Disclaimer: Eyeshield is an original master-piece created by Riichirou Inagaki and Yusuke Murata.
Summary: After meeting Eyeshield 21, Shin Seijurou felt his abilities were still lacking and to overcome this, he started to train even harder, at the same time, he meets a red-haired girl from his class who seems to be particularly interested on Oujou White Knights and a unexpected bond was formed between those two…? A romance between a training geek and the daughter of the coach?!
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Chapter 03: The Fallen Kingdom
Shizuka couldn't take her eyes out of the match, she thought she'd finally see Oujou's victory for the first time in person, but... They were losing the match, and from what she overheard, Shinryuuji's ace wasn't even playing.
Her eyes flickered, she felt the same apprehension as the players, her eyes landed on her father: he had crossed arms and a severe look on his face, his lips were curved down, of course he' be worried about the team. Sakuraba was sweating a lot, notwithstanding, he seemed ready to enter the match any time.
Shin talked something to the coach during the interval, but she couldn't listen, she only noticed that the members did not agree with him and he clenched his fists, something rare to her, Shin demonstrating his impatience. She only got more concerned about the result of that match, she wanted, from the bottom of her heart that they were the winners.
When the match ended, she couldn't believe her eyes, the reporters and many other people commented about the fallen Kingdom, the dynasty of Oujou has ended. When she noticed, there were tears forming on her eyes.
"E-eh?" she swiped her tears confused, and before someone noticed, she vanished among the people.
Torakichi cried out loud and huffed Shinryuuji Naga. It was when Agon pitched a ball to strike him, leading both Monta and Sakuraba to block it. Sakuraba declared his determination to win on the incoming fall tournament that would take place in two months.
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Shizuka walked away amidst the crowd, perhaps, because it meant so much for her father, she lamented their loss at the tournament after seeing how much they took efforts. They had to train even harder if they wanted to overcome that immense wall. Even though her father always told the losses were part of growing, she still had some tears to shed in their sake.
While she was distracted, she bumped into someone, and stepped back. Her nose hurt and she touched it for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she had to raise them to look at the tall individual in front of her. He was a player of Shinryuuji Naga, he was carrying a bag with the team's logo on it.
"H-huh, I'm sorry…" she bowed briefly.
"Ah, no, no… Pardon me…" Agon smiled slyly under the façade of a kind man "I was the one at fault… I should have been more cautious…"
He felt a shiver run down her spine, even though there wasn't a single hint of malice on his expression, her intuition told her he was not a trustable man. She stepped back by reflex, but when she did, his hand was already around her shoulders and he brought her close. How could he grab her shoulder so fast? Her heartbeat accelerated for a moment.
"If you allow me, I'd like to reward you for being so rude, if you come with me I will-"
"I'm not…" she interrupted him, but, on the next moment, she felt an eerie sensation and instinctively pushed him away.
Agon avoided her push by giving a short step back before she hit his chest. She perceived his gesture as well and her eyes only showed more awe.
"I will refuse your offer… I-"
She didn't have the chance to finish her refusal, the only vision she had was that of his hand coming menacingly, would he really hit her out of the blue? However, before his hand touched her, it stopped only a few centimeters from her face, his fingers almost brushed on her cheek, the reason for that…?
"Shin-san…?" she was stupefied, on the other hand, Agon had a frown on face.
The linebacker had stretched his hand and firmly hit Agon's chest, slightly pulling the man back in a way that threatening hand did not touch Shizuka. The genius player smirked once more after seeing the black-haired with a stern and intense expression, one that told him to not mess around as he pleased.
"Kongou Agon, what are you doing?" he questioned.
"Tsc." He lowered his hand and adjusted his sunglasses "I was only apologizing for bumping into her, you don't need to make this hell of a serious face."
"…." Shin frowned.
"Well, see ya."
He wavered his hand, going away with his wicked grin on face, and the linebacker watched him until he was out of sight. Shizuka was still confused about the situation:
"Ah, Shin-san… What are you doing here…?" she touched her chest feeling as her heart calmed down after that maleficent man was gone.
"….." he stared at her for a second before answering calmly, the whole irritation and intensity of his expression had just dissolved into nothingness. "Shoji Shizuka, the coach was searching for you."
"Ah, sorry, I ended up separating from everyone… H-huh, thank you for coming." She bowed nervously. "By the way, don't call me by my surname, please, it's strange, you also don't call my father by that name, right?"
"…..."
He simply closed his eyes and walked away, sometimes she wondered if she would come to understand him some day, since his personality was so quiet and inexpressive, yet, differently from the sensation she felt about Agon, she sincerely trusted she could follow his back.
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After the incident with Agon Shin and Shizuka reunited with the team again. The aftermath of Shinryuuji against Oujou worried Shizuka, and she was pondering thoroughly. The red-haired casted a brief glance to her father, he snorted watching some strategies, her brows curled forming a worried expression.
"Shizuka-chan, is there something bothering you?" Sakuraba asked trying to be gentle and polite.
"No, there's nothing…" she smiled falsely in response. "It's just… After seeing this match I kinda of understand why you were training so hard…"
"… Shinryuuji are…" the receiver casted his gaze down "The strongest team so, you shouldn't use them as a standard to measure Oujou's forces… We…"
"Hey!"
Torakichi used his chair to hit her legs, he was irritated, Shizuka's legs wobbled and she lost her equilibrium, but Sakuraba supported her back with his hands, impeding her fall.
"Torakichi!" he said in a scolding tone.
"She is looking down on Oujou! Sakuraba is the best! Oujou will win, they're much better than Shinryuuji, did ya hear?!"
"Ah…" she giggled and stood up alone again "I know… I'm not saying they're bad…"
He was right, she shouldn't worry, after all, it was her father training them. She bent her body a bit to ruffle his hair, the boy blushed a bit after seeing her smile, even more because it looked radiant when she proffered the next sentence:
"I believe in Oujou too."
Some rays of the sunshine illuminated her face, there was faith imbued into her smile and her words were like a warmth breeze in a cold day. Torakichi blushed even more for a moment and averted his face.
"T-then don't say those sort of things."
"I won't…" she looked up at the sky, as her true feelings dwelled even further inside her heart.
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The days passed fast. During the summer vacation, Oujou white nights training would be on Mount Fuji.
"Eh? Father will take the team to mount Fuji, Sakuraba-kun?" Shizuka raised a brow.
"Yes…" Sakuraba smiled concerned "It seems he did it with the previous generation of the team… Many members are excited about it… I also think it will be good to prepare for the autumn tournament…"
The young idol was passing by some sort of change, he seemed weary in many ways and wasn't giving much attention to his appearance which caused his fans to mourn over him like they had lost their brilliant knight on armor.
"Mount Fuji, huh…" her eyes wandered on the sky outside for a moment
"What's wrong…?"
"No, I've just remembered I climbed the mount with my sister once…"
"H-huh? You?" he was astounded. "So, coach doesn't take it easy even with his daughters…" he thought feeling some sort of fear of what awaited for the in the training.
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Training Camp on Mount Fuji
Sakuraba had been escaping from the manager of Jari Pro. He was trying to train harder, every time he looked at Shin, he asked why the linebacker did ten times the exertion of the others, and how he could handle all the harsh trainings Shogun allotted him with.
He wanted to grow too, as an athlete, he wanted to show he also could get better ad fulfill his promise with Torakichi. That dilemma only swelled up inside him, the more he tried to catch up to Shin's pace of training, the more he noticed he wouldn't be able to reach on the level of his friend.
While he climbed Mount Fuji following the back of the black-haired, his legs hurt, he felt so tired he wanted to stop, but as many times as he thought about giving up, he saw the back of that man, he run ahead, so far. His efforts looked inutile. No matter how long he tried to stretch his hand, it would never reach that person, he'd never be able to be on the same level, then… Why? Just why was he even training?
He admired Shin and his talent, and in part, he was worried since his friend was never a sociable person, but at the same time, he felt jealous, for him Shin was both a great friend and a rival. That talent he could never surpass, the unreachable heights he would never grasp. It pained the bottom of his heart.
During the training inside the gymnasium, he was feeling completely demotivated. If he couldn't surpass a genius, he shouldn't try to begin with. Because of this feeling of dejection, he had a fight with Takami, but somehow, after comprehending the true reasons behind Takami's irritation, his determination was reborn.
After the training was over, each one of them had improved on some aspect be it their abilities as players, or their mental strength.
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Sakuraba's spirit was lifted and he looked like a true football player when they came back, the red-haired didn't fail to notice he had changed, not on his appearance, but his posture and way of talking was renewed.
Shizuka was admired with their determination, she watched closely the trainings on the school field and was enthusiastic about the fall tournament, but they still lacked the understanding of her reasons to be so happy about it.
"Shizuka-chan you look animated …" a drop of sweat rolled down Sakuraba's face when he commented worriedly.
"It's the first time I'll be watching an entire tournament." She answered quickly.
"First time…? Huh?" the brown-haired idol was perplexed "How…? Have you never watched one before?"
"I'd like to, but there were some complications here and there, and I've never watched an entire football tournament…" she admitted a bit abashed. "The first time I had ever watched a game was during your match last spring…"
Shin and Sakuraba stared at her with some sort of astonishment, she blushed nervously dismissing the matter. It has been only two months since she started talking to them, but they were already good friends… A lot of things could change on a single month was what she thought. Maybe, entering Oujou was the best choice she has made on her life.
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Two weeks before the fall tournament started…
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Shin was running on the straight roads near the lake's shore. His heart was in flames, even more prior to the tournament. Everyone was talking about the fallen Reign of Oujou White Knights, it was one of the only things that bothered his usual calm self, when people underestimated his team and made it look like their efforts were in vain. Thus, he was training twice harder to show it was a mistake to think like that, even though their team had lost the players from the "golden generation".
Sakuraba has finally awakened for the team too, it motivated him even more. He knew Sakuraba would be able to become a great player, that trust was something he might not display often, but it was carved into his heart. While distracted with those thoughts, he passed by a certain girl. If not for her voice, he'd never recognize her by the face, since he had a serious problem in remembering about people's face traits:
"Ah, Shin-san…" she beckoned.
He stopped for a moment and nodded briefly to greet Shizuka. That girl has gotten so attached to the team she was practically acting as a second manager, helping Wakana, although her father usually scolded her for entering the club room without being formally a member, though, most of the members didn't really care since she looked like a fresh breathe of air among those sweaty men inside the room.
His stoic behavior always caused him troubles. People usually labelled him as a man who wasn't fully aware of his surroundings, which was not true, he could perfectly pay attention, he just didn't find particularly necessary to interfere on every little matter, but there was something right now he felt he should take a position:
"If you like the team, why don't you ask coach to be the secretary? Wakana is the manager, but if you ask coach, I'm sure you could be the secretary and help her…"
Shin's suggestion startled her a bit, since he never had really talked something to her, but her face indicated she wasn't inclined to accept that:
"Ah, the team is fine with Koharu-chan…" she gestured fidgety.
Maybe he shouldn't have suggested. She seemed really troubled. It was clear she was hiding her true motives, but he couldn't possibly pry onto people's affairs. He greeted her and turned back to run again.
She watched his back as he took distance, what she really wanted to say was still stuck on her heart. It was not that she didn't want to enter the team too, but… There was a good reason why she had never seen a football match or even become the secretary, if she only could…
Before she had the chance to resolve those bitter feelings burning inside her, she heard a strange sound. Was it a motorcycle? On that straight path? When she turned back, she confirmed her suspects, there was a rider driving uncoordinatedly at full speed, she hurried her steps, running a bit to catch up to Shin until the distance reduced, but…
"Shin!"
She called out loud, he turned by reflex, but the next second brought more desperation: the motorcycle was already going towards his direction, one more second it surely would collide with him. Her eyes widened, what could she possibly do? The only vision reflected on her eyes was that motorcycle and she could predict well what would happen.
Before she knew, she has jumped in the middle of the route, the rider reduced and tried to turn the motorcycle to the other side, but it didn't work well, he has lost control of the vehicle.
Why did she do that? When the linebacker could catch a glimpse of the scene, his eyes widened too, his legs instantly ran to impede the accident, but it was too late, when he stretched his hand to pull her backwards, the vehicle had already collided.
Before the motorcycle crashed with Shizuka's body, the rider tried to change the course, but it still hit the right side of her body. Both the rider and the vehicle rolled down the small cliff leading to the lakeshore, the strands of her scarlet hair brushed against his fingers, yet… Shizuka also fell down the cliff.
If he had noticed a second earlier, if he had the same reflexes as Agon, that wouldn't… Why? Why did it happen? Inside his eyes the only image reflected was the unsettling scene, an unreachable place. He couldn't catch her before she fell in the end.
Shin instantly slid down the cliff and approached her, she grimaced, holding her right arm, there was a cut on her head and some bruises on her legs, but her uniform was stained with…
"Shizuka!" he called her last name for the first time.
He should take her to the hospital, but on that state, he needed to call an ambulance as fast as possible.
Her vision was blurry and she tried to mumble something, but… The words never came out, she stretched her hand, but ended up losing her consciousness. What… What should he do…?! Coach's daughter has… the heavy sense of guilty corroded his insides, If only he was a second faster like Eyeshield 21… If only…
