I was forced to attend seminars from saturday until today. It was so horrible, all day they spoke italian and I didn't understand anything, because my translator was ill ... I thought I would go crazy!

Chapter 5: the other Nishizono Shinsuke

"So you want to challenge us again?", their Captain of the Silent Strikers asked. This time Shindou took a closer look at him. Visibly there was nothing special about him, just an average boy with short black hair and deep amber eyes. Beautiful, but not outstanding. However somehow Shindou couldn't let his eyes from him, the way the other boy moved, how he spoke and acted were just to fascinating. The Captain of the Silent Strikers seemed so familiar to him, but at the same time more distant than anything else on this world.

"How do you know?", Hamano asked.

The other boy grinned. "There is nothing we don't know. Shall we begin now?"

The Raimon players looked indecisively at their Captain. "Shindou, say something", Hayami whispered.

"What … what's is your name?" Shindou blushed as he noticed that what he had said wasn't what his teammates wanted to hear.

The Captain of the Silent Strikers was as surprised as the others. For a moment he seemed to be insecure what to answer, but at the next moment he gained back his confidence. "I'm Nishizono Shinsuke."

"Hey, that's my name!", the shortest player of Raimon shouted. "How can you have the same name as me?"

"Is this really your name or are you making fun of us?", Kurama asked doubtingly. "After all you're the ones who destroyed our stadium!"

The new Nishizono was visibly annoyed. "That I have to share a name with this loser … ."

"Anyway can we start playing now, Shindou? This time we accept their challenge, right?" Tenma was as fired up as always.

"Err, yeah, of course." Nishizono Shinsuke. Regardless of his name he was still fascinating. "And if we win, you have to stop destroying other school's soccer fields", the brown haired boy added just to hide his inner turbulence.

"Tenma, you said this would just be practice, I don't wanna play a whole match … ", Hamano complained, but then smiled. "Then again, somehow this reminds me of the time we played against fifth sector."

###

The final whistle blew. 10 – 0, for the Silent Strikers.

Shindou sighed. He had the feeling that the loss was his fault alone, but against the other Nishizono he didn't stand a chance. Not when he was to busy with watching the other boy playing, observing every single move the Captain of the Silent Strikers made. "I'm sorry, guys", he muttered embarrassed and turned around to his teammates.

But his old teammates seemed to have gone. Instead there were now just his friends, smiling as if the awkward loss never did happen. Although they were even too exhausted to stand, the listlessness and the nagging had vanished.

"Don't mind, Captain", Kurama answered. "We'll practice more and beat them next time for sure!"

As a reply he just got a questioning view from the brown haired boy. What in the world has happened?

"Thanks for showing us how much fun soccer is!", Hamano shouted at their opponents, the Silent Strikers. "Seriously, how could we forget it?"

"If even losing is this exciting, I really wanna know who it feels to win", Hayami added, his voice broke for exhaustion.

Shindou didn't trust his eyes when he saw that the other Nishizono smiled. But then his expression became serious again, and somehow sad? "What's wrong? You should be happy, since it's your victory?", Shindou asked and went closer to the other boy.

There was a hint of panic in the other boy's eyes. "Hey … What are you doing? … Stay away from me!" He turned around and his voice became calm again. "We'll leave now, challenge us again if you feel you can beat us."

Shindou watched them leaving. Something was wrong with this guy. But as he went to the sideline something else came into his mind. There was a hair tie laying on the ground. And the brown haired boy knew to whom the red item decorated with a strawberry belonged. Kirino. Had the other boy seen the match? Suddenly he felt unbelievable guilty. Did his pink haired friend see him starring at the other team's captain?

###

At a place not far from the Riverbank, the Steel Tower Plaza, a certain black haired boy watched the sky. 'Shindou', he thought as he removed his wig. A cool breeze blew over the place, playing with the pink hair, which became now visible. 'Why do you have to make things so complicated?'

Next chapter Kirino and Shindou will meet again and Kirino's secret will be revealed.