Hi again, mina-san!
Here is the third chapter of the story! I hope you're liking it so far. Sorry for any typos I may have missed while editing, I just went to the dentist, so my brain's kinda fuzzy. :/
Anyhoo, you know the drill, read, enjoy, and review! :D
[Edit] I keep forgetting to do this... Disclaimer: I do not own IE Go, that belongs to Level-5. I do own Kimiyama Tori and the three musicians mentioned in the last chapter. (Just some people I made up for plot progression. :D)
Chapter Three
"Tsurugi-kun!" Tori called and passed the ball up the field. Raimon's ace striker received it flawlessly and dribbled closer to the goal. Suddenly stopping, he rolled the ball onto his right foot and lifted his leg so that the ball was resting on it directly in front of him. He then dropped his foot and the black and white orb still floated in front of him. Reaching his right leg back up, he kicked the underside of the ball, filling it and the air around it with a dark energy. As the deep aura crackled and hissed, he stomped his foot and leaned forward. The ball shot off toward the goal, accompanied by his cry of "Death Sword!" Sangoku jumped to catch it, but the sphere shot right past him and hit the net. Tori stood in awe, jaw hanging slack. "Wow…" As Shindou gave Tsurugi a high-five, the girl ran up the field swiftly. "Sugoi, Tsurugi-kun!" She jumped up and down in front of the forward, hands clasped in excitement. "That is one of the coolest Hissatsu Techniques I've ever seen!"
Tsurugi smiled at the kind, excitable girl. "Arigato, Tori-san." Shindou turned to the newest player curiously. "Oi, do you have any Hissatsu Techniques, Tori-san?" The girl, whose position was as of yet undetermined, flushed and scratched her head. "I-I have a couple…" The midfielder smiled at her sudden shyness. "Would you care to show them to us?" He asked gently. Tori twisted a lock of her hair, suddenly nervous. "H-Hai…"
Shindou nodded at Kurama, who tossed him a ball. "Okay, who wants to go up against Tori-san's Hissatsu in practice today?" After a moment of silence, a voice spoke up timidly, "I-I suppose I could…" Hayami stepped forward. Tori smiled at him, her perfect teeth shining. "Arigato, Hayami-kun!" He blushed and nodded silently. Shindou tossed the ball to Tori. "Well then, let's see one." She nodded and took a deep breath. "This is my dribble Hissatsu."
And with that, she took off in Hayami's direction. The poor boy was still unused to her speed, which was not as fast as Tenma, but pretty quick anyway, and faltered a little in his charge toward her. As Tori neared her opponent, she slipped her foot under the ball and flipped it into the air above her. Winking, she skipped forward, the ball landing neatly on her head. She held her arms out parallel to her body and slowly walked toward Hayami, delicately placing one foot in front of the other. Suddenly, she began to spin dizzyingly around him, and images of stacks of books filling the air around the pair. "Perfect Poise!" She called out as she stopped once she was past Hayami, and gave a deep curtsy, the ball rolling off her head and landing perfectly in front of her feet.
She turned around and smiled at Hayami, who was gaping in shock. "Surprised?" The boy adjusted his round spectacles and nodded. "H-Hai… That was awesome, Tori-chan!" Tori grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. "Arigato gozaimasu, Hayami-kun!" Applause exploded from over by the bench, and Tori turned to face the rest of the team. "Wow, Tori, that was AMAZING!" Tenma pumped a fist in the air to accompany his exclamation.
Tori scanned the faces of the rest of the group, turning a light shade of pink as she saw everyone slightly shocked and impressed at what she could do. They looked at her, respect and awe on their faces. All of a sudden, it reminded her of something, and the faces in front of her began to blur. "Eto…" Her head swam, and was suddenly filled with visions of that. That life she had been trying to forget. A beautiful pair of brown eyes, reddish with a spot of black, swam in her vision. "Tori-san?!" She vaguely heard a voice calling her name in a slightly panicked voice before the darkness claimed her. She slumped onto the field.
"Tori!" Shindou was the first to reach her. He dropped to his knees beside her, gently shaking her shoulder. Tori?" He searched her face for any kind of reaction, but there was nothing. He checked her for a pulse, and once he found it, he breathed a sigh of relief. He continued calling her name, over and over. He wasn't sure why he was panicking so much, it was probably nothing, and besides, he hardly knew her. But somehow, he couldn't stop himself from feeling twisting worry in his gut. She had been looking right at him.
"Tori?" Tenma had made his way over and kneeled beside Shindou grimly. "Can you get her inside, Shindou-san? It could be heat, or dehydration…" In the back of Shindou's mind, a little sarcastic voice told him that Tenma was behaving more like he should, and he was overreacting like Tenma normally would. Shindou reached out and gently picked up Tori's limp form, slightly surprised to find that she weighed almost nothing. He turned and carried her back towards the enormous soccer complex, the rest of the team following, whispering worriedly.
Shindou felt a presence beside him, and shifted his gaze from the face of the girl in his arms to another female face, looking sick with worry. "Is she alright, Shindou-senpai?" Shindou pressed his mouth into a line grimly. "I-I don't know, Aoi. She won't wake up…" Tenma appeared beside Aoi, trying his best to smile. "Don't worry, you two. I'm sure there's an explanation. Tori-chan is probably having a bit of trouble adjusting to being here." Shindou looked surprised at Tenma's cool headedness. How was he not running in circles panicking? Maybe he had underestimated Tenma's maturity. No, he hadn't; he had been the one to appoint the first-year as captain, after all.
Shindou's brain was just not working normally, for some reason. Everything was mixed up. Had Tori done this to him? His attention shifted from his thoughts back over to Aoi as she sniffled, tears sliding down her pale cheeks. Suddenly, a tentative arm wrapped around her shoulders, and she looked up to see Tenma, smiling shyly. "Don't cry, Aoi. She's probably fine…" He didn't sound too sure himself anymore, but his words comforted the girl. She nodded, walking along, face pink from Tenma's touch. Shindou smiled inwardly. It's about time… This had been brewing forever.
He looked back at Tori's face, which looked sickeningly pale. Hayami stood, holding the door open for him. Shindou nodded gratefully at the younger boy, whose face was filled with anxiety. Hayami inclined his head and glanced at Tori. "Is she okay, Shindou-kun?" The boy merely shrugged sadly and entered the building.
Once he found the clubroom, he laid the still girl down on one of the couches, and knelt beside her again. Haruna hurried forward, questions spilling from her mouth. "Shindou-kun, what happened?! Is Tori-chan alright? What's wrong with her? Is she awake?" Shindou just shook his head, slightly overwhelmed. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see Endou standing behind him, smiling reassuringly. "Come with me, Shindou. We'll go find a doctor."
Shindou opened his mouth to argue, he wanted to stay with the girl, but the man gave him a look, and he shut it just as promptly as he had opened it. Reluctantly, he stood and followed his coach out of the room, glancing back to see Aoi kneeling beside Tori, whispering. Head bowed low, he trailed along behind Endou, deep in thought. Secretly wishing that he was still in the clubroom with Tori.
Tori's head swam, and she heard shuffling. Murmurs, soft voices coaxing her out of the stuffy, dark pit that threatened to suffocate her. She opened her eyes slowly, painfully, only to be blinded by bright lights. She quickly shut them again, moaning softly. She heard a voice speaking urgently, "Tur… ghts do… ick." Fragments of the words reached her, and she ventured to open her eyes again. The lighting was considerably dimmer, and she blinked a couple times, staring at a white ceiling.
"Tori!" She turned her head to the right and saw a boy there, relief and happiness filling his reddish-brown eyes. They were beautiful eyes… "S-Shindou-san…?" Shindou grinned and nodded, "yeah, it's me. Are you okay?" Tori let out a small breath before answering shakily, "I think so…" The boy's face brightened, and she felt her pale face heat up slightly. "Do you want to sit up?" Tori nodded at Shindou's question, and she lifted her head. He put a hand on her back in assistance, and the color on her face deepened.
Once she was upright, she rubbed her skull ruefully and asked, "what happened?" Shindou took a deep breath, but his explanation was interrupted by the sound of the automatic door, and running footsteps. "Tori-chan!" The dazed girl was embraced tightly by Aoi, as Tenma, Haruna and Endou stood back, smiling. "It's been hours, Tori. Hours! How could you scare us like that?" Aoi now had ahold of Tori's shoulders, reprimanding her. Tori furrowed her eyebrows, as if trying to remember something.
"What happened, Tori-chan? Even the doctor was puzzled." Haruna asked as she sat beside her charge on the sofa. Tori paled, a stark contrast to her previous blushing. She stuttered as she answered, "eto… w-well, I'm not sure, I just kinda passed out…" Shindou frowned slightly at the girl's obvious lie. Aoi smiled, and Shindou inwardly rolled his eyes at how easily she could be comforted sometimes.
The manager gestured at Tenma, "he must have been right. You're just having trouble adjusting to life here. I mean, it's pretty different from Tokyo, isn't it?" Tori nodded a bit too energetically and responded, "yes, that must be it. It's really different. But, I think it's a good different…" She smiled distantly. Endou chuckled, "Well, you better let Haruna get you home, Tori. It's late, and most everybody went home already. Except for these two, and Shindou. We just couldn't get him to leave." The coach of the soccer team grinned cheekily as Shindou blushed. Tori smiled sweetly at the boy, "thank you for staying, Shindou-san." Shindou muttered an acknowledgment, his blush deepening.
Haruna put an arm around Tori's shoulders, helping her up. Tori smiled at her, insisting that she could walk. The woman rolled her eyes and let go of her charge. Tori walked slowly to the door of the clubroom. When the doors swooshed open, she turned back and saluted gently, winking. "Sayonara, mina." And she left, Haruna close behind.
"Well, it's time for everyone else to go home, too. I'm locking the clubroom, so everybody out!" Endou's authoritative words held a hint of amusement. Tenma and Aoi left, chattering about Tori, and Shindou followed silently, baffled. What was wrong with him? He'd never felt like that around anybody before. Tori made him slightly uncomfortable, yet at the same time like he never wanted to leave her. Sometimes, he was at a loss for words around her, and that almost never happened to the serious boy. He contemplated his predicament as he slowly made his way to his house.
All of a sudden, he came to a realization. Stopping abruptly in front of the large iron gate that led to his huge house, he frowned at his thoughts. Did he… like this girl? But he'd just met her a couple weeks ago! He sighed tiredly. Stranger things have happened.
Well, I hope you liked it! See you later!
~Swaggy-chan
