AN: is anyone even reading this, or is everyone just as busy as i am lol

i dont own captain tsubasa

Chapter 29: Tryouts

Before they even knew it, the winter snow finally started to melt as the flowers of the cherry trees began to bloom. As the seasons passed, so did time, and just as quick as a blink of time, they already found themselves starting their last year of high school.

She let her eyes follow a petal of a cherry blossom as it descended from the tree they were under.

Everyone was at Hikarigaoka Park that day. After all, it was Hanami. They weren't going to let the chance of watching the flowers in full bloom pass them. Besides, it was the day before the start of the new term. It'd be a waste not to take advantage of it.

She couldn't believe it though. Who would have expected that it was already three years since she entered high school, three years since she realized she couldn't exactly get over him, three years since he returned to her.

She was so lucky to have spent Hanami with him this year.

She leaned her back against his chest, cuddling with him as she sighed contentedly.

"You seem happy," she felt his chest rumble against her with his chuckles. She felt him deposit a kiss on her head as he tightened his hold on her. "Am I that comfy?"

"Hmmm," she said teasingly. "Sort of. The view helps too." It was actually beautiful. The cherry blossoms were falling around them, and it always never failed to take her breath away.

He chuckled and held her tighter. "Well, I like the view before me better," he told her as she felt him press his nose against her hair.

She giggled and turned around to face him. "You are such a sap," she teased him while putting a hand on his face. "I still can't believe you're so cheesy. I honestly did not believe you can be like this." She didn't expect for him to be such a sweetheart, really. Could you blame her? He made it believe that he was only focused on that damn sport all his life, how was she to know that he knew all the right things to make her flustered.

"You love it anyway," he mocked gently. It was true. She did love it when he tells her sweet nothings like this. It always gave her the butterflies and somehow, she was falling in love with him all over again.

She chuckled and leaned close to him, her eyes half closed in serenity. "And I'm not denying it," she replied, pecking his lips. "Keep on doing it, and maybe one day you'll finally get something out of it, my Eagle."

"Am I now?" he raised with raised eyebrows with amusement.

She giggled and rubbed their noses together. "We'll see, Mr. Oozora, we'll see."

He only chuckled in reply before he started leaning down towards her. She could only smile before closing her eyes, preparing to receive his lips on hers.

"Onii-chan! Anee-chan!"

They halted their movements and turned to face forward only to see Daichi running towards where they were. For a split second they were almost annoyed at who dared to interrupt their alone time. Ever since they got back home from Indonesia, their friends or someone would always take the chance to interrupt them. Like, they just wanted to make out in peace. Stop bothering them!

But who could stay angry at Oozora Daichi? That child was too precious for this world.

"What's up bud?" Tsubasa asked his little brother who kneeled before them, an exuberant smile on the child's face.

"Kaa-chan said lunch is ready!" Daichi exclaimed! "And she said that you'll play with me after!"

She felt her boyfriend exhale deeply, probably not exactly wanting to do it. He seemed to be more enthusiastic to play with her lips. Sanae elbowed him lightly in the chest. She peered up to him, and their eyes met. He gave her a pleading look, and she only returned it by shaking her head.

He released another deep breath.

"Sure, little man. We'll play after eating," he finally relented. She smiled at his answer and squeezed his hand. Good brother.

"Yay!" Daichi exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. "Let's go, let's go! I want to play!" He then ran back to where he came from, leaving them as they stood up from where they sat.

"Do I have to?" Tsubasa turned to her with a sigh.

Well, well, this was new. Oozora Tsubasa not wanting to play with a ball. What was the world coming to?

"You don't want to play with a ball?" she asked with an amused smile. "What a plot twist…"

He gave her a sly smirk, "I'd rather play with this one instead." She felt a hand grope her ass, and immediately felt her face heat up.

"Tsubasa!" she cried out in embarrassment before jumping away from him. She turned around and pointed a finger at him, her face flushed 50 fifty shades of red. "Damn it, mister. That is not cute at all!"

He only laughed out and grabbed her hand, bringing them to his lips for him to kiss. "It might not be cute, but it was hot," he winked.

She felt her face heat up more than she thought it could ever be. Why must she have a boyfriend who's such a big flirt?

She covered her face with her free hand and groaned. "Tsubasa, you're going to be the death of me!"

She felt him release her hand and pull her close to him, his chest rumbling with his chuckles again. He kissed her head again, just as she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face on his shoulder.

"I love you," she heard him whisper to her ear. She could only smile back and kiss his neck.

"I love you too."

"Onii-chan! Anee-chan! Hurry up!"

They separated from each other to turn to where Daichi was, already a few feet away from him with his arms raised. They shared smiles with each other before taking each other's hand, finally deciding to walk to where everyone was.

No matter how fast time pass, she was sure nothing will change for them.

A week have passed since the beginning of the new school year, and so far nothing big has happened, at least something that garnered their attentions. The only surprising one about this was the administrators decided to put six soccer players in a class: her, Tsubasa, Ayame, Shiori-chan, Misaki-kun, and Wakabayashi-kun. She didn't know what made them decide that was a good idea, but whatever. They should manage somehow.

Their afternoon activities hadn't really changed that much. They were still managing their teams, and for her and Tsubasa, the whole respective soccer club. At first, she was a little doubtful of how Tsubasa would handling club matters. After all, it did involve more just a soccer ball, and he didn't really have that much experience handling a school club, but the boys were all showing him the ropes and surprisingly, he was managing it quite peacefully.

Although yes, he went to through panicking whenever he encountered something he didn't know how to do something. It's quite cute actually. Tsubasa rarely asked for help, and knowing he stresses over the little stuffs kind of makes him more real.

Anyway, practice had been mostly the same since last year, except of course the disappearance of the presence of the third years, but she was sure that their first years could fill in the gap once they were added. Besides, she was sure the girls they were waiting for from Nankatsu Junior High were itching to finally kick a ball in their field. With them back, the gang is completed once more and for sure, the Girls' Soccer Team will dominate the tournaments again. Sanae didn't mean to brag, but her last year of Junior High was the best year for the girls team.

Though she didn't know about the boys. She guessed that they wouldn't really need first years to be in regulars. The third years were already strong enough as they were with the Nankatsu Trio playing. But then again, Subaru-kun and Niwaki-kun moved (again) and they might need some people to replace them. Well, Nitta-kun was already roaming the hallways with the boys, so he could definitely fill in the center forward spot that Subaru-kun left. Also, although their defense was kind of shaky right now with just Ishizaki-kun and the others, she was sure they could handle it. Really, that's just about it. They didn't need to do anything.

But, they gotta continue the club somehow after they graduate.

So yeah, they're doing tryouts today, and Tsubasa wanted her to watch it for some reason. Something about needing another's opinions on who to admit. She didn't really know, nor understand for a reason. She was busy running her own team too, thank you very much.

But if it meant, she could see him, then okay.

She finally turned at the corner and was surprised to see that there was already many boys trying out. They were already warming up across the field. She could spot Nitta-kun eagerly doing sprints with cones, probably excited to start tryouts. From what she heard, he's been looking forward to this ever since he came to Nankatsu with all the other Otomo kids. It was nice seeing them with the boys, as if they're back on with the National team again.

Sanae slowed her pace and took her time to observe everyone that was there. She couldn't help but smile at the great turnout the boys team had. Of course, she didn't know whether they were there because they really wanted to be part of the team and loved the sport as much as her boys did, or they were just there because it gave them bragging rights. Hopefully it wasn't the latter because if these guys joined only because of that, then they didn't know what they signed up for.

She stopped her walk to look around some more, and this time she was honestly surprised with how many girls showed up as well. She almost forgot but they were also accepting those who wanted to be a manager for the team this year. Truthfully, the boys got by without having a manager, nobody gave them the time of the day if it wasn't for the girl's team, but Nishimoto Yukari aka Yukari-chan bless her heart, saw the inside of their clubroom one day and took over the reins from there on. To be honest, Sanae was kind of glad she did that because the boys' clubroom looked like a pigsty before she came, and it smelled like bad feet it was terrible. If she didn't join the girls' soccer team (and wasnt busy acting like an idiot), she would have been the manager really. But she's not so she'd forever thank Yukari-chan for doing this.

But seeing that one person couldn't handle all these guys on there on, it's about time to find people to help their senior manager out.

"Anego, you're here!" she turned to where it came from just to see Morisaki-kun walking towards him.

"Hi there, Morisaki-kun," she greeted the keeper. The both of them started walking, chatting along the way.

"That is a lot of guys trying out today," she remarked while they walked. "This is the most I've seen since I've gone to boys' tryout days."

"Being nationally-recognized players kind of helps," he replied cheekily. "And not to mention we have three here with us."

She chuckled as they continued their walk, nearing where the other members were all gathered.

"Plus, they seemed to have heard the rumors," Morisaki-kun added with a teasing smile. "Although I wouldn't exactly say it's a rumor."

She raised an eyebrow. "What rumors?"

"That they'll get to spend lots of time with the girls team, who mind you are full of –and I say this in their words- 'hot, sexy, gorgeous girls that they'd tap the ass of if they had the chance,'" he answered nonchalantly as they arrived.

Immediately, she felt her face heat up. What the hell? That's disgusting! She couldn't believe that they actually say that.

"Damn, Anego your face is red. What did Morisaki do to you?" Taki-kun asked when the other boys finally saw her.

"I just told her about what the younger boys think about their team," the keeper answered as he took a seat beside Takisugi-kun.

"About how they think they're hot?"

"Yup."

The boys looked at each other before shrugging.

"Oh," Kisugi-kun replied unenthusiastically.

Really, that's the only thing he could say? He wasn't even appalled at what those boys think of them? Of their dignity and chastity? What the hell? She thought she taught them better than that.

She was about to blown up on him, but he suddenly continued talking again.

"I thought you told her about Tsubasa's unspeakable fantasies about her."

Wait, what?

"What?" she exclaimed, taken aback by his remark.

"What?" Kisugi-kun replied back with an innocent stare. Everyone else having the same expression as him.

She knew her cheeks were tinged pink once more as she tried to stutter out her thoughts. "I- he- Tsubasa-"

"Oh look who finally decided to show up," Wakabayashi-kun's voice entered their conversation. "It's miss popular herself. Maybe these wimps will finally stop being one and actually start moving like a man."

Then the main goalkeeper of the team turned to look at her. "What's wrong with you? You're so pink you look like you can camouflage with the cherry blossoms."

"Kisugi might have told him how Tsubasa thinks about her in unspeakable ways. She didn't seem to be believing it."

"Ah, I see," Wakabayashi-kun replied with a smirk. "If only she knew just how bad her boyfriend actually is when it comes to her."

Oh my god, would they quit it. This was totally embarrassing. She didn't want to know how Tsubasa might have fantasize her from them of all people.

…Okay, yes she was a little curious, but come on give her a break! They were in public, surrounded by first years! This was the most inappropriate time to talk about this.

"Are you guys harassing my girlfriend? Because if you are, I'm not going to regret kicking every single one of you," she felt Tsubasa's arms circle her waist to pull her to close from behind, and oh dear merciful lord, this was the wrong time for her to feel his sculpted abs through his shirt pressing close to her. It wasn't just her face who was feeling warm at this point.

"Relax, Tsubasa, we're just teasing her. You know how she is when she gets flustered," Taki-kun explained to him, but everyone still had that damn smirk on their faces she wanted to get it off of them.

"Hmm…" Tsubasa hummed in contemplation. "You do have a point there. She's adorable when flustered," he agreed as she felt his chin on top of her head.

Okay, this was going too far.

"If you guys just want me here to tease me, can I leave? I more important stuff to do than just stand here being made fun of," she said while crossing her arms.

"Ooh, damn we made her angry," she heard Taki-kun whisper to Kisugi-kun. "Better stop it before she gets worse."

If they thought she didn't hear that, then they have a long way coming.

She turned to them with a blank stare, and she couldn't help feeling satisfied when she saw them quiver in their seats.

She felt Tsubasa's chest rumble with his chuckles. "Don't be like that," he said to her. "You know we didn't mean you any harm. We're just playing around. And we really do need you here."

"Fine," she sighed. "But if they do it one more time, I'm leaving."

"Deal," he said, kissing her head.

"Ugh, you guys disgust me sometimes," Ishizaki-kun finally spoke. "Get a room will you?"

She gave the defender a glare, too tired of this that she didn't turn red again. It was a good thing he learned from that one look and stopped before he could even say anything stupid again.

Although, she was kind of sure Tsubasa's expression towards him might have influenced his decision to remain silent.

"So why am I here exactly?" she asked, Tsubasa's hands still around her.

"Hmm? Oh we need help picking out new members," he answered.

"Correction, you 'need' help picking out new members," Wakabayashi-kun was quick to correct him. "I don't get how you're going to have a hard time doing this. You just find the most competent people and pick them. That's it. Really, I think you just want her here so you can see her."

"That's mostly the reason," she heard Tsubasa murmur near her ear, and she turned to face him incredulously. Was he serious?

Unfortunately, her boyfriend wasn't looking at her and was acting like he didn't say anything at all. His attention was focused solely on his teammates.

"You know I don't want just competent players," Tsubasa explained. "I want to find the best of the best. We do have a reputation to uphold."

"And you can't find them on your own?" Misaki-kun, who was finally back from the field. He was in charge of warming up the guys for try outs.

"Nope!"

Misaki just raised his eyebrow at his best friend before just shrugging his shoulders with a smirk. "Whatever makes you happy Tsubasa."

The boys snickered once more and she could only huff an annoyed sigh hearing them. She knew they were laughing about her because of Tsubasa wanting her here, and she knew her boyfriend was smiling behind her.

"Yo, are you guys starting soon? I need to get these girls starting and show them the ropes," Yukari-chan, flanked by the other girls, joined in the conversation. Tsubasa immediately let go of Sanae before the younger girls arrived. "Hey, Sanae-chan."

Sanae waved her hand in greeting and took a few spaces away from Tsubasa as he, Wakabayashi-kun, and Yukari-chan talked among themselves.

She took this time to observe the girls trying out. They actually had a variety of them wanting to join the team, but there sure were a lot of first years. They looked so young and fresh it was adorable. It was nice that they wanted to help out in taking care of the boys. Granted, she didn't know they actually want to help or they just wanted date them, who knows. She'll bet all of her collection of stuffed toys half of them have a crush on Tsubasa already.

"Damn, look at that girl Anego. She's got guts. She's already clinging to Tsubasa and she's not even a manager yet."

Her point exactly.

She turned to her boyfriend, and sure enough there was a first year girl, her brown hair tied in pigtails and a bright smile on her face. Sanae didn't know what to feel exactly. On one hand, she was annoyed at the gall of this little girl to just waltz up to her boyfriend like that, but on the other hand, she wanted to cackle like a mad woman just seeing Tsubasa's nervous and baffled expression from the girl's forwardness.

But really, though if she didn't stop (trying to) flirting with Tsubasa, Sanae was going there and mark her man.

Ah, there we go. Bless Yukari-chan's heart. Thank you for dragging her away.

Wakabayashi said something to Tsubasa, something she couldn't catch from where she was, but judging from the smirk the goalkeeper was wearing and Tsubasa's nervous chuckles, it was something about what happened.

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

Before she could release her laugh, Tsubasa finally called her and they started the try outs.

Hopefully this wouldn't take long.

"So tryouts…" Sanae started as they slid into the booth. She could feel the heat coming from the grill just as she sat onto the seat, and golly geez she couldn't wait until they start eating. A new okonomiyaki just opened up in Nankatsu a few weeks ago, and everyone's been trying it out Izawa-kun and Rika-chan said it was good, so they might check it out. Beside with what happened today, Tsubasa looked like he needed it.

Tsubasa groaned and covered his face with his hand. "Let's not talk about that please."

She giggled seeing her boyfriend in such a state. She couldn't exactly blame him. This afternoon did not go as they expected to be honest.

"I just can't understand it," he said as he ran his hands through his hair pathetically. "Why did most of them play like that? I mean, Nitta-kun and others were amazing, and I was hoping the other guys would be like that too, but they –and I mean this in the nicest way possible- sucked."

Dang, he must be really frustrated about this. It was true, he's possibly the nicest guy she ever known in her whole life, and he was never the kind of person to talk bad about someone. And now, hearing him describing them as sucking was a surprise.

The waitress arrived to get their drink orders before she could answer. After giving her what they want, they went back to their conversation while browsing through the menu.

"They weren't that bad," she tried to defend them. "Some of them were pretty decent from what I saw."

"They were decent, yes," Tsubasa sighed behind the menu, "but they weren't exceptional. You know I'm looking for the best, not-not this!" He slammed down the menu down on the table so hard it actually made her jump in surprise.

Who knew her boyfriend have really high standards when it came to finding recruits? She wasn't expecting him to be that fired up about this.

"You're really passionate about this, aren't you?" she remarked once the waitress arrived with their drinks. This time she got their orders and they were left to continue their conversation once more.

"Of course I have to be passionate about it," he sulked. "We're talking the future of the team here. I still want Nankatsu to get into Nationals even if we're gone."

"Good point," she replied before sipping her drink, looking away from him. That's right, this was their last year to play for Nankatsu.

"Well what about you guys?" Tsubasa asked him this time. She turned to look at him, a curious expression on her face. "Aren't you guys a little worried on what happens when you leave?"

She hummed in thought and set her elbow on the table, putting her chin on her hand. "Not exactly."

"Really?" Tsubasa exclaimed in surprise. "How come?"

Before she could answer, the waitress came back again, carrying the ingredients for their okonomiyaki. They thanked her for her service and finally started mixing their food, going back to what they were talking about.

"I guess it's partly because we already have people in mind on who's getting in the team. Last time we checked up with each of the first year girls, all of them were going to be at tryouts next week," she told him as she poured the mixed okonomiyaki batter on the grill.

"You already have people picked? Isn't that kind of unfair for everyone who's going to be trying out?" Tsubasa countered confusedly. He couldn't understand how that could work for them.

She flipped the okonomiyaki around, letting the other side cook. "Unlike you guys, the girls' team don't usually have many people try out."

"So you're sure that whoever you picked will be the only ones trying out?"

She gave the okonomiyaki another flip before finally drizzling it with mayonnaise and sauce. "Not necessarily. I'm sure there will be some other girls who want to be part of the team, but –and this happens every year- they're not exactly… committed to it I guess. Most of them usually just join because they needed a club to join. Half of them wouldn't even be able to kick a ball correctly."

Tsubasa looked up from cutting the okonomiyaki. "Why are you taking them then?" he asked in genuine confusion.

"Why not?" she argued, taking up what he didn't finish. "If they're willing to learn, then they'll stay. We're more than happy to teach them how to play. If they're not, then they're welcome to leave. We're not forcing them to stay. Besides, those who actually committed themselves to us, actually ended up staying as late as the first team to practice, and unsurprisingly, they got into the first team. At least that's what happened with Keiko-chan. For such a timid girl, she's one hell of an aggressive winger. And all our kohai are amazing in their own way, we know we're leaving the team in good hands." She then proceeded to eat a piece of the okonomiyaki, and almost squealed in happiness. Damn this was delicious. Good job, Sanae.

Tsubasa sighed as he broke his chopsticks. She didn't realize he hadn't done that yet.

"Why can't our team be like that?" he murmured as he stared down at the food before them. "This is honestly stressing me out. I just want my team to be dependable for next year."

You know, she was kind of getting tired of his attitude right now. And a stressed Tsubasa was not cute at all.

"Wanna know a secret?" she whispered to him. That got his attention right away, looking up to her in curiosity.

"Whenever my girls get too stressed out worrying about a game, I always tell them one important thing," she told him as she slowly took a piece of the okonomiyaki with her chopsticks.

"And that is?" Tsubasa leaned closer to her, careful that he didn't burn himself from the grill.

"I tell them to just have fun," she said. "Forget about winning or losing. You're playing soccer because it's fun. You're not just on field to win, but to gather all these experiences that will ultimately lead you to be a better person. So get out there, kick ass, but most of all, enjoy it. Every game is different, and you'll only get one chance to play it."

She raised her chopsticks up in the air, and looked up to face Tsubasa with a huge grin on her face. The bewildered expression almost made her grin wider if that was even possible.

"So, come on Captain. Stop staring dumbly like that and start eating. I didn't make you this okonomiyaki just to be ignored," she slightly pushed her chopsticks full of okonomiyaki towards him, making him snap from his unbelieving stare.

He blinked twice, and she only raised an eyebrow in return before he finally chuckled.

"What am I going to do without you?" he said as he smiled at her. She felt herself flush but she willed it down.

"Starving to death that's what," she snapped jokingly. "Now come on and eat this already. I'm hungry and I want to continue eating."

"Well, why don't you just eat that piece then? I'm not telling you to give it to me."

"Uh, and you have the gall to complain? Here I am trying to be the nice, loving girlfriend and what does her boyfriend do? Reject her! Maybe it's time I should finally get a new one."

"Fine, fine- huh what do you know it's actually quite good."

"Of course, I cooked it. It's all because of me and my magnificent cooking skills."

"Yes, yes, I know. I'm lucky you be able to take your cooking. Thank you Sanae-sama."

"Is that sarcasm I hear? Why I ought to-"

As the two of them acted like the lovesick teenagers that they were, they failed to notice the eyes of a pigtailed girl, who earlier this afternoon had her lips in a bright smile, but was now in an unhappy frown.

She didn't like what she was seeing, not one bit.

End Chapter

AN: props to you if you can figure out who this mystery girl is. i mean, i thought i left some pretty obvious hints but eh. anyway. i love yukari really, but when i started FOLW, i didnt even know she existed because the 2002 anime cut like half of the girls out of the series. jerk move producers, jerk move. but yeah, she's the manager instead. expect to see her more.

anyway, i kind of realize i like the dynamics between sanae and tsubasa here. i mean, sure they were cute and all in the manga, but writing these little moments between them is kind of eye opening because you dont exactly know how tsubasa and sanae act out of panel. yeah, we all know they're all lovey-dovey from the point of view of some characters, but i feel like its still missing something. at least here, we get a playfulness unique to their relationship. idk, maybe its just me.

but yeah, ignore me i dont know what im talking about.

all i can say is just sorry for the late update, i hope you forgive me, and i hope you enjoyed this barf-worthy of a chapter.

thanks for reading and see you soon!