Title: Onikko
Author: themirrorminder.372259
Main Pairing: Itoshi Reina x Isagi Yoichi, Original Female Character x Isagi Yoichi (Blue Lock). Potential side pairings for other Blue Lock characters TBD (if you really want to see a specific one let me know).
A reviewer requested Nagi and Reo, so I'll try to slide some in during the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I own none of the original characters nor plot of Blue Lock.
Warnings: cursing, innuendo (the high school heckling kind)
**Spoilers ahead**
1) Only read if you have read up to at least manga chapter 151!
2) If you watch My Hero Academia, you'll have some fun with this chapter's side characters. For those that don't watch MHA, don't worry about it, the references are just for fun and have zero bearing on story comprehension.
AO3 Chapter Preview:
"You scared of her answer, Isagi-kun?" Bachira needles.
BIG
HUGE
GINORMOUS
THANK YOU
TO MY BETA:
Alchazar
AND
TO MY REVIEWERS:
- Ichiruki41: tysm for your kind words! Yes, you are totally going to see more of Isagi's two different sides battling it out. As for Reina's true nature, my lips are sealed. You'll get a better feel for her (outside of Isagi's POV) with Sae and Rin's POV chapters!
-Alchazar: best beta ever : D - I'll be staying as true to canon re:goals/teams as possible until I catch up to the current chapters, then I'll have no choice but to branch off a bit. But I have plans for post-NEL that will be extending beyond canon, but I'm super excited for!
-Sexykatsudon: hopefully you enjoy your three favs ;) Thanks for your input re:naming! Yeah, you're right. The others will still call him Isagi (his teammates, etc.) and I'll stick with Yoichi in the descriptions (unless I get a flood of angry reviews telling me it's confusing, which hasn't happened yet so I'm hoping that means it's sensical.)
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave some words of encouragement! It keeps me motivated to put out chapters for you all!
Also thank you to those who left kudos and favourited :D
Onikko
{鬼っ子}
chapter 3 – are you a perf?
He remembers her sweater, but he's pretty certain she's forgotten about him.
Yoichi feels kind of stupid, especially since he intentionally brought the receipt from yesterday. After she mentioned the interview, he decided to use the crumpled up piece of paper to order Reina's excessively complex drink for her today as a "congratulations on your interview," sort of thing.
The stupidly overpriced drink went cold forty-seven minutes ago, not that he's compulsively checking the time on his phone, or anything pathetic like that.
He glances at the flashing numbers on his cell again.
'Make that forty-eight minutes.'
He's convinced Reina won't show up. He should leave, even Megumi-san started tossing pitying looks his way about half an hour ago. But if he leaves… will he never see her again? It's not like he has any way to contact her. He's definitely not asking Rin when he gets back to Blue Lock. The younger striker would probably wonder why the fuck Isagi was asking for his sister's number instead of focusing on the only thing that matters.
'I should be practicing. What the actual hell am I doing here, wasting my time waiting for her?'
Maybe he should indulge his rising anger, throw the stupid drink out, and never come back here again. Or, maybe, he should be forgiving and pass a note with his number to Megumi-san so Reina can contact him. Yoichi scoffs. 'Forgiving? More like fucking desperate. Screw this, I should just leav-'
And like a storm, Reina bursts into the café. Eyes wide, she spots him and immediately rushes over. She nearly trips in her haste when she abruptly stops at his table.
"Gomen, gomen!" She bows, apologizing repeatedly. "I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!"
He could stop her. He could be gracious. He could tell her to sit and relax, because it's fine. But he's fucking pissed, with anger that's been brewing for almost an hour. So, instead, he wears a no-doubt chilling expression, silently waiting on an explanation.
"The interview went really well, and then at the end I went on a lab tour where they showed me some of their ongoing projects. One of the undergraduate students had an issue with the design so they were trouble-shooting, and when he was explaining what was wrong, I had an idea. So I pitched it, and they actually liked it. And, well technically I'm not supposed to do anything since I haven't had the safety training yet. But, since it was my idea Suzuki-sensei said I could stay to see if it worked, and I couldn't say no, and … and I didn't want to say no. So I stayed, and it almost went perfectly. But, then we ran into another problem. They decided to hold a group brainstorming session with everyone, and I figured I had enough time since it was only one when the session started, but then I just got so immersed by it all. Thank goodness Megumi-senpai messaged Mina-senpai to text me, and Mina-senpai lives on her phone so she forwarded it to me right away, or else I totally would have…"
And on and on she goes. Her eyes glisten, but not with tears of apology; rather, they shine with unrestrained excitement. She vibrates with it – a sheer delight and palpable thrill. Multiple stray strands of hair escape from her professional bun, likely byproducts of her running here. 'Or maybe from her brain sparking off so fast, who knows.' Isagi sighs. He's more annoyed that he can't stay angry at her, even though he knows he has every right to be.
She bows again, "... but that's still no excuse for making you wait. I'm so sorry. I feel so terr-"
"Your hair's messed up," he interrupts her rambling. He grabs her by the shoulder to pull her up from her bowed position, because now her repeated prostrating is just getting awkward. 'She's cold.' He gently nudges her towards a seat. "You can make it up to me by going over some reels. I went over some footage yesterday from the French league and there's some positioning options I wanted to show you and get your input on."
"I…. I… " She stutters and then she's bowing again. "Please don't hate me!" (He wonders if it's even possible to really hate someone as bright as her.) "I know I only just came, but I can't stay." (So, then, at least irritation is possible.) "I need to get back. Our trial ends in twenty minutes and it takes ten to speed walk back to the lab. They said today only I can help without all the certificates and red tape stuff, since they can write it off as part of the interview. But, after today, I'll have to do some safety courses before I can return, and those apparently have wait lists for up to four weeks! So I need to go back and-"
There's a twinge of discomfort in his chest. It's almost familiar. 'Actually, it feels…' It feels like that time in elementary school, when he tried out for the J-Youth soccer team and didn't make it. 'Annoying.'
"Could you maybe…" she pauses. "I could help you, just not today." Another pause. "Or tomorrow." Her voice cracks a bit. "Could you come here again the day after tomorrow?"
He shouldn't say yes. Based on the tone of her voice, even she doesn't expect him to agree. So Yoichi knows he shouldn't say yes… but he only has one more week before she disappears. That had been his compromise with the voice. He'd indulge this distraction in short intervals for just this last week and a half; then he'd return to Blue Lock and forget Itoshi Reina ever existed. At least until he had a World Cup in his hand, then maybe… maybe he'd have time for friends.
The striker gazes down to see the back of her neck. He mumbles out a tired: "You'd better not be late again."
She bounces back up to being vertical, and smiles at him so brightly that it sends heat rushing up his neck. "I won't, I promise! Again, I'm so sorry," and down she goes a hundredth time, bowing at the waist and nearly parallel to the floor.
"It's fine, stay standing already. Other customers are starting to stare."
"Sor-" as she rises, he sees her glance at the coffee placed in the chair next to him. He watches as she registers the extra foam and chocolate drizzle. "Oh you… my order?"
"I still had the receipt in my pocket, so I figured I could order it for you. Have it ready as a sort of congratulations on the interview, or whatever. Sorry it got cold." ('Even though that was entirely on you.' ) "I could get you another one?"
Her lips curve, not into a grin but a smile softer than any he'd seen on her. "Thanks Yoic… Isagi -san. But, I'll take this one." She reaches over to the mug, and clasps it with both hands like she did the cookie that first day.
"You can call me by my given name…" He offers as she takes a few small sips, and the striker can't help but smile at her content expression. "I wouldn't mind."
Then any attempt at decorum evaporates as she downs half the cup in one go, and he mentally shakes his head. 'Addict.' Her smile turns playful once more, a bit of chocolate left over on the corner of her upper lip. "Thanks Ichi-kun."
"Yoichi-kun is fine." His smile strains at the edges. He can almost feel an ikari maaku* growing on his forehead at the childish nickname.
"Hmm, I like Ichi-kun. Or maybe Isa-kun? Or Yosagi, or even Isa-ichi sounds fun too! Or maybe-" A trilling beep comes from her phone. It sounds like an alarm. 'She's leaving already?' His chest twinges. She turns it off before looking at him again. "I'll decide on my new moniker for you next time, 'kay?" Her voice weakens, almost hesitant.
He nods reassuringly, having already forgiven her. "Next time."
"Oh, but just in case," she grabs the tissue he had used as a make-shift coaster for her mug, and pulls out a pen from her pocket. He watches her scribble something onto the tissue before sliding it towards him. "It's my number! Text me yours, so if anything delays either of us, we can give the other a heads up!"
"Sure." His heart starts thudding loudly in his rib cage; he doesn't understand why. "And wipe the chocolate off of your mouth before you go see your new boss."
She thumbs off the syrup, before racing out with a jubilant, "see you tomorrow, Isa-kun!" She's half way out the door when she turns back, sprightly as ever when she tosses out a, "I'll drop the mug back off tomorrow, Megumi-senpai!"
The barista just waves a hand in a casual be gone motion.
'She really is like a hurricane.' Yoichi chuckles, transferring Reina's number to his cell phone. At his side, the empty chair next to him still has the bag that he hadn't had a chance to give her before she flew away.
Yoichi picks up the bag holding her forgotten coat as well as his sports bag. He had agreed to scrimmage with some of the guys in a 2 on 2 at Shibuya's Athletico Zone. It's still another hour until the agreed upon meet up time, but Yoichi figures he'll head over early and start warm ups. He brings his empty mug and what's left of the tissue-coasters to the counter. The striker turns, ready to go, when a voice stops him.
"Hey, Isagi-san," he turns to the barista. And miracle of miracles, Megumi-san isn't frowning at him. "Hope you enjoyed your drink, feel free to come again."
'It's silly,' he thinks, weirdly proud with his chin tucked into his red scarf as he walks outside. 'But I think I just got Megumi-san's seal of approval.'
And then he frowns because… it's not like he needs anyone's approval to be friends with Reina. Because that's all it is... friendship. Specifically, temporary friendship. 'And that's… that's all I want, right?'
Yoichi practices with Bachira, Nagi, and Chigiri for three hours straight. That entire time, the messy-haired and coffee-addicted tempest doesn't cross his mind once. Until the post workout stretch, where Bachira straightens out his hamstrings next to Yoichi, while Chigiri stands a few paces away chastising Nagi to not be so languid with cool-downs. "If you're lazy with your stretches, you could injure yourself! Nagi, are you even listening to m-"
Yoichi tunes out the pair. 'It's not like it would matter even if I was interested, since she's not. And I'm not interested in anything either, so it's fine. She… isn't interested, right?' He doesn't have any experience in this realm. Maybe…
"Hey," Isagi starts, turning to Bachira. "If a girl and you agreed to hang out… and she was 40 minutes late… but she still wanted to hang out again… but plans for it to be two days from now and not the next day… even though you've sort of been hanging out daily… does that mean she's not interested?"
Bachira laughs. "Dude, so not my domain."
"Mine neither," Nagi agrees.
Yoichi flushes. 'You're listening to this?'
"Well, did she give a reason?" Chigiri chimes in.
'You're listening too!' Yoichi sighs, defeated. 'Well, the more input the better, I guess. Now, how do I even explain…'
"School stuff," Yoichi summarizes.
Chigiri shrugs while stretching out his own calves, having finished scolding Nagi. "Just because we're off doesn't mean everyone else is exempt from school. Seems like a legitimate reason to be late to your date with her."
"Umm…" Yoichi crosses one leg over the other, to stretch his outer hamstrings. "Well, it wasn't really a date?"
Bachira sits up and crosses his arms. "Now I'm more confused."
Nagi blinks in agreement.
Yoichi clarifies, coming out of his position. "We were just meeting to hang out for coffee. Neither of us called it a date."
Bachira frowns, puzzled. "Coffee seems like a date."
Yoichi shakes his head. "But we had coffee twice before." He recalls her ruined coat and oversized sweater.
"So you're having multiple not-date coffees with her?" Chigiri raises a brow. "Dude, are you sure you guys aren't just friends? I have coffee with friends all the time. Definitely wouldn't call them dates."
Yoichi persists. "But daily?"
Nagi sighs. "Girls seem troublesome."
Bachira nods. "Totally."
Yoichi continues. "And when she was late, she even bowed a bunch and everything. She was super apologetic for missing it. And she's the one who brought up hanging out again and-" He's about to share that she gave him her number, but Chigiri interrupts.
"I think you want us to reassure you she's interested, which we can't really do. Why don't you just ask her instead of us?"
"You scared of her answer, Isagi-kun?" Bachira needles.
"Shut up!" Isagi counters.
"Isagi Yoichi? More like Isagi Yowamushi*!" Bachira quips.
Yoichi retaliates by tackling Bachira, who then collides with Nagi, whose long limbs pull on Chigiri's hair. And then it's a brawl.
'I can't believe we got a 30 day suspension from Athletico Zone.' Yoichi groans as he finishes drying his hair in his room. 'It was just for fun, we weren't even being serious. Still, how embarrassing. At least the worker on today didn't recognize us.' He knows Ego wouldn't give a shit, but Teieri-san seems more involved in the PR side of things for Blue Lock.
I.e. she might have actually flayed the four of them alive if this had gotten out.
Yoichi flops onto his bed, grabbing his cell phone from his nightstand. His fingers itch to message the newest number in his contacts list. 'I barely talked with her today, and we're not meeting up tomorrow.' He unlocks his phone, clicks contacts, and gets his finger hovering over her name before he pauses. 'But she gave me her number to message her about being late only… right?'
He thinks of what Chigiri said.
'Just friends.' He muses. 'But friends... I can text friends, right?' He's honestly not sure… he's only ever texted teammates about practices and games. He texts his parents for logistical things: pick up times, grocery requests, or the rare time his dad asks him to help with an event if the restaurant or its catering team is short-staffed. Yoichi can't remember the last time – if ever – he just randomly texted someone to start a conversation.
[What are you doing tomor]
He pauses his typing, shakes his head, then backspaces. He tries again.
[How did the interview g] he backspaces again, chastising himself. 'She already told me how it went.'
The striker ponders about how else to start a conversation with her. [Did your project trial end up going alrig]
Yoichi flips onto his stomach and muffles a groan of frustration into his pillow. He deletes the unsent message and is just about to give up, when he turns his head and sees the bag with her coat next to his bedroom door.
'Brilliant.'
He unfolds the coat and snaps a photo, sending it to her with a caption. [You left something at the café, Miss Organized Chaos.]
He clicks send before he can talk himself out of it. A few minutes pass without a response. 'Shit, should I have not texted?' He decides to distract himself from his doubt by grabbing a glass of milk. He walks down the stairs, waiting for his phone to ping and becoming increasingly restless when it doesn't.
"Oh, Yocchan! Done with your shower already?"
The striker sees his mom and dad sitting in the living room, watching a movie. He nods back at the pair. "Just getting some milk."
Yoichi enters the kitchen, questioning if what he sent was lame, or if it was too late to be messaging her. 'But it can't be the time,' he pulls a milk jug out of the fridge as he places his phone face up on the counter. 'It's only eight thirty.' He grabs a glass, ready to start filling it when he sees a text typing bubble pop up on the screen in the corner of his eye. He immediately puts the jug back down, and watches the circles blink until they become words.
[How did you get the stain so light?!
O.O
It looks almost new?!]
***A/N: FFN does not allow left align. For an easier time reading the texting conversation, I recommend viewing this fic on AO3***
It really doesn't, but he appreciates the nod to his (actually, mostly Kaasan's) efforts.
[I'm thinking of selling it on Cijiji tonight to pay for your next coffee. How much do you think it'd go for?]
[Don't you dare!
That coat now has sentimental value.
So I'd never forgive you
Ever!]
He's completely unsurprised that she's the type of person who sends a bunch of little messages in a row, instead of one intact message.
[If that pause
is you creating a Cijiji post
I'll be so mad!]
He remembers what she said the first day he met her, about Rin's reaction. He quickly coogles a photo of an angry cartoon eggplant, and sends it her way.
[Do you turn the same shade as your brother when you go postal?]
[OMFG
LMFAO
That was literally him!
:'P]
She laughed at his joke, he bites back a grin. He feels brave.
~So what are you doing tomorrow? Must be important if it's keeping you from your daily dose of diabetes~
[LAY OFF my coffee Isa-Ichi
I volunteer a few times a month at the YCA
help them with homework
play games
That sort of thing.
But they have a sports day tomorrow
And needed extra coaches
And knew I was on holiday
And now I am the proud coach
of the one and only
…
Super Fire Flying Purple Pandas! :D]
[They sound like fierce competition.]
[You know it!
My seven to nine year olds
could make even your BL guys
tremble in fear]
[Sounds about as terrifying as an army of bunnies.]
[A fluffle]
[?]
[It's a fluffle of bunnies.
A group of bunnies is called a fluffle :)]
[Why do you know that?]
[Want to know some others?]
[Sure.]
[Behold my favourites:
a rhumba of rattlesnakes
an unkindness of ravens
a pride of lions
a murder of crows
a prickle of porcupines
a pandemonium of parrots
a cackle of hyenas]
[A cackle is someone thinking you're organized enough to be put in charge of a group of elementary kids. They should probably send you with a chaperone.]
[You volunteering to chaperone me, Yo-kun?]
He pauses. Unsure how to respond.
[It's from noon to four.]
'That's four hours… I could practice a lot of skills in four hours.' His fingers hover over the letters.
[I know you're probably practicing,
but if you're free, you can totally come?
Open invitation!
Or if you need a break?
Volunteers get free lunch.
They're serving it at 1.
And the rugrats are actually lots of fun to hang out with!]
He wants to say yes as much as he knows he should decline. 'But it can be a break, right? I'll need to stop for lunch eventually, anyways…'
[But only if you want.
No pressure.
Sorry, you're probably busy.]
[I need some volunteer hours for school anyways. This would count, right?]
[Yes it does!
And if you bring cans for their food drive
they add on an extra hour of service time!
Is that allowed?
Come join the darkside, Isagi Yoichi
We have cookies.
but not tomorrow, actually. One kid has celiac
so we opted for shiratama dango instead! :D]
'She's actually ridiculous.' With her stupid cheesy jokes and-
"What's got you smiling so much, Yocchan? Hmm?"
Yoichi startles, surprised to find his mom at his shoulder, craning her neck to look at his phone.
"Kaasan!" He yanks his hand away.
"Come on now, who's the little lady?"
'Was she psychic?'
"It's just a teammate!" He stuffs his phone into his pajama pocket.
"My mom-senses disagree. And so does that cute little blush of yours." To his horror, she pinches his cheek.
"Kaasan," he whines, pulling his face away from her pincer grip and looking around desperately for an escape.
"So is this the same little miss whose coat you tried so gallantly to salvage last night? She's got good taste. In clothes and in little men."
"Oh God, please stop." He tries to maneuver around her and the large, empty popcorn bowl in her arm.
"Oh, come now. Don't go yet. You don't want to leave without your milk, right Yocchan?" She nods smarmily at the untouched empty cup and jug still on the counter. "After all, you spent ten minutes getting ready just to pour it." His mom wears a knowing grin that makes his cheeks burn.
"Not thirsty anymore," he mumbles, lost for what else to say. Yoichi speedily steps out of the kitchen.
"So when do I get to meet her?" she calls out.
"I'm going to bed!" He yells back as he steps onto the stairs.
"It's not even nine!" She exits the kitchen, and almost seems ready to chase him down before-
"I think what he means is that he's not ready to answer your question yet, Iyo-chan. Come now, let's finish the movie. I want to know what happens next. Did you finish making more popcorn? "
Bless his father.
Yoichi doesn't have time to thank his father for the timely intervention, the striker just skips up the stairs two at a time until he's back in his room and far away from his mother's inquisition.
[I'll be there at 12.]
He'll wake up a bit early, he decides. 'I'll get a full day's work out and strength training finished before noon.' Then he can spend his time with her guilt-free. 'Just for a bit.'
His phone pings.
[That's perfect!
FYI we have some BLE mini fans that might be a bit starstruck…
You won't be weirded out by that or anything right?
I can tell them to be chill!]
He doesn't think it's possible to just tell an elementary student to 'be chill' but he's glad for her consideration.
[It'll be fine. Are gym clothes okay?]
[Yup!]
[Alright then. I'll bring some cans too.]
[Perfect! See you tomorrow :D
I just gotta finish something up,
But I'll send you all the details in the morning! ;D]
It doesn't surprise him that she's the type to overuse emoticons, either.
Yoichi comes back from his run to see his dad making omelettes in the kitchen.
The older Isagi waves. "You already finished your run? That's surprising, it's barely seven. You're usually not up until at least eight-thirty."
"Just figured I'd get an early start today." Yoichi shrugs, pulling out his ear buds and washing the sweat off his hands in the sink. He breathes a sigh of relief when he notes the absence of his mother.
"Don't look so cautious, she's in the shower. You're safe." His father chuckles. "Want some eggs?"
Yoichi's stomach lets out a loud growl, answering for him.
"I'll take that as a yes." His dad hands him a plate. "Eat up, champ!"
Yoichi inhales breakfast. 'Tousan's cooking is the best.' He briefly recalls the natto overload from his Team Z days, and his stomach revolts.
"So what's on the schedule for today?" The chef sits across from him, eating his own plate and putting a covered one to the side for his wife.
"Gym, training, just that kind of stuff. Nothing much… Oh, actually, before I forget. Do we have any cans or nonperishable food to spare?"
His dad hums in thought. "Probably a few packages of pasta and cans of beans in the pantry. Why?"
Isagi's fork pauses in the air with his last bite. "Well… it's for a food drive…" (and he really should have stopped there) "at the gym."
His father gives him a skeptical look. "A food drive… at the gym ?"
Well he's committed now. "Yup."
The older Isagi shakes his head with a disbelieving snigger. "Well, I'm going to head to work. I've got an early start today. But, sure, take some cans for the… gym's food drive."
Yoichi arrives at the YCA, sporting an "Ichinan Soccer Club" practice t-shirt under his fall coat, and wearing his Ichinan gym shorts under his sweatpants.
"Hello!" An older man calls out from behind the front desk. "Welcome to the YCA. How can I help you today?"
"Hello, I'm a volunteer for the sports day. I was invited by Itoshi Reina. She mentioned that I had to check in and sign some waivers at the front when I got here?"
"Ahh! Reina-chan! Yes, she did mention this morning that a friend was coming to help out. Thanks for being here, I know the volunteer youth group is short-staffed this week."
Yoichi's stomach curls at the word friend , but he blames it on working out for 3 hours straight after breakfast.
"Here they are." The man pulls out some sheets. "Just sign these two after giving them a read. Oh, and it looks like you brought some cans?"
Yoichi nods, giving the cans to the man and signing the papers. They're simple enough, just asking for confirmation that he isn't a felon, and requesting some information regarding him and his school. The striker pulls out his ID and after the man checks through the forms, he stamps Yoichi's hand, passes him a volunteer name tag, and points Yoichi in the direction of gym 2.
As Yoichi heads over, he eyes the bright red smiley face grinning at him from his hand. The crazed expression is weirdly reminiscent of Shidou, and Yoichi shudders at the uncanny resemblance.
The striker takes off his coat just before entering through the open door. Yoichi immediately sees Reina's back. The idiot's standing atop a four foot storage bin pressed against a wall, precariously leaning over it. He quickly comes closer, and realizes she's trying to reattach the loose half of a painted banner saying "YCA SPORTS DAY" onto a hook. Reina continues to stretch out with the corner of the banner in one hand, while her other arm uses nothing but the wall to brace her, much to the distress of another much shorter girl standing two paces away and below her.
"Rei-chan, let's just wait for the others to get back with the ladder to fix it! You're going to fall!"
"Don't worry, Ochako-senpai," Reina replies, not looking away from her outstretched hand. "I got this!" She leans even further over, absorbed by her target. She just about reaches it, "almost there..." And then she wobbles.
Yoichi didn't need spatial awareness to see what was going to happen next, so he's already stepped up from behind the shorter girl to stick his arms and hands up to support Reina by the front of her legs so she remains upright.
"Baka-Reina," he scowls, his grip on her sweatpant-clad knees tightening. "You're so impatient. You really couldn't wait for a ladder?"
Reina shakes off her fearful shock to stare down at him. She smiles brightly, "Isagi-ōji! Back just in time to save the day! And hey, since you insulted me again, you can apologize by staying right there with your arms like that, until I can get this on, okay?"
He rolls his eyes, but doesn't step away.
She leans over again, and he continues to keep his arms up so she doesn't topple over the bin. He mentally regrets arm-day yesterday because they're fucking sore, but she finally gets the stupid hook on without falling. He helps her hop off of the bin, and notices his hands feel a strange chill when they let go of her.
"Told you I could do it, Ochako-senpai!" Reina, the idiot, aims a peace sign towards the other girl.
The shorter brown-haired girl rounds on her, flushed cheeks puffing up. "You could have seriously hurt yourself Rei-chan! You're lucky – Izaki-san, was it? – stepped in to stop you from falling."
Reina smiles, "Yo-kun, meet Ura Ochako, my senpai. Ochako-senpai, meet Izaki-"
"Reina," Yoichi growls out, and she pouts ("sorry stodgy-san,") before correctly introducing him.
"Hmm," Ochako-san tilts her head. "I feel like I've seen you before. Have we met?"
Yoichi flushes but before he has a chance to answer, more volunteers enter from a door opposite to the one he had used. Two carry a ladder and three carry bags filled with various sports equipment. Reina facilitates introductions; he recognizes Momo-san's name and is surprised when he meets Mina-san. With such a bubbly personality, she acts so unlike her older sister that if they didn't look so similar, Yoichi wouldn't believe Mina-san's relation to the grumpy barista.
Apparently the group had initially planned for each volunteer to coach a team and do a round robin with various activities. But, given that they have "an actual Japanese soccer star" (Mina-san's excitable words, not his), the barista's younger sister demands that the group instead set up stations and have the kids rotate through in their teams. Each station hosts a different sport. Isagi, obviously, will be in charge of the soccer station.
The rest agree, then decide to split up into pairs, with each duo assigned to lead a station. One of the volunteers, a Blue Lock Eleven fan, is half way through asking if he can partner with Yoichi for the soccer station, when Mina interjects. She grabs the boy by the collar, dragging him back as she loudly decrees, "Isagi-san gets to be partners with my cute kouhai!" She uses her other hand to point at a bashful Reina. "Better take good care of her, soccer star!"
And so Yoichi finds himself setting up a soccer skills station with Reina.
"So how do you think we should set it up?" She asks, eyeing their not-huge section of the gym.
Yoichi shrugs. "We can have them practicing dribbling on one half, and shooting on the other," he explains. "And then they can scrimmage at the end. How does that sound?"
Reina nods. "We don't have proper nets, but we can be creative. We can also add some passing practice before the kids play."
The duo line up some pylons for the kids to dribble through, and tape borders of a goal onto one wall. Then they create a second makeshift goal by using two bins to act as posts. While Yoichi finishes up with the second bin, he notices her drawing on a piece of paper. Curious, he approaches to look over her shoulder. He sees STATION inscribed at the bottom, but above it…
His brow quirks.
'Is that a…'
"Are you… drawing a cabbage?"
"Excuse you?" She scoffs. "It's obviously a soccer ball." She motions to the scrawled blob that looks exactly like a warped cabbage. "See?"
Yoichi just nods, because he picks his battles.
(He still grabs the marker when she isn't looking, and scribbles SOCCER in big letters above the cabbage, just to avoid any confusion.)
"Can you sign my backpack!?"
"Can you sign my water bottle!?"
"Can you shake my hand!?"
"Can you shake my hand, too!?"
"Can I have a head pat!?"
"Can you show me your kick!?"
"I wanna see your kick too!"
Yoichi flushes. The first ten minutes any group enters their station ends up going the same. Reina doesn't seem to mind the recurring disruption though, using the time to entertain the kids who don't know him, until his mini fans are sated enough to begin their station's activities.
Some fawning over Isagi Yoichi, some dribbling, some shooting practice, some passing practice, and a mini scrimmage. Every forty minute round goes the same.
Until the Super Fire Flying Purple Pandas, Reina's original team, make an appearance. From the group, Yoichi meets seven-year-old Hatsu Mei, Reina's "little sister" in the YCA mentorship program.
I.e. The little brat who dubs him "the Great Reina-teichou's assistant minion," much to Reina's unfettered delight and lack of corrective action.
The little gremlin hounds him to the point where he's certain the demon is going out of her way to provoke him. Of course, her antics all 'coincidentally' happen outside of the line of sight of her lauded Reina-teichou. First, the gremlin 'accidentally' spills her water on his shoes. Bothersome, but sure, mistakes happen. But, then, she 'accidentally' spills her refilled bottle on his head when he's sitting. Then, she 'accidentally' trips while holding a marker that 'coincidentally' happened to be without a lid, drawing a long line of purple on his arm (his reflexes are all that spare his clothes). Oh, and she makes exaggerated retching noises whenever he tries to compliment the other kids for their efforts. After he dodges her 'stray' kick (clearly aimed for him) during shooting practice, only for it to almost hit another child, his patience dissolves.
He pulls her to the side as he sternly reprimands her, "that's enough. You could have seriously hurt that other kid. You need to stop acting out."
The holy terror responds by rushing towards Reina (whose back is turned while helping the other half of the kids practicing dribbling). The evil goblin clamps itself onto Reina's thigh, crying loudly. "Reina-teichou, Reina-teichou! Your minion is being mean to me. He yelled at me!"
Reina pats the girl's head, and looks towards his approaching form with poorly contained amusement. "Guess you're not great with all kids after all, huh, Isa-ichi?"
Yoichi glances at the fiend glomped to his partner's leg. The shorty turns her face to reveal beady eyes and a bloodthirsty grin, more beast than child.
"Guess not," he shrugs, utterly exasperated by the child's antics.
Reina ruffles the creature's hair, "would you like to join this side again until the game, Mei-chan?"
The beast puts her wobbly smile back on before turning up to face Reina. The little actress nods, releases Reina's leg to hold her hand instead, and the entire scene is thankfully over. That is, until the blond boy that Mei's shot nearly decapitated runs over to come to Yoichi's defense. "Mei-chan is lying, Reina-san! She nearly hit my head because she was trying to shoot at Isagi-san instead of the goal!" The child proceeds to unnecessarily add, "Mei-chan just has bad aim, so she missed. Like always!"
Reina gives a small frown, kneeling next to Mei. "Is that true, Mei-chan?"
Mei shakes her head. "Of course not, Reina-teichou." She turns to scowl menacingly at the other child. "I have great aim. It was always coming for your big head, Monoma-Baka!"
Yoichi sighs, grabbing the blond by his waist to halt his angry sprint over to the girl. He flinches when the kid's stray heel kicks into his thigh, still sore from the weighted squats he did two days ago.
Somehow Reina de-escalates the situation. And somehow, that involves Yoichi being voluntold to go with Mei so the beast can retrieve her juice from her bag.
"To make amends, Yo-kun." She replies when he pulls her aside to ask why she's assigning him to the unpleasant task. She pokes his cheek. "And smile some, striker. I know you're having fun!"
"Yeah," Yoichi says blandly, glancing at the little gremlin impatiently tapping her foot just outside of hearing range. "Fun." (Honestly, he was enjoying himself until this Mei-shaped blip in his day).
Reina gives him a half smile. "Mei-chan takes time to warm up to people. She's not athletic, and other kids bug her about it. So, she was probably really stressed out about today, and only came because she thought I'd be her coach the entire time. Then she learned you being here meant we switched up the plan, and she'd only be with me for forty minutes. I know she can act out sometimes, but, be a bit forgiving with her, yeah?"
'So she's jealous I get to spend the day with you, and she doesn't?' Yoichi knows he should be mature i.e. not internally gleeful over his win against an unruly seven-year old. And yet, his still-damp shoes disagree. The runners uncomfortably squelch as he walks the beast-child to the bleachers, where they kept the kids' backpacks. They both sit; Yoichi lets Mei rummage through her snacks while he watches Reina set up and referee the scrimmage.
Her baggy t-shirt slips a bit from where it sits on her shoulders, and he tries not to be too entranced by the slice of her collarbone that peeks out.
"Why are you staring at Reina-teichou like that? You're weird."
"I'm not!" He flushes.
"Are you being a perf?"
Yoichi raises a confused brow. "A perf?"
"Yeah, a perf. Megumi-san told us at girl's day last month that guys who stare at girls when they aren't looking are perfs," She waves her juice box at him. "And she said we should always stay away from perfs, and warn other girls about perfs too!"
'Fucking hell.' How does that damn barista manage to find ways to torment him even outside the café?
"No, I'm not a…" He's definitely not correcting her pronunciation because the last thing he needs is the kid's parents asking her how today went, and a devious Mei telling them that Isagi Yoichi taught her what a pervert was. "Did you like your juice?" He deflects, hoping the kid will buy the redirection. She thankfully does. 'Maybe small mercies exist, after all.'
"Yup! It's fruit punch, and I love-!" This time when she waves the container, more than a few drops of pink end up on his light-coloured sweatpants. He barely restrains an outward grimace. "-love, love, love fruit punch! It's my brain juice."
"Brain juice?" He asks distractedly, thinking on the extra time he'll need tonight to get the juice out of his clothes. 'I'll need to pick up some more stain remover on the way home. I used up a lot of it trying to fix Reina's coat.'
"Reina-teichou is really smart, and I'm really smart." The child points to herself, then points to her beverage container with resolute eyes as she sagely asserts, "brain juice ."
Yoichi just nods mindlessly, happy to follow seven-year-old logic if it leads them away from talking about perfs.
They return to the scrimmage, on slightly better terms. Five minutes in, the not-so-unathletic Mei manages to score a goal. It's more luck, actual luck, than anything. The ball bounces off her very offside position into the net after her teammate's wayward shot bounces off another player, and then her, while she's leaning away to avoid being hit. Still, he finds himself entertained by her animated cheering.
"Doesn't count!" Monoma objects. "It was with her knee and not her foot!"
Mei looks heartbroken, but before Yoichi can speak up, Reina beats him to it.
"If anything, that makes it an even better shot! Great job Mei-chan!" The younger girl visibly lights up at Reina's praise. "Really skilled goal-keepers know how to figure out where a ball is going based on the angle of a shooter's foot and body. But even the smartest goalie can't tell where the ball is going when it comes off the knee!" She points to Mei's knee as she coaches. "The knee is a mix of concave and convex…. Uhh, it's… wobbly, instead of straight. So that makes the angle of the shot bounding off it unpredictable for keepers."
Monoma nods. "So we should try to score with our knees instead then?"
"No! No, definitely not. You still want to…"
Reina's explanation fades as Isagi considers her words. 'As if any professional player would ever choose to take a shot with their knee instead of their foot.' He internally scoffs . 'There's minimal control; it's stupid advice.' But it's not like any of these kids are gunning for the Champion's League, so he doesn't bother correcting her.
Eventually, the kids cycle through all the stations and start being picked up by their parents. He's a mix of flattered and embarrassed when some of the parents recognize him and congratulate him on a great game. A few of them even ask for pictures of him with their kids.
Mei cries when she's separated from Reina. The gremlin locks onto her thigh again, wailing. Apparently Mei's family is going on a month-long trip to South Korea, and she's worried that Reina will forget her. Reina's very gracious about it all, quietly reassuring Mei before handing a pleasantly subdued child back to the relieved and grateful mother.
The volunteers start cleaning up gym 2 once all the kids vacate.
"You aren't terrible with kids," Yoichi comments, as they finish pulling tape off the wall.
"Oh, what's this? An almost-compliment from our resident celebrity soccer star, the one and the only Mr. Isagi Yoichi?!"
"Brat." Yoichi rolls his eyes at her. "You're about as disorderly as someone their age, so I'm not entirely surprised you get on well with them." He dodges a playful shove from her. "Call me curious. What did you say to finally calm her down?"
Reina goes to collect the orange cones from the ground. "I told her I was going to assign her to a very important mission: to bring me back a bunch of stories of all the fun things she did in South Korea." Reina sighs as she grabs the balls Yoichi collected and puts them into a netted bag. "I'm actually kind of jealous. I haven't left Japan since I was six…" She trails off, seeming lost in her head.
He tries to reel her back to him. "I've never left Japan." Yoichi points to the pair of bins still acting as goal posts. "Should we drag those back next?"
She nods, attention back in the present.
As they push their respective bins into the storage room outside the gym, Yoichi continues. "Where would you want to go?"
"Hmm?"
"If you could travel outside of Japan, where would you want to go?"
"Everywhere." She sighs, seeming wistful. And then a bit quieter, she tags on, "honestly, anywhere far away from here."
He figures that makes sense. 'If you're going to visit somewhere, may as well be somewhere far before having to get back to the routine of home.' They turn into the hallway. "There's got to be some place at the top of the list."
"Maybe France would be cool – to see the Millau Viaduct and the Chunnel. Or even Germany or the USA, they have lots of amazing engineering and astronomical infrastructure there too. But most of all, if I could go anywhere…" her eyes drift to a window to their right. "It'd be the International Space Station," she declares with palpable longing.
"Don't think they sell tickets to travel there yet."
"Not as a tourist, silly." She shakes her head. "I'll be going there as the first Japanese female astronaut on an ISS expedition." She smirks. "Youngest, too. Tereshkova got to space at 26, I'm going to beat her."
He recalls her book with the constellations. Yoichi smiles back. "I can see that."
She looks surprised for a moment, before she looks at the bin again. They reach the storage room and it's not until they almost return to the gym entrance that she speaks again. "What about you? Where do you want to go?"
"I never really thought about it, honestly. I had hoped to travel for soccer in the future, but I suppose the why mattered more than the where." He shrugs. "Besides, I can't speak anything other than Japanese. It'd be kind of hard to travel just for fun, I think."
"Oh, that's an easy fix, Isa-ichi. I could translate for you."
Before he can respond, Mina calls for his help with getting the banner down. At his side, he can almost hear Reina make the decision to assist in his stead. He grabs her by the back of her oversized shirt just as she takes her first step, and ignores her sulking when he climbs the ladder to bring down the banner.
After they finish cleaning, the volunteers sign out at the front desk. The guy that had wanted to partner with him earlier suggests that the group go out for karaoke.
Reina politely declines. "I'm sorry Kaminari-senpai, but I've got to hit the books. I have a quiz to study for!"
Mina frowns. "Why? We're on break for another week and Megumi-nee didn't mention any upcoming test …" The girl's eyes narrow. "Wait, did you sign up for more TU classes, Rei-chan!"
Reina shrivels, moving a half step behind Yoichi instead of replying. "Rei-chan!" Mina continues, "I specifically told you not to take any more courses – you're going to overwork yourself!"
"You really should be easier on yourself, Rei-chan." Ochako chides, visibly concerned. "You can't keep substituting coffee for sleep."
Yoichi almost leaves Reina to face their rebuke, because the older girls aren't wrong, but chooses to rescue the genius instead.
"Come on Reina, I'll walk you back."
"Oh, I see now." Mina instantly switches gears, and with a Cheshire grin croons, "have fun studying Rei-chan!" The meddlesome girl opts for physical air quotes when she says studying, just in case the insinuation with her provocative tone wasn't already abundantly clear.
"Mina-senpai!" The suggestive implication easily flusters Reina. "No, not that! We're just-"
An equally-flustered Yoichi grabs the back of Reina's jacket and pulls her, cutting of her response, "We'll just be on our way. Have a good evening, everyone." He's still got more practice planned after this, and doesn't want to deal with the heckling. 'Reina's fine, but I'm near my daily quota for strangers.'
The others echo their goodbyes as the duo turn and walk away, except for Mina. "Nay, nay! Don't be so rough with my innocent Rei-chan, soccer star." She doesn't stop there. "Remember my cute little kohai, wrap it before you slap it! " Mina yells out from behind them, to the inestimable horror of both Reina and Isagi, as well as Ochako, who starts loudly rebuking Mina for her crass words.
Yoichi immediately lets go of Reina's jacket, belatedly realizing that his hand had stayed positioned at her lower back after he'd tugged her away from the group. He slams both of his hands into his pockets. After two blocks of awkwardly looking away from each other as they walk side by side, his companion breaks the tense silence.
"I'm so sorry for her. Mina-senpai usually means well. She just…well," Reina deflates and brings a resigned palm to cover her face. "She's just Mina-senpai. She doesn't have a filter. She's just really outspoken and confident, and says that I should be too. So she likes teasing me sometimes, or whatever. And you too, now, I guess. Sorry."
"It's fine." Yoichi responds, even though his face still burns wildly. 'Changed my mind. The younger sister is infinitely worse than the older.'
"My mom's the same," he mumbles quietly, still unable to face Reina directly.
It's another awkward silence, until he hears her stomach rumble, loudly. He could politely ignore it, especially since she seems positively mortified as she wraps her abdomen tightly with both arms. But, Yoichi remembers how she gave her dango to an excitable Mei, and most of her sandwich to a sniffling Monoma after he dropped his. "Hungry? We could stop somewhere to grab a bite?" He offers.
She shakes her head, "I'm really not dressed for a sit-in kind of place." Her outfit's covered by a jacket that's a bit too thin for an early evening in November. 'Shit, I forgot her coat again.' Her current coat is otherwise fine, but he knows underneath it, she's in a T-shirt that's two sizes too big and baggy sweatpants that the jacket doesn't hide.
He's not much more presentable in his fruit-punch stained sweatpants. "We could hit up a street stall or konbini instead?"
Reina turns to him, meeting his eyes for the first time since Mina's obnoxious heckling. "Yeah, I'd like that." She waves her finger in front of his face. "But, I'm paying for us this time, okay? There will be no objections."
"Sure," he concedes.
She spots an 8-11 at the corner. "There!"
Yoichi nods, following her as she enters and keeping a step behind her as she browses the isles. Reina pauses by the freezer display, wearing an odd expression.
"A bit cold for popsicles, isn't it?" He asks.
She visibly jolts. "Oh! Yeah, you're right. I just remembered that it's been a few years since I've had them… When I was little, sometimes my brother would-" She shakes her head. "Let's look at the other ready-to-go options instead!"
He'd prod more, only she clutches his hand to pull him away from the freezer, and his brain short-circuits for a few minutes. It's not his sleeve, or his wrist. Her palm directly touches his. He's never held a girl's hand before, and heat races back up his cheeks. He's a bit relieved that he can at least blame his flushed face on the autumn chill, in case she notices.
After she pays for their food, the pair end up sitting on a sidewalk bench to eat.
"I can't believe all you got was a boiled egg," she huffs out, having just devoured her unagi-filled onigiri.
Isagi watches as she crumples up the wrapper and swaps it for her caramel coffee cream treat in the 8-11 bag. He snorts. "I can't believe you went out of your way to find a coffee-flavoured dessert, and that you convinced me into helping you find one."
"How are you so against sweet things?" She asks distractedly, busy finding a way to open her treat.
"I'm not." He finishes chewing the last bite of his egg, glad to get some energy for shooting practice later. "Kintsuba's my favourite food and it's a dessert."
"Kintsuba isn't sweet at all!" Her face scrunches. The expression makes her look like an angry pug, but he figures she wouldn't appreciate the comparison, accuracy notwithstanding. "Totally doesn't count!" Her battle with the wrapper ends, as she pulls out the dessert with a triumphant grin. Her expression turns mischievous when her gaze swerves back to him. "Why don't you give happiness a try, Mr. Serious?"
Yoichi pushes the proffered confection out of his face. "Hell no. You realize how unhealthy that is, right?" He's trying to focus on protein to bulk up a bit, so the last thing he needs in his system is that garbage.
Her eyes light up at his discomposure. She scoots closer and continues to jokingly attempt to force-feed him her sugary snack, while he tries to avoid it. "You're being annoying," he warns, not entirely strictly enough since he might be smiling. In the next instant, he just barely turns his face in time to get the dessert pressed into his cheek instead of his mouth.
He grabs her offending hand by the wrist to deter her. She's not deterred at all.
"Join the dark side, Isa-ichi." She laughs happily, placing her free hand on his shoulder to support her weight as she pulls the arm he clutches towards his face, angling her wrist against his grip to better aim the treat. "You know you want i-"
"Isagi?"
He turns to see a confused looking Mikage Reo. Yoichi then gets his own dose of confusion when the chameleon striker greets his companion with a surprised smile, "Reina-chan?"
"Reo-kun!" She beams, fond recognition lighting up her eyes.
Reina ends up dropping the treat in her haste to untangle herself from him.
Yoichi's gut drops.
Voting for Reina's pet name for Isagi! Tell me which you prefer:
Ichi-kun
Isa-kun
Yosagi
Isa-ichi
Yo-kun
- I'm leaning towards Isa-ichi or Yo-kun, or even Yocchan (but maybe Yocchan would be weird since his parent's call him that?)
Yes, 90% of my OC side characters are all references to MHA characters (Momo, Toga, Ochako, Mina, Mei, and Monoma), and yes I borrowed their names but slightly altered them so I wouldn't have to list this as a crossover. Don't worry about remembering them, the only ones that get referenced frequently are Megumi and Momo/Ochako/Mina, but only within the scope of "the barista" and "Reina's friends who are notably older than her." There's one more that's coming up that will be important, but can also be remembered as just "lawyer." Any MHA fans want to shoot a guess for who I'll cast as the lawyer?
P.S. I'll adore you more than Reina loves coffee & chocolate if you leave a review!
Asterisk notes:
*(1) Yowamushi = insult meaning coward
*(2) ikari maaku = anger mark
Preview for future chapters of Onikko
Reo doesn't have the chance to convince her to stay. Reina scuttles out of the room hurriedly, seeming so much smaller than before. But, she doesn't leave quite fast enough to miss the sneering man mumble under his breath. "At least she knows her place."
/-/
"Oh hello?! Is this my little Yo-chan's girlfriend?!"
Isagi slams his face into his hands, utterly mortified.
/-/
This house will never welcome you… You're nothing but father's mistake, here.
/-/
"Always playing victim, how lukewarm." Rin steps closer. "What? You really think you can hide behind a shithead like him?" He mocks.
/-/
"Are you really that dense, Isagi? … Little Rin abandons little Reina. Little Reina gets a grudge that grows with her.….. One week later I find Reina clinging to you on our usual running route. Kind of convenient… Reina's smart and bored, Isagi; don't get caught up in her games.
End of Chapter 3