Hakuren , One Week After the Holy Road Championships
It had only been a little under a month since Leonidas had moved from Hakuren to Raimon in order to live with Mika, but stepping back onto the field with only his large travel backpack it seemed like it had been many years rather than a singular month.
Surveying the empty field, the cold winds from the city's mountain bit at his cheeks and sent his long locks of lime green hair flying uncontrollably but Leonidas wasn't bothered by the trivial greeting of the Hakuren winds.
He had overcome much fiercer and more turbulent gales since leaving the northern city.
Though Hakuren had been his home for the past ten years, fond memories were few and far between. Recalling the turbulent events that had occurred since meeting Mika and the other Raimon players, Leonidas felt a sudden surge of emotions rise up as Mika's words to him on that fateful day sang in the winds around him.
"I promise you that you'll be able to fill that emptiness of yours with many, many happy memories in the future. So take my hand, and follow me. I won't lead you astray."
Taking her warm hand that day had changed Leonidas's life completely.
Leonidas had abandoned the place he had grown all his life and never looked back.
He had experienced things he had never even imagined and felt a happiness that he had never thought possible alongside his teammates, making it all the way to the Holy Road Finals...and they had been so close.
Just a little more and...
Clenching his fist tightly, Leonidas recalled the final whistle that had signalled the end to Raimon's challenge for the title of the National Champions. If only he had been a little bit stronger...
Feeling a bitter taste rise in his mouth as the sense of loss overwhelmed him, Leonidas barely noticed the huge gust of wind that came barreling towards him alongside a ball that seemed to carry within it an intent to kill. Twisting his body around, Leonidas barely managed to trap the ball with his right foot before looking across the field where a familiar face and set of beady red eyes greeted him. Baring his canines in a vicious grin, the boy raised his hand slowly and shouted loudly so his voice could be carried across the outdoor field,
"Yo!"
Sighing, Leonidas's blank orange eyes met the set of blood red eyes that had both saved and antagonised him for so long and throwing the ball high into the air he gave a swift kick that sent it racing back to the Hakuren captain...
Ryoga Katata.
"Leo-channn~~" squealed another familiar, effervescent voice and whipping backwards to the source of the incoming voice, Leonidas felt himself become suffocated in the embrace of the other Hakuren co-captain, Tsukishiro, who had just entered the club room alongside Ryoga and Leonidas.
"It's been so long, Leo-chan~~ I thought you had forgotten all about us" complained the Winter Lady, ignoring Leonidas's pleas to free him from her grasp.
Unable to breathe, Leonidas's eyes began to roll upwards to which Tsukishiro began to frantically shake his tiny body around like a rag doll while Ryoga watched from the other side of the room, unamused by her antics.
"What the hell are you even doing here, Tsukishiro. I thought you were supposed to be on vacation or some other sh*t."
Tsk
Wagging her finger in a playful manner, Tsukishiro answered with her typical mirthful voice that grated on Ryoga's nerves to no end.
"Do you even know me Ryo-chan? If you thought I was going to let you hog little Leo-chan all to yourself you got another thing coming!"
Snorting derisively at that, Ryoga looked at Leonidas who was slowly coming back into consciousness and then began rummaging around until he pulled a tablet out from one of the drawers and spun it across to Leonidas's seat.
"Here."
Reading the title of the page that had been pulled up in front of him aloud slowly, Leonidas's eyes narrowed.
"World Awakening Program? Invitation to Ryoga Katata?"
Confused as to why Ryoga was showing this to him, Leonidas raised his eyebrow and began to clap awkwardly.
"Congratulations..."
"Do I look like that sick of a ba*tard to call you here just to show off?" Ryoga spat venomously, unable to believe how idiotic the kid still was.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Waiting for the obvious response of 'no', Ryoga looked at the two sets of eyes that were avoiding him, and hearing no replies, he banged his right fist on the table ferociously.
"What the f—"
Sigh
Stopping himself midway before he could finish, Ryoga tousled his jet-black hair with annoyance and dry coughed into his fist instead.
"Take it and do whatever you want with it...I don't need it."
"..."
Seeing a lack of response from the boy in front of him, Ryoga gritted his teeth in humiliation but since he had already gone this far, explained more explicitly,
"I'm giving it to you, you dumb f*ck!"
"Okay...but I'm not Katata-san..." Leonidas responded dryly, unsure of what he was supposed to do with an invitation for Ryoga.
Rolling his eyes at the stupid but expected response, Ryoga waved Leonidas's concerns away with his hands.
"Just go in my place, no one will notice if you don't say anything."
"..."
Looking at the much taller and built defender who was almost four years older than himself, with his short, spiky, black hair and red eyes that had a sharp contrast to Leonidas's own, stark green, long and wavy hair and bright orange eyes, Leonidas gave the Hakuren captain a dubious look.
However, sensing Leonidas's palpable hesitation, Ryoga took in a deep breath to quell the fire within him that was telling him to slap some sense into the kid's head before reaching out to grab the tablet back.
"Fine...no one's forcing you to go, I'll just take this back then..."
"No take backs, Mika-nee said so..." Leonidas spoke quickly before snatching back the table before it could make its way back into Ryoga's hands.
As Leonidas began to scan through the invitation letter with greedy enthusiasm, Ryoga crossed his arms and asked sourly,
"What? You're not going to thank me?"
Looking up from the tablet, Leonidas frowned and looked at the older boy harshly for interrupting him before returning his eyes to the tablet below.
"You said you didn't want it anymore, so I'm just picking up your trash then."
"...!"
Flames erupted from Ryoga's back while Tsukishiro held him back in her icy hold, all the whilst, Leonidas continued to read the explanation for the World Awakening Program undisturbed.
"Cheeky little b*astard..." muttered Ryoga as he finally calmed down in Tsukishiro's arms.
Meanwhile, unbothered by the commotion from the two captains, Leonidas gathered his items in a rush along with the tablet before giving a brief bow and heading out the door to catch the next Transport with the ticket that was attached to Ryoga's invitation.
"I'll be leaving now. Goodbye."
"..."'
Left in the now silent room, Ryoga's mouth hung open, stupefied, while Tsukishiro patted his head gently.
"You did well Ryo-chan~~I'm sure Leo-chan understood your feelings~"
Shaking Tsukishiro's hand off his head, Ryoga turned around disgruntled and answered gruffly,
"Feeling? What feelings...not like I feel sorry for the kid or anything like that...
"Mmhmm...Anyway, don't you need to get packing too Ryo-chan? I heard you accepted the Urawa Red Diamonds' invitation to their training program~"
Tch.
"How'd you hear—"
Realising this was a stupid question, Ryoga got up from his seat and waved lazily backwards, not wanting to look at Tsukishiro's smug face a second longer.
"Yeah, whatever...just...try not to get yourself into any trouble while I'm gone Tsukishiro..." warned Ryoga, though he knew it was a useless warning considering the other Hakuren captain's tendency to do whatever she pleased.
Hearts emerging from her eyes, Tsukishiro let out crocodile tears in a pretence of overwhelming joy, and shouted out to Ryoga as he exited the room.
"Awww, what a cutie...I knew you cared, Ryo-chan~~~I'm so touched..."
Shaking his head as Tsukishiro's voice drifted off, Ryoga looked upwards into the cloudless sky as he recalled the fierce orange eyes that had burned with determination only moments earlier.
In only a month it seemed like that kid had grown up a lot more than he had anticipated...
Leonidas was now walking his own path while Ryoga needed to walk along his own now as well.
Hmph.
Ryoga had no intention of being surpassed by a kid anytime soon, so it was time to show the world just how fearsome Hakuren's 'Adamantine Glacier' really was.
São Paulo Transporter, Brazil
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?"
Stepping out from the warp pad, Leonidas blinked slowly to readjust to the sudden change in location while he observed a boy who appeared to be about his age throwing up his guts into one of the designated vomit bins beside him.
As a result of the reveal of the United Galaxy Organisation, Earth had slowly been incorporating the warp technology from Falam Orbius, but tickets were still hard to come by so this was Leonidas's first time using the instant warp transporter and he was pleasantly surprised to find he was one of the lucky ones who didn't appear to suffer any side effects unlike the boy beside him. However, interrupting his self-congratulatory realisation, he heard the man who had barked at him the moment he had arrived, yell at him once more.
Turning his gaze upwards, Leonidas put his hand over his eyes so he could see the tall-stature man with unique white-lilac two tone hair and almost draconic red eyes that gave him a strange sense of familiarity.
"Are you..."
Turning his head slightly to the right, Leonidas saw a woman who had stepped forward from behind the man while looking down at her phone. With almost translucent white hair, she had such a faint presence, Leonidas couldn't be sure if she had appeared from thin air or if she had been there the entire time. Contrasting to the man's large stature, her dainty appearance made her seem even more delicate while she hesitated reading aloud the name on her phone...
"Ryoga Katata?"
"Baka!"
Interrupting her with a booming shout, the man slammed his hand onto her head causing her bangs to fly down and block her eyes before asking in a ill-mannered tone,
"Are your eyes just for decoration? Do they look alike to you?" while emphatically waving at Leonidas who was still standing in front of the duo.
Scrunching her nose as if to hold back tears, the petite woman sniffled back with some indignation in her voice which faded quickly seeing the man's red eyes staring at her.
"I don't know! Puberty maybe?"
"Sure, puberty made him shrink twenty centimetres, changed his face structure, eye colour and hair colour. Let's go with that."
"Y-you! Stupid Hakuryyuu!"
Not willing to put up with his bullying any longer, the woman blinked back gem-like tears and smashed the phone she was holding into Hakuryuu's hands before running back into the car that the two appeared to have come in.
Now left alone with two runts, Hakuryuu sighed in an all too late realisation that he probably should have thought it through before messing with Luiza and now having to figure out what to do with the two kids on his own.
"Argh, so what am I supposed to do with you?" Hakuryuu asked aloud, musing over the options absentmindedly.
Not missing his chance, Leonidas spoke up boldly while Hakuryuu stared at him like a slab of meat on sale at the market.
"Take me with you."
"Huh?"
Hakuryuu gave him an incredulous look as if he couldn't even believe Leonidas was capable of speaking, before asking with slightly more curiosity in his voice.
"And why should I do that? If you ask me, aren't we the ones getting scammed here then? The invitation was supposed to be for the best defender in Japan, not some midget."
"I'm better than him"
"..."
"..."
Balling his hands into fists to hide his nervousness, Leonidas stared directly into Hakuryuu's intimidating glare, as the two sat in silence, save for the final retches of the other boy.
"Ha. Why not then? We already have one troublemaker signed up..." paused Hakuryuu as he stared at the pathetic mess in the corner of the room, wiping up vomit from his face before continuing, "...So what's one more? What's your name midget?"
"Leonidas Tsujo."
" 'Kay, Leo it is."
Then, picking up and putting the other boy who had a ghastly look on his face under his arm, Hakuryuu motioned with his shoulder for Leonidas to follow him back to the car where Luiza was staring daggers at Hakuryuu in the drivers' seat.
"F*ck."
Unsure of the reason for the sudden profanity, Hakuryuu whispered under his breath as he shoved the other boy's body into the car.
"Buckle up and hold on with everything you got if you value your life. There's a reason Luiza is called the 'Earthshaker' and it sure as hell isn't for her soccer skills."
Nodding silently, Leonidas buckled his seatbelt carefully while holding the door firmly and once he felt secure, looked at Luiza who was berating Hakuryuu for talking rubbish behind her back, though how she knew, Leonidas had no idea. With such an assuming appearance, Leonidas hadn't expected the woman who had shown up alongside Hakuryuu to be that Luiza of all people.
Luiza Cerva.
One of the 'Five Disasters' of the football world and given the title of the 'Earthshaker', though Leonidas wasn't the most familiar with the professional football scene, even he had heard of the infamous striker from Brazil. Known for her monster-like ball control and solo plays, rumours were abundant that she continuously butt heads with her new teammate and fellow Disaster, 'Shining Dragon' Hakuryuu due to their egos but despite the rumours it appeared the two got along better than the reports suggested.
"You get along well." Leonidas observed aloud, causing Luiza and Hakuryuu to simultaneously turn around in their seats with a look asking if he needed to be admitted into a mental hospital.
"How the f*ck did you come to that conclusion?"
"Umm...Leo, was it? I heard delusions are a rare but serious side effect of taking the Transporter—"
"LUIZA! THE ROAD!"
"Oops!"
Swerving tightly around the corner, Hakuryuu and Leonidas held on for dear life as the car barely managed to make the bend in time thanks to Hakuryuu's warning.
"Well..."'
Pausing, Luiza had a rather abashed blush on her face as she felt Hakuryuu's staring daggers at her and looking at Leonidas, this time in the mirror, she laughed it off lightly.
"That was rather embarrassing, wasn't it?"
Ignoring Hakuryuu's look of exhaustion and sigh of utter exasperation, Leonidas comforted the older woman to the best of his abilities, imagining that was what Galahad-nii and Mika-nee would have done if they were here.
"It's alright. Considering the speed of the car and the height of the fall we would have taken along with the lack of any of the new security features, we would've died instantly so at least it would have been a painless death."
"..."
"..."
Eyeing the young boy through the corner of their eyes, Hakuryuu and Luiza quickly scanned his face to see if he were joking but seeing the innocent look in his eyes they both fell silent while Luiza muttered under her breath solemnly.
"I'll be more careful from now on..."
However, not one to dwell on what he viewed as a trivial matter, Leonidas instead rummaged inside of his travel bag to take out the most precious item he had brought with him. Opening the box with a quick rip, Leonidas began to munch on one of the hundreds of boxes of Kinoko no Yama he had hidden away in his bag. One could never be sure when a box of Kinoko no Yama would be needed after all so Leonidas figured it was best to carry them with him at all times.
Cheerfully making his way through his second box, Leonidas heard some rustling from beside him and looked at the boy next to him who was beginning to stir from his sleep. Then checking inside his bag to make sure he had enough, he thought for a moment before grabbing a box and offering it slowly.
"You want some?"
Finally opening his eyes, Leonidas was able to see the boy had unsettling, golden yellow eyes which reminded him of a pet lizard he had kept in the junkyard a few years ago. Recalling the lizard now brought back a precious few but fond memories the two had together until he had found its corpse crushed beneath a discarded telly one day.
"Don't talk to me."
Awoken from his nostalgic reminiscing by the hostile voice of the yellow-eyed boy, Leonidas shrugged before opening the box of chocolates for himself and began munching on them happily as the large football complex owned by the Palmeiras FC came into view.
Between the grand appearance of the training centre, his friendly new teammates, and most importantly his large stash of Kinoko no Yama by his side, São Paulo was shaping up to be a whole lot nicer than Hakuren ever was.