AN: watch real life ganmen block on youtube just type in youtube . com (without the spaces) then copy and paste this at the end /watch?v=8F9jXYOH2c0 . i mean its definitely edited and awful but its hilarious. americans are weird man

Thao Nhi- good luck on your exams! i know the feeling. i have three exams in two weeks and everyone in my school are starting to stress over it, me included. yeah, one-on-one should have been obvious, but hey tsubasa's tsubasa and he can do whatever he wants lol. i promise i'll try and update more frequently. i mean vacations almost here so i'll try. thanks for reading

yeah i dont own captain tsubasa

Chapter 21: Indonesia

"Damn it, why is it so hot in here?!"

Ayame cried out as she lay on the grass. The Indonesian sun was high up in the sky, showering them with its light and heat that was very much different than the dreary, cold winter winds in Japan.

It's been three days since they arrived in the tropical country, getting themselves acclimated to the hot weather of the nation before starting the second round of the Asian Preliminaries tomorrow.

Most of them had a hard time adjusting to the climate. It was winter in their country after all, and they flew down to a country that was eternally summer. Plus, the air was so humid that it kind of made them lazy and lethargic.

Of course, not her though. She's been wishing for warm weather ever since the first snow fell on Nankatsu. Now that she was in hot climate, she felt so alive and happy, and man she didn't even want to go back. She didn't even care about the harsh practice and training. As along as she get to stay in nice, warm climate, she's all good.

Plus, she got to wear her tank tops and shorts again. Jeans, pants, and long sleeves are nice and all, but she'd rather have her body be hit by the humid wind than get frostbite.

"I don't think it's that hot," she quipped from she sat on the ground, leaning back as her arms supported her and her legs stretched in front of her. They just got done with a practice match, and were now waiting for the other matches to finish as well.

Ayame rolled her eyes. "You don't count. You basically thrive in hot weather."

"Hey," she said in mild offense. "I don't 'thrive' in hot weather. I just… function better in the heat."

Ayame gave her a blank look, before rolling her eyes again to look away from Sanae.

Sanae chuckled in amusement. That's one of the things that's different between the two of them. While she loved being under the sun, Ayame would rather curl up in her bed with an oversized sweater in winter. She hated getting too hot and sweaty, which didn't make sense Sanae at all since she was a summer baby (not to mention she played a physically demanding sport that left her sweaty). Ayame usually just shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to tell her the perks of loving the cold seasons: coffee and hot chocolate.

"Stupid cousins who love summer too much," she heard Ayame mutter to her herself. She chuckled again and they heard the whistle signaling the end of the last practice match.

Ayame sat up lazily and they both turned to watch everyone go to where they sat, along with the rest of the team. She immediately caught sight of Tsubasa, who was laughing with Misaki-kun with something. They were in the same team and must have been thinking about one of their stupid mistakes that they did. It probably wasn't big and wouldn't cause a ton of destruction when they're playing a real game, but it didn't stop them from making fun of it.

She saw Tsubasa turn to her direction, and a grin immediately broke out of his face. He started to go towards her, Misaki-kun following close behind. Everyone else went to whatever group of people decided and as expected, the whole place got noisier and livelier.

"Hey," she greeted him once he took the empty spot beside her. He greeted her back as well as giving her lips a chase kiss.

Misaki-kun chuckled and grabbed the spot beside Ayame, who jokingly complained about how he was crowding the area. He replied by poking her on the side and making her jump, clearly remembering how ticklish she was.

She couldn't help but shake her head at those two. She knew something was going on between them even when they just met, and something changed between them over winter break. She didn't know what, but they seemed to be closer than before. Really, she believed it's only matter of time before they hook up.

"When are they going to get together?" she heard Tsubasa whisper beside her. She turned to him in shock, surprise at what he just said. Tsubasa continued as he watched Misaki-kun pester Ayame. "I mean, it's not hard to see that they have something. I just don't understand why they won't just date each other."

She stared at him incredulously. Was he serious? He managed to notice that easily when most of the team haven't realize it? Like, it took a confession on her part for him to realize that she was in love with him, and now he just tells her that Ayame's and Misaki-kun's attraction to each other was obvious. Wow, she suddenly felt cheated.

Tsubasa finally sensed her stare. "What?" he asked. "Something wrong with what I said."

"No," she answered with bewildered eyes. "No, just- you noticed that?"

His eyebrows knitted in confusion. "What, like its hard? They make it very obvious that they like each other."

Suddenly, a pout formed on her lips without her knowing and Tsubasa raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"Really?" she cried while crossing her arms childishly. "Really. You can see that but it took you long enough to know I'm in love with you? Seriously, this is unfair."

His face suddenly morphed into an expression of disbelief, but she could see he was still amused.

"Don't be like that," he tried to soothe her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. She let him, but she didn't let her arms fall to show him that she was still unhappy about it. "I didn't mean to upset you. I was… young, and maybe a little slow. But, at least we're together now!"

He didn't really have any excuse about failing to notice her feelings for him, even today he was still guilty and angry at himself for that failure. Just thinking about how much she must have suffered while he was clueless of how much she was already in love with him while he was off doing god knew what, but it still wasn't him realizing her feelings.

That's why he decided that he'll do whatever he could to return that same love she continues to give him, perhaps even more.

She was his, just like he was hers now and forever.

She gave a teasing sigh, and turned to face him. "Fine," she said then she held his face with her hands. "You're forgiven," she told him tenderly, and he couldn't help the grin forming on his face. He was about to lean into her to take her lips with his, but he was stopped when her hands suddenly squished his face. "But only because you're cute," she giggled.

He figured that he must have looked ridiculous right now, but he didn't care as long as he could hear her laugh in joy like this.

"You look like an idiot," they heard Ayame remark from over Sanae's shoulders. They gave her their attention and saw the smirk on her face while looking at them. Misaki-kun had a teasing smile on his face.

"I wished I had my phone with me," Ayame continued. "That way I could put it on Instagram and show the world how much of a dork their soccer golden boy is."

"A dork for his girlfriend more like," Misaki-kun added, and both of them started snickering. Tsubasa rolled his eyes and grabbed his towel, balling it up and threw it at his best friend. In the process, he got out of Sanae's clutches.

"Shut up," Tsubasa jokingly told Misaki-kun. "Just see, one day when you get a girlfriend, you're going to do the same thing."

Misaki-kun gave him a disbelieving look. "I doubt it." Ayame was trying to stop her guffaws from beside him.

"Oh trust me," Tsubasa continued. "You will."

Misaki-kun didn't seem to hear him, he was too busy trying to stop Ayame from laughing by taking her in his arms and tickling her again.

The two of them shared knowing looks, couldn't help the smile to form on their faces. Just he wait, those words are going to bite his ass one day.

"Okay shut up people!" Coach Gamo roared. "God for people who live and breathe soccer, you sure don't know how to shut up."

"Give us a break coach," Hoshi-chan said, "We're teenagers, what do you expect? We never shut up."

"That's why it's awful," Coach Gamo muttered to himself. Coach Natsukawa hit him on the arm. He balked and glared at her, but she only narrowed her eyes at him. He sighed and cleared his throat while rubbing his arm. "Moving on…"

"Good job on training today everyone!" Natsukawa-san took over. "We saw a lot of great things today, and we're glad that everyone improved. Also, it's good to know that you guys started getting used to the heat. It sure is a contrast to the winter in Japan. Hopefully no one gets sick."

That's true. Changing seasons were usually disastrous. The body's adjusting to temperature changes, and a drastic change like this could bring a ton of bad news. But so far, everyone seemed to be good and healthy.

"Anyway, since tomorrow is first day of the second round, we decided that we're going to end training early today, give you a time to relax before the show starts," she gave them all a wink and everyone cheered by the good news.

"Fuck yeah, I've been waiting for this!" Ayame exclaimed in glee. "I've been dying to wear the new bikini I bought." Most of the girls agreed with her. It has been a few months since they wore their swim suits and they're probably craving to show off to the other foreign guys around the area.

The guys mostly laughed and whistled. They're probably just excited to take a dip in the pool or check out girls at the beach.

"Settle down, children," Natsukawa-san chided them half-heartedly. She didn't really care whether they were acting like teenagers, in fact she loved it when they're like that. She always told them to never forget that they were still young, and live it. She did know when to reel them in when they get too rowdy, like a perfect mom.

"Just let us finish some things first and we'll let you go for the day," she said. "First off, we'll be announcing the lineup for tomorrow's game with Uzbekistan." Immediately they all quieted down. Sanae didn't really listen that much. She'd be part of the lineup, but she probably won't be part of the starters. She'd probably be on the bench most of the time.

Natsukawa-san turned to Gamo-san, who nodded and cleared his throat.

"Okay," he said. "Wakayashimazu, you're in charge of the goal tomorrow." Wakashimazu-kun nodded stoically in response. "Soda, Jito, Matsumoto and Asaki are the defenders." The four of them nodded as well. Soda-kun and Jito-kun smirking in excitement. It was their first game after all.

"Midfield will be handled by Misaki-kun, Hiyazawa-chan, and Nakazawa-chan," Natsukawa-san continued.

Wait what? She looked up from the grass she was playing with, turning to Tsubasa with wide eyes in disbelief. Tsubasa only shrugged and told her to listen.

"And our forwards will be Nitta-kun, Fukawa-chan, and Hyuuga-kun," she ended cheerfully.

"Sitting on the bench will be: Wakabayashi, Hamada, Morisaki, Misugi, Midoshima, Tsukiko, Matsuyama, Izawa, Miyahara, Oozora, Aoi, Irino, Sawada, Kiseki, Nanami, Sorimachi, and Kisugi," Coach Gamo said. "So that's it!" Natsukawa-san clapped. "Those are our people for tomorrow. Please take care of the group."

The team then started joking and teasing each other, some even tried jesting their disappointment. Of course, Hyuuga-kun took it all in stride. Arrogant bastard.

"Anyway, some rules for spending the day," Natsukawa-san said over their chatters. "The pool and the beach are open, as the as well the stalls surrounding the beach. Go hang out wherever you want. Just don't go into dark alleys please. I don't want anyone missing any time soon. And that's about it I think. You guys are almost adults so we're going to trust you to make the right decisions."

"But if one wrong thing and that's a privilege you're not going to get again, got it?" Coach Gamo said. They nodded in agreement, but she was sure most of them were out of it. Probably planning what they were going to be doing for the day.

She was out of it for a different reason though.

"Great!" Natsukawa-san exclaimed. "Everyone's dismissed! I'm gonna change into my swimsuit and lay out under the sun. See you!"

Everyone laughed and started to leave, Coach Gamo shaking his head while muttering something about being surrounded by kids.

"You okay?" she felt Tsubasa nudged her. She turned to him still with a dazed expression.

"Am I really playing tomorrow?" she asked while they started walking.

Tsubasa nodded his head. "Yeah," he said. Then a concerned expression grazed his features. "Are you nervous? If you are, just don't think about it okay. I'm sure you'll do great."

She didn't exactly felt anxious about it. Just…

"I'm not nervous about it," she admitted. "I just can't believe it. I mean I thought I was just going to be a bench member."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and put a hand on his pocket as they continued to walk. "You and I both know you don't really belong to the bench. They'd be idiots if they don't put you in soon. I'm sure their smart enough to use you. And this must be the perfect time."

She couldn't help the smile to form on her lips. He's the sweetest man she'd ever know. She put her arm around his waist and leaned into him, showing her gratitude.

"Well what about you?" she retorted. "You don't belong to the bench as much as I do, maybe even more."

He shrugged one of his shoulders. "As long as you're out on the field, I'm fine. I can watch you play all day. I mean, I think when you're playing is the only time I don't get jumpy. I noticed that when I started watching you guys since last year. It's pretty enamoring I guess."

She felt her grin widen it was starting to hurt her cheeks, but she didn't care. Tsubasa just had that effect on her.

"Besides, I don't really care about the lineup right now," he said. She gave him a puzzled look, but he only gave her a mischievous smirk. "I'm more excited to see you in a bikini than anything."

Her laugh probably echoed throughout the training center.

End Chapter

AN: oh tsubasa, what are we going to do with you? lol. anyway, i was watching high school musical 3 one day, and i realized that tsubasa and sanae's relationship is like troy and gabriella's except without the whole singing part. i mean they're so sweet and cute, and they can talk about everything, and gabriella gave a nickname to troy the way sanae gave the nickname to tsubasa, and my god if you ever watch to see real life sanae and tsubasa just watch them. because of that, i managed to get an idea of what's going to happen between my babies. which only made me want to write the ending soon, but i cant cause i have a whole arc to finish. sighs.

anyway, i wanted to add more stuff to this chapter involving pool shenanigans. it includes more sweet moments between sanae and tsubasa, and maybe misaki throwing ayame in the pool, but i decided to cut it off because this seemed to be the perfect moment to cut, so have that instead. sorry.

i guess that's it for this chapter. hope you liked it. thanks for reading and please review!