I'm back... after about four months of inactivity.
Hey there, sorry for wait. I had my exams and project piling up and also it because I didn't have any idea how to go on. I think now I have a clear mind on what's going to happen in my story, so for now enjoy this chapter while you wait another 3 months for the next chapter :)
*whispers* I was kidding. Please comment and give me advice
Mark pulled the orange band up his right arm with a satisfied grin. He had been assigned the captain of the team since Shizuzuka was benched.
'For now,' Hiromi reminded herself. She cast a glance at the benched goalkeeper with his head downcasted and an expression of a fighting spirit long gone.
The referee returned to his position and blew the whistle.
"AND OFF THEY GO! IMPERIAL DOMAIN COMES IN STRONG! WITH ONLY A FEW MINUTES LEFT ON THE CLOCK BOTH TEAMS ARE FIGHTING TO WIN THE FINAL POINT!"
"Hishikawa!" Akiyama yelled to the sprinting midfielder. The golden haired boy nodded and surpassed the redhead with the ball in his possession.
Ijimaru caught up to Hishikawa a good distance away from each other. Before he could shout out to him, the captain suddenly appeared, running beside him.
"Hishikawa, pass the ball!"
Ijimaru fumed, "Mark, what the hell!?"
"I'm making the point, whether you like it or not!" Mark snapped and roughly bashed into him. Ijimaru stumbled and fell on the ground. He watched as Mark received the ball and bolt off. Blood boiling, Ijimaru picked himself up and gave chase to the captain.
Ichijuu dashed in from the side to steal the ball, but Mark noticed him and jumped over him with the ball between his feet.
"AND DOMAIN ESCAPES ICHIJUU'S SLIDE! THERE HE GOES, ADVANCING THROUGH THE FIELD- BUT WAIT! WHY ISN'T HE PASSING THE BALL TO ANY OF HIS TEAMMATES!?"
True as it was, Mark was surrounded by his teammates from all sides, each one ordering him to pass the ball to either one of them as they ran.
"Shut up." Mark growled, trying to ignore his teammates, but he finally snapped at Ijimaru's overly infuriate voice.
"Goddammit Mark! Just pass the damn ball already!"
Mark buried his spikes in the ground, coming to an abrupt stop. His teammates didn't react quickly enough and the moment they turned back to him, he was already preparing a kick- a kick to the opposite side!
"Domain, what are you doing!?" Mizusaki yelled demandingly, but her voice fell on his deaf ears. Mark had his leg raised high behind him and in seconds, his leg strongly came down to meet the ball.
"WHAAAAAAAAAT!? DOMAIN KICKS THE BALL TO THEIR SIDE OF THE FIELD AND IT'S HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THE GOAL!" The commentator screamed and removed his sunglasses to get a better look with his tiny eyes.
Hiromi watched the ball fly over her head and followed it until her attention shifted to the ponytailed forward.
"Nishiki-san!"
Nishiki saw it too and jumped to headbutt it away, unfortunately, he wasn't able to reach it.
"Omiwari it's coming your way!" Nishiki alerted.
The Raimon captain was already way ahead as he rushed to the middle of the field to angle himself at the ball. He couldn't let Domain score a goal for them, not like this. Deep down he knew, Domain must've planned this!
Omiwari leapt from his spot to perform a kick, but from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of an evil smile behind him. And he realized, he was too near.
"ROCK SLIDE!"
Before anyone knew it, mountains began to shoot out from ground, each one rising higher and higher than the last. Until one of them managed to jab the Raimon captain in the back.
"THE CAPTAIN OF RAIMON HAS BEEN INJURED BY ROCK SLIDE!"
Omiwari let out another agonizing cry of pain when he hit the ground after being flung in the air. His teammates rushed to aid at full speed.
"Omiwari!" Nishiki cried worriedly, on all four as watched the captain clutch his leg. Something fresh was oozing out of it.
"Captain... your leg..." Hamano began, turning pale at the amount of blood escaping from his injured leg. Nishiki and Victor lifted the injured captain off the ground.
"Yeah, he got me on the leg too," Omiwari said, hissing in pain again.
"Ichijuu's right. We need to get you to the managers, quick." Hamano translated Ichijuu's signs. Hiromi stood up from crouching, about to agree when the captain spoke up.
"No. Let me play."
Silence...
"Are you out of your mind!?" Nishiki exclaimed outrageously, "You're injured and you think you can just go out there and play!?"
Omiwari protested, "It's just a cut, I'll be fine-"
"Listen to Nishiki-san captain," Victor interrupted gently, "You can barely stand on your own with a cut that deep and your back-."
"I can still play," Omiwari insisted looking almost desperate, "I'll be fine-"
"Shut. Up." The five boys whipped their heads to the stern voice. Hiromi had her arms crossed and an irritated look on her face, "You can't win this. We all know you're injured and can't play, so stop begging and just accept that." She said.
Taken aback, Omiwari attempted to snap back at her. But Hiromi wasn't taking any more bullshit and silenced him with a hand.
"You may be the captain, but we know what's best," She said with a fierce tone, "We're taking you to the bench whether you like it or not."
Omiwari's face scrunched up in annoyance and rage, as he glared coldly at her. However, she was being practical about his situation. Everyone was too. He was injured and he couldn't play with a bleeding leg, let alone an almost broken and painful back.
Omiwari slowly glanced back at his teammates' worried expressions. They were all worried. Omiwari sighed and hung his head in defeat.
"Fine. Hand the band to Ookami."
With relieved yet pitiful smiles, Nishiki and Victor brought the captain to the bench who swapped places with Akashi. Ichijuu immediately handed the captain's band to the blue haired strategist who accepted it humbly while Hamano and Hiromi returned to their positions.
Glancing over her shoulder, Hiromi spotted the referee pulling out a yellow card at the younger Shizuzuka as a warning.
'Demon.' Hiromi narrowed her eyes dangerously as the younger Shizuzuka brushed off the yellow card like it was nothing, 'He really does live up to that title.'
The referee blew the whistle again to continue the game.
"Hey wimps, catch!" Shizuzuka hollered rudely at his teammates, drawing his arm back before throwing the ball towards the field.
"We're not wimps!" Eitoshi Yaya, a defender with orange hair and purple eyes retorted furiously after catching the ball. Her eyes scanned the field and found themselves on the back of a white haired boy ahead of her, "Oh! Ronald, catch!"
She sent the ball zooming towards the boy who merely glanced over his shoulder and easily received the ball.
"Ron, pass it here!" Otonashi, who was just across him waved to get his attention. Without hesitating, Whiteman kicked the ball over to the orange haired forward who immediately brought it up with his fellow forwards tagging behind him for assistance.
But then, just like lighting, a blur passed Otonashi by and he realized the ball had been stolen. Instantly believing that it was one of their opponents who stole it, Otonashi screech to a halt and wheeled his head at the figure.
"MARK DOMAINNNNNN! Quit stealing the ball from us you jackass!" Mizusaki pointed at him and stomped her foot in frustration.
"Fine. Take it then." He said casually, kicking the ball to Akiyama's feet. The three forwards look dumbstruck at the ball before back at him. His back faced at them and hands lazily tucked behind his head, "You wanted me to pass the ball to you so much, so there."
Otonashi, Mizusaki and Akiyama were too stunned to reply or even move.
"Actually, you know what? Let them have the ball." Mark continued, devising a plan, "We have the legendary demon on the field. I doubt we have to put much effort into playing now."
Mizusaki blinked, stupefied, "Not much effort? NOT MUCH EFFORT!? GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE GUTTERS YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-"
"Clarify Domain." Otonashi quickly demanded, interrupting the bluenette before she could cause another uproar.
Mark spun around an evil smirk that had been waiting for its appearance, "You heard me. We have an advantage here, why not rest our legs and let Shizuzuka do the job. He can stop any ball from entering the goal. We'll just tire our opponents until they can't fight anymore." His eyes suddenly became visible through his goggles, "Unless... You want to tell me my brilliant idea is unacceptable."
Otonashi glanced at his friends before back at their captain, "So as you say Domain. You're right, he can stop any ball and it's not a bad idea either, but..." He didn't miss the smug smile, and he didn't miss the eyes of the Raimon captain paying close attention to them. But he wasn't finished, "That is not an excuse to purposely and extremely injure our opponents so that we can have the upper hand. Don't play dumb with me Domain, I've seen you and Shizuzuka play dirty before on every field. In every match. Rest all you want, you might as well be benched from you stand."
At that moment, Akiyama and Mizusaki decided to take their leave with the ball, leaving their friend to handle the captain alone. Otonashi furrowed his brows in return to Mark's scowl.
"This is supposed to be a team effort, but I don't see it from either you or Shizuzuka." Otonashi continued acidly, "You want to play your game? Fine. But the rest of us are sick of following your rules. We won't let you have your way with us, we're not your pawns anymore."
Otonashi turned to sprint after his friends but lingered at his spot for a little longer.
"Take this as a warning."
Without another word, the forward dashed off to regroup with his friends. He didn't need to see the captain's hands turned into fists.
"AND MINOWARI STEALS THE BALL! OH, IT'S REALLY CLOSE NOW! CAN RAIMON FIGHT BACK WITH ONLY A FEW MINUTES?"
"Short passes, now!" Ookami ordered as Minowari kicked the ball ahead to Yamada who was closer and passed it on to Nishiki. Nishiki avoided an opponent and passed the ball to Victor who passed it to Akashi.
"AND RAIMON SLOWLY ADVANCES FURTHER WITH SHORT PASSES!" The commentator announced, "BUT WILL RAIMON SUCCEED OR WILL THE IMPERIAL DOMAIN FINALLY STEAL THE BALL?"
Being the closest, Hiromi received the ball and sprinted forward without a second thought. The brunette glanced back at the midfielder who tried to steal the ball and smirked. They were going to win this match! She was sure of it when her teammate suddenly cried out.
"Hiromi, look ahead!"
The moment she tossed her head forward, Hiromi didn't catch the face of the blur who tripped her and stole the ball.
Hiromi clenched her teeth in pain when she impacted with the ground. She cast a quick glance at her ankle which thankfully wasn't injured. The sound of someone snickering made her shift her attention behind her. And she wasn't in the least surprised at the person.
"How's it like to be grounded, pigtails?" Mark taunted, the ball in his possession and looking down at the brunette who glared daggers at him, "Speechless? I'm not surprised. Everyone always is."
Hiromi saw an evil glint in his eyes through his goggles, "Of course, I'll be glad to steal your victory from you. Give it up pigtails, the Imperial Domain is the strongest team in the world, you can't beat us."
Hiromi said nothing and continued to glare. Mark scoffed at her reaction. As he was about to turn around, he wasn't aware of someone bolting towards him and...
"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! AKIYAMA FROM THE IMPERIAL DOMAIN STEALS THE BALL FROM THEIR CAPTAIN!?"
"WHAT!?" Mark exclaimed, wheeling his head to see the forward already bolting for their defense. Mark grit his teeth and clenched his fists, "That bastard." He grumbled under his breath before dashing after Akiyama.
After Mark left in a hurry to stop his teammate, Hiromi immediately picked herself up and stare off, speechless. She was shaken out of it when Ookami's piercing voice shouted at them to score the point and dashed off to their opponents' defense.
The defenders were in a bad position as they were too stunned. They watch as their captain and Raimon catch up to the redhead.
"What are you idiots doing? Stop him!" Their captain raged. The defense was hesitant but didn't have to do anything because Akiyama's attention shifted and kicked the ball away before Mark could rob it from him.
"Hishikawa!"
Hishikawa's chest collided with the ball and it fell. The midfielder's face scrunched up with uncertainty and lift his head to see Mark after him, yelling.
"Hishikawa! Give me the ball!"
Panicked and unsure, the gold haired boy tossed and turned his head as if he was trying to find someone who could help. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Nishiki behind him. His eyes moved back to his captain who neared him and finally made his decision; he kicked the ball to Raimon's forward!
"NO!" Mark bellowed.
"Yes!" Nishiki cried as he easily leaped passed a dumbfounded defender and came face to face with the goalkeeper.
The younger Shizuzuka snarled, "Come at me ponytail! I can stop your ball anytime, anywhere." His lips curling into an overly confident grin.
Nishiki scoffed, "In your dreams. Akashi!" Nishiki sent the ball zooming across the goal towards the redhead forward who jumped out of nowhere to shoot the ball.
"SMOKE ERUPTION!" Thick, red smoke erupted from the red ball and swallowed up the entire goal and Shizuzuka.
There was a moment of dead silence on the field. All eyes glued on to the red smoke as it started to clear out. The first thing everyone saw left them thunderstruck. The younger Shizuzuka's wrists and ankles were handcuffed by rings of mossy rock that were chained to the ground as he tried to wrestled himself free.
"LOOK! THE BALL IS IN!" The commentator shrieked, pointing at the ball in the goal, "RAIMON WINS! RAIMON WINS THE MATCH!"
The winning team stood speechless at their win but before they could react or say a word, a thunderous scream beat them to it.
"No No NO! This can't be!" Everyone's attention shifted to the infuriated Imperial Domain coach. He was clutching the brim of his hat close to his temples while glaring daggers at the ground, "We should have won! US!"
His eyes rolled up and locked themselves on his players watching him, "You... You bastards." He began to walk up to them like a zombie. He grabbed the closest player and lifted them by the collar, "YOU BASTARDS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!? WE WERE SUPPOSED TO WIN! THAT WAS OUR POINT!"
"You listen to me. You follow MY orders. I was supposed to WIN! I was supposed to have that brunette and I WAS SUPPOSED TO GET THE LOAD OF MONEY ONCE I HANDED HER AWAY TO THE BOSS!
He threw his player on the ground and watched as they ran away in fear and pain. His teeth bared and eyes with the intent to kill. He didn't realize the sudden silence he created.
"So that was your intention all along." The firm voice of player brought Giovanni back to reality and look up at the orange haired player, "I suspected you had something up your sleeve, coach."
Suddenly, Giovanni began to grin madly, "You... You commanded them to let Raimon win, didn't you? I should've kept a close eye on you. You were always trouble weren't you Otonashi."
The forward narrowed his eyes disgustedly at the coach. Two players cautiously approached the coach from behind and held him back by his arms, "I think it's the other way around. You played us like puppets and filled our heads with lies. I didn't involve my teammates in my decision, they acted on their own accord and it just so happened that Raimon won. Consider everything you've worked for gone because we quit."
Giovanni's face turned serious, "You can't quit! I won't let any of you waltz right out of my hands. I'll even harm everything you love if it's to keep you in the Imperial Domain! YOU WILL STAY IN THIS TEAM AND THAT IS FINAL!"
Otonashi clenched his teeth and hands, "Mizusaki, Akiyama, escort the other team outside, I want to deal with him myself."
His two friends who stood behind him looked at him with uncertainty before the blunette said to the redhead, "I'll stay with him to make sure his head's in the right place. You go on."
Akiyama returned an amused smile, "Pretty ironic for you to say that Mizusaki. Make sure he doesn't do anything reckless."
"I hear ya, I hear ya. Now get going."
"Come on, we're escorting you out." Shingetsu's focus broke from the situation transpiring and looked down to see Akiyama beside him. The redhead glanced back at the scene, "There's nothing left to see here."
Shingestu looked back at the redhead's direction with concern before nodding. With a steady voice, he called out to his team. He, Naomi, Akiyama and Omiwari stayed behind to make sure every member of the team exited the stadium.
"Come on." Hiromi jolted from her thoughts when a hand touched her shoulder. With eyes of still full of shock, she slowly turned to see Victor beside her, "Let's go."
Victor stayed by Hiromi's side until they met up with Sora and Kuroyama who waited for them at the exit. The four friends ignored Omiwari's gaze on the brunette as they exited the stadium. He followed shortly after them with Ookami supporting him.
The trip through the tunnel was silent as their footsteps echoed with each step they took. Once they were outside, Sora released Hiromi's arm and scurried after Akiyama.
"Um.. excuse me, but what's going to happen to Coach Giovanni? I-If you don't mind me asking." She added hastily. Akiyama eyed her before replied solemnly, "That madman's going to jail, that's for sure. We've already contacted the police so they should be here any minute now."
"And what about your team?" Ookami asked. By now, everyone had gathered around Akiyama for answers.
"Most of us plan to switch schools after this whole fiasco's over and hopefully shut down the club too."
"Shut it down? Would the school even allow that?" Namayaki quickly spoke up.
"With enough evidence, the school doesn't even stand a chance. We've always suspected that that madman was up to no good and done some snooping around and gathering things we could use against him. We even have a recording of his entire confession. He can't talk his way out of this."
Nobody seemed to ask any questions after that and lowered their heads to the ground.
"There's really nothing for you all to worry about. Just focus on getting into the finals for the Holy Road." Akiyama said before stealing a glance at Hiromi, "And make sure your brunette friend over there looks after herself. It'd be a shame to see a valued player not being able to participate in the matches."
While hiding his surprise at the redhead's kind advice, Shingestu stepped forward and nodded, "Will do. You take care of yourself too."
Akiyama nodded back and watched each member board the caravan before rushing to stop one of them.
"Wait up." Hiromi turned around to see Akiyama holding her back with his hand on her shoulder, "There's something I want to tell you. In private." His eyes moved to Victor who narrowed his eyes back almost protectively.
"Just go. I'll be fine." Hiromi whispered which rendered the navy haired worried. Victor finally gave in and retreated back to the caravan, making sure to tell the driver to wait for Hiromi.
"What is it?" Hiromi turned to the redhead.
Akiyama inhaled, "Look, I can tell you really don't want to stay here any longer so I'll get straight to the point. During our investigation in our ex- coach's office, we rummaged through his drawers and found this." Akiyama pulled out a yellow sticky note from his pocket and handed it to Hiromi.
Hiromi's eyes widened and then narrowed in confusion when she read the note; there were 6 circles, one was in the middle while the rest surrounded it with arrows pointing at it. The middle circle had the letter and number MH10 while the five circles had GA1, KK7, KM18, FH20 and GG43 with arrows pointing at the middle circle.
"What even is this?" Hiromi inquired, looking at the redhead who shook his head in reply. Just as clueless as her.
"No idea. No one could figure out what it meant and it's not like our ex-coach would tell us anyways. And it was the only evidence I managed to sneak away from the others before they could give it to the police." Akiyama added.
"...Then why are you giving it to me?" Hiromi flicked her wrist with the note still in her hand while she gave him a hard look, "You're hiding important evidence from the police. Wouldn't it be better to give it to them?"
"...I dunno. I just sorta have this gut feeling that you'd be able to solve the note instead of the police." Akiyama said, his eyes averted to the ground and rubbing his neck. And she wasn't going to lie, she saw a faint blush colour his cheeks.
"Well, thanks. You guys aren't as bad as I thought you'd be." Hiromi thanked, stealing a glimpse at the note in her hand.
"Stay safe." Akiyama said with a smile as Hiromi nodded and replied with, "You too." before boarding the caravan. The caravan's doors closed and drove away from the school in a matter of seconds until the school was nothing but a dot in the distance.
Hiromi sat on the outside since Sora had herself seated beside the window. With her back bent forward, chin resting on her free hand and inspecting the note in her other hand.
'Just what the hell does all these numbers and letters mean?' Hiromi jerked away from her thoughts when Sora's hand touched her shoulder and asked, "Hiromi. Are you alright?"
Hiromi immediately hid the note from the bluentte's eyes by stashing it in her jacket's sleeve, "O-Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. Just shaken up, you know. I just- I just need some time for myself." Hiromi said, looking down at the floor.
Thankfully, Sora didn't ask or reach out to her again and silently pulled out the note. Rubbing her temple slightly in frustration, Hiromi stared at the note.
'Someone's after me and they've sent their goons to find me. The coach can't be one of them, he was just as surprised. I gotta talk to someone about this.' Her eyes averted to the navy haired boy sitting across her and looking out of the window in deep thought.
That's when she realized how quiet the team had gone
Omiwari listened to the heavy silence of his team and eyed Namayaki who stared out of the window.
Sighing, Omiwari leaned back in his seat and let his thoughts take him back to the day he confronted the Tenton captain.
- Flashback -
After Hiromi had left, Omiwari decided to come out of hiding and approach the crestfallen Tenton captain.
"Natsukata."
The Tenton captain's head shot up and spun his head at his name.
"Omiwari?" Natsukata said, shocked to see the Raimon captain there with him, "What are you still doing here?"
Omiwari arched an eyebrow to make it look like he didn't know anything, "I had to lock up the rooms." He answered, before leaning against the wall near the gate, "Although, I could ask you the same question. What are you doing here?"
"Oh! Well, you know... Hehe... I just thought it'd be nice to... um... visit a... a friend! Yeah! I thought I'd visit a friend!" Natsukata grinned nervously, but Omiwari obviously wasn't going to fall for it.
"Really? When I came out, I thought I saw one of my student with you. You two seemed to have gotten into a heated fight. Your friend wouldn't have gotten into an argument with you unless there was a reason." Omiwari narrowed his eyes at the captain across him, "That student wouldn't happen to be a player who got into the soccer club, would it?"
Natsukata swallowed and averted his eyes, "Uh... I don't know who you're talking about. S-She's just a student here in the school. Me and my friend just got into a silly argument. That's all. Maybe it was because I showed up at the wrong time, you know. I-I mean school's pretty stressful and-"
Omiwari cut off his pathetic attempt to fool him, "Save the act for later. It was Hiromi wasn't it?"
Natsukata immediately closed his mouth and scratched his neck. He hung his head, defeated, "How much did you hear?"
"Everything."
"Oh."
The two captains stood in silence before Natsukata spoke up again, "So what do you want?"
Omiwari relaxed and replied, "From what I heard, there's something going on that involves her, doesn't it? If that's the case, I want to help."
In just a millisecond, Natsukata's head shot up in disbelief, "You? Help? Why? What does any of this have to do with you? If anything I could just ask you to forget you even heard our conversation-" Natsukata cut himself off and inhaled, "Okay, look. I don't want to involve a person into this problem, alright? The more people there are, the more dangerous it'd be for Hiromi."
Stubbornly, Omiwari shook his head, "I'm helping and that's final. I can't forget everything I heard, nor do I even plan on telling anyone. I want to help."
"But why?"
The Raimon captain shrugged, "Can't I help my fellow teammate out?"
"That's not your real reason is it?"
"...Of course not." Omiwari mumbled before extending his hand out, "So do we have a deal?"
Natsukata eyed the waiting hand before reluctantly shaking it, "Deal. But I'm going to have to start from the beginning in order for you to understand our situation."
"I've got time."
Natsukata rolled his eyes, suspecting it as a lie, "Right. But not here. We can go to my house, it's safer there. And since my dad's involved too, it'd be a lot easier to explain."
The Tenton captain led the way as Omiwari followed closely behind.
"So what's your history with Hiromi?" The Raimon captain asked and Natsukata turned back with a fond smile.
"We used to be friends when we were younger. What about you? I've heard there was some bad blood between you two during this week."
Omiwari smirked, "We thoroughly hate each other." Omiwari almost thought he heard Natsukata mumble along these lines.
"Funny. She couldn't hate anyone when she was younger."