Episode 8: Second Keeper, Kurogane Han
Fudou peered at Kuroiwa Coach, "Looks like it went according to plan, Kageyama-san…" he smiled to himself.
"How could we lose to a team of amateurs…!" Hakuryuu fell to his knees, arm trembling with frustration.
Tsurugi approached him putting his hand out to him. He knew that his rival will understand that there is something more than the fact their team were amateurs. These "amateurs" held some unknown power; there was in fact a reason for them being chosen for the representative team. Hakuryuu smiled without saying anything and let Tsurugi help him up.
"You've gotten better, Haku!" Yukimura smiled shaking hands with Alsius.
Alsius smiled sadly, "It's going to happen soon…"
Narukami ran up to Ibuki to congratulate him on his success. Ibuki glared at the defender; he was clearly upset about something.
"I don't need any more help," Ibuki growled swinging his hand out to make sure Narukami didn't come near him, "I was fine alone in basketball, and soccer's the same thing! I don't need anyone's assistance."
Narukami seemed to have foreseen this calmly listening to the keeper, "Sometimes, doing things alone won't work…" He said softly.
Ibuki didn't care. Ignoring his teammate, he walked off to get changed.
The boy who stood next to Kuroiwa Coach suddenly sprung up, gaining everyone's attention. "Hey, hey!" he yelled. His dark coat swayed in the breeze, "I'm Kurogane Han, nice to meet you all!" his scream echoed across the whole stadium they were in. The boy, Han, smiled triumphantly when seeing everyone's gaping faces.
Kuroiwa Coach was the only one to not show any emotion, "He's a new member of Shinsei Inazuma Japan; position is goalkeeper.
Ibuki stopped on his tracks at those words. He glared at the boy who was announced as the same position as him.
"Kurogane…" Manabe realized, "Isn't that you're last name, Alsius?"
"He's my younger twin brother," she seemed like she was also surprised by his appearance. She quickly questioned him, "What are you doing here, Han!?"
Han smiled at his sister and Narukami, "Hey, Haku-nee, Naoto!"
Matatagi chuckled slightly, "You look more girly than Alsius"
"Ha, ha, everyone says that," Han laughed.
Alsius sighed, "You haven't changed at all…" and Narukami nodded in agreement.
Han kept laughing, "Well, whether any of you like it or not, I'm part of your team. Nice to meet you all!"
"Yawn… man, I got up way too early." Han mumbled. He was not wearing the team jersey, but his black coat still.
"Hey, you!"
Hearing someone call him, Han looked back and saw Shindou. He had a ball placed underneath his foot and wore his uniform. Han couldn't remember his teammates name.
"I'm Shindou Takuto, show me your plays as a keeper." He said sternly.
Han thought for a bit, "Sure, why not?"
The two went down to the field. Han put his gloves on and stood in front of the net. Shindou brought a few balls nearby him. "Here I go!" he yelled and kicked the first ball at the keeper.
The ball was headed directly at Han's head. Seeing it coming, Han tipped his head to the side avoiding the ball completely. The ball went in the net untouched.
"Nice shoot!" Han clapped
"What are you doing!?" Shindou growled, "You're a keeper, you're supposed to try and stop the ball! Not watch it go in!"
Han laughed as if he forgot why he was standing by the net, "Okay, next ball!"
Shindou kicked the second ball.
Han actually tried to go for it this time, but was so focused on the incoming ball that he ran too far and his face hit the goalpost. In result, the ball went in again.
Shindou was reaching his limilt, "No more, I understand your ability now. Ibuki's better compared to you…"
"Ow… wait, wait! One more, huh?" Han yelled cheerfully, "Third times the charm, don't they say?"
Shindou ignored the keeper and left the field, "Useless," he mumbled.
Han rubbed his sore face. He cleaned up the balls Shindou left. As he was doing this, Tenma came up to greet him.
"Wow, you're up early. Practice?"
Han flinched for he didn't realize his captain's presence. "ha, ha, something like that." Han sighed.
"Good luck," Tenma smiled and kept going.
Han scratched the back of his head. He stared at the two balls which were still in the net. "It was supposed to be a joke, but… is that guy (Shindou) stressed or something? Meh, whatever…"
"Okay, let's begin today's practice!" Tenma yelled.
"Um Captain, I don't see the new member around… Are we starting without him?" Manabe asked.
"Begin without him," Kuroiwa Coach commanded, "I assigned him with something else."
Tenma was unsure at first, but eventually nodded. He divided the team into offense and defense to make game-like situations for practice.
Matatagi dribbled the ball up quickly passing the ball to Tsurugi to avoid Tetsukado. Minaho was able to see this and instructed Narukami and he was able to steal the ball from Tsurugi. Tenma came right behind and stole the ball back before Narukami had time to do anything.
"Tch…"
"Don't let your guard down even after you just stole the ball," Tenma advised,
"Yes, Captain…"
Shindou was dribbling the ball now. Alsius ran up to stop him, however, Shindou easily got through her.
"Ugh, "She winced.
"Strange…" Aoi mumbled when Tenma came over the bench to get a drink. "Narukami-kun and Alsius aren't doing well as they usually do."
Tenma took a gulp of water, "I noticed that too, I wonder if something's the matter…"
"Does it have to do with Han-kun?"
"I doubt that," Shindou walked over and grabbed himself a drink. "I just realized it today, but it seems we really haven't understood fully those two's abilities…"
"Abilities?" Tenma repeated.
Shindou smiled, "No one's good at everything, watch how those two play, then you'll see."
Tenma glanced over at Alsius' direction first. She easily dribbled past Konoha and Manabe's defenses and shot the ball at Ibuki; which was stopped. That wasn't the problem however. Ibuki passed the ball to Minaho, so Alsius quickly went to stop him. Minaho was able to easily avoid her.
"Huh?" Tenma suddenly realized and looked at Narukami for confirmation.
Matatagi dribbled towards the white haired defender. Narukami kicked his foot out sweeping the ball from the forward's possession. But instead of dribbling up, he immediately passed the ball to Tetsukado.
"Wait… no way." Tenma gasped almost dropping his water bottle, "That's too simple…"
Shindou sighed as he nodded slowly, "Kurogane's very excellent at ball control, however, she lacks defensive skill, while in the other hand, Narukami excels in defense but can't dribble the ball at all.
"Eh, really?" Aoi gasped.
Shindou put his water down, "Seems even those two need extra training…"
Alsius looked over at the three talking by the bench. Since she was born with exceptional hearing, she overheard the entire conversation. "Well, they would've noticed sooner or later…" she sighed. She wasn't paying attention to what was going on in the field and an incoming ball smacked her on the head causing her to fall over.
"Sorry," Kusaka apologized rubbing the back of his head.
"What is this room?" Han tapped the glass-like floor of the large basement lair Kuroiwa Coach brought him into. He asked the Coach for a place to practice in private, however, this wasn't where he was expecting to be taken in to.
Kuroiwa Coach walked over to a panel in the far end of the basement. Tapping a few buttons, the room instantly transformed into a large desert. The air started to heat up and the sand on the ground made it difficult to walk in. It felt… real.
"This is the Black Room. I have several virtual reality soccer training programs here. You may use it as you like." Saying this Kuroiwa Coach left Han alone.
Behind Han a goal post appeared and soon after a human shaped figure appeared in front. The figure kicked the ball at the net and Han watched it fly in.
"Interesting…" he mumbled kicking the sand around his feet. The shoot of the figure was the same if not more than Shindou's kick earlier. Though Han doubted Shindou was going full force that time, this figure's shoot was powerful. On top of that, the sand surrounding what seemed the whole entire world, made it very difficult to move around. Hand closed his eyes breathing in deeply and opened them up, "Bring it on!"
Another ball appeared before the figure and it kicked it at Han. Lifting his foot, he kicked it right back at the faceless AI.
"Is that all you got?" he sneered.
Han looked over at the panel Kuroiwa Coach had used to start the program. Level 1 was printed on it. Without hesitation Han turned it up to Level 8.
BEEP! WARNING! WARNING! In red bolded letters, the words floated in front of Han. Ignoring it Han walked back to his position in front of the net.
"This should challenge me at least…"
Shindou finished his evening meal. He was about to head back to his room to get some privacy when a voice called him from behind. Turning to see who it was, his eyes widened with surprise at the sight. Han stood there covered in dirt, bruises and sweat. The only thing that seemed to keep him standing was the wall he was leaning on.
"What were you doing!?" Shindou demanded, he tried to help the exhausted teammate, however, Han refused his assistance.
"I was just doing some soccer, Takuto" he wheezed, "Let's finish what we did this morning!"
"Huh?"
"Three shoots, that's all I ask. You can do that at least, right?" Han continued.
Shindou remembered testing Han early this morning, but this keeper was way too beaten up to do any more soccer today. What was he doing today? However, seeing the keeper's cocky gaze Shindou couldn't back down on the challenge.
"Sure, three shots, that's all."
Shindou collected 3 balls and the two of them stood in the lightened field. Shindou suddenly felt uneasy; he didn't know why.
"Come on Takuto, bring it on!" Han sneered putting his hands out in front of him.
"Don't you know manners? Stop calling me by my first name!"
"Whatever… details, details."
Shindou took a few steps back, then ran and kicked the ball at the net with his running momentum. Han noticed the ball rise up to the right corner. He jumped just enough to nick the ball causing it to barely fly over the net.
"Come on Takuto, is that all you got?" he provoked.
Shindou was getting frustrated, "Don't get too cocky, amateur!" he kicked the ball upward and kicked it once more as it fell. Multiple musical notes appeared, surrounding the ball, "Fortissimo!" He yelled using his hissatsu.
"That's more like it," Han chuckled and lifted it foot and kicked it down with his ankle, wedging the ball in the ground.
Shindou was speechless. His hissatsu was stopped so easily by an amateur like him? And without a hissatsu against it as well?
"Shindou-san, what are you two doing here?" Tsurugi walked down to the field. He had heard the commotion and came to investigate.
Shindou did his best to hide his frustration, "Good timing, Tsurugi." He kicked the last ball at the team's ace striker. "Use a hissatsu, don't hold back."
"Hmm… a baton pass to Kyousuke huh?" Sneered Han, "Now this is getting even more interesting…"
Tsurugi peered at goal and saw Han standing casually with his hand behind his head. He couldn't understand fully what was going on, but agreed to shoot anyways.
Bending down, Tsurugi spread out his arms and dark wing-like energy grew from his back. With them, Tsurugi leaped up high in the air and kicked the ball down to the net, "Devil Burst!"
"Kukuku," Han chuckled to himself as the ball came flying towards him, "Time to show my own technique as well!" Han swung his right arm behind him to gather dark energy. It became a claw-like shape, "Dark Cat!" he slammed the incoming shoot down with his claw. When the gathered energy dispelled the ball was seen firmly stopped underneath Han's hand.
"What!?" Shindou gasped. The boy standing before them was a completely different person than who was there this morning. How could one day change someone this much?
Han's expression suddenly turned much friendlier, "Heh, heh, how's that?" he smiled as he slumped down being unable to stand up any longer
"Are you alright!?" Tsurugi ran up to help the worn out keeper out. Han just laughed cheerfully and fell asleep on the spot.
"Shindou-san what exactly happened?"
Shindou wasn't able to understand himself. This boy, Kurogane Han, was impossible to understand. Is he truly the same person as the person who stood there this morning?