Disclaimer: Who am I, a lowly fan, to go against the creator, Tite Kubo, and claim this manga/anime as mine?

note: this takes place on the same day as the last part of the previous chapter.

Chapter 3:

"You're the one who picked up my ball earlier right? Thanks for the help!" The boy looked up for a fraction of a second before returning his gaze to the phone he held. "You're welcome." He replied blandly.

He looked busy, pressing the keys on the phone with a solemn expression but Karin couldn't leave without fulfilling her purpose. "You're good at soccer aren't you?" She started, wanting to hear his voice again.

"Who knows?"

"We're having a game this Sunday and…" the display of her usual confidence surprised even herself. His presence earlier rendered her silent but at the moment she felt comfortable with him despite the looks on her friends' faces.

"Kurosaki," they murmured, pulling her away from the seemingly busy boy.

"What?" She glared at them, quite unhappy with the interruption. It had only been a few minutes since the same group was desperate to find a secret weapon for the promised soccer match. Karin couldn't understand why they're being extra picky with the scouting. The boy looked competent enough to her.

"Maybe we shouldn't…"

.

The young captain kept a blank expression, pretending to hear nothing from the murmurs that was obviously about him. The girl asked him if he played soccer before the other three arrived so he concluded they were discussing whether or not they should invite him to their team. He remained silent as the boys tried to persuade the girl to not scout him. He would've said no even if they didn't arrive to do it for him.

"Yeah, he looks dangerous. Look at those eyes! Maybe he's in a gang or something…"

Trivial matters. He thought, immediately brushing the words off as childish reasoning. He was used to such a treatment because of his appearance since his days in Rukongai. Magnanimity, he reminded himself, trying to preserve his calm and stoic facade as the offending party was composed of mere elementary students.

"And are you sure a midget like him can help?"

The question hit a nerve.

"Who are you calling a super midget huh?"

His outburst sent the boys flinching in fear. He had anticipated just as much. But the girl's expression wasn't how he expected it to be. It was almost as if she were holding back a laugh at his reaction.

.

"We didn't exactly say super midg—" Karin stopped midway when she noticed he was already walking away. She needed to stop him and at least get him to agree to play with them before she could let him go. Her mind raced. She blinked, soccer ball on hand. A brilliant idea crossed her mind and she smiled slyly before she kicked the ball with full force towards the unnamed boy.

She knew he'd be able kick it back to her. Her expectations of his soccer skills were high. But she didn't imagine he'd kick it halfway through a back-flip. The ball flew past her at an amazing speed, hitting Kei, her friend with the afro, on the face. She stood in awe at the boy who was now patting his pants clean from imaginary dust. Her friends had already flocked towards him, asking him questions and admiring his moves. Judging by his reactions, she knew he wasn't used to this type of attention so won't be able to slip away any time soon. She stepped closer to hear his replies.

.

"Hitsugaya… Toushiro." He answered uncomfortably under their close proximity. Have humans forgotten the concept of personal space?

"Toushiro? What a cool name!"

"Where did you learn how to play like that Toushiro?"

"You have a cool hairstyle Toushiro! Did you bleach it?"

"We're counting on you Toushiro!"

The young captain was at loss for words. He kept hearing his name each time those boys opened their mouths. They kept going closer, faces bright with hope. They weren't giving him a chance to refuse. The hollow signal from his locator blinked a few more times before it stopped. Someone already took care of it. Now all he had to think about was how to take care of the soccer-playing children who flocked towards him.

"You're going right?" Her voice still had that confidence but there was something in her eyes when she said it, almost as if she were pleading him to give in. She knew. He closed his eyes and turned away. She already knew that he wouldn't go despite their efforts to convince him. His arms crossed against his chest, a habit of his whenever he's deep in thought. In the end all she ever got him to say was a vague "I'll think about it."

a/n: Utmost apologies for the super late update! I've been neglecting my chaptered fanfics because of schoolwork and the like. I don't want this to end up like my other multi-chaptered works so I decided to post this already. This chapter is partly beta-ed by petrified078. I couldn't submit it to her again for another because I know she's busy with her undergraduate thesis. I'm sorry I couldn't make this longer! I tried but it just turns into mindless sentences that hinder the chapter's progress. Also, this was written with the intention of portraying a slow budding relationship between two unlikely characters. I developed a preference for writings that establish the foundations before everything else.

I'll try to write something that deviates away from the episode in the next chapter.

Thank you to the reviewers and the silent readers!