Poseidon's POV
I heard church bells, calling out to me to pull me to my death. Spots of red, no, splatters of blood, blurred my vision. My knees felt weak and I wanted to cower in fear, yet I couldn't move. I was frozen in fear. "No...please..." I croaked as the ball came closer and closer as if in slow motion with bloodstained cherry blossom petals trailing behind.
"Ahhh!" I screamed, and my eyes flapped open, pulling me out of that horrible nightmare. The same nightmare that had been haunting me since I last faced her.
Those liquid red eyes of hers that seem so cold yet almost glows. That gaze was burned in my memory like two drops of blood.
Reaching out and groping randomly at the bedside table, my hand finally closed around a small tin that had the shape similar to of a tic tac box. Quickly I sat up and dumped out two white pills clumsily into my shaking palm, then slapped them into my mouth and swallowed. As soon as I felt it pass the back of my throat, a numbing minty feeling spread to my head like a brain freeze, instantly calming it from the nightmare. I should've taken two of these last night instead of risking with one, then I probably wouldn't have had this nightmare. The nightmares had been getting better ever since I started taking these pills , but last night I had tried to risk it since I hadn't had that dream for three nights in a row already.
I'd give anything to stop having to experience it ever again. Well, not everything. I was a god, and there was no way I was going to give up all I had built up by taking my own life like some suicide victims of Chi Sakura Mai did.
That was why instead, I was going to have to bear for now and hope these pills that Kageyama gave me could leave me hanging on to sanity. So obviously, I did a double take today when I saw on TV that she was on Raimon's team, which I already knew, but that Raimon had won the semi-finals, meaning that I was going to have to face her again, face that fear again when my life flashes on the brink of death even if it was only for a moment. And it was always worst the second time, because then you have knowledge on the shoot and mental preparation. The feeling of that fear forever scarred in your mind.
Day after Raimon vs Kidokawa Seishuu Match; Shizumi's POV
The first thing that flooded my brain when I woke up today was Poseidon, Zeus's goalkeeper, sneering in that voice of his, "I can overcome your hissatsu now. That move won't work on me twice." Maybe it was just a nagging doubt at the edge of my brain, or maybe it came to me from a dream. But one thing's for sure, I had to be careful. Because a bad omen is a bad omen, and things like that should always be faced with caution.
Time Skip to After School Practice
Where the heck did our captain go? It was already twenty minutes into practice, and he wasn't even here yet. Normally by the time I came to the field, he was already doing "special training", a.k.a suicidal stunts that he always somehow manages to survive for another round. Heck, Gouenji and Kidou were missing too, and Domon and Ichinose haven't came back after we sent them to go find the three.
"Oi, Kazemaru! Someoka!" I shouted at the two who were placed in charge until Endou came back whenever that was going to be, "I'm going to do solo training for a while, so practice without me for now!" "Hai!" they replied, but stopped what they were doing to see what I was doing.
I felt slightly self conscious, but never mind. I needed to get stronger. Right now, Chi Sakura Mai was my best bet against Poseidon because he had already seen Kuroi Hane Taifuu and probably practiced stopping high speed shoots. So my plan was use Chi Sakura Mai so he would be broken again, and then spare him the rest of the shoots with normal shots and Kuroi Hane Taifuu.
Checking a soccer ball from the managers out of the tin crate which was somehow actually better kept then Teikoku's, I took it to a corner where I wouldn't be in the way of shooting or dribbling drills. Then dropping it, I stepped up and shot it up directly to the sky, the ball growing so small in the blink of an eye that it disappeared from view. Then three seconds later, it came dropping down, and I bounced it on my knee, taking it back into my possession. Often I did this, as to release stess, improve aim (if I didn't shoot it at the exact angle, it wouldn't come back to me and I'd probably hit someone really hard on the head), and to basically warm up before I used Kuroi Hane Taifuu as it was pretty much the inevolved form of the move with only the wind like Sakuma's failed attempts. I repeated this a few more times, the ball going higher by about a feet every try, until a certain pink haired boy and tealnette walked up to me.
I didn't notice them at first, then Someoka cleared his throat. My head instinctively snapped back, thus seeing the two boys but losing my focus. By the time I turned back to the ball it was already off timing. Still, I jerked my knee up in hopes of somehow managing to get it back under control, but instead it bounced to Kazemaru, who intercepted it and started bouncing the ball on his head before finally catching it.
"Gomen," I apologized. He shook his head, implying that it was okay. "So what is it?" I asked them. Sure, out of all of Raimon, the only people I could play with were Endou, Gouenji, Kidou, Ichinose, Domon, Someoka, Kazemaru, and a little with Shishido who kinda trusted me, it was still a little strange for them to come up to me directly.
"So we saw that sky shot," started Kazemaru, and Someoka finished, "And we think we can make a joint hissatsu with that, the three of us." I widened my eyes slightly. This was a first. Nobody had asked me to make a hissatsu move with them before, as usually I was not a very social person nor friendly seeming at first glance. Even Phoenix Feather had been an accident where I repelled Fire Tornado during a scrimmage game, then we decided to perfected it into a hissatsu.
"So whadya say?" Someoka asked, he and Kazemaru both grinning expectantly at me. On one hand, I was tempted to say no, as I was a player with a solo style and the occasionally partnering up...but on the other hand, it was pretty nice to have some people in Raimon who didn't think of me as a cockroach. And there was also the bonus possiblity of this move being strong enough that we could rest assured victory was going to be ours...
"Let's give it a try," I replied.
"Okay, great," said Kazemaru. Then he called out to his teammates that we would be using one of the goals, so they all cleared to the other side to continue their passing drills, which was now led by Handa. "I have a rough idea of what it will look like," the teal haired boy continued as he squatted to the ground when everyone was off our side, and me and Someoka followed. He picked up a twig and sketched out a drawing of three stick figures and arrows, with labels of 1, 2, and 3 on the heads. The drawing showed 1 kicking the ball up, 2 jumping up with the ball while spinning around it, then passing to 3, who was poised to shoot.
Someoka brushed his chin as he observed the etchings with me. "So 1 will be me using Kuroi Hane Taifuu, 2 will be Kazemaru altering the wind to add rotation to the ball, and 3 will be Someoka using Dragon Crash?" I asked. "Pretty much, unless we alter some of it. The key to this shoot is ball rotation, so make sure your foot follows the rotation I will make instead of stopping it, Someoka," Kazemaru answered. "But Kazemaru, if you want to spin around it as it goes up, then you need to jump very fast and very high," I warned. "Don't worry, the boy used to be in track and field. This is his specialty," Someoka said, smacking the teal haired boy on the back. "Well, let's just try it first," Kazemaru muttered, trying desperately to steer the topic away from his ex-club.
We took our places, me about three meters from Someoka, who stood at the goal. Kazemaru stood next to me ready to jump, but not too close that we would be in each other's ways. "Ready?" I barked. "Hai!" the other two replied. "Here I go!" I shouted as I kicked it up. Almost instantly, black feathers that seem to have came out of nowhere bursted out and followed it up.
Caught by surprise at how fast the ball would go when I used Kuroi Hane Taifuu instead of a warmup, Kazemaru faltered and stumbled, but quickly caught himself and jumped one second late. Just like before, the ball grew to a dot. Kazemaru's speed was nowhere near catching up, and he wasn't even halfway to the ball when gravity overcame him. A few seconds later, the ball came back down and conked him on the head.
"Ouch!" the teal haired boy winced. "Are you alright?" I asked. He nodded while still rubbing the spot where the ball had landed on him. "Looks like it won't work after all," I sighed. "It's too early to give up," Someoka growled at my dejected figure. Then he shouted toward the other side of the field where the rest of Raimon were still practicing, but now with Endou, who had finally came, "Oi! Kabeyama! Come over here for a second!"
"Who me?" the er, shall we say, wide defender came trotting over. I still couldn't get over that first time when he caused a commotion before the Teikoku vs Raimon practice match.
"Hai. We need you to be Kazemaru's stepping stone like you did for Gouenji in Inazuma Otoshi," said Someoka. "Wait, you want Kazemaru to use him as a trampoline?" I cut in, shocked that a member of Raimon would think of such a degrading way to use another member. Even Teikoku nor Kidokawa Seishuu led by the Mukata triplets would do that.
Kazemaru snapped his fingers. "Yes, that's a good idea. I can increase height and speed that way," the teal haired boy said, slamming his fist downward into his palm. In the end, we decided to try it.
"Ready?" I barked. "Hai!" the other three replied. "Here I go!" I shouted as I kicked it up. Already prepared, this time Kazemaru was on time. His speed was slightly slower than the ball, but one second later Kabeyama followed up, and then Kazemaru made impact with Kabeyama's chest, sending him up faster. It almost looked like the ex-track and field captain would catch up to the ball...but then the ball lost altitude.
"Still doesn't work, eh?" Someoka asked as the ball bounced back harmlessly, thankfully, on no one's head. "I think I need to practice with Kabeyama more first," said Kazemaru. The teal haired boy had landed slightly clumsily, as he was not used to the height, but still on his feet. "Sakurai-senpai, can you maybe kick a little less hard?" Kabeyama asked timidly, index fingers pressing together. I tried to hide the sigh at my annoyance that most of Raimon were still scared of me, but my frustration couldn't help but seep into my response, "No, that would make it spin slower, as Kuroi Hane Taifuu is a wind hissatsu and spinning around it is altering the wind, which would rotate the ball. And I can't control how slow Kuroi Hane Taifuu goes, only how fast. If it is too slow it would just be a useless punt. I am already kicking it at it's minimum speed."
Everyone was silent and empty of hope after that. "Well," Kazemaru finally stated, breaking the silence, "As Endou always says, we'll just have to try it until we get it." That seemed to give them a little motivation, though I was in doubt. Would we be able to complete it in time? And even though it is great to have some optimistic practice-craze friends and all, will that be enough to defeat Zeus?
