Japan as time passed by. Baseball took over once again. But... for children like us, we still remember, what soccer is like. Even though we never truly understand what fun it could be to actually play it." Junko could tell that it wasn't only her, but none of the teams really understood what Romi was saying. "The past has been changed, so will the future. That's why I thought that before we disappear, I wanted to play soccer at least once, even if it wasn't real soccer."
"… Well, it was fun playing against you guys!" Mamoru shook hands with Romi, "lets play together again some other time, Honda."
"Yeah..." Romi watched as Mamoru let go of her hand, "Lets." She smiled, "Me and my team will be going home now." She turned towards the gate with her team mates surround her.
"That was really fun, captain!" Showtaro said, jumping up and down beside Romi. "We should do that again some time!"
"Of course we will, Matsukaze." Matsukaze...? Aki thought, turning around to look at the leaving team. Romi nudged Takehito playfully, "You know, that pitch just now was quite weak, work on that if you still want to keep your place as co-captain, Shindou."
"Mind your own business, Garshield." At Takehito- no, Shindou's words, all the international teams spun their heads around to look at Romi.
"Well, as long as we all still love soccer, Raimon 11 will never disappear." Romi said confidentally. Then right in front of everyone, the Inazuma Japan- or should we call them... Raimon 11 started to walk further and further away... then suddenly vanished into dust.
A magical day... Junko thought as sparkling dust blew around in the wind.
But the strange thing after that was... no one remembered that wonderful day, it was as if it never happened... that day had never existed. The teams all went home to their countries, but on this particular day, Mamoru stumbled upon two kids who were probably no more than 4 years old... "Tenma! Wait up!" The girl shouted.
"Yuka is the one who is too slow!" The boy, Tenma, laughed as he turned around to wait for his sister. Mamoru stared at the girl. She had strong similarities to someone he knew... but he just couldn't remember.
"I'm going to tell on you to Romi-nee!"
"Guys, stop arguing!" A long haired girl that was probably 7 years old came behind them.
"...Have I seen you before?" Mamoru asked, touching the girl called Romi's shoulder. The girl turned around and flashed him a smile.
"I don't know, probably on a magical day?" Romi winked at him playfully and began to rush the twins that were quietly stepping on each other's feet to walk quicker, or they'll be late for school.
Mamoru watched the three figures, then he smiled and continued on his way. "Yeah... a magical day."