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Chapter 2: a new enemy arrives – and no one cares

As Shindou turned around in order to visit Kirino again he suddenly heard a loud sound coming from the direction of the soccer field; suddenly after the ground was shaking for a moment. Since he was already nearby the brown haired boy decided to take a look after his friends. Although he hated to leave Kirino alone in the state he currently was any longer … But it was his responsibility as captain to take care of the whole team, not only of his friend, wasn't it?

When he reached the training ground he couldn't believe what he saw. Another team seemed to have appeared out of nowhere demanding to speak with the captain of the Raimon team.

"I'm here", Shindou notified the others about his presence. "So what do you want?" Hopefully this wouldn't take long, because he had told Kirino that he was already on his way back to him. And maybe the pink haired boy would do something stupid and cut his hair on his own. He really didn't want that to happen.

"Let's see", a boy of the other team stepped forward and scrutinized Shindou. "You don't look like much."

"Can we please make this short?", the captain of Raimon asked more unfriendly than he had intended. But the other players had gathered behind him and nodded. They obviously didn't want to spend more time than necessary with the other team; Sangoku had already left.

"We are the Silent Strikers and we came here to challenge you right now", the mysterious boy explained. "You should better take this serious."

"Please Shindou, can we do this at some other time?", Hamano interrupted. "You see, Hayami and I want to watch this new movie in the cinema today. Some other friends will come to and letting them down would be kinda uncool, wouldn't it?"

"Are you making fun of us?", the other boy shouted. "Don't you understand what 'serious' means?"

"I'm sorry", Shindou apologized. "But we can't play today, because we're missing important players like our goalkeeper and our defender." And besides, playing without Kirino wouldn't be any fun …

"You dare to decline?", the captain of the Silent Strikers was visibly annoyed. "Well, we you'll see what the consequences are … ." Without another word the team left.

"There some scary guys", Hayami commented. "I wonder what they'll do."

But Hamano grinned. "What can they possibly do? Let's go now, our film is about to start."

Again Shindou could only shake his head. Now even a movie was more important than soccer. Did they all forget how much fun it was to play? But then he discovered Tenma and Shinsuke playing. At least these two hadn't changed, Shindou thought smiling.

"By the way, how's Kirino doing?", Hamano reminded.

"Ah, that's right! I have to go now!" Shindou hurried back to his friend's house, begging that Kirino was still waiting for him.

…

After his friend's mother let him in and showed him Kirino's room, Shindou couldn't help but wonder how small Kirino's place was. 'Of course, living in luxury is not a given', he thought shameful of himself. But how could it be, he never realized Kirino's living conditions? How uncomfortable must his friend have felt all the time he had visit the Shindou family?

"Kirino?", Shindou asked as he entered the room.

"You really needed long to come back", the pink haired boy commented smiling.

Shindou sighed. Kirino seemed to be in a better mood than before and more important his hair was still as long as always. Maybe he wasn't ill after all, but his friend's following words left no doubt.

"Look, I can't decide if I should cut everything or just half of it. What would you do?" He looked expectantly at his friend.

"Leave it as it is, I like it. It's perfect this way."

Kirino gave him a skeptical view. "No, I want to cut it … It's just, I don't want to look like a girl anymore."

"You don't look like a girl!" Well, maybe a bit, now that Shindou thought about it. He had never thought of Kirino that way before. But there was nothing wrong with it, wasn't it?

"I do!" Then he went over to his wardrobe and searched for something. Shindou used this time to look over Kirino's small room. There was nothing much to see, a soccer ball laying abandoned in one corner and his Raimon shirt forgotten on the windowsill. Then the brown haired boy smiled as he discovered a picture on the desk. It showed Kirino and him after they had won the Holy Road, he was holding the trophy and his friend stood next to him showing the victory sign. The good old times were everything had been easy …

Then Kirino came back. "Maybe I should wear these from now on." He wore sunglasses, which didn't really suit him.

Shindou couldn't help but laugh as he saw his friend. "I don't think that it would be a good idea. You wouldn't be able to see clearly when you're inside a building, let alone play soccer with them. And besides", he added, "one can't see your beautiful eyes anymore – it would be like a day without sunshine … ."

"Eh … ?" Kirino blushed. "Boys are not supposed to have beautiful eyes", the pink haired boy complained then, but he stopped as Shindou came closer to him. "What … ?"

"Your face is so red, maybe you have a fever after all, it would explain your weird behavior." To confirm his words he laid a hand on Kirino's forehead, which let the face of the said boy blush even darker. "It really feels hot, Kirino. You should better go to bed now."

As Kirino noticed Shindou's concerning eyes he looked away. "Maybe you're right then … ."

"Kirino?", the brown haired boy asked while watching his friend going to bed. "If you feel better tomorrow will you come to practice?"

The addressed boy looked up. "I don't know … I might give up on soccer."

His answer shocked Shindou. "But why? You love soccer as much as I do! I can't understand why everyone on the team cares so little about soccer these days … ."

"Life isn't just about soccer, Shindou. It's also about parties and girls and stuff like that", the pink haired boy explained.

"But you said earlier that you weren't interested in girls."

"Yeah, that's because … ." Kirino blushed again. "Ah, never mind, I think I really do have a fever", the boy added hastily. "I'll better go to bed now."

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