AN: er hi no responses this chapter but i just wanna say thank you for still reading because this is the first time i've ever reached 11 chapters. really i appreciate it

yeah i dont own captain tsubasa

Chapter 11: He Was There

She leaned on her knees for support. She was breathing hard, her lungs trying to grab all the air it could get. Her heart was beating fast, trying to supply every inch of her body with the oxygen it needed badly. She could feel the ache in her muscles starting to make themselves known to her, but she ignored it. She swiped the sweat off her forehead and proceeded to run after her opponent who has the ball.

They got into the finals of the Prefectural Tournament easily. Only when they made it into the last match of the tournament did they have a hard time winning. Of course it was no surprise for them, their opponent is Shikogo High. They were last year's champion and was the one to represent Shizuoka in the Nationals.

Their school surprised everyone by getting this far. Nankatsu High wasn't exactly known to have strong members in their team. She guessed they forgot about what happened when she was in junior high since their members were almost same ones that were playing right now for Nankatsu Junior High. Well, high school was different from junior high. Besides, barely any people cared enough for girls' soccer.

The experts all expected Origaoka Academy to reach the finals and duke it out with Shikogo High again, like the years before. But Nankatsu easily defeated Origaoka in the semifinals with a score of 3-1. Who knew that they could go that far right?

They were expected to lose before Shikogo, though her team expected to go to Nationals, no matter the cost.

She looked towards the scoreboard and saw that they were still in a stalemate of 0-0. The 40 minutes of the second half were almost over, and neither team have scored. She knew everyone in the field was getting frustrated, her being one of them.

She managed to tackle the ball from her opponent's feet and had Ayame catch it. They all turned to the other direction as her cousin dribbled the ball all the way to Shikogo's side of the field. She was stopped halfway through when one of their midfielders blocked her. Ayame looked around to see if she, or anyone for that matter, was free, but all they were all marked. Shikogo must have done their research. Throughout the whole match, almost every one of them had someone tailing them.

Damnit, she swore to herself. They've been practicing for this game, hoping to get into Nationals. Shikogo was not getting in their way.

With a burst of determination, she broke away from her opponent.

"Ayame!" she screamed towards her cousin. She barely even heard the cry of distress coming from the other team.

Her cousin heard her and quickly passed the ball to her. She caught it easily and continued their attack on Shikogo. She took note of Ayame, and their forwards following after her. They managed to take advantage of Shikogo's surprise when she escaped and broke away from those marking them as well.

Good, time to start their counterattack.

"Shiori!" she exclaimed as she kicked it towards her teammate, who managed to jump and catch it with her chest. She dribbled the ball for a few feet, but she saw the incoming defender and kicked it backwards towards Rinko-senpai. She had the ball for a few moments before kicking it towards Chieko-senpai.

Chieko then dribbled the ball towards the penalty area and ready to score a goal, but another defender blocked her.

"Sanae-chan!" Chieko-senpai shouted towards her.

"Got it!" she answered back as she dived and hit the ball with a header towards the goal. The other team scrambled to block it, but they couldn't.

They were about to celebrate, but the other team's goalkeeper managed to save it in the nick of time.

The whistle blew to signify the end of the second half.

"Damnit!" Ayame exclaimed as Shiori helped her up from the ground. "I thought we had it."

"Me too," Chieko-senpai agreed as they started their walk back towards their bench area. They did have a 10 minute break before the extra time.

"Don't worry everyone," Junko-senpai comforted. "We still have the overtime to crush them."

"R-right."

They could only chuckle nervously as they agreed with their teammate.

"Oh yes, crush them indeed," Ayame voiced out as she snickered in a very frightening manner beside Shiori. The girl only stepped closer to Sanae, who could only pat Shiori in comfort. Her cousin did seem to have these tendencies.

"Okay everyone," Akane-buchou started as they arrived and sat on the benches to drink from their water bottles and rest their body. "We have 20 minutes to turn this game around. I know that Shikogo is a huge pain in our asses-"

"Hear, hear."

"Understatement of the year."

"I'll crush them."

"-but I also know that we can defeat them," their captain finished. "So go and rest. You have about eight minutes before extra time starts."

She was about to drink from her bottle again when she heard someone call her.

"Anee-chan!"

She turned backwards to looked up towards the stands and saw Daichi waving at her. Her boys were behind him, wearing their "Anego's Boys" shirts (Oh my god, when are they going to stop wearing that shirt. It's totally embarrassing!) and holding the "Go Nankatsu Ladies!" banner they all made. She had to stop herself from snorting when she saw Misaki-kun and Wakabayashi-kun to wear the shirt. How in the world did they manage to force SGGK Wakabayashi to wear that?

But, her eyes widened when she saw him of all people to have the shirt on.

He was there. He was there to watch them, to watch her.

Holy shit.

"Oh hey, your fanclub's here, Sanae-chan!" Chieko-senpai pointed out as she looked up as well. "And it seemed like they added new members. Dang, they look cute too. Why do you always get the cute guys?"

"They're not my fanclub!" She denied vehemently, a blush gracing her cheeks.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You're harem then?"

That made her blush harder. "They're not my harem either! Definitely not!"

Chieko-senpai laughed as she patted her shoulder. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Geez, Sanae-chan."

"Really, senpai," she complained.

"Ah! It's Sanae's fanclub!" Ayame exclaimed as everyone finally noticed the boys.

"Ayame, shut up!"

They all laughed at her frustrated shout towards her cousin, who only smirked at her direction. They always had fun teasing her and it's not fair! She couldn't help her boys wanted to come to their games.

"So how long have you guys been here?" Ayame asked as they (mostly Sanae) calmed down.

"We managed to get in here right before the second half started," Izawa-kun answered. "We wanted to get here in the middle of half time but Ishizaki here, woke up late and we had to wait for him."

"Hey!"

"It's true, so don't make any excuses."

They all laughed again and Ishizaki tried to find someone so they picked on instead. Unfortunately, he thought it was a great idea that it should be her.

"Oi, Anego," he started. "What's going on? I would have thought you guys already defeated them."

"They were last year's champions," she explained in a calm manner, as if teaching s little kid. "Of course we would have a hard time winning. I doubt you have a chance against them. You can't even defeat me."

"Ooh. Burn."

"Another point to Anego."

"Anego: 103. Ishizaki: 0."

They all started to snicker and chuckle again, but they were interrupted by the referees calling them back to the field. Before she turned around, her eyes caught Tsubasa's. He nodded in greeting and mouthed to words to her.

Good luck.

She smiled brightly and nodded. Her energy renewed and her determination stronger than ever.

She will definitely win this match.

She ran towards the field, right beside Ayame. They were doing the kickoff this time. She made sure that her ponytail was still secure and prepared herself.

"So," Ayame started. "Ready to win this? We can't have you losing in front of your crush now, can we?"

She gave a glare to her cousin, but gave it up. "Yeah," she nodded.

Ayame offered her hand to her cousin. "Let's do this," she grinned.

Sanae grinned and smacked Ayame's hand for a high five. "Let's do it."

The whistle rang and they took off.

His eyes followed the number 10 jersey. Her jersey. She dribbled the ball expertly as she traded it with number 11, her cousin's jersey, across the field. Overtime just started and they were already on the attack. The other team didn't stand a chance to gain the ball from them. She flew past her all her opponents that tried to block her and those marking could barely keep up with her.

She made another pass as they block her, and the other team thought it would be towards Ayame again, but they were wrong. She passed it to the unmarked Junko, who ran past everyone. Sanae took advantage of their shock and ran passed the two who blocked her.

By that point, Junko was surrounded but, as if sensing that she free, made a backwards pass to Sanae who caught it easily and started towards the goal. When she was in the penalty area, she prepared to shoot. She made a feint towards the right, anticipating that the goalkeeper would jump towards that direction. She changed her foot in the last minute and kicked to the left. The goalie was too late to save it.

The whistle sounded to signify the goal.

He couldn't help the grin from making its way to his face.

She was amazing.

He never thought that she of all people would be into soccer. He remembered how she used to stutter around when explaining the mechanics of the game, but look at her now. She was awesome! It's almost as if the ball itself never wanted to leave her.

Of course he figured she would be great. She did have the number 10 jersey. He just never expected that she was this exceptional at it.

He listened as the whole side of the stadium supporting Nankatsu stood on its feet and cheered for them. They were celebrating on the field as well. His friends all started to clap and whistle for their Anego, being as proud as he was of her for scoring the first goal of the game.

"Anego's pretty good, huh?" Misaki turned him.

He laughed and nodded.

"It makes you kinda proud to wear this shirt," Wakabayashi stated as he pointed the shirt he and his friends were wearing.

Anego's Boys

He remembered the guys all forcing them to wear this before coming to the stadium. They explained that to show their full support for their Anego, they had to wear this shirt to any of her match, if not all of her matches.

"And why the hell do we even have to wear this?" Wakabayashi questioned. "How long did you guys even have this prepared?"

"Since you three told us you guys were coming back," Kisugi answered nonchalantly. "But anyway, when you have one of the charms, you're officially part of the Anego Support Squad."

"What the hell?"

Tsubasa took a look on charm hanging on his neck. She gave him, Misaki-kun, and Wakabayashi-kun one after their match against the second years. She explained to them that it's supposed to tell that even if she's missing their game, no matter where she was or what she was doing, she would be supporting them with all her being.

When they noticed what was written on it, she chuckled. Anego's Boys, it read.

"You guys don't have to wear it if you don't want to," she said. "Ayame was the one who told me to write that so I can understand if you guys feel stupid wearing it."

He remembered promising her that he would wear it proudly to every game he would be playing. Misaki and Wakabayashi promised as well.

Next thing they knew, her eyes were watering and they were starting to panic, but they were enveloped in a group hug as she called them idiots, but they were her idiots

So when Kisugi-kun offered them the shirt again, he took it with no complains.

"She supported us throughout this whole time," he started. "And still is. I think it's time we show her ours."

Every one of his friends smiled at him, agreeing with his statement.

Wakabayashi-kun sighed, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Fine," he said as he and Misaki-kun took the shirt. "But just because it's for Anego."

He nodded and all three of them proceeded to take of their shirt and put this one on.

For Anego indeed.

"Yes, Wakabayashi," Izawa said. "Be proud you're one of Anego's Boys. Not many get to be part of this."

"Izawa, shut up."

They all laughed again, but was interrupted as the game started again, and already the ball was in Nankatsu's possession. They began to cheer again as they ran past the Shikogo players in a heartbeat.

His eyes never left her as she led her team to victory.

They won 2-0.

End chapter

AN: I don't know if I'm explaining all their moves correctly because the only times i've ever played soccer is when im doing it in gym class, which was two years ago. Hopefully, all those times I've watched real life matches and captain tsubasa helped my explanation of how i see they play the game. I actually just wrote this because i thought it was cute? i dunno i enjoyed writing this chapter (chapter 7 is still my favorite tho). You know what, just ignore me. hehe

anyway, again thank you for reading and see you next chapter!