AN: this might be the last chapter for awhile, (depending if i finish the next chapter tomorrow) since i would be going to a friend's cabin to hang out with all my friends. yeah sorry :(

SoccerGirl- DOWN WITH SEXISM is one of my personal motto so, i really get heated when it comes to men belittling women. thats why since the nankatsu boys were always with the girls, i would have thought they wouldnt tolerate any sexist comments because they have a lot respect to the girls who really wont take any of there sexist bullshit. and yeah, tsubasa's gon have competition, and this chapter shows one of them (an important one anyway). im really considering on expanding ayame and taro's story. i mean i really dont have to if you guy dont want but i have a few ideas for them.

KleinerRabe(you dont have your PM on so i hope you dont mind me replying here)- Thank you so much for adding FOLW on your favorites and alerts. I'm really happy you're enjoying this story so far!

yeah i dont own captain tsubasa

Chapter 24: Waiting

She woke up feeling surreal that day. Actually, she's been waking up and feeling like she's in still in a dream for the past couple of days.

Could you really blame her though? He basically told her that he liked her, but he didn't know whether it was true or if he felt more than being attracted to her.

It was as if, he wanted to return her feelings to her, wanted to return the same love she's willing to give him, wanted to be worthy of her.

That, right there, could just bring the butterflies back to her stomach.

She rolled onto her side and got her phone from the nightstand near her bed. She looked to see the time and realized it was already half past one in the afternoon. Well, it was no surprise actually. She was up late last night talking to Ayame. Her cousin was retelling her accounts of how the boys were doing in their practices that she joined in.

She already knew for a long time that she was going to be helping them train. She was the first one Shiori-chan ran to when Coach Mikami first emailed her. She wasn't exactly expecting Coach Mikami to know where the fuck Ayame was, but when Shiori-chan explained that she might have told Wakabayashi-kun where her cousin would be and then everything made sense. When she read the whole email, she gave the go signal to Shiori-chan to give Ayame's email address. It would be funny seeing the boys' reaction when they find out that Ayame would be helping them train in their last two days before the tournament. Ayame could be a slave driver sometimes, and she could just imagine what she would make those boys do.

But, now that she thought about it, Ayame helping them train was a good thing. They girls were in the same boat last year and they were lucky enough to get into the finals, even more miraculous by winning with penalty kicks.

So theoretically, if both boys and girls played the same style of soccer from their countries, then Ayame could really help them and give them tips on how to play against their opponents. But really, that's just in theory. They couldn't really predict the future so they just have to play their soccer like they always do and win.

But she still couldn't help but laugh as she tried to imagine the boys shiver in fear from Ayame's training and sadistic chuckles.

She got up from her bed and immediately stretched, trying to get rid of the knots she got while she was sleeping. After that, she immediately got clothes from her closet to change into for today. As much as she wanted to stay in her pajamas, she really couldn't seeing that she would helping out in the shop again. Summer this year proved to be really hot and everyone just wanted to have something to cool them off. She couldn't even remember how many cold beverages and food she served since summer started.

Besides, the boys' first match was this afternoon at 5 and everyone decided the shop was the perfect place to watch it because of the huge ass TV plastered on their wall. Of course, her mom was willing to provide the shop, just as long as they buy something. She was letting them stay longer than necessary just so they could watch the match, which meant that the shop would be jam packed, and have some of their customers go to another place to eat. She knew their customers would understand, they were avid fans of soccer as well, but man were they going to lose lots of money by having them leave.

Everyone was more than happy to pay though, because they said that they could never say no to Nakazawa cooking.

She went downstairs to their main kitchen, deciding to just get some break-er, brunch there instead of cooking herself some food. That seemed like a waste of resources to her if she could just eat some of the food downstairs.

"Well, look who's awake," her mom greeted her as she arrived the big kitchen. "How was your sleep? You were up pretty late again."

She said her greetings to all their staff before giving her attention to her mom.

"Ayame was telling me how she had fun tormenting the guys in France," she replied as she took a seat around the kitchen island.

"Was she now?" her mom asked as she put a plate of sandwiches before her.

"Yep," she answered as she took one of the sandwiches and proceeded to take a bite out of it. "Apparently, she's been preparing them for the worst that could happen in the tournament."

"Huh, I would have thought that it was Tsubasa-kun that kept you up all night again," Haruka remarked nonchalantly as she continued to blend a smoothie.

She choked on her food as everyone in the kitchen chuckled and laughed at her misfortune. Noriko-san, one of their cooks, was kind enough to give her a glass of water.

"Mama!" she exclaimed in embarrassment, her face flushed.

"What?" her mom retorted. "I'm just saying. That's what you've been telling me for the past couple of days. How should I know it was your cousin this time?" She added as she finished the smoothie and gave it to one of their servers to give to their customers.

"But the way you said it…" she complained. "You make it sound like we were doing something inappropriate!"

"Are you?" her mom teased again.

"No!" she denied vehemently. "What made you think that?"

"Well, isn't that what teenagers are doing these days?" her mom answered. "What was that thing called again? Sexting was it?"

"Mama!" she cried again, scandalized. "We do not, and never will be doing those kinds of things! And how do you even know of such a thing?"

"Well, that was what Ayame's mom been telling me through email," her mom replied. "Apparently that's the trend with hormonal teenagers right now in America. I figured this might be happening to Japanese teenagers as well."

"I think I read somewhere online that that's actually true," one of their part time high school students, Yui-senpai, remarked as she came in the kitchen. "Besides, some of my friends also told me they do that sometimes with their boyfriends."

"See?" her mom looked at her smugly. "I never know, maybe both of you were doing that thing without us knowing."

"Ugh, Mama we're not even dating!" she cried. "And even if we were, we're never going to be sexting."

"We'll see about that," she winked at her. "You never know what happens in the future. You can never make sure with hormones and all that

She rolled her eyes and took one last bite from her sandwich. "Whatever, Mama. I'm a hundred percent sure that will never happen."

Everyone in the area laughed as she put her plate in the sink.

"Whatever you say, my little seedling," her mom retorted. "Now, why don't you make yourself useful and get out there. We have people waiting out there."

She stuck her tongue out at her mom, who only laughed at her childish actions. She rolled her eyes again, but this time with a smile on her face. She loved her mom greatly because she knew how to have fun. She knew it was hard looking after her all by herself as well as running the shop. But, even if her dad wasn't with them anymore, she turned out fine.

She tied the apron around her and washed her hands before proceeding to move into the shop area, asking one of their servers, Kaito-san, if they needed any help. He directed her to one of the tables, where two boys where sitting.

They looked new. Nankatsu was a small town, and almost everyone knew each other here, or at least she's familiar with all the faces in the area.

She gave a nod towards Kaito-san and told him she would take care of them. She took a pen from the nearby cup and proceeded to the table with the two new boys.

"Hi, welcome to Sweetie's Cafe," she greeted them cheerfully. Now that she had a good look at them, they looked like brothers. Both of them seemed to be around her age, but the one on the left seemed to be a year younger than her.

"Hello," the younger two greeted her back warmly. The older one seemed only care about what was outside. Eh, whatever, she's fine as long as someone was talking to her.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you guys new here?" she asked politely.

"Oh, yes we are," he answered, surprised. "How did you know?"

She chuckled, "Nankatsu's a really small town, and almost everyone know each other here. I didn't recognize you guys at all so I thought you guys are new."

"That sounds nice, knowing everyone I mean," he remarked. "My family and I moved here yesterday and my brother and I decided to familiarize ourselves with the place." Then he gave her a smile. "I'm Koizawa Kaoru and my older brother here is Subaru. Nice to meet you." He turned to his brother and nudged his hand. "Come on, nii-chan. Say hi to her."

The older one finally turned to look at her and their eyes met for the briefest of seconds before he gave her a nod. "Hello," he said to her. "I'm Subaru."

She gave them both a smile and introduced herself to them. "Nice to meet you guys too! I'm Nakazawa Sanae. If you need any help getting around town, don't be scared to ask me." The two nodded their heads as she took out the pen and paper from her apron's pocket. "So what I can get for you two today?"

The two brothers gave her their orders and she quickly wrote them down on the paper. She then said to them that she would be back with their orders as soon as possible.

She had a feeling someone was looking at her, but she only shrugged it off.

She gave their orders to the cooks, with them answering they would have the order ready soon.

In a matter of minutes, the food was ready and she found herself putting down the orders of the two brothers before them.

"Here you go," she told them. "I hope you enjoy your food! Payment would be at the cashier."

She gave them one last smile before leaving to attend to other customers.

If she would have looked back at the table, she would have seen Subaru staring at her in fascination.

She didn't noticed time pass. When she first looked at the clock it was only three in the afternoon, and the next thing she knew it was almost five already.

As she expected the shop was packed. Everyone was already seated and had their attention on the TV, waiting for the tournament start. Japan was playing the first match against Italy and she knew everyone was ready for revenged when she told them about the brush off that the Italian did to Japan.

She looked around to see who exactly was here. She saw the boys in front of the TV, already assessing the foreign players that were coming out. They were trying to figure out who would be advancing and who would not. The adults sat behind the younger people, but they were as excited they are watching the game. After all, their children was in the Japanese team. She spied the Oozora's near the back, but they were still close enough to see the game. They must be so proud of Tsubasa for being another step closer to his dream.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard everyone cheered and roared. She looked towards the TV and saw the reason why they suddenly became loud, the Japanese team was finally walking out to the field, Tsubasa leading them.

It's only been a few days since she last his face, but her heart never failed to swell in happiness whenever she saw him.

"Anee-chan look!" Daichi exclaimed excitedly as he pointed to the TV. He was sitting on the counter where the cashier was. He was accompanying him from where she was behind the counter, ready if ever someone wanted to pay. "Onii-chan's on TV! Doesn't he look cool?"

She ruffled his hair playfully. "He is," she chuckled.

"They're going to be awesome!" he exclaimed again. "I just know it. They're going to win."

"Of course they would be, squirt," she told him. "They aren't called the best for nothing."

Daichi beamed and nodded as he turned back to the TV. He couldn't wait until he saw his brother play against those weird looking people.

She grinned at the boy's enthusiasm and she too went back to the TV. They all finished introducing the countries and they were about to start the first match.

She was pulled back into her thoughts as they zoomed in back on Tsubasa, the announcer talking about how he expects Japan would do with Tsubasa leading them.

"Wait for me."

She took a deep breath as he remembered those words. It wasn't exactly the words she expected to get from him. She only thought that he would reject her, since her confession did come out of nowhere. But, he told her that he might feel the same for her, and he said that he just needed time to think things through.

And she was more than willing to give him that, because knowing that he might like her back was better than nothing. Besides, he needed to think about soccer first.

The whistle blew to signify the start of the match.

She would give him all the time in the world, because no matter how long, she'll wait for him.

End Chapter

AN: i found out another soccer anime called area no kishi so i might have based kaoru and subaru on two of the characters there. but i havent watched all of it just the first two because whenever i watch it i always go, "tsubasa's a better midfield," or, "hyuuga's better you wimp" so yeah, im not going anywhere with it yet. I have huge plans with Subaru in the future, so i guess stay tuned for that.

thats it for this chapter. thank you for reading and please review! cya next chapter