A/n: Thank you for all the lovely reviews on the previous chapter, I was worried it might be a bit too cheesy but I'm glad everyone enjoyed it! This one isn't as romantic as the previous chapter though, even if the update speed is something worth being happy about.

This is set in a universe which has all my favourite characters from all my favourite series leading a normal high school life. I've actually written something similar to this years ago, but it's best if you don't read that. So anyway, all the extra characters that show up in this one are either from Pokemon or Digimon, except for my OC Charlie who might show up in some of my other oneshots occasionally too.

The background here is that both Takao and Hiromi are mutually pinning for each other but they have a bit of bad history between them that keeps them from becoming closer to each other.

Tale 12

- x -

The tightly shut windows of the library didn't stand a chance against the loud cheers from the soccer field echoing all across the school campus. The windows rattled against the noise, making the only inhabitant of the room jump up in surprise. Her head turned towards the set of windows from which the soccer field was visible but she made no attempt to get up from her spot behind the reception desk. If she had wanted to watch the match, she firmly reminded herself, she would've been out there in the stands with the rest of their school and neighbourhood. But the whole point of being in the library at this moment was to avoid the event in any which way possible.

Hiromi let out a deep sigh and turned her attention back to the stack of books lying in front of her, attempting to drown out the ruckus by focusing on the task at hand. As the president, and the sole member, of the library committee it was her duty to register the newly purchased books in the school's system and arrange them in their respective sections. It wasn't a difficult task and wasn't much time consuming either, she could've finished it by coming to school earlier than usual on any given day. There really wasn't any need for her to be present at school on a Saturday just for this. It was a simple coincidence that she had happened to pick the day of the soccer match to finish this work, which was now getting prolonged because of the shouting and loud noises disrupting her work flow. This was in no way a means to watch the match discreetly, she feebly reassured herself, as her gaze drifted off towards the windows again and again, despite her self-control.

It wouldn't hurt to take a peek, she thought, just to check the score and make sure that their school was still in the lead and all the cheering and shouting had been coming from their side and not the opponent's. Any model student would do the same, turning up to events like this was just one more way to show school spirit. And that's exactly what Hiromi was doing by taking a break from her library duties and making her way to the window across the room. She quickly put both her palms on the window pane and leaned forward excitedly to get a better look by resting her forehead against it too, her eyes taking in the view on the other side of glass in one sweep, finding the object of her interest in no time.

Or rather, the person of interest.

Even with the distance between them when she spotted him, her heart automatically skipped a beat and she felt the colour rise in her cheeks. She had to quickly console herself, that there was no way he would be able to tell that she was looking at him, the library was on the third floor for starters and she herself, could barely differentiate between the bleachers and the field, so how could someone who was in the middle of a match catch sight of her peeking from a window? Comforted by her own thought process, Hiromi's ruby eyes flickered with excitement as she carefully followed his figure moving across the field. The second half was reaching it's end and the score was tied, covering the field with a thick layer of tension that she could feel all the way through the glass, with exhaustion and fatigue becoming visible in the players' slow movements across the field.

Not him, though.

It had been easy for Hiromi to spot him as he was one of the few players on the field who were still standing up with their shoulders straight, their eyes still attentively following the football like hawks. She was relieved to see him in form, the score and the time remaining was troublesome sure, but she knew if there was someone who could pull off a miraculous goal right now, it was him. She had been watching him play for so long now that it wasn't difficult for her to guess that he hadn't given up on the match yet, rather was just patiently waiting for his chance to take the field by storm.

In the stands both the school's cheering squads were raising their banner high and chanting supportive messages to keep the players motivation at bay, and were also in a competition with each other over the volume and creativity. Hiromi was only able to make sense of bits and pieces from the noise as she had chosen to keep the windows shut, but she could tell that their school's squad was doing a much better job, and she smiled widely to herself, the squad's leader was not visible from her vantage point but she knew that their squad's performance could solely be credited to her. It did dampen her mood slightly, knowing that she was not out there with the rest of her friends and classmates, shouting words of encouragement and laughing and basking in the atmosphere of belonging to a group that was strongest at events like these.

But this was a decision that Hiromi had made herself, and had not been forced into, so she had no choice but to see it through until the end.

Besides this view was much better, she could stare at him for as long as she wanted without getting caught or teased for it, the memory of him turning mid-match to catch her eye and smile at her from a few years ago still made her blush from head to toe.

Suddenly there was a rush of cheer and hoots across the stands and Hiromi's attention quickly returned to the field, the ball had been picked up by one of the midfielders on their team and with less than three minutes of playtime remaining, the match was finally about to reach it's climax. She recognized the player as one of the first years who had only recently joined the team with no prior experience in the sport. Hiromi's classmate and friend, Sora, the manager for the team had been worried about the coach's decision to include him in the line-up for this match for the past week, and one of her remarks about their junior popped up in Hiromi's mind as she was unable to follow his movements across the field once the ball was in his control.

"I don't know if I can call Satoshi a decent player yet, but one thing's for sure, he's fast when you need him to be." Sora had said with a frown on her face.

And Hiromi could see exactly what the manager had meant. When every other player looked like they had burned out most of their stamina and it was taking extra effort to even run at a normal speed, Satoshi had managed to zoom into the opponent's field of play from their own side before the opposing team could even react to the ball being stolen from their control. The ones who were quick to react were already on Satoshi's trail but some players held back to block the other defenders and midfielders from crossing the halfway line. There was a definitive roar from the opponent school's end as the timer dropped down to sixty seconds and only three players from their team had managed to cross the halfway line to be in shooting range of the goalpost with opposing defenders blocking both the forwards who were capable of making the shot. It was up to Satoshi to decide to whom he was supposed to pass the ball to, but Sora had repeatedly told Hiromi that the first year was far from being a smart player just yet.

Hiromi clutched the hem of her skirt tightly as anticipation over what was going to happen built up in her chest. While all eyes remained fixed on Satoshi as he contemplated his chances with the ball between his feet, Hiromi's were fixed on him, for she knew that the one who'd get the ball across the goal was him.

- x -

It wasn't comforting to play in a match when the Captain you were used to was on the bench due to a minor injury, and the interim Captain could barely fill in their shoes. Takao had lost count of how many times he had turned to look at his senior sitting next to their Coach and Manager in the stands for guidance, only to receive a glare and an angry reminder to focus on the field instead. He had nothing against their interim Captain either, in fact he thought Taichi was managing to do a good job despite the circumstances, but he hadn't quite gotten the hang of playing as a Captain instead of a teammate just yet and the person he was supposed to be filling in for was an expert at it, which made the whole team feel the loss of that presence very strongly.

Takao had watched from a distance at half time as Kai gave Taichi some pointers, but try as much as they did, Kai could not hide the frustration of not being on the field from his tone and Taichi could not hide his nervousness over the task he had been assigned, and the conversation pretty much reached a stalemate just as soon as it started. At least their Coach and Manager had managed to lift up Taichi and the rest of the team's spirits somehow, however during all of this there was only one player who had been completely tone deaf to everything happening around him, the new recruit, Satoshi, who was filling in for Kai as the eleventh member.

So of course, at the most crucial moment the ball had to end up in his control.

The minute Satoshi had begun to make his way towards them at lightning speed, Takao and Taichi had exchanged one look and a nod of understanding. There was no reason for them to risk an attempt at a goal and waste their energy, they just needed to let the clock run out and aim for penalty kicks, with the current state both the teams were in, they definitely had a better chance at winning if they got to penalty shots. The thought hadn't seemed to cross Satoshi's mind at all, as he continued to run towards them and before Takao knew it, the tension across the field had been upped a few notches, deafening roars from both the sides enveloping the field as Satoshi easily made it past the halfway line without anyone on his trail but as soon as their junior neared them, defenders from the other team appeared to block any open chances.

Satoshi paused for a brief moment with less than a minute to go, Takao hoped that he would catch either his or Taichi's eye so they could tell him to just relax and wait for the clock to run over, but the newbie decided to play the game his own way, showing to their Coach and the rest of the team quite clearly that he wasn't yet ready to be put into actual games.

Satoshi shifted his gaze in Taichi's direction and took a few quick steps forward, immediately the defender who had been blocking Takao left his position and then almost in a blink of an eye, Satoshi pulled an 180 degree turn passed the ball to Takao instead.

His body moved before his brain could even signal it to do so, the second the ball collided with his feet he angled the two perfectly, his eyes securing the Goalie's open spot as he came forward to defend but it was too late for that, Takao put all his remaining energy and force into this shot and ball flew above the Goalkeeper's head, missing his hair by an inch, and into the goalpost. The next second the buzzer rang signifying the end of the second half, but it's sound was drowned out by the roar from the crowd.

Before Takao could even register the victory, his teammates crashed into him with shouts and cheers and pats on the back.

"That was amazing," Takao heard Taichi muttering to himself as they lined up to shake the opposing team's hands, and he knew that the brunet wasn't talking about his goal but their junior's absolutely perfect feint. As much as he wanted to agree with Taichi, Takao knew their Coach, his elder brother Hitoshi, had probably already prepared the lecture he was going to serve to Satoshi for the risky move he had pulled during such a crucial moment in the match.

"Good game, you guys!" Sora beamed at them as she passed around towels and energy drinks, her grin widened as she reached Taichi and Takao almost spit out his drink when his teammate's ears turned bright pink as he accepted the drink from her with his head bowed down. At least some things never changed, Takao thought, and instantly his eyes begin to scan the bleachers for the familiar mass of curly, deep brown hair but it didn't take long for him to give up as there was no sign of her anywhere, and the giddy feeling that had been building up in his chest since the win wasted no time in deflating itself.

"You're looking in the wrong direction."

Takao turned and rolled his eyes at the blonde who had joined their team's space in the bleachers, she smirked at him before comfortably taking a seat next to Kai on the bench.

"I wasn't looking for anyone." Takao replied, tearing his gaze away from the stands, he begin to pat the sweat off his face with the towel that had been handed to him earlier, hoping that the blonde would get the hint and drop the conversation.

"I never said you were looking for someone." A smug smile spread across her face, as Takao felt his own ears turn pink from embarrassment and he scowled at the blonde.

"Let him be, Charlie." Kai murmured, catching onto his teammate's embarrassment, he turned to look pointedly at his girlfriend who just shrugged in response.

"If you say so. And see, I told you, you didn't need to worry about them, they can do just fine without you."

Kai opened his mouth to probably deny the claim that he had shown any concern for the team but Takao tuned them out, Kai's uncaring and cold reputation usually took a hit when Charlie was around and had it been any other day Takao wouldn't have wasted any time in joining in on the fun, but he was exhausted from the match and a little bit jealous of the couple in the moment. So he turned his attention away from them and his eyes landed on Taichi and Sora, who were still animatedly talking about the match, laughing and standing a little closer than usual as they did so, and Takao deadpanned.

Was he the only one who didn't have someone to share this victory this with?

He shook his head in an attempt to get the annoying thoughts out of his head, he had just made the deciding goal in an important match against one of their major rival schools, he should be feeling smug and on top of the world, not sulk over the fact that his crush hadn't been present to witness his accomplishments.

Charlie's statement from earlier suddenly struck him again as he tried to make sense of what she had meant by the words 'wrong direction'. Takao turned his gaze towards the side of the field which had been occupied by the rival school, squinting in order to catch a glimpse of the brunette he so desperately wished to see this very moment. But alas, there was no sign of her on any side of the bleachers and he couldn't help but feel even more annoyed by Charlie's cryptic statement, wondering why she couldn't just directly tell him what he wanted to hear.

Takao finally noticed that his team had already started to pack up their gear, and his brother was nowhere to be seen in the vicinity, realising then that their rest time was over and Hitoshi must already be waiting for all of them in the locker room to recap the match. Giving up on his search, he too stuffed his sipper and towel into the sports bag lying at his feet, most of his teammates had already begun to make their way towards the locker room, with Taichi and Sora in the lead, shoulders brushing together as they walked.

And once again, Takao felt that sinking feeling of jealousy in the pits of his stomach as he straightened up to follow in their footsteps.

"Like I said, Kinomiya, you've just been looking in the wrong direction."

Takao turned to shoot a glare in the blonde's direction who was snickering mirthlessly at his sullen state, opening his mouth to give her a piece of his mind but Kai stepped in between them.

"Charlie, he's tired, stop messing with him." He warned her in his usual superior tone, something that Takao wasn't normally fond of but appreciated in this moment.

"On the contrary, I'm trying to make him feel better." She replied promptly, completely unaffected by the stern look her boyfriend passed her, she added dramatically, "Broaden your horizons, Kinomiya."

Before Takao could yell at her to just come out and say what she wanted to say, Kai put his hands on her shoulders and dragged her away with him, turning once to look at him and mouth an apology, then going back to reprimanding the short blonde who was now laughing loudly. \

Takao waited until they disappeared out of his sight before making his own way towards the main school building where their locker room was situated, giving himself enough time to cool down and get over the need to strangle something. Not only was he infuriated by Charlie's taunts, he would now be the last member to show up and Hitoshi would not let him hear the end of it, maybe even tell him to run a few laps as penalty. He groaned in defeat at his luck that had taken a turn for the worse ever since he made the goal. Hitoshi's insistence towards pretending to not be his brother for the sake of maintaining a professional front at school never failed to irk Takao, since his brother's efforts were practically meaningless due to them sharing a last name and physical features, and this being a very small town.

Luckily for him, someone fell into step next to him just as he was about to reach the locker room near the gymnasium, and Takao turned to find Satoshi casually munching on a banana, not caring much about being late to the post-match meeting. The blue haired teen couldn't help but chuckle out of relief, at least he wasn't the only one who would be subjected to Hitoshi's nagging, he triumphed internally.

"Hey," Takao spoke up to get his junior's attention, "my brother's probably going to give you a hard time for that last bit."

Satoshi's usually carefree and aloof expression faltered as the look in cocoa eyes dampened at his senior's words, but he remained silent, giving Takao a chance to finally speak his mind, as he had been holding on to these words since the ball had perfectly collided with his feet in those last thirty seconds of the match.

"But, that was a damn good pass and you played exceptionally for someone who was playing a full match for the first time." Takao grinned, as he ruffled the younger boy's messy, raven hair affectionately, "So don't let Hitoshi's crap get to you, okay?"

"I did what my instincts told me to do," Satoshi shrugged in reply, but his eyes were brighter than before and he grinned widely before adding, "In the end, we won because of you senpai." And before Takao could deny getting the full credit for the win, Satoshi happily skipped ahead even though he knew no pleasantries awaited him in the locker room.

Takao was about to pick up his pace as well when from the corner of his eyes finally found the person he had been searching for exiting the main school building. Charlie's words rang in his ears, broaden your horizons, so this is what the blonde had meant by him looking in the wrong direction. It just hadn't crossed Takao's mind that the field was visible from inside the school as well, and now suddenly he started to feel the excitement of the win again. Deciding that Hitoshi's rant could wait, he turned on his heels to catch up with the girl before she was out of the school boundaries, shouting her name as loudly as he could.

"Hiromi!"

- x-

Hiromi stopped in her tracks and her heart almost leapt out of her chest as she recognised the familiar voice, her plan to get away unnoticed failing miserably. She turned around to acknowledge the person who had called out to her, as his voice had been too loud for her to pretend that she hadn't heard it and he had quickly caught up to where she stood. Seeing as he was still in his sports uniform with the small duffel bag slung around his shoulder, she figured that they still hadn't been released for the day yet and whatever conversation they would have would be brief. That gave her some confidence to face him, keeping her hands tightly by her side, she fixed him with a curt expression, somehow managing to keep the emotional turmoil in her head from showing on her face.

Takao on the other hand, was smiling almost as brightly as the autumn sun that shone above them.

"We won!"

"Yes, I heard. Congratulations." She replied, keeping her tone as polite yet firm as she could, trying her best to not keep his gaze for too long as those dark eyes of his were capable of melting her heart faster than anything else in the world.

"Heard…"He repeated after her, the grin on his face losing it's shine slightly as he hesitantly added, "You weren't watching?"

Hiromi pursed her lips together tightly as she quickly contemplated her response. She didn't think it was fair at all, for him to stand in front of her and look so hurt as she tried to keep the wall, that he had built between them, intact. She found it almost laughable, that he still expected her to fawn over him after everything that had happened, after how he had treated her in the past. Of course she hated herself more, for still harbouring the same feelings towards him, but she was the only one who knew how she still felt and this time, Hiromi intended to keep it that way.

"No, I wasn't. I was called in for some student council related work," She lied, surprising herself with how confident she sounded, looking at him pointedly she added, "and I was just on my way out."

"I see."

He ran a hand through his hair tiredly as his gaze dropped to the ground for a moment and Hiromi thought that now would be a good time to make her exit, because she was sure that the more time she would spend talking to him, the closer she would get to slipping up on her lies and getting caught. What's worse was that looking at his crestfallen figure was actually making her feel slightly guilty, maybe she shouldn't have been so cold towards him right after a big win, yes she had been perpetually upset with him for a while now but even then she'd always managed to, at the least, not be mean to him.

"It was a really good match though, it's a shame you missed it." He looked up just as she was about to use the chance to flee the scene and Hiromi groaned internally, she'd spent too much time overthinking her next move than actually making one.

When she met his eyes, she felt slightly annoyed, not just at herself but at Takao too. The look on his face was a mixture of confusion and hope, it didn't look like he had meant much by his statement but rather was just attempting to prolong their conversation. As always his need to get what he wanted overruling any other form of logical thought in his head.

"Not really, the sport isn't of much interest to me." Hiromi replied coldly, but immediately bit her tongue after doing so. In her attempt to not let Takao run with the assumption that he or anything he did was the centre of her universe, she had ended up telling the most ridiculous lie. Just as she had predicted, the longer she stayed in his company, the more she was prone to making silly mistakes. Even more unfortunately for her, Takao's expression hardened at her words and for a brief second a look of betrayal splashed across his face, quickly replaced by a much more aloof expression than earlier and Hiromi couldn't stop herself from swallowing a nervous gulp as she met his now unfriendly gaze with a somewhat composed look of her own.

"Is that so?" He asked, voice a bit louder than usual, he continued in the same detached tone before she could respond, "Could've fooled me with all the time you've spent cheering for us in the past."

A smirk settled on his face as Hiromi flushed a deep shade of crimson, her slip up had cost her the last word in the argument. She searched her brain for a befitting reply but found none, she couldn't deny the fact that she had spent a considerable amount of her middle school days leading the cheering squad during their matches. Her defeated silence didn't go unnoticed by Takao's watchful eyes and he abandoned his aloof demeanour for a smugly triumphant look.

This was their problem, Hiromi realised, neither of them were capable of letting go of the past and despite their efforts to change, they would always fall back into the same pattern. Hiromi could not move past the hurt and pain she had suffered by Takao's hand, while Takao could not come to terms with the fact that she was no longer his biggest fan. Even when he tried to show her that he wasn't the same arrogant, jerk like before, Hiromi would always let her memories fog her perception of him. And every time she tried to distance herself from him, Takao would intentionally seek her out and attempt to win over her attention.

In the end, this was what they were reduced to every single time, staring angrily at each other with the tension in the atmosphere surrounding them rising to uncomfortable levels.

And suddenly a loud cough cut through the silence, making both the teens finally turn their heads away from each other and look at the culprit instead. Sora was standing not too far away from them, fidgeting with her hands and shooting looks of concerns in their direction. Sensing the uneasiness radiating off of the auburn haired girl, Hiromi concluded that she must've been there for a while now, waiting for the right moment to jump in but finding none. Hiromi felt slightly more embarrassed and annoyed knowing that her friend had at least partially witnessed her conversation with Takao and would probably not let the topic go for days to come.

"Uh...Takao, Coach wants you in the locker room, like right about now." Sora finally managed to speak, her anxious expression giving away the fact that their Coach was not happy with the boy's prolonged absence.

Hiromi watched carefully, as Takao ran his hand through his hair again letting out a tired groan as he did so, without turning to spare her even one glance, he walked past Sora, acknowledging her with an apologetic nod before eventually disappearing into the gymnasium. She didn't even realise she had been holding her breath but as soon as he was out of her sight, Hiromi let out a loud, defeated sigh and Sora passed her a bewildered look.

"Hiromi chan, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." The brunette managed a smile somehow, but she wasn't sure if her friend was convinced by it, because frankly neither was she.

Sora held Hiromi's gaze sternly for a minute and the latter squirmed at the thought of having to discuss her run in with Takao just minutes after it had happened, she still needed some time to process it and draw a conclusion over how bad things were between them now before she would be ready to put this incident up for discussion amongst her friend circle.

Finally Sora allowed a soft smile to appear on her face, the kind that clearly conveyed that she wouldn't push the matter for now. Hiromi didn't bother to hide the relief on her face, she was glad that it was Sora who had showed up and not any of her other friends because they would not let her off the hook so easily.

"Okay, good. If you don't mind waiting, I should be done in about twenty minutes. Then we can head home together!"

"I already told my mother that I'm on my way home." Hiromi spoke quickly, shooting an apologetic smile in her friend's direction, having Sora with her would ensure that she reach home safe and sound and not drift off midway because she was too lost in her thoughts, but she couldn't afford to risk another chance meeting with Takao and wanted to put as much distance between them as quickly as possible.

"I'll see you on Monday then." Sora nodded understandingly, before following in Takao's footsteps she added, "Take care and let me know when you reach home."

Bidding her friend goodbye, Hiromi finally managed to leave the school premises, hoping that time would slow down so she didn't have to deal with everything that awaited her on Monday morning until she was ready. From the inquisition that her friends would make her sit through once Sora passed on what she saw today to their group to a pesky Takao who would either attempt to make amends or make matters worse, Hiromi knew that the coming Monday would definitely bring with them a case of the blues for her.

- x -

A/n: Let me know what you thought of this in a review, maybe someday I will write the past bit or the part where the two finally sort things out.

I chose football/soccer as the sport here because I realised that is the only sport I might be able to write or describe, although I don't think I did a good job of capturing the essence of it lol. Personally I think Tyson would be good at something like baseball what with all the swinging around of bamboo swords he would do for kendo, but I am yet to watch a baseball anime so I had no choice but to go with soccer.

Until next time~