During the next week, all went well, at least I think it is. Every day after school, Misaki, Toshiro and I would returnto the River's Field. Suzumi would always be there waiting for us, with a scowl andsay that we were late, again. It had become a daily routine.

We found that despite being arrogant, sarcastic and that hobby for teasing, Suzumi couldbe serious when it came to soccer underneath. It took me two days to convince Misaki to accept her into the team.

Even during the weekends, we spent playing

Actually, that was the reason why I was late. Having played all day, I had forgotten to finish my homework, which forced me to stay up lateat night to finish it. Consequently, I didn't wake up in time.

I was skating at full speed and—without wanting to brag—I wasliterally speeding on wheels as I skated down the road. Unfortunately, when I'm going that fast, it gets harder to stop because of the momentum.

When I was passing down the street parallel to the river, Igot distracted thinking about the day before. Of course, I ended up crashing into someone.

"Sorry," I hurried to speak, as I helped to gather the books she had dropped on the floor.

"Tudo bem." Seeing my confusion at what she had just said, she translated, "All right."

I stopped to see who exactly I had crashed into. The girl was taller than me (Is there anything new that I must know?) and maybe a little taller than Misaki. Her hair was straight and black, reaching her midback, and a little longer than my own. Her red eyes could carry anything but an aggressive and wild expression the color implied.

"Oh, crap. I'm late," I suddenly realized.

I tried to get up, but without something to back me up, the wheels made it an almost impossible task.

The girl stood up and helped meback on my feet. Once up, I let out a "Thanks," thentook off towardsthe direction of theschool. Not very polite, I know, but the first period was math. I couldn't possiblymiss it!

-X-

Seeing the empty corridors only increased my panic level. When I arrived at the front door of the room, stopped, took a deep breath and opened the door slowly.

Just to encounter an empty room.

"What…" I stared, without realizing that I was talking to myself.

I pulled the phone from my pocket and unlocked the screen to checkforthe time. Turned out,I was one hour earlier.

I sighed and dropped downin my seat. With nothing to do, I took the headset and started listening to music on the phone.

I don't know how many songs I've heard before Sakuraba Noriko arrived.

Sakuraba is a girl in my class, and despite studying together eversince we moved school, we never talked much.

She had orange hair, lying just above the shoulders, with bangs held by a blue hair clip. Her eyes were a dark shade of green and she was always seen with a pocket watch on a chain around her neck.

"Huh? Sato-san? What are you doing here so early?" She said, surprised, whilegoing to her seat, which was in front of mine. "You are usually one of the last to arrive."

"My clock radio musthave broken. It rang an hour earlier and I thought it was late ... "

"It must be awful," she said, putting the folder aside and turning to talk to me.

"At least I'm not late. But what about you, Sakuraba-san? "

"I always come early. Better that than to be late," she chuckled.

At that moment, the room fell silent, mostly because ofthe lack of subject. I thought about going back to listen to music, but then it would be impolite.

"You are from the soccer club, right?" She asked out of nowhere.

"Yes," I replied absentmindedly. "I mean, not anymore," I corrected myself, "I left last week."

"Why?"

"Well, I found something more interesting," I said, looking away.

"It's a shame ... I was thinking of joining the club. I used to play with a friend when I was younger."

"Soccer has changed too much. It's no longer worth playing with the Fifth Sector controlling the results. "

She seemed surprised by the revelation. I don't blame her. This is a knowledge that only those linked to the club have access to. I had to explain the whole story, and ended up talking about the Shadow Cup.But since I'm terrible with explanations, I offered to take her to meet Misaki and Toshiro, who could give a better one.

"So you intend to create a team?" She asked.

I nodded. We continued to talk until class started. Sakuraba Noriko was really a nice person.

-X-

"Strange ..." I commented, "normally we meet on the roof during the break."

Sakuraba and I walked down the stairs. Somehow, Misaki and Toshiro had vanished.

"Maybe they're in the courtyard," She suggested."

But they were not. We had looked for them for almost the entire school.

"At the club room perhaps?" She asked.

"I'm not sure ..." I said thoughtfully, "I have the impression that they are not very close to the club members."

"But if they like soccer, they should be there."

With nothing to lose, we went to the club room. Before the Fifth Sector's appearance, our school hadwon a good reputation insoccer, taking the title from Teikoku, who had beaten Raimon a few years ago. As a result, the building of the club was very modern.

The room itself was no bigger than a classroom. In fact, it looked a lot like one—with chairs in a semicircle in front of a screen. Icouldn'thelp but remember the days when the club members who alwaysgathered here for strategies before a match or just all-out partying. Usually, the boys were the loudest.

But when we entered, the room was empty. The screen was off and the room was a mess. It looked like a hurricane had passed through it.

"They must be training," I guessed, "and they definitely need a new manager. Let's go to the field."

The stadium occupied the rest of the building. By following the standards of the Fifth Sector, friendly matches were played there frequently. The bleachers were a fardistant and not very big. In addition, the field was used as a training area.

Just as I had predicted, the team was really in the field, but they were not training. But Istill couldn'tfind Misaki and Toshiro. Instead, we found the girl who I had crashed into earlier.

She was causing a commotion big enough to stop the practice.

"I think you do not understand," said a boy from the club whom don'trecognized, "Girls. Do. Not. Play. In. This. Club."

He wore a light blue shirt with details in dark blue and the symbol of the school's club, but I had never seen him before.

"A SEED?" I muttered, looking at the other players, only to find they did not know more than half of the club's members.

"What?" Sakuraba asked, confused.

"Agents of the Fifth Sector," I replied, turning my gaze to the boy. He had purple hair, going to just below the shoulders and black eyes. For someone who refused to play with girls, he looked a lot like one.

Without really thinking, I approached and entered the discussion.

"Girls can play as good as boys in a fair game."

"If so, then prove it," he retorted with a smug smile.

"Then we'll do an Attack Versus Defense," Sakuraba suggested, "Me, Sato-san and ..."

"Miyazaki Amanda. Butjust call me Amanda, I'm not used to such treatment by surnames," the girl said with a heavy accent of a language couldn't identify.

"Another defender and a goalkeeper to our side against four of you," I completed.

The boy stopped to think for a moment.

"Let's play then." A familiar voice answered.

Hayate stepped forward and out of the shadows of his companions. He wore the same uniform as the rest of the team and had a serious expression.

"Go get changed in the locker room," the boy said, "we accept the challenge."

-X-

We went and changed in the locker room (because playing in skirts can be rather difficult), I gathered my clothes and started folding them.

"Thank you," Amanda said as she put onher shirt, "I didn't expect the guys of the club were such idiots."

"Neither did I, actually," Sakuraba added, "I feelsorry for Sato-san ... You had to put up with it all year long? "

"No," I replied, putting my clothes in the bag. "The SEEDs only appeared after I left ..."

"SEEDs?" Amanda asked.

"Sato-san talked about them earlier; playerswho work for Fifth Sector, right?"

I nodded, and added:

"They come in the clubs to ensure that orders are followed ... But I've never heard of so many SEEDs gathered at one school only."

-X-

In the field, we formed a line for defense. Without many choices, I chose a defender and a goalkeeper fromthe old team, but they seemed too scared to help with anything.

Hayate—orHay— and Kaoru were in the middle of the field. SEEDs gave the first pass and Hayate, after the receiving the ball, advanced towards our side.

"Raika!" Amanda called.

I advanced towards the boy. He tried to dodge, but I spun my body to block his way. I managed to lock him as he tried to keep the ball while looking for someone to pass it.

"Out of my way, Raika," he threatened.

"Give me a good reason then," I snapped.

He tried to dribble again, but I repeated the motion, increasing his frustration.

"No one gets in the way of the Fifth Sector!" He was clearly angry.

Only at that moment, the idea crossed my mind.

'Hay ... Is a SEED? '

When I realized that, I had alreadyfrozen with the thought, and Hayate dribbled past me easily. He advanced for the free area, without looking twice to his companions.

Realizing this, Amanda dropped her marking and headed toward the boy.

"Loving Trap!" she yelled.

A pink heart drawn on the ground appeared under the forward and the ball sank beneath his feet. The ball reappeared under Amanda's feet and she wasted no time in kicking the ball to the other side of the field.

"The first round is ours," she announced.

Kaoru stared at her, still with his confident look. Hayate was clearly angry and I was still stunned from the revelation.

Everyone returned to their positions. It seemed like Kaoru would make the initial pass again. The purple haired boy smirked confidently, while Hay remained serious. The other players kept their distance, without intending to participate in the rally.

Even so, bothSakuraba and Amanda looked worried. They were sure that I wasn't going to start running very soon, which meansthey would have to defend for themselves, since the other two players on our side had done nothing in the first round.

A four versus five became a one two versus two.

Hay took off straight towards the goal.

'Hay always hated the Fifth Sector ...'

Amanda stood in front of the boy and rushed towards him.

'He who kept the club united when it was determined to defeat. That he remembered not to celebrate the victories ... '

"Choujin Falco!"

A dark blue shadow emerged from his back, forming a humanoid bird. When the fog cleared, the kenshin revealed itself. Covered with white feathers on top and dark blue feathers on the bottom, it let out a menacing sound.

'He...can't possibly have joined the Fifth Sector! '

It was an aggressivemove, Hay almost ran over the girl. Amanda fell back and rolled to the side, leaving the way clear.

The Kenshin disappeared and the boy ran without looking back. Before I could move, Sakuraba came in front of him.

"Thunderous Echoes!"

She clapped her hands once, as if applauding someone, producing a sound like a roar of thunder. The waves were almost visible, and as soon as it came into contact with the boy, he fell back and the ball rolled to the Sakuraba's feet. However, seeing that the other two players of the opponent team came toward her, she made a pass at tome.

I realized that the timing was off, and the ball was intercepted by Kaoru before I could move an inch. He then headed straight for our opening in the defense line and made a goal without much effort.

"Amanda-san!" I called, coming out of my inertia to help her.

"I forgot to ask you not to use honorifics too ..." she said, sitting. "Ouch, that hurt."

"Amanda-san!" Sakuraba called, "are you okay?"

She said something in the foreign language again, but soon corrected herself.

"Hey, I didn'tdie, don'tworry so much."

I returned my attention to the SEEDs on the other side of the field, and I noticed that they were lookingtoward the entrance. I followed their gaze, just to see Misaki and Toshiro entering the field.

The boy thencame to see if Amanda was well, only to receive an annoyed sigh and an "I'm stronger than I look."

His friend was taking satisfactions with the boys on the other team. [Confusing sentence. I don't understand who is this 'friend,' is it Misaki? And what do you mean by 'satisfactions'?]

"What kind of move was that? She could have been seriously hurt! "

"Anything to win for the Fifth Sector," Hayate said as Kaoru smiled.

"It's because of guys like you that I'm not in the club," Toshiro interfered.

"That's why you play with girls?" Kaoru asked sarcastically.

Before Misaki could retort, I approached.

"Where are the club members?" I asked seriously.

"These are the members of the club now. If you're referring to the weaklings from before, they fled as soon as I entered that door," he replied, pointing to the door that led to the club room.

Amanda cursed something in another language (or at least I think she was cursing), but all were silent, with tension hangingin the air.

"A challenge ..." I muttered.

"What?" Hay said, "Are you going to keep your voice low like this forever, Raika?" At that moment, I had the impression that was the Hay I knew, but Iquickly shooed away the thought.

I took a deep breath and completed:

"It's a challenge! We will form a team and beat you. "

"Interesting," Kaoru said, "what are the stakes?"

"If we win, all the SEEDs will leave theschool."

"We'll think of a punishment for you later." Kaoru smirked.

"So it will be a best of three," a new voice spoke.

A boy approached the group. He took everyone by surprise, and it seemedno one noticed him entering the field. He had short black hair and slightly ruffled at the edges and sharp gray eyes.

"Good to see you again, Kaoru." He smirked.

~X~

Bruna: And I'm finally done! Yay! Sorry it took this long. You see, I write this one on a small notebook that I always carry with my, and then I have to type. Then I have to send to my proofreader. Then I translate it and send to another proofreader (Thanks Mae-san!) And-

Azuma Hikaru: Nobody cares. Really.

Bruna: You don't need to be so mean!

Azuma Hikaru: Get on with the debuts already.

Bruna: Ok T.T

~X~

Debuts:

Miyazaki Amanda~ By Keiler-san
Sakuraba Noriko~ By LunarLionHeart
Kaoru~ By myself
?~ By Kusanagi Laevateinn

~X~

Bruna: Happy now?

Azuma Hikaru: Yes.

Bruna: Anyway, it may take some time to finish the next chapter. Blame the Writer's Block!

Azuma Hikari: Anyway, leave reviews! I help Bruna-san in writing. Besides, it's her birthday. It will sure make her happy.

Bruna: Oh, and I'm still accepting OCs for SEEDs and members of other teams. But girls can't be SEEDs… So they will be placed in other teams.