Chapter 13
The next day, Iwaki woke the club members early to get on their bus. It was a long ride back and he wanted to get started.
Luckily, he brought a small glass of milk with him when he went to wake the girls up because Rin had nearly thrown him out the window. However, he had shoved the glass into her hand and she had calmed down and proceeded to get out of bed and gather the loose items she hadn't packed the night before.
Within thirty minutes, the boys and girls were on the bus and driving down the road. Rin cuddled up in her sweatshirt and leaned against the window; she fell asleep again for a good three hours. In the seat next to her, Nana had her head resting on her companion's shoulder and was also dozing.
A few hours into the trip, everyone began to wake up when the light became too bright. Rin put a DVD into her laptop and she and Nana watched How to Train Your Dragon. An hour after the movie was over; they finally pulled into the Enoshima school campus and disembarked.
"Ah! My legs are free!" Rin stretched as she got off the bus. She shook each leg in turn and then went to get her bags from the back.
Captain Sawamura and Ryoma were piling all the bags beside the bus. Ryoma handed her bag to her and she thanked him as she took it. Iwaki called the club together for a brief meeting before everyone went home.
"Good work, kids." He smiled at everyone and they all smiled back. "You have grown tremendously these past few days. Go home and get rest. Tomorrow, we will pick back up where we left off." He dismissed the kids with a wave of the hand and the club members dispersed.
Rin was offered a ride home from Kakeru's mom and she accepted. In the car, she fell asleep again as Kakeru and Nana filled Mrs. Aizawa in on all the details of the training camp. Kakeru woke her up when they reached her apartment and he helped her with her suitcase.
"Thanks, Kakeru," she said as she opened the door.
"No problem!" The striker grinned. "See you tomorrow!" He waved and Nana waved from the car window. Rin smiled and waved back and waited until the car drove off before closing the door.
As she stood in the entrance way of her apartment, she looked around at the quiet place and sighed loudly. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed her mother and father. As much as the couple drove her crazy, she loved her parents dearly. Shaking off the sudden depression that had washed over her, she went to take a long, hot shower.
…
"Hey! Pass it here!" Mako yelled as he made a diagonal run towards the open space on the defense's left side.
Rin quickly maneuvered past an opposing midfielder and then passed a long ball that landed at Mako's feet. He had a direct line to the goal and he tapped the ball once to get it under control, another time to set himself up and then on the third touch, he sent the white and black sphere rocketing towards the goal.
Reo just managed to block the shot and punch it out of the goalie box. His defenders swarmed the ball and passed it up the field. Mako glared at the goalie. "Aw! I wanted to score on you!"
Reo smirked and retorted, "Not in this life!" Mako pouted as he ran back up the field towards his side of the field.
Ten minutes later, Ryoma stole the ball from the opposing team's midfielder and made a long pass to Rin who was on the last defender on the left side. She twirled past her defender with a few tricks and then took a strong shot from about twenty yards out. The ball's path made it seem like it was going to go out, but then it began to curve and landed in the upper ninety of the goal's far post. She high-fived Kota and then did a back hand-spring.
"Yes! I haven't lost my touch!" She crowed as she skipped back to her position.
Ryoma gave her a stern look. "Keep focused. The game isn't over."
She ignored his serious attitude and shrugged. "I know. I'm just happy!" She did another little happy-dance before the game restarted.
…
"Where are you going?" Rin asked Nana as the other girl walked away from the normal soccer fields.
She stopped and turned around. "I offered to make an appearance at the elementary school down the road. Want to come?"
Rin caught up and walked beside her friend. "Sure! I would love that!" Nana grinned.
"Great! Now I won't be lonely!"
The elementary soccer coach for the girls' team was a woman who couldn't be past her late thirties and still had plenty of energy and drive to teach a bunch of fifth and sixth graders.
"I'm so glad you could make it, Ms. Mishima," the woman said as she greeted the pair at the gate.
Nana smiled, "No problem, Mrs. Yama. I brought my friend, is that okay? She's a United State's national youth player." She introduced Rin who bowed in respect.
Mrs. Yama looked appraisingly at the second girl and nodded, "I see no problem. Thank you for coming," she bowed her head to Rin.
"Well, I get to see the young players and me and my friends often do demonstrations for the younger teams back home. I'm honored," she replied.
"The kids are so excited to see you, especially since you aren't that older than they are," Mrs. Yama led them around the school, to the back where the soccer fields were. They saw a boys' team running around on one of the fields and on the other, was the girls' team, sitting in a circle, laughing and talking.
"Girls!" Mrs. Yama called as the trio walked on the field. "Ms. Mishima and her friend have come." She met by close to thirty girls jumping up and screaming in delight. They ran over to the teenage girls and huddled around with wonder sparkling in their eyes.
"Wow! It's really Nana Mishima!"
"She's so cool!"
"I can't believe she's really here!"
"I think I'm going to faint!"
"Who's the other girl?"
"Do you think she's strong?"
Rin listened to the chatter of the girls surrounding them with an amused expression. The wonder and awe that the younger kids held the older players in amazed the foreign striker every time. She could remember her own wonder and excitement when she had met the senior women's national team for the first time when she was ten. That had spurred her wish to play for them and led her onto the road to playing professional soccer.
"Girls, girls!" Mrs. Yama tried to get the excited elementary girls to step back and let the visitors breathe. "You're suffocating them. I'm sure they'll be happy to introduce themselves and to show some tricks." The girls reluctantly peeled themselves off the smothered teens and step back, but they stayed within arm's reach.
Nana laughed, "I'm sure you all know me, already, but this is my friend from America," she indicated Rin who waved.
"My name is Rin Faolin. I am a member of the U-17 Women's National Team."
"Wow!" All the girls chorused.
"Let's do some tricks," Nana said to Rin and the latter nodded eagerly.
While the elementary girls crowded to one side of the field, Nana and Rin began to juggle a soccer ball between them; passing it back and forth with their feet, knees and heads, without letting the ball touch the ground. Rin could hear the kids muttering while she passed the ball with Nana and she couldn't help but grin at their enthusiasm.
"Let me try!" A brave voice shouted. A sixth grade girl with her hair in pigtails stepped forward with a determined look in her eye.
"Alright, join in," Nana said, as she suddenly passed the ball to their girl.
With a surprised gasp, the girl tried to chest the ball, but it hit her shoulder and bounced away. Her face burned with embarrassment as she looked at the ball on the ground. Rin motioned to another girl to pass it to and a fifth grader made a swift pass to her foot. With her toe, she flicked the ball and bounced it on her knee as she waited for Nana to finish consoling the humiliated sixth grader.
"It's fine," Nana said to the girl, "I should have warned you first. It's my fault."
The girl sniffed and shook her head. "No, I wasn't paying attention. Can I try again?" She asked, timidly.
Nana grinned at her, "Of course you can!" She stood up and motioned for Rin to pass the ball. The other did so with a skilled header and Nana juggled it a few times before passing it, this time, carefully, to the little girl.
She caught it with her knee and made it to three juggles before she tried to pass it to Rin, but she missed judged her kick and her foot flailed past the ball as it hit the ground.
"Nice job!" The girls on her team cheered. The girl looked at them bashfully and turned her eyes towards the ground.
"But, I Messed up…" she mumbled.
Rin waved a hand in the air dismissively. "Don't worry about it. It takes lots of practice. You'll be a pro in no time."
The girl looked up at her and gave a small smile. "Do you really think so?"
"Definitely." Nana and Rin replied.
I am SO sorry for never updating this story, but I am suffering from some serious lack of motivation and ideas.
To be honest, I've been more focused on drawing and my art stuff, and school (SHOCK), and stressing over track and my future and...everything except my writing.
Anyway, this is most likely the last chapter before I end it. I've already added so much more than I had planned and it has taken me ~forever~.
Some good news is that my school has unblocked FanFiction so I can update during my free periods! MWAHAHAHA!