I'm back! I am so sorry for being inactive these past few months (or was it only one month?) I've already apologized earlier but I just want to say remind you guys again. I've made some changes to the previous chapters so some parts are quite different from what you've read before. If you want to stop following this story because of that very reason, I understand but it is my choice to change it while the story continues or make a rewrite story of this (does that make any sense?)
Again, very sorry in advance. And I do not fancy being killed if any one of you out there is out for my blood. :(
*Mind me, I'm not good at emojis
Oh, and big thanks to my cousin who proofread this chapter for me, I definitely will keep asking you to do this for me.
I'm actually deciding whether I should get other people, professionals or people i think their stories/writing is better than mine on the web like in this website to help with proofreading my chapters. If anyone's interested, you can privately message me.
Out of nowhere, a jacket was thrown at Hiromi's sleeping face. The impact made her quick to react as she pulled it off her face, "WHAT!?"
"Keep your voice down!" The person who threw the jacket hissed and clamped her mouth shut with his hand. Hiromi sent the most furious glare at the navy haired boy who wore nothing but only his white t-shirt. Victor narrowed his eyes back at her.
"What's your problem?" Hiromi toned down her voice, not caring if she did wake some people with her scream. All she wanted to do now was to punch him in the face.
"You sleep like a rock." Victor pointed out, avoiding her question. Hiromi's eye twitched as she dug her nails into the fabric. With a sweep of her arm, she struck his face with his jacket.
"What's your damn point already!?"
Muffled sounds could be heard under the jacket as Victor managed to pull it off, "Don't you realize? The caravan's stopped." Hiromi's brows rose up in realization as she turned her head in every direction. Victor was indeed right, the caravan stopped moving for some reason and almost everyone was sound asleep, not aware of their situation.
Hiromi turned back to Victor, "How long were we out?"
"A couple of hours. I woke up a few minutes before you." Victor replied, casting a glance at the captain's seat which was shockingly empty, "I don't think we're the only ones awake. I have no idea where the captain is, he's not in his seat."
It took Hiromi aback. Not in his seat? What would drive the cold-hearted captain out of his seat?
"What about Namayaki-san?"
"Can't see him from here. And... I can't exactly move from my spot either." Victor gestured to Kuroyama's head leaning against his arm, a bit of drool hanging from his opened mouth. Hiromi hadn't even noticed him sleeping against the navy haired forward.
Deciding to see for herself, Hiromi unbuckled her belt and stood up from her seat. She tip-toed and looked over her senior's seats.
"See him?" Inquired Victor.
"No, not in his seat- wait! He's in the-" Hiromi stopped short and locked her gaze across the seats with her pupils shrunk. Something was wrong.
"Hiromi, what's wrong?" He didn't give time for Hiromi to answer back and turned his attention to the front and found himself having the same reaction like her.
At the front of the caravan, Namayaki stood out in the bright rays of sunlight penetrating through the window.
But he wasn't what had scared their souls half to death.
The colour of red was splattered on a small bottom centre of the window with Namayaki blocking most of it until he craned his head to the side.
Hiromi fell back in her seat, a hand over her mouth as she and Victor stared at each other with terrified eyes. Both lost for words.
Something immediately clicked in Victor's head. His brows rose in realization at the brunette and began slowly shaking his head in disapproval.
"No... No no no no no. You are not going out there." Victor whispered, "We don't know if it's actually blood Hiromi! It could have been just a prank."
Hiromi's pupils re-shrunk themselves, "Namayaki-san wouldn't be standing still and staring at it if it wasn't! What if the others who ARE awake are outside investigating? They know what we'd crash into!"
"Okay, we'll go with your theory. We leave it to them to come back and tell us everything." Victor tried to reason.
"You expect me to sit here and wait for them like a damsel in distress?" Hiromi fumed.
"That's not what I meant! I expect you to sit and wait for the grown-ups to solve this situation!" Victor retorted.
"You know what? I'm going!" Before he could stop her, Hiromi had already stood up from her seat and march towards the albino goalkeeper.
"What are you doing?" Victor made a move and held her back, "Get back in your seat!"
"Look here lightning bangs, I'm not going to wait for a miracle to happen!" Hiromi hissed impatiently, "I'm going to find out what happened and you're not going to stop me."
"Oh yes, I will." Victor snapped, holding tightly onto her wrist with both hands. Hiromi scowled. He was really getting on her nerves. Trying to quietly yank her wrist free, a brilliant idea flickered in Hiromi's head. Whipping her head to her seat, she could see the bluenette tossing and turning her head. Hiromi supposed she was having a nightmare, seeing how much sweat was dripping from her forehead. Like lightning, she made a grab for Victor's jacket that was lying freely on his lap and threw it right at the manager's sleeping and drenched face.
"Huh!? Wha- What!?" Instantaneously, Sora awoke feverishly out of fright, turning her head around in confusion and tightly gripping onto the thrown jacket. At the same time, Victor freed Hiromi's wrist and begun to worry about his childhood friend.
Taking advantage of this, Hiromi stepped away from them, throwing a victorious smirk at the distracted forward. Sora was panicking too much to register what was going on. With that, the brunette casually walked away to the front, careful not to make any sounds that would trigger the albino goalkeeper's ears. Once she neared Namayaki, Hiromi could see he was immensely concentrated on the blood.
This was the perfect chance to escape.
From the corner of her eye, Hiromi noticed the doors were wide opened and shifted her attention to the controls in the driver's seat. A lever stood out next to the seat. Hiromi was no expert in vehicle mechanics or controls but she could definitely tell that was the leverage to the doors. If it was possible to push the lever and get out of the caravan before the doors closed...
'I've gotta do it now, before either one of them stops me.' Hiromi thought, eyeing Namayaki, then Victor and back at the level. With one swift move, Hiromi kicked the lever and sprinted off to the doors as the timer began ticking down.
Namayaki whipped his head side to side after hearing the sound of the lever being push down and the last thing he saw exit the doors of the caravan before it completely shut off were stands of pink and brown hair mixed together.
"Hiromi!?"
Hiromi landed a few feet away after a close jump she had made before the doors closed completely. Hiromi decided to ignore Namayaki's shocked face pressed on the glass, followed by the sounds of him banging on the door. Hiromi stretched her head and caught a glimpse of the ones awake crowded around something Hiromi assumed they hit. The brunette could barely make out the people due to the painful rays of the sun greeting her eyes.
"What are you doing out here?" A voice asked rather indignant and stern. Hiromi jumped and spun around to be greeted by a slightly far more painful and jarring than the sun.
"Shit." Hiromi cursed under her breath, taking a step back from the person behind her. Unfortunately, Omiwari heard her.
"I'll repeat again. What are you doing out here?" Omiwari begun to advance on her, with each step he took towards her, Hiromi took a step back to avoid him.
"The same reason you're out here." Hiromi countered, putting her foot down while glaring back at the purple-haired captain furiously. A moment of silence joined in their glaring session.
"Get back inside NOW." He emphasized the last word and pointed a finger at the closed doors.
"Make me!" Hiromi dared, subconsciously spreading her arms out. That did it. She disrespected her senior and captain whose face flared up almost in an instant. She braced herself for his incoming yell.
"That's enough. BOTH OF YOU."
The duo instantly whipped their heads to the stern voice of the third party.
"Coach!" His black eyes narrowed in disapproval at his players.
"As players of the same team, you should know how to respect each other. I would've thought you two should know that by now." He scolded, watching them bow their heads in shame and turned to Hiromi, "What are you doing out here Hiromi?"
The brunette felt a sense of unfair treatment bestowed upon her, "The same reason you're out here." She answered through clenched teeth, not wanting to risk disrespecting her coach instead.
"Coach, I had no idea she would come out here," Omiwari spoke up. Hiromi growled, she couldn't believe it! He was trying to save his ass by acting innocent. Sadly the coach didn't believe his words and sent the captain a hard look. Omiwari swallowed, "Namayaki and I did expect someone to escape but I didn't think she'd escape so easily." He sent a glare in the brunette's direction who turned a blind eye.
"Blame your albino haired friend there for not doing his 'job'," Hiromi muttered bitterly under her breath.
The coach let his gaze linger on the brown haired midfielder for a while before sighing, "You two are impossible." He sighed, exasperated, opting his two players to look up at him in curiosity, "Fine, I'll let you off the hook, for now, Hiromi. I suppose it is entirely my fault. I was too focus on the accident and didn't give any clear instructions to Namayaki and Omiwari to prevent anyone from coming out."
Hiromi stared at the coach in befuddlement. Did she hear him right? It wasn't her fault! The coach wasn't going to make her go back inside! While Hiromi was smiling victoriously, Omiwari was downright shocked and gawking at the coach.
"But coach-!"
"The others will find out sooner or later Omiwari." The coach cut in calmly, shutting the begrudging captain's mouth close, "I am quite glad nobody else is out here. All I want to do now is get this over. We already have a bigger issue at hand and I don't want to have to deal with you two bickering again, understood? Good. Now come along, it's not a pretty sight."
Before Hiromi could follow behind him, she felt Omiwari rudely shove passed her. Hiromi gritted teeth as she followed after, keeping a good distance away from the Raimon captain.
"Don't mind Shingetsu." Naomi assured after seeing Hiromi arrive, "He's really grumpy when he doesn't get his sleep."
Hiromi turned away from Naomi and her face went pale the moment she laid her eyes on what was in front of her. A pig, adult by the looks of it was lying dead and lifeless in the middle. A pool of blood had formed underneath the poor animal and one could tell it was still fresh.
Hiromi choked at the smell of blood. She pinched her nose and subconsciously took a step back. "We never said it smelled good." She heard Omiwari mumble from her side. He was probably still sulking about her being here, but Hiromi couldn't care less about his feelings.
"What hap-"
"Patricia! Patricia! My dear pig!" A sudden cry in a heavy French accent cut her off. A man dressed in black harshly shoved both Hiromi and Naomi to the side and stood in between them. His eyes solely focused on the dead pig, "Oh no... no no no no no No! My dear, dear darling little pig! Please wake up, for me darling Patricia..."
The man collapsed on his knees and bent his body over the dead pig as if to protect it. Hiromi watched the poor man weep in remorse over his dead pig when Hiromi whipped her head behind her to the sounds of loud chanting and rumbling footsteps, "Coach! Coach Giovanni!"
A boy with sandy blonde hair and blue goggles rushed in between Hiromi and Naomi and knelt down beside the dark clothed man. "Coach! What happened?" His worried expression dropped at the sight of the pig in the man's arms.
"He." Giovanni growled, looking up and directing his eyes burning with intense fury at Fukuha, "You... YOU DID THIS TO HER!"
He harshly shoved Patricia into the boy's arms and immediately marched up to the petrified man who ducked behind Shingetsu, "YOU KILLED MY PRECIOUS PATRICIA YOU MONSTER! AND NOW I WILL END YOUR LIFE!"
Before anyone could stop him, the man pounced on Fukuha who shrieked and scrambled away as fast as he could. Giovanni chased after him.
"No! Stop this!" Shingestu yelled after he saw Fukuha trip and fall to the ground. The raging coach had his hands on his neck, about to choke him.
Fukuha stared back terrified at the man above him with his hands on his neck, about to choke him, "P-p-please, s-sir... I-I didn't- A-Ack!"
"Silence you demon!" Giovanni yelled, tightening his grip on the driver's neck, "You killed my precious pig! And you will meet the same fate as her!"
"I said STOP IT!" The coach and Omiwari jumped in and pulled the man away as Naomi fell to her knees beside Fukuha with Hiromi on the other side, "Naomi, take Fukuha-san inside the caravan and shut the doors! NOW!" The coach commanded as he and Omiwari held the French man off. Naomi nodded as she and Hiromi lifted the petrified driver to his feet.
"No! Come back here you pig killer!" Giovanni screamed, watching Naomi and Hiromi quickly paced away with Fukuha. He freed himself of Shingetsu and Omiwari's grip and ran after them.
They were about to get Fukuha inside the caravan when. "Hiromi! Watch out!" Omiwari's shout caused the brunette spin her head around to see the man frighteningly nearing them.
"Naomi-san! Hurry!" Hiromi cried, using full force to push Fukuha all the way in and without thinking, Hiromi push the doors shut with Naomi and Namayaki screaming at her to get in.
"NO!" Hiromi shut her eyes, bracing herself for the incoming attack of the mad man. But it never came.
"NO! LET ME HAVE HIM!"
Hiromi's eyes snapped opened and the first thing she saw was someone in front of her holding back the raging coach.
"Coach, stop it! He's not worth it!" The person shouted, pushing back the coach. He whipped his head over to Hiromi, "Get in! I'll hold him back!"
Hiromi didn't have to be told twice. The doors automatically opened again and with one big leap, Hiromi was safe from danger. She wanted to get a good look at her saviour once the doors closed but a familiar voice rang out loudly and in seconds, two arms wrapped themselves around her neck.
"Hiromi!" Sora cried, not realizing she was cutting the brunette off of her air supply, "Are you alright!? You shouldn't have gone out there!" She scolded the blue faced brunette when she pulled away, "I was so worried!"
Hiromi didn't have enough time to breathe as Sora embraced her in another tight hug around the neck. "Sora... Let... Go..." Hiromi choked. Thankfully for her, everyone in the caravan was already wide awake and dashed in between the two girls to yank them away before Sora could strangle her to death. Hiromi stumbled away on her feet as she refilled back her air supply with heavy pants. While she rubbed her sore neck, her teammates beside her rubbed her back reassuringly and some chuckling.
From the corner of her eye, Hiromi noticed that Victor and Kuroyama were standing beside Sora with a few others and (Victor) was lightly scolding her. Sora had her head lowered in shame. Hiromi took another heavy pant, sooner or later Hiromi knew how their conversation would escalate to if she stayed in her spot and let Sora walk up and apologize to her. She'd be firing rapid questions at her regarding happened outside and that was the last thing Hiromi wanted to do. Explain.
Luckily for her, Hiromi didn't have to think up of an excuse when a high pitched shriek broke out.
Naomi and a few others were trying to calm Fukuha down who had been seated back at his original seat.
"It's alright Fukuha-san. He's not going to get you. You're safe." Naomi soothed, reaching out to wipe his drenched forehead with a cloth. Fukuha pulled away when it came in contact with his skin. The terrified man hugged his seat for dear life as he whimpered in fear.
"It's no use." Minowari said defeated, "He's too petrified."
"Well, it won't last long." Naomi countered back, not giving up hope, "He'll get over it. Why don't the rest of you sit down? I'll take care of him."
Hiromi could see the worried looks Naomi turned a blind eye from before they dispersed away from the strawberry blonde woman. She saw Sora run up to Kimiko who had assisted Naomi and frantically asked her questions. But all Kimiko could do was shake her head disappointingly, neither did she know what happened nor could she give a proper answer.
"He's petrified is all I can say Sora," Kimiko answered, lowering her gaze at the thought she couldn't contribute much to help Fukuha's state. People Hiromi had bonded with over the school days and soccer practices gathered around the greenette, "I don't know what happened out there, but it doesn't seem they're at the moment to talk about it."
In the sheer moment of realization, Hiromi knew they were talking about them. All five of them who were outside to witness the madness happening outside and only four of them were inside busy with something else. Hiromi straight up walked towards where the coach and captain were, at the window the second the group left their gaze on them.
Kimiko was right about one thing, they weren't in the moment to speak, but to hell, she was going to be their first victim.
Hiromi noticed Namayaki standing at the window and decided to approach him instead. She needed to make herself look like she was busy.
"What's going on out there?" Hiromi asked, trying to sound casual as she glanced at the albino haired goalkeeper.
Namayaki raised an eyebrow at her before turning back to look at the window, craning his neck away from the confirmed blood and to the corner of the window.
"They seem to be fighting." His answer short and direct. Hiromi stretched her neck and indeed see the two men fighting with words. Or at least one of them looked like a man. Hiromi could see the person who saved her perfectly clear; he was wearing a long sleeved jersey; snow-white in colour with blue cuffs along with blue shorts. He was buff in size, skin tan in colour with short green hair and forest green eyes.
Hiromi knew he was a goalkeeper by the uniform, but she couldn't tell which team they were. Namayaki took note of the distress going on in her head and with a sigh, he decided to tell her.
"Those people out there, they're the Imperial Domain." That got her attention. No, Hiromi didn't turn around and say "What?" like he would have expected her to do, instead, her eyes widened in astonishment. Namayaki continued with a cough, "The man out there is their coach, Giovanni Abel."
He pointed to the man stomping his foot down angrily. He looked like he was about to burst a vein because it literally began showing on his cheek.
Hiromi propped up her cheek with a hand, "Was this supposed to be a surprise? You were hesitant to tell me about it." Though she didn't exactly meet his eye earlier, Hiromi heard his sigh and to her, it sounded like defeat.
Namayaki scratched his neck and flashed her a sheepish smile, "Well... I guess you could say that. Honestly, it didn't turn out the way we expected." Hiromi hummed in reply.
"...What did you see out there? You know the thing we hit." He asked in a whisper, probably because the captain was occupying his other side. Hiromi sensed he was reluctant to ask her since he knew the five of them weren't exactly in the mood to talk about, but she would've thought by now he knew what they hit.
Hiromi sighed. So much for avoiding conversations that regarded what happened earlier, "We hit a pig." For some reason, Namayaki's eyes widened.
"Did it belong to anyone?"
Hiromi nodded, "The coach's. Giovanni Abel. He came rushing between us and crying over the dead pig he called Patricia."
"Funny. I never thought he had a pet pig." Namayaki commented, suspicion rising in his voice as he rubbed his chin. Hiromi turned to him, confused, "I've seen their team play against other non-Japanese teams before, but-"
"So?" Hiromi interrupted as she received a glare from her senior.
"But Coach Abel is famous for bringing his beloved pet to every one of their matches and that 'pet' being said is Vincent, his eagle." Namayaki finished, "What I'm saying is, Coach Abel is publicly famous since their team is rank 1 out of the strongest soccer teams in Japan. If he had a pet pig, news would have already spread out among everyone like rapid fire and we would know it by now. But we don't. Making it all the more suspicious."
Hiromi averted her eyes at him with an arched brow, "So you're saying that pig can't be his?" Surely keeping a second animal a secret isn't that suspicious. Maybe he didn't want anyone to know. People keep secrets all the time. She decided to disregard his reply.
"I assume so. It's not like I have evidence to prove that Patricia DOESN'T belong to him." Namayaki responded, putting their conversation to an end. Hiromi let out an inaudible sigh and turned her attention back to the glass. She could see the goalkeeper and coach glaring daggers at each other, almost about to be at each other's throats again while their teammates surrounded them.
"Coach! I think they want us to come out!" Hamano alarmingly called once he pulled his face away from the glass of the doors, "I think they're saying it's safe and all they want is to talk." He and a few others who stood near the entrance and exit of the caravan stepped away for the coach to see out the window for himself. The coach pulled himself away from the glass.
"Hamano's right. We should go out and see what they want."
"All of us?" Yamada asked skeptically.
The coach nodded, "All of us. But before we step out of this vehicle, I want you all to keep this reminder in your head, understood?" He received a bunch of affirmative nods, "Out there is our first opponent, the Imperial Domain. We had just struck our car into an animal crossing the road-" Loud gasping, "So I want all of you to stay silent and let me do the talking. I don't want any outbursts that could provoke them."
"But what if they provoked us?" Nishiki mumbled, unfortunately, the coach heard him from earshot.
"Then we keep our anger under control." He narrowed his eyes as a warning at the dark haired boy who turned away and whistled innocently, "Alright, let's go. Fukuha, you can stay here, please open the doors for us and shut them once we're out." He told the terrified driver who barely nodded in response. The doors automatically opened and one by one, they reluctantly stepped out to greet the faces of their opponent with apprehensive looks.
Once Hiromi hopped off from the caravan, the first thing she saw was the Imperial Domain standing together, some throwing their team dangerous looks. What really caught Hiromi's attention wasn't the coach dressed in black and standing in the front with a threatening look, it was the goalkeeper standing beside him. He was the only one with the most sympathetic look on his face and the way he looked at her, Hiromi could tell it was directed to her. Her eyes moved to the green captain's band on his left arm.
Hiromi pushed herself to the front when her teammates began gathering together to face off the other team. She stood beside the coach with the captain occupying his other side. Hiromi peeked at the coach's face that held a brave expression before turning her attention to the strongest team in front of them.
"Have you cooled off yet?" The coach asked coolheadedly. It seemed to have triggered something terrifying in the other coach's head because his eye was twitching with irritation and a vein began showing.
"Cooled off!? Are you out of your mind you mad man!?" Giovanni bellowed, throwing his hands up in frustration, "My precious pig, Patricia is dead and you, mon ami are asking me if I, Giovanni Abel, have cooled off yet!?" He stomped up and jabbed a finger at Shingestu's chest.
"I'm was merely asking a question if you wanted to speak to us in a proper manner and not vent off your anger at us." Shingestu said, pushing the other man's finger away. He was a few centimetres taller, making him slightly more intimidating and towering to the Imperial Domain coach, but the latter wouldn't back himself down to be intimidated.
"I have every right to blame her death on you!"
"Then I suggest you take this somewhere else or take an anger management class!" It was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was in total shock at his outburst. Giovanni gritted his teeth.
"This. Means. War!" Giovanni roared. Shingetsu narrowed his eyes at the Imperial Domain coach, "We will settle this battle on the field! If you win we let you pass and forgot like this never happened, but..." His lips curled into a sinister smile, causing Hiromi to narrow her eyes dangerously at him, "If we win, The Imperial Domain, you'll have to submit one of your teammates to us."
Loud, audible gasps came out from the Raimon team's mouths. They all averted their eyes at the unmoving coach, hoping with all their might that he wouldn't agree.
"Which one?" Shingestu inquired with a dark look. Giovanni's smile broaden and threatening.
"If I were to choose, which I can." He added haughtily, "It would be the brunette!" Hit like lighting, Hiromi stared at the powerful finger at her, shocked out of her life than anybody else in her team. She was rendered speechless, "I sense great talent from your brown haired player, born with it if I may add. And not to mention a fiery passion for her beloved sport! All the better reason to have her on my team." He ended his speech with a sinister smile like he had already won the battle.
"Shingestu, you CAN'T seriously agree to this!" Naomi exclaimed, clutching his arm, "We can't afford to lose a member to some unfair game! Especially if they're just NEW!" In just a split second, the entire team erupted in pleas of desperation, pressuring the coach.
"You can't let them take Hiromi!"
"It's unfair!"
"Coach, you just can't!"
"Coach..." Omiwari's soft voice carried itself to Hiromi's ears. She had been so stunned, she blocked out all other noises outside her mind to focus on the threat bestowed upon her. Though in her paralyzed state, the captain's voice somehow managed to break through and snap her back to reality. She could hear everyone's voices, all pleas of desperation. Hiromi dared to look up and what she saw was the dark look on the coach's face and her face too darkened at his next words.
"You have yourself a deal."
"Shingestu!" Naomi screamed, digging her nails into the fabric and skin. The coach clenched his teeth in agony.
"Well, we'll see you on the field, no?" Giovanni smirked and turned his heel, "Show them the way there after your introductions." He assigned a boy of the team who nodded, the corners of his mouth lifting up into a similar smirk. Satisfied, Giovanni walked away, leaving the two teams alone with a tensed atmosphere.
"Mark Domain." Omiwari whipped his head at the name and was met with the face of a sandy blonde haired boy with blue goggles. The smirking boy extended his hand out for a shake, "It will be a pleasure to play against you."
Welp, you've gotten this far. Now you gotta wait for part 2 to come out.
RnR pls, you can tell me if there's any parts confusing or mistakes I didn't over see.