Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"You have a letter from the Football Federation, Akio."

A man of average height had just entered the huge apartment where he lived with his family, he took off his overcoat shaking off the snow and put it in a closet in the genkan, took off his shiny shoes and left them at the entrance, going inside where he found his husband sitting at the dining room table with their son in a high chair eating and messing up equal parts of a bowl of fruit puree.

The other man's green eyes looked at him curiously, raising his head as he reached his side and leaning down to place a kiss on his lips that immediately curved into a smile. He put a white envelope with the federation seal in front of him and leaned over his son who grabbed his wavy brown hair as he kissed him on the forehead. The kid with dark brown wavy hair and long-lashed red eyes looked at him happily.

"Papa, hello."

"Hello, Akira. Are you snacking?"

"Yes!"

"It's good?"

"Yes!"

The baby hit the plate of puree and splashed the two adults, Fudou laughed, grabbed his husband's face and licked the fruit, letting him do the same to him before opening the letter.

His eyebrows rose and his face lit up with a pleasant surprise hidden in that missive.

“Yuuto,” he called with a big smile and his voice thick with emotion.

He looked up from a cup of coffee that was pouring at that moment and came back to him.

"What’s the matter? What does the federation want?

In response his husband handed him the letter and he read it quickly, his eyebrows rising and his relaxed face from when he got home from work was equally embellished by the joy of that news. He looked at Fudou with great pride and satisfaction, smiling even more than him.

"Congratulations, my love."

Akira looked at them and reached over, making noises of protest trying to reach the letter his father was holding out of reach, puffing out his cheeks red when he couldn't make it.

"I can't believe it, didn’t they send it to the wrong address? I am too surprised that the Football Federation is offering me the position of coach of the national team for the next Football Frontier International.”

"It says very clearly here that it is to the attention of Kidou Akio, former Fudou Akio."

Fudou realized that his husband found it especially gratifying that his family name was used in a formal matter like this and he couldn't help but laugh as he looked with captivated eyes at the wedding rings they both wore on their fingers.

“Papa,” the baby called, managing to grab the man by the clothes and tugging at the suit jacket.

"Oh, be careful Akira, you're going to stain me."

"Papa, I see!"

Kidou frowned, but the other man nodded and passed the letter to the baby who took it in his chubby-fingered hands, looking at it in great astonishment and, of course, not understanding anything. Just imitating his fathers in their behavior.

"Tulations, mom."

"Thank you, honey," he laughed, leaving him a kiss on the cheek, and returning to retrieve the letter while the kid focused on his fruit puree that was once again much more interesting.

"I don't understand why they are offering me this position instead of you," the man then observed with a hint of insecurity in the depths of his green eyes.

"Me? It's a favor they're doing me, I'm not good at dealing with hormonally raging teenagers.”

“I think you did very well with Teikoku and Raimon football teams,” he muttered mockingly before looking back at the letter with a frown.

"What worries you?"

"I've never been on such good terms with the Football Federation, those old men were always criticizing me but Hibiki. I'm very surprised that while having players like Endou, Gouenji or yourself they are asking me to train the kids."

Kidou sat next to him, taking the coffee again and giving him a sip.

“I don't see anything unusual, the team you trained a few years ago, albeit briefly, had a very strong impact on people. Not to mention the impact you had and continue to have on those boys.” His husband smiled at him. "Also, I think the current President of the Football Federation favors you quite a lot, more than Endou, Gouenji or myself."

The man looked at him blankly.

“Isn't Hibiki the Federation President? I know I get along with him but no more than you three."

"No," he made a mischievous grin. "Since last month the new President is Kudou Michiya."

His husband's mouth opened in great surprise and from it came a cry of joy, at that moment any reluctance towards the job offer disappearing. The other man laughed and stroked his long dark brown hair, catching a lock playfully between his fingers and leaving a kiss on it.

“Let me say it again, congratulations, Akio. I know you will be a great coach."

Fudou radiated at that moment an aura of absolute happiness, he read the letter again in a more careful way. Their son at that moment laughed and threw a spoonful of food at his father in the black suit, he looked at him with resignation, taking a cloth to clean himself.

"Akira, you must eat the food not throw it," the brunette scolded seriously to which the baby pouted with indecipherable chatter. "Yuuto, how many times do I have to tell you to change your clothes before sitting at the table if Akira is eating?"

“Don’t worry, I had to wash it anyway, I'll change when we all bathe together,” he replied. "Besides, I'm the one who does the washing and ironing, so if anything, I should be the one complaining." He took another swallow of the coffee and twirled the cup between his fingers. "Will you take the job, Akio?"

“Are you kidding? Of course! This excites me so much!”

He got up to remove his son's plate of food, but before he could, his husband grabbed him by the waist and kissed him on the stomach.

"In that case tonight we will have to properly celebrate your position as the national coach, Akio."

Catching the mischievous glint in his red eyes, he couldn't help but feel a shiver through his body, waiting impatiently for that moment.

A week later a second letter arrived from the Football Federation.

That day the Kidou family was returning together from Mr. Kidou's house who had invited them to have tea with him. After leaving Hakuryuu in Fudou's mother's apartment where he lived with the Tsurugi brothers after the woman had to go to Ehime to take care of her mother the previous summer, they arrived to their building.

When they opened their mailbox they saw an envelope with the Federation logo and an immediate smile appeared on their lips.

As they went up in the elevator, the brunette twirled the letter between his fingers as if he were a talented magician. His son sitting in the baby car looked at him completely stunned by the rapid movement.

When they went inside the house, they left Akira on his play mat in the middle of the living room and they sat on the sofa. Fudou opened the envelope with some nervousness, something that hadn't happened to him for a long time. His husband read the letter beside him with great interest, leaning lovingly on his shoulder.

"The selection of the national team will be announced in a ceremony on April 1, they tell you that you can call testing matches beforehand or choose the team yourself among players who are between 16 and 18 years old." The man paused and looked at his husband, knowing what his response to his next question would be. “Do you want to call tests or do you prefer to choose the players personally?”

His lips stretched into a mischievous grimace and the red-eyed man couldn't help but let out a laugh at the rotundity with which he responded.

“I know exactly which players I want on my team.”

“Resistance Japan?”

"Of course." Fudou looked up from the letter and raised his index finger to his lips thoughtfully, rubbing the lower one in such a way that his husband succumbed to the temptation to leave him a kiss and catch it between his teeth before slowly pulling away with heavy breathing. He leaned his forehead on his shoulder with a hoarse moan and the brunette, with an even more mischievous smile, slowly caressed his hair, running his long, white fingers through his dreadlocks and wavy locks, in such a slow and sensual way that he complained.

"If you continue like this, I'm going to take you to bed right now."

"You can't, Akira is still awake." Kidou grunted deeply, withdrawing and noticing some tension in his body.

"In any case," Fudou returned to the topic of the team. “I can choose up to eighteen players. When I formed Resistance Japan I could only choose eleven as there was no need to have reserves, but now it's different. Also, there are some kids who have caught my attention over the past years, Hikaru is one of them."

"Hikaru has improved a lot since he entered Teikoku High School, getting out of Matsukaze's shadow helped him a lot."

"He is not the only one, at Raimon there were very good players who, by going to another team, could shine more."

“Like Minamisawa?”

"Minamisawa is one of them." Fudou suddenly frowned. "Eighteen years old is at the time of the selection ceremony, right?"

"Yeah, it doesn't matter that they turn nineteen later in the course of the tournament."

Fudou breathed in relief.

“It's too bad you don't like being around hormonally raging teenagers,” he smirked, glancing sideways at his husband who looked at him intrigued with his brown brows furrowing over his red eyes.

"Why do you say that?"

“Here they say that I can choose whoever I want as my assistant, I was thinking of telling you; but if you don't like my kids…”

Kidou pursed his lips, wrinkling his nose slightly, rolled his red eyes, and snorted.

"Obviously I'm going to be your assistant, it's not the same if I don't have to be the head coach."

His husband laughed insanely and got him to jump on top of him, biting his ear and neck.

Until Akira got up and came over slamming his stuffed truck into the couch and getting the attention of both adults.

"Mama! Papa!"

Fudou grabbed him in his arms and started to tickle him, he yelled in high-pitched amusement.

"Okay, you will be my second assistant, is that okay with you, Akira?"

"Yes!" replied the child without understanding what they were saying.

They sat down again with Akira sitting on top of Fudou while humming a song while moving his stuffed truck.

“On April 1 will be the National Team Selection ceremony, from then on we have a month and a half to train until the first match in mid-May, with a date yet to be decided. The first phase of the tournament lasts until the end of June. The winners representing their continent will go to Liocott Island on July 1 for the following matches. During July there will be the matches of both blocks to choose the teams with the highest score that will go to the semifinal and the final that will take place in August.”

Fudou took a deep breath, lost in thought.

“It has the same system as when we played. Ok, I have to write down the team, can you help me?"

"Of course."

The two adults moved towards the table, with Fudou pulling out several sheets of paper and Kidou checking on his tablet the players belonging to each participating  team in the Holy Road tournament over the previous years. Akira returned to his high chair and looked at them approvingly as he ate a banana and fed his favorite dragon toy, a gift from Hakuryuu, which they would have to wash once more.

"Well, starting from Teikoku High School, it has Kidou Hakuryuu, Tsurugi Kyousuke and Kageyama Hikaru who stand out especially, Miyabino Reiichi and Ryuuzaki Ouji have foreign nationality despite being from Japanese families, so they will surely be called to play abroad, I'm still going to write them down to ask... ”

Fudou began to write down the players that caught his attention on a piece of paper while they both checked the information from the other man's tablet.
“Remember you can only choose eighteen players,” he pointed, watching his husband get excited writing names.

"I know! But I have to make a reserve list in case someone on the team rejects the proposal, I don't want anyone to be forced to play like someone else did by forcibly taking those twelve kids into Space.”

"The Commander offered each of them whatever they asked for in exchange for participating in Inazuma Japan."

"Not all of them," the brunette growled resentfully. “Okay, listen up my assistants Yuuto and Akira, this would be my starting team…”

The man named the teenagers he wanted to be on the team. Akira clapped blankly and gave his dragon more banana, while his other father pursed his lips.

“It looks like a team full of potential. But aren't you going to include Matsukaze Tenma? Everyone admires him very much.”

His green eyes hit him mercilessly and he shook his head, dismissing that idea.

“No, recently he did an interview on television as he is considered the prodigy player of the year and he said that he considered football as his best friend. I don't want a nut like that on the team, imagine what my kids would do to him if he said something like that to their faces."

"Senguuji would definitely want to break his back if he said something like that in front of him after all he had to endure these past three years." Kidou crossed his arms. "Okay, let's send the list to the Football Federation so they can get in touch with them to decide whether or not they want to be part of the Japanese National Team."

“The winning team of the Football Frontier International,” Fudou murmured with dreamy eyes, at which his husband smiled with conviction.

"Of course."

Two weeks later, during the school winter holidays, they were called by the Football Federation. After leaving Akira with Hakuryuu who would babysit the baby that afternoon with Tsurugi, they went to the Federation headquarters which was located in the Holy Road Stadium, a little less than an hour's drive from the center of Inazuma.

To their surprise, upon arriving at the place, they were greeted by Endou and Otonashi who talk to them effusively.

“Hello, my dear friends!”

"Hello brother!"

"Haruna, what are you doing here?"

"I'm helping Endou and the others with the organization of the Football Frontier International, it's the first one in many years and we want everything to go well."
"Are you inside the organization, Endou?" asked Fudou thinking that he shouldn't be shocked by news like that with how maniacal the captain of Inazuma Japan always was.

“Yes, Hibiki helped me get in before retiring, I am in charge of the International Section and that is why I decided together with Gouenji and Natsumi that it was time for Japan to participate in an FFI again after what happened with the Fifth Sector more than three years ago. This year there is a FFI for High Schoolers so we passed the proposal to sign up to Kudou and he accepted it on the condition that you be the team coach."

Endou looked at Fudou with slightly narrowed eyes, as if he wanted to discover what was so special about that man, in the end he cocked his head without reaching any extraordinary conclusion.

“President Kudou was always very fond of you, Akio,” the woman commented with a soft smile, her brother nodded beside her, but he could only shrug.

“Little by little we are going back to the origins of football,” Endou laughed, ushering them inside the stadium, leading them to the area where the Football Federation had its offices.

“Let's just hope we don't go back to car and truck accidents,” Fudou replied with a stifled laugh earning his husband's disapproving glare.

They passed through a corridor where through a glass window they could see several known people and some unknown people working on computers. One of them raised his hand and greeted them.

“They've got poor Megane working overtime as an IT guy,” Otonashi commented, responding to the man's greeting until someone said something to him at that moment and went back to typing as if his life depended on it.

“Well, databases don't create themselves,” Endou replied solemnly.

"Do you even know what a database is, Endou?" The couple laughed in unison, the man looked at them with an annoyed pout and did not deign to respond.

They continued advancing and found Handa, Matsuno and Yamino who were heading in the opposite direction and who greeted them happily. They passed another office inside which was Kurimatsu with Shourinji and Shishido.

"Do you have your entire old Raimon team slaving away or what?" laughed Fudou seeing the men inside engaged in a heated argument.

“Good afternoon,” greeted a deep voice from beyond the grave behind them so suddenly and out of nowhere that they jumped, clutching their hearts.

“Kageno,” Kidou growled grimly. "Are you still acting like the girl from The Ring?"

He shrugged and looked at Otonashi, or so it seemed from the direction he turned his head.

"Utsunomiya has asked you to bring him the reports from File 148 when you can."

"I'll do it when we finish the meeting with my brother and brother-in-law."

Kageno nodded and before they knew it he had disappeared without a trace.

"What is Utsunomiya doing?" Kidou asked curiously.
“I don't really know,” Endou replied with a shrug with a big, good-natured smile. "But Gouenji says it's not a bad idea to have a detective just in case."

The married couple looked at each other and both made a gesture of agreement, they could not find a flaw with that logic.

Before reaching the meeting room they bumped into Kino who was talking on a screen with Ichinose and Domon, she greeted them and made a gesture that she would see them later as she walked away down the corridor.

"No, Kazuya. I've already told you six times that a hamburger is not food to be included in the menu of a team of professional players, and even less with the buns with the color of the national flag. I don't care how tasty they look to you! Domon, don't you start too!"

They entered the room where there was an oval table where three people were already sitting, who got up when they saw them appear. One of those people was Kudou  who shook the hands of the two men with a big smile. He had removed his mustache again which favored him a lot because he was a very attractive man. The other two people were Gouenji and Raimon, who also greeted them warmly, the man more than the woman and to Kidou more than to Fudou.

"How are you?" Kudou asked with a wink of affection at the bottom of his dark eyes. "I haven't seen you in a long time, although Seiya brings me up to date on your lives, how is Akira doing?"

“He is doing great, he is so precious,” Fudou replied, smiling with that special blush that always appeared when he talked about his son and ready to take out his cell phone to show photos of the baby.

“He is a very smart boy, and fortunately he is very well behaved,” Kidou added with the same glow of love for his little boy.

The older man looked at them amused by that reaction and indicated some chairs for them to sit down and they did so, soon the seven of them were ready to talk, although before the President could begin there was a knock on the door and Kazemaru and Kabeyama appeared who handed some papers to Endou before leaving.

“We have called you because all the players to whom you offered a position in the National Team have already responded and we wanted to talk about it with you in person. But before that, regarding your request to be able to take your son with you, we have discussed it and we have no problem as long as during training someone else babysits him so you can focus on your work,” Kudou informed opening his hands and passing a list of names to Fudou when he nodded. He took the paper looking at it quickly, something made him frown and he passed it to his husband.

“They all accepted except Shindou. But he asked to be a manager,” he observed.

“Tsurugi made a request in order to accept,” Raimon stated, tapping the table with her fingers. “He said that he accepted on the condition that he will not neglect his studies.”

“We don't think that's a problem, during the tournament the players will receive special classes to catch up with their schools and they will have free time that they can use as study time,” Gouenji added, the couple nodded.

“This other list is the people who applied for the manager position when we opened the applications, we have already included Shindou,” Endou stated, passing him one of the papers they had just brought him. “Go through it and select whoever you want. We believe that with three it will be enough for the size of your team, but it can be more if you want it that way.”

The green-eyed man nodded and looked at the paper, marked three names, and handed it back.

“I want these three people.”

They agreed.

“Okay, regarding the vacancy in your time because Shindou refused his position…” Kudou clasped his hands but was interrupted by Endou.

"The Federation wants you to include Matsukaze Tenma."

Fudou raised an eyebrow, wrinkled one side of his face, and made a noise similar to that of an annoyed horse.

"What? No, I made a list with which players I want to have in case any of them did not accept, for each player I have a list of five reserves in the order…”

"No, Fudou." Endou stared at him, his chocolate-colored eyes looking at him unforgiving. "We want Matsukaze Tenma to be on the team."

He was indignant at that and looked at Kudou for support, but the man at that moment was pitching the bridge of his nose in an exasperated gesture that reminded him a lot of his own husband when he was mentally exhausted and wanted to rest. He huffed and crossed his arms.

“We believe that Matsukaze Tenma is a high-level player and we want him to be included in the National Team,” Gouenji supported.

“But don't you see that they are going to rip his head off if he starts talking about the feelings of football!?” the man growled, not wanting to give up.

“There are some players on your team who are good friends with him from his Middle School time, he'll be fine,” Endou insisted. "Fudou, it is an absolute order from the Football Federation."

Fudou caught Kudou's desperate look and understood that for the man that had been a conversation that pushed him to the edge of his patience, he rubbed his temples with a tic on his forehead and snorted.

"Okay, but I  am not responsible if one of my other kids or I myself break his legs if he starts saying that his best friend is football.”

That comment seemed to amuse the others but Kidou who stayed gloomy.

"As you have already been informed, the Ceremony to announce the National Team will be on April 1, three months from now," Raimon redirected the conversation to what they wanted to talk about. “We have approved the uniform design you sent us.”

"It's the same as Resistance Japan’s so we already had the design done,” Otonashi laughed.

“We asked Matsuno to be in charge of designing the crest for the new team.”

"The crresst? Do you mean the typical lightning that represents Inazuma like there are no other cities in Japan with the J?”

“Yeah, that one,” Endou laughed out loud.

“Regarding the name, although we all believe that a classic yet reliable Inazuma Japan would be more appropriate, President Kudou informed us a few days ago that this name is copyrighted to the Middle School Division so it cannot be used. You should think of another name for the team, maybe something like Japan Eleven or Amaterasu.”

Fudou listened to his sister-in-law but quickly shook his head.

"If possible I want to keep the name of Resistance Japan."

Kudou nodded and affirmed.

"The copyright of that name is yours so you can dispose of it however you like."
“You have to decide where you want to train while you're in Japan, we can build a new place with Federation funds,” Gouenji commented, staring at Fudou.

"Uh, no thanks. There's no need to misuse the money that way." The man frowned in thought. "I've been thinking these days about it, I would like to bring the boys to Ehime. In my town, Ozu, there is a wooden facility near a lake in the forest that they use for camping in the summer. I remember that he even had his own football field, I would like to use that place.”

"Okay, we'll check that everything is in good condition and we'll make the necessary arrangements," Endou agreed.

“Lastly you will need to choose a cooking team and driver for the Inazuma Caravan. Oh, but the name will have to be changed,  the Resistance Japan Caravan.”

Kino and I can help in the kitchen or with Akira if you have no one to ask, Akio,” Otonashi offered helpfully.

“Thank you, I'll ask my mother first. If we are going to live in Ozu while the training lasts, it’s too far away for you, you cannot leave your jobs just like that. And managers always help with the cooking too.”

She made a slight pout of disappointment but nodded, understanding the reasons her brother-in-law was giving.

“I have to think about the driver, if the Federation has someone trustworthy who can help in that position, it would be good for me to know."

"Perfect. Then what is left it’s for Kidou to learn first aid, sports nutrition, and basic rehabilitation maneuvers for his position as an assistant.”

“Endou, I already know all of that,” the appellee replied with annoyance. “You have to study about all of these and more to be a Football Team Coach.”

“Oh, that's right. I always forget that you also have a coaching qualification.”

“Rude.”

"In any case, my mother has worked as a nurse for many years, so in the event of a more serious medical emergency, she will be able to help us herself."

The Federation members looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"That's all for now, any news or matter we should talk about we'll let you know again," Kudou concluded getting up, they all did the same and the couple said goodbye to them, being led back to the entrance by Endou and Otonashi.

They were driving back home when Fudou became thoughtful.

"Maybe if my mother can't take care of the kitchen as chef I can ask Seiya."

Kidou almost choked on a laugh that he had to stop.

"I doubt you'll make him move from Inazuma, he appreciates his restaurant more than his life."

The man looked at his husband in amusement before losing his sight again to the snowy landscape.

Impatient for the days to pass until arriving on April 1.

Chapter Text

Finally the month of April arrived and with it the long-awaited date for the selection of the Japanese football team that would participate in the Football Frontier International. The entire country was into a hive of nervousness, expectation and excitement.

During those months the Football Federation had done a lot of publicity for the National Team Selection Ceremony, in which they had worked tirelessly to make it perfect, or, at least, as perfect as possible. Wanting to redeem their previous mistakes as Fifth Sector in this way.

Not only the football players from the different teams participating in the national championships were excited about the tournament that was beginning, but also the sports fans who had come to see the team selection in person and who were looking forward to the FFI after years without Japan participating, the previous one, three years ago, being a bitter memory for everyone, since the public only were told that the tournament had had to be suspended.

The football teams from High Schools throughout the country that had managed to participate in the Holy Road during the previous three years had been personally invited, using funds that Fudou did not know the Football Federation owned to mobilize them to the same Holy Road Stadium from their cities and accommodate them during the two days that the Selection Ceremony would last at the Holy Road Hotel, a luxury hotel built right next to the stadium that, however, did not stand out for the originality of its name.

Fudou felt a slight tickling in the pit of his stomach, perhaps not so much out of nervousness but from the excitement he felt of being able to be the coach of the team chosen to face the world. Remembering his first national team with a nostalgic gleam in his eyes, a moment that he did not believe was important at the time but that had meant a radical change in his life, guiding him to a future that in those days he never believed could be so happy.

At his side, waiting with a serene face and a big smile of personal satisfaction, was his husband. Noticing that his green eyes rested on him with a look of longing and affection, he turned and took his hand, thus demonstrating that he was with him and for him. Fudou giggled in love and sighed heavily, feeling extremely happy to have been able to start a family with such a wonderful man whom he loved so much.

“Nervous, Akio?” Kidou asked in a raspy whisper.

The brunette shook his head. “No… A little maybe.”

His husband left a kiss on his ips, very soft and sweet. “Everything will be fine.”

He nodded. “I was remembering when we were selected for the first time.”

Kidou pursed his lips and wrinkled his nose, even more than ten years later he didn't really like to remember how badly he had behaved in those days with the one who was now his husband; but they both knew, having talked about it several times, that that initial hostility had served as the foundation for something much deeper and more beautiful that emerged during the tournament and that gained strength in the following years.

“I imagine my boys will be much more nervous than me,” Fudou commented, changing the conversation as he noticed Kidou fading slightly into his own memories.

“It would be worrying if that were not the case.”

They both laughed silently and held each other's hands tighter, waiting for the starting moment that would not take long to arrive, as Kudou was approaching from the end of the hallway to go out onto the playing field of the stadium to present the ceremony as President of the Football Federation. As he passed them he nodded affably at them and they returned the gesture.

As the man stepped out onto the grass of the football field, the noise in the stands stopped so suddenly that it seemed as if someone had pressed a mute button. Instead the place was filled with a buzz of expectation and joy. The man's image appeared on a large screen so everyone could see him clearly, his voice echoing through the speakers.

“Good morning, it is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the Selection Ceremony of the Japanese National Team that will participate in the next Football Frontier International that will begin in mid-May.”

Everyone in their seats listened with great attention, wanting to know the team that would represent their country. It was known that the participating players had been notified in advance of their selection; but even so the Football Federation had requested discretion not to disclose the information ahead of time. That had not prevented those selected from giving the good news to their friends and in most cases to their own teams, but outside of those circles, the information had been kept secret and no one, not even the chosen players, knew who would all be his teammates.

“We are happy to be once again with all of you to celebrate with emotion our favorite sport: football. But before continuing with the selection, the Football Federation wants to thank you for all the support and good reception that the people of this good country have had for us in the last three years. We all know that there is still a lot of work to do and that things will not be as easy as before, but we are fighting every day to achieve it. Likewise, we would like to thank the generous contribution of our sponsors without whom this ceremony would not have been possible, a strong applause for Mr. Kidou Sadao, CEO of Kidou Zaibatsu, Mr. Kira Hiroto, CEO of Kira Zaibatsu, Miss Zaizen Touko…”

Fudou looked at his husband with a frown upon hearing his former coach and he shrugged his shoulders, not giving it much importance.

“I didn't know your old man was a sponsor of the Football Federation.”

"I found out by chance from Haruna recently, when I asked him he told me that he wanted to help football become the sport that we loved so much when we were little, but without truck accidents or beams falling from the sky, and that's why he was helping by sponsoring the Federation since the fall of the Fifth Sector. It seems he also donated money to reopen the schools that Fifth Sector had closed.”

The man shook his head in understanding and they both continued listening to Kudou who at that moment finished thanking the different sponsors, among which was also the company of God Bull, the drink of the gods.

“The Football Federation has chosen Fudou Akio as coach of the new Japanese team, a great world-class player who has helped his respective teams win different trophies for more than ten years. Along with him, Kidou Yuuto, another highly renowned player, the absolute commander of the pitch, who also helped train Raimon three years ago, will attend the team. Let's receive them both with great applause, I give the floor to Coach Fudou so that he can announce the selected team.”

Fudou and Kidou looked at each other for a moment before nodding in unison and walking out onto the playing field where they were greeted with a great roar of applause and whistles. They both waved, smiling. Appearing on the screen that until then had been showing Kudou's serious face.

"Thank you so much! Thanks from the bottom of my heart!" Fudou shouted into his microphone, his voice echoing throughout the stadium as the applause began to die down. “It is a great honor for me to be the coach of the Japanese National Team. But before saying which players are part of it, I will reveal the name of my team, chosen with as much care and dedication as each of its eighteen members.” The man paused for effect before continuing. “The name of the Japanese national team is… Resistance Japan!”

There was a burst of excitement in the stands and he smiled mischievously, allowing the teenagers and adults to calm down before continuing.

“Now, the moment you have all been waiting for. I ask that you remain silent while I name all the players. Once I have named everyone, I want the players to come down to the playing field with us and everyone else to applaud and congratulate them as they deserve. Perfect, let's get started…”

Kidou took out his tablet and activated a program on it, the Team Crest designed by Matsuno appeared on the giant screen of the stadium over the numbers from 1 to 18 that indicated the numbers of the players and who at that moment only had one question at their side.

“As goalkeeper: Senguuji Yamato and Ibuki Munemasa.”

The numbers 01 and 14 flashed and both names appeared next to them. There was a buzz among the crowd, because although they knew they should remain silent, it was impossible and at that moment everyone was murmuring about the first choice, surprised.

“As defender: Gomaki Tetsurou, Kirino Ranmaru, Makari Ginjirou, Mahoro Tadashi and Kariya Masaki.”

It was the turn of numbers 02, 03, 04, 13 and 15 to discover their names. In the stadium there was great acceptance of those elections. Some people were surprised that Ryuuzaki was not part of it, but those who voiced their doubts out loud were soon informed that like Miyabino and Mikado, the defender had been called up to play for a foreign team.
“As midfielder: Kurosaki Makoto, Kishibe Taiga, Kita Ichiban, Minamisawa Atsushi, Matsukaze Tenma and Amemiya Taiyou.”

A shout of joy was heard in the part where the Okinawa’s team was, they were the loudest and even in that giant stadium they could hear them from the field. Numbers 05, 06, 08, 09, 17 and 18 were also revealed. There was a vibration of expectation.

“Lastly, as forward: Yukimura Hyoga, Kidou Hakuryuu, Namikawa Rensuke, Tsurugi Kyousuke and Kageyama Hikaru.”

The last numbers, 07, 10, 11, 12 and 16, revealed the names of the players. Fudou raised a hand and continued speaking.

“The managers of the Resistance Japan Team will be Mizukawa Minori, Seto Midori and Shindou Takuto. The captain will be Kidou Hakuryuu and the vice-captain, Kirino Ranmaru. Let's welcome the Resistance Japan players with a big round of applause.”

At that moment the stadium seemed like it was going to fall from the roar of the audience's applause.

Hakuryuu stood up from where the Teikoku High School players were standing, Tsurugi and Kageyama murmuring to each other, surprised by the last name said.

“Is Shindou really back?” Kageyama asked excitedly, his brown eyes shining.

"It seems so," replied Tsurugi, who was searching the crowd for his old friend as well as Kirino, but he was not able to locate them and hurried to follow the captain while all his teammates, except Miyabino, Ryuuzaki and Mikado, who had traveled to the countries they will be playing for, congratulated them profusely.

The white-haired shook his head, satisfied with the selection. Neither Fudou nor Kidou had wanted to tell him which players would be part of the team, arguing that it must be a surprise, but once it was revealed, he realized that it was something he should have expected. In the end the team was called Resistance Japan, obviously all his friends from that team were going to be part of it again. He smiled, making a fist with his right hand in front of his chest. He would play with all of them on the same team again.

Kirino took a while to get up from his seat, his eyes unfocused and his mouth open. He felt his heart beating too fast and a dizziness took over, making his knees tremble. Next to him, Kariya was crossing his arms and looking exasperated.

“Kirino, are you alright?” Ichino asked softly, touching the shoulder of the pink-haired boy and captain of the football team of the school that the three of them, along with Aoyama who was sitting next to the blonde, attended.

“I didn't know he was back,” he said simply and his light blue eyes shone with slight sadness.

“I don't think anyone knew,” Aoyama observed. “If he hasn't told you, he hasn't told anyone.”

“But it's great news!” Ichino exclaimed with a bright smile. “You will be able to be with him on the team and you have also been named vice-captain, aren't you happy?”

Kirino came out of his stupor at that comment and nodded. “It's true, I am the vice-captain. “I…I as vice-captain of the national team…” He stifled a noise and sighed. “Come on, Kariya.”

"Don't hurry me up now, I was waiting for you from the beginning because it seems like you got hit on the head and went dumb when you heard Shindou's name."

“Sorry, come on.”

"Cheer up! And congratulation's!" Ichino and Aoyama shouted, hugging their two friends, whom the rest of the team also congratulated with joy.

Senguuji and Gomaki fist bumped and hugged each other vigorously. The goalkeeper almost seemed to be crying with happiness and the other boy took his face in his hands and smiled at him, bumping his forehead against his.

“We did it, Yamato,” he whispered, hugging him again and he nodded, burying his head in the crook of his neck.

Next to them, a girl with dark hair and green eyes looked at them with exasperation. “You already knew that you had been chosen, why are you surprised now?”

They separated and looked at her with some shyness. “Why didn't you tell us you were going to be the team manager, Minori?”

She burst out laughing. “Someone had to keep the secret as we were asked since the first thing you did was shout it out loud.”

“We couldn't help it,” Gomaki explained with a shrug. “After being so involved with Fifth Sector it was a big surprise that the two of us were chosen for this team.”

“It's no surprise if the coach is Fudou, we all know he cares a lot for you two,” she said, standing up. “But I imagine it's a great opportunity to make amends for the past, isn't it?”

“It is,” Senguuji said. “I will make the whole country proud of me again by protecting the goal with my life.”

“That's if I let any shots pass! I plan to give everything as a defender.”

“Melodramatics,” Mizukawa growled, rubbing her forehead and punching each of them to get them moving.

Their classmates did not congratulate the three of them with such emotion, since none of their football team had much sympathy for them despite having been together for three years, first in Middle School and then in High School. After the fall of the Fifth Sector, the Dragon Link team had fallen into disgrace and when it was dismantled, the players were forced to return to their cities of birth, dispersing throughout the country. Gomaki, originally from Okinawa, had refused to leave Senguuji alone and had decided to follow him to the small town of Minabe, in Wakayama Prefecture, where they had met Mizukawa, who had a horrible reputation as a trouble maker and was even given the nickname Minotaur of Iwashirou.

Makari and Yukimura were at that moment saying goodbye to their coach, Fubuki, who ruffled their hair with a huge smile while the rest of their teammates and Hakuren's old team, from the days when Fubuki was a teenager, shouted their most sincere congratulations.

Kurosaki accepted with a big proud smile the congratulations of his teammates and his many fans who spoke to him as he passed by their seats. He moved with grace, meeting Kishibe who smiled at him with great emotion.

“Kurosaki! We are on the same team again.”

He nodded, shaking his long brown hair. “I am very glad to be able to play alongside you again, in recent years we have always been rivals.”
“What do you think of the election of the captain and vice-captain?” the purple haired boy asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes that increased when the other boy wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“I was a better choice.”

Kishibe laughed and patted him on the back, saying goodbye to Afuro who gave them both a thumbs up. Kurosaki blushed slightly, he who was so popular greatly admired the blonde man and had always wanted him to be his coach instead of coaching the Kirkwood team.

They walked away chatting and passed by where the group from Kaigun High School was sitting. Kurosaki's red eyes met blue-green eyes for a moment that smiled sadly at him before turning away. He felt a painful pang in his chest, but just then an energetic voice called out to them.

Kita stood up from his seat, hugging Kurama who was sitting next to him.

“Congratulations to all three!” said the boy. “I will be encouraging you to take my fighting spirit with you.”

“Of course you do, shorty,” Ibuki responded with a laugh, ruffling the hair of the player who complained in annoyance.

“Just because you are so tall doesn't give you the right to laugh at the height of others, Mune,” the orange-haired scolded and he stuck his tongue out at him.

“But Kurama is a shorty, he has barely grown in these two years! Well, neither did you, Ichiban.”

Minamisawa, sitting behind them, pinched the bridge of his nose in disregard, Kurama turned in his seat and smiled at him. “Will you be okay with those two?”

“Of course, I have been ignoring them for two years and I will continue doing the same.” The maroon haired boy stood up and started walking. Turning for a moment towards Kurama and clearing his throat. "See you later."

He nodded, narrowing his eyes as he watched his friend turn his back on him and huffing as he settled into his seat. Kita and Ibuki, after saying goodbye to all their teammates who were congratulating them, held hands and quickly left after Minamisawa who was walking away as if his life depended on it, although more than that, he simply did not want anyone to notice that his ears had turned red when Kurama had smiled at him.

Namikawa was roaring and jumping in complete excitement ever since he had heard Seto's name as one of the managers of Resistance Japan.

“I'm going to be on the same team as my beautiful goddess for the first time in my life! The sea winds have been the most favorable for this pirate! I’m finally going to be able to talk to my mermaid!”

Next to him, all his classmates from Kaigun High School looked at him, amused, bored or desperate for him to shut up. They had been listening to the boy talk tirelessly about his crush on her for two years without having made any progress in their few encounters, what was more, it seemed that Seto didn't think highly of him since he threw a bucket of water at her in the third year of Middle School to see if she would transform into a mermaid or not.
“When he comes back he's going to be unbearable,” Yoshimine murmured with a tired pout.

“You should conquer Midori now, bro! This is your big opportunity!” Hamano shouted as he grabbed Namikawa's hands and they both danced in their seats.

“Hamano, please don't incite him further,” growled Matatagi who was sitting next to him and leaning to the side to avoid being stepped on.

Tetsukado on the other side also snorted, but at that moment he noticed movement and saw Kurosaki and Kishibe walking past them. The teen with blue-green eyes looked at the first of them who also looked at him, both of them pursing their lips uncomfortably. Tetsukado smiled sadly at him and looked away.

“Namikawa, you should come down now!”

"Hey? Ah! Sure! I must go find my mermaid.” He jumped down from his seat and then saw his two friends. “Oh! Yes, Bird Brain and Mr. Furry themselves. Guys, wait for me!”

Mahoro and Amemiya high-fived with a big smile and turned to Seto who was staring into the void in horror, they looked at each other sideways and laughed.

"Come on, come on. Namikawa is a good guy, I'm sure that by being on the same team as him you will be able to see his good things,” the redhead said cordially.

She stifled a groan and covered her face with her hands. From behind Amagi, Kurumada and Sangoku were laughing loudly.

“Good luck, Midori,” the goalkeeper said to tease her.

She furrowed her eyebrows and pursed her lips, Mahoro snorted. “He really is a good guy, he may be a bit annoying but he has a big heart and is a very honest person.”

Amemiya was smiling extraordinarily happy, when Kurumada asked him the reason he said, “I'll be able to be on the same team as Yuki! And I'm also going to play with Tenma and Hakuryuu! This team is a blessing.”

“For you, for others it is a curse,” the girl growled.

“Well, you can always resign,” Amagi commented with a shrug.

She glared at him. “Of course I won't do such a thing!”

“You should come down now,” Kurumada said, amused.

They nodded and said goodbye to the rest of the Raimon High School team who even if they had not been selected were happy to see that so many players who had belonged to the Raimon Middle School were on the national team.

The reason Mahoro had decided to go to that school was so he could apologize to Amagi for all the previous years in which they had been apart and regain their friendship, although during those last three years he had made a strong friendship with Kurumada.

In Amemiya's case, it was to be able to play with Matsukaze and the change was convenient for him due to the proximity to the Inazuma Hospital where he still had to undergo periodic check-ups.

However, Matsukaze had to return to Okinawa with his family upon entering High School and of the entire Raimon Football Club that once overthrew the Fifth Sector, only the oldest students, Nishiki, Seto and Nishizono decided to continue their studies at Raimon High School. Everyone else went to different schools.
Along the way they greeted the Zunou-ha High School team, including Minaho, Manabe, Hayami, and Yamada as manager. Mahoro high-fived Minaho whose cheeks blushed heavily earning a teasing look from his friends.

“Anything you want to tell us?” Yamada asked with a chuckle, seeing that the other three had already walked away, taking the opportunity to take a photo of them with his camera.

“Hm, not really,” Minaho replied in a weak voice.

It took Matsukaze a long time to get moving towards the playing field because Tsunami had hugged him tightly and congratulated him, knowing from Endou that the boy had joined the team by direct decision of the Football Federation.

"That's my boy! Okinawa will be on the national team once again, yes!”

Hijikata was laughing and trying to free the teenager from his friend's arms. Next to the boy Sorano and Nozaki were also crying with joy. In fact, the entire Okinawa team was making such a fuss that the others looked at them with suspicion. Narukami, an old Teikoku teammate of Fudou and Kidou, sitting next to Otomura, was huffing and rubbing his temples, the light blue-haired boy on the other hand seemed accustomed to the excess energy of all of them.

Shindou took a deep breath, his hands trembling on top of his knees, still sitting in his seat in the stands of the stadium, gathering the courage to get up and go down to the playing field and face those who were once friends, would he be able to look Kirino in the eyes after everything that happened? Beside him, his parents did not seem so happy with his decision to reject the position of midfielder to be part of the manager group of the Japanese national team. They both believed that their son had much more potential than that, even if he had not played football for two years.
He, on the other hand, was biting his lips nervously, fighting not to run away at that moment after coming so far. Metaphorically and literally, since he had traveled from the United Kingdom to return to his country and participate in the team.
The boy had decided to continue his studies after Middle School in London, in one of the most prestigious Music Schools in Europe, stopping playing football. That news did not sit too well with his family, who despite being proud of his musical career believed that it was a waste of his talent in sports.

But what hurt him the most was how Kirino had supported him in his decision and had continued to do so through the sporadic messages they exchanged during those years. Yes, it hurt. It hurt him that he had rejected the feelings of love from his best friend that he was also in love with when he confessed at the Middle School Graduation. Out of fear, out of his need to flee, out of the trauma that playing life or death matches against the aliens in space had meant for him, carrying the weight of all humanity on his back, knowing that if they lost the entire Earth would perish and knowing that the planets of the teams they defeated were suffering the same fate that they were fighting to avoid. Even when everything was resolved happily with almost no one suffering, he did not forget the anxiety of knowing that he was condemning entire planets to annihilation, but had to continue playing to save the people he loved: Kirino, his family, his friends, his teammates from Raimon and other teams, his coaches...

That's why he decided to leave the country, stop playing football... And for that very reason, because of the guilt he felt and the feeling of not being worth enough, of not being up to par, he cut off contact with his friends and cut off contact almost completely with Kirino. Since he left two years ago they had seen each other three times, and one of those times was because Kirino traveled to London with his family on vacation. He would not forget how his blue eyes had brighted completely understanding and how he had smiled at him, assuring Shindou that he knew the boy would be the best pianist in the world if he put his mind to it, always by his side, always supporting him and believing in him.
He got up and took another deep breath, at least the music had helped him gain enough strength to come back and even if he didn't play, he wanted to help the team win. Especially because he wanted Kirino to succeed where he hadn't had the courage to continue.

Fudou saw his players pass from the same door that they had and smiled broadly at them. The Stadium screen showed them again and focused on the different players as they arrived.

They greeted each other excitedly, Amemiya jumped to hug Yukimura and then Matsukaze to the annoyance of the blue-haired who furrowed his eyebrows, although some of the other teammates did not seem happy either to have to interact with the person who had led the revolution against the Fifth Sector to which they had previously belonged and which had led them to experience socially cruel situations.

Kageyama approached to greet Kariya who blushed, at Kirino's amused look who nudged him, a nudge that he himself repeated when Shindou appeared and there was a sudden silence among the group, everyone looked at the boy who was going to be their manager and then they looked at Kirino and murmured to each other.

Shindou felt that his words were choked and he was not able to speak, the pink haired instead smiled kindly at him. “I'm so glad to see you again, Shindou. Let’s work hard together.”

He nodded, lowering his gaze, but just then everyone's attention changed focus because Namikawa just arrived and jumped towards Seto who couldn't hide behind Mahoro in time.

“My beautiful goddess!”

Gomaki grabbed the back of Namikawa's collar and stopped him with a laugh. “Calm down, mate. You will have plenty of time to flirt.”

Fudou smiled mischievously and opened his arms, Kidou next to him was beginning to realize the mess he had gotten himself into.

“Welcome to the best team in the world: Resistance Japan,” the brunette said with a happy twinkle in his green eyes. “Line up behind me in the order of your numbers, we are going to continue with the Selection Ceremony.”

They hurried to obey and the coach turned back to the stadium.

“There is not enough applause in the world for these boys who are going to carry the pride of the Japanese nation with them as they face the world. To celebrate the selection and before tomorrow's exhibition match against a team that the Football Federation still wants to keep secret, we have decided to have another small warm-up match between them. A 9vs9 that will allow them to show their skills and demonstrate why they have been chosen.”

The team raised their eyebrows in unison, looked at each other for a moment and then smiled ambitiously, they were ready for anything. It wasn't even that unexpected that they would make them play a football match since they were the National Football Team.

Except that Fudou had one last surprise in store that no one would have been able to foresee.

Chapter Text

Fudou looked intensely at his players who were smiling expectantly at the game they were going to play. Kidou then took out eighteen sports vests, nine yellow and nine blue, and motioned to his husband to indicate that he was ready.

The brunette man rubbed his hands and continued explaining. “Perfect, the teams for the 9vs9 match will be the following.

Team A: Senguuji Yamato, Makari Ginjirou, Mahoro Tadashi, Kariya Masaki, Kita Ichiban, Minamisawa Atsushi, Amemiya Taiyou, Kidou Hakuryuu and Namikawa Rensuke.

Team B: Ibuki Munemasa, Gomaki Tetsurou, Kirino Ranmaru, Kurosaki Makoto, Kishibe Taiga, Matsukaze Tenma, Yukimura Hyoga, Tsurugi Kyousuke and Kageyama Hikaru.
The captains will be Kidou Hakuryuu and Kirino Ranmaru.”

There was a murmur in the team as Kidou handed them the vests, yellow for Team A and blue for Team B.

“Why do I have to go on Ibuki's team instead of on Yamato's?” Gomaki complained, taking his vest with a frown.

Fudou turned to him and replied. “Because you are always together, it is time for you to defend another goalkeeper, you are all teammates and you must learn to work as such.”

“I'd rather not have to defend the clown who the first time he touched a football ball decided to bounce it like it was a basketball ball,” the long white-haired boy growled back.

“As you said, it was the first time I touched a football ball,” Ibuki apologized aggressively. “In these years I have improved a lot.”

"And what with that?" Namikawa asked, annoyed by that humiliating moment as a player. “I've never played basketball and I wouldn't think about kicking the ball.”

“That's because you don't think,” Kita intervened, coming out to defend the white-haired goalkeeper even if he himself frequently made fun of him for that very thing, but he wasn't going to let the others laugh at Ibuki. “Leave Munemasa alone.”

“We will leave him alone when he proves that he is a trustworthy goalkeeper,” Senguuji added angrily.

“Good luck with that,” Minamisawa grumbled, flipping his hair, and Kita, next to him, was about to hit him, but Fudou cleared his throat and they all wrinkled their noses angrily.

“I don't understand why you didn't choose me as vice-captain, Coach Fudou,” Kurosaki said annoyed. “I understand that Hakuryuu has privileges because he is your adopted son, but Kirino? Why him instead of me? He wasn’t even in the original Resistance Japan team!”

The pink-haired calmly turned to the midfielder and opened his mouth when Kariya stepped forward. “At least Kirino doesn't depend on his fame as a spoiled child who models for superficial people in fashion magazines, he has been chosen for his ability as a soccer player!”

“Calm down, Kariya,” the blue-eyed defender murmured as he saw the brunette getting angry at his friend's comment. "I don't know why I have been chosen, Kurosaki, but I will give everything to live up to the position and not fail you."

Kidou wanted to intervene in the teenagers' arguments, but his husband stopped him with a smile that foreshadowed trouble. “Actually, it’s your lucky day, Kurosaki. If you play your cards right you can end the match even being the captain of Resistance Japan.”

"What? Oh really?" The boy asked with his eyes lighting up, ignoring Kariya who gritted his teeth. Hakuryuu, on the other hand, frowned.

“Seriously, you or any of your teammates, because this game is going to have special rules.”

The team suddenly felt a bad feeling in the way the coach was smiling evilly and his eyes were shining with the satisfaction of being about to drop a bomb. A general shudder shook the eighteen players and the man's smile widened.

“First of all I want you to know that I will kick two random players from Resistance Japan from the team that loses this match.”

That news created a strong impact on the players who stifled a moan of horror, and a buzz of concern also began to rise in the stands. Even in the glass box from which the Football Federation was watching there was a gasp, only Kudou remained stoic with his hands behind his back, looking with half-closed eyes at the field where his once player seemed to enjoy the reception of that information.

“But coach…” Hakuryuu began to say, Fudou raised his hand to silence him and he obeyed, unable to believe what he had just heard.

“Regarding the captain and vice-captain bands, Hakuryuu and Kirino will have a crest that represents the bands attached to their chests with Velcro, any of you can try to take them off. Whoever remains with the crests at the end of the match will be the captain and vice-captain of the team and, furthermore, they will not be eliminated even if their team has lost the match.”

Kidou opened his mouth completely upset, knowing what this was going to mean. All the players had also understood, the only way to ensure that they did not leave the team was to get the crests, but at the same time they were putting pressure on them to know if they would risk everything to get these or if, on the other hand, they would prefer to work together to achieve the victory of his entire team.

“The match will only last half an hour, you are allowed to use any type of technique you want. Those of you who have can summon your Kenshins, Armor Kenshins and Souls. The only thing you are not allowed to do, apart from fouls, is restrain yourselves. So, go ahead! To the playing field.”

When the eighteen players were placed on the field awaiting the referee's whistle to start the game, Kidou turned sullenly and annoyed towards his husband.

“Don't you think you should have told me earlier that you were planning to kick out two random players?”

Fudou, who was watching the boys with his arms crossed, let out a smirk when he noticed his accusatory tone. “Calm down, Yuuto. I'm not going to kick anyone out. I just wanted to play with their minds a little and find out if they would prefer to take the risk and try to get the crests that will allow them to be captain or vice-captain or if, on the contrary, they would prefer to collaborate to prevent their team from losing. Furthermore, for Hakuryuu and Kirino it is a demonstration of whether they are truly prepared to assume these roles or not, we both know that being the captain of a team that plays at an international level is not easy and that sometimes hard decisions have to be made. So… will they decide to fight for their positions or will they seek the well-being of the team they captain?”

The managers who were next to them looked at the coach in amazement and in the case of Seto and Shindou with quite a bit of relief, both sighed upon learning that no player should really leave the team. Mizukawa, on the other hand, was attentive to the players, she knew all of them by sight, because in recent years they had gained a good reputation as football players; However, the only ones she had talken to aside from the members of Earth Eleven, if that could be considered talking, were Senguuji and Gomaki, both of whom were quite grim in their positions at the time.

“Show your worth, big guys!” the girl shouted, raising her fist to the sky to encourage them. They looked at her and finally smiled, hitting their chest with their fist to indicate that they would indeed give everything.

Shindou looked for Kirino, but quickly looked away when the pink-haired turned to him and found his red eyes on him. The defender smiled sadly and then took a breath. He had to defend both the position of vice-captain and the entire Team B, although he did not want anyone from Team A to be kicked out either. Would it be possible to finish this without any leaving?

“This is going to be a lot of fun,” Endou said, smiling, his face pressed against the glass of the box from where his group watched the game.

Kazemaru looked at him feeling a bead of sweat form on his forehead. “It's going to be a bloodbath.”

“That's why it's going to be fun,” Gouenji observed with his arms crossed, his black eyes fixed on the players preparing for the game, at his side Utsunomiya smiled expectantly.

Someoka snorted and rubbed the back of his neck. If he had to take a chance on what was going to happen, he was sure that Fudou wouldn't kick anyone out, but that didn't stop him from feeling uneasy. He hoped the boys wouldn't do anything crazy out of desperation. He turned to Endou. “If you no longer need me to be here, I would like to watch the match with Shirou.”

"What!? Don’t you want to be with us?”

The man shrugged. “I prefer to be with my partner.”

Endou pouted and waved his hand giving him permission to leave, although they had all agreed to have dinner together that night and the next day, during the second part of the Selection Ceremony, they would meet again.

Finally the whistle blew and the match began with a serve from Namikawa. Just as Kazemaru predicted, this immediately became an all-out battle to the delight of Fudou and the horror of Kidou.

While some of the players were not interested in the captain's or vice-captain's bands, others seemed to have decided to solely and exclusively dedicate all their efforts to obtaining them. And that caused allies and rivals to mix with each other in a great chaos in which neither Hakuryuu nor Kirino knew who they could trust.

The first to suffer this was Hakuryuu, since if they were aiming over one of the bands it was better to aim directly at the captain's. That's why Kurosaki, Matsukaze, Namikawa, Minamisawa and Gomaki, who didn't even want it for himself but for Senguuji, surrounded him shortly after the whistle blew. Hakuryuu swallowed, analyzing the situation to escape when he received unexpected help from Yukimura who, despite belonging to the other team, used his 'White Blade' Hissatsu to make them fall to the ground so that he could escape.

"Why?" the captain asked, surprised, looking at the other boy.

“Because the only one who can be our captain is you,” he replied, furrowing his thick eyebrows.

At that moment they were joined by Amemiya who had managed to steal the ball. “Captain, let's go up to Team B's goal to score a point.”

Hakuryuu nodded and ran off with the orange haired even if Yukimura tried to stop them.

Their advance was cut off by Kishibe who dodged them to get the ball to Tsurugi and Kageyama.

After fighting Hakuryuu for a while without managing to steal his crest, Namikawa, Matsukaze and Kurosaki decided to change their target and began to pursue Kirino, who immediately demonstrated that his ability to camouflage himself in the fog was going to be a great advantage. However, on one of those occasions when he was pursued he saw that Hakuryuu came dangerously close to Team B's goal and he had no clear way to stop him. At that moment a net of magenta energy threads trapped the three players who were bothering the vice-captain and he opened his mouth seeing Kariya.

“Thank you, Kariya.”

“Tsk. I wanted to get you.”
“Do you want to be vice-captain?”
The boy blushed, looking away, but he knew how important it was for Kirino to remain on the team with Shindou. The pink haired laughed, feeling great gratitude towards his friend, and ran out just in time to stop Hakuryuu's shot, thus preventing Ibuki from having to do anything.

Unfortunately for Hakuryuu and Kirino, who were very serious about leading their teams to victory, they had to sacrifice their crests ten minutes into the match, even though they both had a group of allies who tried to prevent it. The two preferred that someone else take the crests and that therefore they would be chosen as a target among those who were still trying to get hold of them rather than allow the rival team to score a goal and go ahead on the scoreboard.

Although that also ended up happening, unexpectedly for everyone Kita scored the first goal in Team B's goal at a time when Ibuki was distracted by the threatening presence of Hakuryuu's Kenshin. The orange haired didn't even use a Hissatsu and therefore everyone in Team B felt very embarrassed. Fudou, on the other hand, smiled widely, Kita did not have particularly strong Hissatsus, nor could he use a Kenshin despite the frustration that this caused him, which was why he had specialized in a game that was based on taking advantage of the opportunities that arrived to him and that during those two years he had been much more efficient than those who relied on brute force.

The next goal came from the hands, or more correctly said feet, of Tsurugi and Kageyama who reached the goal of Team A after passing Makari and Mahoro with the help of Kishibe, and knowing that they had before them the most fearsome goalkeeper of all the High Schools, they used a combined Hissatsu that they had created while playing in Teikoku High School, 'Dark Star'. Senguuji was overcome by a devastating shot that entered the goal, tying the score.

From that moment on, just ten minutes before the end of the match, the game became more chaotic and violent. Kidou pursed his lips watching the players give their best, increasingly desperate, and Fudou at his side had a look of absolute concentration, taking notes of what he was seeing, of what each of them needed to improve or strengthen, knowing that even if he missed some detail in the midst of all that display of strength, his husband would make him see it.

Amemiya, Tsurugi and Yukimura decided to join forces to surround Kurosaki and snatch the crest that would make him win the captain's band, believing that there was no one more worthy of that position than the white-haired with the light blue ponytail. The brunette resisted but finally had to resign when Yukimura used 'Snow Angel' to freeze him momentarily. Hakuryuu received his captaincy back with five minutes left in the match.

Kirino, for his part, knew that he had to defend his team's goal because Ibuki, no matter how much it hurt them, was no match for the captain who was the strongest striker in the country and against whose explosive strength even Senguuji had difficulties.
“Go get your band back, Kirino,” Gomaki said, stopping a shot from Mahoro who narrowed his eyes as he missed the chance to break the tie.
“But the goal…”

“I'll take care of it, trust me.”

The pink haired looked at the other defender who was at that moment invoking his Kenshin again and smiled. The vice-captain's crest was in Matsukaze’s chest who was fighting at that time against Minamisawa and Namikawa. The boy used 'The Mist' to cover them with a thick fog and appeared behind Matsukaze, thus recovering the crest.

"Hey!" the midfielder shouted “That's cheating!”

At that moment two things happened at the same time. Namikawa, very upset at not having had the shield in his possession for more than a minute before tripping and having it taken away by Matsukaze, grabbed the ball and launched himself against the goal to score one last time before the end of the game and that way to secure him and his full team. And Kirino was cornered by Kurosaki, Matsukaze and Minamisawa losing the crest again.

Ibuki furrowed his eyebrows, he knew that as a goalkeeper he had to stay in the goal, but he also knew that he was the only one who at that moment could help Kirino regain his position as vice-captain.
"Hey you!" he shouted at Gomaki whose Kenshin 'Majo Queen Redia W' was fighting against 'Kaiou Poseidon', Namikawa's Kenshin. “I need you to cover me for a moment!”

Gomaki let out an exasperated growl, “What do you think I've been doing for most of the match?”
Ibuki furrowed his eyebrows and Namikawa let out a malicious laugh.
The goalkeeper released his Soul, transforming into a gigantic mammoth with resplendent white fur and going out to attack the three players who were with Kirino.

On the bench where the managers were watching, Shindou was greatly surprised to see Ibuki's Soul, because since he had left Japan he had not been paying attention to the evolution of his teammates.

“Why has he changed? Before, his fur was dark blue.”

“It seems that Souls also have different forms of activation depending on training,” Kidou replied, furrowing his eyebrows. “But we still know very little about them, Souls are banned from national championships and the players are not interested in training to release theirs.”

"Pardon?" The manager looked at the adult completely dumbfounded. “Are you implying that anyone can have a Soul?”

"Yes, exactly. Maybe not all, I think it takes a certain willpower to achieve it, in addition to specific conditions being met; but I'm sure everyone on this team will be able to activate it.”

“It's absurd,” he responded, losing patience. “Kuroiwa… I mean, Kageyama chose the twelve of us from Earth Eleven because we were the only ones with a Soul inside us.”

Kidou looked at the boy and then looked at his husband who narrowed his eyes.

“He lied to you, he lied to us. It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. Although I hope it is the last in which we fall for his lies,” said the coach, making it clear that he did not think highly of the man. "After the events that happened three years ago, some countries began to investigate Souls and discovered that when in contact with space materials, some football players were able to release it and transform into an animal."

“What's the point of it being us then?” Shindou asked tremblingly, feeling that all the suffering he had experienced had been in vain.

Fudou turned to him. “None, you were the victims of a much larger plot that we couldn't see.”

"Despite everything, we believe that there was something different in you twelve, a greater resonance with your Souls that is evident by the fact that you managed to free them in a relatively short space of time while during these three years there have been very few cases that have been discovered.”

Shindou narrowed his eyes, irritated. “If they are activated by being in contact with space material, being in Space may had helped better than staying here on Earth.”

“That's true, but we're all made of Stardust, aren't we?” Fudou said, putting his hand on the boy's head and stroking his hair. “Shindou, perhaps you were not chosen in the most honest way; but you saved us, never forget that thanks to you and your team we are all alive.”

“But it was Matsukaze who was the captain,” Shindou objected, perplexed, biting his lips to keep from crying, at that moment the end-of-match whistle blew, startling the manager and the coach.

“That was spectacular,” Mizukawa muttered, unaware of the conversation and considering that Ibuki stampeding against the group of Kurosaki, Matsukaze and Minamisawa was going to become one of her favorite lifelong memories, especially when Matsukaze had transformed into a pegasus trying to resist the push. Moment that ended with Kirino recovering the crest and therefore the position of vice-captain.

Shindou returned to reality and saw that on the playing field the eighteen players seemed extremely frustrated, some of them had fallen on the grass and hit the ground with their fists. Neither Hakuryuu nor Kirino seemed satisfied that they had recovered their crests and sat with a gloomy expression.

“Bring them water and some towels,” Fudou ordered, pointing with his head to the bench where they were.
The managers grabbed the bottles and towels and approached the players. Most of them began to drink greedily; although Namikawa, after taking a sip from his bottle, opened it and threw it over his head.

Shindou handed the two objects to Kirino who smiled gratefully, but then narrowed his eyes and reached out to touch the dark haired’s cheek, stopping mid-movement and lowering it again. “Are you alright, Shindou? You seem agitated.”

He felt a pang in his chest and nodded, trying to forget his previous anger. "I'm fine, you?"

The pink haired bit his lower lip. “I have failed my team.” An expression of enormous frustration appeared in his light blue eyes. “I didn't get us to win, I don't serve as vice-captain.”

The other teenager wanted to comfort him, it had been so long since Kirino had shown himself weak in front of him, he had to do it...; but before he could even think of what to say, Gomaki walked over and put his arm over Kirino's shoulders. “It's not true, you have done very well. I had never trusted anyone other than Yamato.”

The defender had a chuckle. “Maybe it's a pink hair thing.” He paused and smiled at him. “Thank you for covering us, you have saved us before.”

Gomaki laughed and shook him. "Of course! There's a reason I'm the best defender in the country.”

“Hmm, I disagree with you on that, but thanks anyway.”

Kirino looked kindly at his teammate and turned to Shindou, but Shindou had left frowning and somber, upset that he had not been able to cheer up his friend at a time when he was vulnerable, Shindou felt he was still not learning.

Fudou looked around the playing field and called to his boys, regretting having to interrupt them when they were having their moments. Like Namikawa who followed Seto from one side to the other as if he were a lap dog after his mistress, wagging his tail and sticking out his tongue, or Mizukawa who was praising Ibuki for the final attack to the discontent of Senguuji who looked at the other goalkeeper with a frown. Nearby Makari, who was talking to Kishibe and Matsukaze, constantly looked at the girl with curiosity. Mahoro congratulated Kageyama and Tsurugi for their powerful shot and they, blushing, tried to face the congratulations without their pride going to their heads. Amemiya and Yukimura had sat next to Hakuryuu, assuring him that no matter what happened they were happy that he was going to be the one to lead the team. Kurosaki was angry at not having gotten the crest and scolded Kariya for constantly getting in the way, who ignored him with a wrinkled nose and making mocking faces. Kita had lain down on the grass looking at the sky and Minamisawa came over to throw what was left of water on him to annoy the boy until he got up and started chasing him.

In the stands everyone was talking loudly about the game until the coach asked the boys to line up again.

Ichino and Aoyama had held hands and were breathing nervously, hoping with all their heart that Kariya would not be expelled from the team, knowing how important it had been for their friend to be selected.
Not far from them someone else had an expression of being willing to kill Fudou if he kicked Kariya off the team, next to him a red-haired man with glasses started to laugh.

“Ryuuji, calm down. Everything will be fine, the chances of Masaki being chosen are only 5%.”

“If Fudou kicks out our child, I swear…!” Midorikawa stopped his threat because someone else intervened.
“Actually, they are 10%. I remind you that he is going to kick out two players.”
“Why don't you shut up, Osamu?”

The players quickly formed up according to their coach's orders, feeling their hearts pounding with the anxiety that aroused by knowing that two players, two friends, would have to leave the team. Matsukaze felt a chill, feeling hostile gazes on him.

“It has been amazing. I had a lot of fun with this match, you guys did an incredible job,” the man congratulated in such a way that they weren't sure if he was being honest or if he was making fun of them. “Let's see, since the game ended in a tie, I think it's only fair that I kick out one player from each team.”

Everyone clenched their fists in frustration.

“Coach Fudou,—” Tsurugi stepped forward, “—I volunteer to leave the team.”

The man looked at him with interest and a smile on his lips. Kirino also stepped forward.

“I have failed my team by not achieving victory, I also volunteer to leave the team.”
"No!" Kariya looked at him in alarm. “Kirino, you must stay on the team, I will take your place.”

“Don’t be stupid, Kariya.”

“I have also failed as captain, if anyone should resign it is me,” Hakuryuu said seriously, clenching his fists in great frustration.

At that everyone else was scandalized.

“You are the best striker in the country, the team needs you! It's better for me to leave,” Tsurugi replied again.
“Wait, of all of us I'm the weakest player,” Kita said honestly, despite how much it hurt him. "I don't even have Kenshin... My departure won't mean anything to the team."

“Ichiban, if you leave, I will too,” Ibuki growled, annoyed that Kita didn't value himself more.

“Kita, you are not weak. Thanks to you, our team has achieved unthinkable victories.” Minamisawa put his hand on his shoulder. “I'll leave, I'm going to start university and playing at world level sounds like something very problematic.”
“I'm already busy enough with my modeling work,” Kurosaki muttered, crossing his arms. “If they kick me out I'm not going to cry either.”
“People don't like me, maybe it's best if I go,” Senguuji said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Gomaki grabbed his arm. “No, Yamato! This is your chance to prove who you are and redeem yourself, I won't let you. I will leave the team, I know I can count on the other defenders to cover you in the goal.”
“A team needs two goalkeepers.” Makari looked intently at Senguuji before turning to Fudou. “I'd rather leave myself than have any of my friends leave the team.”
“As much as it hurts, I think the same,” Mahoro sighed. “I know it is a great opportunity for all of us; But I don't want someone else to lose their place if I can avoid it by leaving myself."

“Listen, I probably won't even be able to play all the games due to my health problems, I'd rather leave than be a burden, especially if I can save the rest of you.” Amemiya smiled brightly and put his hands behind his head.

“I don't want anyone else to suffer by having to leave the team. Coach Fudou, please kick me out,” Kageyama requested with big pleading eyes.

“Kageyama, you have a lot of potential.” Kishibe looked at him, narrowing his blue eyes. “There are many midfielders and I already have a good reputation that will not be affected by not playing in the FFI. I prefer that my friends have the opportunity to shine now.”

Yukimura snorted. “I don't want to miss this opportunity, I really don't. But none of us want to. I also offer to leave so that no one else should have to.”
“I know football can forgive me if I'm not on the team this time,” Matsukaze murmured sadly.

Kidou looked at his husband as all the players tried to apply to leave the team and save their teammates, he caught the question in his red eyes and nodded. He had been waiting for that too, would everyone be willing to sacrifice themselves for the others when the critical moment would arrive?

Fudou raised his hand and everyone immediately fell silent.
“Go take a shower and put on the change of clothes you were asked to bring. Our first official activity as Resistance Japan will be to go eat together at my friend Tobi's restaurant. There I will explain the things that you should know for the tournament.”

The boys looked at each other in shock and disbelief. Hakuryuu asked on behalf of all of them. “What happens regarding the two players you are going to kick out?”

“I'm not going to kick anyone out,” Fudou laughed, making them all open their mouths even more stunned. “You are the seventeen players that I have personally chosen, we are all going to go together until the very end.”
“But we are eighteen,” Senguuji observed quickly.

"Eh yes. Well… Matsukaze was personally chosen by the Football Federation, not me. But still all of us will be together until the very end.”

The team all turned as one to look at Matsukaze who blushed violently.
“That makes sense, I thought that it was strange that your father had chosen Matsukaze,” Namikawa growled in Hakuryuu's ear, who now understood many of the brunette's complaints.

“You have played with our minds!” Kariya exclaimed with red ears looking at the coach who started laughing loudly.

The boys began to talk, relieved and happy that none of them should leave the team, Amemiya had hugged Matsukaze and Kageyama and was shouting happily.

“Go, go,” Fudou urged, clapping his hands. “To the showers, I'm starting to get hungry, and so is Yuuto. And believe me, you don't want to see him hungry.”

Kidou furrowed his eyebrows in offence; but Hakuryuu laughed. “No, they don't want to.”

Kudou came out onto the field at that moment to say goodbye to the public and the entire Resistance Japan team went inside the stadium after greeting the public one last time.
When Fudou passed by his former coach he whispered his congratulations and he, raising his eyes in surprise, smiled softly.
“I learned from the best,” he said back before leaving.

The three managers carried the boxes with the used bottles and towels, Kidou approached them as they walked down the hall and asked, “Will the three of you be okay or do you want us to ask someone else for help?”

“We'll be fine,” the three assured immediately and the man nodded.

“I will also be helping with the heavier stuff, but you can tell me anything you need.”

“Thank you very much, Coach Kidou,” Shindou nodded, and the other two girls smiled widely.

Fifteen minutes later all the players, except Kita and Kurosaki, had come out of the showers and were waiting in the stadium lobby.

Kirino came out chatting animatedly with Hakuryuu, with Amemiya and Yukimura walking behind them, once they knew that no one should leave the team, the mood had improved in a totally radical way and everyone smiled radiantly and satisfied, looking forward to starting that Football Frontier International journey.

Shindou wrinkled his eyebrows when he saw his friend, but at that moment Tsurugi, Matsukaze, Kageyama and Kariya approached him and one by one they hugged him tightly, except Kariya who stood looking at him with his hands in his pockets and he was grateful.
“It's nice to see you again, Shindou,” Kageyama said with a kind and happy smile.
“It was a surprise to hear your name in the selection.” Tsurugi moved away a little to make room for the rest of the friends who wanted to greet the boy. Seto had grabbed his shoulder and was nodding happily.

“I'm so glad you're back!” The girl exclaimed with bright eyes, Namikawa in the distance pouted and Mahoro patted him on the back.

“Behave or you'll only scare the lady away,” he warned in a whisper.

“I think it's too late for that,” laughed Senguuji, who was drying his long hair with a towel despite being outside the locker room.

"It isn't true! We have been blessed by a predestined meeting and I know that the ship of love will eventually cast off in the port of…”

“Yes, fine, but in the meantime, please shut your mouth,” Minamisawa requested, rubbing his temples. “It's enough to have to continue putting up with Ibuki outside of school.”

The goalkeeper, at that moment, approached Shindou so he did not hear his teammate, he also hugged him to the annoyance of the dark-haired boy who thought that Kageyama's hug had been enough physical contact for years, unless it was Kirino who would touch. “Have you had enough of Europe yet?”

Kishibe also joined the conversation. “Are you staying in Japan now, Shindou?”

“Actually, as soon as the tournament is over I will return to London,” he reported, and his red eyes could not help but search for Kirino who was silently watching him several meters away. He looked away with red ears.

"It's not fair! Why should you go back?” Matsukaze complained, hanging onto him. “I want to play football with you!”
"That! That! Stay with us!" Seto exclaimed.

Shindou winced and Kirino approached with his eyebrows tense on his forehead. “Hey, you, don't bother Shindou. He is working hard for his musical career and deserves all our support.” He put his hands on his hips, shifting the body weight from one leg to the other and smiled at him. “Have you been fine, Shindou? We hadn’t spoken for a few months.”

He nodded, swallowing hard. Everyone else looked at each other strangely, even more so when Kirino looked at him affectionately, shook his head and left to talk to Makari, Mahoro and Gomaki. Kariya shuffled after him.
“Aren't you going to tell him anything else?” he asked in a whisper. “You're always saying how much you miss him.”
The pink haired shook his head. “I don't want to bother him, he has enough returning to Japan.”

When Kita and Kurosaki left the locker room, they also came up to greet Shindou.

Fudou called out to them at that moment.
“Okay, Resistance Japan, everyone ready?”

"Yeah!" They all exclaimed in unison with a big smile.
“Perfect, then we're going to the RJ Caravan, we have an hour's drive to get to the restaurant. Once in the caravan, I will give you the menu so that we can order on the way and Tobi will have everything ready when we arrive.”

“Coach Fudou thinks of everything,” Makari said smiling.
“It's the hunger,” Hakuryuu murmured in his ear, although everyone heard him and laughed in good humor.

Chapter Text

Led by the two adults, the Resistance Japan team arrived at a red, white and black vehicle with the soccer team's crest. They all looked at the RJ Caravan with admiration.

“Why is it called a caravan if it is a minibus?” Namikawa asked, putting his hands on his waist with a frown.
“Questions that will never be answered,” Fudou said, turning to his player, quite amused by that comment. “Now, let me introduce you to the driver who will take us from one place to another with his good…”

Kidou glanced at his husband in an exasperated way that the others could only understand when the door flew open and he stepped out of the vehicle, as if he were the very Kuzco in the animated movie, Tsunami Jousuke.

“Hey, buddies!”

“Oh no,” Matsukaze muttered with his blue eyes wide, everyone else looked at the adult with their jaws hanging and not knowing what to say.

Behind the pink-haired Okinawan, another man emerged, also with pink hair but a more stern face and small black eyes.

“Jou, don't scare them like that.”

“Ryuugo?” Fudou asked in surprise. “What are you doing here, man?”

“Jou dragged me with him to go eat with Tobi.”

Fudou laughed. “And I thought you were going to help us as a driver too.”

“I would love to, but I only have a license to drive a car and a motorcycle.”

“And Tsunami does?” Yukimura asked in surprise, then he pursed his lips thinking he had been rude to the adults, but they burst out laughing.

“Motorcycle, car, bus, truck, boat, heavy machinery and helicopter,” responded the appellee, raising his thumb with a big smile.

“Yeah, the idiot started collecting driver's licenses like they were Pokémon,” Fudou snorted. “But hey, it's great for me.”
“Wait,” Kidou interrupted suddenly, scared. “Why can you drive a helicopter if you wear glasses?”

“That's a hoax, Kidou,” the pink haired man smiled. “As long as they are graduated and you do periodic checks, there is no problem.”
"Well well." Fudou gestured to his players. “I know you all know who my friends are but I will make the corresponding introductions. They are Tsunami Jousuke and Someoka Ryuugo, two of my best friends along with Tobitaka Seiya whose restaurant we are going to eat at and who I am still trying to convince to be our cook during the FFI, Kira Hiroto, who is one of the sponsors of the Football Federation and Haizaki Ryouhei who is currently in the Amazon believing he is Indiana Jones.”
The boys bowed politely, after which their coaches ushered them into the vehicle.

Tsunami sat in the driver's seat with a big smile and high-fived each of the teenagers who were getting in. Fudou and Kidou sat in the seats behind the driver and Someoka sat in the ones next to them, the team had left them free assuming correctly that the three adults would occupy the front row.

The coach turned to look at his team who were organizing themselves in the seats, creating a little chaos, until little by little they were getting situated. With a very judging smile when he realized that some had not realized that under normal conditions there would only be one free place in the RJ Caravan but that on that trip it would be occupied by his old friend Someoka.

Kurosaki, not wanting to share a seat with anyone, had quickly claimed both seats by sitting in the second row, with his back to the window and his feet on the other. As they passed by, several teammates looked at him with indignation.

“We wouldn't want to sit with you anyway,” Minamisawa muttered, very annoyed, until he realized that the minibus only had twenty-four seats besides the driver's seat and they, not counting Tsunami, were twenty-four; He shrugged his shoulders with a mean smile, waiting for the moment when that gesture would bounce off Kurosaki and walked to the penultimate row on the right, where he sat by the window and gestured for Kishibe to sit next to him, believing that of all the others he would be the least problematic traveling companion.

Senguuji, Gomaki and Mizukawa went straight to the back row, Minamisawa glared at them as they passed because they were so loud.

Makari approached his three teammates and asked, pointing to the free seat next to the girl, “Can I sit with you?”

She raised an eyebrow, judging him up and down before agreeing, causing him to blush slightly.

“Aren't you going to sit with Yukimura?” The goalkeeper was surprised, knowing that they were both very good friends.

The green-haired gently shook his head. “I think he would prefer to sit with Amemiya.”

The three friends looked at each other, Gomaki nodded his head with a happy gesture. “Sure, sit with us.”

Makari moved to the window seat next to Mizukawa. "Thank you so much."
“Pft,” she laughed and punched him in the nose. “Why so much formality? Someone would have to occupy the seat sooner or later.”

“Taiyou, come sit with me!” Matsukaze's voice asked and the four in the back row stopped their conversation to look forward and open their mouths in disbelief. Amemiya had just sat down with the brunette right in front of them, on the other side of Kishibe and Minamisawa, and Yukimura who was behind seemed to have frozen in place, in the same way as if they had used 'Snow Angel' against him.

“I think maybe your friend does want to sit with you now,” Mizukawa whispered maliciously in the green-haired's ear.
Makari got up from his seat to tell him, but it was too late. Yukimura, in a very bad mood, crossed the bus pushing those who were not yet seated, who complained against this unnecessary violence, until he reached the seat next to Someoka, sinking into it with a pout of irritation and crossing his arms over his chest. For a player with ice Hissatsus at that moment he had fire in his eyes.

The striker was surprised when his partner's apprentice sat next to him, clearly angry. “Are you okay Hyouga?”

"Yeah."

The man blinked and sighed heavily. “Don't you want to sit with one of your friends instead?”

“No.”

"I understand. By the way, I have a message for you from Shirou.” The boy's blue eyes stopped sulking and looked curiously at the man. “He said you had done very well in the game and he was very proud of you. A perfectly beautiful ‘Snow Angel’.”
Yukimura allowed himself a shy smile, momentarily forgetting about his anger. "Really? Defensive Hissatsus are not my strong suit.”
“Well, he said you did it perfectly.”

Everyone thought that Kirino would sit next to Shindou who was in the window seat of the third row, that's why they were surprised when the pink haired boy sat next to Hakuryuu in the second, right behind the coaches.

“I am very excited for the tournament! I have never been vice-captain of such an important team, I hope I can do well. By the way, Hakuryuu, you were impressive in the match.”

“I'm sure you'll do well,” the white-haired answered sincerely. “There is a reason why the coach chose you as vice-captain. You also did very well stopping my shots.”

"Thank you, although I think that if I had let you unleash all your power I wouldn't have been able to stop it."

In the back seat, Shindou had his fists clenched on his knees and looked outside, feeling a strong pang in his chest. Tsurugi walked over and asked. “Do you mind if I sit next to you?”
“Go ahead,” he replied dryly, listening to the cheerful conversation of the captain and vice-captain.

Seto forced Kariya to sit next to her after Mahoro decided to sit with Kageyama to talk to him, knowing that his friend Amagi thought highly of him.

“Let go, I don't want to sit with you,” the teal-haired boy complained, but the girl gave him an annoyed look and then looked at Namikawa who had been waiting to sit with her and who was also looking the same way at Kariya.

Ibuki and Kita sat together in the fourth row, behind Shindou and Tsurugi and in front of Minamisawa who glared at the orange-haired when he smiled at him. Kita rolled his eyes in annoyance and sat back down with a huff, throwing a leg over Ibuki who stifled a laugh.
“You should sit straight, Ichiban.”

“Make me if you dare.”

The white-haired goalkeeper laughed and Minamisawa behind them pretended to puke. When Ibuki noticed this, he hit him on the arm and Kishibe looked at them very confused.
“What have I missed?”

“Believe me, you don't want to know,” his seatmate growled with a pout.

“No, I'm sure I want to know,” the purple-haired boy assured. “What's between those two?”

“Mune and I have been dating for a year,” Kita responded, kneeling in his seat to look back, hugging the head of the seat.
"What?" Everyone on the bus was surprised, even Namikawa forgot that he was struggling with Kariya to get him out of the seat next to Seto.
Kita looked forward and furrowed his eyebrows. “Nobody knew? I did post a photo to my Inagram account giving Munemasa a kiss on the cheek! I have you all added!”

“Ew,” said Shindou, Kurosaki, Yukimura, Senguuji, Gomaki, Namikawa and Kariya at the same time.

“I did know,” Tsurugi said. “Ibuki told me a while ago.”

“I thought it was a dare or something,” Kirino confessed, rubbing the back of his neck. “But… congratulations.”

“Congratulations on what?” Kurosaki asked dumbfounded. “Since when do you have such bad taste, Kita?”

“Hey!” the couple complained immediately; but at that moment his coach intervened.

“What are you waiting for to sit down, Namikawa? A flying pig appearing? Sit next to Kurosaki at once.”

"What? Why? No!"

“There is no other seat,” Minamisawa scoffed evilly from his seat and the brunette's expression fell.
“No, no, there must be a mistake, someone should change the place. Kariya, Kariya, come with me and let Namikawa sit with Seto…”

"Yeah! Kariya, good friend, crewmate, sit with the Bird Brain and let me be with my beautiful goddess.”

“None of that!” Seto exclaimed, grabbing the defender tightly.

At that moment Kidou looked out from his seat with a red glow in his eyes and everyone felt a chill. Namikawa hurried to sit next to Kurosaki who pouted, leaning against the window but not daring to complain.

Once everyone was seated, Tsunami started the engine and the RJ Caravan hit the road with a soft murmur of the tires on the asphalt. The driver turned on the radio and left it on a country song station for which his friends yelled at him in annoyance, but which still did not change. Instead, he started singing 'Sweet Home Alabama' as if someone was torturing him. Kidou and Shindou rubbed their temples with a heavy heart.

Fudou sighed, deciding to ignore his friend, while all the teenagers looked at each other, silently wondering if this was what all future trips would bring them and if it would serve as training to strengthen their willpower. The coach stood up in his seat, turned around so he could get a good look at his players.
"Good good good." Kidou looked at him with a twitch in one eyebrow that trembled dangerously, showing that there really was nothing good, good, good. “I'm going to create a chat group with all of us to share the menu from Tobi's restaurant. Write there what each of you want so that Kidou can place everyone's order.”

“Why should I make the order?”

“Because you are my assistant for a reason, Yuuto.”

Kidou grumbled and the more daring ones allowed themselves a giggle.

Once everyone decided what they wanted to eat and after Fudou reprimanded a few of them who had not ordered enough food, saying that the winners should eat like winners, the coach sat down organizing the order with his husband and everyone else began to immerse in conversations among themselves, with Tsunami tirelessly singing an evil version of 'I just want to dance with you'.

Senguuji, Gomaki, Mizukawa, and Makari had somehow ended up playing a game of chess through a mobile app; Gomaki against Mizukawa, the other two looked interested until Senguuji asked Makari about the correct care of some indoor plants, since the boy from Hokkaido had a great hand with plants and was even in the Gardening Club of his school, in addition to constantly help with his family's lily farm.
“Hey! Don't talk, you're distracting me and it's your fault that I ended up playing this game, Makari, so the least you can do is pay attention to my defeat and comfort me when the inevitable happens,” the girl complained.
He fell silent, surprised, but then smiled. “I think you're doing very well, I don't even know how to play chess.”

“Do you want us to teach you?” Senguuji asked quickly with clear eyes lighting up.

"What? No, it is not necessary."
“Yes, don't let them fool you, first they go like this, all smiling saying things like 'chess is very easy everyone can play', they let you hype and then, bam! Beating after beating. If it were a fight, we would have to see who would win!”

The two Dragon Link players looked up from the screen of Gomaki's cell phone with a shocked expression.
“Well, you see, Mizukawa... Honestly, in a competition on equal terms I think we would win,” the white-haired replied with a smug smile.

The girl wrinkled her nose and Makari laughed. “Are you sure? I think Mizukawa has potential.”

The four of them burst out laughing and when they calmed down they continued with the game of chess that the girl eventually lost.

Kageyama and Mahoro already knew each other and got along well, although they had never been able to talk much with each other due to lack of time. The only time they had been able to share more peacefully had been for Amagi's last birthday, when he had invited them both along with other friends to eat at Tobitaka's restaurant. At that moment the red-haired was showing photos of his black cat Catan to the other boy who was looking at the photos excitedly.
“He's a little devil, but look what adorable little fangs he has, how can I scold him for climbing on my mineral shelf and almost knocking over the obsidian ball I inherited from my grandmother and the citrine that Minaho gave me?”
“You can't, not with that pretty face. It makes you want to bury your face in his belly.”
“No, don’t do it if you value your life.”

In front of them, Kariya was putting up with Namikawa's insistence as best he could to change his seat so that he could be next to Seto, while the girl kept him firmly held to prevent him from moving. If it had been up to him, he really would have changed the seat to the front one and let them solve their problems alone; he didn't like being in the middle of that crossfire.

“Don't be annoying, Namikawa! Kariya and I have been friends since Raimon and we haven't been able to talk for a long time, so leave us alone.”

“But I want to talk to you too,” the boy said with pleading eyes.
Seto looked at him surprised, opening her mouth slightly, when she realized she cleared her throat and shook her head. "You can talk to me while sitting with Kurosaki."

“Actually, I would also prefer if you changed his place… Namikawa looks like a fish out of water and he doesn't stop shaking.”

“You! Shut your mouth!” Seto shouted and Kurosaki furrowed his eyebrows because he wasn't used to being talked to like that.

“Does anyone care what I think?” Kariya asked with resignation.

“No,” the other three said at once, he muffled a whimper with an exasperated pout.

Yukimura spent practically the entire trip talking on his cell phone. Someoka preferred to leave him alone, although from time to time the teenager would pay attention to what the pink-haired was talking to the coach, especially if Fubuki was mentioned.

Kirino and Hakuryuu were talking animatedly about the team they had in their hands. The captain had little by little been monopolizing the conversation and at that moment he was detailing the different formations that he believed could serve with his team while the pink-haired listened actively and nodded vigorously, happy to be the vice-captain of Resistance Japan and assist the white-haired.

“Hey, Shindou, how is London?” Kishibe asked, sitting up in his seat to try to see his friend whose crown only was sticking out of the seat.
The appellee turned around and stuck his head out.
“Multicultural,” he responded. “There are people from all over the world and the city is huge.”
“Are you liking London?” Tsurugi wanted to know.
“It is a city with a lot of history and a lot to see and do, although as often happens in tourist cities, public hygiene is a bit poor.”

“I wonder if it will be the same in Boston,” Ibuki murmured, rubbing his chin. Next to him Kita suddenly changed his expression, from a wide smile to a gesture of muffled pain, although no one noticed it because the others looked at the goalkeeper strangely.

“What about Boston?” Amemiya asked curiously.

“I'm leaving in September,” he explained, making everyone stop what they were doing to pay attention. Even Yukimura peeked out of his seat and Kurosaki stopped arguing with Namikawa.
"What?" Shindou asked, perplexed. “Are you going to the United States?”

“Yes, I have been accepted into the city's basketball team,” Ibuki explained excitedly. “It was my requirement to enter to play in Inazuma Japan three years ago, they told me I had to wait until I turned eighteen, and today is my birthday, so in September I'm finally leaving.”

Minamisawa opened his mouth wide, tried to see Kita through the gap in the seat; but he did not succeed, however the absence of a comment on his part already told him how much that hurt his friend.

In the RJ Caravan there was a little chaos regarding both things, all the teammates who didn't know about it rushed to congratulate him and he thanked him with a big vain smile.

Minamisawa, on the other hand, cleared his throat in annoyance. “Why didn't I know anything?”

Ibuki turned around, furrowing his eyebrows. “But you congratulated me when I arrived at the stadium.”

“That you were going to Boston in September, idiot!”

“Didn't I tell you?”

“No.”

“Ah, well, you know now.”

Minamisawa gritted his teeth, while everyone else wanted to ask something at the same time.

“Boston is where Harvard University is, right?” Kariya said dumbfounded.
“Yeah, but that airhead isn't going to go to university,” Kurosaki laughed with an arrogant gesture. “On the other hand, I am sure that I will be able to enter a very good university.”

“I've heard that Boston has very interesting science museums,” Senguuji commented with some envy, wrinkling his nose.

“Dude, you have to go to Salem and give me pictures!” Mahoro exclaimed excitedly. “If I send you money, can you buy me things and send them to Japan?”
“Maybe we could organize a trip to visit Ibuki once he is settled in the city,” Amemiya smiled, thinking about how fun it would be to travel together to the United States to visit the boy.
“Ibuki, are you going to stop playing football?” Matsukaze asked in a judging voice, everyone else furrowed their eyebrows and looked back at the goalkeeper.
Ibuki nodded without hesitation. “Yes, this tournament will be my last, from here on I will stop playing football seriously and return to basketball.”
“Have you ever played soccer seriously?” Gomaki growled.

“And you had to wait until I left school and entered the University to leave the team!? Life is so unfair sometimes,” Minamisawa grumbled with a snort, he had had to put up with him all that time for him to just go away like that.
“You have to be careful in America,” Hakuryuu observed, rising slightly in his seat.

“I'll be fine, plus I'm not going alone,” Ibuki replied, waving his hand lazily.

Kita at that opened his eyes wide, suddenly pale. "Who are you going with?"

“With Nozaki, she will enter a Rhythmic Gymnastics School.”

Kishibe made a muffled noise that was his attempt to suppress a scream of indignation, but before he could say anything, Kita, who was looking very hurt at his boyfriend, asked. “Why didn't you tell me you were going with her, Munemasa?”

Ibuki shrugged. “I don't think it's that important.”

“Of course it's important!” Kishibe said with a pang of heart. He and Nozaki had become very close over the last year and he quite liked her, he had even held her hand once when they went to a Disney Ice show together, and she hadn't pushed him away or seemed uncomfortable. That news, which he had no idea about before, had felt like a punch to the stomach.

There was an awkward silence in the RJ Caravan, Kita had to bite his lip to avoid making a fuss or crying out of rage, especially because everyone was looking at him with commiseration and that was disgusting, he hated that they felt sorry for him.

“Man, I'm not even that stupid,” Namikawa said, blinking slowly, his brown eyes locked on the goalkeeper's magenta ones. “Obviously it is important, easily being the two of you alone in an unknown country and without anyone else to lean on you can develop a mutual romantic interest.”

“Namikawa, you're not helping,” Kirino murmured in the boy's ear, stretching from his seat and frowning.

“I'm not going to leave Ichiban for anyone!” Ibuki shouted furiously. “Ichiban is the person I love!”

“Now,” Kurosaki observed, crossing his arms, “but you don't know when feelings of love can change.”

“Besides, you're a handsome boy, I'm sure you'll have a lot of fans and with so many miles in between…,” Seto added, Namikawa turned his neck so fast that Mahoro would have assured that he had the potential to cosplay the exorcist's girl.
“Not to mention how difficult it is to maintain a long-distance relationship, many couples end up breaking up due to communication problems. If you start not telling your partner everything, what can he expect from you?” Mizukawa hurtfully accused, glaring harshly at Ibuki.
“Maybe it's better for Kita this way, once that clown leaves he can look for someone decent,” Kurosaki insisted, Namikawa nudged him very unsubtly.

“I love Ichiban!” Ibuki repeated, getting genuinely angry, he looked at his boyfriend who was slumped in his seat with his face red with frustration. “Ichi…”

“I don't want to talk about this now. Not in front of everyone.”

Minamisawa had his eyes narrowed, glaring at the white-haired.
“Ichiban… I really…”

“I told you I don't want to talk about this right now!”

The bad atmosphere inside the minibus increased even more. Fudou let out a snort and stood up in his seat to tidy up, when Matsukaze, unable to manage that negativity, wanted to change the mood by asking something that would distract them. “And are you all happy to be able to play football at an international level?”

Even Someoka turned from his seat with his mouth open, having tried his best not to get involved in the conversation. Kidou closed his eyes and massaged his temple.

“Are you stupid, dude?” Senguuji frowned, clenching a fist as if he wanted to hit him.
“I don't think it's time for that, Tenma,” Amemiya whispered, concerned at his friend's lack of sense of opportunity, even if his intention was good.

Matsukaze blushed and wanted to defend himself.

“Stop,” ordered Fudou walking down the hallway, everyone silently as one and sat down facing forward. The coach reached Ibuki and Kita and looked at them seriously. “You two, listen to me carefully, a long-distance relationship is very hard but not impossible, Yuuto and I were separated for a year when he went to play in Italy and Ryuugo was separated from his boyfriend Shirou for many more, but all of us succeded because we knew we wanted to be with the person we loved. Now, good communication is essential when you can't see each other, Ibuki, what you may consider not relevant to Kita can be important and make him uncomfortable, so don't decide for yourself so easily and speak well about everything. Don't let anyone else make you doubt, if you really want to be together you will be able to get through any problem.”
“Yes, coach,” they said, although Kita looked away, feeling miserable.

"We are about to arrive!" sang the happy voice of Tsunami from the driver's seat, although at that moment he swerved while avoiding a motorcycle that crossed his path and Fudou, who was standing, was thrown, falling on Kageyama, who grabbed him to prevent him from hitting.
“Thank you, Hikaru,” the man murmured, standing up. “Surely that will compensate for a couple of years of family karma for all of your uncle's stuff.”

"Coach!" the boy protested.

“Akio!” Kidou demanded, indignant, from the seat in front, the other players began to laugh, timidly at first and harder later, until the bad mood disappeared.

They got off the bus amidst laughter and whispers of anticipation. In addition to a general hunger, Kidou was no longer the only one who grunted in agony from time to time. Ibuki took Kita's hand, who at first tried to let go, but he whispered to him, “You're not going to be mad at me on my birthday, are you?” And the boy, after looking at him for a long time, sighed and intertwined his fingers.

“I'm really hungry,” Kishibe whimpered, rubbing his stomach, of the entire team he had the best appetite, something that had been made clear with the food he had ordered through the text chat.
“It's your lucky time,” Amemiya told him, patting him on the back.
Mahoro let everyone pass before he got off, following Makari.
“Have you noticed that it seems more like a school trip than an official activity of the team that will win the FFI?”

The green-haired turned towards him, with an amused gleam in his only visible, black, almond-shaped eye. “There is certainly a much more family mood, even if in Hakuren with coach Fubuki we are all very close.”

“Coach Fudou is like the mother hen and we are her chicks,” Mizukawa laughed, stopping to look at them. The three of them laughed.
As they passed by the coach, he raised an eyebrow at them.
“I'm not a mother hen, I'd be a mother penguin if anything.”

“Akio, don't be so lax,” his husband growled, waiting to get off.
“Yuuto, my love. We both have different training methods and mine is to give my boys and girls all the reliance in the world so they can trust me for anything. So I hope you do the same for them and be their penguin dad.”
Kidou frowned his eyebrows and grunted, perhaps from hunger or perhaps thinking that this was too far from his methodical and strict system.

They entered the restaurant led by their coach, who had to push Tsunami back.

“Jou, behave or I won't let you eat with us again.”

Inside, sitting in one of the high chairs at the counter, they saw a woman with light brown hair carrying in her arms a chubby baby with wavy brown hair and big red eyes who began to scream excitedly, shaking.

“Papa! Mama! Ungh!”

Kidou quickly walked over and took the baby in his arms, leaving a kiss on his cheek as he laughed and chattered. “We are here, Akira, my precious baby.”

Eighteen of the teenagers stared open-mouthed and stupefied at the man who was tickling his son with his eyes full of love. Could Coach Kidou really change his personality that much? Only Hakuryuu, Tsurugi and Kageyama who knew the man the most did not find anything strange in his behavior.

Fudou introduced the woman as his mother, Takanashi Kikumi, and also kissed his baby and caressed his head, without trying to take him out of his husband's arms. The child enjoyed that time and when the other two adults greeted him, he shouted graciously. “Guugo, Jou.” Then he looked at Hakuryuu with big bright eyes, since he had not approached, believing that perhaps being in an official activity he should keep his distance, but Kidou brought the boy closer to him and even let him take him in his arms when he rushed for the white haired

It was no secret that the couple had a child, just as it was no secret that that child was the result of tireless experimental research that Kira Hiroto had been carrying out for years, since he had taken charge of the part of his father's company that investigated human DNA and Kiyama Tatsuya, publicly known as Kira Tatsuya, from the technological research part. Thanks to Kira Zaibatsu, two men could have a biological child through artificial embryo sacs. The government was delighted because this had boosted the birth rate in the country, which had been quite poor until now.

The woman approached the trainer with a soft expression. “I'll go home now, Akio. Do you need anything before? Do you want me to take Akira?”

“No,” Kidou quickly replied, then added. “Thank you, Kikumi, but Akira is fine with us.”

“Everything is fine, mom,” said the brunette. “We prefer Akira to stay with us now, he has been without us for a long time.”
“The boy is already used to it because of your jobs, it's you two who still don't do it,” she laughed, saying goodbye to the team kindly, especially her grandson Hakuryuu and Tsurugi, who replied feeling guilty that the woman had returned to Inazuma to help with the start of the tournament and they were occupying her house. She had assured that she preferred to sleep those days at her son's house, because she could spend more time with Akira. But they knew that she did not want to bother the two of them and the eldest of the Tsurugi brothers, who had lived in her apartment since the previous summer, when she left for Ehime to take care of her mother, without anyone knowing exactly how much that would be. 

“Team,” Fudou called with a big smile, “let me introduce you to my second assistant, Kidou Akira, son of Yuuto and me.”

There were several excited exclamations and a single long drawn-out grunt. Kurosaki blinked slowly. “He can't be serious, can he?”

“Well, I think so, unfortunately,” Minamisawa replied quietly in his ear.

A man with dark pink hair, and a white band around his head that raised his pompadour in a comical manner, appeared at the kitchen door and greeted the group.
“Everything is ready, sit at the tables that I have prepared for you and I will start bringing the food.”

“Do you need help, Tobi?” Someoka asked, walking over and giving his friend a hug before Tsunami launched into doing the same.

“I could use an extra pair of hands, I don't deny it,” he agreed, and the three men entered the kitchen again.

Gomaki followed Tobitaka's movements with his black eyes. He had always admired him a lot and the few times he had been able to go to eat at that restaurant had been a blessing.

They sat around five tables in a row, Fudou and Kidou, in the center with Akira between them in a high chair and the twenty-one teenagers took the rest of the seats. Tsunami and Someoka appeared with the trays of drinks.
"Coca Cola?" the forward asked, several teenagers raised their hands and little by little they passed around the glasses with ice and the cans of soda.

Once they finished with the drinks, it was the turn to bring the food, much more slowly to avoid tipping over the ramen bowls that were overflowing with broth.

Everyone clearly saw how Kidou's red eyes lit up.

Kurosaki and Kita asked to take a photo of the table with the plates still intact to pos0 to their networks, something that Kidou, who was ready to start eating, didn't take too kindly. Finally the photo was taken by Someoka with Kita's cell phone so that everyone could appear, smiling and happy.

"Bon apetit!" They exclaimed as one, thanking them for the food and beginning to eat.

“Pass the photo in the group,” the coach asked, taking out a gyoza from a sharing tray that was the centerpiece of the table. “I'll post it in my account too.”

“Sent,” Kita said, putting his cell phone in his pants pocket after sharing another photo of him and Ibuki that he took afterwards, forcing himself to stay in good spirits. “We all turned out great, we are the most beautiful team in the FFI.”

“Liar, I am with my eyes closed!” Yukimura protested upon seeing the photo.

“It's no big deal, it seems like you're smiling,” Amemiya calmed, putting his arm over him, since he was sitting next to him.

“At least you don't look like a psychopathic lunatic,” Mahoro grumbled, looking at the photo with disappointment.

“Can't we repeat it?” Seto asked. “A light was reflecting on me and I came out with a face that looked like I was going to sneeze.”

“If my mermaid wants the photo to be repeated, the photo is repeated!” Namikawa exclaimed.

“We're not going to repeat the photo, start eating at once or you won’t eat for a week,” Kidou threatened sternly.

“It's the hunger,” Hakuryuu whispered, and his words shook the table like a breeze through the leaves of a forest at dusk.

For the first ten minutes they remained relatively silent, with small pockets of conversation emerging and fading, until finally Fudou decided to speak.

“Well, as I told you before, I want to explain some things to you, even if the Football Federation has already informed you by letter of many of them. But first, I wasn't kidding about Akira, he's a very small child and we can't leave him alone. Yuuto and I have organized everything so that it doesn't bother you; But if you have a problem with him, let us know so we can solve it.”

“Since when is homicide a solution?” Hakuryuu asked with a malicious smile, knowing that if anyone dared to complain about Akira the adults would take it pretty badly.

“The real question is, since when isn’t it?” Kidou responded so seriously that almost everyone swallowed and thought that even if the boy didn't let them sleep during the entire tournament they wouldn't dare to complain; After all, Kidou Yuuto was Kageyama Reiji's protégé.

“Don't scare them, Yuuto,” his husband grunted, wrinkling his nose, and he just shrugged and sipped his ramen broth. "The schedule for the tournament is as follows, tomorrow on the second day of the Selection Ceremony we will give you the official uniforms and you will have an exhibition match with an opponent that I cannot tell yet, the closing will take place and the next day we will leave at six in the morning from Inazuma to Ehime.”

Everyone jumped when they heard a choking noise, turning to see Tsunami who had spit the drink he was drinking onto the counter, and part of it onto Someoka. He wiped his mouth with his hand and stared at his friend. "So early? That's criminal!"

A few agreed with the man, the restaurant owner instead observed, “What are you complaining about if you often wake up even earlier to go surfing?”

“But getting up early is important to catch good waves, not to drive.”

“It's a long trip, Tsunami,” Kidou explained exasperatedly. “It's more than ten hours of driving in itself and it can't be done at once, so it will probably take us between fourteen and sixteen hours to get there.”

"What!? Nothing of that, this bro brings you there in ten in one go and everything is perfect.”

“No, nothing about ‘everything is perfect’, Jou,” Fudou warned in a commanding voice. “We will leave at six in the morning and stop every two hours so you can rest and the team can go to the bathroom and stretch their legs.”

“Thank you,” murmured Senguuji, who was so tall that on long trips he ended up with stiff legs. Gomaki, next to him, nodded, because the same thing happened to him.

The coach continued, “The FFI Organization will draw the teams for the matches on May 7, a week before the first, then we will know who will be our first opponent and the dates of the games, in the meantime we will have been training in the Camp that the Football Federation has prepared for the team in Ozu.”

“Why do they say the teams so late?” Shindou wanted to know curiously.
“To avoid an imbalance in the training of the first game compared to the others. They don't want the teams to focus for too long on training just to defeat the first opponent and forget that there are three more games in the Asian Phase afterwards,” Kidou explained, the manager immediately nodded.
“The winners of the First Phase will be announced at the end of June, and as winners on July 1 we will travel to Liocott Island to begin the Second Phase. We know that a Welcome Ceremony will be held on July 2 but for now we have no more information, except that the tournament will last until the end of August.”

The Resistance Japan team nodded at that information, smiling as they noted that in their coach's mind there was only victory for them, as he had not hesitated when saying that they would travel to Liocott Island.

“Regarding our training in Ozu,” Fudou continued, catching his attention again. “Yuuto will give you the detailed schedule in the chat group, it is designed so that you have time to study and free time. In addition to that, I want to organize talks with you to talk about different topics; but first... Notice that in the Camp you will be sleeping in cabins for four people each, the Football Federation forces me to tell you that the girls must be in a separate cabin; But personally I don't care, so think about who you want to share a cabin with, it bothered me a lot when Coach Kudou organized us randomly and I couldn't be with Yuuto.”

“Akio!” His husband was scandalized; he did not consider it appropriate to tell them something like that, much less to let them choose, since he believed that the random method served to create bonds outside of friendship groups. “You shouldn't be so permissive and girls shouldn't share a cabin with anyone else.”

"What difference does it make?" Mizukawa said disdainfully. “Sharing a room, or cabin, with a boy can't be worse than having a clown possess your body for months.”
Her companions looked at her with compassion; but Seto growled, catching Namikawa's excitement. “I'm not so sure.”

“I remember when you had to share a room with Nosaka during the High School FFI, Akio,” Tobitaka interrupted dreamily from behind the counter. “Coach Kudou had to move you to another room when you tried to hit him for insulting Kidou.”

“I didn't try to hit him,” Fudou replied, visibly offended. “I hit him, that idiot…”

“Akio.” Kidou shushed him and he finished what he was going to say in a growl.
“What surprises me is that they didn't expel you after that,” Someoka observed. “Nosaka had a black eye for a long time.”

“Surely Coach Kudou agreed with me that he deserved it.” Fudou cleared his throat and turned to his players who were paying close attention to the anecdote, clearly delighted to hear their coach's adventures with his age. "There are ten cabins, one will be occupied by Yuuto, Akira and I, the rest you can distribute as you want."

"And me?"
“You what, Jou?”

“Where will I sleep?”

“In the RJ Caravan,” Kidou said maliciously.
His husband laughed. “I have talked to my family about getting you to stay in a room at our Ryokan.”

“A month and a half being able to enjoy your family's hot springs for free?”

“Well, it won't be free, in exchange you have to help with whatever they may need, starting in May they always need extra hands.”

Tsunami laughed, believing that this would be no problem.
“Does your family have a Ryokan with hot springs, Coach Fudou?” Matsukaze asked with big bright eyes.

He smiled. “That's right, and I plan to take you from time to time, there is nothing better to bond with friends and rest from a hard training than a good hot spring.”
“Akio, don't get distracted.”

“Uh, hm, yeah. That said, team. You can share the cabin with whoever you want.”

“Even if someones do indecent things?” Minamisawa asked, looking at Kita and Ibuki who looked back at him unimpressed, although the white-haired's ears turned red.

“You mean having sex?” Fudou raised an eyebrow, Minamisawa and some others blushed violently, and the coach snorted. “How old are you, Minamisawa? Five? You're all grown up now, if someone wants to have sexual relations I'm not going to be the one to stop them.”

“Akio! They shouldn’t have sex during the tournament, you’re too soft on them.”

“Oh, come on, Yuuto,” he groaned, rubbing his forehead at his husband's comment. “They are old, you can't force them not to do it, besides, what do you complain about when you and I did…?”

The man covered the coach's mouth and a muffled noise was heard, but his friends raised their eyebrows mockingly, except for Tobitaka who couldn't because he kept plucking them. Tsunami smirked. “Don't try to be an example of chastity now, Kidou. As if we hadn't heard you in our second FFI.”

“Unfortunately,” Tobitaka grunted.

“Surely the boys will hear you on this one too,” the pink-haired continued.

“Unfortunately,” the cook repeated and Someoka nodded concernedly.

“We may have seen it as something normal then, but now we are the adults responsible for all of them,” Kidou replied, without any shame in admitting that, everyone listened to the exchange between the adults with genuine interest and perhaps in some cases a lot of embarrassment.

“Exactly, Yuuto, we are responsible for them. For this reason, there must be complete trust between them and us so that they can ask us any questions or insecurities that arise. Otherwise if they do something behind our backs and there is a problem, they won't want to tell us and it will be worse for them, their health or even their future. So the first class we will have will be Sexual Education, as long as you have safe and healthy relationships, I don't care what you do. I imagine that with your ages, some of you have already had experiences and perhaps the talk comes late, but better late than never.”

“At my school they gave us a Sex Education talk last year, but it was very basic,” said Kishibe, who had finished his meal and ordered a second bowl of ramen.

"In ours they made a regrettable attempt at it, they gave us a review of the functioning of female and male biology with things like the Menstrual Cycle, and they gave a condom to the boys and a tampon to the girls, it was quite disappointing and lame,” Kirino commented with his lips pursed in a pout as he remembered it.
“Yes, very lame,” Kariya laughed. “Especially because they mistook you for a girl and wanted to give you a tampon.”

The pink haired nudged his friend, but he still couldn't get him to stop laughing and evenl others laughed a lot.

"How much did you want that condom, Kirino?" asked Namikawa.
"What? No, besides it was small, it wouldn't have fit even if…” The boy stopped suddenly, cleared his throat, and looked away with a red face. Shindou looked at him perplexed.

The others began to make fun of him even harder, until Gomaki intervened, “At our school it was even worse, they told us that sex was bad and we shouldn't have relationships until we got married, who the fuck still thinks like that to this day?"
Senguuji and Mizukawa nodded at his words. Amemiya snorted, “We haven't even had any.”

“It seems like we got lucky in that case,” Kageyama said. “The coaches always organize a talk for the Teikoku First Years.”

“See, Yuuto? They need the talk.”

“I'm not saying no, you know perfectly well that I think the same as you, but during the tournament…”

“Ladies, do you want us to ask a friend to come and support us on the topic of lesbian sex?”

“Oh, no, thank you. Not for me at least,” Mizukawa rejected. “I like dicks as much as everyone else at this table.”

“I only like my beautiful Seto!” Namikawa growled quickly. Some of the others cleared their throats uncomfortably and blushed at the dark-haired girl's comment.

She growled, ignoring the boy. “Not for me either, I like boys too, but those who aren't annoying.”
Namikawa opened his mouth to protest, but Amemiya laughed in his face and ended up crossing his arms with a pout of annoyance.

“I want you to tell me what other topics you would like us to talk about,” the coach said seriously.
“I would be interested if you could talk to us about nutrition, I know you know a lot,” Tsurugi asked.
“That sounds very interesting,” Yukimura added. “Good nutrition is key to sports performance.”

“That's right, besides Akio… I mean, Coach Fudou cooks very well,” Hakuryuu nodded.

“Not as much as Tobi,” he replied, amused. “You still don't want to come cook for us, Tobi?”

“Leave me alone or I will hit you with a frying pan if you continue to insist.”

Fudou laughed and winked at his players. “I know I will end up convincing him.”

“Some sort of wilderness survival would be interesting,” Ibuki murmured, rubbing her chin.

"Yeah! With guidance through the stars,” Kita was excited, and Kariya nodded fervently upon hearing it.
“Wow, I have no idea about that last one,” the coach said. “But first thing will be interesting, I doubt you even know how to make a fire.”

“I can direct the one with the stars,” his husband commented and he smiled, accepting the offer.

“I would like to learn first aid,” Matsukaze requested at that moment.

“That's very important,” Kidou agreed, shaking his head, and everyone agreed, for once, with the boy.
“I want to learn to drive,” Minamisawa smiled and Fudou let out a laugh so powerful it sounded like a bray.

“Well, find a driving school, I'm not going to teach you how to drive so you can run over people.” Tsunami went to raise his hand and his friend turned to him. “No, Jou. You're not going to teach them how to drive either, how dangerous how that would end.”

After that the meal continued with a lively conversation between everyone until it was time for dessert and Tobitaka took out a cake that Fudou had asked for.
“To celebrate the birthdays of Ibuki who turned 18 today and Seto who turned 17 yesterday.”

The girl blushed, earning surprised looks from her teammates, especially from Namikawa who wanted to hug her when congratulating her.

“We've known each other for years and I didn't know your birthday,” Kirino said sadly.
“I think only Nishiki and Hamano knew my birthday until now,” she laughed without giving it importance and thanking everyone for their congratulations, she even let Namikawa, who was grunting something against Hamano for not giving him such valuable information about her despite having become great friends by attending the same High School and football team together, she gave him a hug to calm him down. He seemed to explode with happiness and sat down with a dreamy expression, mistakenly raising the fork of cake to his mouth and rubbing it in his face, something for which everyone else made fun of him loudly.

Kita took advantage of the distraction to leave a kiss on Ibuki's lips, who looked at him delightedly and rested his head on his, joining in the laughter against Namikawa.

Chapter Text

When they finished eating it was already late, but the boys felt happy and with full stomachs, perhaps too full in some cases. The food had been exquisite and the only moment to forget was when Coach Fudou had made them sing 'Happy Birthday' to Seto and Ibuki, generating quite a bit of embarrassment among many of the group, even if the adults had participated without any qualms, especially Tsunami who had been the leading voice, never better said.

“You better get used to this,” Fudou laughed once they finished singing. “Many of you have birthdays during the course of the tournament and we are going to celebrate each one of them. Especially Yuuto's who turns 28 on the 14th and my little penguin who turns 2 on the 22nd.”

“Oh, dear,” Someoka and Tobitaka sighed at the same time, looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes, wondering what kind of things the coach would make them do for both days.

Fudou stood up, rubbing his hands excitedly, next to him his husband raised an eyebrow suspiciously as he cradled Akira in his arms who was falling asleep blowing saliva bubbles. “Well, my precious team,” he said with a sweet voice and bright eyes. “They have asked us to keep you until four in the afternoon, so you have two free hours to use as you wish. You can hang out as a group in Inazuma or if you want you can stay helping Tobi wash the dishes.”

“Why can't we go back right away?” Matsukaze wondered, raising his eyebrows.

“Can't you imagine?” Kariya laughed mockingly.

Kageyama cocked his head and explained to his friend, “Surely our teams are preparing a surprise party for us.”

“Exactly,” his coach confirmed with a huge smile.

Kidou, on the other hand, let out a growl. “Did you really need to tell them?”

“Oh, come on, Yuuto. Do you think my kids are stupid?” He turned to the team again and waved his hand. “Your teams are preparing a special reception for when you return to the hotel. Everyone wants to celebrate your selection accordingly.”

“Yeah, sure,” Senguuji grumbled bitterly, doubting his team would want to do anything for them when they were so hated.

Gomaki next to him grabbed his shoulder. “Maybe not our current teammates, but I saw some of our old friends from Dragon Link in the audience earlier.”

“At least one of Dragon Link's reserves, Hoshii, is in Raimon High School, although he didn't join the team,” Mahoro said cheerfully from his side of the table. “My old team, I forgot I am already a university student. He preferred to enter the cooking club but he still came with many others to see the selection, the boy was excited when you were selected. And at Zunou-ha High School, where Minaho, Manabe, Hayami and Yamana study is Aikawa.”

The goalkeeper's face lit up again, and he nodded in a much better mood. Mizukawa narrowed her eyes and patted him on the back. “Come on, champion, obviously they are going to love you, you are worth your weight in gold.” Then she added mischievously, “How much is it, by the way? 120 kilos?”

Senguuji blushed and let out a growl as everyone laughed. “109.”

“That's a lot of gold,” Namikawa commented with a greedy glint in his brown eyes. “It would be good pirate loot; but Seto is worth much more gold.”

The girl immediately looked angry at him and everyone else laughed more or less subtly. "What are you insinuating!?"

"Huh?"
“Are you saying I weigh more than 109 kilos!?”

Namikawa blushed, with Kurosaki and Minamisawa mocking with tears in their eyes. "No! But you are so beautiful that you are worth much more than anyone else…”

“Yeah, fix it with that,” Kariya also laughed heartily. “Shall we put you on a scale, Midori? Oh!"

The girl violently pinched her defender friend who began to thrash around like an eel until the coach intervened.

“No selling any of your teammates,” Fudou reprimanded, still laughing loudly. “In any case, to avoid problems, during the return trip we will all practice our surprised faces for the moment of truth. Now go outside, whoever is still here in ten minutes will have to help us clean.”

“I don't mind staying to help,” Kageyama said honestly and at his side Hakuryuu nodded as well, while his friends came out talking animatedly. The man looked at them affectionately and stroked the purple-haired boy's head, something that was no longer so easy for him since the boy was as tall as him, and the adult was sure that he had not finished growing yet.

“Thank you, you are very good guys. You are much better than your uncle, Hikaru, which is not very difficult either but…”

“Akio!” Kidou shouted in annoyance.

“Do you have a pig's ear? Stop listening to other people's conversations! Bad habits never die, huh?”

Kageyama and Hakuryuu put their hands over their mouths and laughed, finally walking out onto the street where the others were talking about what to do.

“Do you want us all to go somewhere together?” Kirino proposed in a good mood, his eyes shining with joy.

“I want to go to Inazuma Tower Park,” Matsukaze exclaimed immediately. “There is the legendary wheel with which Endou trained football. They say it brings good luck to touch it.”

The original group of Resistance Japan along with Tsurugi let out a growl almost at the same time. Minamisawa rolled his eyes. “You're obsessed, dude…” His eyes passed to Ibuki and he added meanly. “Although some people could rub their whole body with that wheel.”

Fortunately only Kurosaki and Kishibe heard it, the brunette let out a cold laugh at the mockery and crossed his arms. “I don't want to be out, I prefer to go to the shopping center and see some stores.”

“In the Inazuma Shopping Center there is a huge sporting goods store,” Kita reported, his eyes shining. “It has absolutely everything, I've been wanting to go again for a long time.”

“Let's go,” Gomaki, Yukimura and Kishibe said immediately.

Kirino and Hakuryuu looked at each other and nodded, believing that this was a good plan.

“I don't want to lock myself in a mall,” Amemiya protested, Yukimura looked at him dumbfounded. “I know the store by heart, I prefer to go for a walk in the park, today is a very nice day.”

“We don't need to all go together,” Minamisawa said with a shrug. “We are old, everyone can go wherever they want.”

Hakuryuu furrowed his eyebrows. “It's our first time having free time as a team, we should go together.”

“It's not like we won't have more days to be together,” Namikawa observed. “I don't want to go to a shopping mall either, I agree with Amemiya that it's too good a day to waste it like that.”

“I prefer to go for a walk in the park too,” Makari added softly. “But especially for those of us from outside, being able to go to a good sporting goods store is a great opportunity.”

“In that case, let's split up,” Mahoro proposed, thinking that it was better to make everyone happy instead of creating conflict by forcing part of the group to go somewhere they didn't want to.

The captain and vice-captain looked at each other again, the latter shrugging his shoulders. The white-haired sighed heavily. “Okay, let everyone go where they want, but remember that in two hours we must be here to leave back to the Holy Road Hotel.”

"Yes captain!" they all replied at the same time.

Matsukaze jumped. “Whoever wants to go to Inazuma Tower Park, come with me!”

"Come on!" Amemiya hummed, passing one arm over Makari's shoulder and the other over Namikawa’s in a very good mood, without being aware that Yukimura was casting a resentful look at all of them, but especially at the orange-haired.

Kageyama, Tsurugi and Hakuryuu moved as one towards that group, since they were already very familiar with the shop and also preferred to be outdoors.

Shindou, after hesitating for a second, also joined the group, thinking that if he had to reconnect with football and put his trauma aside, what better place than the park where the player who started everything trained. Furthermore, he thought that Kirino would go with them and although he still didn't know how to address him after everything that had happened, at least they would be together.

But Kirino, to the surprise of his Raimon friends, approached the group of Kurosaki, Minsamisawa, Kita, Kishibe, Yukimura and Gomaki. They raised their eyebrows in shock and glanced at Shindou who looked like he had been kicked in the stomach.

He smiled kindly. “In the store you want to go to there are many football and sports magazines, to tell the truth I would like to look at them in case they can help us in some way.”

“You've taken your role as vice-captain very seriously, huh?” laughed Kariya going with him. “I'll help you look at them, you won't be able to do it alone in such a short time.”

The pink haired boy looked at him surprised and whispered, “Don't you want to go with Kageyama?”

The defender bit his lower lip and shrugged. Kirino knew he wasn't entirely honest when he said, “I'm too lazy to be walking, it's very sunny.”

“Thank you,” he murmured back, knowing his friend's reason was that he didn't want to leave him alone.

Kariya blushed, but at that moment Seto grabbed both of their arms.

“Let's all three investigate those magazines together!” she said enthusiastically, and the two of them laughed back. Namikawa in the distance pursed his lips in annoyance, he expected the girl to go to the park with the group where most of her friends were.

Senguuji and Mizukawa glanced at each other, she tilted her head. “I imagine you will go with Tetsurou's group; We will first see that crybaby Matsukaze saying that football is no longer his friend than we will see you apart."
The goalkeeper let out a powerful laugh. “You're not coming with us?”

She shook her head. “I want to go shopping as much as I want to sing 'Happy Birthday' to someone again, I prefer to go for a walk in the park.”

“See you later on that case. Don't kill anyone while Tetsu and I aren't watching you.”

"No promise."

They both bumped fists, saying goodbye with a wink. Senguuji approached Gomaki who had narrowed his dark eyes at them, but was glad when his friend finally came with him.

Mahoro, after clearly doubting which group to go with, something he considered quite ironic since he was the one who had proposed going separately, decided to go with the group that was going to the Mall. Not so much because he wanted to see the stores but because he wanted to talk to his friends from the first Resistance Japan whom he hadn't seen in a while and go to a peculiar items store that was run by the grandfather of an old childhood friend and who had gotten new merchandise that morning. He had to take advantage of the opportunity because he was sure that in several months he would not be able to visit the store again and he wanted to say goodbye to the old man whom he loved like his own grandfather.

Both groups moved saying goodbye and Kita, quite cheerful, reached out to grab Ibuki's hand, but then he noticed that the goalkeeper was no longer by his side but was walking next to Tsurugi in the other group. He stopped, feeling a pang in his heart, and called out to him. “Mune? Not coming?"

Kurosaki and Minamisawa stopped as well, the former smiling victoriously and the latter somewhat perplexed. The brunette grabbed the orange-haired's shoulders, pushing him. “Forget about your boyfriend for a while, you're not going to die from being apart for a couple of hours.”

“But today is his birthday, I want to be with him,” he responded, letting go of Kurosaki.

Ibuki smiled conciliatoryly from a few meters away. “Calm down, Ichiban. I know you want to go see the store and I don't mind, so you can be with your friends. You always say you miss them so much.”

“Oh,” Kishibe said, hugging Kita with a huge smile. “Did you miss us? I missed you too!”

“But you can come too, Mune,” the orange-haired insisted, shoving his friend roughly. Kishibe protested, slightly offended.

The white-haired looked at the group that was going to the stores, in which the others from the first RJ looked back at him, showing that he was not very well received, especially Kurosaki, Yukimura, Senguuji and Gomaki who continued to consider the goalkeeper a clown who did not take football seriously. Minamisawa had also given him a cold look, hoping to be able to spend some time without having to put up with the couple in a lovey-dovey manner, and Kishibe didn't seem very happy either, as he was still hurt by the news that Nozaki would be leaving with him for the United States in September.

“Leave it, Kita,” Senguuji said, putting his large hand on his shoulder. “It wouldn't hurt your clown to touch that miracle wheel, maybe with that we can have a decent second goalkeeper on the team.”

“Don't say that about Munemasa!” Kita shouted, getting angry at the pink haired. “If Mune doesn't want to go with us, I'll go with him.”

“Oh come on, can't you be separated for an hour? How pathetic,” Kurosaki growled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“No need, Ichiban,” Ibuki said, rubbing the back of his head feeling bad. “I don't want you to change your plans for me, enjoy with your friends at the Mall. It’s just a little while.”

“But…” Kita's lower lip trembled and when he saw that Ibuki turned again to leave with Tsurugi, he turned red, furious. "Good! Do whatever you want. Bye." He turned around and started walking in a very bad mood, pushing Mahoro who stumbled and almost fell if Kariya hadn't caught him in time.

Along the way Ibuki rubbed his face in frustration, Tsurugi furrowed his eyebrows and gently rested his hand on his shoulder.

"What’s the matter? Why haven’t you gone with Kita?”

“Because he wanted to be with his friends and they hate me. If I had gone he would have ended up getting angry and arguing with them.”

“And it's better for him to be angry with you?”

Ibuki raised his eyebrows and looked sadly at the ground. "No."

“It's clear that Kita wanted to be with you, moron,” Namikawa growled, entering the conversation without shame. “Something you should be grateful for after the bombshell you dropped earlier.”

The goalkeeper looked at Namikawa dumbfounded. "What?"

“It's your birthday, he obviously wanted to spend it with you,” Mizukawa interjected, rolling her eyes.

“But… he hadn't seen his friends in a long time.”

“It's not like he won't see them every day from now on, is it? But your birthday is only one day,” the pirate striker repeated, raising an eyebrow, with that overwhelming sincerity of his.

The white-haired turned pale and turned around, changing his mind, but the other group was no longer visible. “Ugh.”
“Apologize to him later,” Tsurugi said kindly, and his friend nodded sadly because the last thing he wanted was to hurt his partner.

Kageyama and Hakuryuu approached them realizing they had stopped, hearing the latter the captain observed, “The best way to apologize is with a gift. Yuuto… I mean, Coach Kidou always says it.”

The purple-haired nodded, “It's true, gifts are always a sign of good will. Surely a pretty gift and a sincere apology will make your feelings reach him.”

Shindou stopped, narrowing his eyes, listening to the others' conversation while in front of them Matsukaze and Amemiya hummed, grabbing a desperate Makari who was trying to free himself without success, the three of them walked, ignorant of what was happening behind them.

At 4 P.M., the teenagers returned to the meeting place, where the Resistance Japan Caravan was already waiting. Tsunami had gone up and had the door open so the team could sit down as they arrived. Fudou waited outside while Someoka and Kidou were already inside, the pink haired man was playing with Akira who was chattering happily and laughing carefree.

Two groups arrived at the same time, on the one hand Kirino, Kariya and Seto who had ended up separating themselves from the others in the sports store and on the other Hakuryuu, Tsurugi, Kageyama and Makari, who, tired of rushing Matsukaze and Amemiya, had ended up getting ahead of them. 

Kirino, upon seeing their captain, smiled and made signs to him. “I found a very interesting magazine! Do you want us to check it on the way back?”

Hakuryuu approached him curiously, he raised his red eyes for a moment to meet Tsurugi's who shrugged his shoulders, he would have preferred the white-haired to sit with him but he knew that the two of them were doing it for the good of the team. "Fine."

The two went up and sat in the same place as the previous trip, Tsurugi sat on the other side of the aisle, so that he could be close to Hakuryuu despite everything, since Kirino was occupying the window seat.

Seto approached Kariya again, but foreseeing a trip as exhausting as the previous one, he startled and Kageyama, realizing this, gently tugged at his jacket with his cheeks slightly blushing. “Do you want to sit with me, Masaki?”

He raised his eyebrows gratefully and nodded with a red face, leaving Seto to pout and turn to the only other person free at the moment, Makari. The defender felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead. “I would rather wait in case Yukimura wants to sit with me.”

“You are all the worst!” she complained, sitting down in a manner very unworthy of a lady, lying in her seat, with her arms crossed and her legs bent, stepping on the backrest in front of her.

The next to arrive were Kita, Minamisawa and Mahoro, the two oldest had decided to accompany the first in his tantrum and had ended up in a cafeteria far from the Shopping Center, although the red-haired had convinced them to go with him first to the store he wanted to go to despite the reluctance of Minamisawa who stayed outside waiting. Kita did go inside the store and enjoyed seeing the strange things on display without daring to touch anything on the dusty shelves. Mahoro, on the other hand, bought several things and came out extraordinarily happy.

They were getting into the caravan when they heard Ibuki's voice calling for his boyfriend, who narrowed his eyes and ignored him, forcing Minamisawa to sit next to him. The white-haired approached the boy.

“Ichiban, can we sit together?”

Kita didn't even answer him, but turned his head looking out the window, still angry.

“I think it's best that you leave him alone for now,” Minamisawa observed, feeling torn, because although he had never particularly liked Ibuki because he was a very loud and explosive person, during the last two years, thanks to Kita who made as an intermediary, had warmed towards him. Although of course, he would rather let himself be killed than admit it.

Mahoro tapped him on the shoulder. “Now is not the time in front of everyone, when we get there you can talk to him well. But you should know that he didn't want to go with the others because they had laughed at you.”

“Come, Ibuki,” Tsurugi called as he saw his saddened friend. “Sit with me, I want you to listen to a new music band that I have discovered, although with your terrible taste in music I don't know if you will appreciate it.” The goalkeeper sat next to his friend with a sad pout, he looked at him compassionately and asked in a whisper. “Have you been able to find anything for Kita?”

“Yes, I bought him something.”

At that moment Namikawa, Shindou and Mizukawa got into the caravan, the last two were puffing out of breath because they had been made to run to arrive on time. The three of them along with Ibuki had ended up separated from the others, looking for a store where the white-haired could get a gift. With Namikawa wanting to help him reconcile and the other two accompanying them because they did not trust Ibuki's aesthetic style and much less Namikawa's, although in the end he had not needed their advice.

“You and I are going to have to start exercising, Shindou,” the girl said breathlessly, grabbing the musician's shoulder with one hand and the other on her side where she felt a strong pain. “What a shame that with a little run of nothing we lose our breath. We are a shame as managers of the football team that is going to win the tournament.”

Shindou didn't say anything, but he very much agreed with her, the version of himself from four years ago would be very ashamed of himself at that time when he had run out of air from running.

Namikawa approached Seto directly, not surprising anyone at all. She stifled a grunt of exasperation, but fell silent with her lips slightly parted when the boy offered her a beautiful wrapped box that he had also bought on his outing with his teammates.

“Happy birthday, Seto.”

She took the little box and opened it under the watchful eyes of the teenagers who were already in the vehicle. Inside was a beautiful hair ornament. A starfish made of little white gems that sparkled under the light. The girl blushed and looked at him open-mouthed, first at the gift and then at the forward who was smiling in love.

“It… it's very pretty, thank you.”

He smiled widely, beaming with happiness, as if nothing in the world could be better than her thanking him. “Not as pretty as you, my beautiful mermaid.” The forward looked with pleading eyes at the empty seat next to her and cocked his head. "Can I…?"

Seto bit her lower lip, sighed heavily and rolled her eyes in resignation. "Alright. But if you start bothering me I'll kick you out of the seat!”

“I won't bother you,” he promised, sitting up quickly, just in case she changed her mind. A promise he clearly wasn't going to be able to keep given his energetic nature.

Mizukawa laughed and the other girl looked at her with irritation. She raised her hands. “Okay, okay, I won't say anything. Makari, are you coming up?”

The boy, who was still outside, looked at her, feeling tempted to sit with her again; but he denied. “I'm waiting for Yukimura.”
Her dark green eyes locked on him for several seconds, then she tore them away and came up.

Shortly after, Yukimura arrived with Kishibe, Kurosaki, Gomaki, and Senguuji. All of them carrying a bag in their hands, in Kurosaki's case many bags.

“Have you run short the sports store?” Fudou asked, amused as he recognized the logo on the bags. “Enter the caravan, there are only Matsukaze and Amemiya to arrive.”

“Do you want to sit with me, Yukimura? Or do you prefer to sit with Amemiya?,” Makari wanted to know, approaching his friend who at first looked at him with slight resentment.

“Why am I going to wait for him? He will sit with Matsukaze again.”

His friends looked at him with understanding upon hearing his disappointed voice, but then Gomaki smiled widely. “Not if we set a little trap for him.”

"How?" the striker asked curiously, then cleared his throat. “It's not that I care that much.”

“If the two of them are the only ones left to arrive, we can only leave two seats free, one next to you and the other next to Someoka. In that case they will not be able to sit together.”

Yukimura blushed and accepted with a muffled murmur.

So when the other boys finally arrived, earning a good reprimand from their coach who seriously threatened to leave them without dinner on the first day of training, Amemiya saw that there were only two seats free and went straight up to Yukimura and sat down with a big smile leaning on his shoulder.

“You should have come with us, Yuki! We had such a good time. And it's been so long since we saw each other in person, I wanted to be with you.”

The forward furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance because his friend started talking about what he and Matsukaze had done. "Shut up already, will you? You say you wanted to be with me but you won't shut up about Matsukaze this, Matsukaze that, if you keep going like this you better go sit with him," the blue-haired boy finally growled angrily, thinking that maybe that hadn't been so good idea after all.

Amemiya raised his eyebrows in surprise and his expression faltered for a moment. “Sorry, Yuki. You're right, I got a little excited because I hadn't seen him in a while either. Tell me, what have you done? How were these past months in Hokkaido?”

Makari, who had sat in the same place as before, sighed with relief when he heard that Amemiya finally changed his conversation after a very tense moment, knowing how his friend Yukimura was like and that he would be fuming at that moment. Mizukawa looked at him affably and hit him hard on the arm, accustomed to those gestures with Senguuji and Gomaki who were two giants and did not flinch no matter how hard she hit them. “You're going to get wrinkles from worrying so much about others.”

He looked at her with a shrug and rubbed the arm where she had hit him. “I can't help but worry about my friends.”

Mahoro turned from the front where he was sitting next to Shindou, who had a dull face and was touching a package in his pocket with a frown. “Makari has always been very good, he is a very kind person.”

She slowly shook her head. “What an idiot. People always take advantage of those who are kind.”

Makari looked at her silently and gently grabbed her hand. “And aren't you worrying about me now? That also makes you a kind person, right?”

“I'm not a good person at all,” Mizukawa stammered, blushing.

Mahoro turned around, with a smirk on his lips, but when he saw Shindou, he frowned and grabbed his shoulder, making him startled. “Are you okay, Shindou?”

"I am."

“You wanted to go with Kirino, didn’t you?” The dark-haired boy pursed his lips and nodded without saying anything, the red-haired sighed in understanding and gave him a slightly tighter squeeze to encourage him. “I don't know what you two are carrying, but everything will turn out well, you'll see.”

Fudou finally boarded the Resistance Japan Caravan after saying goodbye to Tobitaka. “We're all here, we can leave now!”

The return trip was just as noisy as the other, especially once the coach stood up despite his husband's warnings and looked at his boys seriously, putting his hands on his waist, just for a second because immediately he realized he would need one to hold on to the seat and not be blown away by Tsunami's driving style.

“What was promised is a debt, it is time to practice those surprised faces for when we arrive. We will start with you, Ryuugo.” Someoka raised his eyebrows, actually surprised that his dear friend also wanted to make him a part of that commotion, but before he could say anything Fudou started laughing. “Perfect, boys and girls, learn from him.”

“Moron,” his friend laughed loudly and Akira, carried in a small backpack on Kidou's chest, also laughed loudly.

Fudou forced one by one to put on a surprised face, threatening the team with making them sleep outdoors if they did not participate in the activity, adding annoying and mocking remarks.

“Come on Yukimura, you can do better than that. More than surprised, it seems like you want to murder someone.”

“And wouldn't that be a surprise? Yuki is too good.” Amemiya laughed playfully, leaning on the blue-haired boy who blushed violently.

When it was Mahoro's turn, Fudou snorted in mock regret and placed his hand over his heart. “Mahoro, with all the love in the world, don't take this the wrong way; But feigning surprise is not your strong suit, you look like a mental deviant every time you try to smile.”

Everyone laughed out loud at that comment, Mahoro the first of them. Fudou smiled and continued.

“Minamisawa, at least try, you just made a face of disgust, not surprise.”

“But surprise parties disgust me.”

The coach raised his eyebrows and nodded his head approvingly. “In that case you are doing wonderfully. Kurosaki, Kageyama, you have a tough opponent. Kariya, despite how good you were at lying before, you have lost acting qualities. Let's see, Tsurugi, your turn, oh my! Another one who must go to the asylum…”

When they arrived at the hotel Someoka and Tsunami said goodbye to everyone, especially Akira who was in Fudou's arms playing with a penguin rattle. The adult turned to his team and gestured to them.

“Before I leave you free for the rest of the day to go to that surprise party whose surprise I have not ruined for you at all and go wild dancing or whatever things you teenagers do now, I want to talk to you about a couple of details for tomorrow in the morning. It won't be more than five minutes, I promise. Let’s go to the meeting room, follow me.”

The meeting room of the Holy Road Hotel was a large and beautiful room, with a huge executive table around which there were more than twenty chairs and several plants adorning the corners.

“Couldn't you talk about this with them on the trip?” Kidou growled, wanting to rest, the return trip had exhausted him a lot, especially when his husband also forced him to participate in the activity of making a surprised face under threat of abstinence, since the green-eyed man knew where to hurt.

“No, I wanted to do it here. Gouenji and Raimon are always bragging about their meetings in this room to manage the FFI and I also wanted to use it even once and still be able to brag.”

His husband raised his eyebrows and laughed, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him towards his body. Among the teenagers, several nudged each other and snickered.

“You've become very capricious since we've been together, Akio.”
"You think? Maybe I’m pregnant again.”

Kidou blinked in shock and laughed. "Moron. It never worked like that and you know it.” He approached his ear and left a bite. “Though that doesn't stop us from trying later.”

Fudou was going to accept that proposal very willingly when the door opened with an abrupt knock and everyone jumped.

“Finally I found you! I need you to come with me immediately! There is a problem! Hi guys."

Endou, with his cheeks shining with stress, grabbed the other two adults and took them with him without caring that they protested strongly and resisted, after all everyone knew that the brunette goalkeeper’s strength was practically unmatched in the country.

Hakuryuu and Kirino approached the door warily.

“We won't be long!” Fudou shouted at them, disappearing down the hallway being dragged; but his husband, who knew his captain much better, knew that it was going to take a while, and that this matter that seemed so urgent would surely be an unimportant nonsense that the Resistance Japan coach was going to get extremely angry about.

Hakuryuu closed the door in resignation and looked at his teammates. “We will have to wait in the meantime.”

“I wonder what happened,” Mahoro murmured, rubbing his chin where a red goatee was growing.

“I hope it's not something serious,” Tsurugi added, crossing his arms next to the captain.

“Couldn't they speak later?” Namikawa complained, dropping into a chair with resignation.

“We're in no hurry,” Kageyama observed with a shrug and sitting down in one of the chairs as well. “If it is something important, it is better that they solve it soon.”

“Say that for yourself,” Kurosaki growled, crossing his arms irritably. “My fans are waiting for me.”

“What fans?” Senguuji scoffed.

“Just because people don't love you doesn't mean that the rest of us don't have fans,” the brunette replied.

"Hey!" Gomaki shouted, slamming the table. “Don't you dare talk to Yamato like that.”

Mizukawa cracked her knuckles menacingly, glaring really badly at Kurosaki.
"Or what? Will he tell…?”

“Hey,” Hakuryuu warned, intervening in time. “Don't argue.”

Senguji crossed his arms. “It wasn't me who started it.”

“A lady doesn't start conflicts,” Mizukawa added, glaring violently at the midfielder. “But oh if she knows how to finish them.” She hit her open hand with her fist and at that threat several colleagues couldn't help but laugh.

“Easy, Mizukawa,” Makari said, separating her hands with a kind gleam in his black eyes. “Kurosaki is just nervous.”

He opened his mouth dumbfounded by that blunt statement and wanted to deny it when Namikawa, one of those who had laughed the most, earning a nudge from Seto, spoke.

“Bird Brain is only nervous because he wants to see his sweetheart.” The striker put his hands behind his head, the brunette turned angrily towards him, his face was suddenly pale and at the same time darkened. Some of them narrowed their eyes in realization.

“Shut your mouth, Fishhead.”

“I said don't argue!” Hakuryuu exclaimed indignantly, with Tsurugi covering his mouth behind him to prevent himself from laughing.

The team sat around the table to wait and hang out.

“What do you have there, Mahoro?” Kishibe asked curiously, seeing a small box that the other young man had taken out and inspected curiously. Everyone else stopped in their conversations to watch. It was a beautiful flower-shaped box made of small gems and it seemed that the red-haired was looking for a way to open it.

“It's an amulet I bought earlier at an acquaintance's store,” he explained, turning the object between his fingers.

“It looks like a music box,” Shindou murmured with his eyes on the pretty object.

“Did you separate from us before to go buy that crap?” Yukimura asked dumbfounded.

“It's no crap, it's an amulet for good luck in love. Although I still don't know how to use it and grandpa couldn't explain it to me.”

“Why do you want luck in love?” Kita was surprised, approaching him. Although they had entered the store together, he had not paid attention to what his friend was buying. He suddenly narrowed a malicious smirk. “Is it because of my cousin?”

Mahoro's ears went up in color and he covered the boy's mouth, with that everyone seemed to become even more interested in the conversation, even Matsukaze looked at them with curiosity.

Minamisawa took the little box from him and the red-haired got nervous.

“Hey, be careful, it can be dangerous.”

"Dangerous?" his friend mocked with some contempt. “These things are nothing more than a hoax for idiots, surely the little box is empty.”

“You shouldn't play with that, Minamisawa,” Kirino said worried, because although he wasn't the biggest believer in the world, he couldn't say that enough paranormal things hadn't happened in his life to be skeptical. “Even if it doesn't contain anything, you can break it.”

Before anyone else could say anything about it, Minamisawa found the button that opened the little box and it opened with a huge explosion of pink smoke so dense and sweet that it made everyone start coughing heavily, choking.

“Lie down on the ground, the smoke will be less dense, it's always like that in fires,” Mahoro said immediately, groping for the door.

Everyone obeyed and several boys went to the windows to open them, colliding with each other or with the chairs in that density in which they could see absolutely nothing. Kirino collided with Ibuki when they were both looking for the wall and fell face-first to the ground when he got tangled in a chair, dragging someone else with him, who from his cry seemed to be Shindou. They were not the only ones because there were many grunts and blows that indicated that they were falling.

Hakuryuu, Senguuji and Gomaki managed to reach the wall and open the windows, the smoke began to disperse quickly, while they regained visibility inside the room.

Makari had his arms around Mizukawa in an unconscious attempt to protect her from the smoke, they both quickly separated when they realized this. Tsurugi had bumped into Kariya and Matsukaze when they had tried to reach the door. Namikawa was tangled with Kurosaki and Kishibe and the three of them were complaining loudly, they needed Seto's help to get up. Kita was sitting on Mahoro with a bewildered expression. Minamisawa had lain down on the ground and remained still, but that had not prevented someone who did not know who it was from walking over him. Amemiya and Yukimura stood together with the former coughing heavily even though the other boy had quickly covered his nose and mouth with a tissue.

Kirino realized that he was indeed lying on Shindou with his face just a few centimeters from his and his chest pressed against his violently beating one, with Ibuki on top of them and whose weight did not let him get up immediately. The dark-haired boy blushed and looked at him scared, he stifled a moan, swallowing when he realized that he couldn't take his eyes off his lips.

“Have I hurt you Shindou?” He asked with a broken and trembling voice with his light blue eyes slowly rising to his red ones, that was perhaps even worse, they were so close that they could feel their breath. He looked at him with scarlet cheeks and parted lips, with a pleading, tearful expression that the vice-captain completely misunderstood. “I do have hurt you. Have you hit your head? Do you want us to go to the infirmary?”

Kirino pushed Ibuki to hurry up moving and when he got up he helped the manager do the same, shaking his clothes with a devastated expression. Shindou felt himself shiver seeing him like that and grabbed his arm to stop him, then sliding his hand until he grabbed one of his fingers. “I'm fine, Kirino.”
“What a relief,” the pink-haired sighed with a kind smile. “Not even my hissatsus are that dense, I couldn't see where I was crawling at all.”

Shindou shook his head and smiled back, happy to be able to talk to him more naturally; but at that moment they heard an agonizing cough and turned around in fear.

Amemiya was crouched on the floor and was coughing with his hands on his chest and his face was blue. Yukimura at his side was trying to help him but enormous panic was reflected in his eyes.

Hakuryuu stopped the others from getting closer and they all agreed, knowing that it was better for them to give him his space so he could catch his breath instead of overwhelming him with their presence. Yukimura helped Amemiya up and Matsukaze hurried to bring him a chair next to the window where he could slowly recover.

“I'm sorry,” he mumbled embarrassedly when he regained his breath. “I'm fine now…”

“Easy,” Yukimura said, stroking his head gently. “Don't talk, don't force yourself.”

Amemiya smiled and grabbed his hand, bringing it to his own cheek. “I'm fine, Yuki, really.”

“What a scare,” Matsukaze said, pale and worried, squatting against the wall and hiding his face in his hands.

“You brought us the bubonic plague,” Namilkawa growled, hitting Minamisawa who was very quiet and pale, knowing that it had indeed been his fault.

“I didn't expect anything dangerous to happen,” he immediately defended himself.

“Well, it won't be because Mahoro didn't warn you,” Mizukawa intervened, furrowing her eyebrows and ready to kick the maroon-haired boy. Kishibe stretched out an arm and shook his head, trying to calm her down.

“That's it, it was just a shock, it's not good to fight.”

The girl glared at him, but Gomaki reached out and put his hand on her head. Mizukawa stopped with a pout and hid her face on his chest in resignation, as she always did with her friends when they admonished her for getting into fights. Senguuji and Makari stared at them from a few meters away.

Seto approached Amemiya with a glass of water that she filled from a dispenser in the corner and he gratefully accepted in the midst of the hostile environment.

“I'm fine now,” he assured after a while, getting up. “Gosh, my life flashed before my eyes and all I thought was, ‘This is where Sid the Sloth has come.’”

His friends, understanding the reference to one of the Ice Age movies, began to laugh loudly and thanks to that the mood warmed up again little by little.

Ibuki walked up to Kita and brushed a strand of hair out of his face, his expression pained, Kita huffed and hugged him without saying anything.

By the time the coaches arrived, everyone was talking animatedly about the mysterious game they had to play the next day, trying to guess who the mysterious rival would be.

“If it weren't for the fact that our team has Hakuryuu, Tsurugi and Kageyama, it would be easy to think that Teikoku High School is the mysterious team,” said Senguuji, who had his elbow resting on Gomaki's shoulder.

“Impossible,” Tsurugi said. “We are currently missing six players because Miyabino, Ryuzaki and Mikado have been selected in the Italy, United States and England teams.”
“Can you imagine it was the Teikoku of Coach Kidou’s time?” Matsukaze said with an amused laugh.

“That would be very interesting,” Yukimura murmured, still paying attention to Amemiya.

“I would love to face Genda Koujirou as a goalkeeper,” Senguuji said excitedly.

“You're a big fan of his, right?” Gomaki smiled fondly, his friend nodded shamelessly.

"That's right!" Kageyama exclaimed excitedly. “Genda is a very good player and, furthermore, he is an excellent person.”
“He always says he's our uncle,” Hakuryuu commented softly. “It would be very interesting to play against them actually, I would love to.”

“The one I've always wanted to face is Tobitaka,” Gomaki confessed with shining eyes. “When I was a kid I saw him playing during the Inazuma Japan FFI and he was the reason I started playing football as a defender. Being able to go to eat at his restaurant and talk to him is a dream come true.”

“I didn't know,” Kishibe was amazed, his light blue eyes widening. “I am a big fan of Utsunomiya, I would love to meet him and have him sign an autograph.”

“Sounds like Tiger stuff,” Mahoro laughed, referring to Kishibe and Utsunomiya's names. “But maybe it's not impossible, the coaches are friends of theirs.”

“Although if we talk about being close to those legendary players, both Hakuryuu and Kariya were adopted by someone from that group,” Kurosaki observed. “And many of us have been trained by them too. What I would give for a photo shoot with Afuro.”

“Kariya, Hakuryuu, my dear dear friends! Don't you want to help me meet Utsunomiya?” Kishibe asked, clasping his hands in a pleading manner, the others laughed in good humor.

“I don't think it's a good idea to ask Tatsuya for anything,” Kariya said, shaking his head. “His parental instinct is to embarrass me in front of everyone, always.”

“You bring that on yourself,” Kirino mocked, covering his mouth with his hand and teasing eyes. Kariya made an offended pout while Kageyama smiled remembering some of those moments that seemed to embarrass his friend so much.

“In any case I hope it's not against adult Teikoku that they make us play,” Minamisawa murmured. “That would be a merciless beating against us.”

“Can you imagine that we play against the old Inazuma Japan?” Amemiya exclaimed with glowing eyes. “It would be like a dream.”

“Yes, to wake up in the hospital with no legs like an old anime protagonist,” Minamisawa growled again. “Who would want to play against those beasts? It would be a bloodbath.”

"Me!" everyone else, except Kariya, shouted at the same time.

The managers sighed heavily, putting their hands to their heads as one, as they realized that, in truth, they were dealing with a group of crazy football lovers. Seto put her hands on her waist.

“You are masochists.”

"Why!? It would be a unique opportunity to play against such a famous team,” Namikawa said, jumping up and putting his foot on the chair, stretching his arm with his finger pointing towards nothing. “My boat for a match against them!”

“You don't have any boat,” Kita laughed.

“You're all crazy,” Minasamisawa sighed, brushing his hair back.

Mahoro laughed and slapped his friend on the back. “Don't worry, the idea of an exhibition match is to let the team shine, I don't think they want to provoke us in that way.”

Tsurugi furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at Shindou, who looked back at him and they both turned their eyes towards Ibuki. Pressing lips.

“Well, they didn't have mercy on us,” the white-haired murmured. “They gave us a real beating in the Inazuma Japan National Team three years ago.”

Some of them were about to make a sarcastic comment about it when they heard their coach's angry voice approaching down the hallway.

“I'm going to rip off Endou's head! Half an hour for something that they could have perfectly solved without us!”

Kidou next to him did not seem in a better mood, when they both entered the meeting room he even closed it by slamming the door which scared Akira, something the man immediately regretted. They all decided to keep quiet and listen to what they had to say, knowing how to read the danger.

Five minutes later they were let out, but none of them dared to complain about having to wait half an hour for such short instructions, not only because the adults were still in a bad mood but because they had all understood that Fudou only wanted to use the meeting room as a gesture towards them so they could show off in front of their friends, because the best teams in the country always met there.

Even so, the man wished them to enjoy the party with a big smile.

“Remember those surprised faces we have been practicing. And don't go to bed late or you'll regret it tomorrow when you have to get up early."

“Aren't you coming?” Kageyama asked confused.

“No, Yuuto and I are going to go rest in our room, Akira has to take his night bath, have dinner and go to sleep. Besides, we adults would only be a hindrance, tonight is yours. But like Cinderella at 00:00, I want you all in your rooms and sleeping.”

The team laughed at that last comment and said goodbye to their coaches in a good mood, heading to the room where the hotel receptionist had indicated to them in a monotone voice that the president of the Football Federation was waiting to greet them personally. Everyone thought it was the worst excuse they had ever heard.

When they opened the door there were dozens of shouts of congratulations and confetti flew everywhere. All the teams and friends of the Resistance Japan members had together organized that surprise party with a huge congratulatory sign and tables full of food. Just as Senguuji expected, his team was not there, instead they saw the old Dragon Link in full.

Minamisawa made a disgusted face.

Everyone who had once belonged to the Raimon team approached Shindou to greet him, because among all the names said that day, his had been the only one they did not expect at all.

“It's been a long time, Shindou. How have you been in London?” Sangoku asked, putting his arm over the shoulder of the musician who was very uncomfortable, especially in the presence of Yamana and his camera.

Kirino, Matsukaze, Kariya, Kageyama and Tsurugi also approached. Even Minamisawa forced by Kurama, upon seeing him Kurumada and Amagi hugged him tightly. Nishizono and Sorano were smiling widely next to Matsukaze.

“How are you, Kirino?” Ichino whispered, taking the pink-haired next to Aoyama just a few steps away.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Happy, bewildered, hopeful… Above all excited about the team and the tournament, more than ever knowing that he is by my side again…” Kirino blushed and cleared his throat. “Not by my side exactly, but…”

“We understand,” Aoyama smiled, giving him a squeeze on the shoulder. "Good luck friend. Surely you can make up what you had.”

“I'm not sure, I don't want to make him uncomfortable, on the contrary, I want him to be well and maybe, just maybe, regain a little of the love for football that he lost after what happened with the galactic tournament. But I can't help but feel happy to see him again and talk to him. You know that I still…”
Ichino nodded and hugged Kirino. “We fully support you, Kirino. And rest assured that Aoyama and I will be the number one fans of Resistance Japan.”

“None of that,” said Hamano, interrupting without having fully understood the conversation. “That will be me!”

Hayami next to him snorted boredly and rubbed his eyes beneath his large round glasses. Ichino and Aoyama came up to congratulate Kariya, who blushed violently for all their praise.

Hamano left after tightly hugging all his Raimon teammates, each and every one of them, to jump on Namikawa who was talking to his teammates from Kaigun High School and convinced everyone to lift the forward into the air amidst laughter. Matatagi joined in immediately, Tetsukado instead stood a little more on the sidelines, smiling amused nonetheless. Until his light eyes met those of Kurosaki who was looking at him in the middle of a large crowd of fans and his expression immediately saddened. There was also a shadow of misery on his face that he tried to hide in a mask of joy for the people who were looking for him and wanted to talk to him.

“Aren't you going with your boyfriend?” Namikawa asked as he went back down to the floor in an unorthodox way, Hamano had been distracted watching Hayami fix his hair and had let his friend fall, hitting his butt. “Bird Brain was very nervous to see you, even if you've been dating for months.”

The boy with dark dreadlocks looked at him uncomfortably and asked in a hoarse voice. “How are you with Seto?”

“Ah! Great! She is so beautiful that her presence alone is enough to heal my soul from any wound.”

Kishibe looked for Nozaki, after getting rid of a particularly heavy group of fans from his School who didn't know how they had gotten into the party. She was talking to Matsukaze at that time because they were studying together in Okinawa. The girl smiled happily when she saw him.

“Kishibe!” She exclaimed, stretching out her arms and throwing them around his neck, hugging him. The boy blushed and Matatagi, who was passing by at that moment with Tetsukado, whistled at them provocatively.

The two boys reached Manabe, Minaho, Morimura and Kusaka who had grabbed Ibuki who was telling them that he should talk to Kita first. The brunette patted the goalkeeper on the back and leaned against Manabe, winking at the lilac-haired whose color rose to the roots of his hair.

“So you have got a place in the new national team, I didn't expect it at all. I feel a little envious that I wasn't chosen.”

“You were the only one of the Inazuma Japan rookies along with Ibuki who continued playing football  more seriously,” Kusaka observed, crossing his arms. “Because Tetsukado plays but much less.” He shrugged his shoulders, indeed, although he played on his High School team the truth was that he was not a key player and he did nothing to change it because he only did it for fun and to stay in shape while he trained on his own for return to boxing. “It's a shame you didn't get a place.”

“Yep,” he replied, hugging Manabe and burying his face in his neck so that they wouldn't see his very malicious smirk. "I'm so very sad, Manabe comfort me."

Minaho looked at Ibuki, adjusting his glasses. “Why do you want to talk to my cousin?”

“Mind your bussiness,” the white-haired growled, earning an offended look from the orange-haired.

“You're still as impertinent as usual, I don't know how my cousin puts up with you.”

“Ugh, okay, that's why I screwed up earlier and I want to apologize.”

"What happened?"

“He was upset when he found out that I'm going to the United States with Nozaki.”

Even Matatagi stretched and looked at him in shock. “You are going to the United States and you didn’t tell us? When were you planning to tell us that you were leaving, you bastard!?”

“Eh…” Ibuki backed away, seeing the angry looks of his friends. “Haven't I told you?”

"No!" they all shouted. Morimura crossed her arms with a pout, slowly moving her head from side to side.
“Sorry, it's in September, there's still a long way to go.”

Minaho snorted, grabbed Ibuki by the forearm and took him with him to the group Kita was talking to animatedly.

“Hey, cousin,” he called when he arrived.

Kita fell silent in the middle of a passionate explanation of something when he heard Minaho and turned around, raising an eyebrow, although when he saw Ibuki he narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What's up?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you made it into the National Team? I found out today during the Ceremony!”

Kita laughed. “Aren't you the one who wants to be a detective, Kazuto? You should have figured it out on your own.”

"And what do you want?" asked a white-haired boy with a pompadour, looking with displeasure at Ibuki, who became indignant at that tone of voice.

“Can you come with me for a moment?” he asked looking at Kita who sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Does it have to be now?”

"Yeah."

Kita pursed his lips and went to move when a blonde boy stopped him by putting his arm over him, he looked at him perplexed. “Nishinosora?”

“Oi, why don't you leave him alone and go clown somewhere else?” he said with a pout of displeasure.

"What?" Kita, Ibuki and Minaho raised their eyebrows at the same time, dumbfounded.

“Look, fly, get lost. We don't know what you want from our Kita, but you are not welcome here,” added another with purple hair, next to him.

A boy with long red hair nodded. “How can someone like you become a national team player again?”

Kita immediately became angry and threw Nishinosora off of him to the floor. “You have no right to talk to my boyfriend like that!”
The four players of the once Tengawara blinked in perplexity and let out an exclamation. "Your boyfriend!?"

“Wasn't he one of those who bullied you at your new school?” asked Hoshifuru, the red-haired with a thin voice.

"No! On the contrary, Munemasa confronted the group that was bullying me so that they would leave me alone. So I'm not going to let you say anything bad about him!”

“Even so, his level as a goalkeeper…” the white-haired growled, crossing his arms.

“Shut your mouth, Minami.”

“You turned me down when I asked you out and you're dating that clown,” Hayabusa said in a bad mood.

“Why are you all surprised? I constantly post photos of us on Inagram," the orange-haired growled, stamping his foot on the ground, then looked at Ibuki, grabbed his hand and walked away with him, leaving Minaho very uncomfortable in the middle of the group. Until Mahoro appeared and saved him by saying that he was looking for him to show some things he had bought that afternoon, the detective had never been so happy to be involved in the paranormal world.

“Don't think I'm not still angry with you about this afternoon; But I’m not going to allow them to talk to you like that.”

Ibuki stopped him and made his boyfriend look at him. “I wanted to talk to you about that, Ichiban. I'm so sorry, I thought earlier that you'd rather be with your friends and I know they don't like me. It really seem like a lot of people don’t like him.”

“And who needs people?, I don't care as long as you're by my side. And next year I won't be able to celebrate your birthday with you! How can you be so stupid not to understand that I wanted to be by your side? When you leave we don't know when we will see each other again..."

Ibuki lost the color in his face when he heard him, because he had not thought about that at all, the goalkeeper bit his lower lip and hugged him. “We will continue to see each other, elite players always earn a lot of money so I will be able to buy plane tickets for every time we can meet.”

Kita choked back a sob and wiped away some tears of frustration, Ibuki wiped his eye lovingly but not gently and took a small box out of his pocket. “I bought you this.”

The midfielder opened his mouth, feeling a strong flutter in his heart, and took it guiltily. “It's your birthday, Mune. I'm the one who should give you something."

“You already did it this morning,” he smiled, pointing to a steel pendant he wore around his neck.

Kita opened the gift and saw a pair of yellow crystal star-shaped earrings, feeling his cheeks heat up.

“They are… they are so beautiful. But I only have one piercing…”

“I know, but this way you have the other one in case you lose it.”

Kita felt his eyes water and took one of the earrings, looking at Ibuki. “I have a better idea, bend over.” The goalkeeper did so and the other boy put the earring in his left ear, removing the ring he was wearing. Then he put the other one on his own right ear and smiled. “Now we match.”

Ibuki blushed and hugged him, he returned the gesture and stood on tiptoe to leave him a kiss, with a big smile.

Smile that he lost when a while later a pink-haired girl who until then was talking to a very happy Kishibe approached the white-haired boy and clung to his arm.

“Hi, Ibuki!”

Kita raised his eyebrows and looked at the other midfielder who was also narrowing his eyes with a pout of irritation. He left with his cousin who was engaged in a lively argument with Mahoro about the veracity of the cacophonies captured with the Spirit Box until the goalkeeper returned with him, hugging his back and resting his chin on his head.

Kishibe, for his part, went to talk to his friends from Kidokawa, all of them had gone to the same High School and were excited about the prospect of the tournament. The Taki brothers smiled widely as they asked him to tell them what he had felt in the game that day.

Kurosaki was finally freed from his fans and was able to talk to his friends from the team he played on in High School, who were also all members of Seidouzan and some new people from other schools but who basically played as reserves.

“It's a shame you couldn't get the captain's band, Kurosaki,” Masaki said with a gesture of understanding.

“Don't add any more salt to that wound, please. I don't understand how Coach Fudou isn't able to see that I'm the best choice as, at the very least, vice-captain.”

The others shrugged their shoulders, although they were secretly impressed at how Kirino had played the match protecting his entire team.

Senguuji and Gomaki spent hours talking to their old friends from Dragon Link, having spread across the country as a measure against the re-emergence of the Fifth Sector, they all had many stories to tell. Not all of them had continued playing football, some because they had not wanted to and others because they had not been allowed out of fear in their new schools; but everyone was very happy for their two friends and hoped that this would help clear the team's name. Well, as Kamiyama said in the end, they had been nothing more than pawns in a chess game played by adults.

Yukimura and Makari met with the Hakuren High School team who were delighted that both players had made the national team.

“If you think about it seriously, it is a great success, we have not one but two players in the World Cup!” exclaimed Kitaki, a boy with fluffy and abundant white hair.

“Coach Fubuki was very happy,” said another boy with dark blue hair in a ponytail with a few light strands falling on either side of his face, Koori. “He says we are his pride and his blessing.”

Yukimura couldn't help but smile vainly when he heard that and all his friends started laughing loudly.

Mizukawa stayed out of the others' conversations, trying to move back and forth until Seto finally caught her. “Don't you have a group to join?”

She would have picked a fight under other circumstances, but she ended up shaking her head and Seto took her to the Raimon group, where Mizukawa realized that she would gladly punch some of them, especially Nishizono and Sorano who thought they knew her from her time in Space and who commented that she had changed a lot, with a final whisper that said 'for the worse'.

“What the fuck did you expect if I was possessed by an alien clown!? That wasn't me!”

Hakuryuu was surprised as soon as he arrived to see that his teammates during the time of God Eden had also gone, they came up to talk to him, and not only those from his own team, Unlimited Shining, but also the Ancient Dark players. He was very happy every time he saw them, because he knew that like Dragon Link, all the players had been dispersed, although in their case allowing them to return to their families because they were taken away in a threatening way.

“Look how far you've come,” Seidou, a boy with long red hair, said proudly. “You are the captain of the national team.”

“You're the best player in the country of our age,” smiled a blonde boy with a purple headband named Hoda.

“No, never that much,” Hakuryuu denied, although he couldn't help but puff out his chest with pride, knowing that years ago that compliment would have brought out the worst in him. “I have been chosen captain because Akio… Fudou trusts me to bring out the best in my team and allow everyone to collaborate, but we are all on the same level.”

His teammates smiled when they noticed how the forward looked much happier than when he played with them; but everyone was surprised when a shy voice asked, “Hello… You are friends of Shuu, right? Do you know anything about him?”

The boys stared at Matsukaze who had slightly blushing cheeks and looked at each other in confusion. A green-haired boy named Kai shrugged. “None of us have returned to God Eden, it is a dangerous place. So sadly we haven't seen him again, Shuu doesn't leave the island. I would like to be able to see him again too.”

Matsukaze nodded sadly and thanked him for his response, saying goodbye to go back to his friends.

Amemiya was moving between his friends from his old school Arakumo, those from the new one, and the Raimon group. The old team wanted to know how his health was and how he had handled himself that year at the new school.

“Great, I have iron health,” he smiled, deciding to completely ignore the mishap that happened just a short time before.

He wasn't the only one, by the time the party ended well after midnight, none of the members of Resistance Japan were still concerned about what happened.

Only Mahoro stayed thoughtful at night looking at the peculiar little box, would it have worked? Could that smoke be part of the amulet's magic? Would something unusual happen? He hoped nothing bad would happen.

In his bed, in the same room as Kurama who was breathing calmly immersed in a pleasant dream, Minamisawa turned over unable to sleep. He felt uneasy, he tried to calm himself down by saying that it was simply the nerves of the tournament, but deep down he knew that it was something different. If that box was really dangerous and something happened, it would be his fault for opening it.

Chapter Text

The next day the Resistance Japan Team went down for breakfast after saying goodbye to their friends, since they would not see each other again for a while, the team had been informed that after the Closing of that day they would have a press round and then they would return to go out to eat together.

Fudou greeted his team with a mischievous glint in his eyes, and they knew that he knew that they had failed to be in their rooms at midnight. “Did you rest well?”

“Perfectly,” Kariya murmured with sleepy eyes, spilling the juice over himself as he tried to drink.

The coach laughed loudly, although Kidou frowned in annoyance. “Yes, I see it. Come, have breakfast. There's nothing better to cure a crazy night than a good breakfast, is it, Yuuto?” He snorted and rubbed his temples, his husband stretched his lips maliciously. “Although you prefer to skip breakfast and go directly to the main meal.”

“Where is Akira?” Hakuryuu asked confused.

“My mother came earlier to take him, they will be watching us from the stands.”

After a hearty breakfast they headed towards the Holy Road Stadium, led by the two adults. The team was overcome by a continuous tremor of maximum excitement.

Matsukaze was really happy and grabbed Amemiya's shoulder. “I can't wait for the uniforms to be handed out, I am very happy to be able to participate in this tournament.”

Several players rolled their eyes, thinking that they would be happier if he didn't participate in that tournament; but Amemiya nodded vigorously. “I know, I feel the same way.”

Mahoro turned to look at them affectionately.

They were made to wait in a small room connected to one of the exits from the stadium to the playing field, with Fudou being the only one who came out with the president of the Football Federation, Kudou, who arrived at his side at that moment and made a gesture to accompany him. Seeing them appear on the grass, while their enlarged image was shown on the stadium's huge screen, the audience broke into excited applause.

“Good morning,” Kudou greeted seriously. “I welcome you to the second day of the Japanese National Team Selection Ceremony. Today we will begin with the handing over of Uniforms to the Resistance Japan team, then we will announce the team that will play against them in the exhibition match.”

Fudou took over the word. “Let's give a big round of applause to the best team in the world, Resistance Japan!”

The laughter echoed in the stadium and the players came out onto the playing field and formed a line. Behind them came the managers and Kidou carrying several boxes, Namikawa made a gesture to go help Seto, but Fudou stopped him with a warning look and he remained still.

“Let's start with the handing over of uniforms,” the coach said. “With the Number 01, Senguuji Yamato.”

Mizukawa took a breath and took out the bag that contained the purple goalkeeper's uniform from the box marked 1. She approached him and with a huge smile handed him the clothes. “That's my brave boy,” she whispered excitedly, swallowed and looked at Gomaki. “My brave boys.”

“With the Number 02, Gomaki Tetsurou.”

Seto looked for the white-haired defender's uniform and took it with a good-natured grin.

“With the Number 03, Kirino Ranmaru.”

Shindou thought his hands were sweating and he had trouble opening Kirino's bag, when he stood in front of him his smile trembled. “Congratulations, Kirino.”

He looked him in the eyes, getting lost in the manager's unsure gaze, and placed his hands momentarily on top of his to grab his uniform. “Thank you, Shindou.” Kirino didn't completely take the uniform and Shindou didn't let go of his hands for a few seconds in which they both swallowed, as if they wanted to say something else, but when they heard Makari's name announced, the dark-haired boy was startled and hurried to return to his position to hand over the uniform to Number 06, Kishibe Taiga shortly after.

Namikawa almost burst with happiness when Seto handed him his uniform.

After finishing, Fudou spoke again. “Another applause, please. Now, while we wait for Resistance Japan to change their clothes, the Football Federation has prepared a video with their best plays over the last year.”

The coaches accompanied their team to the locker room who were surprised to discover that they also had sneakers and a tracksuit for each one. “You shouldn't put on your new shoes now, you know that you should never wear them for the first time in a game. This is for later.”

“Change your clothes and go out to the Stadium, we will be waiting for you on the field,” Kidou said, gently pushing his husband by the back to get him to move.

In the locker room the boys were happily changing, even crying from the happiness and excitement of feeling the uniform. Hakuryuu and Kirino looked at each other and fist bumped.

“Go for it, team,” said the white-haired with a roar in response from all his teammates while he put his hand face down and one by one everyone added their hand in that gesture of camaraderie.

When they went out onto the field, however, they did not see any of the two adults, only Kudou and the three managers who looked at them with great pride. The captain, after hesitating for a moment, made them form in the same place. Kudo nodded formally.

Everyone furrowed their eyebrows in concern to a greater or lesser extent, Kariya was the first to understand and turned sullenly towards Amemiya.

“You're such a big mouth, couldn't you shut up?”

The midfielder scratched his head, totally confused, but the president of the Football Federation then headed to the stadium, which once again fell into an expectant silence.

“It's time to announce the team that will face Resistance Japan in the exhibition match.” The twenty-one teenagers swallowed, feeling that their nerves were getting stronger, their pulse was ringing in their ears and many of their knees were shaking. “Let's welcome… Inazuma Legend Japan with a big applause!”

For just a millisecond there was absolute silence in the place, then the stands broke into a cheer so loud that for a moment it seemed as if the stadium was going to collapse. Fudou's mother covered Akira's ears with concern, but the baby applauded, apparently just as excited as the adults next to him.

“What a beautiful rascal,” said a man with intense blue eyes and auburn hair pinching his cheek. The baby chattered happily and the others began to laugh. A gray-haired man with red eyes breathed full of pride.

A huge shock, as if a tsunami had hit the earth, ran through the Resistance Japan team before they slowly calmed down, and then they all looked at Amemiya with mischief.

“It seems Apollo blessed you with the gift of prophecy and not just your Kenshin,” Kurosaki murmured, crossing his arms.

The team looked away when the legendary team began to emerge from the stadium door and they gasped, falling straight into the intimidating aura of the adults who formed in front of them with defiant gazes.

They shook hands with the player who was wearing the same number, the teenagers still in disbelief smiled, accepting the challenge with enthusiasm.

Kudou, who would be the referee of the match, loudly announced the formation for the match that had been communicated to him.

“For the First Half the formation will be as follows:
Resistance Japan: Ibuki Munemasa, Kariya Masaki, Kirino Ranmaru, Makari Ginjirou, Amemiya Taiyou, Kita Ichiban, Kishibe Taiga, Namikawa Rensuke, Kageyama Hikaru, Tsurugi Kyousuke and Hakuryuu.

Inazuma Legend Japan: Tachimukai Yuuki, Tobitaka Seiya, Hijikata Raiden, Kogure Yuuya, Tsunami Jousuke, Fudou Akio, Midorikawa Ryuuji, Kiyama Tatsuya and Sakuma Jirou,

For the Second Half the formation will be as follows:

Resistance Japan: Senguuji Yamato, Gomaki Tetsurou, Kirino Ranmaru, Mahoro Tadashi, Minamisawa Atsuhi, Kita Ichiban, Kurosaki Makoto, Matsukaze Tenma, Kageyama Hikaru, Yukimura Hyouga and Hakuryuu.

Inazuma Legend Japan: Endou Mamoru, Kazemaru Ichirouta, Kabeyama Heigorou, Kurimatsu Teppei, Fubuki Shirou, Kidou Yuuto, Someoka Ryuugo, Utsunomiya Toramaru and Gouenji Shuuya.”

The two teams moved to their benches to begin warming up, Fudou and Kidou approached their team who surrounded them as if it were a flock of pigeons in front of an open bag of bread.

“We are going to play against you and you didn't tell us!” Kageyama exclaimed immediately.

Fudou smiled seeing the perplexed and excited faces of his players, Matsukaze and Yukimura looked like they were going to faint from happiness.

“Are you ready for the beating?” Fudou asked with a psychotic gleam in his green eyes.

Near them one of the men warming up stifled a grunt. “Them or me? I haven't played in years, my knees are killing me and I am afraid of Endou who is shaking like a dog waiting a walk."

“Don't be grumpy Tobi,” Tsunami laughed, patting him on the back. “Football is like riding a bike, you never forget.”

“I see, is this a good time to confess that I never learned to ride a bike?” the cook said with a frown.

His friends laughed loudly.

“In any case, don't be too hard on us, yeah,” Hijikata asked with a wink. He then turned to Endou. “That goes for you too.”

“Especially for you,” Midorikawa murmured, tying his green hair into a tight bun.

“It's impossible a little bit of football will hurt anyone,” said the Inazuma captain, who seemed at the height of his happiness.

Kurimatsu and Kabeyama glanced at each other before looking back at their captain and Kogure raised his half-closed hand to his mouth, laughing mischievously.

Fudou turned towards his boys again. “Yuuto or I will guide you in each of the halves, I ask you please to obey us in everything we tell you, if either of us believe that you should let a play pass, you must let that play pass. “I don’t want anyone to get injured in this game.”

“Coach Fudou,” Matsukaze called in a high-pitched voice. “Why do only nine players play in each half on your team?”

Namikawa furrowed his eyebrows sullenly. “Is it to give us an advantage?”

When asked by the forward, everyone furrowed their eyebrows; they did not want any special treatment, no matter how obvious the power imbalance between one team and the other was.

“No,” the man sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “It's a much more pathetic reason.”

"Which is it?" Kishibe asked curiously.

“Endou wanted to play both halves and he wanted to force everyone to play both halves,” Kidou replied in a deep voice.

“That's impossible,” Ibuki said, perplexed.

“Oh? Do you know how to do math?” Senguuji asked and Mahoro nudged him.

“So we decided that each of us would play a single half. That way no one would play more than the others, and by the others I mean Endou who insisted on playing as a libero if he couldn't be a goalkeeper in both."

The two adults sighed in exasperation.

Kurosaki took a step forward, red eyes narrowing and a hint of envy in his voice. “Why does Kita play both halves on our team and not me?”

“Or me,” Kishibe muttered.

“Not to be impertinent,” the brunette midfielder continued, “but Kita doesn't even have a Kenshin.”

“Hey! That was very impertinent,” the appellee growled indignantly.

“Neither does Kageyama,” Yukimura observed. “And he also plays both halves.”

“Indeed, neither of them have Kenshin,” the coach agreed. “What's the problem with it?”

Gomaki blinked in confusion. “They don’t have that much power?”

Several players in the team were upset but Fudou raised his hand. “I don’t have a Kenshin either. Anyways, do you think that with raw power you can win this match? Come on, guys, you're smarter than that. And you know your teammates, don't let your individualism get the worst of you. Football is played with eleven players.”

“But Coach Ak… Fudou,” Kageyama said uncomfortably. “Maybe it's true that I shouldn’t…”

“Do you question my decision, Hikaru?” The boy quickly shook his head and the adult snorted. “I have chosen Kita and Hikaru to play in both halves precisely because they do not have Kenshins, I repeat, it is not a match that you can win by force and the two of them specialize in a game that takes advantage of opportunities, taking advantage of them both.”

The players looked at each other and finally even Kurosaki had nothing more to complain about, because after all they had all seen them score a goal against Senguuji in different games even without any Kenshin.

Before leaving for the field to play the first half, Fudou once again warned them about absolutely obeying any order they were given. After that they prepared to start the game.

On the playing field, the enthusiasm, nerves and expectation were palpable and in the stands his friends shook their hands, feeling their hearts in their throats.

Ichino and Aoyama were shouting loudly encouraging their friends and had made a sign that said 'Go Resistance Japan'.

Matatagi, Hamano and Tetsukado cheered, with the black-haired dancing on top of his seat earning complaints from his teammates sitting behind.

Minaho was breathing heavily, nervous about what could happen between two teams with such different levels but with the same combative spirit. At his side, Manabe and Hayami were talking, giving boring information, and Yamana was taking photos of the playing field. No one would ever understand how she was able to take good photos from such a distance, especially of Shindou, since bad habits didn't seem to die.

Kurama had a crooked smile, looking forward to seeing his three teammates play. Would Ibuki be able to stop a goal? He doubted it, but he also doubted it about Senguuji considering who their rivals were.

Nozaki had her hands on her chest. She had sat next to Kusaka and Morimura who held hands and were waiting with joy for the start of the match.

The Superior Raimon group was quiet and expectant, with Amagi sitting next to Kousaka, a brown-haired girl who was a childhood friend of his and Mahoro who had been the team manager with Sorano and Seto those years, although like everyone of the older ones would start university in a few more days. Kurumada was pouting with agitation sitting next to Sangoku. Nishizono moved his feet waiting, still upset that they hadn't chosen him as the goalkeeper.

On the bench the three managers felt anxiety palpitating in their chests. Shindou stood on the sidelines, very white and hoping that nothing bad would happen to Kirino, sure that he would push himself too hard to cut off the rival team's advance. Seto also squeezed her hands and her eyes, to her own dismay, turned from time to time to Namikawa. Mizukawa, on the other hand, was divided because she wanted to see the bloodbath that was going to happen but she understood that her friends were going to be affected, even so she had hopes that the match would be just as entertaining as the previous day.

Kudou raised the whistle to his lips.

The referee's whistle announced the start of the match.

Hakuryuu kicked the ball that was in the possession of the national team and passed it to Tsurugi at the same time that the other two forwards began to go up, but before the blue-haired could touch the ball a red and blue blur passed by him and stole it. Kiyama jumped to the side and connected the pass with Midorikawa who was surrounded by the teenagers, he winked affably and bumped his fists creating a cylinder of cerulean energy that also surrounded Kishibe who looked surprised when the adult changed places with him as if he had teleported, passing the ball to Sakuma who avoided Kita, then to Fudou who dribbled past his boys without difficulty until passing the ball to Kiyama again, opening his eyes wide when he saw him jump, creating a white energy with a pink and purple aura before exploding with a yellow trail accompanied by plasma spheres that was launched with the same destructive power of a meteorite against the Resistance Japan goal.

A gasp was heard in the Stadium, everyone knew how powerful that technique was, especially mastered by the red-haired who had shot at the goal and against whom Ibuki had no chance despite trying to stop it with his best Hissatsu.

Fudou rubbed his forehead. “Ryuusei Blade? Did you want to show off so much right away?”

“You told us that we should not hold back.”

“Also,” Midorikawa added, approaching his husband and giving him a high five. “You have to cut off a dragon's head so it doesn't bite.”

The coach raised an eyebrow and laughed. “This dragon will bite us even with its head cut off.”

“Don't talk nonsense, Fudou,” Sakuma growled, backing away with the other two adults, he put his hands on his waist and laughed again, the worst thing they could do was underestimate his kids and Inazuma Legend Japan had already made that mistake.

“Damn Ibuki,” Gomaki grumbled angrily. “Yamato could have easily stopped that shot.”

Senguuji nodded to his words and Kurosaki also trembled indignantly at the goalkeeper's performance on the playing field. Everyone seemed angry except Mahoro, who was objective even though he was angry at how quickly they had scored against them, so Minamisawa was surprised to realize that after two years of making fun of Ibuki calling him a useless goalkeeper, he would have actually been amazed at him trying to stop the shot instead of ducking away from that devastating power as he himself would have done. The maroon-haired midfielder bit his lower lip wondering, who was the one who didn't really take football seriously?

“Don't panic,” Kidou said simply. “In the tournament we will have to face strong and powerful teams, for the score to be in your favor you must know your strengths, weaknesses and also those of your teammates. Remember that where one does not arrive, the entire team can.”

“Football is played with eleven players,” Shindou repeated his coach's previous words, looking at Kirino who was stamping on the ground, furious that he had not been able to stop the advance and furious that Ibuki was being blamed when none of the three defenders had managed to stop the rival either.

Unfortunately, the second goal did not take more than five minutes more to arrive, on that occasion through a long shot that Tsunami shooted from the middle of his field and that devastated all the teenagers who tried to stop it like a shower of shooting stars, Kirino and Ibuki who tried to stop it entered the goal as if they were just another ball.

Kirino complained on the ground, putting his hand to his stomach where he had been hit. “I'm sorry Ibuki, if I hadn't gotten in the way…”

Makari and Kariya came to help them, the distressed goalkeeper shook his head, hearing the boos and laughter of the audience. “I couldn't have stopped it anyways.”

“Don't listen to what others say, Ibuki,” Makari advised. “If Coach Fudou has chosen you it is because you have potential.”

Kariya looked down depressed and Kirino squeezed his arm. “We all have potential, so do you.”

“I don't have a Kenshin either.”

The pink haired shook his head. “And what’s the matter? You heard our coach, this match cannot be played with brute force and you know Kiyama and Midorikawa better than anyone to be able to cut them off.”

Kita narrowed his eyebrows and approached Kageyama and Hakuryuu murmuring something to them, they nodded and Kageyama responded excitedly without anyone being able to hear him, only seeing him gesturing.

When the game resumed, Hakuryuu passed the ball to Kageyama who sent it to Kita while the four forwards moved up the field to the rival field. Kita passed it to Kishibe who was able to dribble Midorikawa to the surprise of the adults, but Sakuma took the ball from him and it was Amemiya, using Crazy Sunlight who was able to recover it. They could barely celebrate when Fudou appeared, taking control of the ball and scaring the teenagers, especially when they saw that Tsunami had gone up next to him and was smiling excitedly.

Tsunami without hesitation for a second used Sparkle Wave again to shoot at the goal, Makari got in the way using Ice Ground but the shot still broke the ice and continued advancing, Kirino and Kariya jumped to stop it and to everyone's surprise they managed to stop the ball although they fell to the grass hurted. The pink haired boy kicked the ball to Ibuki who took it with his hands and furrowed his eyebrows. The goalkeeper took a deep breath and threw the ball with all his might, something that, as everyone was shocked to discover, was quite far.

Kita jumped and connected the pass with his chest, avoiding Kogure who came out to stop him. "Captain!" the boy shouted in an urgent voice.

Hakuryuu furrowed his eyebrows, feeling responsible for that play and activated his Kenshin Armor, jumping into the air ready to hit with his most devastating Hissatsu. His aura was terribly intimidating and therefore the four defenders of Inazuma Legend Japan and the goalkeeper were threatened.

Fudou smiled from the middle of the field, stopping his run, knowing what the result would be.

Hakuryuu shone high in the sky and had everyone's eyes focused on his devastating attacking ability, which was why no one noticed that Kageyama appeared on the side, he being the one who received a lightning-quick pass from Kita and scoring a goal with a headbut in which he did not even use a Hissatsu. Tachimukai realized it too late and when he tried to react the ball had already gone in, with the whistle announcing that the score was 2-1.

Hakuryuu smiled arrogantly, fading his Kenshin Armor and falling gracefully to the ground next to Tsurugi who ran to celebrate with him before jumping to hug Kageyama.

There was a thunderous roar of excitement in the stadium and everyone applauded that goal fiercely. The adults were puzzled, Sakuma turned to Fudou. “You knew and you didn't tell us!”

“Don't be a crybaby. It’s not my fault you took the bait.”

Although of course the coach knew that that trick would still work a few more times.

All of Resistance Japan celebrated that goal as if it were the victory of the match, except Kurosaki, who had his mouth open. “Is that what Coach Fudou meant?” he asked dumbfounded, looking at the other adult who only showed a smirk.

But despite the national team's happiness, it was short-lived like a summer flower, and the score went up 3-1 again when Sakuma scored using Koutei Penguin 2gou alongside Fudou and Tsunami.

Ibuki fell to his knees on the grass and hit the ground with his fist, hearing that hum in the stadium. Fudou stood next to the goal and he looked at him. “Why have you chosen me?”

The coach raised an eyebrow and crouched down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Ibuki, we have goaled Endou and many other big names with all these Hissatsus. You are a good goalkeeper, trust yourself. The important thing is what is here.” The man hit the boy’s chest and smiled. “And I see a burning desire to be the best and prove it. As soon as the next half starts everyone will understand it too. Don't get frustrated if you can't stop us, after all we have ten years more experience than you. You have a privileged position in the goal to observe our movements, learn from them and integrate them for the future.”

Resistance Japan served and Hakuryuu immediately passed the ball back, everyone in Inazuma Legend Japan smiled as they recognized the play, they weren't going to fall for the same trick twice.

Fudou stopped, looked at his husband on the bench who shook his head just a little and he started to laugh.

That time Resistance Japan wasn't so lucky because Tobitaka cut them off with his Shinkuma. After going up and down the playing field several times with all the Resistance Japan players giving their all, the ball once again reached the rival goal and Hakuryuu jumped into the air invoking his Kenshin Armor.

“I won't fall for the same trick again,” Tachimukai shouted, moving towards Kageyama, whom he spotted running along the side.

Fudou hummed in the middle of the field, watching how that time it was Namikawa who scored a goal with Flying Fish from the opposite side. Kudou whistled, the score was 3-2.

The teenagers shouted excitedly and hugged each other, the stadium roared.

The adults smiled with rivalry, Endou on his bench could barely contain his excitement.

Kiyama and Sakuma went all out that time, preventing the teenagers from getting the ball until Kariya stood in the way of the red-haired.

“Masaki, dear, get out of my way,” his tutor laughed just before the defender used Hunter’s Net and caught him, getting the ball.

“Good, Kariya,” congratulated Kirino and Makari.

But the boy himself was so surprised that he couldn't react in time and Sakuma stole the ball from him. Fudou caught up with them and ruffled the hair of the stunned defender. “I knew you could stop him, it won't be so easy for us to get to your goal now.”

“I let them take the ball away from me…”

“And how many goals do you think have been scored to Endou when he wanted to create a new Hissatsu in the middle of a match? Next time will be better.”

At that moment Makari managed to freeze Sakuma and passed the ball to Kishibe who, together with Amemiya, dribbled Midorikawa and passed the ball to Kita who went up with the forwards. The boy dodged Hijikata and Kishibe managed to overcome Kogure. Even so, Tobitaka stopped them and the ball passed into Tsunami's possession, who shot again with a giant wave.

To the surprise of the teenagers, that time he did not shoot at the goal but rather it was a chained shot and Kiyama jumped into the air to add Ryuusei Blade to the already powerful destructive force of the shot.

The three defenders were devastated and hit the goal, falling in a heap and Ibuki had no strength to stop the blow that finally went in to make it 4-2.

On the bench the players screamed. Shindou shouted Kirino's name in fear and Mizukawa put her hand to her mouth when she saw that the boys did not get up immediately but then she joined the general booing.

Fudou looked back at his team. “You are not going to win a fight against us, analyze the situation, analyze our plays. We have many weaknesses and openings. There are walls that can be crushed and others that cannot. Turn the situation in your favor.”

Kirino wiped his face and looked at his teammates, he felt very frustrated as vice-captain. Hakuryuu noticed this because he approached them and grabbed Kirino by the shoulder. On the bench Shindou narrowed his eyes with a bitter pang in his chest.

The rest of his team gathered around him dejectedly.

“You are doing a good job, keep up the good work.”

"How? Letting them goal?” Kariya croaked in a bad mood.

“Hakuryuu, they have scored four goals against us,” Kirino said with his head lowered.

“And you have avoided so many others,” he said seriously. “We are playing against one of the best teams in the world and we have managed to put up a better fight than some professional teams.”

"What are you talking about?" Namikawa asked, perplexed.

His captain smiled. “Many teams have been crushed by Inazuma Legend Japan. I repeat, we are playing against one of the greats in the world, if we also want to be great we must learn everything possible from this match.”

At those words everyone looked at each other with more encouragement. Kishibe smiled. “Cheer up, team, let's show that we are the best even if we can't win.”

“It's true,” Kirino smiled. “There are walls that cannot be crushed, but they can be jumped.”

The team returned to their positions with renewed motivation and their coach smiled satisfied.

Inazuma Legend Japan managed to score a fifth goal after Kogure stopped Kageyama and passed the ball to Fudou who beat his boys and allowed Kiyama to shoot again.

Instead of getting depressed, Resistance Japan attacked again giving everything and the forwards reached the goal again, although that time Kita had not gone up because he had collided with Midorikawa when trying to overcome him and after getting up he had remained standing.

Hakuryuu activated his Kenshin Armor for the third time and jumped into the air. Amemiya arrived with the ball and Hijikata tried to stop him but the player passed the ball to his captain and the defender's hissatsu came late.

That time no one had any doubts that Hakuryuu would be the one to shoot on goal. But Namikawa had marked Tobitaka, Kageyama had marked Kogure and Tsurugi had marked Tsunami, so Tachimukai had to face the white-haired's attack alone. The goalkeeper tried to resist but could not and the ball entered Inazuma Legend Japan's goal for the third time in a crushing way.

That goal raised the morale of Resistance Japan and the entire stadium.

There was a heavy silence when they saw that after a while insisting and being stopped, Sakuma managed to reach the goal again, taking advantage of the exhaustion of the defenders and everyone gasped, knowing what was going to happen.

Sakuma, Midorikawa and Kiyama used a combined Space Penguin Hissatsu and everyone prepared to see the inevitable.

Ibuki shuddered, he couldn't continue failing like that, he had to show the reason why Fudou had decided to trust him, even if he still didn't know what it was. He transformed into Mammoth, his last resort since he could only activate it once and it consumed a lot of energy. He attacked the ball and stepped on it, it began to lose strength in that pulse until it flew away.

Ibuki had protected the goal.

The stadium cheered immediately and on the playing field his friends smiled widely at him. The once again human goalkeeper wiped away the sweat that even his headband wasn't able to stop.

Midorikawa got ahead of Kishibe and caught the ball, passing it to his husband who tried again to score.
"Damn!" shouted everyone on the Resistance Japan bench, although a miracle had occurred in Ibuki's exhausted state, they knew that it would be impossible for it to be repeated.

The defenders gasped, Kariya and Makari jumped in the middle of Ryuusei Blade and used their best blocking techniques, but the ball passed through them still with explosive force. Kirino reached the trajectory and stopped, summoning his Kenshin Standard-Bearer Brynhildr and using her spear to create an air wave that cut off the shot, Brynhildr stabbed her spear into the ground as if it were a flag and Kirino managed to kick the ball weakened enough that it bounced away from the goal again. He fell to his knees panting but happy to have managed, albeit with the great help of his two teammates, to stop such a powerful Hissatsu.

The ball rolled to Tsunami's feet, who looked at Fudou with doubts on his kind and friendly face. “Shall I give them a break?”

The coach raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to earn their hatred forever?” The pink-haired hesitated and his friend shook his head. “They won't forgive you if you don't go with all, and neither will I.”

Tsunami laughed and climbed onto the ball to shoot The Thyphoon, Kishibe ran to get in the way and created a rock wall that, although it could not completely stop the progress of the shot, did enough for Amemiya to kick the ball after him, changing the trajectory and The Typhoon took over a surprised Tsunami himself who fell to the grass laughing raucously.

Tsurugi got the ball and passed it to Hakuryuu, but before he could advance further into the rival field, Kogure stole the ball from Kageyama and it reached Fudou who raised his eyes seeing that there was less than a minute left in that half.

The coach smiled broadly, leaned forward, put his finger and thumb in his mouth, and whistled. Five red penguins appeared immediately, beaking into his right leg which he raised to kick the ball. Kotei Penguin 1gou destroyed all the players who wanted to stop it but who no longer had the energy to use their own Hissatsus until the ball reached Ibuki.

Ibuki saw the ball knowing that he wouldn't be able to do anything to prevent the sixth goal, but he gritted his teeth, that wasn't going to stop him from trying. He kneeled his right leg and summoned a wind energy tornado, using Gekirin Dunk against the violent red penguins.

Kidou shook his head on the bench looking at his husband. “Who really wanted to show off?”

Shindou, Senguuji, Gomaki and Kurosaki clenched their fists, it was a shame to have to watch that beating.

The goalkeeper finally could not contain the shot any longer and was thrown against the net next to it, but just before the ball went in the end of the game whistle sounded and that goal was not counted.

The eleven Resistance Japan players slumped to the ground, frustrated, exhausted and bruised.

“Go help them,” Kidou ordered the three managers who nodded and rushed to assist the players.

On the other team three women also rushed to bring towels and water bottles to the players.

One of the brown-haired women who was giving a bottle to Fudou turned to the other two who were talking to Kogure and Tobitaka. “Leave your boyfriends and attend to everyone! Ugh, some things never change.”

“Never,” Fudou laughed, slapping Kino on the back, who considered that the man had been quite rude to her and looked at him indignantly.

Shindou was crouched next to Kirino who was hiding his face between the knees, he bit his lips with his heart beating even harder than in the match. Shindou reached out to touch his shoulder but his doubts meant that by the time he went to move it, there was already a hand on Kirino’s shoulder. The manager looked up and saw Hakuryuu next to the defender.

“We played very well, there is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Kirino looked up, seeing the captain. “I wish I could have your confidence.”

“It's not confidence, it's experience. I've watched a lot of Akio and Yuuto's matches and I know better than anyone how scary they are on the field. I know you are not satisfied, but believe me, we played a very good game.”

The pink haired also hesitated but ended up smiling. “You are an amazing captain, Hakuryuu.”

He denied with his head. “We are an incredible team. Cheer up! The game is only half over.”

"Yeah!" shouted all the players who had been listening to Hakuryuu and who felt comforted again.

Fudou walked over to his team who had gathered on the bench and grabbed his adopted son by the shoulder. “Kirino is right about something, you know? You really are an amazing captain.”

The boy blushed and wanted to reply when they heard the screams of Senguuji, Gomaki and Kurosaki against Ibuki. Before the two adults could intervene or Kita could explode, Namikawa intervened.

“Shut your damn mouth, Inazuma Legend Japan was far superior and we have remained with only a two-goal difference. We'll see if you guys can keep up our game.”

“Of course we can! I'm not going to let a single ball enter the goal,” Senguuji shouted angrily.

“Well, prove it,” Kita squealed, standing in front of his boyfriend, something that in other circumstances could have been comical due to the difference in height.

“You're a lousy goalkeeper, Ibuki,” Kurosaki said spitefully. “Because of you we are losing and we enter the game with an unfavorable score. If we don't win it will be your fault.”

The midfielder went to say something else but stopped when Fudou touched him on the arm.

“It is very unno.ble and unsportsmanlike to blame someone for the defeat of an entire team. Also, you can't win this game, it's not the objective.”

“And what was the objective? Humiliate us?” Yukimura asked in a bad mood.

“No,” his coach crossed his arms. “The objective of this game are three. Have the best exhibition match in history, that you learn from our team that is ten years ahead of you and that Yuuto and I could play seriously against you.”

Resistance Japan opened its mouth in bewilderment.

“Play against us?” Amemiya asked, confused.

“Of course,” the adult said, smiling. “Playing against you, giving absolutely everything you have will help us guide the training and ensure that at the end of the tournament when we repeat this match, the score will be very different from now. I fully trust each one of you. And besides, I had a lot of fun.”

Fudou put one arm around Senguuji's shoulders and the other around Kurosaki, who were the two most indignant players. They looked down with a shyness that they would not express under other conditions, feeling calm.

“I had fun too,” Amemiya said, pouring the rest of the water over his head and shaking it, splashing his teammates.

“Well, not me,” Kariya grunted, flopping onto the grass. He raised a hand in the air and smiled with a pout. "But I was able to stop Tatsuya, so I'll be able to make fun of him."

“Regarding the goals…” Kidou intervened, looking at Ibuki. “Not even Endou is able to always stop Ryuusei Blade and Akio has scored him many times without even using a technique the same way the three of you have done.”

“I won't let you score a single goal,” Senguuji repeated with his eyes burning.

Resistance Japan looked at him in shock and Minamisawa went to make a sarcastic comment. Fudou silenced him with a discreet gesture and smiled at Senguuji. “You don't know what wall you can crush until you try, do you? I like that conviction, keep it in your heart and don't let the score go up.”

The pink-haired goalkeeper, who deep down expected to be reprimanded, because he himself knew that he was being very stubborn and that his rival was more powerful, was surprised to discover absolute confidence and resolution in his coach's green eyes. That lit his spirits up and gave a shout of resolution.

“We will make you proud of us!”

"Yeah!" everyone else exclaimed immediately.

Fudou laughed. “Come on, to the battlefield I say, to play field.” His eleven players left to take their positions with renewed spirits while Inazuma Legend Japan did the same, Kidou said goodbye with a short kiss on his husband's lips and he looked at the teenagers affectionately, murmuring to himself. “I'm already proud of all of you.”

Seto, who at that moment was giving another bottle of water to Namikawa, who was vehemently grateful, could hear the adult and looked at him in surprise. She blushed slightly when she thought that of all the adults who had dealt with the teams she had assisted, this one was very different. Fudou didn't mind expressing his opinions and feelings, and the team responded with absolute trust in him. Would they be able to maintain it throughout the tournament?

Kudou blew the whistle to start the second half of the match.

Senguuji smiled arrogantly at the goal, ready to show why he was the best goalkeeper in the country among all the High School students. That is, if Gomaki allowed a single ball to reach the goal, Kirino's defense did not give him much confidence after the demonstration before.

Kurosaki also curled his lips, he was going to make everyone understand why he was the best choice as vice captain and not Kirino. Completely confident in his game. A gust of air blew his hair and his red eyes widened.

Before any of the teenagers could react, a storm of fire fell on the goal and the whistle was heard like a dire memory. The score changed to 6-3.

Everyone turned to see Gouenji in front of the goal, who closed his eyes with satisfaction and put his hands on his waist.

Mizukawa was pale and furious, she immediately faced her coach. "Why!?" He raised an eyebrow and she kicked the ground. “Why did you give Yamato hope with that monster out there!?”

Fudou looked at her seriously for a second and returned his eyes to the field. “Because at the end of the second half Senguuji will be able to stop him.”

“Impossible,” she said, perplexed. On the bench everyone murmured, Ibuki couldn't prevent a cretin smile from appearing on his lips, that was a hard lesson in humility for his fellow goalkeeper.

“Gouenji is the strongest striker, there is no way anyone can stop him,” Tsurugi said flatly.

“It's not true,” the coach replied, making everyone look at him strangely. “Ryuugo is stronger.”

“That's even worse!” Seto exclaimed, putting her hands to her head. “Damn Nishiki, how quiet he was about something so important.”

Namikawa raised his head upon hearing the girl and snorted.

“But Ryuugo isn't even the strongest striker in Inazuma Legend Japan,” Fudou smiled with a shake of his head.

"Who is him?" Makari asked, feeling a cold drop slide down his head.

“Utsunomiya.”

“I knew it,” Kishibe said, smiling widely, then his expression faltered. “I would have liked to be able to play at the same time as him.”

Everyone on the field felt dazed, and that didn't get any better when Someoka and Utsunomiya scored the 7th and 8th goals after each of the whistles. The score was 8-3 and Resistance Japan had not been able to touch the ball so far.

It was when Kidou scored the ninth that Senguuji fell to his knees on the grass completely overwhelmed. His coach looked at him sternly.

“I thought you said you weren't going to let us score a single goal. I don’t even have Kiyama’s shooting power.”

The goalkeeper opened his mouth and then looked at Ibuki who was crossing his arms, his vengeful smile had disappeared after the third goal and had been replaced by a sullen gesture that was actually his expression of concentration when trying to discover a flaw in the movements of the opponent.

Ten minutes into the game the score was 9-3.

Shindou covered his mouth with his hand, trembling. “Why do you allow it, Coach Fudou?”

“Hm? Exactly what?"

“That they humiliate your players like that!”

“When we face a stronger opponent it is normal for it to seem like everything is against us at the beginning, they have only been there for ten minutes, give them time. They will know how to turn the situation and Senguuji will stop Gouenji. I trust all of you.”

The Resistance Japan members in the match gulped, unable to understand how their coach could state something like that so honestly seeing what had just happened.

The game continued and during the next five minutes the team seemed to be able to create enough fluidity to get hold of the ball and keep it in their possession thanks to the passes between all of them, but every time they approached the rival zone the defenders rejected them without difficulty. It took them five more minutes to overcome the flames of Kurimatsu, the frozen field of Fubuki, the hurricane-like agility of Kazemaru and finally the impassable wall of Kabeyama. Hakuryuu shot on goal with White Hurricane and everyone screamed with joy in anticipation of a goal that never came. After the screen of smoke that appeared when the white-haired boy's Hissatsu collided with the goalkeeper's, they saw that Endou had the ball in his hands and was smiling happily.

“That was a phenomenal shot!” he complimented excitedly, throwing the ball to Kazemaru who dribbled past Kageyama and Matsukaze and passed to Kidou.

Kidou along with Someoka passed Kita and Kurosaki and reached the defenders' zone. Kirino breathed and put his hand to his side, he was exhausted but he knew he couldn't rest yet, he extended his hand and a dense mist rose in the field. To no avail, Kidou threw the ball up where Utsunomiya received it and passed it to Gouenji.

He smiled mercilessly and was engulfed in flames again. Gomaki jumped in front of him, invoking his Royal Enchantress White Queen kenshin, who was suffocated by the force of the shot and the defender fell against the goal, hitting his back. Senguuji also invoked his kenshin, but the result was the same and the ball dragged them to the net with a trail of fire.

Resistance Japan served and Yukimura began to rise, using White Blade to dribble past a surprised Utsunomiya and reach the rival midfield area, where he passed the ball to Kurosaki who was running after him, Gouenji blocked his path and the midfielder frowned when facing his former coach, the boy kicked the ball charging it with blue electrical energy and it divided into four spheres of electricity that surpassed the forward, sending the ball back to Yukimura.

His coach Fubuki stole the ball from the blue-haired boy and, unable to accept that situation, he went after him until he reached him and kicked the ball sideways even if he hurt himself by doing so. Kita caught the ball and passed it to Kageyama who looked at Hakuryuu. The captain nodded and they both screamed, jumping wrapped in a spiral of light and darkness energy, kicking the ball that came out with so much power that on that occasion Endou couldn't stop it.

Zero Magnum managed to score the first goal for the teenage team at that time and although they were losing by a wide margin, everyone celebrated as if that was a better victory than the victory itself.

The ovation among the public was greater than any of the previous ones, as no one doubted the feat of scoring a goal against Endou Mamoru, who had become the most beloved goalkeeper in the country. Genda smiled in his seat and murmured to the man next to him. “I would have stopped him.”

He opened his dark eyes, one covered by blonde bangs, and laughed loudly. "Whatever you say."

“You offend me Sakiyama, Henmi, tell your husband that I could have stopped that shot.”

The second man's laughter was more than enough response.

“I do think you could have stopped him, Genda,” a man with long gray hair said honestly. “You're used to my shots.”

“Thank you, Haizaki, you are a good friend.”

“Do you know who else could have stopped him?” Sakiyama mocked. “Shimerigawa.”

The entire old Teikoku team that was gathered together watching the game began to laugh loudly until tears ran down their faces.

Inazuma Legend Japan responded to that goal by attacking more fiercely than ever, but Resistance Japan was burning with momentum again and Mahoro cut off Utsunomiya's advance, passing the ball to Kirino who managed to get the ball to Matsukaze. But when the boy tried to dribble Kazemaru, he stole the ball from him and the adults' push began again.

The vice-captain used Deep Mist again and Mahoro added his hand to the ground, creating a huge spider web hidden in the mist and stopping Someoka who laughed heartily. Mahoro caught the ball and shot, with a bunch of ghostly lights.
“Why did you shoot? You’re going to make us lose the ball!” Kurosaki shouted indignantly at such a stupid move.

“I didn't shoot to score,” he replied and the others saw Yukimura jump to grab the ball and add his own power using Phanter Blizzard.

“A chain shot,” Minamisawa muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow.

They gasped and then kicked angrily when Endou stopped the shot and passed the ball to Fubuki who effortlessly dribbled past the three forwards.

Fubuki, Kazemaru and Kidou reached the end of the rival field after exhausting the players, where they passed the ball to Gouenji who jumped in a whirlwind of fire once again.

Gomaki, jumped in its path using Vanishing Cut to resist the attack, even when the Hissatsu failed he stood stoically in the middle of the goal with his chest flared where the ball rotated creating a burn. Senguuji's heart was going very fast while the image of his dear friend protecting him fiercely was recorded on his retina. Protecting him and the team.

Then something happened that not even Fudou expected, Gomaki, desperate when he felt that the push of the ball was beginning to overcome him, began to shine and that glow took on a gigantic shape of a creature on four legs. When it dissipated on the playing field, there was a huge white triceratops who stopped the ball with his head and roared with victory.

The dinosaur counterattacked, charging at Gouenji who was sent flying by the push and fell on his butt to the grass while Gomaki handed the ball to Kirino before transforming again and falling on his face completely exhausted.

“Protect that ball, vice-captain,” he asked breathlessly.

Kirino blushed and nodded, when Kidou and Kazemaru wanted to cut him off, he used Melody Wave, surpassing both men and the ball reached Minamisawa, who swallowed saliva.

On the bench Shindou gasped as he watched his friend use that musical technique that he himself had helped him create and that had always been a sign of their bond. He put his hands on his chest, his eyes clouded with tears looking at the playing field. Kariya shouted encouraging his friend.

Fubuki appeared in front of Minamisawa and tried to stop him with Snow Angel and he threw himself to the side to avoid the ice crystals that froze Matsukaze, who was following, by mistake. The midfielder tripped on the grass and fell on his face, getting up just in time to jump with the ball and prevent Kurimatsu from stealing the ball.

For some reason that he did not understand, he suddenly found himself facing Kabeyama, the wall. Why had he reached the rival goal? The great defender began to lift the rock wall for which he had become a defender admired throughout the world and Minamisawa felt a pang of panic. He couldn't let them take the ball away from him after the efforts of all his teammates!

A series of psychedelic mirrors with electric blue and light blue neon lights began to emerge from the ground surrounding Kabeyama as if he were trapped in a Mirror Maze and Minamisawa passed by him without him being able to detect the boy because wherever he looked he could only see his own image.

There was an exclamation of surprise throughout the stadium, although no one was more surprised than the player himself who didn't know where he had gotten that technique from, but it didn't matter, they had to score a goal. They had to shorten the score difference.

Yukimura arrived to receive the ball, and shot on goal again with Panther Blizzard.

Resistance Japan shouted in frustration, Endou had once again stopped the shot. Kazemaru connected the pass and began to go up, until he met Matsukaze who on that occasion managed to cut his progress and recover the ball. He passed it to Kurosaki who protected him from Fubuki and Kurimatsu and passed it to Kita.

Kita reached Yukimura who seemed ready to try a third time with his signature shot. “Wait, don't do it! Collaborate with Kageyama, you both can use Black Dawn.”

The striker looked at the orange-haired in confusion and furrowed his bushy eyebrows, but nodded and called out to his partner.

“Kageyama, now!”

"Roger!"

The boy ran, imbuing the ball with a lethal dark energy that shot forward, Yukimura jumped with that force and kicked the ball from an absolute black who, before the roar of the public, scored a goal again.

Yukimura fell to the ground sweating and panting, surprised when Kageyama jumped up to hug him so hard it knocked him backwards into the grass.

On the bench everyone celebrated happily and Fudou smiled, looking at Senguuji who was furrowing his eyebrows without celebrating, knowing that he too had to prove himself on a par with his teammates and knowing from the way Mahoro, Kirino and Gomaki touched their sides that he shouldn’t put more burden on their shoulders.

The goalkeeper was still amazed when Kirino came out to stop Someoka despite his exhaustion, Gomaki and Mahoro ran to meet him as well.

A colossal blue dragon appeared behind Someoka and a blue aura surrounded the ball that shot out with deadly energy. Kidou opened his mouth, he knew that his husband had told them not to hold back but that was perhaps going too far.

The three defenders tried to minimize the power of the dragon, because they knew they could not stop it, yet the shot passed through them, powerful.

“You can stop it, Senguuji!” Fudou's voice shouted from the bench with complete confidence.

Senguuji's light eyes widened in shock, but he felt something warm in his chest and knew that, indeed, he could stop it.

He wouldn’t allow the ball to reach the goal.

"Of course I can!" he roared proudly, throwing himself forward and hitting the ground with force, from which an energy barrier appeared.

The pinkish energy shield took the shape of a dragon that covered the goal, creating small explosions of white and pink around it until the blue dragon-powered ball stopped and shattered. Senguuji jumped to grab the ball and the residual force pushed him against the right post where he grunted in pain but smiled satisfied, raising his hand where he had the ball and rising to his feet amidst an unprecedented roar. He heard applause, shouts of victory and cheers, but they seemed muffled, because in the midst of that commotion he could perfectly hear his coach letting out a soft and almost imperceptible proud laugh.

He smiled too and threw the ball to Kirino who started to go up the field.

“You were impressive, Yamato!” complimented a shocked Gomaki, breathing heavily, he and Mahoro helping their friend stay on his feet until he could regain control of his legs.

“I'm not the only one, what happened before? How did you become a triceratops?”

“I don't know,” the blushing defender confessed. “All I know is that I wanted to protect you.”

Senguuji also blushed and hid his face in his arm pretending to have to wipe away the sweat.

“It seems that you have awakened your Soul,” Mahoro explained. “Coach Kidou said we would be able to do it by being together with those who already have one.”

The second half was caming to an end without either team scoring again. Resistance Japan was clearly at the end of its rope but they kept fighting until the very end. It was with just a few minutes left that Endou burst out of the goal and Fudou lost his color.

“Endou go back to the goal immediately!”

he shouted furiously, knowing what he intended to do. “Yuuto, stop him!”

Kidou also watched in horror as his captain left the goal and went out to meet him. “Endou, not that technique. There's no need!"

But the coach was hit by the man like a truck and fell on his butt to the grass with a grunt.

Gouenji and Utsunomiya went out to meet Endou and Fudou from the bench shouted to his players with his heart in his throat.

“Don't try to stop that shot! Get out of his way!” He gritted his teeth furiously. “I'm going to rip the heads off of those three.”

The managers and those who were not playing at that time looked at him scared.

"What’s with this?" Seto asked uneasily.

“That airhead is going to use Jet Steam, your teammates don't have the strength now to stop him, not after exhausting themselves for the entire second half.”

Amemiya was scared, seeng their coach jumping into the field just in case. “I hope they don’t try to stop him, he could hurt someone.”

Even though Fudou's shouts were not clearly heard, Utsunomiya understood that his friend was trying to stop them and he stopped.

“Hey wait,” he said, calling for Endou and Gouenji.

But they didn't hear him amidst the clamor on the playing field and they began to turn to hit the ball.

"Wait!" Utsunomiya said, jumping on Gouenji, he raised his eyebrows in perplexity and then saw Fudou's furious face and Kidou approaching.

But Endou did not stop and kicked the ball that already carried part of Gouenji's energy and that in the absence of Utsunomiya decompensated with an electric explosion.

The ball shot out and everyone gasped when they saw that Matsukaze, who had been running after Endou all that time, jumped in the middle.

Fudou didn't even scream while running to arrive on time, he just put his hand to his face with the most violent growl anyone had ever heard from him, even though his record was high.

The coach ran faster and so did Kidou, Matsukaze was thrown several meters into the air by the explosion and began to fall at high speed. Fudou jumped and caught him before he fell, but the teenager was screaming and crying in pain.

Senguuji saw how that ball of energy was approaching him and stretched out his hands to stop it, until someone grabbed him and pushed him out of the goal. The goalkeeper sat up furious, but when he saw Kidou with his ponytail undone and his red eyes glaring, he realized the seriousness of what had happened. Even so, he was frozen when he turned and saw the goal completely destroyed and the ground holed behind where the ball had passed until it broke the wall of the stadium.

"Are you alright?" Kidou asked, helping him up, Gomaki, Kirino and Mahoro immediately came to help too. He nodded and Kidou grunted, turning his back on them to approach his husband and Matsukaze who was still crying.

The end-of-match whistle was accompanied by a crushing silence.

“Where does it hurt, Matsukaze?” Fudou asked, completely livid.

He pointed to his leg and the coach narrowed his eyes when he saw that there was a huge internal bruise on his leg.

“Yuuto, I will go to the hospital immediately with Matsukaze. Stay with the others for the press round and… everything else.”

“Wait, Akio. I’ll go, you’re his coach.”

“Yes, I am the coach. And for that reason, as a coach, I will go to the hospital with Matsukaze, I leave you in charge of everything, especially that Endou does not come near me in a few hours or I’ll be sent to prison.”

They put Matsukaze onto a stretcher and Fudou left with him after quickly saying goodbye to everyone else.

In the Resistance Japan group there was a bad feeling, a bitter anxiety, a dark pulse. They lined up to say goodbye to the public after the game, and although they applauded loudly and cheered the team fiercely, it was impossible to completely extinguish their anxiety about such an unpleasant ending.

The teams entered the stadium leaving Kudou in charge of the Closing. Kidou accompanied Resistance Japan to their locker room, once he closed the door they collapsed.

Amemiya and Kirino were especially worried and the former's eyes were shining with the effort not to cry.

Seto, Kariya, Kageyama, Ibuki, Tsurugi and Hakuryuu were silent and their faces were dark.

The others, while concerned, were not unusually affected.

And finally there was Shindou. Shindou noticed something inside him twitching in a completely wrong and worrying way. That was not normal, he had a problem, a very serious problem. Despite that tense situation, he was jealous. Jealous of the way Kirino furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips, jealous of the way Kirino's eyes looked desperately at his second coach, jealous of his trembling voice asking about his friend, distraught for Matsukaze. He breathed, trying to calm that internal eruption that was so unlikeable and so selfish.

“Do you think Tenma will be okay?” Amemiya cried, biting his lower lip, leaving a deep mark on the flesh. “It would be horrible if the person he admires most in the world injured him in the exhibition game right before the tournament.”

“He'll be okay, Matsukaze is strong,” Hakuryuu comforted, grabbing the shoulder of the orange haired who nodded sadly.

Minamisawa shrugged. “It would be very ironic if the player chosen by the Football Federation had to leave the tournament because of an injury caused by the representative of the Football Federation.” Kita looked at him exasperated and slapped him on the back of the head with his open hand. Minamisawa went to protest but when he saw Kidou's warning look he raised his shoulders. “Okay, okay, I'll shut up.”

They were finishing showering and dressing in the team's new tracksuit when Kidou's phone rang and he picked up the call. They immediately knew the news was not good.

The man waited until Kurosaki came out of the shower, who raised his eyebrows surprised by the dense silence of the locker room, to look at his team and say gravely.

“Matsukaze has broken his leg and has to have emergency surgery.”

The news was devastating.

Kariya slapped Amemiya on the arm. “Next time keep your mouth shut, doomsayer.”

Chapter Text

Fudou hung up the call with a worried sigh and entered the hospital again to go to the waiting room in front of the surgical pavilion where several more people were waiting with impatient and sad faces. The coach approached two of the adults and sat beside them in silence, fingers intertwined, chin in the crook of his thumbs, elbows on his knees. Ten minutes later his position had completely changed and he was sitting with his legs open, arms crossed and leaning back. Ten more minutes and he was cross-legged, sitting sideways and tapping his foot impatiently.

None of the other adults said anything, but he was starting to make everyone very nervous, unable to sit in the same position like a hyperactive child.

The woman next to him sobbed from time to time, with a handkerchief in her hand and her eyes swollen. Next to her was a man who remained immovable although with red eyes and a devastated expression. 

They were Matsukaze's parents, who had gone to the hospital following their son. And it was obvious that this was not the outcome they expected when traveling from Okinawa to watch the Japanese national team Selection Ceremony. Fudou had apologized to them as soon as Matsukaze entered the operating room; But they believed that they should thank him for his quick intervention because if the man had not caught their son in the fall, he could have gotten a much worse injury or even broken his neck. The green-eyed man tried to light the mood with a consoling smile that he himself was far from feeling, but inside him that sting of guilt continued. What did it say about him as a coach that he would have allowed one of his boys to be injured right after starting? He clenched his fists with fury, once again feeling that instinctive and savage need to rip off Endou's head.

An especially loud sob brought Fudou out of his thoughts and he turned around in the chair he had once again changed positions in. Mrs. Matsukaze covered her eyes with her handkerchief, visibly embarrassed by crying in public but unable to help it. He bit his lower lip without knowing how to address the boy's mother. Dealing with the parents of his players was the most difficult part of his job, because deep down inside he was still suspicious of the older adults he didn't know. 

His green eyes slid over the woman's features and his lips pursed. He knew that the fourteen-year-old Fudou would have said with great sarcasm that it was no big deal, that an injury was not the end and that the boy would play again, just as he did with Fubuki when he had to leave Inazuma Japan due to his injury. But the Fudou of that moment, twenty-seven years old and father of two boys, even if one of them was not biological, would have torn off the head of anyone who had dared to say something like that to him if it were his children who broke a leg. 

“Matsukaze is a very strong boy,” he whispered, resting his hand on the back of the woman who looked up. “Before we know it he will be playing football again with a big smile.”

She wiped her eyes and nodded, responding in a broken voice. “Thank you, Coach Fudou. I know it will be like that, but…” She squeezed the handkerchief tightly, lowering her head. “Tenma was so excited about the tournament, it was a great event for him, an opportunity.”

Her husband nodded without saying anything. 

Fudou cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, what would they say if they knew that Matsukaze was not among the initial selection? He rubbed his eyes with exhaustion, more mental than physical, a gesture more typical of his husband than his, although with the passing of the years and their coexistence he had also begun to do it. “When you are a professional athlete it is inevitable to get injured, I myself broke my leg once and continued playing on professional teams. Matsukaze will too, and in a few years he will forget the frustration of not being able to play for a while now. He may miss this tournament, but there will be many others for him in the future and perhaps even more important ones for him.”

The man smiled at their encouragement and nodded gratefully. “It's true, besides, who knows? Maybe he can rejoin the team before the tournament ends, there are months until August.”

The coach shook his head. “That is very hasty, the most important thing is that he recovers well from his fracture. A fracture like his can take up to six months of recovery and he certainly cannot immediately begin with a high-impact sport.” The boy's parents were immediately grieved and he stifled a snort, even though it hurt them he couldn't allow them to have false hopes. “What I can offer you if you agree is to take him with the team as a manager so that he does not lose the bond with the team, obviously he would not be a real manager but I can give him small jobs that he can do to feel useful. Yuuto and I would take care of his rehabilitation.”

“That would be a kind gesture toward him,” the newly hopeful adults agreed.

Ten minutes later Fudou decided to get up to go to another waiting room where there were several vending machines and stretch his legs. Everyone waiting, except Matsukaze's parents, silently thanked him for leaving.

He had just selected a brick of strawberry milk to drink from one of the machines when he heard someone calling him and saw in the reflection of the glass Someoka and Fubuki approaching him with great seriousness.

“How is Matsukaze? Are there news?” The pink-haired man asked with concern reflected on his kind face, grabbing his friend's shoulder to reassure him that he was there for him.

And Fudou smiled widely, he adored Someoka, adored all his friends, with all his heart. “No more news since he went into surgery, but it’s been less than an hour so it's still early. It is not such a serious injury but there has been displacement and they must align the bones correctly, which is why he needed surgery.”

The couple nodded in understanding and Fubuki put his hands on his waist in determination. “An injury is nothing for those who want to play football professionally, this is not the end, is it? You yourself opened my eyes years ago.”

“Exactly,” Someoka said, buying a Nespresso from the drinking machine. “It's not the end of the road, just a small side trail that eventually returns to the main path.”

Fudou let out a soft laugh. “You say that now, but at the time you didn't find it very funny, Yuuto was about to hit me,” he remembered fondly. 

The pink-haired shrugged. “And when did he not want to jump on you? There was so much tension between you that if someone had lit a lighter you would have exploded.”

The defender stifled a laugh and looked at him in good humor. “Indeed, sexual tension.”

The three laughed for a moment before the forward spoke again. “I suppose you have already guessed it, but I have come not only as a friend of yours but on behalf of the Football Federation. I figured you wouldn't want to see Endou and that I would be more supportive than Kudou or any of the others."

“How well you know me, Ryuugo.”

He huffed, bringing one of his hands to his friend's head and ruffling his brown hair. “We have been friends for ages.”

“Although Ryuugo also wanted to hit you when he met you,” Fubuki said mockingly, with a cretinous glint in his turquoise eyes.

“Pft, and who didn’t?” the coach responded.

Someoka and Fubuki came over to greet Matsukaze's parents, but the three men mostly stayed in the other room where they could talk without disturbing anyone. 

An hour and a half later, the red light in Matsukaze’s operating room turned off and a nurse came out calling the boy's family. Fudou approached his parents and the man in green explained, “Everything went well, we have aligned the tibia and fibula and left an immobilization cast, now we will move Matsukaze to an observation room until he wakes up and then he can go to his private room. Any questions?”

Fudou left the hospital to call his husband, but he did not accept the call and he assumed that they were press round. So he left a message explaining the situation and asking Kidou to call him when he was done. Walking past Someoka and Fubuki to a different waiting room. 

When Fudou entered Matsukaze's private room after knocking softly he was greeted by a wide smile that did not reach the teenager's blue eyes. “Coach Fudou! I am so glad to see you.”

He walked over to the bed and tilted his head. “How are you?”

“Well, I thought it would hurt more but I don't feel anything,” he laughed immediately. “I guess it’s because of the medication.”

“Can I talk to Matsukaze alone for a moment?” He asked, looking at the other two adults who nodded and left, closing the door behind them. Fudou sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and looked sternly at his player, pinching his player's cheek. “Who do you think you are trying to deceive with that faker smile than Charquaza?”

“What are you saying, Coach Fudou?” the boy asked, stifling a whimper.

The man sat next to him and stroked his hair. “Cry, you want to cry, don’t you? You don’t need to act strong and like everything is fine in front of me.”

The teenager's eyebrows trembled on his friendly face and his blue eyes immediately filled with tears. Fudou hugged him and he clung to his back crying loudly into his chest. 

“I-I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry coach. I should have listened to you… I was, hic, I was so exc-excited about the game that I didn't… And now… Now I'm not going to be able to play again.”

The man's hand comfortingly stroked his head and he replied calmly. “You'll be able to play again, Matsukaze. You should have no doubts about it, but you will have to be patient until that time comes and comply with the healing and rehabilitation time.” 

“Will I be able to?” he hiccupped.

"Of course. I broke my leg once too, you know? All of us who are in pro leagues have had injuries. Even Endou once broke his arm because he was stup… I mean, because he was reckless.”

Matsukaze separated with eyes full of hope, and tears. “So I can come back to the team and play in the FFI?”

The adult pursed his lips seriously. “No, Matsukaze.” The boy lowered his head with a sob. “Not in this one, but you will be able to play many other tournaments, I can assure you of that. I know that at sixteen years old it seems like something like this is the end of the world, but it isn't. And you have a promising career ahead of you.”

There was a moment of silence until the teenager cried again. “I was so excited to see my friends again and play with them… Even Shindou came back and I hadn't seen him in two years… Just being with them… I've missed everyone so much this year in Okinawa.”

“I can offer you a deal, but I need you to promise me that you will not be impatient no matter how strong the temptation is and that you will take all my orders very seriously, the first time you disobey that deal would end.”
Matsukaze looked at him curiously. “What deal?”

“Once you can walk again, in 4 or 6 weeks, you can return to the team as manager.” 

That news seemed to once again breathe joy into the boy who looked shocked and excited at his coach. "Oh really? Would you let me come back as manager?” His eyes glistened with very different tears, until he suddenly went rigid. “Won't I be a nuisance for everyone? Even if I can walk I will have to go with a cast and possibly crutches, I won't be of any help…”

Fudou cupped his face to wipe away his tears and smiled confidently at him. “Not at all, you can help us by running Resistance Japan's social media. The Football Federation wants us to be updating up to date but neither Yuuto nor I are very skilled with those things.  You would do us a great favor if you agree to do it.”

"Of course! Leave it in my hands!” the boy said with great enthusiasm. “I'm very good at it, Aoi taught me and I have many followers on my Inagram account. People love me a lot, I always get a lot of comments, even from other countries. The other day a prince from an exotic country spoke to me saying that he wanted to be my friend and that he would love for me to sponsor his business. And also once the captain of a ship told me that he wanted to take me on a cruise if I would help him fix the ship that had been destroyed in a storm.”

Fudou turned pale, opening his mouth in shock. “Matsukaze… you know those are scams, don’t you? You should never, ever, ever send money to a person you don't know, much less if they write to you asking for it.”

"What? Scams? Weren't they people who wanted to be friends with me?”

“Tell me you didn’t send them money.”

"No." Fudou sighed in relief, Matsukaze put the pads of his index fingers together timidly. “My parents forbade me from touching my bank account without their supervision since I once gave a girl from Okinawa 100 thousand yen to help her sick cat and Nozaki discovered that said cat did not exist.” 

The man raised his hand to his forehead and slowly and exasperatedly lowered it down his face. “Geez, you are too innocent for this world, Matsukaze.”

It was already night when the Resistance Japan coach arrived at the Holy Road Hotel after getting out of Fubuki's car, from which the couple said goodbye to him with a honk, and passed through the enormous glass doors almost lugging his feet from exhaustion. A mental exhaustion from having had to deal with Endou, Gouenji and Utsunomiya who came that afternoon to apologize for what happened to both the boy and him. Not committing multiple homicide had been not only a great effort but also a credit to Someoka who had to stay very attentive to his friends to prevent any disaster from occurring. 

Upon entering the lobby, he realized that on the sofas and armchairs in the living room next to it, his entire team was waiting with Kidou and Tsunami, and when they saw him arrive, they immediately stood up. The faces of all of them were lined with expectation and concern, although in some they were much more marked than in others.

Amemiya and Kirino immediately jumped out of their seats and were the first to reach the man, even before their own husband or the captain whom the first pushed in his race. Kidou, however, carelessly pushed them aside to kiss his partner before allowing them to bombard him with questions regarding his friend.

“How is Tenma?” the orange haired asked with red eyes and a quivering lip. Next to him, Kirino also seemed to be dying of worry and was wringing his hands.

“He’s fine,” Fudou calmed flatly. “When I left he had already fallen asleep, thanks to the medication he has no pain.”

“Yes, but…” Kirino murmured, wringing his hands guiltily again, behind him the rest of the team approached, surrounding them. “How is he feeling?”

Seto approached. “Matsukaze really wanted to be part of the team.”

The coach rubbed his chin and looked at his players regretfully. “That's more complicated. No one is happy about breaking a leg, is it? But I think I managed to cheer him up by telling him that once he walks, he can come back.”

That created a little agitation in the team and Yukimura even clicked his tongue in annoyance. Kariya looked completely outraged as he croaked, “Are you going to let him play with a broken leg?”

Everyone else looked at him with exasperation, even those who knew their coach the least, Namikawa cracked his knuckles wondering if his teammate deserved a hit for that comment. The man, on the other hand, laughed. “It could be a new way of playing, using crutches to hit rivals. But no, Kariya. Matsukaze would not return as a player but as a manager, and since he will not be able to move much I have offered him to take over the team's social networks.”

The group gasped with a murmur of approval or horror.

“That's a good idea,” Kirino commented with relief. “That way he will continue to be part of the team and at the same time, feel useful.”

“Good idea if you want him to put our faces all over social media saying we love football,” Senguuji grunted, rubbing his eyes.

“That sounds like a horrible idea,” Hakuryuu observed. “In any case, I'm glad he’s as well as one can be with a broken leg.”
“Better those photos than the horrible edits he makes by cropping photos,” Ibuki snorted. “He once did one of the two of us that was part of his collection of Earth Eleven edits. He used cutouts of fried chicken, basketballs, radio cassettes and gold chains, on top of which he added a phrase from a terrible rap. I was made fun of at school for weeks.”

“Oh, yes,” Minamisawa murmured with a mischievous smirk. “It was epic, that work of art was the best thing Matsukaze has done in his life, that alone made it worth following him on Inagram. I think I still have it saved in my gallery.”

“I want to see that,” everyone asked immediately. Although some of them vaguely remembered seeing the edit at some point without paying much attention, except for Tsurugi who had been one of those who had laughed at his friend the most. As he had the right since he was his friend.

"No! Minamisawa, I'm going to rip your head off,” the red-faced goalkeeper growled in embarrassment.

“Why so much fuss? I think Matsukaze captured your essence very well, Mune,” Kita mocked, resting his head on the boy's arm, making his boyfriend pout in annoyance while Minamisawa finally found the said edit and everyone laughed loudly, including Fudou and Tsunami.

The coach put his hand on his waist. "Don't worry, everything Matsukaze wants to publish must go through Yuuto's or me."

“Oh, thank goodness,” Kurosaki sighed. “We are saved.”

Kidou huffed with exhaustion, but after that there seemed to be a general good mood among the group.

Only Yukimura and Shindou did not seem to share the general relief. With the first one unusually sullen and the second constantly clenching his teeth trying to control that feeling that had been making him bitter all day since the accident. His red eyes narrowed as he saw that Kirino seemed to breathe with relief and clenched his teeth even harder, he didn't understand, he didn't understand what was happening to him. He didn't notice that Tsurugi was silently looking at him and shaking his head slightly.

“Coach Fudou,” Kageyama called softly, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. “Would it be possible for us to see Matsukaze before going to Ozu? I wish I could say goodbye to him in person.”

Amemiya turned to his teammate, opening his eyes wide. "I'm not leaving without saying goodbye to Tenma!"

Yukimura wrinkled his nose even more and clicked his tongue again. Beside him Kurosaki and Mahoro looked at him confused. 

“Are you okay, Yukimura?” Makari approached him and touched his arm as a show of support, quickly sensing the problem since they had known each other for years.

“I'm fine,” he responded curtly, ducking his head and moving to another part of the group. The green-haired pressed his lips under the scarf that hid them and sighed heavily, sliding his black eyes from Yukimura to Amemiya with concern, while Mahoro grabbed his shoulder and asked him something in a whisper in his ear, so he shook his head.

Gomaki and Mizukawa looked confused at the blue-haired boy who stood behind them with an expression worthy of a murderer.

The girl pulled Gomaki's jacket to lean towards her and whispered in his ear with a mischievous glint in her dark green eyes. “I think we should take a photo of Yukimura right now to let Matsukaze use it for team publicity.”

The defender with the braid stifled a laugh and jabbed his finger under the ribs of the girl who complained and slapped him away. “Don't be a gremlin, Minori.”

Senguuji watched them, narrowing his light blue eyes and pursing his lips before turning to the adult who spoke again.

“Calm down,” the coach asked tiredly. “I'm planning to go say goodbye to Matsukaze, don't worry. Tomorrow at nine in the morning we will go to the hospital before leaving for Ozu.”

Almost everyone murmured with satisfaction at the news.

“We should buy him a nice bouquet of flowers,” Mahoro immediately proposed. “This way he will have a memory of us while staying in the hospital.”

“It's a nice idea, there are many flowers that can be used to convey our good wishes and that combine well aesthetically,” said Makari, rubbing his chin with interest, since flowers were one of his passions along with football.

"Yeah! And a card to wish him a good recovery,” Kishibe added. “We can all sign with a small dedication.”

“If we all sign with a dedication we're going to need a card the size of Namikawa's head,” Kurosaki observed, raising an eyebrow meanly. 

“Hey!” said the appellee, rubbing his head. “I don't have such a big head, it's just that my hairstyle is very dimensional.”

“So dimensional that last year Hamano had to wear an eyepatch for weeks after you ‘dimensioned’ him right in the eye,” Minamisawa scoffed. "Kurama couldn't stop laughing at that."
Namikawa wanted to jump on his friend's neck, but was stopped by Mahoro and Hakuryuu while the others laughed loudly. Except Kidou, Yukimura and Shindou.

Tsunami rubbed his head then. “What time do you want us to leave tomorrow, Akio?”

“To be at the hospital at nine we must leave the hotel at eight,” Kidou answered for him, then grabbed his husband by the waist impatiently. “Let's go to dinner now, we were waiting for you to arrive, no one wanted to start eating without you.”

“Oh,” he murmured, moved. “I adore you, boys and girls.” He stretched out his arms, catching Kariya and Minamisawa and hugging them affectionately. They complained with red cheeks. “Let's go to the restaurant, the only thing that entered my stomach since breakfast was a brick of strawberry milk.” 

“Actually Yuuto has intimidated the team so much that none of them have dared to say anything,” Hakuyuu confessed in his father's ear.

“It's true,” Kageyama confirmed. “His stomach was growling like a monster, but when Kishibe suggested that he should eat something, Yuuto almost ate him.

“Like a monster,” Tsurugi whispered in the captain's ear and they both put on a knowing smirk.

Fudou opened his eyes wide and laughed, grateful for that anecdote to restore his spirits.

The group moved towards the hotel restaurant for dinner in good spirits after hearing the news about their teammate, sitting around a gigantic round table as they began to chat amongst themselves. That day they had been quite silent once they had returned from the press round, impatiently awaiting any news and the return of their coach.

Fudou sat down taking the menu. “Where is Akira?” 

“Your mother took him home after the match. I have talked with her to pick them up before leaving for Ozu. I knew that you would want to go to the hospital with everyone first so we’ll meet them at ten.”

“You're the best,” he sighed, placing a kiss on Kidou’s lips. Some of the players whistled at the sight, but Hakuryuu rubbed his eyes. “You're going to get bored of whistling if you do it every time they kiss.” 

Kageyama next to him almost choked when he took a sip from his glass of water at that moment, Tsurugi patted him on the back to help him breathe while he nodded agreeing with the white-haired.

The next day they left the Holy Road Hotel at eight in the morning with their suitcases already packed for the long trip and wearing the team's tracksuit. Tsunami stopped the RJ Caravan in front of a flower shop and the group of Amemiya, Kirino, Seto, Kageyama, Mahoro, Makari and Kishibe went down with Kidou to buy a beautiful bouquet of flowers in which they mixed sunflowers, carnations, daisies and pink tulips.

“You don't want to go with them, Coach Fudou?” Kurosaki asked, puzzled from his seat. 

“No, I have a love-hate relationship with flowers,” he huffed, crossing his arms and a wrinkle appearing on his forehead.

Tsunami turned around in amusement from his seat. “Is it because of what happened ten years ago?”

“Shut your mouth, Jou,” the man growled, punching him in the arm while his friend laughed.

"What happened?" Minamisawa wanted to know, looking up from the conversation with Kurama whom he was texting on his cell phone and to whom he had sent the edit of Ibuki made by Matsukaze the night before for a laugh.

"None of your business."

Although with that, of course, he managed to further pique the interest of his players who began to insist that he tell them what happened, without success.

Shortly after the group went up again, Makari carried the bouquet delicately in his hands and his eyes shone softly, although only one could be seen because the other was covered by hair.

“What a beautiful bouquet,” Kita observed from his seat. “Although I don't know if Matsukaze will appreciate it because he can't kick it like a ball.”

“You should have chosen black and white flowers, like a football ball,” Mizukawa laughed mischievously.

“Tulips!” the coach hissed, his eyes wide, looking at the bouquet with hatred. “Couldn't you choose any damn flower other than tulips!?”

“Don't you like tulips, Coach Fudou?” Seto asked, surprised.

He wrinkled his nose even more, moving away from Makari and the bouquet in his seat. “Let's just say I had enough tulips for the rest of my life.”
Kidou snorted looking at his husband and placed a hand on his cheek, caressing him gently to calm him down. “Easy, Akio. It’s just a bouquet of flowers.”

“We have chosen flowers that express our good wishes towards Matsukaze,” Makari explained, sitting next to Yukimura. “‘Get well soon, everything will be fine,’ that’s what this bouquet says.”

“I chose the sunflowers!” Amemiya exclaimed, smiling. “Sunflower is my favorite flower!”

“And Kageyama and I have chosen this card for all of us to sign!” Kishibe held up a card with a funny drawing of a dog with a cone on its neck.

“Why did you choose that card with the pile of existing cards to wish for a good recovery?” Tsurugi asked, wrinkling his nose. As a dog lover, especially wolves, he felt slightly offended by its design. 

“Do you feel attacked because you have ever had to wear a cone of shame?” Namikawa mocked immediately. “You surely had fleas, didnt’ you?”

“Of course not.” The first glared indignant at the second who was laughing provocatively.

“I think it's a funny card,” Kishibe defended with a pout.

“It's horrendous,” Mizukawa denied. “It looks like something for a little boy.”

Gomaki laughed. "Appropriate."

“The important thing is the message you want to convey, not the card,” Kageyama complained. “And it's not ugly, it's an adorable dog, look at it, it's sad because it has to wear a cone of shame.”

“This,” the other purple-haired nodded, grabbing the other’s arm.
“So what you want to convey is that Matsukaze should wear a cone of shame?” Senguuji asked, shrugging his shoulders and beginning to make a mocking grin as he imagined the other boy with said cone.

“Appropriate,” the white-haired defender repeated.

Kirino sat next to Hakuryuu shaking his head. “Poor Matsukaze.”

“Be thankful that it was Hikaru and Kishibe who chose the card, or Matsukaze ran the risk of finding himself with a card of a Chihuahua in a party hat saying 'goodbye'.”

“That card is a legendary meme on the Internet,” Kariya said from behind, since he had been the one who had insisted that they should find one just like it and that his friend would find it a funny joke.

The caravan set off again and the card passed through the hands of everyone who signed with greater or lesser enthusiasm. When it was Shindou's turn, the last one to sign, he took the pen and rubbed his eyes. That night he had slept very poorly and felt a strong burning in his chest, it was an almost feverish sensation. In addition, he constantly felt an uncomfortable itch in his throat and not even a couple of glasses of water had relieved it. Along with the feeling of frustration of not being able to get close to others, especially Kirino, as he wanted after their separation he was beginning to feel really anxious.

“You have very elegant handwriting, Shindou,” Seto commented from the seat next to him, watching intently as he signed the card. “Worthy of a pianist!”

Kirino poked his head out of his seat and smiled. “It's true, Shindou has always had beautiful calligraphy, the teachers used to scold me and tell me that since we spent so much time together I should learn from him.”

“Do you have bad handwriting?” Gomaki was surprised. “Must be a pink-haired thing, huh, Yamato?” Beside him, Senguuji blushed and snorted. “Yamato has such bad handwriting that at Dragonlink we joked that instead of being a football player he should be a doctor.”

“Doctor or logo designer for Heavy Metal bands,” Mizukawa sneered, narrowing her eyes and showing her small, white teeth in a smile of pure evil.

“Kirino and Senguuji do really have terrible handwriting,” Kurosaki commented with a disgusted face, taking the card and looking at the names on it.

“Well, if Kirino's handwriting seems bad to you, wait until you see his drawings,” Kariya mocked mercilessly. 

“Hey!” the pink-haired defender cried. “They're not that bad.”

Kageyama sighed, biting his lower lip in pain. “I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but your drawings are a crime against humanity, Kirino.”

The pink-haired wanted to complain again, but Hakuryuu grabbed his shoulder and looked at him seriously. “You must recognize when a cause is lost, Kirino. Tsurugi showed me a drawing of yours and… it would be appropriate for a horror museum.”

Kirino looked indignantly at Tsurugi who shrugged his shoulders. “Many geniuses aren’t understood; but I value your art. Don't listen to them, you have talent, that drawing was a perfect scene of war, dismemberment and beheadings between fire-breathing monsters.”
"What!? What drawing are you talking about? I don’t draw those things!”

“He refers to the drawing you made of the trip to the beach with your friends when you were in third year at Raimon,” explained Kariya, who was the only one who knew the entire context. “The fire-breathing monster was Nishiki and his ponytail.”

The team laughed when they heard this, but Minamisawa had to cover his mouth from the violent attack of laughter, because he knew the 'artistic' talent of the other boy who was pouting in irritation at that moment.

“What is a real surprise is that Namikawa has such beautiful handwriting,” Kita suddenly observed, pointing to his name, leaning on the back of Kurosaki's seat, who was still holding the card.

“My calligraphy must be worthy to write about the dazzling beauty of my goddess Seto,” he immediately responded, puffing out his chest proudly.

“Well, Seto writes as if she had hooves instead of fingers, even a donkey would have written better,” Minamisawa immediately mocked. Both the girl and Namikawa were offended, the forward managed to pinch the midfielder who grunted irritably. “You will have the handwriting of an angel but your character is that of an ape.”

“Another one with pink hair, or similar, I think the theory is gaining strength,” Amemiya said with a laugh.

“I do say there is a correlation between bad handwriting and pink hair,” Fudou laughed from the front of the caravan, peering into the aisle to look at his players with an amused gleam in his eyes, “because Jou, Ryuugo and Tobi have a completely impossible to understand handwriting.”

“But not all people with pink hair have bad handwriting, Nozaki has very good handwriting,” Ibuki said at that moment, thoughtfully.

“There always has to be an exception that proves the rule,” Mahoro replied with a wink. “Sadly I have red hair and not pink to blame for this, but I have always been told that it seems like I am cursing someone when I write.”

Everyone laughed in good spirits in the caravan. Even Kidou at that moment smiled.

Except for Yukimura who continued with a bitter face and was beginning to turn pale with a sweaty forehead, feeling a strange dizziness in the pit of his stomach; Shindou who tried to smile as he integrated with the others although inside he continued to feel suffocated; Kishibe who looked at Ibuki with suspicion that he knew something like that and annoyance at remembering that Nozaki would be leaving with him for the United States in a few more months; Kita who had remained silent and with tense eyebrows and Minamisawa sitting next to him who looked at his friend with concern and gently touched his shoulder. 

When they arrived at the hospital, the entire team entered their teammate's room, the three adults, after briefly greeting them, retired to a waiting room where Kidou bought himself a strong coffee and Tsunami, the sugariest and most monstrous energy drink on the market.  Fudou shook his head. “My team wants me to talk to them about nutrition while you drink those abominations.”

Matsukaze was very happy to see his friends and got the bouquet of flowers and the card from Hakuryuu, the team's spokesperson as captain, with a joyful exclamation as a bright smile appeared on his face.

"Thanks a lot! They are very pretty flowers.”

The midfielder hugged Hakuryuu tightly, who grunted uncomfortably at that gesture, asking for help from his teammates who decided that not only was it more fun not to intervene, but they took a photo of him.

“It's a beautiful photo for social media,” Kurosaki said, baring his teeth as he sent the photo to the team chat group.

“Yes, I think it's perfect to post,” Senguuji mocked, amused.

“I'm going to rip your heads off!” the white-haired threatened, trying to free himself from the other boy's arm, until Amemiya finally saved him by hugging his friend.

“How are you, Matsukaze?” Tsurugi asked with his hands in his pockets, far enough away from the bed to avoid being hugged as well.

Matsukaze turned his big blue eyes to the others and smiled. "I'm fine. It's true that I'm very sad that I won't be able to continue playing in the tournament with you, but Coach Fudou cheered me up a lot yesterday by saying that I could return as a manager. You'll see how soon I'll be with all of you again!”

“That's the attitude,” Mahoro smiled, approaching to pat him on the back and thus receiving a hug which he kindly responded to.

“Yes, but don't run either, you have to take recovery seriously.” At Namikawa's comment, several stifled a laugh and the rest looked at him, shaking their heads.

“You're a brute,” Seto murmured exasperatedly. He blushed immediately, trying to excuse himself because he hadn't said it meanly.
Matsukaze laughed in good humor.

Kageyama sat at the foot of Matsukaze's bed so he could be close to him without disturbing the others with his height. “We will inform you of everything through the team chat.”

“I can't wait for you to come back,” Amemiya assured, sitting next to him as well. “I'm going to miss you a lot, but we will write to you whenever we can so you don't feel alone!”

“Yes, and we’ll send lots of photos for you to post on social media,” Kariya said with a mischievous giggle.

Ibuki narrowed his eyes meanly and said, hiding a vengeful tone with his hoarse voice. “You know, Matsukaze? Now that you are going to have a lot of free time at the hospital, you should make edits with all the members of the team. Just like the one you made of the two of us.”

The group let out a cry of complaint and betrayal but Matsukaze seemed excited. "Yeah! I will do that. Thank you all very much for the support.”

Kirino approached Matsukaze and grabbed his hand affectionately. “Of course, you are part of Resistance Japan. But Namikawa is right, you have to take recovery seriously and not rush it, otherwise you may have problems in the future and it will be much worse.”

Namikawa stuck out his tongue at those who had mocked him and Gomaki slapped him on the back of the head with a harsh sound but no pain.

“I know, Kirino. I want to play football again as soon as possible and that is why I know that I must listen to what the doctors and coaches tell me and work hard with rehabilitation. Thank you very much for worrying about me.” 

Matsukaze hugged Kirino tightly, who smiled warmly and stroked his head. 

Shindou couldn't take it anymore, he clenched his fists so hard that he marked his nails inside his palms while shaking furiously. Kita and Kishibe, who were on either side of the musician, turned towards him dumbfounded, exchanging a look of bewilderment between them. Tsurugi also turned his orange eyes towards him, narrowing them with some understanding. But Shindou didn't notice, his red eyes fixed on Kirino as they filled with tears of rage. Unbearable, it was unbearable. He couldn't, he just couldn't. His heart creaked and his chest hurt, it hurt, it hurt so much. It was as if something was tearing inside him, deep, throbbing, something that burned from his lungs to his throat, burning his insides like fire. 

“You're not going to die by not playing football for a few months, I broke my leg at the end of the Holy Road and I went on without whining.”

A heavy silence fell over the room and the entire team looked at Shindou without believing what they had just heard, he was red with rage and still trembling. No one smiled or made any comments, as everyone understood that Shindou had crossed a line that as a friend hurt more. His words were filled with a real resentment that not even those who were most involved in the Fifth Sector still felt towards Matsukaze; because yes, his attitude towards football pissed them as hell and they would be lying if they said they hadn't hated the boy in the past, but that was precisely in the past. The members of the original Resistance Japan were aware that thanks to the fall of the Fifth Sector they were able to meet Coach Fudou and get to know each other; and even Senguuji, who had suffered the most from the change, would not change that meeting for anything. They knew that their coach loved them from the heart and that was reason enough to smile and forget the resentment. Even if they didn't like the boy personally.

Hakuryuu took a step towards Shindou with his eyebrows very tense, Tsurugi followed him with his gaze silently. “Shindou that…”

“Leave me alone!” he shouted furiously, his pulse was exploding in his ears and he couldn't breathe normally. He felt that burning becoming more and more suffocating and around him the objects had blurred outlines. “You all know I'm right.” Shindou began to cough convulsively, worrying everyone immediately. Kishibe wanted to help him but he pulled away, gritting his teeth to stop himself from coughing and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

The captain let out a breath in annoyance and took a couple of strides towards the door to follow him, he stopped when he felt a hand on each of his arms. Kirino looked at him with tight lips and a sad face while Tsurugi looked even paler than normal. “Wait, Hakuryuu, give him a moment to breathe.”

The pink haired asked in a soft voice, “Let me go talk to him.”

Hakuryuu sighed and nodded, allowing Kirino to follow Shindou to speak. Kariya put his hands behind his head and exchanged a look with Tsurugi in which they conversed without the need for words, with both of them wondering the same thing and nodding.

“What’s into Shindou?” Minamisawa muttered confusedly, Kita shrugged. 

“I have been very insensitive, haven't I?” Matsukaze asked with a small voice, everyone focused on him again.

“No, you haven't,” his few friends immediately denied.

“In fact, considering it's you… the mere fact that you think you've been insensitive is an improvement in sensitivity,” Senguuji confessed, narrowing his eyes.

“I have been. Shindou had to go through the same situation as me and he wasn't complaining like me, he loved football even more than me. But because of me he stopped playing, when we went to Space..."
“Don't say that, Matsukaze,” Amemiya defended, hugging him tightly. “It wasn't your fault.”

Yukimura narrowed his eyes and turned around, feeling a very painful pang in his chest, also leaving the room, grunting, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

Tsurugi shrugged, leaning against the wall. “What happened then was no one's fault, how were we going to know what was happening? And if there is someone to blame then it would be Kageyama.”

“Why me? I didn’t do…!”

“No, man,” the blue-haired huffed exasperatedly. “Your uncle.”

“Ah, yes.” The boy scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed. “Yes, my uncle didn't act in the best way then…”

“Did he ever do?” Hakuryuu asked, raising an eyebrow. “That man never had morals.”

The injured boy lowered his head. “Still, I shouldn't have said that, I should have smiled and pretended nothing was happening... instead of being honest.”

“Hey, no. It's much better that you are honest, Matsukaze,” Kishibe said approaching. “We don't know you very well and we prefer that you don't pretend or we won't be able to really know you.” 

“Only cowards hide their true feelings,” Namikawa snorted.

Tsurugi rubbed his eyes and then crossed his arms. “Don't give it any more thought. Let's let Shindou explain himself later, I think he’s feeling alone and doesn’t know how to manage it. He has been away and it is difficult to reintegrate into a sport that you stopped playing due to trauma."

Everyone in the team agreed. Matsukaze however pursed his lips and whispered again that it was his fault.

“I'm sure Shindou doesn't really blame you, Matsukaze,” Ibuki soothed, narrowing his eyes. “But when he's worried about something he can't manage he can be quite cruel.”

“Are you speaking from experience?” Tsurugi asked with a smirk and the white-haired punched him on the arm.

Makari fixed his scarf. “Let's hope Kirino manages to calm him down, Shindou seemed very agitated since yesterday. By the way, where is Yukimura?”

“He said he was going to the bathroom,” explained Mizukawa, who, standing by the door, was the only one who had heard him.

Shindou went outside the hospital because he needed to feel air, it was becoming more difficult for him to breathe and he was suffocating even more inside. Besides, he was still coughing and knew how inappropriate it was to do so in a place like this. The itch in his throat was increasing to an unprecedented point of overwhelm, he had never felt anything like it. 

The itching, burning and that sensation of obstruction. He staggered to the RJ Caravan and rested his sweaty forehead on the cold metal of the vehicle, relieving some of the burning. He felt dizzy and scared, his own reflection returned a look of terror with eyes red from the effort of coughing.

Suddenly he felt as if his throat was being opened in two and he had to bend over, coughing desperately to get rid of what was inside him that was suffocating him. He noticed that something was moving and he coughed much harder, gasping and trembling almost without force, until with a blow of his diaphragm he finally managed to free himself and a petal covered in mucus and saliva fell onto his palm that was covering his mouth. 

The petal in the middle of his hand was pink, wide and curved on one side while on the other it narrowed after making two curves to form the union with the rest of the flower. 

Shindou blinked in confusion and fear, he recognized that type of petal, how could he not if he had several of those plants in his house? It was an orchid, but that wasn't the important thing. How had an orchid petal gotten into his throat? He rubbed it feeling liberated, the stinging and discomfort seemed to be subsiding, he even seemed to be recovering the normal temperature of his body that had previously risen. He leaned against the caravan because despite everything he still felt weak and he kept looking at that petal as if it could give him a logical answer to what happened.

“Shindou!” 

The manager was startled upon hearing his name and quickly hid the unfortunate orchid petal in his pants pocket. Before he could flee he was stopped by Kirino's hands that grabbed his shoulders, his blue eyes were full of concern. 

“Shindou, are you okay?” His voice sounded as worried as his eyes when he asked that question, but Shindou did not dare to look at him and shivered at his touch. Kirino narrowed his eyebrows even more and released him, noticing his discomfort. “Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Given the lack of reaction from the musician, the pink-haired got scared. “Shindou, what's wrong? Are you fine?"

He gritted his teeth, feeling furious again. "Perfectly."

Kirino's lips parted and he stifled a moan. “Shindou, you don't need to pretend with me, I know you don't…”

“You don't know anything!” Shindou exclaimed, starting to feel another type of pain and his eyes filled with tears. 

The defender looked at him hurt and sad, thinking that perhaps it had not been his best idea to go after Shindou himself, believing that he could comfort him better. “I'm sorry, Shindou. You're right, I... I don't know anything... I wanted to follow you to talk to you about what happened, but I was wrong to believe that you would be more comfortable with me. I am very sorry." Kirino clutched his left forearm in discomfort.

The musician felt a void in his chest, even more bleeding after having coughed up that flower. Why? Why did Kirino accept his shitty personality? Why couldn't he act normally when he returned to Japan? Why did he feel that despair consuming him inside? Why couldn't he stop feeling that enormous rage? Why did he let it cloud his mind? Why did he say things he didn't mean?

The pink haired took a step back. “I understand that you don't want to talk to me, Shindou. But Matsukaze…”

Shindou's pupils constricted violently. “Matsukaze this and Matsukaze that! If you care so much about Matsukaze, go with him and leave me alone! I know you prefer Matsukaze! As a friend, as a manager, as…” The boy trembled, grabbing his arms so hard that he dug his nails in, his eyes gave off an angry shine but at the same time they were crying with pain. “Since I came back you pretend I don't exist! Remarking to me how you now have other friends and don't need me in your life anymore! Was it my fault that you fell in love with me!? We were friends, you betrayed me by falling in love and now you hate me for your own selfishness! If you are so happy without me, leave me alone!”

Kirino opened his mouth heartbroken, tears also shone in his eyes and when Shindou, completely terrified of what he had just said, finally dared to look at his face, seeing his desolate expression he felt like it was like a punch in the pit of the stomach. The manager covered his mouth with his hand, crying even more bitterly. Why had he said that to his dear friend? Why had he said something so cruel? It was he who had rejected Kirino's feelings when he himself was in love because of that cowardly need to flee... It was he who kept hurting him when there was no one more precious in his life... It was he who was selfish, it was he who betrayed him.

"I'm... I'm sorry-"

Shindou was silenced when Kirino hugged him so tightly against his body that cut off his voice. The defender's trembling hands grabbed his head and the middle of his back. 

“Forgive me, Shindou. Please forgive me,” Krino asked in a broken voice. “I have never wanted to hurt you, I would rip out my own heart rather than hurt you. I felt so happy when I heard you were going to be on the team, that you were back. But I thought… I thought I needed to give you your space while you adjusted, I thought that if I approached you again it would only make you uncomfortable after I confessed to you two years ago. I didn't want you to feel forced or cornered because of me. Talking through messages these years is not the same as being in person and I thought I was doing what was best for you when it wasn't.” 

“Kirino…”

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Shindou. You are my best friend, you will always be my best friend. I'm so sorry I failed you by falling in love with you; But you should not worry anymore, that is already in the past and I will always be by your side as a friend. I will always be with you, I will always be supporting you, you can always count on me, you can always trust me and tell me how you feel because I will always always be by your side.”

Shindou trembled when he felt Kirino's hand tenderly caress his head and he hugged him tightly, once again feeling that stinging pain inside him, the tearing of his heart. Why had he been so stupid? He had lost the love of the person he himself loved because he was a coward. The cough became strong again and he writhed.

"Shindou, what's wrong?" Kirino asked very scared while the other boy coughed chokingly until he was finally able to spit out the obstruction that turned out to be another orchid petal that fell on his hand. Having his head bowed and hugging Kirino, he did not see the petal and Shindou hid it next to the other one.

“It must be an irritation because of spring pollen,” he lied, clearing his throat it felt raw and burned painfully, although fortunately he could breathe. Unfortunately the pain in his heart when he realized what he had lost was greater than the pain of the previous suffocation.

Kirino furrowed his eyebrows and moved, taking his hand. “Let's go get a bottle of water so you can clear your throat. Do you have any antihistamines?”

“I don't think it's necessary, I'm sure water is enough,” Shindou replied, noticing his pulse was racing. Why was he coughing up flower petals? It was something completely absurd that defied any logic.

Once inside, Kirino bought him a bottle of water and he drank greedily, when finished he felt calmer and rubbed his eyes. At that moment they saw that the rest from Resistance Japan, except Yukimura and Makari, were walking towards them and Shindou shivered until he felt his friend's hand on his, giving him security. The group stopped next to them and Shindou bowed in apology.

“I'm sorry about what happened earlier, I acted like an idiot. I’ll go apologize to Matsukaze.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” the pink-haired asked.

"No! I mean… I want to, I have to go alone, thank you, Kirino.”

“Okay, in that case say goodbye to Matsukaze for me.”

Shindou nodded and hurried away from the others.

“What happened?” Hakuryuu asked, looking at Kirino with a frown.

“It was my fault, I made Shindou think I didn't care about him anymore.” Kariya looked at him pursing his lips and clicked his tongue, Kirino looked at him sadly. “It's sad that I caused the opposite of what I wanted, I just wanted to protect him and make him feel comfortable.”

“Easy, vice-captain,” Namikawa said, patting him on the back. “Everything will be fine.”

Kurosaki rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Do you even know what they're talking about?”

“No, but everything will be fine. I trust our vice captain.”

“Making Shindou feel comfortable is not just your responsibility, Kirino, we will all help him feel one more of us, won’t we guys and ladies?” Kita said with a kind smile, the team immediately agreed.

Kirino blushed slightly and smiled. "Thank you."

Tsurugi put his hand to his chin deep in thought.

Meanwhile Makari had gone to look for Yukimura since he had not returned with the group. After searching through several bathrooms, he finally found him leaning on a sink, pale and with an expression of absolute confusion. On his hand was a yellow petal that he hid in his fist when he saw his friend's worried face in the reflection of the mirror when he opened the door and saw him.
“Are you okay, Yukimura?”

He swallowed and looked down, knowing that lying to Makari was unnecessary and stupid, because his friend would know that he was lying to him right away. “I have had better days. I think… I think I ate something that made me feel bad because I feel my stomach trembling.”

The other boy approached him. “You are very pale, you probably got dizzy in the caravan and what happened with Amemiya stressed you even more. You should tell Coach Fudou you have a stomach ache so they can give you a pill.”

“Yes, I will.”

Makari nodded and helped Yukimura walk, the blue-haired furrowed his eyebrows as they left the bathroom feeling dizzy and confused, very very very confused. 

How on earth had he swallowed one of the petals of the bouquet without realizing it? Was that what had made him feel so sick? But he felt sick before, what had he had for breakfast that was unusual?

Maybe deep down it was just the discomfort of knowing that once again he was going to be abandoned.

Chapter Text

Hakuryuu entered a room with a tatami floor in which there were fifteen futons spread out, occupying the entire space that felt small when there were the twenty teenagers in pajamas from the Resistance Japan team.

After him entered Kidou, who was holding his son Akira in his arms, with a frown and bad mood, and Fudou, who was smiling widely as if there were nothing more wonderful than that shabby hostel they had arrived at after a long road trip in the RJ Caravan. 

The coach had decided to spend the night halfway to Ozu, worried about the condition of his driver friend. After searching several hotels and hostels in a small town passing through, only that old, outdated roadside hostel had offered accommodation to the twenty-six guests. 

Although spread over three rooms. A single one in which Kidou and Fudou had to sleep with their baby, a double one for the coach's mother and Tsunami and the one in which they were, which was not even a bedroom but a meeting room, for all the teenagers.

Kidou clenched his jaw completely against letting the two girls sleep with the team; but he had not been able to convince his husband or the girls that it was better for them to sleep with Mrs. Takanashi and Tsunami with the boys. Something that the coach had quickly dismissed with a clever, “If Tsunami is with them he won't sleep, he'll spend the whole night telling stories and we need him to rest to continue driving tomorrow.” And then he added with a sincere gesture, “Don't worry so much, Yuuto. Any of the boys would rather have their leg cut off than hurt the girls.”

The adult's bad mood when he saw the dilapidated state of the hostel and the moldy and dirty walls of the rooms did not improve at all with the more than regrettable dinner that had been served to them later and of which it was much better not to think about its ingredients. The only thing that saved him from exploding was the thought that he would sleep cuddling with his husband.

Hakuryuu went to the futon he had decided to share with Tsurugi and sat cross-legged, with a towel over his loose, damp hair from the shower.

“Don't you dry it?” the blue-haired boy asked, confused, his own hair falling on his shoulders after the shower.

“The hostel dryer broke,” he growled.

“I can lend you mine,” Kita offered, looking in his suitcase that was in one of the corners, since he never traveled without his personal hair dryer, not trusting the devices in other places.

Fudou caught the team's attention and spoke to them in a joking tone, “Once Hakuryuu finishes drying his hair, let's go to sleep. Tomorrow we have to get up early to continue the trip.”

“Yes, coach,” everyone responded so innocently that Kidou narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Does anyone else have a hair dryer we could borrow? I'll give it back to you tomorrow.”

“Me, coach,” Kurosaki said, fetching it and handing it to the adult helpfully. Fudou smiled and ruffled his hair.

“If I find out that you guys aren't going to sleep right away you better prepare every prayer you know,” Kidou growled menacingly before leaving. “No leaving the room on night excursions, no making a fuss and no behaving like savages.”

“Come on, Yuuto,” his husband laughed. “Don't worry so much, they are all good kids.”

The man gritted his teeth, but the brunette winked at them knowingly as he left while saying out loud. “They are as good as I was at their age.”

“That's precisely why I worry.”

When the door closed everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Shindou was opening his futon to go to sleep, trying to ignore the stains on the mattress, when Kishibe and Kita each grabbed his arm and pulled him, forcing him to sit between them. As if that had been a call to the group, everyone sat in a circle on the futons.

Kishibe smiled widely and clapped his hands together excitedly. “Who wants to play truth or dare?”

Minamisawa looked at him boredly and wrinkled his nose in a pout. “Do we really have a choice?”

“No,” Kita confessed with a wink.

“We thought it would help us get to know each other better,” Kishibe explained, taking a bottle of peach juice out of his backpack to use as a sorter. 

“That's a good idea,” Hakuryuu agreed. “The better we know each other, the better we will get along as a team.”

Amemiya next to the white-haired narrowed his eyes maliciously and whispered, “I think you especially want to get along with someone.”

While the captain hit the orange-haired, Kirino on his other side observed with some caution, "I think it's a good idea, but let's remember that we shouldn't make too much noise so as not to disturb."

“Wow, Kirino, you need indeed to get to know us better,” Kariya smiled mischievously to his left.

“I think it's precisely because he knows you well that he makes that comment,” said Tsurugi, who had spent the three years of Middle School with him and also knew Kariya too well.

“But Coach Kidou told us to go straight to sleep,” said Yukimura, who didn't really feel like playing, it had been a long, strange and frustrating day and he wanted to sleep.

“Come on, Yuki, a little fun will do us all good,” Makari encouraged.

Kishibe passed the bottle to Shindou, patting him on the back. “You start spinning the bottle, Shindou.”

“Why me?” he asked suspiciously.

“Because someone has to, duh,” Kita replied.

Shindou bit his lower lip and sighed heavily, he was too embarrassed to start that game with everyone's eyes fixed on him after having exploded in the hospital room, but he nodded timidly.

The orange-haired added, “Oh, by the way. It is forbidden to lie or not reply to what is asked, otherwise the game would have no meaning.”

Shindou spun the bottle in a space they left free between the futons and it stopped at Amemiya who looked at him very excitedly. "Truth! Ask me whatever you want.”

The manager stiffened. “Uh…uh, what should I ask?”

“Whatever you want, you can ask him what is the strangest thing he has ever eaten or what his favorite movie is.” Kishibe looked at him kindly and he nodded.

“What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten, Amemiya?”

“Exactly how is it going to help us to…?” Kariya started to say, but he went quiet because Kirino nudged him and gestured for him to keep quiet.

The orange-haired was thoughtful for a few moments, then smiled mischievously and said. “I once tried grasshoppers tsukudani style.”

All his teammates immediately showed an expression of genuine disgust, especially Ibuki who grunted, stifling a retch as best he could, “No wonder he's sick.”
Amemiya laughed harder. “They weren't bad, they tasted like fried chicken.” With that, the white-haired goalkeeper had to make a huge effort to stay sane and not vomit in front of everyone. Tsurugi patted him on the back. “But I think the weirdest thing I've ever eaten, or rather, something I shouldn't have eaten, that eraser aside, was when I stole food from my neighbor's cat.”

“You did what?” Kishibe asked with a twitch in his left eye as several of the others began to laugh. Shindou looked completely horrified and regretting asking that question.

“In my defense I was only 12!”

“That's only a year before we met you,” the manager said, rubbing his forehead with mental exhaustion, no doubt that he didn’t want to know that part of Amemiya.

Kariya couldn't take it anymore and threw himself back laughing. Hakuryuu pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at Yukimura for a long time. When he looked back at him, the captain raised an eyebrow in exasperation and he blushed, lowering his head.

The orange-haired stuck his tongue out at them, although he was not at all upset and took the bottle to spin it. It stopped, pointing at Kurosaki, who rolled his eyes in resignation. "Truth."

Amemiya gave a malicious chuckle that spelled trouble and rubbed his hands in a manner worthy of a fly. “You always act like you're a saint; But surely even you have moments that you don't want to be known. Tell us, what has been the most embarrassing moment of your life? Have you ever wet your pants or eaten your neighbor's cat food?”

“Who would be crazy enough to eat cat food besides you, Amemiya?” Seto chimed in with an amused snort.

Kurosaki had blushed violently and muttered offended, “Of course not, I don't have moments like that.”

Namikawa, sitting next to him, widened his eyes. “That's not true, your first date with Tetsu was a disaster.”

That caught everyone's attention immediately, especially Minamisawa who slowly shook his head. “The fact you wanted to lie to us and hide that information is in itself so deplorable.”

“I expected more from you,” Senguuji said with an evil smirk.

“You can't even trust your friends anymore,” Kita sighed with false sadness.

The brunette ignored them, his wild eyes fixed on his teal-haired teammate, losing the color he had gained previously. He stammered, almost unable to speak, “What do you know?”

He shrugged. “Matatagi followed you that day and told Hamano and me everything.”
Kurosaki put his face in his hand, cowering in shame, with an agonized moan.

“Wow, it seems that Mr. Perfect does have an embarrassing anecdote,” Gomaki laughed meanly.

“Since Kurosaki has decided to cheat and not tell the truth, let Namikawa speak for him.” Hakuryuu looked very seriously at the brunette.

"No!" Kurosaki croaked, reaching out and grabbing the striker's pajama collar, shaking him. “Tell something and I'll send you underground, Fish Head!”

“It's your fault, Kurosaki,” Kita reproached, crossing his arms. “You brought it on yourself by deciding to play dirty and lie. Speak, Namikawa.”

“Besides, if the game was about getting to know each other better, what's the point of you lying?” Mahoro observed, narrowing his eyes.

Kariya laughed. “Well, we have discovered that Mr. Goody Two Shoes  is actually a liar.”

“I'm not a liar! It's just that that day…” Kurosaki hid his face in his hand again and Minamisawa left him a few conciliatory pats on the back but was undeniably interested in the gossip.

Namikawa took a deep breath and put his arm around Kurosaki's shoulders. “From what Matatagi told us, it seems that Bird Brain was so excited at the idea of ​​his first date with Tetsukado that when he saw him at the meeting place and wanted to walk pompously towards him, he tripped over a raised tile from the pavement and fell. He fell face-first to the ground, tearing the butt of his pants.”

“Oh god,” they all said as one, and even Yukimura couldn't help but almost smile.

The narrator of that sad story continued, “So Tetsu, like the good person he is, left him his own jacket to tie around his waist and took him to a store to buy new pants, but they forgot to take out the anti-theft thing that some clothes have and when they went out to the street the alarm ringed and everyone thought they were stealing.”

“So young and such a thief,” Kishibe denied as Kita laughed loudly.

“I didn't steal anything!” Kurosaki grumbled with an offended look.

“After that they walked for a while and went to eat at a fast food place that Tetsu really likes for their battered fish sticks and Kurosaki when bringing the drinks threw them over Tetsu.”

Ibuki let out a loud laugh. “Did you think Tetsukado could grow bigger if you watered him?”

Tsurugi who was laughing silently muffled a high-pitched noise and looked at Kita who caught his gaze and furrowed his eyebrows.

“No more! No more! That's more than one embarrassing moment, and they only asked for one.”

“Next time you won't be a liar,” Hakuryuu stated seriously, although he had tears in his eyes from laughter. “Your punishment is Namikawa telling the whole story.”

“Is there still more?” Kageyama asked, torn between compassion and amusement, Kariya, on the other hand, was not divided and laughed even harder.

“Nothing worth telling happened until they got on the metro, there were so many people that Kurosaki wanted to take Tetsu's hand but he made the mistake and took the hand of an old geezer who tried to flirt with him. But my bro Tetsu saved Kurosaki and chased the pig away like a hero, under threat of a punch in the nose.”

“Uh, deserved,” everyone said immediately as the brunette made so many muffled noises in his hands that it looked like an entire farm.

"They wanted to end the date with a good taste in their mouths, so they went to a famous ice cream parlor and when Kurosaki wanted to give Tetsu a taste of his ice cream, he threw it all over his face. When he got up to go get napkins, he slipped and fell face on his lap.”

Kirino tried to get the group to lower the volume of their laughter but it was impossible, after that everyone except Shindou, Yukimura and himself laughed loudly, even Makari.

“It seems like someone wanted a different type of ice cream,” Mizukawa said maliciously, and both Senguuji and Gomaki let out a huge howl of laughter upon hearing her.

“How patient Tetsukado was with you,” Tsurugi sighed.

“And they say I have bad luck,” Amemiya laughed. “I don't know how you're still together after that.”

“And the liar said with all his balls that he had no embarrassing moments,” Seto murmured.

Kirino looked uneasily at his teammate and scratched his head. “How did you not notice Matatagi's presence all that time?”

Everyone was laughing so hard at the anecdotes that only Namikawa noticed that Kurosaki had tensed up a lot and that his embarrassed expression had faded into a much sadder tight expression. He held him tighter against his body and smiled. “Tetsu really loves you, huh?”

That, for some reason that the striker did not understand, did not seem to relieve Kurosaki.

The midfielder grabbed the bottle with a deep frown and spun the bottle, but his expression lit up slightly with vengeful malice when it stopped at Namikawa who let out a laugh.
“Ah, sweet revenge. Let's see, idiot! Since you like to air other people's dirty laundry so much, what's the most illegal thing you've ever done?”

Everyone gasped, looking at Namikawa; But he didn't seem the least bit uncomfortable with the question, instead he crossed his arms, closing his eyes, really concentrating, and then he started listing using his fingers. “When I was little I stole a lobster from a supermarket to save it from being cooked, I ran away from home and hid on a boat and was away from home for two days, at festivals I tried to use my own sticks to grab water balloons, when I was eight years old I copied my father's signature to go on a school trip that he didn't want to let me go on, I have always skipped all kinds of queues because I hate waiting.” He paused for a moment. “I once took trash from the street that a guy had thrown from a car and I threw it back, when he threw it back into the street I scratched his car because he was an asshole. Once when I was 14 I made a mistake and went into the women's pool in an onsen and everyone thought I was a pervert, I hit a kangaroo that had escaped when we went to visit a zoo with the Kaiou team, I stole the wallet of a jerk who was harassing a girl on the metro to distract him without exposing the girl, along with Matatagi we entered his neighbor’s house to recover the ball that the old man had confiscated from Matatagi’s little brothers because according to him they were making a lot of noise, I left a restaurant without paying... but I swear it was because Hamano distracted me and I came back as soon as I realized it! I skipped classes, I blackmailed a classmate as counter blackmail when I found out that he was threatening a classmate.” Another pause. “Hamano, Matatagi, Tetsu and me were kicked out of a shopping center when we started a fight with some idiots who were bothering a group of children, I kidnapped Jack Parrot from his original family because they had him in the window in the heat of summer and he was featherless and in the verge of death, I have tried beer even though I'm not 20 yet because Matatagi once got some at a meeting with the team. What more… I have hit many people for many reasons, even in a fight I lost a premolar and I have an implant,” Namikawa stopped scratching his head, everyone looked at him perplexed.

“That's a lot of things, isn't it?” Kageyama said with a small voice.

“And none of them involve running over people with trucks? Such a rookie,” Kariya mocked and his purple-haired friend looked at him with indignation.

“But really none of that… it's that bad, isn’t it?” Mahoro commented after looking at Seto for a moment. “You're kind of a super chaotic Robin Hood.”

“Robin Hood was a criminal,” Kirino quickly replied. “Although we can agree with his way of acting, he was still a fugitive.”

“And he was also a furry,” Kishibe murmured, referring to the only story he knew of the charismatic thief, the Disney version.

“If we leave aside the little jobs of the Fifth Sector and turn a blind eye because technically at that time we were legally supported… I think the most illegal thing is this…”

Namikawa turned around and lifted his shirt, revealing a huge and spectacular shark tattoo that covered his entire back. 

“What a blast!” Mizukawa whistled, eyes shining. 

Kita opened his mouth in astonishment. “Why had you kept quiet about something like that? It's awesome! Man, I want to get a tattoo someday too.”

“Me too, a dragon that covers my shoulder and half my back,” Gomaki said excitedly.

“Why not a triceratops like your Soul?” Senguuji suggested with an amused glint in his blue eyes.

“When did you do it?” Makari asked.

The striker smiled pleased to see that everyone was interested in his tattoo, including Seto who looked fascinated at the tattoo. “I did it when I received the news that I had been selected to play for the Japanese national team as a good omen. Although since then I have had problems entering some public baths.”
"Why? Do they think you’re from the Yakuza?” Yukimura asked, confused.

"I guess? Even if nowadays it is super normal to have a tattoo.”

“Yes,” Kurosaki observed. “But not as giant as yours.”

Namikawa took the bottle laughing, it stopped at Minamisawa who grunted in annoyance because he was hoping to get through the game without being selected. Fearing the kind of barbarity his friend might ask him, he decided to ask for a dare. The striker resumed his thinking pose and finally snapped his fingers as if he had had the greatest idea in the world. “Give an emotional speech from someone present!”

"What? Ew…”

“Oh yeah,” Kishibe was excited. “As if it were a toast in honor of that person.”

“Does it have to be from someone present?” the challenged growled.

“Do you prefer to do it for Matsukaze?” Kita asked mischievously.

"No! No… Who do I choose?”

“Spin the bottle and do it for the selected person,” Hakuryuu proposed.

He did so, with a frown of annoyance on his face, until the bottle stopped in front of Ibuki and that wrinkle transformed into a grimace of disgust. “Can I spin again?” Everyone immediately denied it, already laughing at what they were going to see. The boy stifled a dramatic moan. “This is almost as bad as Matsukaze.”

Yukimura gave a mean laugh.

“Let's see what you say about my boyfriend, eh, MInamisawa?”

“Don't worry, I'll only tell the truth… Give me a moment to think…”

“Can you think?” Senguuji asked mockingly and the other player gave him a hateful look and made a mocking face.

After a while Minamisawa cleared his throat in the same pretend way that a person preparing to give a real speech would. “Friends, colleagues, acquaintances, people; I ask you to raise our glasses as imaginary as the musical taste of our beloved substitute goalkeeper to toast him on this night as dark as his soul. Ibuki is a person that many of us would never have believed that fate would put in our lives, and we often wish it had remained that way. I can never forget the first moment I saw him and knew without a doubt that I was looking at Mr. Bean's long-lost cousin, although without his wit and without the beautiful, increasingly rare ability to keep his mouth shut. A young man who was capable of leaving an entire stadium speechless with his mastery of the ball in the wrong sport, a young man of indisputable bravery, as he demonstrated that day because he did not mind becoming a public enemy of all the football players within the nation. But these last few years have allowed me to get to know Ibuki better and discover that he is much more than the missing link between Goofy and Donald Duck; He is a person with the depth of the Iceberg that sank the Titanic, impossible to see and terrible to discover; a person with the complexity of Bad Bunny's lyrics and the passion of Scooby Doo when it comes to getting food. Ibuki is a teammate who has very deservedly earned his position on our noble team because not everyone has the audacity to wear the same trash clothes as our coach without caring what others would think. Therefore, once again, I ask to raise our glasses and toast this person who is not only a teammate but a great friend, always willing to show how oxygen is more diluted at heights and with a heart as big as his hands. A friend that is worth his weight in fried chicken. For all that, let us toast to his health.”

Shindou and Tsurugi were laughing shamelessly at the end of Minamisawa's speech, even more so than the others who were also laughing out loud. Kita had his jaw very clenched but it was difficult to tell if it was out of anger or to avoid laughing at his boyfriend and Ibuki for his part was red with rage and grinding his teeth menacingly.

“That was a little cruel,” Kageyama said with a pout.

“Not at all,” Tsurugi said, wiping a tear from his eye. “Minamisawa knows Ibuki perfectly.”

“He only spoke truths,” Shindou sighed, wiping his eyes as well, at that moment he thought that maybe it hadn't been so bad to start that game.

Ibuki pinched Tsurugi and turned to Minamisawa. “You're an idiot.”

"Why? He told you that you're worth your weight in fried chicken,” his blue-haired friend laughed again and Ibuki ended up huffing with resignation.
“That's a lot of fried chicken,” Namikawa observed, tilting his head.

“More than Seto's weight in gold?” Kariya asked evilly remembering the conversation at Tobitaka's restaurant. The girl grunted and the striker blushed.

Minamisawa spun the bottle once again and it selected Kageyama as the next victim. The boy raised his eyebrows, looking doubtfully at his teammate while Kariya sat down after rolling on the floor with laughter. "Dare?"

He smiled spitefully and touched his bangs. “Since I had to say something good about Ibuki…”

“Was that good?” Kishibe was scandalized, opening his eyes wide.

“...you will have to insult someone in the group.”

The color dropped from the forward's face, and next to him the green-haired covered his mouth with his hand with a cretinous giggle. "I don't want to!"

“Come on, come on, it's not that big of a deal,” Tsurugi comforted despite having a rather crooked smile on his lips. “No one is going to get mad at you because you insult them in a dare.”

“It will also help that personality of a golden retriever of you,” said Mizukawa, quite interested. "Insult me ​​if you want, I promise that in the unlikely event that you offend me I will break Minamisawa's back instead of yours."

“And why don't you insult Minamisawa since he was the one who proposed the dare?” Ibuki growled, still quite resentful of the speech.

“Sounds pretty fair,” Kita agreed, glancing maliciously at his maroon-haired friend who didn't seem impressed at all.

“But I don't want to insult anyone,” Kageyama whimpered.

“Spin the bottle, Hikaru,” Hakuryuu said. “This way the election is impartial.”

Kageyama, with a sad pout, made it spin and it pointed at Senguuji who raised an eyebrow and laughed while the other boy looked at him almost terrified, since the goalkeeper was the person who intimidated him the most on the team. Gomaki and Mizukawa looked at each other, laughing, the white-haired muttered, “This is promising.”

“Go ahead, Kageyama, insult me.”

He stammered. “Uh, yeah… Don’t… don’t be mad, okay?”

Senguuji laughed amused. "I'll try."

“You can, Hikaru,” Kariya whispered sarcastically, slapping him. “If you need help you can tell me.”

The purple-haired swallowed hard, put the tips of his index fingers together timidly and looked at the goalkeeper, although he was unable to meet his gaze due to embarrassment. “Hum… let's see… eh… You are… you are so tall that when you are in the street you hit your head on the signals, you are a public danger because you can put out someone's eye with the tremendous pectorals that you have and you could crush a skull human without difficulty with your hands and… and… you have such long hair that children mistake you for a tree with vines.”

Senguuji covered his mouth with his hand to prevent himself from laughing too hard at his teammate's attempted insult, not wanting to hurt him after he had clearly tried his best. The rest of the team, on the other hand, did not have so much pity for him and laughed loudly or looked at the boy with commiseration.

“That's no way to insult anyone,” Minamisawa said disappointedly. “Kageyama, you lack evil.”

“There's nothing wrong with being good, Kageyama is fine the way he is,” Mahoro defended despite smiling in amusement. “Don't pay attention to them.”

“Listen,” Kurosaki called, pointing haughtily. “This is how you insult someone.” He looked Senguuji straight in the eyes and said without any shame. “You thought you were Lance of the Pokémon Elite Four but you were just a random defeated by Ash and his rat.”

Both Senguuji and Gomaki immediately stopped laughing and furrowed their eyebrows angrily. The white-haired rudely said first, “You did even less, Mr. Football Messiah.”

“My team tied with Raimon when we were forcibly changed for ‘the definitive team’, you were the ones who lost.”

“If we had been able to play both halves we would have crushed Raimon,” the goalkeeper snorted, gnashing his teeth.

The only one who didn't seem uncomfortable by that conversation was Ibuki, who looked at his teammates with great interest. And Kariya, who decided that it was a good time to add more discord. “We kicked all your butts even if you thought you were invincible, you are nothing more than a los…”

Kirino and Kageyama rushed to cover the defender's mouth, the pink-haired whispered angrily, "You should learn to keep your mouth shut too."

Shindou cleared his throat very uncomfortably, as all the members of the original Resistance Japan were glaring at Kariya. Amemiya tried to lighten the mood with a big smile. “Come on guys, it's football. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, we must accept that Raimon was better than us.”

That only annoyed the players more and Kirino looked at the captain who growled, “They weren't better than us, they were just lucky.”

Seto snorted, rubbing her forehead. “Don't fight, especially not over what Kariya says, he doesn't have a clue and likes to cause discord.”

The others looked at the manager and softened their expressions. Makari quickly conceded, “You're right, we're playing for fun, not for fighting.”

“We'll settle fights on the playing field,” Yukimura said with a growl.

After Kageyama spun the bottle with an awkward expression, it stopped in front of Kirino who had just freed Kariya and the boy sighed in relief. The vice-captain smiled kindly. “I choose dare, Kageyama.”

“Okay,” he replied, thoughtfully. “Oh, I know, draw a picture of the team.”

Hakuryuu looked very confused at his High School classmate. "Why do you want to traumatize yourself?”

“What's more, why do you want to traumatize us all?” Kita laughed with a good-natured glow despite his words as he leaned over Shindou trying to get him to laugh too after noticing he was still stiff.

Kirino pursed his lips slightly in indignation but firmly determined not to create discomfort after what had just happened. They gave the defender a blank paper and a pencil and he leaned on the tatami floor beginning to draw while the entire team got closer to him to see the drawing, reaching a point where everyone's heads collided.

“Ugh, get your big head out of the way, Fish Head,” Kurosaki growled, pushing Namikawa back.

“You don't need to include me, I don't think your artistic ability is capable of capturing my natural beauty and charm,” Minamisawa said mockingly.

“You're already drawn,” Kirino reported, pointing to a poorly drawn figure, like the others, at which everyone started laughing. 

“It looks like a stick bug begging for its sad existence to end,” Kariya laughed immediately.

“I think he has captured your beauty and charm quite well, Minamisawa,” Kita said, earning a snort from his friend. Ibuki laughed meanly and his boyfriend widened his smile.

“Why did you draw someone beheaded?” Amemiya asked, pointing to a figure that had stripes on the neck.

“That's Seto with her dreadlocks!” The pink-haired explained, offended, although not as offended as the girl when she knew that that thing was her.

“And this hideous thing that looks like a porcupine?” Yukimura pointed out when Kirino finished his drawing and showed it to everyone who laughed loudly at that monstrosity, that crime against humanity.

“That's Amemiya,” Mahoro said with complete conviction and everyone looked at him perplexed.

“Do you know who is who?” the blue-haired was surprised. Looking then at Amemiya before stifling a growl and looking away with red ears and a wrinkle of annoyance under his eyes.

“Of course, Kirino's art style is similar to the glyphs used in some magical ritual books.” Mahoro then proceeded to name each one in the drawing while the vice-captain nodded excitedly that someone could understand his art.

Kita took a photo of the drawing with a big smile. “Tomorrow we must send it to Matsukaze in the group so he can upload it to social networks.”

"No! Why do you want to humiliate me like this?” Kirino croaked mortified. 

Shindou narrowed his eyes at him and looked down, feeling bad for having laughed so much at his friend's drawing. “I think it turned out very well for you, Kirino.”

The pink-haired looked up and met his eyes, he blushed softly and smiled gratefully.

“Why don't you send it now, Kita?” Kishibe asked confused.

“Because Coach Fudou will see that we are not asleep,” he replied simply.

“As if he would care,” Hakuryuu soothed. "I'm sure Akio...I mean Coach Fudou already knew that we weren't going to sleep right away, as long as Yuu… Coach Kidou doesn't find out... everything will be fine."

Tsurugi widened his eyes and gasped. “Yes, we don't want the same thing to happen as when the Teikoku High School team went to your house for a sleepover. It was like a horror movie.”

“I remember.” Kageyama shuddered. “Well, it shouldn't surprise us, after all Coach Kidou was raised by my uncle.”
“What happened?” everyone asked curiously.

“Trust me, you don't want to know,” Hakuryuu replied with a snort. “And you don't want it to happen again.”

Kariya stifled a giggle as he sent the photo of the drawing to Matsukaze privately and he replied quickly, wanting to know why they had let Kirino use a pencil.

“I do want to know even more,” Minamisawa said. “I want to laugh, the coach always seems so composed.”

“It's always the same, the calmest are the most bloodthirsty,” Makari murmured thoughtfully and the entire group stared at him, gasping. When he realized it he seemed confused. "What?"

Kirino spun the bottle that stopped in front of Seto who looked excitedly at his friend. "Dare!"

The pink-haired nodded and knowing that the girl was a big fan of romance stories, he asked her, “Act your favorite romantic scene from a movie.”

She seemed to rejoice at the challenge until Namikawa jumped up excitedly. “I offer to be your partner!”

The girl looked at him with certain doubts and the color rising at the bottom of her cheeks, Yukimura grunted, rubbing his eyes. “Of course you were, poor Seto.”

She cleared her throat. “I think it's only fair that the bottle makes the choice like with Minamisawa and Kageyama's dare.”

“That's not fair at all!” Namikawa grumbled.

Amemiya moved to pat him on the back encouragingly. “Come on, buddy, think that if the bottle chooses you it is proof of the destiny of your love.”

“The chances of that are slim,” Kurosaki murmured on the other side of the striker who went from a hopeful expression to one worthy of the Grinch.

No one could convince Seto not to spin the bottle, even if Yukimura snorted in a bad mood, “If it chooses me, go find someone else, I don't want to act as a clown.”

But as the bottle spun and passed for the second time already losing strength in front of Namikawa, Mizukawa made a quick move stopping it with a swipe while still pointing at the teal-haired boy. Everyone saw her gasping for air. “Looks like you have to act the scene with Namikawa,” she said with a mischievous glint in her dark green eyes.

The boy stood up almost vibrating with excitement and approached Mizukawa to give her a hug of gratitude. “You are a beautiful person…”

“Touch me and I'll break your fingers,” the dark-haired girl snorted, leaning back as everyone but Seto laughed.

That time even Yukimura took out his phone to record.

“That's not valid! You were the one who stopped the bottle, Mizukawa!” Seto shouted with a pout.

“Oh come on, stop crying like Matsukaze,” she said, waving her hand. “What difference does it make if it's Namikawa? That is to say, if you didn't care if it was anyone, you should not care if it was him. Or are you maybe embarrassed because deep down you like him a little bit?”

Everyone could clearly see how Seto's cheeks rose in color at a dizzying speed as she denied that.

“I wish I had popcorn,” Amemiya said with a sigh. “This is wonderful.”

"Decided then, Namikawa will help you act out the scene." Kishibe clapped his hands, closing the matter. “What movie do you want to play?”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, standing in the middle of the circle that everyone else formed. “Tasogare Seibei.”

There was such a silence in the room that for a moment one could almost hear the crickets typical of a bad joke on a comedy show.
“What the fuck is that shit?” Ibuki asked, scratching his head.

“It's not shit! It’s my favorite movie!”

“It is also known as the ‘Twilight of the Samurai,’” Kirino reported. “It is a 2002 movie based on three short novels by Shuuhei Fujisawa. The homonymous ‘Tasogare Seibei’, ‘Takemitsu Shimatsu’ and ‘Hoito Sukehachi’.”
“How do you know that?” Gomaki was surprised by opening his mouth. “I hadn't heard about it.”
"No? It is quite a famous movie,” Shindou said. “It was nominated for an Oscar abroad.”

“I haven't seen it,” Namikawa said sadly. “I can't interpret something I don't know.”

"You're right." Seto put her hand on the boy's shoulder and he looked up. “It's better that we let Kirino play it with me.”

“Oh no, you've already laughed at me enough with the drawing.”

“Besides, it would be much better if in that case we let Shindou and Kirino be the interpreters,” said Kariya, earning a nudge from Kageyama, the other two blushed as much as Seto and cleared their throats uncomfortably.

“I think it's best that you look for a movie that you both know,” Makari suggested conciliatoryly.

“One from Disney, for example. We all know Disney movies and it will be more fun,” Kishibe proposed.

“Pirates of the Caribbean!” Namikawa exclaimed immediately.

“I haven't seen them,” Seto said with a shrug.

“Also, I was referring to some animated movie like Tangled, Beauty and the Beast or the Lion King,” added the purple-haired.

“Or the Treasure Planet,” Kita added, which was one of the few he had seen as it was space-themed. “Jimmy is named after the protagonist of the movie.”

“I haven't seen Tangled,” the striker almost cried, embarrassed at not being able to offer anything better to the manager who grunted.

“What Disney animated movies have you seen, Namikawa?” Hakuryuu asked helping to advance the decision.

“Tarzan…”

“Tarzan, why am I not even surprised?” Kurosaki mocked.

“Hercules, Anastasia, The Incredibles, Brave, Aladdin…”

“Anastasia isn't even from Disney,” Minamisawa said cretinously.

“It’s now, Disney recently bought Don Bluth's studio,” Mahoro reported, leaving the other speechless.

“How do you know that?”

“Now, be quiet,” Senguuji ordered, rubbing his temples. “Of that immense world of possibilities, what have you seen, Seto?”

“All of them, but…

“If you must play a romantic scene, the best one is Aladdin,” Kishibe interrupted. “You can perform the song from ‘A Whole new World’, wait, I’ll search it so you can refresh your memory.”

“Why do you have to choose when it is my dare with my favorite movie?”

“Because you have no judgment, Seto,” Kariya laughed earning her to grab the bottle and throw it at his head with fearful aim.

“In any case, I've seen Aladdin many times,” Namikawa said, puffing out his chest proudly. “My grandmother said I looked like…”

“Abu?” Kurosaki and Minamisawa laughed at the same time, everyone stifled a laugh; but when the forward nodded the laughter was an explosion.

After they saw the scene on Kishibe's cell phone, they made space with a futon as a flying carpet. Kishibe didn't know how but he was pushed onto the scene to act like the tiger at the beginning.

Namikawa leaned towards Seto with a radiant smile and said gallantly as he offered his hand, “Do you trust me?”

She rolled her eyes and took his hand, thinking that this was going to be torture. But to her surprise, as she performed with Namikawa she discovered that she was having fun and the boy reciprocated that passion by singing the song with great detail of gestures and expressions. They finished with a great round of whistles and applause from their teammates.
Namikawa turned around, super smiling, to hug her and that's when Mizukawa pushed him onto Seto with a malicious giggle. “The scene is not complete without the goodbye kiss.”

Seto opened her eyes in horror when she saw that Namikawa was going to kiss her because of the push, but with unexpected quickness of reflexes he covered her mouth with his hand to avoid the kiss, grabbed her with his free arm to hold her, and did a pirouette so that he was on the bottom when he fell to the ground so that she would not hurt herself, finally being left lying face up with her on his chest that was beating strongly.

“That was like watching a cat video,” Kishibe commented, perplexed.

“Why haven't you kissed her, idiot?” Kurosaki admonished him. 

Namikawa furrowed his eyebrows, as he stood up, using one of his elbows, he brushed the girl's hair away from her forehead, asking worriedly. “Have you hurt yourself?” She denied, very confused by what happened and he sighed. “Thank goodness.” He turned to the others and growled. “It's such a bad thing to forcibly kiss someone! I will wait until she wants to give it to me.”
“You’ll die waiting then,” replied Amemiya with a laugh.

Seto took the bottle that she had previously thrown at Kariya with a red face, she still felt very hot from the performance and what had happened but as she spun the bottle she couldn't help but think about the way Namikawa had touched her hair. She clenched her jaw and looked up when the bottle stopped in front of Makari who looked at the girl calmly. "Dare."

She was thoughtful for a moment and then pointed at him with the laugh of a girl who reads many stories. “Put on a skirt!”

The defender did not flinch at that, nor at the laughter of his teammates, and shrugged his shoulders stoically. “Okay, but I don’t have any skirts.”

“I'll lend you one of mine,” Mizukawa offered, standing up to approach her suitcase that was in a corner piled up with everyone else's.

Makari followed her with his gaze without saying anything while Gomaki leaned back with a mocking smile. “Will one of your skirts be big enough? It will only serve as a belt.”

“Of course it will be, Mizukawa has a very fat ass,” Kariya laughed, the group suddenly fell silent and as one they turned towards the girl who had remained rigid with her back to the circle. She stood up with one of her skirts in her hand and before anyone could react she jumped on Kariya, throwing him against the futons, grabbing him by the collar of his pajamas.

“Repeat that if you have balls, bastard,” she snorted, shaking him aggressively,

“Oh, Kariya, when will you learn to keep your mouth shut?” Kirino sighed exasperatedly.

“Less condescension and more helping get her off me!” he asked, trying to push away the girl who kept shaking him against the mattress as if he were a rag doll.

Kageyama tried to help him but couldn't loosen her hands tightly closed in his clothes. “Come on, Mizukawa, don't be angry with Masaki, he speaks without thinking. The important thing is that you are comfortable with your body.”

Shindou did a loud facepalm and the others bit their lips as they saw the girl's anger pass to Kageyama without caring that he was much taller.

Finally Senguuji and Gomaki had to intervene, more to avoid a homicide that could compromise their coach than because they did not want to see Mizukawa hit the defender. 

“Minori,” Senguuji said, putting his hand on her head and she wrinkled her nose. “Let go of that thing.”

“Ha! It looks like a dog that has bitten something it shouldn't have,” Gomaki laughed inevitably and Mizukawa turned to him when Senguuji grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. 

“Hey! Hey let me go! You fucking jerk… Yamato, you are too tall, Yamato! you bastard.”

“It's always the short ones with the fat butts who are the scariest,” Ibuki murmured in Tsurugi's ear.

He let out a laugh. “They say that essences in small bottles are more intense.”

Kita narrowed his eyes and looked at the two players, “What are you talking about, Mune?”
Ibuki blinked in astonishment and shook his head, implying that it was nothing of relevance to him. The orange-haired went on with his serious expression, gritted his teeth and turned to Minamisawa, who said mockingly. “Both you and Mizukawa are two chihuahuas who want to see the world burn.”

When everyone calmed down and Kariya was able to breathe normally again, they saw that Makari was wearing the skirt and seemed just as unperturbed as he had been at the beginning of the whole fuss.

“Not like that!” Seto exclaimed, as the defender had put the skirt on as a scarf.

“You never specified,” he explained. “Besides, I didn't want to rip Mizukawa's skirt and I don't fit here.”

Makari recovered the bottle and after spinning it several times it stopped, choosing Kishibe, who winked, making the gesture of victory. "Truth!"

The defender nodded and asked, looking him straight in the eyes without blinking. “If you could commit a crime, any crime, without consequences for said crime, any crime, what would it be?”

“It does seem true that the calmest are the most bloodthirsty,” Mahoro joked.

“Ah…” Kishibe cleared his throat and scratched his cheek with his index finger. “Well… Let's see,… I guess walking into one of those giant ice cream shops that have hundreds of flavors of ice cream and licking them all straight from the container.”

“Kishibe, buddy, I didn't expect that, you make me so cold,” Amemiya laughed, wanting to make the joke. Shindou stifled a moan at that bad joke.

The purple-haired midfielder laughed and then added, “Or being able to swim naked in a bucket of liquid chocolate.”

“That sounds more like a weird fetish than a crime,” Kita observed, crossing his arms and Kishibe blushed deeply.

“Well, we'll consider it valid in any case,” Makari muttered, slightly disappointed at the lack of evil in those crimes.

Yukimura must have noticed something in his unchanging expression and whispered to him, “I would have chosen murder.”

Makari smiled amused and leaned towards his friend. “I know, but remember that in reality there are consequences.”

Kishibe spun the bottle and it stopped at Shindou who jumped very uncomfortable and nervous. The other boy put his hand on his shoulder and smiled kindly. “Easy, Shindou, something easy for you. Since you like cats so much, why don't you pretend to be one for ten minutes after your turn to ask?”

Kita's green eyes hit Kishibe hard and he grabbed his pajamas from behind Shindou, pulling him to whisper, "Dude, the idea is to cheer Shindou up, not humiliate him in front of everyone."

“What's wrong with acting like a cat? He just has to sit still and say ‘meow’ from time to time.”

“Just because you like furries doesn't mean everyone else does too,” the orange-haired snorted.

Then they raised their eyes and saw that Shindou was staring at them, despite being completely blushing. “It’s fine, I can… I can pretend to be a cat.”

“See? Great, Shindou!” Kishibe exclaimed, putting his arm around his shoulder, the musician blushed even more but laughed softly and leaned towards his teammate, maintaining good spirits.

Kirino in front of them opened his mouth in perplexity and wrinkled his nose. “Sometimes more than ‘la vie en rose’, it seems that life is a rose bush full of thorns.”

Hakuryuu, who was laughing at that moment at a comment from Tsurugi regarding how Amemiya had to be kept away from Shindou's food if he was a cat, stiffened and turned very confused towards the vice-captain. “What did you say?”

The pink haired lowered his head and shook it. "It's no big deal."

Shindou spun the bottle and to the horror of both involved it stopped at Ibuki. The goalkeeper furrowed his eyebrows and wrinkled his nose, knowing that the manager could ask him any rude thing if he asked for truth, he decided to risk dare.

At that the musician remained silent because it was one thing to ask petty questions and another to ask for something meanly. After quickly analyzing the type of dares his teammates had asked for and with nothing he really wanted to ask for, he waved his hand and replied, “Show us the search history of your cell phone.”

“Oh, yes,” Kariya hissed evilly after what seemed like a long time of silence. “This way we will know what kind of porn you are looking at.”

The goalkeeper gave the cell phone to the other boy so he could look at it. “I don't use my cell phone to watch porn. And if I did, I would certainly use incognito mode.”

“Do you prefer paper?” Gomaki asked mockingly. “You're probably one of those people who hide magazines under the mattress.”

Ibuki clenched his fists. “Shut your mouth, you idiot. I don’t have any magazines.”

The defender went to respond rudely, but Senguuji put his hand gently on his shoulder and pointed with his head at Kita who was looking at his feet with a deep frown. Gomaki bit his lip, feeling guilty, because while it was true that he didn't care about Ibuki, but it was different about Kita. 

Kurosaki and Minamisawa moved from their places to stand behind Shindou so they could see the screen.

“I'm looking forward to seeing what dark secrets you keep,” Minamisawa said with a psychotic chuckle.

Shindou began to read aloud, “Best fried chicken restaurant in Inazuma.” Everyone in the group had a drop of sweat running down their necks. “Fashion tips for a date.”

“There's no way he read that page,” said Hakuryuu, perplexed.

“Top 10 Rap Songs, Tricks to gain muscle mass, Best fried chicken recipes…”

“If you want to gain muscle you should eat less fried chicken, unless you want to grow boobs,” Senguuji laughed.

“Do you eat a lot of fried chicken, Senguuji?” Amemiya asked curiously.

The goalkeeper blushed at everyone's laughter.

“Who wins in a fight, Goku or Saitama?, Weather in Inazuma for April 1 and 2, NBA results, How to make your own cat tree.”

Kishibe looked at Ibuki in surprise. “Do you have a cat?”

“No.”

"So?" Shindou asked, wrinkling his nose.

“Do you have to ask everything? Mind your business, leave me alone,” Ibuki growled grumpily.

“Hey, I didn't ask this to annoy you, I was just surprised because you don't look like someone who would have a cat. It's the three of us and Mahoro who are Team Cat... oh.” Kishibe remained silent as he pointed at Kita.

The orange-haired looked at his boyfriend with bright and excited eyes. “Is it for Jimmy?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I wanted to make him a star-themed one when we got back. Well, it was supposed to be a surprise.”

Mahoro leaned forward and put his hand on Ibuki's knee, since only Seto was sitting between them. “Hey, it's a beautiful gift, and for Jimmy it's still a surprise, I'm sure he'll love it.”

Ibuki raised his eyebrows and smiled widely. "Yes you're right."

Shindou cleared his throat and continued reading. “How to make fried chicken super crispy.”

“What obsession do you have with fried chicken?” Kurosaki huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Is it legal to own a crocodile in Japan? How to tame a crocodile.” The manager looked at the white-haired perplexed. “What the fuck, Ibuki?”

“No, no, that was Kurama's fault,” Minamisawa said. “We saw a capybara cafe and he said it would be fun to have one with snakes or crocodiles.”
“Why would anyone go to a crocodile cafe?” Yukimura asked, confused. 

“I would go,” Mizukawa said flatly.

Shindou continued reading the search history that revolved around recipes for more or less healthy food, exercises to strengthen oneself, doubts about everyday life and the most sovereign stupidities that human beings could ever have asked themselves such as "Are canaries related to construction of the pyramids?”

The manager was already getting bored despite the group laughing at his teammates's strange searches and was about to hand the phone back when Kurosaki quickly hit the screen. “Sexy Lola Bunny Space Jam outfit to buy.”

Ibuki opened his mouth and closed it, feeling everyone turn their heads as one to look at him with a greater or lesser degree of judgment or a mischievous smirk.
“So a bunny suit, huh?” Tsurugi whispered.

“Someone forgot about incognito mode,” Kariya scoffed before Kirino or Kageyama could cover his mouth.

Kita had gone stiff and very white. Senguuji laughed. “Did you want to see Kita dressed as a bunny?”

“It's for Kita, isn’t it?” Kishibe growled in a bad way, the orange-haired tensed up even more.

Ibuki was offended by that. “What are you implying, bastard? Obviously yes, but I didn't buy it, I just wanted to see the price, I thought that we could dress up as Lola Bunny and Bugs Bunny for Halloween and I was curious how much it would cost.”

“And you expect us to believe that?” Kurosaki asked, raising an eyebrow.

Namikawa punched him in the arm. “Ibuki doesn't have the face of a liar.”

"True, Ibuki doesn't lie, he's stupid, annoying, with bad taste in almost everything, not very sensitive, irascible and many other things, but he's not a liar." Minamisawa pointed to the previous pages in the history. “Look, Bugs Bunny Space Jam Costume Buy and Ideas for costumes for couples.” 

Yukimura frowned skeptically. “You're not going to be in Japan for Halloween, you said you were going to the United States in September with the pink-haired girl.”

That comment created a wave of discomfort and Ibuki clenched his fists very tightly. “Even if you don't know there’s something called airplane…”

"Jerk!" Yukimura shouted, standing up.

Makari grabbed his arm and forced him to sit down. “That's enough, you are being very unfair to Ibuki, those unfounded comments only hurt him and Kita. And I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to see your partner in a sexy costume.”

“Accusing him of something because he goes to the United States with that girl is as absurd as accusing Akio… Coach Fudou when he traveled to Europe with Someoka,” Kageyama added. 

Mahoro nodded, “Suspicion and jealousy never lead to anything good.”

“But…” Kurosaki began.

“Stop. Leave Ibuki alone,” Hakuryuu ordered, already annoyed, in an authoritarian manner. “The only thing we can judge him on is his bad taste in costumes.”

"Why? Wouldn't you want to see the person you like dressed up as a sexy bunny? I certainly would,” Amemiya said with a smile and Yukimura's face darkened even more.

“Looks like you're going to have to do a whole new search for how to fix things with your partner after screwing up so badly,” Kariya laughed meanly.

Kita gritted his teeth, but seeing from the corner of his eye that Shindou was very uncomfortable because all that had started because of his dare, he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and act maturely, avoiding a bloodbath. “Why do you think my boyfriend screwed up by wanting to wear a matching costume on Halloween, Kariya? We’ve been dressing up since before we even date.”

“That's true,” Tsurugi defended. “They've been dressing up like this for years.”

With that everyone seemed to calm down, Shindou sighed in relief.

“Give your boyfriend a good kiss to show there are no hard feelings and let's continue,” Seto proposed.

“Yes, and someone put a gag on that vermin—” Mizukawa pointed at Kariya “—or I swear I'll rip his head off.”

Kariya wanted to complain but Kirino whispered, “And you'd deserve it.”

Kita approached Ibuki, grabbing him by the collar of his pajama shirt and looked him in the eyes, Ibuki looked back at him lowering his eyebrows and caressed his cheek. “I love you, Ichiban.”

He didn't say anything, responding with a kiss on the lips for which the group began to whistle at them while Minamisawa stifled an exasperated grunt as he was bored of watching them kiss and Kurosaki turned with a sad face. After a long while Tsurugi laughed, “Okay, that's enough or we're going to have to see a different tension down there.”

“Such a shameless kiss,” Hakuryuu smirked and he and the blue-haired laughed.
When Kita sat back down in his place, everyone was laughing again with good humor and the only one, besides himself, who still had his jaw slightly tighter than appropriate was Kishibe.

Ibuki spun the bottle that chose Hakuryuu, the team captain looked at the other white-haired boy and smiled with self-confidence. "Dare."

The goalkeeper was thoughtful. “Since you called Ichiban and I shameless for kissing, give Tsurugi a kiss on the cheek.” 

For a second it seemed like Hakuryuu's stoic expression disappeared from his face, but with Kita's addition it certainly dissipated. “Wearing lipstick so we can see if he really kissed him.”

“Does it have to be on the cheek?” Tsurugi asked, feigning calmness and brazenness when his heart was racing, his gaze fixed on the captain with half-drooped eyelids and lips curved at the corners.

“Do you want me to kiss you somewhere else, Kyousuke?” 

“Do you want to kiss me somewhere else, Haku?”

Both rivals looked intensely into each other's eyes, accepting the challenge and everyone stifled a laugh. 

“Do you have lipstick, captain?” Mahoro asked. “I can lend you one of mine if you want.”

“Do I really have to answer that?” he growled. 

“Does wearing someone else's lipstick count as an indirect kiss?” Kageyama asked innocently.

“No,” Mahoro said immediately, feeling Tsurugi's stinging gaze on him. "Not at all."

“If that were the case I would let my beautiful mermaid paint my lips,” Namikawa said, looking at Seto.

She rolled her eyes. “Have you seen me wearing makeup any of these days? I only have one lip gloss that I got four years ago and that I am not going to share with anyone because it has very little left.”

“Too bad, I'm sure Namikawa would look divine in lip gloss,” Mizukawa laughed. “I have lipstick too, if you want to choose more variety of colors, captain.”

He growled in response. She and Mahoro got up to go to their suitcases to take out their makeup cases. That's when the defender got nervous and started taking things out of his suitcase.

“Oh, no, no, no.”

“What's wrong?” Kishibe asked with concern at his friend's concern.

Mahoro said a curse that none of them were able to understand and snorted. “My grandmother took my makeup case.”

"Again?" Seto asked with a snort, the others furrowed their eyebrows uncomprehendingly and she explained. “At the last football camp we did with the High School team, his grandmother did the same thing.”

“How have you not noticed it until now?” Kita asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because I had hidden it under all my clothes to prevent her from discovering it and it's not like I always wear makeup except for the eyeliner,” the boy explained ruefully. “I only have it now because I put it in with the toothbrush.”

The dark-haired manager patted him on the back. “Brutal, I can share my makeup with you whenever you need.” 

“Thank you, Mizukawa.”

They returned to the circle with the others and Mizukawa placed five lipsticks in front of Hakuryuu and Tsurugi. “Jinx, Wicked, Bloodmoon, Mystery Night and Velvet Black.” 

Mahoro raised his eyebrows. “Are they all from Cursed brand? It is the best brand on the Gothic makeup market, I was only able to save up for a nail polish recently thanks to working.”
“My favorite brand,” she said with a thumbs up. “It has to be worth something to have wealthy parents. Anyway, choose the one you want.”

“Don't you have anything normal?” Hakuryuu asked, looking at the lipsticks with great suspicion and lifting them up one by one while thinking that he was going to look like a clown.

“Leave it to me, Hakuryuu. I’ll choose.” Tsurugi looked at the five colors and took the blood red one, winking cheekily. “Bloodmoon, it sounds kind of appropriate for us.”

After making the choice, the blue-haired boy turned to face Hakuryuu and looked at him with a smile as crooked and dark as the names of the colors, taking his chin with the tips of his fingers to lift his face and his orange eyes lost in his. Hakuryuu gasped, feeling the contact of his fingers under his jaw and the boy's fresh breath escaping like a longing sigh and caressing his face. 

Tsurugi opened the lipstick, removing the cap with his teeth and took out the color stick, placing it on the lips of the Resistance Japan captain who felt his body burning and his heart racing. Very slowly and sensually Tsurugi painted his lips with that dark red that gave them an even more velvety and tempting texture, the white-haired's red eyes reflected his provocative look and when he finished he caught his own lower lip between his teeth as if he had to contain a strong need that arose within him.

“This is super gay,” Kariya whispered in Kirino's ear.

“Shut your mouth or they will kill you before the night is over.”

Finishing, Tsurugi put the lipstick on the floor and the focus moved to Hakuryuu. Mahoro nodded approvingly. “That lip color looks great on you, you should consider becoming a goth.”

“No thanks,” he said with a huff.

“I think you look spectacular too,” the blue-haired striker purred, smiling mischievously and turning his head, tapping his cheek. “Go ahead, mark me.”

Hakuryuu was grateful that he was sitting or his legs would have given out, he breathed, gathering courage for that, he felt his ears burning and knew that they were undoubtedly red, Tsurugi maintained that expression of indecent flirtation that made him believe that his stomach was going to explode. The white-haired had always believed that the teenager was handsome, but with his hair down he gave off a different aura than what he was used to and that made him feel more nervous than he should. Hakuryuu leaned towards him a little, being able to clearly notice each of the pores of his skin. He didn't know whether to curse or thank Ibuki for that dare.

Hakuryuu was about to kiss Tsurugi when Amemiya laughed, getting up from his futon to approach him. “Remember to give it a good kiss so it leaves a nice mark!”

And with that he tripped over the mattresses and fell, hitting Tsurugi in the back, who turned just enough for the kiss that Hakuryuu was about to give him to miss his location.

“Oh,” Yukimura muttered, covering his mouth with his hand as everyone else gasped.

Hakuryuu and Tsurugi opened their eyes wide with their faces completely blushing and their lips together in an unexpected first kiss. So nervous and stupefied to be feeling the other's lips on theirs that neither of them managed to move away.

“They're so going to kill you, Amemiya,” Kariya said, rubbing his hands in delight at the chaos.

An endless number of thoughts passed through Hakuryuu's head, but the moment he saw his friend's bright eyes placed on his, they faded like the darkness at dawn and he moved his hand, gently cupping the cheek of the forward who felt warm against his palm. Tsurugi smiled against his lips, pressing a little harder before Hakuryuu grabbed him tightly by the head, losing his fingers in his blue hair and kissed him in a much more passionate way that Tsurugi responded by pushing him against the futon and continuing to kiss him while they lay on the mattress, the blue-haired's hands around the other's white hair and both forgetting that the rest of the team was there, staring at them until they began to whistle loudly. Kurosaki was too pale and coughed.

“Maybe they won't kill Amemiya after all,” Kirino commented amusedly, Kariya next to him had his mouth full open.

When they finally separated, Tsurugi whispered mischievously, “If you wanted to kiss me so much, you could have said it before.”

Hakuryuu swallowed and stroked his hair away from his forehead. “If you wanted me to kiss you so much, you could have said it before.”

“Oh?” Tsurugi looked at him defiantly and the other boy responded in the same way, holding each other's gaze until they both kissed again before Kurosaki's exasperated growl and many more hisses.

Kishibe called out to them laughing. “Well, we consider the dare finished even if it wasn't a kiss on the cheek.”

Hakuryuu furrowed his eyebrows and before bending down to get the bottle he left a quick kiss on Tsurugi's cheek, against whose pale skin his dark red lips were marked, the blue-haired's cheeks turned scarlet as the team captain spun the bottle. Tsurugi handed the lipstick back to Mizukawa who denied maliciously. “Keep it, I’m sure you’ll put it to better use than I do.”

Until the bottle stopped in front of Gomaki who laughed while winking. “Dare, I don't mind giving kisses on the cheeks if necessary.”

“You sound so French,” Amemiya laughed. 

Mizukawa at the same time made a sound like a pig's noise when she heard her white-haired friend and then looked at Senguuji mischievously, even if he had a slightly more dull expression than usual. 

“No, I'm actually interested in your muscles.”

Tsurugi furrowed his eyebrows, somewhat annoyed by that.

“Hey, hey, no homo bro,” Gomaki smiled, covering his mouth with his hand to prevent himself from laughing too hard.

Hakuryuu snorted and said, crossing his arms, “Not in that sense. But do you think you can split a watermelon with your arms?”

Senguuji raised the eyebrows that he had tensed at his captain's first words and looked very interested at both of them.

“Oh! I want to see that,” Namikawa shouted excitedly, jumping on his futon.

“How is someone going to split a watermelon…?” Kishibe began to say.

But Gomaki interrupted with an excited, “Let's find out.”

"What? Are you aware of the savagery you are talking about?” Kurosaki was shocked. “What kind of brainless apes are you to go around breaking watermelons?”

“It's nothing like that the body is the temple of the soul and we honor that temple,” replied the pink-haired goalkeeper, irritating the other boy even more.

“Splitting watermelons?” Kariya asked skeptically.

“Where are you even going to get a watermelon?” Shindou growled in exasperation. 

Kishibe nudged him. “Remember that you are still a cat, Shindou.” The manager snorted and the purple-haired nodded. “Much better, you did it just like Cupcake.”

“Shindou is right, we don't have any watermelon with us unless Mizukawa carries one in her suitcase too. Plus you're going to stain everything,” Kirino reproached.

She laughed. “I don't have one in my suitcase but maybe the hostel does have one, who's coming with me to look for it?”

"Me! Me!" Namikawa shouted, standing up. “Come on, ninja mode.”

Namikawa and Mizukawa left the room before anyone could stop them and behind them went Gomaki, who considered he had the right to choose the largest watermelon, Senguuji, who looked excited at the challenge; Seto, to keep an eye on them so they wouldn't get into trouble; Amemiya, who wanted to join the chaos, and Hakuryuu, worried about the mess Amemiya could make. 

Tsurugi stayed in the room with a pout of annoyance that Hakuryuu had changed his interest so quickly, resting his elbow on his thigh and his chin on the palm of his hand. At his side Ibuki patted him comfortingly, he was equally excited to discover if Gomaki could break the watermelon but his bad relationship with the other goalkeeper and the white-haired defender did not allow him to fully express it.

Kurosaki rubbed his temples in exasperation. “Why are they so stupid? This is outrageous.”

“Let them try,” Minamisawa responded, ready to continue immortalizing that night with his cell phone. “We are going to laugh at their expense.”

“We are more than a display of testosterone!” the brunette insisted indignantly.

“Come on, man, it'll be fun to watch,” soothed Kita, who didn't seem to mind the display of testosterone at all.

During the time that his teammates were away, the rest of the team tried to get Shindou, who still had to pretend to be a cat, to follow a point of light with a laser. When they returned to the room they not only carried one watermelon but three, which they left on the floor, moving the futons to one side so as not to stain them and spreading out Namikawa's beach towel, which he offered for that important moment. Gomaki took off his shirt and picked up the smallest watermelon while everyone looked at his muscular body, especially Senguuji who his manager friend caught staring at him in rapture.

“I think Gomaki could take out someone's eye too,” Kageyama confessed, somewhat self-conscious about the size of his pecs.

“It's not that impressive,” Kariya muttered with a pout, looking at his thin arms with a shadow on his face.

Yukimura pinched the bridge of his nose. “Didn't you have anything more sensible to ask, captain?”

“I want to see if he can break watermelons.”

“How on earth is he going to break it? Also, have you even paid for them? How are we going to explain the disappearance of three watermelons!” exclaimed Kurosaki who considered that challenge as an insult.

“Everything is under control.”

“And hell,” Kishibe murmured with a resigned sigh. “Too bad about the watermelons.”

“Why couldn't Gomaki break it?” Kageyama asked strangely. “A watermelon breaks with a force of 360 pounds, I don't see it being difficult for him; With those biceps he could even bend a metal beam and I wouldn't be surprised at all.”

“Why do you know that?” Minamisawa was stupefied with his mouth open. 

He cocked his head. “It's general information.”

“It's not!” everyone exclaimed immediately.

“Here I go,” Gomaki announced to the especially expectant gaze of Namikawa, Senguuji, Amemiya, Mizukawa, Hakuryuu and Ibuki, despite his feigned disinterest.

They could notice how Gomaki's muscles tensed under the skin, bulging as he exerted force against the fruit that broke down under that pressure like a student facing university entrance exams. After a collective gasp, the juice of the fruit splashed everywhere, those who were next to them cheering, as was the case with Senguuji and Namikawa, were splashed by the red insides of the watermelon all over their faces. 

“Next!” Gomaki asked as he grabbed Senguuji and licked his cheek to remove a bit of watermelon. Senguuji almost collapsed, his face blushing redder than in his entire life.

Namikawa's eyes widened and he approached Seto to see if she wanted to do the same with him, but the girl rejected him with a cold, "Ew."

Hakuryuu handed the medium watermelon. But not even the largest watermelon could offer competition to the defender and he raised his arms victoriously with the juice running down his pectorals while almost everyone cheered him loudly for that point. The pink-haired goalkeeper had to make a great effort not to drool in front of everyone.

“I hope someone dares Yamato to lick the remains of watermelon off Tetsurou's body,” Mizukawa whispered in the ear of Makari who had approached, attracted by the barbarity. 

“And now what are we going to do with all this?” Shindou asked, rubbing his forehead.

“Easy, without corpse there is no crime,” said Senguuji, taking a piece and starting to eat it, when the others looked at him he shrugged his shoulders. Gomaki laughed loudly. 

Ibuki was next to take a huge chunk and when Kita huffed in exasperation he defended himself, “What? It’s a waste not to eat it.”

“Besides, it hasn't really touched my body, I just blew it up,” Gomaki observed, taking a large piece as well.

Namikawa and Amemiya saw no flaws in that logic and joined them. After peer pressure caused everyone except Shindou, Kurosaki, and Minamisawa to end up eating watermelon, Kishibe laughed. "And we made fun of Amemiya for eating cat's food."

Thanks to the 17 young people, the only remains of that crime were hidden in a bag that they left to throw away as soon as they could. Gomaki wiped the juice off his body with a quick visit to the toilet and put his pajama top back on, much to the disappointment of his friends.

Gomaki spun the bottle and it stopped at Mizukawa who raised her eyebrows and rubbed his hands with malice and intrigue. "Interesting, let's see what you dare me to."

“Too bad I washed or I might ask you to lick my watermelon.” They both laughed after making a face of disgust at the defender's joke and he looked at Makari, who looked back at him by raising an eyebrow, narrowing his eyes maliciously and smiling like a deviant. “Dance something in front of everyone, Minori.”

Her laughter stopped suddenly. "No! I also want to break watermelons!”

“No, it's your dare and I dare you to dance something.” The defender remained thoughtful. “Some of those trendy dances that are super ridiculous.”

“Why do you hate me like that!?” she screamed, reaching for his neck to grab him, but he took her off without difficulty and handed the girl to Senguuji to hold while he thought about the dance. Senguuji held Mizukawa in the air as if he were Rafiki holding Simba, a kicking and writhing Simba screaming death threats.

“Does anyone know any catchy dances?” asked Gomaki, who has no idea about that area.

Kariya rubbed his chin thoughtfully, but Seto leaned forward, seeing an opening to return Mizukawa's stab during her dare. “Caramelldansen!” 

Mizukawa opened her mouth wide and kicked the air again. “I swear when you sleep I'm going to cut your hair with a snip!”

“Hey! Don't even think about touching the hair of my beautiful goddess, such a perfect and silky hair that seems to be the work of the moon itself, as if it had materialized its mystical fingers in…”

“Shut your mouth, sea cucumber!” the dark-haired manager snorted in a very bad mood. “I absolutely refuse to dance that shit!”

“Wow, you're a coward,” Amemiya laughed. “I thought you were a brave girl.”

“She acts as the queen of the jungle but she's just a chicken,” Kariya mocked.

“I'm going to punch you so hard that I will erase that stupid smile… Yamato! Yamato tell them something!” she asked with pleading eyes.

“It's your dare, Minori,” he said, biting his lip to keep from laughing. “I also want to see you make a fool of yourself, rest assured that I will record you and I will not miss the opportunity to play the video in the future.”

“Damn traitor Barney.” Mizukawa sought help from the last person she had left, but realizing that Makari was looking at her with wide eyes and a luminous shine in his black eyes, she resigned herself. “I'm going to kill you all.” She snorted again and said, “Okay, I will, if Seto and Shindou dance with me.”

“Don't get me into your mess,” Shindou was alarmed as he found himself pushed out of the futon by the overly smiling Kishibe and Kita.

“Come on, come on, we want to see our three managers cheering on their team,” the orange-haired laughed.

“Exactly, you must also be our cheerleaders during the tournament,” Kishibe added.

Mahoro and Amemiya also pushed Seto to the center of the circle and she faced the other girl who finally touched the floor again. “You are a bad viper!”

“I'm not a viper, I'm a Black Mamba,” she said, puffing out her chest proudly. Seto looked at her angrily, and Shindou's face of absolute desolation seemed to wish that the ground would swallow him. 

To get a good look at the managers dancing, they left one side of the room free and everyone else sat in a row on the other. Amemiya sat on top of Yukimura who blushed heavily. Hakuryuu gave them a malicious smirk but at that moment Tsurugi sat on top of him and he became the focus of the laughter.

Kishibe turned on the music on his cell phone and the three managers began the dance quite awkwardly, Seto being the least embarrassed and the one who moved the most fluidly. Shindou, despite having a red face and not daring to look at anyone, danced well and with a good rhythm. Mizukawa, on the other hand, gave a very detailed demonstration of how not to dance the Caramelldansen and very realistic approach to a lethal basilisk stare. Gomaki and Senguuji laughed at her fearlessly, but the only other one unconscious to dare to do so openly was Amemiya, who spent the entire dance making mocking comments to her, “You look like a rusty dancing robot, Mizukawa! Grace is not on your side, huh?”

Kariya for his part laughed at the three equally, mocking each of them. “Seto moves your ass harder or not even your depraved non-boyfriend is going to want to see you. Shindou smiles at the camera, dude, you look like you swallowed a lemon. Mizukawa even a plank is less rigid than you.”

But what no one expected to be an even better sight than the dance itself was Makari's face. The defender was very blushing, gawking at Mizukawa, finally losing his expression of eternal composure. Not even Yukimura had ever seen him with his eyes full of sparkles of emotion.

Kirino also had scarlet cheeks and at one point during the dance Kita leaned towards him and whispered. "You are welcome." The pink haired muffled a noise and at that moment his gaze met Shindou's who seemed to beg for him to end his misery.

Namikawa enjoyed the dance so much that his nose bled and it splashed over his shirt without him caring at all, whistling and clapping, his eyes fixed on Seto who blushed, grunting in exasperation. 

Mahoro sighed heavily looking at his friend. “It's a good thing Seto isn't wearing a cheerleader outfit or you'd just die right there.”  Namikawa blinked and his bleeding increased even more as he imagined that. 

At the end of the dance, Minamisawa caressed his cell phone. “I bless the technology that allows us to immortalize such beautiful moments.”

Kurosaki rubbed his eyes. “This is something I never needed to see in my life.”

The managers needed a moment to recover from such an embarrassing experience, Shindou and Mizukawa were sweating a lot and burning as if they had been sunbathing in the middle of summer. 

“Nice dance, Shindou,” Kirino smiled, pretending not to have been too excited to see him, his friend looked at him and covered his face with his hands with a grunt and the pink-haired hugged him, giving him a few consoling pats. Kita looked at him, winked and gave him a thumbs up.

Mizukawa, after breathing normally again, tried to hit her friends, but Gomaki grabbed her and put her in Makari's arms.

“Keep an eye on the beast while we rearrange the futons.”

The girl remained rigid in the arms of the green-haired who smiled sweetly at her although his cheeks were still more red than usual. “You did very well, Mizukawa. It is difficult to get out of the comfort zone.”

Her mouth opened and she was unable to shout anything at him.

Once they re-arranged the futons, Mizukawa took the bottle and spun it. When it stopped at Amemiya she widened her eyes smiling like a crazy lunatic. “Oh-oh-oh! Oh you little shit, how sweet revenge is. I dare you to do a striptease in front of everyone!”

Chapter Text

“Oh-oh-oh! Oh you little shit, how sweet revenge is. I dare you to do a striptease in front of everyone!”
Amemiya looked amused at Mizukawa who was smiling sinisterly as if this were the best revenge imaginable after he had laughed so much at her and her dancing. Senguuji, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow atonished. “But Minori, Amemiya didn't even tell you if he chose Truth or Dare.”

"I don’t care! I dare you to do the striptease if you are a man.”

They all stifled an exasperated snort but the orange-haired laughed good-naturedly, getting up nimbly. “Okay, I accept the dare.”

“No, wait,” Hakuryuu stopped in alarm with a dark shadow on his face. “I don't want to see Amemiya's dick.”

He made an offended pout. “We have been friends for years and you say that to me, Haku, you offended me, I am sad now.”

“Be offended all you want,” the captain grunted, pinching the bridge of his nose the same way Kidou did.

“Yep, we all know you prefer to see Tsurugi’s, don't you?” the orange-haired talked again with a cheerful chuckle, both forwards immediately blushed and cleared their throats.

“If you want to see me naked so much, you can tell me, you know?” Tsurugi mocked, following the joke despite having red ears.

“As if I didn't constantly see you naked in the showers at Teikoku Superior, the bath or in the hot springs.” The captain looked at him, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

“Uuuh, wow, how quiet you were, Tsurugi. So you visit the showers together in secret, huh?” Ibuki nudged his blue-haired friend who drew a malicious smirk on his thin lips darkened by lipstick after the kiss with the captain.

“No, Ibuki, that's no secret,” Kageyama growled. “Everyone on the team is tired of them and their absurd competitions of who can last the longest in practically boiling water.”

“I bet I could last longer in boiling water, water is my thing,” Namikawa intervened, puffing out his chest while some teammates slowly shook their heads.

“If you went into boiling water you would turn into a lobster,” Mahoro observed with exasperation.

Kirino cleared his throat. “Let's not deviate from the topic at hand, Amemiya's striptease.”

“Do you want to see him naked?” the white-haired goalkeeper said resentfully, glancing sideways at Shindou who tensed.

“Not at all, but it's worse if we end up with half the team in balls under boiling water,” the pink-haired m responded.

“That's a good point,” Kishibe confessed with a snort.

Kita rubbed his chin thoughtfully and snapped his fingers as if he had a brilliant idea. “Just take off your shirt, that way we won't have to gouge our eyes out later.”

“Hey, I have a nice ass,” Amemiya said with another pout, rubbing his butt cheeks. “Of course never as much as you.”

"Moron!" Kita growled as the team laughed in unison.

“Just the shirt isn’t enough,” Mizukawa replied with annoyance. “I had to dance for almost ten minutes…”

“It's been less than four, Minori,” Gomaki reported with a cretinous gleam in his black eyes.

“No one has asked you, Tetsurou,” she hissed, her hair standing on end. “I had to do the whole dance so he should too, let him be embarrassed in front of everyone.”

“But Amemiya doesn't look embarrassed at all,” Kageyama observed aptly with a bead of sweat running down his neck. 

Kishibe rubbed his bare forehead as he wore his hair pulled back with a hairband. “What if he just takes off his shirt and pants but without taking off his underwear, is that okay with you?”

“Lame,” Amemiya murmured, moving his hips. “You don’t know how much you are missing, guys.”

“We can live with it,” Shindou replied harshly.

“Hm,” the girl made a face of annoyance. “Fine, it's not like I have any interest in seeing his bare ass either.”

“Yes, because to see a fat ass you can see yours…” Kariya said with malicious amusement until her murderous look silenced him, while Kirino and Kageyama tried to cover his mouth to prevent his death.

But before blood could be splitted, Amemiya distracted the team with a confession that left everyone stunned and open-mouthed. “But I am not wearing underwear now, I always sleep without underwear, I don't like the rubber to constrict me when I sleep. So right now it's like I'm not wearing anything.”

Yukimura let out such a scream when he was aware that he had had the orange haired's ass on his lap without him wearing underwear that everyone turned around laughing at him and his completely scarlet face. Especially Makari who had to pretend to cough so the striker wouldn't get offended at him.

“Decided, just take off your shirt,” Kita said authoritatively, slapping his thigh as if imitating a judge's gavel.

“Yes, please,” Kurosaki, Minamisawa and Shindou whimpered, not wanting to witness this.

“Matsukaze is going to love this so much,” Kariya smiled, taking out his phone to record the striptease.

Amemiya laughed loudly. “I must send him my regards.”

Yukimura, upon hearing this, furrowed his eyebrows and quickly lost all the color he had gained, becoming very gloomy. Next to him, Makari raised his eyebrows and leaned over him, trying to cheer his friend up, but failing. The ice striker turned his head completely annoyed, refusing to look at his orange-haired friend who, upon noticing it, felt quite confused.

When Kita played strip music on his phone, Amemiya began to dance in a totally horrendous way, since he had an even worse sense of dance than Mizukawa, but smiling widely and giving his best in the dance, trying to get the attention of the blue-haired boy who still didn’t turn towards him.

“Amemiya has worse coordination than Uncle Osamu after a celebration.” Kariya was rolling on the floor. “Instead of a striptease it seems like he's imitating a grandpa with rheumatism.”

“This is unbearable,” Kurosaki declared, rubbing his eyes. “It is a public crime! And I thought it was humanly impossible to dance worse than Mizukawa. I wish I could erase the last minute from my mind.”

“Shut your mouth, goody-two-shoes,” she growled, crossing her arms and enjoying the pitiful spectacle as she mocked Amemiya as cruelly as he had previously done.

Minamisawa stifled a moan. “We're going to have to pour holy water in our eyes after this.”
Kurosaki looked at him confused, his gaze slightly dull. "Uh? Why? Oh no, Amemiya, please… my eyes.”

But the boy didn't pay attention to the teasing of the group who were laughing out loud with the erratic dance like the flight of a dizzy duck. He was only aware that Yukimura, instead of looking at him and laughing as he expected, was hurt for some reason he was unable to understand. Finally he took off his shirt and in an attempt to get his blue haired friend's attention he threw the shirt in his face, with a mischievous wink that he hoped could make up for whatever had happened. 

“Wonderful,” Mahoro murmured, wiping away a tear from laughter. “This is something I will cherish forever in my memories.”

Seto next to him was lying on the floor. “Oh, man, when we show it to the football team they're going to die laughing.”

“Amemiya could become a meme diva if we publish this gem,” Kariya sighed, his abdomen hurting from laughing so much.

The captain shook his head. “I think I would have preferred to see his dick than to have to witness this dance that seemed like an insult to life itself.”

Yukimura was hit by the shirt in that unexpected way, Makari and Kishibe looked at him funny, the green-haired said kindly, "When in a baseball game you receive the ball it is a symbol of good luck, maybe Amemiya can sign it for you."

The forward took a second to react, taking it off with his cheeks flushed again, but he didn't look back at Amemiya which was what the midfielder expected. “Don't talk nonsense, I'm not going to keep Amemiya's stinky pajama shirt.”

The orange-haired made a sad pout and took a step towards Yukimura, but at that moment he was distracted by Kurosaki who commented, making the cheerful boy feel the vein in his temple swell, “I don't know how you can do such filthy things in public without feeling shame, you are such a degenerates.”

“It's no worse than Kita and Ibuki's French kiss or the captain and Tsurugi's kiss,” Minamisawa said with an exasperated whine. “Except this part that tried to be a dance.”

Amemiya, hot from the dance, sat next to Yukimura after giving Kurosaki a glare and rested his head on his friend’s shoulder, the other boy was startled with color rising in his cheeks. “Why haven't you looked at me, Yuki? I worked so hard at this dance for you.”

Tsurugi laughed. “Is that something you should say about doing a striptease?”

“I only took off my shirt, oh, I know! Did you want me to take down my pants too?” The orange-haired asked, trying, unsuccessfully, to make his friend laugh.

Amemiya took the bottle in a bad mood for not having achieved his goal, even if his shirt was in Yukimura’s hands. He spun the object that stopped in front of Kurosaki, who felt a shudder when the midfielder's green eyes landed on him without any trace of their usual kindness and sympathy. The orange haired's expression was one of cold vengeance.

The brunette rubbed his forehead. “Why has he chosen me again? Ugh. Truth, I'm not going to risk you asking me to act like a clown.”

He stared at him even more intently, his lips stretched with unusual cruelty. “In what public place would you want to have sex?”

Faced with that daring question, there was a sudden and dense silence in the room, everyone stiffened inevitably moving their eyes towards their teammate. Kurosaki looked like a traffic light so fast that the colors on his face changed.

"Pardon…?" He asked in a broken voice, as if he wanted someone to confirm that he had heard wrong, something that of course wasn't going to happen because he had heard perfectly.

Senguuji and Gomaki were the first to laugh again, looking at him in a very cretinous and malicious way and slowly dragging the others along. The goalkeeper put his hand on his face, his blue eyes shining. “Don't be ashamed, Mr. Perfect, we will keep your little secret.”

Namikawa rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe he's even already done something with Tetsu…”

"No!" Kurosaki screamed out of his mind, his face much redder than during the previous question, grabbing the pirate striker by the collar of his pajama shirt. “I have not done anything improper in public! I’m not a fucking degenerate!”

“Better don't let Akio hear you,” Hakuryuu warned, crossing his arms with a smirk also on his lips. “I have heard him talk to his friends about some of his experiences with quite a pride.”

“Everyone in Teikoku High School knows not to go near Kidou's office when Coach Fudou visits,” Tsurugi said hoarsely, his eyes overflowing with horror unimaginable to the others.

Kurosaki covered his face with his hands, totally dismayed, and Minamisawa patted him encouragingly, unable to help but tease, “Come on, cheer up; Yes, we all know that behind that angelic face there is a real pervert.” 

"You! I didn’t expect that betrayal from you, Minamisawa!”

He laughed amused; but Kariya took the opportunity to intervene. “Maybe when he fell on Tetsukado while eating ice cream, he did it with intention and not by accident.”

“A rich and delicious chocolate and cream ice cream.” Mizukawa had to cover her mouth from laughter.

“Oh?” Namikawa blinked as if he had just had a realization. “It makes sen…”

"No! It doesn't make sense! That was an accident! I haven’t done those things!”

“Calm down, Kurosaki,” Kageyama kindly smiled, trying to bring some peace to his agitated and hysterical teammate. “Having sex in public is not that serious.”

“I'm starting to worry about the things they teach at Teikoku,” Seto whispered to Mahoro. “Kageyama was a very innocent child when he was in Raimon.” 

The red-haired choked. “Well, I don't think it's a bad thing either as long as you don't get caught or you can get rid of witnesses.”

“Okay, that worries me even more,” she confessed, rolling her eyes.

Kurosaki continued yelling. “If it's not that serious, you should answer!”

“But the challenge is yours,” Gomaki said, too amused, making the other boy even more angry. “It is not right to run away with your tail between your legs.”

Kirino intervened, seeing that Hakuryuu was in favor of going on. “Don't be cruel, I think the question is too much, anyone would be embarrassed to answer something like that. Amemiya, you should ask him something else.”

“He bravely performed the striptease I asked him to do,” Mizukawa observed, raising an eyebrow, and the orange-haired winked cheekily.

“But it's not the same,” replied the vice-captain. “He just had to take off his shirt, we're used to seeing each other without cloth…” He fell silent when he noticed the mocking glances of the others and let out his breath in exasperation. “Why are you all so stupid?”

“Well, we may be stupid, but we didn't want to see Amemiya's ass,” Kariya replied with narrowed orange eyes. The pink haired pulled his cheek hard. 

Kita and Kishibe looked at each other without knowing if they should actually ask Amemiya to change his question, since the first of them felt a certain satisfaction in his friend's embarrassment after he laughed so cruelly at his boyfriend. 

Kageyama rubbed his head shyly but resolutely. “If it helps Kurosaki not feel so bad about his question, I can answer it too, I have no problem with it.”

Kariya's laughter stopped suddenly, something that did not go unnoticed by those closest to him, and he looked at his friend with his mouth open and a horrified depth in his eyes. 

“What are you saying, Kageyama?” Kishibe seemed perplexed by this brave intervention.

“I say that I don't mind answering too if it makes Kurosaki feel calmer, it's not something I'm ashamed of at all.”

“I'm gone for two years and this happens,” Shindou sighed, shaking his head.

“And in what public place would you want to have sex, Kageyama?” Kita asked amused, making his decision as co-organizer of the game.

His colored ears pricked up just a little as he replied, “In a parking lot inside a car.”

Kariya completely dropped the cell phone he was carrying in his hand and Kirino started to laugh loudly when he saw his face of absolute horror, which made everyone look at him jokingly.

“How sad that you laugh at a friend like that, vice-captain,” Kita punctuated with a mocking gleam in his eyes. “You should reply too to compensate.” 

“Exactly, you must set an example and show courage to help your players without feeling embarrassed,” Makari indicated with a glow just as mocking as the orange-haired’s.

“Makari, don't you join in too,” Yukimura growled, tugging at his sleeve, but his friend giggled and ruffled his hair.

“Come on, Yuki. We’re just having a little fun among friends.”

Shindou shuddered and looked afraid at Kita, Makari and then at Kirino, he didn't want to know that. The manager commented, “We should not forget that the question was for Kurosaki, it is unnecessary for anyone else to answer.”

The brunette ground his teeth, annoyed by that new and unexpected betrayal. “Well, I think it is better that we forget it.”

Namikawa was still laughing hard at the purple-haired striker. “We better not leave Kageyama alone in the caravan from now on.”

“If he is alone it wouldn't be a problem, the problem will be if he stays with someone, and makes them participate in his sexual fantasy,” Mizukawa responded, leaning on Kageyama affably, he blushed and pouted a little.

“You shouldn't say those things, you're a lady,” Gomaki teased, knowing perfectly well what kind of 'lady' she was.

“We ladies also think about sex,” she said without any shame. “Or do you think that your mother gave birth to you by divine action?”

At that, there was a general laugh, Kariya, still not recovering from the shock, did not miss the opportunity to make fun and try to stop thinking about cars in lonely parking lots. “And where would ‘the lady’ want to have sex in public?”

She looked at him with a mocking pout. “Are you interested?”

The defender blushed heavily. “Not at all, but maybe Makari is.”

Makari raised his eyebrows, staring at his teammate, but Mizukawa laughed and said coquettishly, “If you ask me that way, I feel like replying.” 

“Wait, if you're going to make the delicate lady answer we should all say it,” Namikawa proposed with a wink. 

"Why? Mizukawa has that of a delicate lady the same as me,” Ibuki growled and she laughed even harder.

“Just because you don't have common sense or shame doesn't mean the rest of us are the same, Namikawa,” Yukimura huffed, irritated at being dragged into this.

“Ah, hush. Didn't we want to get to know each other better? These things strengthen bonds! I start, and we continue to my left so that Bird Brain is last.”

“It seems right to me, we should honor our coach,” Hakuryuu accepted and the vast majority laughed in agreement.

Namikawa rubbed his hands proving that he did indeed have no sense of shame. “In my case, I have always fantasized about having sex in one of those little boats that are rented on the beach, being out to sea with the sky above my head and the turquoise waters below. Bonus points if the boat has a glass bottom to see the fish.”

Mahoro crossed his arms without blushing in the slightest either, his response was shorter but much more impressive. “A cemetery at night.”

Seto fidgeted with her face completely red and twirled her hair before answering without looking at anyone, especially without looking at Namikawa, “In a hot spring where one of my favorite historical samurai dramas was filmed.”

Ibuki cleared his throat slightly and everyone was afraid that he would say at a fried chicken restaurant, but he surprised them with something unusually romantic. “An outdoor place, like a meadow on the side of a hill, where you can see the entire night sky.”

Tsurugi looked thoughtful and shrugged. “Anywhere in the middle of nature with a full moon or also a forest at any time.”

Hakuryuu smiled amusedly, with a mischievous grin. “In the ruins of some castle, although I don't dislike the mountain itself either.”
When it was Kirino's turn he blushed heavily and lowered his head, murmuring in a weak voice, "In a library, especially one of those European old ones you see in photos."

Kariya was not prepared, especially since he spent more time mocking the others than thinking about his answer. “I don't want to do those things in public!” The others booed him and forced him to respond so he became very nervous. “I don't know, in a place very far from anyone, on an abandoned road near Mount Fuji.”
Kageyama had already reply so Gomaki continued, generating the strongest shock for everyone so far. “At the Eiffel Tower.” When everyone looked at him dumbfounded he shrugged his shoulders. "What? It is an iconic place and they say that Paris is the City of Love, what better tribute to the city than having sex in one of its most famous places?”

Mizukawa took a while to talk because she was laughing too much at her friend. When she managed to compose herself, wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Makari with a funny wink. “A sexual encounter in a botanical garden would be interesting.”

Senguuji tensed slightly in his turn, noticing his cheeks were more flushed than usual. “I would love to have sex in a throne room, although the remaining Palaces are always monitored with cameras.”

It was Makari's turn who was not the least bit perturbed as he said looking back at the dark haired girl, "Personally I don't mind alleys, emergency stairs or even a disused classroom."

Yukimura was completely blushing and didn't want to join, but he knew there was going to be no mercy just as there had been no mercy for Kariya. “A desert island.”

Amemiya clapped his hands, in a much better mood than the blue-haired, he almost seemed excited to reveal his fantasy. “A broken elevator, a cinema, the park, in an old abandoned train station or on the roof of a house!”

Kishibe stifled a whimper, shyly. “The gym warehouse where sports equipment is kept or in a pastry shop on the counter.”

Shindou thought he was going to die when the team glanced at him, he strongly cursed Amemiya, Kurosaki, Mizukawa and Namikawa for having made everyone have to say such a shameful revelation; things that, of course, didn't want to know about anyone. His face burned strongly as he said, feeling Kirino's eyes on him, “On the piano of an empty concert hall.”

Kita put his hands on his knees, he was quite calm and smiled as he spoke. “An observatory or a meadow from which the starry sky can be seen.” Everyone narrowed their eyes at the same time, looking at Ibuki too.

Minamisawa, unlike his friend, was unusually blushing and nervous, losing his cocky and arrogant composure. “You are all degenerates, alas! Ugh, I don’t know, the locker room showers?” He immediately knew that he had condemned himself and shouted as everyone began to cruelly mock him. “No! I didn't say anything! I didn’t say anything!”

Namikawa grabbed Kurosaki's shoulders smiling. “See? It's okay, we've all been brave, now it's your turn.”

Kurosaki rubbed his face and looked at the floor, even though they had all said something before he felt his heart pounding and a dark pressure in his chest of anxiety. “In a temple.”

The team started making noise about it, unable to stay quiet.

“Now that's profanation,” Minamisawa sneered despite having opened his mouth too much just a little earlier, the brunette punched him, irritated.
“As Minamisawa said, he has an angelic face but he is a pervert,” teased the pink-haired goalkeeper.

“At least you won't have to worry about me in the locker room showers,” he snorted and the maroon-haired midfielder blushed violently.

Kurosaki, still feeling the pulse in his ears dazzling him, spun the bottle amidst the laughter of his teammates who were mocking each other about their exhibitionism preferences. The bottle stopped at Senguuji who was currently laughing at his white-haired friend and raised his eyebrows.

“Dare,” he said, puffing out his chest with a confident, mischievous smile.

"Good! Someone, fill his arms with penises!”

"Physically?" Gomaki asked with a muffled laugh, having to cover his face to avoid an expression that was too revealing.

“Will I get to choose who at least?” Senguuji mocked, flexing his arm to stiffen his muscles.

"No! Animals! Brutes! The mother who…! I mean to draw… I hate all of you.”

“Me too?” Namikawa asked with puppy eyes.

“You the most,” Kurosaki growled, although they both knew he didn't mean it and the striker ended up laughing, hugging him, who seemed embarrassed by that gesture of friendship.

“Does anyone have a permanent marker to draw the penises?” Mizukawa asked with all-too-obvious interest.

“Ah, no, back gremlin, as Yamato's best friend it is up to me to fulfill the quest and fill his arms with penises,” Gomaki snorted, pushing the girl aside without regard.

“Just the arms?” laughed Kariya.

“It's not fair, I want to draw penises on Senguuji's arms too,” Amemiya laughed with a pout, totally oblivious to the sense of danger. “I am an artist.”

“I don't know what merit there will be in drawing penises, but if one thing is certain, it is that you will do it better than Kirino,” Hakuryuu laughed.

"Hey!" the pink haired boy complained. “You see, it shouldn't be that difficult to draw a stick and two balls.”

“It has its science,” Kishibe replied, crossing his arms. “The thing is that you can know what it is.”

“Well, if Kirino draws it, it's going to look like a stick bug with bulging eyes,” Shindou murmured, making Kishibe and Kita stifle a laugh.

“It's difficult to draw a good penis,” Tsurugi defended. “A realistic one with his veins and all takes its time.”

“Why do you know that?” Ibuki asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “Do you draw penises?”

“Don't ask what you don't want to know, Ibuki,” the blue-haired replied seriously. 

“Let's each draw a penis,” Amemiya proposed. “It will be like signing a cast.”

“Sounds like fun,” Kita agreed with a laugh. “This way he will carry a memory of us all night.”

"Yeah! We’ll all leave a little mark on him,” Seto smiled, rubbing her hands together.

“Yours will be small, I plan to draw a tremendous one,” Tsurugi commented meanly.

“Mine will be bigger,” Hakuryuu challenged, raising an eyebrow, and the other forward accepted the challenge.

No one had a marker, so Mizukawa generously lent her lipsticks for the challenge. Mahoro cried when he saw it. “Why do you waste such expensive lipsticks like that? Does money mean nothing to you?”

She looked at him confused. “Not much, my family has quite a fortune so I receive a generous monthly payment to try to compensate for their neglect and hide the fact that they consider me a disappointment as a daughter, so I have never had to worry about material things.”

Kariya, glancing at the girl, was the first to take the lipstick to draw on Senguuji's arm, with Namikawa taking another to use on the left arm. Gomaki waited patiently for his turn, although the entire team passed before him. Some drew small penises that did not attract attention and others tried to monopolize as much space as possible with very detailed drawings with veins and hairs, in Kirino's case he drew something that did not even remotely look like one. In the end the white-haired defender looked at his friend's arms with a snort. 

“You fucking morons, you have left no room for my penis.”

“Do you know where there will always be room?” Mizukawa laughed rudely, Gomaki put his hand on her face to silence her with reddened ears and she continued mocking, although the pink-haired pursed his lips as he watched them.

Gomaki, after pushing Mizukawa against Makari who held her gently, grabbed Senguuji's arm and body, placing him face down on a futon with an ease that amazed everyone. 

“Remind me to never make Gomaki angry,” Makari whispered to the girl who giggled.

The white-haired grabbed the rub of the goalkeeper's pants and underwear, lowering it to the middle of his butt cheek. Senguuji let out a cry of shame and complained, “Hey! What do you think you're doing, Tetsurou!?”

“Claim my position,” he said, taking the lipstick and drawing a penis on his butt cheek.

“Disgusting,” the girl huffed, kicking the defender, stretching her leg as much as she could, since she was still held by Makari. “Forget that I used that lipstick again after touching Yamato's ass.”

“Justice,” Kariya laughed, delighted at the chaos and seeing Senguuji complaining, face down and restrained by the other.

But Gomaki had not finished, then he turned his friend around holding his face and drew another one on his cheek pointing at his mouth with a laugh. 

“Wow, how greedy, drawing two penises,” Kita said in a sing-song voice. 

“I have the right to mark my territory.”

“You are despicably vulgar,” Minamisawa reproached with a disgusted face, still approaching with his cell phone. “Now smile for the photo, Senguuji. You are going to be a trend on Inagram.”

Everyone laughed, Mizukawa grabbed the lipstick and threw it at Mahoro. “A gift for you.”

“I don't want to put lipstick with something that touched Senguuji's ass either.”

“Cut the tip, it was practically new so there is a lot of bar left.”

“You are a fair and generous goddess,” he said, taking a small knife from his suitcase to cut it.

“Why do you have a knife, Mahoro?” Kirino asked, perplexed, while Kurosaki covered Namikawa's mouth who seemed ready to fight over who was a real goddess.

“And why did your grandmother take off your makeup and not the knife?” Seto asked, her eyes shining with laughter. “She'd rather you be a murderer than paint your eyes?”

He shrugged. “It's not that big of a deal, it's just a utility knife, it's always good to have one and I always take it on my trips. I doubt I could hurt anyone with this.”

“I brought one too,” Makari said. “In the mountains it may be useful.”

Almost all of the old Resistance Japan team confessed that they also had a knife with them, besides Kageyama and Ibuki; Yukimura even added, “I always carry one so I can carve wooden figures, it relaxes me a lot.”

“Senguuji, you better erase all that before breakfast or the coaches are going to kill us,” Shindou observed, putting his hand to his forehead in exasperation.

Kirino looked at him and couldn't help but smile, seeing that little by little Shindou seemed to really participate more with the others. Kita and Kishibe caught his smile and both gave him a thumbs up so synchronized that they seemed to have read the other’s mind.

Kageyama felt a chill. "Yes, it's better that Coach Kidou doesn't find out."

Senguuji, sporting his temporary tattoos made by his teammates, spun the bottle and it stopped at Mahoro who smiled sinisterly. “I choose truth, we have had many challenges and the room is starting to smell like a stable.”

The goalkeeper laughed and looked at him with interest. “Let's see, my dear friend. Since we have a temple profanator…”

“Hey!” the aforementioned complained.

“...and a tomb profanator; Tell us in great detail, what is that dark fantasy of yours like?”

“And we continue with the spicy challenges,” Kishibe complained, rubbing his forehead, perhaps having thought that the goalkeeper would not join the cause.

Kita instead whistled at Mahoro with a wink. “Let's see what monstrosity you want to do to my poor cousin in the middle of a cemetery at night.”

“Shut your mouth Kita!” the red-haired growled, blushing heavily, everyone laughed at that. 

Ibuki stretched his lips. "Don't worry, you can tell Minaho that there is a mystery in the cemetery and he will go with you without suspecting anything."

“Minaho? What Minaho?” Shindou asked, puzzled.

The white-haired goalkeeper stared at him. "Minaho Kazuto, Ichiban's cousin."

"What? Is Minaho your cousin, Kita?” The manager opened his mouth, dumbfounded. "I didn't know."

“How did you not know?” Tsurugi asked. “He said it several times during our trip to Space, even I found out. Tell me you at least noticed Ichikawa's suspicious resemblance to Zanark.”

Shindou scratched his head. “Of course, they were very similar, clearly Zanarak must have been his descendant.”
“Minaho used to talk about his cousin the Space geek,” Ibuki reported. “He even brought Ichi several souvenirs that we got on the alien planets.”

“Yes, I was very excited,” said the orange-haired, smiling. “He brought me a super ugly mask that I have hanging in my room and many other things.”

“Well, I never heard of it,” Shindou defended himself. “And you like Minaho, Mahoro? I thought you liked Am…” The musician bit his lips, deciding to remain silent, and cleared his throat. “It doesn't matter, in any case, how unexpected since you two are total opposites.”

Mahoro stood very rigid, Namikawa and Seto turned towards him and the girl rested her hand on his leg, whispering something to him, so he denied it. Amemiya also observed him more seriously. The red-haired defender cleared his throat to change the mood. “What I am about to tell has no one specific in mind, no one at all.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kageyama smiled, trying to help his friend. “Especially not a doe-eyed detective.”

"Good. I have been fantasizing about having sex in a cemetery for a long time, ever since I read that Mary Shelley, writer of 'Frankenstein', had lost her virginity on her mother's grave, it seemed very..."

“...wild,” Amemiya completed with a laugh.

“Actually my fantasy is nothing out of this world…”

“Do you think it isn’t enough to go to a Holy Land to disturb the rest of the dead?” Hakuryuu asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kariya felt a shudder and grabbed Kageyama by the shirt. “Fucking horrible, everything full of ghosts and ectoplasm…”

“Calm down, Masaki, there are no ghosts here.”

"You think?" Makari smiled sinisterly. “It's a very old hostel, surely there is some spirit possessing it.”
Kariya and Seto were startled, hugging Kageyama and Mahoro respectively, their faces pale and trembling.

The red-haired smiled amusedly, patting the girl on the head. “Don't worry, I've only felt one in the bathroom.”

“That doesn't calm me down at all,” she whimpered as Kariya turned pale, still whinning against Kageyama.

“Don't worry, cowards, if the ghost is going to possess someone, it's probably going to be me, again,” Mizukawa growled, resting her cheek on the palm of her hand with a pout.

Makari narrowed his eyes. "We will not let them possess anyone, we have two people on the team who can expel unwanted spirits and entities."

“Notice that they even expelled Matsukaze,” Senguuji whispered, at which Yukimura laughed very loudly.

Mahoro continued to reply after changing seats with Seto, so that Namikawa could comfort the girl who was so scared that she left without protesting, “My partner and I would go to the cemetery to try to record some cacophony that we could investigate.”

“The only thing you would record would be the wails of the ghosts having to see you in the middle of it,” Minamisawa teased.

“Not even dead can one rest in peace,” Yukimura growled.

The red-haired looked at them seriously with mock exasperation. “We would spend a while searching among the graves, laughing at the shadows that would seem threatening and dangerous; But then the moon would be reflected in his bright green.., I mean, in his bright eyes, I would approach him, gently caressing his face, kissing timidly at first, only to become more passionate until he would be lying on the black grass with his pulse racing. There I would tell him how much I love him and I would begin to slowly undress him while…”

“Too many details,” Kishibe interrupted, cutting him off. “That's enough, poor Minaho.”

“I said it wasn't with anyone in mind!” the defender complained immediately.

“It seems quite romantic to me,” Mizukawa observed with an approving smirk. “Romantically disturbing.”

“If we forget that it's in a cemetery, it's not so shady,” Kirino accepted. “Actually, a romantic confession in a cemetery would make for a great story.”

“Yes, but you should bring condoms and lubricant, especially if it is the first time as is implied in your fantasy,” Kageyama indicated seriously. “Protection first.”

“They wouldn't be things one would expect on the list of things to bring to a cemetery,” Namikawa laughed loudly. “One usually brings flowers.”

“Well, he's going to make my cousin's ass look like a flower.”

“Kita!” Mahoro screamed, blushing while everyone laughed violently.

“Later you should put some incense and bring a good bouquet of white flowers to apologize to the poor ghosts whose rest you disturbed,” Makari said with a giggle. 

“Ugh,” Kariya trembled. 

“Or you can ask for an offering at a temple to favor their eternal rest,” Kurosaki suggested, thinking of business.

“Yes, but be careful you don't find Tetsukado and Kurosaki frofanating another sacred place,” Minamisawa laughed, earning a pinch from the brunette as everyone laughed loudly. 

Mahoro spun the bottle, which moved in an almost ghostly manner until it stopped at Kariya, who felt a strong shudder of fear. Was this the work of the spirits from beyond?

“Easy, Kariya.” Mahoro smiled kindly, hiding his vengeful aura perfectly. “I'm not a pervert like these crazy people.”

“What right do you have to say that after wanting to bang someone in a cemetery?” Makari teased.

“At least I'm not an exhibitionist who wants to have sex in an alley.”

Gomaki looked at his friend with a mocking gleam in his black eyes. " Touché ."

The green-haired defender laughed at that. “Touched and sunk. I plead completely guilty.”

“Appearances can be so deceiving,” Seto observed. “Makari seems like such a calm and good boy and yet…”

“And he is,” Yukimura defended immediately. “He is the kindest and nicest person in the world!”

Kariya looked at Mahoro with some suspicion and had the mistaken idea that he would be nice to him. "Dare."

The other smiled widely and put his fingertips together as if he were hatching a great plan. “There is nothing more beautiful than filial love, so I dare you to call Kiyama on speaker and tell him 'Dad, I can't sleep, I miss you so much, I love you'.”

Kariya choked on his saliva while Kageyama, Kirino and Seto made a noise as if they had just swallowed a microphone releasing the most gigantic wheeze of their lives and burst out laughing.

“You are the worst.” The defender looked very offended at his three friends and then faced Mahoro, asking with a pleading hesitation. “Wouldn't you rather challenge me to something perverted?”

“No, Masaki,” Kageyama denied, putting his hand on his shoulder, his eyes watering with tears of laughter. “You must call Kiyama.”

“I'm sure he'll be very happy to hear you calling him dad,” Kirino laughed.

“I remember when you called Professor Otonashi mom at football practice, it was epic,” Tsurugi mocked, burying his face in his hands.

"Shut your mouth! You already made fun of me for weeks then!”

“Did you expect anything else?” Shindou asked. “Even Coach Kidou dropped his tablet on the floor from shock.”

“But Professor Otonashi was very happy,” Seto replied with a pout. “It would have been funnier if he had told Coach Kidou.”

“Mahoro is in time to change the dare and have Kariya call Coach Kidou mom,” Kishibe proposed, smiling coldly.

"No! I don't want to die. I'll call Tatsuya now…”

“Bruh, I'd pay to see that,” Mizukawa muttered.

Kageyama leaned towards her. "You can offer it another day, Masaki is weak when it comes to bribing money or food."

They took a moment to consider the message that Kariya should deliver and he looked at them all with hatred before calling the adult on speaker so they could hear him.

Kiyama hurriedly picked up the phone with a choked voice. “Masaki? Masaki, are you alright? What's wrong for calling so late? Has a meteorite fallen? Is there an alien attack? Is someone trying to make you watch the Star Wars movies in the wrong order?”

“Tatsuya calm down,” said a voice from behind. “Let Masaki speak.”

Everyone looked at Kariya expectantly, no one even dared to breathe so as not to give away their presence. “I… I have something I want to tell you, dad…”

On the other end of the phone there was a sudden silence and then a sob so loud it seemed worthy of a play, the voice that had arrived exclaimed, “Tatsuya! Don’t die.”

“My child, my little angel, my little star, called me dad, did you hear that Ryuuji? He called me dad! Today is the happiest day of my life, I want to frame this moment.”

“Yeah, Tatsuya, I heard it.” Midorikawa huffed in exasperation and perhaps envy. “What's wrong, Masaki, dear?”

Kariya burned with shame and only wished that the ground would open up and swallow him forever. "Ugh... I... I can't sleep, I miss you so much."

The sobbing from behind the phone was monumental and Seto had to cover Namikawa's mouth to stop him from laughing, even though she was having trouble herself; Everyone was trying to control themselves, Amemiya even put his fist in his mouth to act as a silencer. Midorikawa spoke again. “We miss you too, Masaki; but soon we will see each other again, we will go to cheer you on at all the matches. Now you should be enjoying with your friends while the tournament lasts. You're always saying that you miss Hikaru so much and that school isn't the same without him. The other day you were crying because you wanted to see him more, this is your chance to spend time together!”

Kageyama smiled tenderly at Kariya, but Kariya refused to look back at him, gritting his teeth in embarrassment. The others genuinely suffered from not being able to mock at that moment.

“Ryuuji, haven't you put Mr. Alien plush and his special blanket in his suitcase? You know Masaki can't sleep without his stuffed alien and his blanket!” Kiyama interrupted suddenly and everyone in the room stared, with raised eyebrows, at Kariya who began to sweat profusely as he noticed their sharp eyes on him, like crows ready to pounce on prey. Namikawa had to cover Seto's mouth at that moment.

“Of course I put them in the suitcase, Tatsuya, who do you take me for? Masaki had forgotten to pack them, so I did it when I checked his luggage to make sure he had enough clean underwear. You know that Masaki doesn't usually carry a lot of spare clothes, in fact I had to pack him five underwear, several pairs of socks and T-shirts.” There was a pause and the adult snorted. "Teenagers."

“Have you heard, Masaki? Mr. Alien will help you to sleep, you can hug him and imagine that it is us lovingly tucking you in.”

“Ngh…” Kariya didn't know how to respond to that because everyone else was laughing too hard, as silently as they could manage. He wanted to hang up the call but Hakuryuu stopped his hand by shaking his head threateningly. “Thank you… Now, now I'll look for it…” 

“If you need me to sing you a lullaby, I can sing you something, how about that song about the little star that you like so much?”
"No! You don't need to sing to me anything,” the defender growled, believing that this humiliation couldn't get any worse.

"Are you sure? Do you prefer a bedtime story?”

“I'm not five years old!”

“But you do love that I read you bedtime stories.” Kiyama paused. “Don't tell me what's happening is that you're afraid to go to the toilet alone? The last time you slept outside you almost pee..."

"No! I'm fine! I'm going to bed now!" Kariya shrieked, cutting off the call hysterically.

But hanging up the call sentenced his own fate and everyone on the team began to laugh and make fun of him so loudly that for a moment there was a commotion that could be heard on the upper floor, disturbing several of the hostel's tenants. Well, not even Kirino could help but burst out laughing, rolling on the floor while the others wiped away their tears.

“Epic,” Minamisawa confessed. "And it's all recorded for our beloved Matsukaze."

“This was better than a comedy show on television,” Seto mocked, finally laughing alongside Namikawa.

Kariya hid his face in his hands, Kageyama patted him kindly on the back. “I miss you a lot in Teikoku too, Masaki…”

“Hey, Kariya, do you want us to go find Mr. Alien so you can hold him and sleep?” Ibuki asked with burning evil.

“I want to see that plush,” Kita confessed. “A stuffed alien so the baby can sleep.”

“Crybaby Alien,” Yukimura murmured.

“I'm not going to take out the damn alien, Kiyama and Ryuuji insist on putting it in my luggage but it's all a lie, I don't need it to sleep.”

“Would you prefer that we sing you a lullaby?” Makari asked with dangerous softness.

“If you have to go to the toilet in the middle of the night and you're scared, I can accompany you,” Kirino whispered with a teasing gleam.

“Though don't forget there's a ghost there,” Yukimura reminded vengefully.

“Everyone go to hell!” Kariya snorted, completely embarrassed, hiding his face in his knees.

“Yes, that's probably where we'll all end up,” Hakuryuu replied calmly.

Mahoro shrugged. “We can ask my boss Desuta to give us a guided tour.”

“Here, we're going to be a VIP group,” observed Amemiya, who was crying with laughter.

“I don't have a problem, I like heat,” Senguuji laughed.

Kariya took the bottle to spin it, still with a red face and a clear desire for revenge regardless of who was chosen, since everyone had laughed at him equally. The chosen victim was Tsurugi, who looked at him defiantly. “Dare, they are more fun.”

The defender began to laugh raucously like a maniac, rubbing his hands, then pointed at his striker friend. “Fake an orgasm on…”

"Why? Does hearing me make you horny?” The blue-haired raised an eyebrow while Amemiya, Ibuki and Namikawa made a noise similar to braying. 

Kariya blushed heavily and Kirino, who had been shocked by the savage dare his friend had ordered, rubbed his face in exhaustion. “Deserved, so very deserved.”

The green-haired defender growled. “Not at all, do you think you're funny?”

“It was very funny,” defended the goalkeeper with magenta eyes, passing his arm over the other who smiled showing his teeth. “In your face.”

Kariya pouted. “You haven't let me finish. “My dare is for you to get on top of the Captain and fake an orgasm.”

Tsurugi had to clear his throat after a deep breath, with his orange eyes fixed on Kariya's cretinous face, until he very slowly diverted them towards Hakuryuu who was looking at him ardently and tapped his thigh inviting him to sit down on him with a shake of the head. The rest of the team was stunned by this challenge, divided between laughter and horror.

Kishibe put his index fingers together. “Maybe we should cancel the dare…”

The forward raised his eyebrows for a moment and began to laugh. “No need, let's please the pervert.”

“Who do you think is the real pervert? Kariya or the Captain?” Amemiya asked Yukimura in a whisper.

“You're all fucking perverts,” he replied with resignation.

Tsurugi sat down on Hakuryuu's legs, facing him with a mischievous smirk that hid his own embarrassment, if he even felt any of it. He hugged his waist with his legs, gently took his face to raise it and bring his own closer to his, leaving both just a few centimeters apart, being able to feel the other's breath caressing their lips. Before starting, the blue-haired took a deep breath.

“Ha-ku-ryuu…” Tsurugi moaned into his lips in front of everyone who opened their mouths dumbfounded and with their hair standing on end from the chill. The team captain immediately blushed to the roots of his hair. “Um, ah…” 

“This is too embarrassing,” Shindou growled, covering his face with his hands; but most of the others, each more brute, began to laugh and whistle in encouragement.

“If the Captain is not careful h’s really going to cum,” Minamisawa laughed.

"Haku... Hm... AH, ¡Ah!" 

The white-haired's red eyes were completely imbued with an overwhelming fire, feeling the vibration of Tsurugi's voice on his lips and his entire body, his entire body, suffered an intense tremor. He could feel his skin burning, everything about him seemed to be combusting in the fire of Tsurugi's voice and gaze, that curvature at the end of his lips indicating that he was enjoying this. 

“Hmm…” The blue-haired approached his ear to continue moaning until Hakuryuu couldn't take it anymore, grabbed him by the hair and kissed him violently again, throwing him against the futon with him on top, barely hearing the background noise of the cheers from almost everyone else.

“Fuck,” Yukimura huffed, stifling a cough, next to him Amemiya was whistling too loudly. “Find your own room!”

“They have kissed so much that in the end we won't know which of them was originally wearing the lipstick,” Mizukawa laughed.

Kageyama turned to Kariya, whispering, “Be thankful that with that kiss they'll forget about your dare or they would have dismembered you.”

Kariya gulped, too horrified that his challenge that sought to humiliate the striker ended in such an embarrassing way to witness.

When Hakuryuu ended the kiss, Tsurugi began to laugh, lying on the futon with his hair disheveled and his gaze flirtatious and provocative. “I think you liked my orgasm, but we left the real one for when we are alone.”

The captain hid his face in the crook of his neck while the blue-haired continued laughing.

“You have the self-control of a bitch in heat,” Ibuki growled at his friend as he sat up.
“And are you the one telling me?” he replied, amused.

"Imagine," the white-haired man laughed.

As everyone sat in their place, Kirino cleared his throat, leaning towards Hakuryuu. “Hm, Captain, are you ha…?”

“Say something about it and I'll tear out your liver,” the captain warned, arranging his legs differently.

Kirino raised his eyebrows, stifling a laugh, Seto continued applauding. “Worthy of a movie.”

“I think that in the end their public sexual fantasy is to fuck in front of the whole team,” Amemiya laughed, clutching his belly.

“I would like to say no, but the way they kiss…” Makari giggled, Yukimura and Kishibe wrinkled their noses.

“Do you think there is a full moon and that is why Tsurugi is so wild?” the purple-haired asked, looking towards the window.

Tsurugi spun the bottle which stopped at Kita who seemed delighted to finally be chosen. He smugly looked at Tsurugi with a hesitant smile. "Dare."

He smiled evilly back and patted Ibuki on the back a few times.

“Oh no,” Minamisawa whimpered.

“Take off Ibuki's shirt with your teeth with your hands tied behind your back.”

Kita raised his eyebrows at first, caught by surprise, but then he stood up and approached his boyfriend suggestively, causing the color to rise in his cheeks.

“How do I tie my hands?”
“Let Ibuki tie them with a belt,” Makari suggested.

“I like the way you think.” Mizukawa winked at the defender who accepted that strange compliment.

“Do I have to see this?” Shindou grumbled with a frown of displeasure.

“Believe me, I don't want to either,” Minamisawa responded with a hoarse cry.

“And yet you don't stop recording,” the musician observed disdainfully.

“It's a necessary sacrifice to document this moment so I can make fun of them in the future.”

Ibuki, under pressure from everyone, went to look for one of his belts and when he returned he looked Kita in the eyes, clearing his throat with his magenta eyes burning intensely. Kita turned his back to his boyfriend and moved his arms so Ibuki could tie them, laughing, “This is new for us, huh, Mune?”

The goalkeeper's color grew even brighter and he grunted softly, resting his head on top of his, before sitting down again. 

Kita knelt in front of his boyfriend with a boastful smirk, but as soon as he leaned forward to catch the end of his loose pajama shirt, he lost balance and fell with a dull thump, face first against his crotch.

There was a loud laughter that overshadowed the goalkeeper's moan, Namikawa commented, distracting Kurosaki by addressing him, "It seems Kita wanted ice cream too." 

“Pft, little more and he eats it in front of us,” Kariya laughed, stamping his feet.

“Ew,” Shindou grunted, rubbing his eyes and earning a glare from Ibuki.

“Once again, I can only bless technology.” Minamisawa fixed his hair with his cell phone recording that although he looked over the screen.
It took the orange-haired a while to get a hold of the shirt with his teeth, constantly distracted by the mockery and comments of the others. When Kita finally managed it, he snorted with satisfaction and looked up at the other boy whose eyes were burning and his lips were parted. 

It took him a while longer to get up with the shirt in his mouth and several times he slipped and fell on top of his boyfriend who was beginning to clear his throat restlessly. The last time he had fallen on him, Kita had opened his eyes wide with a silent question in them and Ibuki had lowered his eyebrows in embarrassment, his face completely blushing because he couldn't avoid that reaction. 

When Kita finally managed to take off his shirt, everyone cheered and whistled like he were a hero.

“Ibuki doesn't have bad pecs either,” Kageyama said with caution.

Kariya looked at him, furrowing his eyebrows. “What obsession do you have with pecs now?”

His friend blushed and shook his head in embarrassment, Gomaki grabbed his shoulders affably. “If you want, Yamato and I can help you with exercises to gain muscle.”

"Really?" the purple-haired boy asked excitedly.

“Sure,” the goalkeeper replied. “So you'll join the team that can pinch other’s eyes with our tits, huh?”

The striker blushed, lowering his head shyly while they laughed.

“Yes, but don't get so agitated or I am going to be your victim, Yamato,” Mizukawa growled as she was hit by his chest.

“This was like watching one of those movies that are so bad but so extremely bad that you can't take your eyes off the screen,” Minamisawa sighed, cutting the video on his cell phone while Kita shook the shirt with his mouth.

The orange haired dropped his shirt and turned around with his back to his boyfriend. “I've done it, now untie me, Mune.”

“So kinky,” Seto murmured and Mahoro laughed while Namikawa looked at her enthralled.

“Don't listen to Kita, Ibuki. Let him be tied for a while longer,” Amemiya laughed.

Seto suddenly moved on the goalkeeper, narrowing her eyes, bringing her hand to a dark spot under the boy's collarbone that she tried to scratch. When she realized what it was, she blushed and moved away, falling on Namikawa, who seemed even happier than before. “Oh, sorry! I thought it was a stain.”

That caught everyone's attention and Tsurugi was quick to scoff. “Tremendous hickey you have there, man.”

“Kita?” Minamisawa whinned, feigning retching despite laughing his head off.

"What!? He’s my boyfriend, I can give him all the hickeys I want.”

“Gross, I don't know what you see in Ibuki,” Shindou muttered, wrinkling his nose.

Kita looked at him angrily, and would have kick him if it weren't for Kirino grabbing the belt to save the manager. “Remember this was to cheer up Shindou.”

“I'm going to cheer him up by ripping off his head,” the midfielder snorted. “Someone untie me! I'm so fucking tired of you laughing at Munemasa!”

“Understandable,” Makari sighed and added in a whisper that only Yukimura heard. “I would also tear off heads if someone…”

“Stay still and behave, Kita,” Kishibe tried to soothe.

“You still have to take off my belt to be able to spin the bottle.”

“Ah, shut up, I'll spin it for you,” Minamisawa laughed, getting up and pushing his friend onto Ibuki's lap, who was still shirtless and who hugged him, burying his face on his neck. Tsurugi had had to hold Ibuki to prevent him from going into a fight too. Kita stopped resisting and let himself be embraced, grinding his teeth menacingly glaring at the team.

Kurosaki looked at him out of the corner of his eye and rubbed his chest thoughtfully, he had been very quiet during that dare even if he was one of the ones who bothered Ibuki the most.

Minamisawa spun the bottle humming, something that earned him a suspicious look from Shindou and Kurosaki, it stopped at Hakuryuu who snorted when he found himself selected again. "Dare."

“Good,” Kita said, stretching out on Ibuki's lap, who had his chin resting comfortably on his shoulder. “I dare you to suck a banana.”

“And we continue to climb,” Kishibe sighed, having already resigned to the fate of the spicy game.

“Do you think sucking a banana is worse than faking an orgasm?” Shindou asked, puzzled.

Kishibe pouted. “Good point.”

“Does anyone have a banana?” Tsurugi asked with interest.

“That Hakuryuu wants to suck only you,” Amemiya laughed while Yukimura made a noise that was a mix of gagging, coughing, and grunting.

“We should go to the pantry to get a banana for the captain,” Namikawa decided, getting up to go look for it.

“Hey, where do you think you're going by yourself?” growled Seto who didn't trust his ability to not make a fuss and therefore followed him once again. 

Only that time no one else went. When Kurosaki stared at Hakuryuu about it he shrugged. “They already know where the pantry is.”

“I hope they don't say anything to us for stealing food,” Kirino murmured worriedly.

“We left money earlier,” Senguuji replied. “Much more than those three watermelons were worth.”

Namikawa and Seto returned with two bananas, everyone raised their eyebrows in confusion and the striker shrugged. "What? I am hungry.”

“You do really are a monkey,” Kurosaki muttered, rubbing his forehead, feeling irritated. “Are you going to eat the banana in front of this group of apes?” 

He shrugged again, throwing the other banana at Tsurugi who wasn't expecting it and slap him square in the face with a muffled noise. The team laughed.

The blue-haired took the fruit from the futon and looked at Hakuryuu with great interest, a flirtatious glint in his orange eyes. “I think fate wants me to hold the banana that you must suck.”

“Now Namikawa is fate?” Gomaki laughed.

“We're doomed,” Yukimura growled.

Tsurugi slowly and suggestively peeled the banana without taking his eyes off his captain whose red eyes were ardently fixed on him. When he finished, he held the fruit firmly between them. 

“Bon appetit,” Kariya scoffed.

Hakuryuu slowly removed a strand of hair, tucking it behind his ear, and opened his mouth, catching the tip of the banana in his mouth. Tsurugi sighed, enthralled, and bit his lower lip.

“Come on, Hakuryuu, open your mouth wide and deep down,” Kita laughed. “But be careful not to bite.”

“Yeah, come on,” Mizukawa encouraged. “Prove you are the worthest captain ever.”

“Now it's going to be a deep throat challenge?” Seto asked with a chuckle.

“Let him go at his pace,” Tsurugi snapped, moving his free hand to swat them away like they were flies. “We are in no hurry.”

“We should go to sleep sometime,” Kirino observed, raising his eyebrows. “Preferably before the sun comes up.”

“Don't be a party pooper, Kirino,” Kariya murmured.

“Do you want to die that badly?” the vice-captain asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Hakuryuu, with red ears, but always with the dignity expected of the captain of Resistance Japan, put the whole banana in his mouth or as much as he could since had stop at Tsurugi's hand, he slid back to the tip slowly, repeating the movement without stopping to look at his rival who was breathing deeply. Until one of the times when the banana was in, he opened his eyes wide, because due to the curvature of his mouth and throat the banana broke and he almost choked on the fruit, spitting it out in front of everyone and coughing with an irritated throat. “I almost choked on the banana when it broke.”

“It was a perfect analogy for cumming on the mouth,” Mizukawa said giggling.
“Don't worry, real ones don't break like that,” Ibuki laughed with a laugh.

“I hope so,” Amemiya replied. “Although just imagining a bite down there has hurt my soul.”

All the boys shivered together and Tsurugi took the banana again so that Hakuryuu could eat it, this time for real.

“It was wonderful, I knew the Captain would not disappoint. Now, can you untie me, Mune?” Kita smiled, waving his tied arms as little as he could.

“No, not yet,” Ibuki said, hugging him tighter, hiding his face in his loose hair.

Hakuryuu finished eating the banana and licked Tsurugi's fingers, who seemed delighted. “Next time you do it.”

“I’m looking forward to that moment.”

Hakuryuu took the bottle while everyone continued laughing and it began to spin, stopping in front of Ibuki and Kita who raised their eyebrows.

“That thing hates me,” the grumpy goalkeeper snorted suddenly. “Anyway, dare.”

“It must be because it's Kishibe's,” Seto observed, tilting her head.

“Who should answer this time? Ibuki, Kita or both?” Minamisawa asked mischievously, wishing it were both of them so they could tease them twice as much.

“We can do a dare together, if someone would be kind enough to untie me,” the orange-haired said with bright, pleading eyes.

“If we let you go, you're going to go berserker,” Gomaki reproached, amused.

“Of course, but later I can do the dare,” he smiled back. “We can do a dare together, Mune and I.”
“No thanks, we've had enough of the T-shirt dare watching you almost poke your eye out with your boyfriend's dick,” Kariya scoffed. 

“Be thankful I'm tied up, or I'll pull your teeth out one by one,” the orange-haired huffed.

“But I'm not,” Ibuki growled, making a move to get up. Tsurugi and Mahoro stopped him, fearing for the defender's dental health.

“Don't fight, it's a game, even if Kariya deserves to be hung upside down,” Hakuryuu ordered. 

“Oh dear, someone dare him on that, please,” Mizukawa laughed. “He would look great hanging by his ankles from the ceiling like a bat.”

Hakuryuu looked at the couple thoughtfully. “Since you were both together… I dare you, Kita, to stay the whole the game with your hands tied.”

"Why? It’s not funny and my arms are going to get numb! Plus I want to do a dare together with Mune.”

“Take it like practice for future times when your hands will be tied,” Tsurugi laughed.

“Yes, for example, when they handcuff you to go to jail for murder,” Kageyama said with a pout. “Which is going to happen soon if you don't stay quiet, Masaki.”

“Go to jail like your uncle?” Mahoro asked with a laugh.

“No, Kageyama was never actually imprisoned,” Hakuryuu replied. “The only time they managed to catch him, Akio saved him under the effect of the Aliea Stone.”

Senguuji and Gomaki looked at each other for a moment, the pink-haired frowned with a darkened pout at the thought of imprisoned people and the defender grabbed his shoulder. “Yamato….” He nodded, letting his friend know that he already knew what he was going to say and that he was fine. Gomaki narrowed his eyes, not letting go of his shoulder so that it was clear that no matter what happened, he was there for Senguuji.

“Plus, whatever you need your hands for, you can use your boyfriend's,” the dark-haired girl added with a wink.

“Yeah, they're pretty big, I don't know why his soul is a mammoth and not a gorilla,” Kariya mocked again, Kirino and Kageyama looked at him with exasperation, Shindou laughed while Seto and Hakuryuu had to stop the midfielder that had jumped from Ibuki's lap with clear warlike intentions. 

“It's not because we're not trying to save your skin, Kariya, but you don't learn, do you?” Kirino grumbled. “You're earning it hard.”

“As for you…” Hakuryuu narrowed his eyes at Ibuki, a perfidious and vengeful smile appeared on his face and he ran his thumb over his painted and banana-sugared lips. “Since you like playing with makeup so much, why don't we let them do your makeup completely?”

“Did I hear the Captain say my name?” Mizukawa quickly jumped out of her seat and went to get her makeup case with a sinister chuckle.

“I'll help you, let's leave Ibuki divine.” Seto stood up excitedly and stretched with a crack of her back.

“He's going to look like a clown with makeup, even more than usual,” Shindou observed evilly, Ibuki and Kita glared with resentment.

But they weren't the only ones, Mahoro, Tsurugi and Hakuryuu also frowned.
Mizukawa felt a chill as she crouched on her suitcase. “Oh no, we left clowns out of all this, I've had enough clowns for the rest of my life. Also, good makeup flatters anyone and Ibuki is very handsome, so I'm sure he will look good.”

At that comment, almost everyone on the team narrowed their eyes and looked at the goalkeeper. Kita shuddered, also looking at his boyfriend, biting his lower lip.

Namikawa scratched his head in confusion. “Do you think Ibuki is handsome? Like, I know I can't say anything, they always tell me that I look like an ape..."

The manager raised an eyebrow at the striker and laughed. “You're so funny, Namikawa. Don't worry, you're handsome too, and even if you looked like an ape, I'm sure Seto would be able to see your charms.”

Seto snorted, rolling her eyes, her ears red, saying nothing else.

“Mizukawa has a very strange taste,” Minamisawa shook his head, leaning toward Kurosaki. “To say that those two savages are handsome, when we are just here…”

The girl who at that moment was trying to hold Ibuki who was resisting not wanting to be painted stopped and raised her head. "You two? No thanks, I find attractive people who are honest, not rats like you.”

Minamisawa furrowed his eyebrows to argue with her, but Kurosaki raised them and then looked away sadly. “Indeed, perhaps if I had been more honest…”

Namikawa was the only one who heard him and looked at his friend blankly, patting him on the back in encouragement. “Hey, don't get down, you're a good guy even if sometimes you're more twisted than a spring. Tetsu and I know that you are worth gold. Mizukawa will also learn to value you soon.”

The brunette's eyes watered when he heard his friend and he stood up, muttering in a hoarse voice. “I'll be right back.”

No one paid any attention beyond that, because the two girls had cornered Ibuki with the help of Tsurugi and Hakuryuu, who pushed Kita away. He began to hover around them like a lost dog in search of food. Mahoro came over to offer his services as a gothic makeup expert and Mizukawa gave him tweezers to fix the goalkeeper's eyebrows while she and Seto painted his nails black.

Shindou started cracking up cruelly even before Kariya or Minamisawa, when Ibuki barely had his face worked. 

“Damn traitors,” Ibuki growled from time to time, looking really angry at the three members of the makeup team.

“Shut your fucking mouth, Ibuki,” Seto snorted. “At this rate I'm going to put lipstick in your eye.”

Makari approached Kita seeing that his eyebrows were furrowed a lot. “Sorry if I'm the one who stops you from biting anyone's jugular, I don't want you to regret anything.”

The orange haired looked at him in surprise and to Makari's even greater surprise, he sat meekly next to him with a small pout, resting his head on his shoulder. “Thank you, I really don't want to create a bad atmosphere, especially when I know that everyone is joking and we are all laughing at everyone. I don't know what's wrong with me, even if fortunately you see my outbursts as comic I do really feel very irascible…” The boy snorted in annoyance. “I don't want to give anyone problems.”

“I know, Kita, but I think these days have been a little rough for you,” Makari smiled. “Let's try to have fun for the rest of the game, which I don't think will be much because it's already quite late.”

The orange haired smiled and nodded. “Yes, you're right, we did this to have a good time, I won't be the one to ruin it.”

At that moment they were distracted by Mizukawa's cheerful voice. "I told you he was going to look very handsome! Go see your boyfriend and give him a good kiss, Ibuki, you're free now."

Mahoro nodded his head. “You do look great, you have a talent for Gothic style.”

“It looks more like someone gave him a black eye,” Shindou bothered.

Ibuki stood up numbly, looking for Kita with an expression like a beaten dog, but when Kita saw him he opened his mouth, perplexed, blushing. “Mune, you look amazing, very handsome and too natural. You look like a famous person, or a Punk singer, or something like that.”

“You look incredible, if you took better care of your image you would surely have tons of fans,” Seto laughed, patting him on the back and high-fiving Mizukawa and Mahoro.

Kita tensed at that comment, biting his lower lip. Ibuki, for his part, seemed offended. “I'm not interested in interacting with people who only care about superficial things, I already had enough in Middle School.”

“Aren't you the same?” Kariya asked with a laugh. “Don't you go out with Kita just because he looks like a girl?”

“Shut your damn mouth, rat boy, or I'll punch it shut,” Ibuki threatened aggressively. 

Makari put his hand on the goalkeeper's forearm and Ibuki looked at him angrily, but the defender calmed him down with a sympathetic look.
The tense note in the air changed again as Namikawa asked innocently. “Don't you want to do makeup for me too?”

Seto rubbed her forehead with blushing cheeks and said in a high-pitched voice, “For what? You would look horrible.”

The striker pouted, but Kurosaki, who had returned not long ago, covered his mouth, hiding a chuckle as he imagined it. “I think it would be interesting to see.”

“We can let Seto do your eyeliner and nails if you want,” Mizukawa offered, tossing both things to the boy who looked with big puppy dog ​​eyes at the other girl.

She sighed with exhaustion. “Okay, let's sit down.”

The manager began to do Namikawa’s make-up while Minamisawa took photos of Ibuki, crying with laughter. “This is great, Kurama will love it…” He wiped his eyes and continued talking, “Now Matsukaze can make another edit with you with bats, coffins and a depressing phrase from some emo band from the 2000s.”

“You're a scoundrel,” Ibuki growled, giving him a resentful look.

“Come on, you know that deep down I love you.”

Ibuki's jaw dropped, completely dumbfounded. "What?"

Minamisawa turned even paler than him. “Eh… Forget I said that.”

Ibuki took the bottle and spun it, stopping at Shindou who suddenly stopped laughing with a lump in his throat. Believing that Ibuki would be less cruel in a dare than in a question, he decided to take a risk and ask for it.

The goalkeeper looked at him without any mercy after everything he had been laughed at. “Do dirty talk with someone in the group.”

Shindou went paler than he already was and cleared his throat. "Do what? If you want to be called dirty, you don't need to dare me, from here I can smell that you stink.”

“Your cat ass is the one that stinks!” Kita shouted, being held back by Ibuki himself, who was hugging him again.

“Well, we all stink a little,” Amemiya confessed with a shrug. “It is normal since we’re many in a closed space and sweating from laughter.”

“It's true,” Yukimura murmured, pushing his friend a little. “You stink.”

Most of their giggled; but it was Mizukawa who replied mischievously, “Shindou, dirty talk means sexual talk saying things like 'I want you to put your dick deep in me' or 'I'm going to cum so much inside you that you're going to have four children of mine'.”

“We're going to have to wash the lady's mouth with soap,” Senguuji joked.

What little color Shindou had left was completely lost, too shocked and panicked to blush yet. “I don't think I could just say those things, I wouldn't even know what to say in the first place.”

“It's true, it's not that easy to think about something like that,” Kishibe agreed, somewhat worried.

“In that case, why don't you read a passage from an erotic novel with someone?” Seto proposed. “I recently read one that had a lot of dirty talk.”

“Why do you read…?” Kariya started.

“Because I like it,” she huffed, interrupting. “Let's see, if you are going to perform it with someone from the group, I can look for an interesting BL…”

The girl took out her cell phone and started searching her reading list, while the others focused on the other manager. “And who should Shindou do it with?” Kageyama asked innocently. “I wouldn't mind helping you but I don't think I'm going to be good at saying those things.”

“No, seeing how you insulted Yamato, I doubt you'll be able to grasp the spiciness necessary for dirty talk,” Gomaki agreed.

Kishibe crossed his arms. "I think it's best for Kirino to be his partner."

"What? Why me?” he screamed, blushing suddenly, in a high-pitched voice. 

“Because you also like reading and writing,” Kariya replied with a cretinous gleam in his eyes, adding in a whisper. “And Shindou.”
Kirino turned towards him, grabbing his collar. “In the end I'm going to be the one to finish you off tonight, Kariya.”

“Come on, Kirino,” Kishibe smiled without realizing that Shindou had tensed up and was sweating heavily, completely blushing. "You're Shindou's best friend, you'll be the one he's most comfortable with."

“And why don't you help him, Kishibe? Since you're so invested in the dare,” Minamisawa suggested, simply wanting to annoy his old teammates.

Kirino jumped. “You are the worst, well, sure, I'll do it.”

“If you two do the reading, I have a perfect novel for the occasion,” the manager reported enthusiastically.

“You'll see,” Senguuji teased, smiling broadly.

Mahoro sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I hope this is a good idea…”

“Settled,” Kita said meanly. “Kirino and Shindou, go to the center to read.”

They both left grunting embarrassed, although deep down they were both grateful that it was Kirino who came out and not any other player on the team.

Seto finally found the passage, Namikawa watching over her shoulder. “If you like erotic novels you should look for pirated ones, there are a lot of them and they have very nice covers.”

“Why do you know that?” Kurosaki wanted to know, frowning.

“Because once I wanted to read pirate novels and I looked for a few, but they were all erotic. So Matatagi and I started researching them and discovered that they are quite popular.”

Seto looked at Namikawa dumbfounded. “They usually tell me I should not read these novels.”

"Why?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck. “If you like them, what’s the problem?”

She looked at him carefully and then approached the other two. “This is a novel based on the romance between Oda Nobunaga and Mori Ranmaru.”

Tsurugi let out a huge laugh. "It's certainly perfect for the two of them, considering Shindou had Oda Nobunaga's Aura and Kirino's name is Ranmaru."
The girl nodded fervently. “Although it is not historically accurate.”

“And what is historically accurate?” the blue-haired said again thoughtfully. “Although we did not meet Mori Ranmaru when we visited Oda Nobunaga, we saw other things that were not as we had been told, for example that Zhuge was a woman instead of a man.”

“I guess it's like Greek mythology,” Kurosaki interjected, rubbing his chin. “There are many adaptations and they all vary, so in the end you don't know which version is the original.”

“The same thing happens with Old West stories, we have the idea of ​​Hollywood and it’s very different from what it really was,” Kageyama added.

“Do you like the Old West?” Mahoro asked, surprised.

“A little, Coach Fudou likes those movies and makes us watch them.”

“About the novel,” Seto cleared her throat, attracting attention again. “The two of them and a narrator speak.”

“You should be the narrator, Seto,” Amemiya proposed and she laughed in agreement.

“Eh…” the two boys in the center murmured, completely disturbed by that ‘perfect’ choice.

“In this case I suppose you should do Oda Nobunaga, Shindou,” Kirino smiled kindly, trying to control the sweat on his body and the high-pitched, desperate tone of his voice.

“Okay,” he cleared his throat, unable to look at the other’s face.

“Are you ready?” Hakuryuu asked, looking at the three, when they nodded shyly he added. “Well, go ahead.”

Seto cleared her throat. “The moon fell like a soft silver rain on the open room of the feudal lord, from it they could hear the song of the cicadas and the murmur of a bamboo fountain that lulled the night with a few delicate strokes of water. But not even the stars that twinkled high in the sky were more beautiful than the clear eyes like a delicate gem of the young man who lay with his kimono half open under the harmonious body of Oda Nobunaga. Eyes that looked at him with a deep need that he was more than willing to fulfill, indulging in that body sweeter than nectar.”

Kirino felt his ears burning as he began to read, “My dear lord, we must not, someone might hear us.”

Shindou widened his eyes when he read his line, he looked bright red at Seto who shook her head encouragingly. He choked on his words and said with a very rigid intonation, “Even if I do not wish to share your moans with anyone else because they belong only to me, I see in your eyes reflected the deep desire to feel my dick deep inside you, filling you like a cup is filled with water.”

The entire group laughed out loud as one. Amemiya and Kariya fell back laughing, Ibuki also smiled satisfactorily at the manager's embarrassment.

“Seto wasn't lying, such a tremendous novel,” Senguuji observed, covering his face with his hands to try to stifle his laughter. 

The pink-haired’s brows tightened as he responded, doing his best to ignore his teammates, “There is nothing I wish for more, my dear lord. Our salty skins connected and our bodies intertwined in a love intoxicating like a fine liquor. I want to feel your…” Kirino had to break character for a moment before composing himself. “I want to feel your huge, throbbing cock discovering my most intimate secrets while I delight your ears with my voice broken by a pleasure from beyond this world.”

"Do not be afraid, my beautiful... my beautiful Ran-Ranmaru, I will please your desires on this night that is only ours and our love that blooms like orchids, I will generously give you my thick and warm seed until you fall exhausted in my arms and you can only think about how I fuck you without rest until the sun rises."

“My dear lord, I can't wait to feel you.”

Seto narrated again without feeling the shame of his two friends, “Smiling with that passionate ardor that was awakened in his heart by the presence of not only the most loyal of his servants but also the man he loved, Oda Nobunaga took a small bottle of essential oil that he used to prepare the delicious and delicate entrance to paradise that Mori Ranmaru so generously offered him while his moans of pleasure filled the night garden.”

“Did he prepare with essential oil? Ranmaru is going to have his anus on fire,” Kita laughed.

“He should have licked his ring, like a good donut,” Mizukawa chuckled, and everyone except Seto, Makari, and Namikawa blushed when they heard her.
“Thank you very much, I will never be able to eat a donut again in my life without thinking about an ass,” Yukimura huffed angrily despite having a red face.

There was a pause in which all the boys groaned as one. Until they resumed reading.

“My beautiful and brave Ranmaru, I wish I could enter you every time we return after an outing because there is no better welcome home than feeling your walls tightening around my penis wanting to squeeze out every last drop of my love.”

“My dear lord, I too would like nothing more than to be able to receive you until the world falls and everything fades away. Mark me as yours once more until we become ashes of oblivion, I beg you.”

“I'll do it, I'll…” Shindou croaked and looked at Seto with a red face who frowned. 

“You will what, Shindou?” laughed Ibuki evilly.

Shindou glared at him and everyone else began to pressure him to continue reading. “I'll make you come moaning my name until you can no longer stay conscious on this starry night.”
“My dear lord, there, at that point…” Kirino's hands trembled. “If you keeps up like this I'm going to cum.”

“Go ahead, let me see how your sperm adorns your beautiful and delicious body, honoring my work.”

Kirino and Shindou's faces were so red they looked like they were about to explode, they both looked pleadingly at Seto who shrugged.

“Isn't that enough?” Shindou whimpered. “This is torture.”

“Why, Shindou? The passage is not over yet,” Ibuki replied cruelly.

“I'm very interested to know how the story continues,” Amemiya laughed, clapping his hands.

“Come on, man, honor that beautiful and delicious body well.” Kariya could barely breathe from laughing.

Gomaki shook his head. “You can't leave us wondering what will happen.” 

“I would prefer if they stop here,” Yukimura croaked.

But they were forced to finish reading the scene and at the end only Seto of the 3 of them could keep her head up while the Resistance Japan team laughed loudly.

“This was too funny,” Amemiya confessed. “I don't know what novel that is but well done, Seto.”

Shindou asked to go to the bathroom to wash his face after the dare, despite the teasing of all his teammates about whether he needed a moment alone to calm his passions. Once in the bathroom he began to cough heavily, choked by something that was in his throat, until with a heartbreaking burning sensation a pink petal fell on his hand. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, unable to understand what was happening to him. He had tried very hard to avoid coughing in front of everyone while reading the passage with Kirino, his throat feeling raw. He knew he was stupid, especially for imagining his friend under him in a half-undressed kimono.

He returned to the room in silence, after managing to stabilize himself, and spun the bottle without looking at anyone in the face. It stopped at Kishibe who smiled animatedly and winked at him affably. "Dare! It’s your turn to ask me to be a cat.”
But Shindou looked at him harshly and Yukimura muttered, “I recognize that look, you're really fucked, Kishibe.”

The manager gritted his teeth, the purple-haired had made him and Kirino read that embarrassing thing and he had been laughing as much as everyone else at them, so he didn't deserve mercy. “I dare you to send Nozaki a sexy photo.”

“Shindou?” Kishibe trembled slightly. “I thought you wouldn't join this bunch of savages.”

“You didn't mind joining the bunch of savages to laugh at Kirino and me, so you shouldn't mind joining in for your dare either.”

Ibuki barely held back his laughter. “I told you he was fucking spitefull.”

“Yes, it seems so,” Mahoro murmured, rubbing his chin. "Interesting."

“Come on,” Senguuji approved. “Mark your territory with the pink girl, I'll take your photo if you want.”

“She would be the last pink-haired one left to be marked,” Mizukawa laughed, looking at Senguuji, Kirino and Seto maliciously.

“A very sensual photo without a shirt and a duck's face blowing a kiss,” Gomaki laughed. 

“Just like the ones that Tetsubro sends to Bird Brain,” Namikawa confessed with a happy twinkle in his brown eyes.

Kurosaki shuddered when he heard him and seemed to choke because he began to cough heavily and had to run away with a red face.

“You almost killed Kurosaki, you brute,” Seto scolded him, slapping him on the arm. 

“Do you think he will also send nudes to Tetsukado?” Amemiya asked curiously, tugging on Kishibe's shirt who didn't want to take it off.

The midfielder was forcibly stripped of his shirt by Yukimura and Amemiya, and forced to pose suggestively by throwing a kiss and winking.
But before they could take the photo, Tsurugi stopped them. “It’s no good, wait, I know how the photo can look much better. Mizukawa, can you do his eyes while I go to the pantry for a moment?”
“Do wolves howl at the moon?” she responded with a giggle. “Leave it in my hands.”

Tsurugi nodded and punched Ibuki. “Come with me to the pantry.”

“I don't want to,” he growled, hugging Kita without wanting to move, his face buried in his boyfriend’s neck.

The blue-haired rolled his eyes in annoyance, but Amemiya jumped. “I'm going with you.”

They returned very shortly after, with Tsurugi carrying a single strawberry in his hand, he arranged Kishibe's hair, put the strawberry in his mouth, making him bite it, and instructed him to pose in a more timid manner.

“If there were strawberries they could have given us for dinner,” Kirino complained, rubbing his stomach because he was hungry.

Tsurugi looked almost approvingly at his teammate, lowering his pants a little more so that the beginning of his pubic hair could be seen. Kishibe would have screamed if he hadn't had the strawberry in his mouth.

“And do you think the pink girl will like it more like this?” Gomaki asked, making it clear that he had doubts about it. “Kishibe seems quite submissive.”

“She'll like it better that way,” Ibuki confirmed. “Nozaki is a predator under pink goat skin.”

He and the Tsurugi laughed at the same time and Kishibe narrowed his eyes for a moment before looking back at the camera with a blushing face. Kita stirred but Ibuki left a kiss on his hair and hugged him again.

“I don't know what she's like, but Kishibe looks better like this, he's too good to play a brainless bad boy making a duck face,” Yukimura said, staring at his friend.

“Hey!” Gomaki and Namikawa complained, feeling offended.

When Kishibe sent the photo that had been taken, he looked like he was about to cry from embarrassment. “I don’t even have good pecs to show.”

“Don't worry, Nozaki will surely know how to value your photo,” Makari calmed honestly. “It's not the muscles that matter.”

“Sure,” Kageyama encouraged. “I'm sure Nozaki is happy just because you think of her. As long as she doesn’t think it’s sexual harassment.”

“Kageyama!” they all immediately reprimanded, but Kishibe shuddered and took the phone, wanting to delete the photo.

“I certainly know who I'm going to send it to for an edit,” said Kariya, putting away his cell phone.

"No! Don't you dare! If Matsukaze published the photo my career would be doomed.”

Amemiya tilted his head thoughtfully, touching Kishibe’s chest, squeezing it with the purple-haired man's cry of alarm, and then touched his own. “You have more muscle than me and I don't mind being seen shirtless.”

“Yes, because you have a fat ass,” Kariya laughed.

“It’s better than being four noodles knotted into a big head like you,” Yukimura growled, immediately casting a murderous look at the defender. Everyone turned around in shock before laughing, Amemiya threw himself into a hug with Yukimura, throwing him against the futon.

Kishibe rolled his eyes and discovered that his shirt was gone and along with Ibuki and Amemiya he had to be left without his top. He took advantage of the chaos to send a message to Nozaki explaining the situation, since unfortunately the girl had just seen the photo and it was too late to delete it.

“More and more buddies go shirtless and I had to put it back on,” Gomaki murmured with fake sadness.

“Then take it off again,” Mizukawa smirked. "I'm sure Yamato and your other fans won't complain."

Kishibe, still with his face burning but calmer after Nozaki reacted with a heart emoticon to the photo, spun the bottle and it stopped at Yukimura who, despite finally feeling happy, changed his expression quickly, with displeasure.

“Easy, Yukimura,” Kishibe smiled. “I'm not a degenerate like everyone else.”

“Despite sending nudes,” Hakuryuu laughed.

“It wasn't a nude and it was your fault! Otherwise I wouldn't have sent that photo!”

“Would you have preferred to send her a photo of your dick?” Kita asked maliciously.

Kurosaki entered the room at that moment and rolled his eyes upon hearing the comment.

“Hey! Sending those kinds of photos is sexual harassment,” Namikawa growled.

“With all your list of criminality, I don't know if you saying it carries much weight,” Tsurugi commented mischievously.

Yukimura looked suspiciously at his friend. "Dare."

Kishibe smiled widely. “Sing something.”

The blue-haired immediately narrowed his eyes and rubbed his head, snorting. “I don't like to sing…”

“I think maybe it's better if you dare something else, Kishibe,” Makari advised, suddenly very tense.

“Sing something fun, Yuki!” Amemiya suggested excitedly. 

“Yes, let him sing something erotic,” Kariya proposed, rubbing his hands.

“Why don't you shut the hell up?” the striker snorted. “I will choose what I sing.”

“Yes, I don't think it's a good idea for him to sing that…” Kishibe began to say.

“But that's a little unfair,” Kageyama observed. “Mizukawa couldn't choose what she danced, Seto couldn't choose what she acted, and Shindou couldn't choose what he read.”

“Exactly, so you can't choose what you're going to sing either,” Kita said. “Why don't you sing Tachiagariyo? We all know it and we can sing with you.”

Yukimura looked at him, narrowing his blue eyes, but without animosity because that song, all in all, was a good option.

"No no. I do know what he can sing,” Kariya said with a smirk so dark and depraved that everyone feared what he was going to say. “This song is such a meme… although it will need choruses.”

“Hakuryuu and I can do them!” Amemiya immediately offered.

The white-haired was startled. “You don't know what song it is yet, don't offer me just like that.”

“Come on, Haku, you love going to karaoke,” Tsurugi replied with a giggle, pushing him to the middle to sing.

“What song do you want them to sing?” Kirino asked, looking very suspiciously at Kariya, whom he didn't trust at all.

“Misery x CPR x Reese's Puff,” he replied with a sinister laugh worthy of a horror movie.

Kita and Ibuki burst into loud laughter immediately and Kishibe had to stifle a giggle. The others looked at them confused.

“It's just very meme,” the orange-haired explained. “It's become quite famous.” 

Kariya searched for the song so they could hear it, with Japanese dub, the group gathered around to watch the screen of the tablet and started laughing as the song played. Except for Yukimura who seemed to want to kill the defender with his bare hands.

“Do you really want us to sing this shit, you miserable worm?” Yukimura snorted furious.

“Yuki, don't forget that homicide is illegal,” Makari recalled resignedly.

“You really want to die today, don't you, Masaki?” Kageyama whispered worriedly.

“It's just a song,” he said.

“I'm very bad at English,” Amemiya confessed, scratching his head. “But I’ll try, I can do the Reese’s Puff part, that looks easy.”

“But I'm no better at English,” Yukimura complained. “The only one of us who knows English is Hakuryuu.”

“I can sing the main lyrics if you want, Yukimura,” he offered kindly.

“Yeah, let Yukimura do the CPR part,” Minamisawa laughed.

“Ah, no, no, no,” he became indignant. “I'm not going to sing such rubbish.”
Kageyama and Kirino looked at each other, looked at Kariya, looked at Yukimura and feared for the green-haired’s life.

“It's your turn, my friend,” Amemiya said. “But why don't we have Minamisawa join us too and accompany you in that chorus?”

“It seems fair to me,” Hakuryuu agreed, and between them they grabbed the arms of the other boy who wanted to refuse but found himself dragged to the center, losing his arrogant smile immediately.

“Now it's your turn to be recorded, Minamisawa,” Senguuji laughed meanly. “I'm sure your friend Matsukaze will love your video.”

Kariya lent his tablet so they could read the lyrics well and the team captain began to sing with a deep and melodic voice, pronouncing the words perfectly almost as if he were an English speaker, after a rather strident presentation by Amemiya.
The team moved their heads to the rhythm of the music until it was Yukimura and Minamisawa's turn to sing. The former did so without rhythm, mispronouncing and with the most horrifying voice that any of them had ever heard in their lives. There was a gesture of collective disgust, except Makari who already knew his friend's musical skills and who only breathed slowly.

“Oh my god, Yukimura sings horribly,” Kurosaki groaned, covering his ears.

“Not even Jack Parrot screeched like that when he was dying,” Namikawa hissed.

“No wonder you never joined in on group songs,” Kishibe whined.

“This is unbearable,” Shindou muttered.

“This was not what I expected,” Mizukawa confessed with teary eyes.

Yukimura glared at everyone, losing even more the rhythm. But Amemiya's chorus that came in at that moment did not improve the situation, and the only one who was able to laugh instead of worrying about his ears was Kariya who was stamping his feet on the floor while the other four were singing.

The captain read the lyrics on the screen with a frown showing that he took even something like this seriously, being the only one who seemed able to ignore the noises of misery from his two friends, because Minamisawa cried while singing.

In the next chorus of Yukimura and Minamisawa, Makari, Tsurugi and Kita who had previously gestured to each other in a silent conversation, entered to sing with them, wanting to alleviate the forward's discomfort a little and make his voice less noticeable.

“ Tight as a virgin, boy, don't get nervous, I'm here to serve you customer service, I save dick by giving it CPR, I save dick by giving it CPR.”

Ibuki joined Amemiya with 'Reese's Puff' and Namikawa, Senguuji and Gomaki thought it was fun enough for them to sing too.
“Reese's Puffs, Reese’s Puffs. Eat 'em up, eat 'em up, eat ’em up, eat 'em up. Reese's Puffs, Reese's Puffs. Eat 'em up, eat 'em up, eat 'em up, eat 'em up.”

In the end, almost the entire team ended up joining in to sing one part or another, even Kariya was encouraged while recording to follow the lyrics of ‘Misery’.

When they finished singing everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Hakuryuu rubbed his forehead, sweating. “This dare has been too hard for everyone.”

“Hard the dicks Yukimura and Minamisawa would give CPR,” Kariya sneered. Makari had to grab Yukimura so he wouldn't jump on his neck.

Yukimura was held in the place where he sat between Makari and Amemiya and made some movements with the bottle calculating something until he let it spin, it stopped so cleanly at Kariya that no one had any doubt that this was what the striker had been calculating. Kariya felt a cold sweat run down his back and croaked, feeling in danger, “We've all played, I think it's a good idea to go to sleep.”

“Oh no, nothing like that,” everyone except Kageyama said immediately, delighting in the revenge that was going to come at the hands of the blue-haired boy. “First it's your turn.”

The defender knew that if he asked for a dare there would be no mercy for him, so he murmured ruefully, “Truth.”

“Let's see, asshole,” Yukimura growled menacingly. “Since you think it's so fun to make others sing about sucking dicks, which of the guys on the team would you suck off? You can't choose yourself or Kageyama, since he’ll tell you to choose him to help you.”

Kageyama, who was already opening his mouth, closed it and pouted. Kariya blushed violently and looked at Kirino who gave him a cold look. “Say my name and I swear you will not see the dawn.”

Everyone took great delight in seeing the defender completely flustered and unable to respond. "I don't…"

“Come on, come on, it's not that difficult, you just have to say someone's name,” Mizukawa mocked with great thirst for revenge, looking at him like a crazy person.

“But I don't…”

“I think he wants to suck Tsurugi off,” Seto commented maliciously. “Considering Kariya dared him to fake an orgasm.”

“No, that's not true!”

“Then pick someone, champion,” Gomaki encouraged, slapping him on the back from behind Kageyama.

“You just have to choose someone so we can laugh at you forever,” Amemiya explained with a dangerous sweetness in his voice.

“Maybe there is someone in the group who he really wants to suck off,” Kita observed with the same meanness. “Otherwise he would only have to give one name.”
“It's not true! But it's easy for you, you can name your boyfriend,” Kariya growled, covering his face with his hands without anyone feeling even remotely sorry for him.

“Look, it's as easy as me saying I'd suck Hakuryuu’s,” Tsurugi laughed.

Everyone looked at him with exasperation. “No, if we already know,” Ibuki huffed, rolling his eyes.

“If we don’t pay attention for just a little, you'll eat it right here,” Mahoro laughed too loudly.

“Choose, choose,” Kariya. It’s just a name.” Mizukawa even pinched him to annoy him. “It's very simple.”

“If it is that simple, say it yourself!” 

“Oh, but it's not my turn,” she replied, feigning sadness.

“Choose someone, prove you're a man,” Kurosaki annoyed, crossing his arms. 

“Yes, since you've been laughing at others so much, recording us and making fun of us, make your choice,” Shindou supported.

“Why can’t he say my name?” Kageyama asked, the only one feeling pity, his ears perhaps redder than they should have been.

“Because we want to see him suffer,” Senguuji replied, rubbing his hands.

“He just brought it on himself,” Hakuryuu smiled with twisted lips.

“Exactly, you have reaped what you have sown, buddy,” Makari agreed coldly.

The entire group put pressure on him, ready to laugh at whoever he ended up choosing. The pressure was so strong that Kariya seemed about to collapse and ended up using a nursery rhyme to choose at random. 

“Kurosaki! I choose Kurosaki.”

The brunette looked at him with disgust, wrinkling his nose. “Ew.”

Namikawa quickly shook his head. “You are so depraved, Kariya, Bird Brain has a boyfriend and yet you choose him.”

“You have no shame or morals,” Yukimura murmured in a serious voice.

“We couldn't expect anything better from you, Kariya,” Kirino annoyed, covering his mouth.

“Shut your mouth!”

“Yes, because you can't if you want to give a good blowjob,” Kita quickly giggled.

“I don't want to suck anyone off!”

“Do you prefer Kurosaki to suck yours?” Mizukawa's eyes widened as if in disbelief and Kariya squawked. 

“Your shamelessness has no limits, you disgust me,” Minamisawa laughed, crying again from laughter.

Kageyama patted the head of his friend who had never been so blushing and desperate before. “Come on, Masaki, they're just messing with you a little.”

“That’s not a little!” 

“But it’s deserved,” Kirino noted with a laugh.

“Very much deserved,” everyone agreed.

Kariya, whining with great falseness that fooled no one, spun the bottle and it stopped in front of Mizukawa who raised an eyebrow and looked at Kariya who began to laugh and make raucous noises forgetting his feigned sorrow. “Yeah, yeah, relax, Crybaby Alien.”
“Now it's your turn,” he screeched out of his mind, ignoring the nickname. “So answer the damn question yourself if it was as simple as you said! Whose penis would you suck?”

"Yours; nah, just kidding,” she laughed, not at all agitated, moving her dark green eyes evaluating her teammates, perfectly noticing that Kageyama had flinched. “Hm, which one of you has the biggest dick?”

"What?" Kishibe asked with a small voice, opening his mouth.

“Who has the biggest dick?” As everyone watched in shock, she burst out laughing. “Hey, size matters, if I have to choose someone the minimum is that he has a good jewel down there.”

That question seemed to create enormous tension in the group of boys willing to fight for the throne, completely forgetting the reason behind the fight. Because there could only be one king.

“Mune is generously blessed, but if you name him…” Kita ground his teeth menacingly, hiding a much more serious stomach pinch.

“Calm down, cowboy, I'm not a slut who gets into other people's relationships, like Kariya, I respect committed men.”

Kariya hissed in annoyance, but the others laughed openly.

“I guess the taller the person, the bigger the cucumber is,” Seto muttered, scratching her head.

“That has nothing to do with it,” Hakuryuu growled. “I am perfectly big even though I am not that tall.”

“Yes, that's true,” Tsurugi agreed, the others looked at him in puzzlement. "What? I have been sharing a house with him, along with my brother, since the end of last summer, we have sometimes seen each other naked in the bathroom. And we had share locker rooms and gone to hot springs together before.”

“You're a pervert,” Ibuki laughed.

Those who didn't know that they were roommates remained silent, until Kariya growled. “Well, poor of your brother, having to put up with both of you from now on.”

The captain shrugged and turned to his friend. “You're fine too, although not as much as me.”

“Do you want to bet?”

“There's no way Ibuki has it bigger than Yamato or me,” Gomaki grumbled competitively.

Namikawa crossed his arms. “I have a good pirate saber. But when it comes to competing, are we going to value length and width or just length?”

Mahoro scratched his beard. “In any case, they say that height has nothing to do with it, it's the proportion of the hands and the feet.”

“Well, if it depends on foot size, Ibuki beats you, he looks like he wears boats,” Mizukawa annoyed.

“Besides, his soul is a mammoth, right? All to show off his trunk,” Seto added, knowing that this was too absurd but joining in the mockery.

“What did we say about leaving my boyfriend out of this!?”

“Relax, we don't want his candy,” the dark-haired girl soothed. “Although I'm surprised you're not claiming what belongs to you.”

“I have no doubt that he is the one who has it the biggest, but comparing sizes is stupid and…”

“Yes, because yours must be a mini sausage,” Senguuji laughed and Kita, arms tied, tried to tackle him and had to be stopped by Kirino and Hakuryuu.

“We only have one choice,” Namikawa shouted, standing up. “Who has a ruler or something to measure?”

“Fish Head, to measure the size correctly you would have to have it ere…” Kurosaki began but was silenced by everyone's commotion.

Yukimura stared at Makari. “Aren't you going to participate to mark territory with Mizukawa?”

He shrugged. “Whoever needs to show off is because they are not confident.”
The blue-haired rubbed his forehead shaking his head when he saw that everyone was standing, among them the most energetic Amemiya and Namikawa who had gotten a ruler and were in the middle of a circle shouting excitedly. Shindou, Kariya and Kishibe were also screaming, but in horror.

But then the door opened violently and everyone fell silent as quickly as if someone had pressed the mute button on a television, wild-eyed, pale and sweaty. A tremor shook the group, just as the wind shook the leaves of a forest.

At the door was a furious Kidou whose red eyes saw as soon as he entered half of Amemiya's naked ass, who was lowering his pants, because it should not be forgotten that he was not wearing underwear or a shirt. From there he looked at Kita who still had his arms tied behind his back, at Ibuki shirtless and wearing goth makeup, at Senguuji who was covered in drawings of penises, at Hakuryuu and Tsurugi who had painted lips and a lot of other marks on their faces, Kishibe without a shirt and with outlined eyes and Makari who was wearing Mizukawa's skirt as a scarf.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, hissing a deep, guttural growl, vibrating as if it were rising from the very bowels of hell.

And everyone started sweating even more.

His image looked like a real demon when he asked with all the self-control he had left for that day, “What the hell are you doing? Do you know what damn time it is!?” 

“We're finding out who has the biggest penis,” Namikawa and Amemiya replied at the same time, with resounding and ill-timed honesty.

His coach's snort was monumental and very very slow, only Hakuryuu, Tsurugi and Kageyama understood the real danger level of it. “Don't any of you have a brain? How can you be so unconscious, vulgar and irresponsible? Do you want to know who has the biggest ènis? I have! Now get on the futons before I count three or blood will fill this place.” They all swallowed with a shudder, nodded silently, and moved to lie down on the mattresses. “Everyone except the two girls, you are going to come with me to sleep with Kikumi, I knew you shouldn't sleep with the boys.” Kidou took a couple of strides to open the window. “On top of that, the room reeks of stable. Tomorrow I want you awake at 5 AM to shower before getting into the RJ Caravan. I refuse to put up with the smell of the armpits of a bunch of apes in their teens for more than ten hours left on our trip. Go to sleep right away, but leave a futon free, as soon as I leave the girls in their new room I'm going to come sleep with you and if anyone is out of their futon or I hear a single noise, I hope you've thought about what message do you want to put on your tombstone. Tomorrow we will talk about your punishment. You two follow me.”

“But coach…” Kidou's look made Mizukawa decide to go cautiously. “None of them have bothered us at all.”

The group considered that it was a nice detail from their manager considering that they had indeed been mocking a lot, of course in a different way than the one that seemed to worry the adult so much.

“I don't care, you're a bunch of untrustworthy savages and I shouldn't have allowed you to sleep together.” The coach's red, twitching eyes shifted to the captain. “Hakuryuu, I expected more from you as a captain, you have disappointed me.”

The boy raised his eyebrows with a stinging, hurt look, but lowered his gaze respectfully. “I am sorry, coach, Kidou.”

“It wasn't Hakuryuu's fault, Coach Kidou,” defended Kita, who had just had his hands freed. “I was the one who thought of the game.”

“We both did,” Kishibe corrected bravely.

“And I accepted too,” Kirino added, grabbing his captain's shoulder to show his support. 

“Hakuryuu accepted because he believed it would help us play better if we knew each other better,” Tsurugi said.

“And he was right,” Yukimura and Amemiya added in unison.

The rest of the team also spoke, interceding for their captain who bit his lower lip, looking at them out of the corner of his eye with concern about how the adult might explode but inevitable gratitude that all of them wanted to defend him, even Kariya looked defiantly at the coach. Kidou silenced them with a wave of his hand.

“Go to sleep or it will be worse for all of you. Seto and Mizukawa, with me.”

The two girls waved goodbye to their teammates with great sadness and followed their coach knowing that it was better not to say anything else for that day.

The adult walked down the hallway of the hostel with a quick and angry step, taking them to the room where his mother-in-law and Tsunami were sleeping. The pink-haired was not happy at all about being rudely woken up to change the room and headed to the master's room on Kidou's orders, shuffling his feet and grunting. Fudou and his baby were sleeping soundly, unaware of the commotion, and Tsunami immediately fell asleep again as well. Kidou threatened the two girls to sleep without disturbing the woman who was somewhat disoriented by what had happened but who smiled at them with understanding.

Then he returned to the boy’s room who were already tucked into their futons, some having to share since there were fewer than players. Kidou turned off the lights and got into his.

“If anyone talks from now until it is time to get up, rest assured that it will be the last time you will do so in this life.”

Fudou woke up the next morning perplexed to find Tsunami in bed with him and Akira instead of his husband. Imagining what had happened, he went to his players' room and found the boys preparing for a quick shower before breakfast.

He leaned against the door frame while his green eyes rested on the remains of makeup that some of the players had. He laughed loudly and his players looked at him, certainly relieved that he didn't seem to want to kill them too. “I hope that on the trip you will tell me what happened last night.”

“Don't play along, Akio, I'm very angry at them,” Kidou said menacingly. “They were a bunch of irresponsible people and they are going to be punished until Judgment Day.”

“Fine, Yuuto. Team, you are punished to tell me in great detail what happened last night.”

Some of the boys dared to smile as Kidou seemed to control an instinct stronger than him. “Akio… If you encourage this type of behavior they are going to end up being some…”

Fudou turned sternly towards his husband, with a expression that was new even to Hakuryuu, Kageyama and Tsurugi. “Some what, Yuuto? Some criminals perhaps? Criminals like me?” Kidou narrowed his eyes and snorted, accepting defeat, the brunette's expression softened. “Hey, they're kids, when we were their age we were much worse and we haven't ended up that bad.”

Chapter Text

The facilities in which Resistance Japan was going to live for their training during the first part of the tournament were small, picturesque wooden cabins spread across a clearing in a forest, on one edge of which a small lake of crystalline, blue water arose. It reflected like a mirror the blue sky of that peaceful spring day, not far away, in another clearing not too far away, could be seen the football field. The facilities were no more than fifteen minutes in a pleasant walk far from Ozu.

The team looked at the place in wonder, they were a little tired because Kidou had not allowed them to sleep during the seven hours of travel, but it had not become uncomfortable or long because Fudou had asked them what happened during the night and he had laughed until crying with the anecdotes, photos and videos they showed him. Something in which his husband was not a participant, with his lips especially tense; but not daring to make any comment after Fudou's warning look at the hostel. 

“Welcome to the camp, my dear team,” the man smiled, looking affably at the boys and girls. “Here we will live the next few months together until we win the Asian Phase and go to Liocott.”

“This place is superb,” observed Kishibe, who loved spending time outdoors. 

“The air is very pure and the vegetation grows very green,” Makari murmured with a soft expression in his black eyes.

“It is,” the adult admitted. “It brings back memories of being a teenager with my cousins. Well, the place has ten two-berth cabins in which you will sleep, one cabin with a kitchen and dining room, another much larger that is used as a common room and lounge, and another for meetings. In addition to that, the showers and bathrooms are in different cabins, but most likely many days we will go down to the onsen of my family's ryokan for the bath. Ozu is a walk away and it is much better to be able to use the hot springs.”

Kidou took out some keys and muttered. “Endou said that the Federation would have everything ready for our arrival, so there should be hot water and electricity.”

Fudou's mother who had gotten off the caravan and was carrying Akira in her arms narrowed her eyes. “I hope there are no problems, last week there was a very strong storm that knocked down several trees and roofs in Ozu.”

The couple looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, the brunette narrowing his eyes with distrust. “We will now check all the facilities before settling in. Let’s go team.”

"Yeah!" exclaimed the twenty teenagers.

Inspection of the site showed that some cabins had indeed been damaged, and Fudou grew darker and growled louder as the damage count increased.

“It's lucky that the coach wanted us to go down to the city to take a bath, because we weren't going to be able to shower here,” said Namikawa, putting his hands behind his head after they saw with horror that the roof of the cabin that had the showers had given way.

The adult ground his teeth. “I hope the individual cabins were not damaged.”

Unfortunately for them, three of the cabins had suffered damage that left them unusable; half of the roof had fallen in two of them and the other had a broken window and the door torn off. In addition to that the light seemed to not work in half of the facilities.

“There are eight cabins, even so we can divide ourselves into the remaining ones without problems,” Hakuryuu resolved seriously, trying to support the adults at that moment as was his duty as captain.

His teammates nodded quickly because they saw that Fudou's hand twitched from time to time as if he wanted to close around someone's neck.

He turned to the team taking a deep breath and smiled with some effort. “They weren't the conditions I wanted to have you here in, but we'll have to manage for now.”

“Don't worry, Coach Fudou,” Kirino said softly. “None of us care about not having light in the cabin, we are only going to use them to sleep.”

“Speak for yourself, I need running light to charge my cell phone,” Minamisawa grumbled, wrinkling his nose.

“You can leave your phone charging in another cabin or in one of the main ones,” Ibuki huffed exasperatedly. “It's not that you can't live without it.”

“I'm a teenager! Of course I need my cell phone to live,” he replied.

Yukimura glared him. “We have come to train not to be glued to the cell phone.”

“But we're not going to spend all day training,” replied Kariya, who didn't like the idea of ​​not having light in the cabin either, especially because he didn't like the dark.

“Come on, the time we don't train will be for socializing,” Mahoro smiled, putting his arm around his fellow defender.

“You are having a totally unnecessary conversation,” Fudou reported, looking at them seriously. “There is no signal at the camp so you will not be able to connect to the Internet.

"What?" shouted Minamisawa, Kurosaki, Kariya, Kishibe, Kita and Tsurugi, taking out their cell phones to make sure of those words that sounded like a death sentence. 

Amemiya nudged Seto and nodded at Kidou who was also pale looking at his phone and they both laughed subtly.

“Akio, why didn't you tell me that the place had no signal?”

The coach looked at him, furrowing his eyebrows. “You didn't ask.”

“Where is there no signal at this point in the century? I assumed there would be.”

“Well, there isn't any,” he said, shrugging his shoulders without giving it any more importance. 

Kidou rubbed his face in despair. “I'll have to go to the city to buy a portable modem, I need to have internet to review the team's data and keep an eye on the tournament.”

The other trainer rolled his eyes, he had never been too fond of technology.

“Thank goodness I brought card games,” Kageyama wanted to relieve with a kind smile. “We will be able to play when we finish training.”

“I brought a chess board, Tetsurou and I like to play from time to time,” Senguuji said.

Shindou looked at the goalkeeper, he liked chess, although he didn't dare to say it at that moment, he looked down at the ground with a huff. After what Seto had made him read, he found it difficult to look anyone in the face, especially Kirino, even though Kirino seemed to have completely changed his attitude towards him and was constantly looking for him to make sure he was okay after the conversation in the hospital. The manager put his hand on his chest, damn it hurt. 

“Yes, it is much better to use a real board and tokens than mobile apps, although they do when traveling,” Gomaki responded.

The goalkeeper nodded to his words.

“What games have you brought, Hikaru?” Tsurugi asked with interest, despite being annoyed at not being able to communicate with his brother, approaching his friend. “I hope you brought Werewolf and Card Against Humanity.”

“Who do you take me for? Of course I brought them.”

Several of their teammates, including Kishibe, Ibuki and Namikawa, looked at them with an excited smile; but at that moment Fudou cleared his throat.
“Now that we have seen the facilities, we will give you time to settle into the cabins. Unfortunately, after your irresponsible performance last night, which neither Yuuto nor I would have done at all at your age, Yuuto has decided that you have lost the right to decide who will be your cabin mates, so he is going to tell you how you are sorted."

“That's not fair,” Kurosaki said, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. “I didn't even want to participate in that stupid game last night.”

Shindou and Yukimura pursed their lips because they hadn't wanted to play either and who knew who they had to share a cabin with. 

Almost everyone else, despite having actively participated in the truths and dares, were stiff and upset at not being able to choose their roommates. 

“Well, for not wanting to play, you seemed to take the question you asked Namikawa very seriously,” Amemiya laughed, amused. He was one of the few along with Mahoro, Makari and Namikawa who had not wrinkled their faces upon hearing the inevitable punishment, since he had no problem with anyone on the team.

Hakuryuu swallowed slowly, feeling uncomfortable at the moment, and upon seeing Kishibe and Kita's tense expressions he immediately realized that they too seemed to be suffering an internal crisis. Wanting to help a teammate integrate seemed to have bounced off their faces, although there was a possibility that Shindou was in a cabin where he felt comfortable.

“It's what you've earned by behaving like a bunch of savages.”

“Coach Kidou, with all due respect, it was just an innocent game to get to know each other better and have better chemistry as a team,” Kita said boldly unable to remain silent, narrowing his green eyes.

“An innocent game that ended with Amemiya showing his ass,” the coach snorted, and to his annoyance half the team giggled at the memory. He hardened his gaze. 

Kishibe wrung his hands nervously, looking sheepishly at the adult. “But we didn't want to bother anyone, we just wanted to get to know each other and have a good time as friends.”

“You behaved like animals, even more so considering that there were two girls in the group.”
“Don't worry about us, coach,” Mizukawa replied, putting her hand on her waist in a daring movement. “Nothing we could see from Amemiya was going to surprise us.”

“Hey!” he complained. “I have a nice ass.”

“Though it wasn't the ass what you wanted to show,” Seto laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.

“If you're going to keep using the excuse that it was to get to know each other better as a team, I'm sure you won't have a problem getting to know your cabin mates better either.” Kidou looked at them sternly and Fudou behind him made a gesture of resignation to the boys, so they too took a breath in frustration but fell silent and the hum of annoyance disappeared. “Hakuryuu, Yukimura, Namikawa and Kageyama will sleep in the first cabin.”
The four mentioned boys looked at each other, Hakuryuu saddened not to be able to share a room with Tsurugi or Amemiya but grateful to be with two very good friends, then as one they looked suspiciously at the pirate forward who was smiling widely, because he had no problem with sharing a room with whoever. Upon noticing their gazes on him, the boy raised an eyebrow in confusion and slight annoyance, knowing well that they did not trust his ability not to cause chaos. Something that in any case, he couldn't blame them for.

“Don't worry, I know when to behave, plus we'll be so tired that I'll probably fall asleep like a log.”

“Like a dog,” Kageyama smiled. “You have to tire him out to get his extra energy out.”

“In the second cabin,” Kidou continued with a warning look for them to remain silent, “Kirino, Makari, Minamisawa, and, when he returns, Matsukaze.”

Minamisawa wrinkled his nose in disgust; instead, Kirino and Makari nodded immediately, although the vice-captain furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Kariya, meeting Kageyama's eyes along the way, who seemed to have the same concern as him: who was going to watch the defender so that he would behave if he wasn't with them or the captain?

Shindou had clenched his fists, very upset that Kidou had not placed him in the same cabin as Kirino, an inexplicable rage was rising again from his stomach that was bubbling with anxiety and hatred, he had to put his mouth on his arm to cough at it. He noticed a strong irritation in his throat and Kirino looked at him touching his shoulder. 

“The allergy still? You should tell the coaches.”

“Hm,” he murmured, he didn't know what was wrong but whatever it was it wasn't an allergy. “Don't worry, I'm fine.”

His pink eyebrows furrowed a little more, showing that he thought very differently. 

“In the third cabin there will be Senguuji, Kurosaki, Ibuki and Shindou.”

There was a very tense silence in the team just before four voices exclaimed angrily. “I don't want to sleep there!”

“You will have to do it if you want to stay on the team, if not, you already know where the exit is.”

The four of them trembled with rage, Kirino felt a real tinge of fear at the idea that Shindou could resign and with it, lose that opportunity to be by his side until their paths parted again at the end of the summer, he felt a horrible burning in his chest and he could only squeeze Shindou's shoulder harder who looked like he was about to cry. In the group, both Kita and Gomaki also stirred furiously, the former, in addition to being upset at being separated from his boyfriend, was very irritated at having been the cause of ruining the selection of the cabins by proposing the game the night before with Kishibe, who had gone very pale and seemed ready to cry as he looked guiltily at the manager.

Hakuryuu, feeling an unprecedented pinch of guilt, took a step forward to confront the adult, but Fudou gestured to him and spoke instead. “Yuuto, that is as bad a decision as putting me and Nosaka in the same room.”

“Everyone should learn to get along, shouldn't they? That was their excuse, so let them learn, those four need it.”

Hakuryuu clenched his jaw, he had done nothing to avoid the game or to lower the level of the questions that were escalating because he thought it was fun and a good team activity, but at that moment with a cool head he felt that he had failed Shindou as captain, and his entire team in fact, had not thought about the consequences despite knowing Kidou perfectly. The boy lowered his head and asked very politely, “Couldn't you please reconsider it, Coach Kidou? I could change places with Shindou.”

So politely that the adult looked at him confused, since they had become family the boy had not used that respectful way of speaking when addressing him, almost as if he were a stranger. Fudou also looked at his adopted son and then looked at Tsurugi who had tight lips and pale cheeks, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously hearing his husband say, “It's my last word.”

The captain trembled and looked at Shindou who bit his lower lip, trembling and trying hard not to burst into tears.

“Man, they're going to kill each other,” Mizukawa whispered, but she didn't do it with the usual malice but rather genuine concern.

Kidou ignored his husband's gaze that seemed to want to pierce him and continued, "In the fourth cabin, Gomaki, Kita, Mahoro and Kariya."

The first three immediately turned to the last one who chuckled. “I'm in danger.”

Kageyama and Kirino let out a slow, agonizing sigh, truly fearing for Kariya’s safety, understanding that indeed those three would command enough respect for Kariya so that he wouldn't try anything too stupid.
Kita gritted his teeth and raised his chin again in defiance. “Why can't I share a cabin with Munemasa? We’re dating!”

“The idea is that you sleep, not that you traumatize your teammates,” the man snorted, placing his merciless red eyes on the short football player.

“Are you saying this from experience?” laughed Tsunami earning a look from his old friend that made even him shiver.

Kita wanted to complain again; but Ibuki put his hand on his shoulder gently. "It's okay, Ichiban, at least you can be with two friends."

“But I want to be with you!”

“It doesn't matter, we'll be together the rest of the day.”

The boy puffed out his cheeks with a pout of annoyance, crossing his arms and looking away. 

"In the fifth cabin, Kishibe, Tsurugi and Amemiya."

Amemiya gave a quick thumbs up, doing a couple of enthusiastic hops. "Great."

Kishibe smiled slightly, he was also fine with any of his teammates, except two of them, to share a room, however what happened with Shindou caused him great discomfort. Tsurugi snorted, he had been frowning since the beginning when he saw that Kidou separated him from Hakuryuu, and from Kageyama, even though the three of them were going to Teikoku together. He understood that after they kissed like they did the night before, the adult wanted to have them separate, but that didn't make it hurt one bit less, on the contrary; especially if Kidou began to consider him a bad influence on the captain and sought to keep them apart... He bit his lower lip and clenched his fists, raising his orange eyes just in time to see Amemiya hugging him and Kishibe, dancing. With Yukimura gnashing his teeth a couple of meters away.

“If they are three too, why don't you send Matsukaze to their cabin when he gets back, Coach Kidou? They are all his little friends, surely he will be better there,” Minamisawa said indignantly. 

Yukimura turned his murderous expression to address Minamisawa, who raised an eyebrow in confusion. Kishibe then intervened, “Couldn't Shindou come with us?”

Kurosaki stamped his feet on the ground angrily. “Do you only care about Shindou? I don’t want to be in that cabin either!”

Ibuki gritted his teeth. “As if your company would be pleasant to others.”

Faced with this commotion, the vein in Kidou's temple that had been gradually swelling throbbed and Fudou, behind his husband, looked seriously at the team, putting his index finger to his lips, in a gesture that made it clear to everyone that it was better for them to stay silent at that moment, it was the warning of imminent danger.

“The girls will be in the sixth cabin and in the last one, the two of us with Akira.”
“Now that we know the distribution, go get your things and settle into the cabins!” Fudou exclaimed with a much kinder smile. “Meanwhile my mother and I will go to prepare dinner.”

“Do you need help?” Seto asked immediately, she was the only one of the managers with real experience as a manager and she knew that they should help with those tasks.
“Not for now,” the adult said. “When we start the training itself, I will ask you to help my mother with the cooking; but now I will cover you so you can take out your luggage and explore the place a little until dinner time. You will all be fine, I know that you don't all get along now, but I know that you will end up being good friends, you have a lot in common.”

With a wink of his green eye, the group nodded in a little better spirit thanks to him, heading to the Caravan to look for their suitcases.

Kishibe and Kita approached Shindou with sad expressions; but he gritted his teeth and pretended to be busy taking out his luggage. The two friends felt their stomachs turn and shared a languid look, Ibuki placed his magenta eyes on his boyfriend and gently caressed his head. “Calm down, Ichiban. I will make sure Shindou is okay.”

“Thank you, Mune, although maybe in that cabin you should worry more about yourself.”

The cabins were very cozy and pleasant, completely made of wood, they had two spaces slightly differentiated by the furniture. The first, at the entrance, had a huge closet with four doors and a desk under which was hidden a minibar just like the one in the hotels, which was useless in some cabins since it was powered by electricity. The second had two bunk beds on each side of the wall, a nightstand in the middle with four drawers, a window with white curtains and an air conditioning unit that in some cases would have the same use as the minibar: none.

The first group entered their cabin and whistled with excitement, although Yukimura went directly to turn on the light, discovering that at least they have electricity, something that seemed to relieve him a lot and he even smiled looking at Hakuryuu. “The cabin is very nice, it reminds me of a time I went to the mountains with Coach Fubuki and Hakuren's team.”

“It is certainly a very nice place. Akio… I mean, Coach Fudou, showed me photos and I really wanted to get there.” The captain with a rough face still approached the bunk beds and crossed his arms. “What do you prefer? Top or bottom?”

"Top!" Namikawa exclaimed with a laugh. “In sex and in bed, always top. Although if Seto was on top of me I wouldn't complain either…”

The other three exhaled at the same time and rubbed the bridge of their noses. “I don't mind,” Kageyama replied. “But I think because of my height I would be more comfortable on the bottom bed, I don't want to hit my head on the ceiling.”

“I don't mind either,” Yukimura indicated, stretching and opening one of the closet doors. “In fact, if I can choose, I prefer bottom.”

“In sex or in bed?” Hakuryuu laughed with a mocking wink, trying to forget his hint of guilt, for which his friend blushed and hit him in the chest with the bag. “I'll take the other top bed.”

“I hope I don't fall out of bed this time,” Namikawa muttered, opening his suitcase. “The last time I slept in a bunk bed I fell in the middle of the night and woke everyone up.”
Yukimura turned to the pirate striker and huffed in annoyance. “The first time you fall, the next we tie you to the bed.”

Namikawa started laughing so hard at that threat that they couldn't calm him down for a long while, until he was able to mutter, “How kinky. Do you have those fetishes?”

"No! The strange thing is that you consider it exciting instead of a threat,” the boy snorted.

Kageyama rubbed his chin. “Perhaps because of the pirate theme he considers the ropes and nets part of a fantasy.”

The second group entered their cabin with bright eyes, or at least two of them, because the third went straight to one of the bottom beds and left his suitcase on it. Kirino and Makari who had opened one of the closet doors to see what it was like inside raised an eyebrow in confusion, the vice captain looked at the other defender who shrugged his shoulders.

“Have you chosen your bed yet, Minamisawa?” Kirino asked in a voice slightly velvety with irritation.

“Yep,” he said, taking out his cell phone and grunting when he remembered that he wasn't going to have a signal. He got out of bed to grab his charger and plug it into an outlet and then he felt like the world was falling on top of him, he ran to the light switch and pressed it several times in desperation. "No! NO! NOOOOO!”

Makari rubbed his forehead and Kirino couldn't help but clear his throat angrily. “Wow, it seems that we are not going to have electricity, how inconvenient.”

The green-haired defender laughed and opened his suitcase to start taking out his things. “Kirino, would you mind if one day I brought flowers to decorate? I can look for a pretty vase in town when we get down, I think it would add a colorful touch to the cabin.”

The vice-captain smiled kindly. “Not at all, I also think that a bouquet of flowers would be a beautiful detail in the cabin. Maybe we can propose it to everyone and thus make the whole team happy.”

“We don't have electricity and you worry about flowers? Who cares about flowers?” the university student snorted, throwing himself dramatically on the bed.

“Me,” Makari replied, raising an eyebrow. “My family grows lilies, worrying about flowers is my thing.”

Kirino was immediately interested in this and Makari began to talk to him about the family business while the three teenagers unpacked their belongings, one of them still complaining.

The third group entered their cabin with great tension between them, the atmosphere was so charged that it seemed like sparks were going to ignite and also, as they immediately noticed when Senguuji tried to turn on the light, without success, their cabin was one of the unfortunate.  “Great, there is no light… Ugh…”

The goalkeeper rubbed his temples taking a deep breath and moved towards one of the bottom beds and Ibuki followed him claiming the other. Kurosaki immediately raised his eyebrows and said in a disgusted voice, “Aren't you going to ask where Shindou and I prefer to sleep?”

Shindou, who was very uncomfortable being not only away from Kirino or his other friends, but also sharing a room with the captains of the two teams that Raimon faced in the final of the Holy Road years ago and who seemed to still be resentful of their defeat, raised his head with a cold sweat. “Considering their height, there aren't many other options.”

Ibuki crossed his arms and said in a low, sarcastic growl, looking at the midfielder, “If you want, Senguuji and I sleep on the top bed. I'm sure it's a wonderful experience not being able to even sit on the damn bed because the little boy throws a tantrum not being able to choose the bed where he's going to sleep.”

Kurosaki looked at him with irritation and snorted in displeasure. Speaking in a completely contemptuous tone, “God, I'm going to have to sleep on top of one of you two, as if it wasn't horrible enough to have to share the cabin with a group of people whose faces make me want to throw up.”

Senguuji tensed up immediately and stood up to his full height, and that was saying a lot, approaching Kurosaki and grabbing his arm. “Hey, what the fuck are you saying? Man, I can understand that you are still frustrated on a sporting level with me about the final match three years ago; but not as a person, we already resolved that. Kurosaki, we have been friends for years, how can you say something like that to me now?”

He wrinkled his nose; but his eyes watered slightly and the tension in the cabin moved toward unusual concern. Ibuki looked at Shindou as if he had an answer to what was happening but he just opened his mouth without understanding. 

“What's wrong, Kurosaki?” Senguuji asked again, looking at him intensely, Kurosaki didn't look back. “You have behaved very strangely since the day of the Selection.”

“There's nothing wrong with me, I'm fine.”

“Kurosaki, I don't know what I could have done to you; but if you have such a big problem with us being your roommates, we can talk to Coach Fudou about it so they can relocate you,” Shindou suggested, trying to calm Kurosaki’s clearly agitated mood. “If we explain things well, they will surely accept.”

The boy did not say anything but kept his eyes down, Senguuji grabbed him by the shoulders. “Kurosaki, you can count on me if…”

"Shut up! I can't count on anyone! ANYONE!” he shouted, exploding and hitting the other’s arm hard, although the goalkeeper didn't even flinch from the blow; however, he looked very hurt at his friend.

But that emotional maelstrom transformed again when Kurosaki became very pale and began to cough, putting his hand to his chest and clutching his shirt with his eyes full of tears, he was suffocating.

The boy leaned over, feeling great pain in his chest while coughing as if his life depended on it. Shindou, scared, looked for his water bottle for him to drink; but he couldn't even breathe and was starting to turn blue. Tears streaked his face, feeling a burning that consumed and broke him.

“Hey, hey.” Senguuji had panicked at that, he hit him on the back trying to help him but it didn't seem to be having the expected result. “What's happening? What's happening?"

Ibuki took a deep breath and approached resolutely. “Step aside,” he ordered with a frown as he stood behind Kurosaki and wrapped his arms around him from behind, the other goalkeeper almost responded rudely; but upon seeing Ibuki’s position he pursed his lips and took a step back, understanding what he was going to do.
Ibuki gave Kurosaki a sharp blow to the diaphragm from behind and Kurosaki convulsed, spitting something out that fell onto the palms of his hands, freeing his throat and regaining the color and visibility that had been clouded by the effort.

Shindou, Senguuji and Ibuki silently looked at a huge elongated and striated red petal. Senguuji's eyes bulged and he suddenly became as pale as Kurosaki himself who had to sit on the edge of the bed, dizzy.

“Here, drink some water,” the manager offered, handing him his open bottle which he took with a trembling hand, drinking greedily even though at another time he would have been incredibly squeamish about drinking from someone else's bottle. He then looked at Ibuki in confusion. “How did you know what to do?”

He shrugged, visibly confused, as did Senguuji. “I took a first aid course last summer. But that doesn't matter. What just happened? Why did Kurosaki puked a water lily petal?”

“It's not a water lily, it's a lotus,” replied the appellee in a weak voice.

"What?" Senguuji blinked in perplexity. “What does it matter what flower it is!? Why did you vomit a flower petal? That's not even normal. We must notify Coach Fudou…”

"No!" Kurosaki screeched grabbing Senguuji by the jacket who had moved to leave the cabin. “I have no idea what it means but you can't say anything to anyone. Understood? Not a word to anyone, especially the coaches or Namikawa.”

“What does Namikawa have to do with it?” Shindou asked with a small voice still looking at the flower petal before looking up at Kurosaki who shivered.

“Nothing, he doesn't have nothing to do.” Kurosaki stood up with his eyebrows tightly frowned. “Promise me, promise me you won't say anything.”

Senguuji, very scared, nodded. “I won't say anything if you don't want to, but I don't think it's normal, you could have suffocated if it hadn't been for Ibuki. Kurosaki, you should investigate what happened.”

The midfielder's jawline tensed and his red eyes scorched his other two teammates.

“As long as you don't die in front of me, it's none of my business what you want or don't want to say,” Ibuki said, moving to grab his travel bag and start putting the clothes in the closet.

Shindou looked at Kurosaki stiffly. “I won't say anything either, don't worry.”

"Yes, thanks. In any case, whatever happened I'm sure it won't happen again. We shouldn’t worry about it.”
The two goalkeepers let out a low growl; but the manager stood looking at the other boy thoughtful and trembling. He was sure that Kurosaki did know what that flower meant because of the specific request not to say anything to the forward, unlike him who had vomited an orchid petal again in the morning without having the slightest idea of ​​what was happening. He looked at his teammate in silence, maybe...?

The fourth group entered their cabin talking animatedly, with Kariya being in charge of seeing with relief that there was light in his cabin. "Yeah! We have light.”

"Great!" Gomaki said with a clap, taking a half-drunk bottle out of his backpack and putting it in the minibar that he had found with just a glance around the room. “It will be good for us to be able to refrigerate drinks right here, I'm sure it will start to get very hot soon.”

Kita, a little upset for not being able to share a cabin with his boyfriend and for having annoyed the person he had wanted to help by receiving that unexpected punishment, approached the minibar and then looked at the beds, narrowing his little eyes in mockery. “We are faced with the inevitable situation of what is preferred, top or bottom. Well, at least we know that Mahoro prefers top.”

The white-haired defender chuckled and offered him the open palm for a high five.

"What? No. I prefer the bottom bed, I don't want to split my head open when I get up suddenly in bed, sometimes I suffer from sleepwalking.”

Gomaki's thunderous laughter shook the cabin and Mahoro looked at him very confused. “Dude, to want to fuck his cousin in a cemetery you are too slow.”

The oldest of them opened his mouth in shock, but at that same moment he raised his eyebrows in understanding and turned to Kita, blushing. “Kita! Damn vermin!”

He covered his face with his hands laughing, Gomaki next to him had rested his elbow on his shoulder and was also laughing, hiding his cretinous little smirk. 

Kariya approached them acting innocently, wanting to avoid having his head torn off by one of the two people he was most afraid of on the team, although the hint of a malicious smirk at the corner of his lips was inevitable.

The black eyes of the huge defender followed his movement and as he passed in front of him he whistled at him in a way not unlike the way a farmer would use to call his cattle. “Hey, you little pest, try something I don't like and I swear you'll wish you hadn't been born.”

Kariya was startled by the whistle and jumped dramatically on the spot, landing on top of Mahoro; but then he looked offended and resentful at his teammate, responding in a slurred, hissing voice. “Great, one more reason to add to my list, do you want me to file it chronologically or alphabetically?” 

Three pairs of eyes watched with concern as the boy's biceps bulged beneath the fabric of his jacket and couldn't help but remember the way he had turned the watermelons into puree with great ease.

Mahoro intervened, placing himself between them. "Don't argue, I'm sure Kariya doesn't want to earn the hatred of the wandering spirits in the camp and will behave."

He stood livid and stiff, moving tremblingly and his face pale. “What wandering spirits?”

Kita rolled his eyes and punched Mahoro's arm. "Buddy! Don't scare the Crying Baby Alien, or you'll have to accompany him to the bathroom at night so he doesn't wet the bed.”
Gomaki laughed again. “That's disgusting, I don't want to have leaks. Kita, I trust you to top me.”

“It will be my pleasure,” he laughed, jumping onto the bed nimbly. “Do you think we can see the stars from the window?”

Kariya pouted with red ears and Mahoro put his hand on his head gently. "Don't worry, we're just messing with you a little, but if you need a lullaby to sleep you can tell me, I know a lot of demonic songs."

“Yes, don't take it personally.” Gomaki winked at him.  

“Except for the spirit thing, there really are in the camp.”

Kariya shuddered again and Gomaki snorted at Mahoro. “You're really earning going to the toilet with him when he needs it by scaring him like that.”
“I'm not scared,” Kariya defended himself in a high-pitched voice that fooled no one and the three looked at him with amused exasperation. “I'm not afraid of spirits!”

The fifth group also entered their cabin in considerable good spirits, Tsurugi being the most somber but not allowing that to be reflected in his calm and brazen facade. 

“A minibar!” Kishibe exclaimed shortly after investigating the room, he continued to feel guilty but there was nothing else he could do at that moment except make sure every time he could that his friend was okay. “Do you think they will have something to eat in…? Ah, they are empty.”

Kishibe's disappointed expression was so comical that it made the other two laugh immediately. “Who was going to fill the minibar with food if we don't even have electricity in the middle of the camp?” said Tsurugi leaving his luggage aside and stretching. 

Amemiya gave both of them a tug on their sleeves. “Hey! Hey! We have bunk beds! I've always wanted to use a bunk bed, I'm so excited, I wanted a top one!”

The striker allowed himself a little smile and left his backpack on the bed under Amemiya. “I prefer bottom.”

“Yeah, I got that feeling last night because of the way you moaned saying the captain's name.”

Kishibe blushed when he heard him, hoping that the conversation would not lead to something obscene again, he left his backpack on the other bed upstairs. Tsurugi let out a menacing growl. 

Amemiya moved, smiling and clung to Kishibe who raised his bushy eyebrows in confusion. “Hey, what did your girlfriend tell you about the photo?”

The boy's words got stuck and he stammered something unintelligible. Tsurugi punched the orange haired's arm. “Don't bother him, Amemiya.”

“Oh, come on, it’s no bother, is it, buddy?”

“Hm, not that it's a bother but…” he replied timidly. Amemiya squeezed him tighter against him and the purple-haired boy blushed even more. “I explained to her that it was for a dare and she laughed, but it was very embarrassing to have to send that photo.”

“I'm sure she loved it,” Tsurugi smiled, opening the door of one of the closets. “At least I saved you from duck faces.”

Kishibe let out a sigh of clear relief and gratitude. “Yes, thank you, I would have died of embarrassment if I had had to pose as they asked, I am no good for that bad boy attitude.”

Amemiya narrowed his eyes at his teammate. “Maybe you should sleep on the bottom bed.”

Tsurugi stifled a laugh. “Well, in the Earth Eleven match against Resistance Japan, your attitude towards Nozaki was not that of a good and modest boy.”

“But that's just on the playing field!”

The two girls entered the cabin and left their suitcases against the wall. 

“Oh! Bunk beds!” Mizukawa exclaimed, clapping her hands enthusiastically. “It's the first time I've seen bunk beds in my life. I want to sleep on the top one!”

Seto watched her with curiosity, she went to the opposite bunk and left her backpack on the bed below, before the judging look of her teammate she replied, “I like the space made in the bunk below, I find it cozy. ”

The dark-haired girl blinked slowly and let out a squeal. “You are very funny, you look like a little animal. My aunt had a cat who also preferred to sleep in small spaces like nests rather than the beds she bought, she was always complaining about her hairball.”

Seto rolled her eyes and began to take her clothes out of the suitcase, after a while Mizukawa came down to do the same, playing background music on her cell phone while she hummed, the former discovered that at least she was better at singing than dancing.

Hakuryuu was sitting outside, on the edge of the grass overlooking the lake whose waters at that moment seemed like black velvet dotted with shiny specks. The night sky displayed all its magic with the stars twinkling completely visible, since they had no light pollution in that place. He heard steps behind him advancing cautiously and when he turned his face he saw Tsurugi under the silver glow of the moon, carrying his tracksuit jacket over his arms and shivering slightly from the cold outside. The captain looked at him affectionately and stretched out his arm, leaving his side exposed so that he could settle next to him, an invitation that the other forward silently accepted.

He put his arm over his shoulders, feeling his friend's loose hair tickling him. 

“What are you doing out here, Haku?” he asked in a soft voice, knowing what his answer was going to be.

“I was waiting for you.” He remained silent and his eyes rose towards the sky. "You?"

“I knew you would be waiting for me.”

A smile tinged with sadness appeared on the full lips of the captain of the Japanese team and the other tried to chase it away with a kiss on the cheek through which he looked at him captivated. Hakuryuu's hand went up to the other boy's moon-white face and caressed his skin with extreme care, brushing his lips with the pad of his thumb and swallowing saliva, having to resist a tempting pulse that hit his entire being with fury like the waves in the coast on a stormy day.

“We should talk about what happened yesterday, Hakuryuu.”

"Yes I know." He withdrew his hand and also removed his gaze from his friend's lips, lowering his eyes to the dark grass beneath his feet. 

Tsurugi narrowed his eyes with an unpleasant feeling of anticipation in his stomach. “Haku? “What… what’s happening?” He could barely breathe as he saw the other boy's broken expression and grabbed his hand in a rush of desperation. “Hey, everything will be okay, we can face anything together.”
The captain bit his lower lip so hard that he almost broke his skin.

"I know."

"So?"

Hakuryuu took a breath and looked at Tsurugi with darkened eyes. “I'm sorry, Kyousuke. I've liked you for a long time, and although I dreamed that one day you could feel the same way about me, I don't feel like now is the time to start a relationship. My duty now as captain is to be there for the team.”

Tsurugi remained silent with his orange gaze fixed on him, before he could apologize again with that tragic solemnity, the blue-haired boy giggled. “You never cease to amaze me, Haku. Is that just it? Hey, it's okay, we're not in a hurry. We just have to wait to win the tournament, don’t we?” 

“But it's not right, it's very selfish of me to ask you…”

“Hey.” Tsurugi rested his hand on the other’s thigh. “It's okay, we've waited years, we can wait a few more months.” His eyes moved over his face and his smile widened. “You are a good captain, Hakuryuu. The best captain.”  His hand moved to his cheek that burned despite the cold of the night. “Don't let what Kidou said haunt you, you are the most trustworthy person I know. And I know my brother and Coach Fudou.”

Hakuryuu looked down and nodded, so Tsurugi pressed his cheek just a little harder to make him lift it up.

“I'm sure Kidou doesn't mean what he said.”

“But he said it.” The captain stifled a moan and closed his eyes feeling his friend's soft touch. “And I must show that they can trust me. Even those of us who formed the first Resistance Japan are distant now, and my mission is to unite the entire team.”

“I know you will make it, and I will be by your side supporting you in everything in my power, even if I am not the vice-captain.”

“You are my confidant… I don't know what I would do without you.” The boy shook his head slowly. “I don't want to hurt you, I completely lost my mind yesterday.”

“Once the great Hakuryuu, the always responsible and correct one, loses his mind,” he laughed in response. “You always make me lose it.”

“You really don't mind waiting for me?”

Tsurugi let out the air like a whistle, brought his face close to Hakuryuu's and left a kiss on his lips, sweet and intimate like the night that engulfed them. “It's a kiss question, when you're ready you can give me your kiss answer.”

Hakuryuu widened his eyes and finally allowed himself to smile. “It's going to be hard to wait until we finish the tournament to kiss you again.”

He laughed again. “Nothing stops us from some reminder kisses, does it?”

Hakuryuu looked at him in amazement and looked at him with love, enthralled by the way the silver light highlighted his nose and cheekbones. He slid the tip of his tongue very slowly between his lips to moisten them and was caught in his burning gaze as their eyes connected.

They both leaned towards each other and were about to kiss again when a crack accompanied by a scream tore through the peaceful spring night.

Mizukawa climbed into her bed, getting under the covers, hugging the pillow with a happy expression. She moved her legs, kicking the blankets, and directed her mischievous eyes at the other girl who still hadn't finished brushing her hair.

“Hey, have you ever kissed anyone?”

The question caught the girl by surprise, who stood rigid with the brush in the middle of a stroke. Stammering, “What did you say?”

“Have you ever kissed someone,” she repeated, twisting her lips because her attitude was enough of an answer. Still, Seto shook her head, her cheeks having turned a deep scarlet. “Yeah, I though so... And you don't have anyone you want to kiss with? That pirate boy, for example.”

The girl snorted. “Stop teasing me about it, I don't like Namikawa.”

"No? It seems that you are very aware of him. Plus he's handsome.”

“Of course you're going to be aware of someone who won't stop saying stupid things.”

“I think his crush on you is cute, he is totally head over hells with you.”

She shook her head. “I bet he is like that with all girls.”

"You think? He isn’t with me.”

“In any case, what do you care?”

Mizukawa lifted her head from the pillow and rested her chin on her palm. “It's what friends do, right? Talking about boys and teasing about their crushes. Sorry if that's not the case, I've never really had a friend.”

Seto looked back at her and her expression became more mocking for a moment, but then her eyebrows furrowed. “What about Sorano, Nozaki and Morimura?”

It was the other girl's turn to tense up. “It wasn't me who interacted with them, but that damn alien that possessed me, it was quite disgusting that he used my body to get close to the girls…” Mizukawa clenched her jaws in anger. “When I became me again, I scared everyone with my true personality, so… My only friends have been Tetsurou and Yamato, they were the only ones who accepted me for who I am, not even my parents…”

“Well,” Seto interrupted so that she would not continue in that dark spiral of thoughts. “The guys on this team are too stupid to be scared of anyone.”

"And you?"

The two girls looked into each other's eyes, the one with vermilion hair began to laugh loudly. “I want to believe that I'm not stupid, but I'm not going to be scared either, I find you intwresting. Also, just for information, I've had my share of fights too.”

Mizukawa started laughing too. “For information? Who talks like that?” She wiped her eyes and looked at her with interest. “So you're another beast, huh? Tell me, tell me.”

Seto smiled and told her about her battles as she finished brushing her hair.

Once she went to bed and the lights were turned off, the girl moved on her mattress.

"And you?" she asked, continuing a stopped conversation. “Have you ever kissed?”

There was the creak of another mattress indicating her shifting her weight and she responded, “Yes.”

Seto made a sharp noise in surprise. "With who? With Gomaki or Senguuji?”

"What? EW, NO,” she laughed. “Hell no, I'd rather dress in pink or sequins forever than get in between the two of them.”

“There's nothing wrong with wearing pink,” Seto muttered, somewhat offended.

Mizukawa laughed louder. “What a surprise, do you like pink? If there's nothing wrong with it, you should dress like that, I'm sure Namikawa will get a nosebleed.”

"Leave me alone. I'm ashamed, I've always been laughed at when I've said or done more feminine things.”

The other girl was slow to respond. “I would laugh because I am a bad person and I like to mess with others; But if someone really made fun of you for it, we would tear off their head. Each one must be true to themselves, although it has been difficult for me too…”

Seto's eyes watered. “Thank you…” After a pause the girl added. “Why did you say you didn't want to get between your two friends? Who have you kissed then?”

“Pft, isn't it obvious? Those two like each other a lot, but the idiots don't move no matter how much I poke them.” Mizukawa shifted on the bed again. “I would prefer to be able to erase the kissed I had, just like the boys I had them with erased me from their lives as soon as they knew I was more than the curvy girl with rich parents. The truth is, it sucks to fall in love, never do it, I won't fall again.”

“What's with that shameless flirtation of yours with Makari?”

The girl sighed. “He's very handsome, isn’t him?”

"Eh... I'm starting to think that you have very strange taste, Makari's face can't even be seen between his hair and the damn scarf."

“He's very handsome,” she repeated, amused. “I like his eyes. It’s fun to play a little and flirt, but I don’t want anything serious.”

“That's horrible, what will happen if he falls in love with you?”

The girl took much longer to respond, Seto could hear her struggling to breathe. “I already told you that I am a bad person.”

“Aham…” she replied with a giggle. “It seems to me that you really like him but you're scared to accept it.”

“Love doesn't scare me, it terrifies me,” she confessed. “Have you ever fallen in love?”

“Of course, my first love was when I was five years old, but I threw a bucket of sand over his head while we were playing in the park and he left crying, he never wanted to play with me again.” 

“Tremendous crybaby, wouldn't he be the Crybaby Alien?”

Seto made a braying noise. “Poor Kariya. He's a bit stupid because it's hard for him to socialize and adapt and it's a practically unknown team, but he's a good boy, he's a good friend."

“I see, then as friends we should tease him even more.”

“Mizukawa! No!”

They laughed for a while and Seto hugged the pillow. “The truth is that all the guys on the team are very handsome, don’t you think? Even Mahoro when he shaves those devil sideburns wins a lot.”

“Very appropriate. Unfortunately we don't have a dick to interest them.” They laughed again. “If you don't like Namikawa, something that allows me to put on my doubtful face, do you like another boy on the team?”

“I don't like anyone, although the first time I saw Hakuryuu three years ago I had a… it wasn't even a crush, but he seemed like a super attractive guy, until he opened his mouth.”

“Oh? What did he do? Kissing the blue-haired punk?”

Seto almost choked with laughter. “Oh, God, what a show yesterday. Those two had years of accumulated tension.”

“Well, wait until it's time for the two idiots I have as friends. Hm, in any case I hope they are as good players as they are handsome, I don't understand much about football; But even I know that matches are not won with beauty.”

“You shouldn't worry about that, they are all very good players, I have known them for years and I have been paying attention to their matches with my team. Coach Fudou has made a formidable team.”

“He seems like a formidable man, both coaches,” Mizukawa murmured. “And the baby is adorable. Babies have always disgusted me, but on the first day he looked at me with those huge red eyes and please, it made me want to pinch his cheeks.”

“Akira is a sweetheart, and he behaves very well.”

Mizukawa was about to reply when they heard an angry crack coming from the ceiling.

“What was that?” the girl asked, confused.

As if in response, the creak was heard again and a piece of ceiling fell with a dull thud onto Seto's bunk.

She immediately got up from her bed, grabbed the arm of the other girl who had been paralyzed, making her fall from the bed on top of her, holding her so she wouldn't get hurt, and then pulled her arm so they ran out of the cabin, bursting out the door with their hearts pounding just in time to hear another loud crack that broke the night and raised a cloud of dust as the roof gave way completely.

Mizukawa was shaking in fear and Seto hugged her, but before either of them could do anything else another pair of arms surrounded them and a deep, alarmed voice asked. “Are you okay? Have you been hurt?”

They both shuddered. “We are fine, Coach Fudou. It was just the scare.”

“Seto reacted so quickly she saved us.”

They heard footsteps and exclamations, the entire team had gathered in front of the cabin. When they separated from the adult who looked at them intently, wanting to make sure they were okay, some of their teammates hugged them tightly.

“What a scare, damn cabin,” growled Gomaki who had run up to Mizukawa. She sobbed and felt another hand on her head watching Senguuji frowning at the collapsed cabin.

Seto, for her part, had been trapped between Mahoro and Amemiya. With Kirino, Shindou and Kariya very pale at her side.

Makari and Namikawa had gotten very close to them as well, but they both seemed uncomfortable not knowing how to enter their circle.

“Thank goodness you reacted in time,” Hakuryuu said, approaching them and grabbing their shoulders with concern. 

Namikawa used this moment to approach Seto and, after looking into his eyes and seeing a deep and serious expression, she allowed him to hug her and caress her head. 

“Are you alright?”

When she felt the boy's hands soft but firm on her back and the heat he gave off, her stomach jumped in a way she didn't like; that feeling of protection was overwhelming and very different from that of her friends. She twitched a little and grabbed the forward's pajama shirt, who hugged her tighter, wanting to comfort her from the fright, something that Seto also allowed, even shedding a tear.

With an almost imperceptible sob she said, “I'm fine.”

Makari managed to pass the human wall of Senguuji and Gomaki and looked at the girl who smiled widely at him.

“I'm fine, Seto reacted so quickly that I didn't even know the cabin was falling until we were outside.”

He nodded, his black eyes fixed on her, and hesitated as to what to do. “I'm very glad that nothing happened to you.”

Gomaki narrowed his eyes at them and was the one who pushed Mizukawa into his arms. He raised his eyebrows but noticing that she didn't seem uncomfortable, he hugged her gently, allowing the girl to bury her face in his chest.

Kidou, who was carrying a frightened Akira in his arms, caught everyone's attention by clearing his throat. “For now we will rearrange you in our cabin and tomorrow we will assess the damage and what to do.”

Fudou turned to his husband. “In our cabin? Let them sleep in the ones that had space, there were two groups with an extra place.”

“I don't think it's appropriate.”

“Do you think it's more appropriate for them to sleep with us?” the coach growled, rubbing his forehead. “Yuuto, they are going to be as safe with the boys as they are with us, but they are going to be more comfortable with their teammates.”

Seto approached the coaches. “We won't be able to use that cabin again. Mizukawa and I have no problem sharing a cabin with the boys for the rest of the camp.”

“In that case I will have to reorganize the groups so that the two of you can be together…”

There was a shudder in the team when they thought about the danger of sleeping next to the two girls together.

“Ugh, Yuuto, let it be, being you you're not even going to move just one boy, you're going to make them all move. They can spend the camp separately.”

“Can we choose which cabin we want to go to?” Mizukawa asked with great interest.

“Ah, no, nothing of that. There's no way I'm going to put you and Amemiya together, who knows what disasters you're going to make together,” Kidou growled, rocking his baby, something that was very comical at that moment due to his extraordinarily serious expression. “Mizukawa will go to Kirino, Makari and Minamisawa's cabin and Seto will go with Tsurugi, Kishibe and Amemiya.”

The two girls glanced at each other and Seto had to hold back her laughter, knowing that they were sending her friend where she wanted to go.

Namikawa looked menacingly at Kishibe and cracked his knuckles. “Try anything indecent with my goddess and I'll punch your teeth out.”

Kishibe was visibly offended, although some of his friends covered their mouths to laugh. “Why are you saying it to just me? Amemiya and Tsurugi are also in the cabin.”

“Yeah, but only you like girls,” the striker growled. 

Kishibe rolled his eyes and walked off towards his cabin.

Kita patted Namikawa on the back, next to him Ibuki looked amused.

“How come you haven't burst into tears saying you want to share a cabin with Seto?”

He blushed suddenly. “It would be very rude from me, and I don't want to make her uncomfortable with my presence, especially if I wake up with a morning wood.”

“As if that didn't happen to all of us,” the goalkeeper observed as his boyfriend cried with laughter.

Kita winked at him. “Man, you usually are a brute, but care a lot for Seto.”

“It's normal, I want to treasure her.”

Kita laughed. “And we, the first time we slept in the same bed when we weren't even going out yet…”

Ibuki growled at his boyfriend and forced him to move. “Good night, Namikawa.”

Resistance Japan returned to their cabins, some of them worried that theirs would not also give way in the middle of the night.

Mizukawa entered the cabin, with Minamisawa snorting in annoyance because he wanted to share a room with the troublesome girl as much as giving another speech about Ibuki or any of his other teammates.

Once inside, with no light, Makari tapped the girl on the shoulder a couple of times to get her attention. “I was using the top bunk on the left, to leave the bottom bunk for Matsukaze when he got back, but you can use it if you prefer.”

She smiled in the darkness and leaned against his torso. “Hm, yes, I prefer to be on top of you.”

“Go ahead, you can top me.”

Minamisawa made a retching noise. “Can you stop the sexual double meaning, please?”

Makari turned to him. “What sexual double meaning? We are just talking about which bed to use.”

“Pickled plums,” the midfielder snorted, making the others make fun of him for that. “I'm going to tell Coach Kidou to move you to another cabin, or move me.”

“Yes, please,” Kirino smiled, before Mizukawa or Makari could feel offended, he added. “See if they do us all a favor and change you for Shindou. So you can sleep with your friend Ibuki.”

“Shut your mouth!”

“Do it yourself and go to sleep, you fool,” said the girl, climbing onto the bed with the gallant help of Makari.

Minamisawa let out a grunt and climbed into his bed, covering himself up to his head.

“We better not hear moaning in the middle of the night.”

“Calm down, Minamisawa,” Kirino calmed, climbing up as well. “We are not in the locker room to get you excited.”

The boy blushed brightly while the others laughed.

Seto, meanwhile, took the free bed under Kishibe. Laughing with amusement at that moment. “Are you still snoring like a truck, Amemiya?”

“I don't snore!”

“Yes, you snore,” Kishibe responded exhaustedly.

“I only snore when I'm tired.”

“Well man, you must have been exhausted, you looked like a truck with a clogged exhaust pipe.”

“Don't let Hikaru find out,” Tsurugi laughed with amused meanness.

But an hour later only Amemiya and Seto had been able to fall asleep, Kishibe grunted tossing and turning in bed and Tsurugi was pulling at his eyelids. Exasperated at not being able to sleep, he kicked the boy's mattress and he turned around. When he changed position, the snoring stopped and they were finally able to rest.

Chapter Text

Fudou yawned during breakfast, rubbing his eyes as he chewed slowly thinking about the training for that day. 

They had been at the Ozu camp for two days and the team was still adjusting to many things such as their schedule, their teammates, and the training sessions themselves. Even if those first days were very general training sessions so that Kidou and he could finish writing down all the data they needed to give each of them individual training sessions and then coordinate the group training sessions based on what they might need in the matches.

Even so, the routine was calm, they had breakfast at 7:30 a.m. they trained from 8:30 to 11:30, they ate at 12:00, they digested watching football videos to analyze the plays and strategies, moments spotted through casual conversations that the coach did not try to stop, and they returned to training from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. When they finished, they went down to Ozu to the Takanashi family hot springs where they cleaned up and enjoyed the bath, participated in a yoga or meditation class with Fudou's mother, returned together to the camp where they had dinner and had free time until bedtime at 10 p.m.

The man looked up from his plate and glanced at the team who were having breakfast spread out on a couple of wooden tables with benches attached to them. “Guys and ladies,” he called, attracting the attention of all of them, “I come to offer you a change of plans for today.” The team looked at each other in confusion and then turned their attention back to their coach. “Today after lunch I want to give the Sexual Education class that you asked me for, so we will extend the morning training for another hour, we will go to the ryokan to bathe and eat and we will use the afternoon for the class in one of the rooms there."

“Why don't we do it at camp?” Hakuryuu asked putting into words the doubt that had arisen in all of them.

“Because I want Matsukaze to be present via video conference and there is no signal from the camp,” the man explained.
“Are we going to be with Tenma?” Amemiya asked with bright eyes, Yukimura who was eating breakfast next to him wrinkled his nose immediately.

“By call only; but yeah."

Gomaki rested his elbow on the wooden table and smiled widely. “I'm really looking forward to Coach Fudou's class.”

“Is it mandatory to attend?” Minamisawa asked boredly, Kurosaki and Shindou looked up from their breakfasts with hopeful eyes.

“Absolutely,” Kidou replied, crossing his arms sternly. “We don't want accidents, anyone who doesn't attend will lose their place on the team.”

Shindou sighed regretfully, but then a pinch in his stomach made him feel even worse, this was the second time in a short space of time that the adult had threatened to kick a small group of which he was a part from the team, what if he really want to take him out and everything was an excuse? He clenched his hands in his lap, surely he had greatly disappointed the man who expected so much of him when he was Raimon's coach... His eyes watered and Kirino, who was chatting happily with Hakuryuu, noticed it and leaned over him. “Shindou, are you okay?”

"Uh?" The manager swallowed and nodded. “Yes, I'm fine, I was thinking about… the class.”

Kageyama who was sitting across from him smiled kindly. “Don't worry, if it is even remotely similar to the one that Coach Kidou gave us in Teikoku High School it will be very interesting and instructive. I remember that they even gave us a wooden penis so that we could learn how to put a condom on it. Many classmates were super embarrassed.”

“It was so funny,” Tsurugi recalled, covering a mischievous smirk. “Miyabino got really angry with us when we blew up one of the condoms like a balloon.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Ibuki patted his friend on the back. “You were the one who started it, weren't you?”

“What a bunch of savages,” Kirino said, laughing good-naturedly. “I hope you behave well today.”

“Yes, we don't want Coach Kidou to get more angry with us,” Kishibe muttered darkly.

Hakuryuu clenched his jaw; but he didn't have time to react further because Fudou snorted. “Jou and I are going to be there, whatever stupid thing you try to do I assure you that we will have done it before. Surely Jou will make them again…”

The Resistance Japan team was chatting animatedly around the tables in a meeting room at the Takanashi Ryokan. Tsunami was listening to Kidou giving him instructions on how to use his tablet to make the call with Matsukaze.

“Dude, I'm not a primordial, I know how to use tablets, stop bothering me.”

“First, my tablet costs more than your salary during the entire FFI so no, I don't trust you no matter how much Akio allowed you to hold the tablet so Matsukaze can be present, and second, it's primitive not primordial, you idiot.”
“Don't be hard on Jou, Yuuto,” his husband laughed. “You have to be next to me while I give the lecture, not holding the tablet.”

"Why?"

“Because you’re my assistant, of course!”

“And he wants to publicly humiliate you,” the driver laughed, earning a stomp from the red-eyed man. "Oi! It's true, we all know that Akio is going to end up talking about how you fuck him..."

Kidou covered Tsunami's mouth with a stern warning glare, but most of the team laughed openly at them.

Tsunami finally called Matsukaze as his friends stood behind him to greet. When the call connected, Seto and Amemiya happily greeted the midfielder, who to everyone's surprise was not alone at that moment.

“Matatagi?” Shindou said strangely, standing next to Kirino because he had wanted to say hello to make up for the hospital mess. “What are you doing there?”

Namikawa raised his eyebrows from his table where he was sitting next to Kurosaki and stood up to greet. “Bro! Long time no see!”

Kurosaki, on the other hand, tensed up upon hearing the boy's name and his gaze became duller. He could barely contain a hissing whisper for which Minamisawa snorted in agreement. “Great, just what we need, another pervert with no common sense who loves to cause trouble.”

On the other side of the screen, a boy with dark brown hair with some blue highlights started laughing. “We met not even a week ago, Namikawa.” His eyes looked at Shindou for a moment and he shrugged. “I came to visit.”

“How is camp going?” Matsukaze asked with his eyes lighting up, he had been doing his job of running the social media with Kidou's remote supervision. 

"Amazing!" Amemiya exclaimed with a huge smile. “I wish you were here.”

Yukimura sitting next to Hakuryuu and Tsurugi gagged and the other two laughed. Hakuryuu snorted, “Are you going to fake puking every time Amemiya talks to Matsukaze? I know you don't like him, but it's strange that you react like that.”

The ice striker rubbed his chest that burned as if it had a hot iron inside and looked with reddened eyes at his friend simply clicking his tongue; A little further away Makari narrowed his eyes, staring at the boy, knowing there was something wrong with him but not knowing what.

“Matsukaze told me that he was going to take a Sexual Education class, I was wondering if I can be present too, the class promises a lot,” Matatagi asked with a problematic smirk.

Tsunami made a duck face and let out a calling cry that caught the attention of Fudou who was busy counting something in a box. "Dude, a friend of Tenma's is asking me if he can stay for your sex class."

The coach sat up and looked at his friend with annoyance. “That you ask me that offends me, Jou.”

He laughed and lowered his eyes to the screen again. “No problem, kid.”

Amemiya, Seto, Kirino, Shindou, Kageyama, Kariya and Namikawa spent a while longer talking with Matsukaze and Matatagi on the screen until Kidou made them sit down again for the start of class.

Fudou stayed in the open part of the space formed by the tables arranged in a U, next to Kidou, who was crossing his arms with a stern and disciplinary expression.

“First of all, it's good to see you Matsukaze. And welcome to the class, Matatagi.”

The striker was silent for a moment and narrowed his eyes. “Do you know who I am?”

“Of course I know who you are,” the adult replied, moving to begin class. “I have been paying attention to your generation of football players for three years. In any case, welcome. I am sorry that you will not be able to do the practical part of the class, but I hope that…”

“What practical part?” Kidou growled, looking completely alarmed at his husband. “Akio? What practical part?”

He looked at him with irritation at being interrupted. “Well, the normal practical part of a sex education class.”

“I'm afraid of what you consider normal.”

The team couldn't help but laugh but the coach rolled his eyes. “It's nothing unusual, now let me continue. As I said, I hope you can enjoy the class and find it instructive even if you are not here.”

“Oh, I am sure it will be,” Matatagi laughed, rubbing his hands together, Matsukaze giggled nervously, his cheeks scarlet.

Fudou finally addressed everyone with a kind smile. "My intention at the beginning was to focus the talk on sex between two men, but seeing the disastrous level of sexual education in schools, I thought it was better to add more general topics that I consider are important for you to know, especially when there are two girls among us.”

“They're the impostors,” Kariya laughed mischievously. “We have to throw them off the ship.”

“Sex is the activity in which two people seek sexual pleasure, it is much more than the reproductive function that the Puritans want it to be, it is a moment of union between two people, whether in an intimate or simply carnal way. But remember that sex without consent of all parties involved is a crime, unfortunately, much more common than we think. For me there are four fundamental aspects during sex: respect, consent, protection and hygiene.”

The team nodded as one to the coach's words, some waiting impatiently and others with shame.

“Sex is part of being human and there is nothing to be ashamed of even though our country continues to generate great sexual repression in society today. It is completely normal to feel a sexual need, just as it is completely normal for it to vary between each person, there are people who even have no need at all. There are different types of sexual activity and not all of them involve putting something in a hole. The most basic of all of them is masturbation, in which it is oneself who seeks sexual pleasure, with or without external support elements. However, sex is something that must be taken seriously due to the enormous number of sexually transmitted diseases that exist, which is why it is essential to use appropriate protection methods.”

The man looked at everyone in the room, pausing in his speech, so that they would understand that this was an especially serious point.

“During sex we must use protection not only to avoid an unwanted pregnancy, but also to avoid these diseases, which is why even during anal sex a condom should be used. It is very important that you know what they are and what you are exposing yourself to if you are not careful, because although some are mild and have a cure, others like HIV are deadly. So let's start talking about them. Remember, we should always use a condom in our sexual relations unless we know our partner very well and we know that they does not have any disease. Later we will talk about condoms in more depth.”

Gomaki shifted in his seat and asked with narrowed eyes. “Should they also be used for oral sex?”

Everyone gasped when they heard him, Mizukawa laughed and looked at him with bright little eyes. “Interested in anything in particular?” 

He laughed again and nudged her. “You are a little pest.”

Senguuji looked at them out of the corner of his eye, his cheeks were much brighter than his friend and it seemed strange to see him almost shy being the largest of them all.

The coach did not sneer, but instead put his hand on his waist. “I'll be honest with you, Gomaki. I have never used a condom to suck Yuuto…”

“Akio!” he snorted, scandalized.

“But objectively speaking, if you don't know the person and you don't know who other people they may have been with, we must use protection because through oral sex you can also spread an STD, there are condoms and specific dental dams for oral sex. Anyway, I don't think that's going to be a problem for any of you.”

“What do you mean, Coach Fudou?” Kirino asked innocently, daring to speak in front of everyone despite having scarlet cheeks.

He snorted. “I have a hunch that all of you will know your partner more than well when it comes time to have sex.”
The vice-captain looked thoughtfully at the adult and nodded. “At least I feel that it is not something I could do with anyone, for me it is important to have a strong bond with that person.”

“Thinking of someone in particular?” Kariya mocked with a mischievous wink. "Although I'm sure you know that person so well that you'd rather shoot directly."

Kirino blushed violently and wanted to pinch Kariya's arm, who pulled away with a malicious laugh. He could feel Shindou's burning gaze above his head and he wished that he hadn't heard the other boy, because he didn't want his dear friend to think that he saw him with that kind of intention, he didn't want to scare him again.

The manager gritted his teeth, restless and urgent, they had had a strong bond and he himself had ruined it.

Fudou continued, “Even so, always use protection, especially at the beginning,  saying that the condom does not allow good sensitivity is a lie, what's more, anal sex is much more comfortable when you are not used to it because the condom is smooth and lubricated, the friction of the penis directly can be annoying without prior experience."

“Are you still using a condom, Coach Fudou?” Kageyama asked curiously.

Kidou opened his mouth, looking at the boy perplexed by such a direct and daring question, but the other man smiled, gently shaking his head. “No, Yuuto and I stopped using condoms years ago, he likes too much com…”

The other man covered his mouth again, his face flushed. “I don't think it's necessary to give that kind of information, Akio.”

“Are you the bottom, Coach Fudou?” Kita asked with an amused smirk.

He removed his husband's hand from his mouth and turned his eyes to the orange-haired boy, crossing his arms. “The mere doubt is offensive to me.”

The boy started to laugh and with that so did everyone else, or at least those who weren't busy looking away out of embarrassment.

The coach spoke to them in detail about STDs: what they were, how they spread, how dangerous they were, and how to prevent them. Then he went on to talk to them about the different types of sex.

“I can't talk too much about vaginal sex, because you will understand that my references are only theoretical…”

“Don’t worry, coach,” said Seto, who was listening very attentively. “I think Mizukawa and I will be able to manage when the time comes with whoever we have as a partner.”

“Well, I sure do; but Namikawa might be interested in having some basic prior knowledge so he doesn't put the treasure in the wrong hole,” the other girl laughed.

Seto blushed explosively and wanted to kill Mizukawa, who was laughing loudly with almost the entire rest of the team, even Matatagi was laughing in the hospital and Matsukaze had to cover his mouth to muffle his laughter and not draw attention to them. Namikawa frowned and pouted.

“I'm not that brute, thank you very much.”

“Seto, girl, for being a lady you always hang out with the brutest guys,” Amemiya said, slapping the table. “Namikawa, Nishiki…”

“Oh!” she shouted angrily. “As if you were so much better!”

“You certainly can't say much there, Amemiya,” Mahoro observed, raising his eyebrows. “On the team, you three are a constant source of problems.”

Kurosaki wiped a couple of tears from his eyes, but the laughter was suddenly cut off when he saw that at his side Namikawa had suddenly become tense, the brunette bit his lower lip and put his hand on the striker’s shoulder, surprising the boy because he never initiated physical contact. “Don't take it seriously, they're just joking like the brainless bunch they are.”

His brown eyes looked into the other boy's sharp face and he closed them for a moment. “It doesn't bother me when they call me brute, I already know that myself.” He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled somewhat stiffly. “Thank you, Bird Brain.”

Fudou, who could barely contain his laughter, cleared his throat to calm the agitation and continued talking about the different types of sex best known.

“In any case, except for vaginal sex, which is conditional on having a vagina, the rest can be enjoyed by everyone. For example, there are straight men and women who like anal stimulation.”

“Just like there are gay men who don't like anal sex,” Kidou pointed out with a seriousness that felt out of place.

“That's not your case though, huh?” Tsunami laughed and the team let out another roar of laughter.

“What kind of sex do you like best, coaches?” Gomaki asked, tilting his head.

“Anal,” Fudou answered without thinking. “Intercrural seems boring to me, although it can be useful when you are starting to experiment or when you cannot prepare a penetration due to circumstances.”

“What circumstances would those be?” Kishibe wanted to know, opening his eyes wide, worried about what it would take under normal conditions to not be able to prepare.

“Well, for example, being outside without lubricant at a summer festival,” the coach replied. “Saliva is not the best option, believe me, especially not on your third time.”

“That sounds very specific,” Shindou muttered, unable to look up out of embarrassment.

Ibuki, two seats away from him, let out a growl. “Well, now we know what they do at the Summer Festivals.”

Kita, sitting between them, leaned back with a laugh so loud that he almost fell on his back, Shindou looked at both of them with exasperation.

“I told you that Coach Fudou was proud of having sex in public,” observed Hakuryuu, who maintained a serious expression, as if that class were the most important thing in the world.

Kurosaki's eyes widened in horror, his eyes fixed on the men, with an overwhelming sense of shame and, at the same time, envy of the freedom with which they could express themselves.

Tsurugi couldn't help but laugh. “If that was the only thing they were proud of…”

Kageyama nodded. “The coaches are very proud of their relationship and often brag about it, to me it is quite sweet.”

The other striker leaned towards Hakuryuu with a mocking gesture. “Sweet says Hikaru, I'm starting to worry about his Kageyama genes. If Miyabino were here he would be crying blood from finding out everything his idol Kidou does.”

“I think Miyabino already knows that Yuuto is a degenerate,” the captain replied with a shrug.

Kidou stifled a grunt, trying to maintain his composure, this talk was going where he didn't want it and it had only just begun.

“Personally, given the lack of lubricant, I prefer a good blowjob…”

“Akio! Stop saying such inappropriate things in front of the team,” his husband exclaimed indignantly and the group shook with laughter again.

Matatagi exploded again. “A hole is a hole at the end.”

“Matatagi, please, they're going to kick us out of the hospital at this rate,” whimpered Matsukaze, for whom the Sex Education class was opening a door to a totally unknown world.

“They'll be inappropriate, but he does them anyway,” Gomaki whispered under his breath to Senguuji and Mizukawa. The first made an unintelligible noise but the second almost choked with laughter and Makari had to pat her on the back.

“It's normal for a couple to have sex,” the green-haired defender observed. “We knew for three years that they were both madly in love.”

“Regarding anal sex, you should know that the anus, unlike the vagina, is not capable of lubricating, which is why good preparation is necessary. Before penetrating, you need to massage with a good amount of lubricant to dilate the anal rings and the end of the rectum. Always be very careful, with clean hands and short nails, it can even help to use a condom or a finger cover, because the anus and the walls of the rectum are very sensitive and it is easy to make a wound that can become infected later. At first anal stimulation can be uncomfortable and strange, but the orgasms achieved are incredible.”

“Is it because of the prostate?” Mizukawa asked with an envious pout.

“No, orgasm through the prostate and the anus are different,” Kidou explained seriously. “The anus has many nerve endings on its own and is capable of generating a stimulus that runs through the entire body.”
“To be able to fully enjoy it, it is better to get used to it little by little. Before thinking about anal penetration, you can have several massage sessions to adjust to the sensations. Obviously it can be done individually but it is always more pleasant to share that moment with your partner.”

“If you are going to have anal sex,” the other man added, “you should do a good cleaning before. You will see recommended in a lot of places the use of enemas, but that can damage your intestinal health in the long term, so it is better that you learn to wash in the shower.”

As Fudou proceeded to explain how to do it everyone looked at Minamisawa evilly.

“Look, something you can do in the locker room,” Senguuji mocked.

“Hey, I want lore for that,” Matatagi demanded immediately. “Does it have to do with those great videos Matsukaze got the other day?”
“Who dared to send those things to Matsukaze?” Kishibe asked with a hint of sourness in his voice that implied danger.

Beside him, Yukimura was shaking furiously. “Whoever it was, we must kill him.”

Amemiya, Minamisawa, and Kariya pursed their lips and pretended to be just as bewildered as everyone else, something they failed miserably at.

Tsunami explained to Matsukaze and Matatagi what the joke meant, since he had found out everything while driving, although unfortunately he had not been able to laugh as he would have liked because he had to pay attention to the road.

Fudou sighed, drawing Resistance Japan's attention again. “Now I want to talk to you about condoms and lubricants. To have good sex it is necessary to know what type of condom to use as well as lubricant. Lubricant may not seem necessary in some cases such as vaginal sex, but it can actually facilitate penetration and make it more comfortable, just like during rubbing or masturbation oneself, and as I said before, it is essential when preparing for anal sex. There are different types of lubricants and you should know when to use them, for example, oil-based lubricants or vaseline can damage the condom, so they are not advisable for penetrative sex, and some baby oils can leave the ass like that of a baboon.”

“Do you also know that from experience?” Amemiya asked with a mischievous chuckle.

His coach stared at him to answer without any shame, “Yes.”

Behind him his husband snorted.

“Water- and silicone-based lubricants are safer. I have brought several boats for you to see.”

Fudou took out four bottles of lubricants, unsealed the first one and passed it to Kageyama who was closest to him. “Pour a little on your fingers so you can see the differences between each other. This is one of the basic water-based ones, this type of lubricant is softer and less sticky, and although it lasts less, it is the best type for people with allergic problems or sensitive skin.”

Kageyama poured some on his fingers and passed it to Kariya, who seemed to have received a blow in the face because he was so red, wanted to pass it to Kirino without lying down, but his friend stopped him.

“Masaki, you should pour a little on your fingers.” And the striker proceeded to pour it, that generated a wave of laughter and whispering. The lubricant was passed to Kirino who, despite being somewhat embarrassed, poured with curiosity and from there to Shindou who almost died having to pour it on his hand. Shindou passed it to Kita who laughed in amusement and used it on himself and Ibuki with a malicious wink, the goalkeeper looking slightly embarrassed and less boastful than usual at the time. Seto took the bottle with genuine fervor and laughed about something with Mahoro before passing it to Tsunami who reached out to show Matsukaze and Matatagi through the screen.

“You can barely see it,” Matatagi complained with annoyance. The other boy was too blushing to even speak.
Makari took the bottle and poured it, rubbing his fingers with interest, but when Mizukawa took it she squeezed too hard and it fell too much into her hand. Not knowing what to do with the excess lubricant, she wiped it on Gomaki's face, who gasped, both ended up fighting while Senguuji took the object with a twitch on his eyebrow. 

Namikawa leaned back and looked at Kurosaki. “Do you prefer that Tetsukado put it in you or to put it in him?”

The midfielder's eyes widened and he began to cough heavily. Kishibe was quick to pat him on the back, because Minamisawa had wrinkled his nose when he had the boat in front of him.

"Oh really! You're going to end up killing Kurosaki at this rate, you brute!” Senguuji growled, punching the pirate striker on the arm and looking worriedly at his other friend, uneasy after what happened in the cabin. Shindou and Ibuki had also dropped their worries about the lubricant and were staring with widened eyes at their roommate, perhaps expecting him to vomit up another petal; but he was able to compose himself and breathed deeply.

By then the lubricant was in the hands of Amemiya who had splashed it on Yukimura and Tsurugi. Both seemed to want to kill him although for different reasons. 

Hakuryuu was the last to take the boat and poured it on his hands with the same seriousness with which he listened to the talk.

Then Fudou made them test a silicone lubricant, much thicker, a heat-effect lubricant which they were laughing and staining each other, and finally one flavored.

“It's completely safe to ingest so you can try it if you want,” the coach explained and to show them he took it on a finger and put it in his mouth.
“Why are there flavored lubricants?” Minamisawa asked, stunned.

“To eat your partner's ass, what else would it be for?” Kita laughed immediately and Minamisawa, Kishibe, Shindou, Kariya, Senguuji, Yukimura and Matsukaze turned completely red with his words. “What flavor did you bring, Coach Fudou?”

“Chocolate is one of the best tasting lubricants.”

Kageyama tried it to everyone's expectation, Kariya looked like he was about to faint. 

“Well, with this we have another taster on the team, if something is poisoned between Amemiya, Kishibe and Kageyama they will let us know,” Ibuki mocked, covering his face with his hand.

Tsurugi bared his teeth in a malicious smirk. “At least Hikaru isn't a rat that eats all the oranges.”

The two friends started to laugh, even Matatagi laughed when he understood the joke about when Nishizono sneaked into the Earth Eleven spaceship eating all the oranges in the pantry, the team had believed it was a rat. Matsukaze, who also understood, puffed out his cheeks, offended.

Kageyama took his finger out of his mouth and said shamelessly, “Hm, not bad, it really tastes like chocolate.”

“Are you going to do a food review of a lubricant?” Gomaki mocked with a cretinous gleam in his black eyes.

“Why not?” the boy asked with a pout. “I didn't expect it to have such a good taste.”

“This will camouflage the taste of ass,” Matatagi said laughing from the screen. 

“There are actually people who try different lubricants and condoms and leave reviews because not all of them taste that good,” Fudou said. “There are many blogs where people write about their experiences.”

“I remember when we did a tasting with things we had bought. My favorite was the passion fruit lubricant,” Tsunami said with a huge smile. “But the coconut condom tasted like hell.”

“Yes, Ryouhei gagged and Tobi was totally disgusted that we were trying those things,” the coach laughed and they both started laughing loudly. “I chose the chocolate one because it is Yuuto's favorite, he eats it as eagerly as if it were a chocolate coulant.”

Some of the players gagged, Kishibe even had watery eyes. “First they ruin donuts and now chocolate coulant.”

Kidou pinched the bridge of his nose, not helping his irritation when he saw that Gomaki had poured lubricant on his finger and was shoving it into Mizukawa's mouth when she went to laugh at him, the girl thrashing around hitting his arm violently. without him flinching and Makari having to calm her down. Senguuji tensed in his seat when he saw them, even more so when Gomaki wanted to do the same to him and he turned his head in annoyance.

“You act like a five-year-old,” the goalkeeper snorted.

Fudou took out six different small boxes and looked back at the group as he opened the first one. “I imagine that at this point in your life you have all seen a condom, either from your own experience or from the friend who never fails in a group. I'm going to give you six condoms each, Matsukaze and Matatagi, I can give them to you another time when I go to visit Matsukaze in the hospital."

“Great,” Matatagi accepted with a sinister smirk.

“Condoms can be made of latex, polyurethane or lambskin, although the latter are hardly used anymore. Latex ones are generally used except for people with allergies. The condom, as we have already explained, should always be part of sex, as it prevents diseases. I have brought you one of each type of the most common that can be found on the market: a normal condom, a flavored one, a heat-effect condom, one with drawings, one with texture and another that glows in the dark.”

"What?" Kidou snorted dumbfounded. “Why did you buy glow-in-the-dark condoms?”

“Because I found them funny.”

“What's the point of a condom that glows in the dark?”

“Do you really want me to answer that in front of everyone?”

“No, no… better not,” his husband agreed, rubbing his forehead.

But some of them were impatiently waiting for the condoms and Tsurugi looked very mockingly at Ibuki who said, “These glowing ones can be used to make lightsaber wars.”

The blue-haired forward laughed. “It would actually be a bit of an unfair fight if you pitted a saber against a dagger.”

Kita choked on his saliva and slammed his open hand on the table. “My size is more than enough to be a lightsaber too! I’m sure I have it bigger than you!”

“I don't think so,” he replied wickedly.

“Fight, fight,” Amemiya said encouragingly. 

“Yes, but not with lightsabers,” Kirino snorted.
“Be still, Kyousuke,” Hakuryuu advised, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye and he sighed heavily.

Kidou massaged his temples while the others laughed, his husband the most.

Tsunami leaned back in the chair. “What a pity that we didn't find fluorescent ones, it would have been very fun to blow them up at night, like Hiroto did with the colored ones.”

“I remember he hit Ryuugo in the face with one and the poor guy almost had a syncope, Fubuki qlmost killed Hiroto,” Fudou laughed.

Yukimura raised his eyebrows. “Was Coach Fubuki into that too?”

“Of course,” the man said. “Jou, Hiroto and him were the wildest, even more than me.”

“You were just as wild,” his husband growled.

“In revenge for what he did to Ryuugo he put a green tea flavored condom on a cucumber and forced it into Hiroto's mouth.”

“Green tea flavor, that would suit you,” Mizukawa whispered to Makari.

"You think? Although if I'm going to use it then it should have a flavor that my partner likes and not me, what flavor do you think I should get in that case?”

She looked at him mockingly and replied with a purr, “Cherry.”

“And Coach Kidou didn't control you? Or was he just as wild?” Seto asked.

Kidou narrowed his eyebrows in annoyance; but his husband laughed. “He tried. Him and Tobi; But they didn't succeed, there were too many of us against them.”

“Yeah, you can see it…” Tsurugi smiled.

“Well, in any case, before using flavored condoms, make sure you don't have an allergy; no one wants to go to the hospital with a reaction in their mouth.”

At that moment they heard a noise and saw Amemiya take one of the condoms out of his mouth where he was chewing on it.

“But what an animal you are!” Yukimura shouted scandalized.

“You really want to go back to the hospital!” Shindou exclaimed in genuine horror, putting his hand over his mouth.

“I just wanted to know if it tasted like banana or not, since the chocolate lubricant was well made…”

“Man, now you can say you've eaten something weirder than cat food,” Mahoro laughed, covering his mouth with his hand.

“You've tried the lubricant too,” Ibuki pointed out and the red-haired shrugged as if he wanted to pretend to be innocent.

“And it was well done?” Seto asked looking at the condom, Amemiya raised his thumb in approval, the girl wanted to laugh, but she saw Namikawa staring at her, look down at the condom and up again and she choked.

“These condoms are the favorites of…?” Gomaki asked.

“Well, I chose them because I like bananas, but the truth is that as I told you at the beginning, I prefer the natural flavor of…”

“Akio, don't start!”

“Don't be angry, Coach Kidou. At this point we are already cured of fear, we understand that you are sexually active,” Kirino tried to calm down.

“Being sexually active is an understatement,” Hakuryuu muttered. 

“Or is it that your husband doesn't satisfy you? That would explain the sour expression,” Matatagi laughed from the safety of the screen.

The two coaches’ veins on their temples swelled immediately, both of them looking really angry. “Of course my husband satisfies me! I just don't think it's appropriate to talk about how he does it in front of a group of teenagers with the self-control of animals in heat.”

Hakuryuu tensed slightly in his chair and Tsurugi looked at him out of the corner of his eye, resting his hand gently on his thigh. He opened his eyes and looked at him with a dismayed expression.

“Did you have self-control at their age, Yuuto? Because I remind you that…”

“No, don't remind me of anything.”

“I'd say even more,” Tsunami said, rubbing his head. “Do you have any self-control now?”

The group laughed loudly again as the adult looked at Tsunami as if he wanted to kill him.

“I think before the talk is over Coach Kidou is going to kill Tsunami,” Kishibe whispered to Yukimura who responded with an assertive growl.

Gomaki leaned over Senguuji. “Do you want us to find out if the banana flavor is done right, Yamato?”

"No, thanks. Right now when naming bananas I can only think of Hakuryuu sucking on the banana that Tsurugi was holding the other day.”

“I don't think Yamato has taken the hint, champion,” Mizukawa said, patting his friend on the back, who blushed and put his hand on the girl's face, who growled like a little animal.

Fudou took out another cardboard box that they couldn't see what it contained. “I'm not going to ask if any of you have ever put on a condom because that should be privat, but to make sure that you all know how to put one on properly on the day you need it and don't create an awkward moment during sex, I'm going to teach you how to do it properly. To do this, make groups of four…”

The coach began to pass through the free space in front of the tables, leaving a wooden penis and condoms in front of each group.

Kariya let out a high-pitched squawk at the sight of the veined phallus, and the others looked at him mockingly. 

“I'm sorry I only brought five, I couldn't fit more.”

“Where couldn’t you?” Minamisawa laughed.

The adult looked at him seriously. “Thank you very much for volunteering to do a demonstration of how to put on a condom.”

“I don't think it's necessary…”

“I insist, come out in front of everyone.”

“That's what you get for not knowing when to shut up,” Kurosaki laughed as he walked past him.
“What a shame not to be there,” Matatagi mocked from the screen.

Fudou took the penis from Kageyama's group and put it in the hands of Minamisawa who seemed torn between wanting to die and wanting to faint. 

Kita leaned against Ibuki and said maliciously. “Karma is a bitch.”

“Like him, oh so much I am going to laugh,” the goalkeeper agreed, taking out his cell phone. Kidou went to say something but his husband stopped him.

“Well, putting on a condom is not difficult but it can be complicated the first few times, especially because of the nerves of wanting to make the moment as special as possible. The first thing to check is that it is not expired, you should never use expired condoms. Afterwards you must open it, I know it seems very erotic to open it with your teeth but be careful, a bite can pierce the condom and although in anal sex with a stable partner it should not be a big problem, if it is for vaginal sex you may find yourself with an unwanted accident.”

“Yes, a baby,” Matatagi laughed.

“Once opened you must make sure where the tip is, it must be facing up from the penis. Also the edges should be rolled outwards. Many condom brands indicate which side the base is on to make it easier. The only problem with failing at this will be that you will have to use another one, never use a condom that you have already unrolled as it will not fit properly. Once placed on the tip of the penis, making sure that there is no air left as it can break the condom, you must unroll it. But leaving space at the tip so that the semen can come out when you or your partner ejaculate.”

The man grabbed a condom, opened it and put it on the penis that Minamisawa was holding with great ease, repeating the steps.

“See?” The man pointed to the upper part that had remained like a teat.

“It looks like a cow's udder,” Yukimura murmured and Amemiya laughed boisterously.

“Now you try, Minamisawa. I will hold your wooden penis.”

“Can you not say that, Coach Fudou?” he growled, his face so red that it could barely be distinguished from his hair.

The boy tried to put the condom on, but he had a hard time even opening it.

“This is common as you can see,” the adult said with a naughty smirk. “Even something that seems as simple as opening a condom can cause problems due to nerves.”

The midfielder had an embarrassing time until he managed to put the condom on correctly, something that took three attempts. Unfortunately for him, his teammates were not going to let him forget something like that, and neither would Kurama, who got the video and began to choke on a Bubble Tea that he was drinking with Hamano and Hayami.

“Okay, now you guys try, I gave ten condoms for each group in case you need a few. You see it's not that complicated, it just requires a little attention.”

“At least we know that Minamisawa has never used a condom,” Makari mocked, making the other look at him indignantly.

Mizukawa smiled truly mean. “Who would want to use it with a crybaby who spends his nights complaining that he doesn't have power or a cell phone signal?”

They both shook hands and Kirino laughed openly, everyone in their cabin was fed up with the boy's continuous complaints about absolutely everything.

“Coach Fudou,” Kageyama called innocently. “How can we know what the correct condom size is?”

Fudou crossed his arms. “Well, actually the condom stretches a lot, look.” The man grabbed the condom that he had just removed from the wooden penis and put his entire arm inside it.

"Wild!" Namikawa exclaimed perplexed. “Then why are so many people complaining about not wanting to use them?”

“Because of an incorrect belief and selfishness, that is why if you are going to have casual sex with someone instead of having a stable relationship with someone you know is safe, you should always always always use a condom no matter what the other person says. It is better to go to bed horny than to end up with an STD for life.” 

“So there are no sizes?” Kirino asked. “The condom they gave us at our school seemed very small for me… but…”

“No, there are sizes. And it is important to know which one to use because even though the condom stretches, a large size can cause it to come off, and believe me, you don't want to spend the romantic evening fishing for the condom from inside your partner…”

Tsunami started laughing hard, so much so that it seemed like he was having a fit. “Indeed, like what happened to Hiroto with your cousin.”

“Yeah, Shinobu still makes fun of him. On the other hand, a small condom can cause discomfort and be tight, preventing you from maintaining an erection. To know your size you must see both the length and width of your penis, although it is the width that determines the size the most. A short but wide penis requires a larger size. You can see the sizes in tables that appear on the back of each box of condoms, since each brand has its own.” Kageyama nodded and Fudou smiled. “Go ahead, try to put a condom on the penises. And if someone wants condoms to try with their own later, tell me or take them freely from the box.”

“Is it true that people can put a condom on with their mouth, Coach Fudou?” Tsurugi asked.

Amemiya suddenly shuddered with laughter and muttered under his breath, “What kind of dirty things do you want to do to the Captain?”

Yukimura rubbed his eyes in exhaustion, Hakuryuu's cheeks rose in color, and Tsurugi looked at his friend with half-drooping eyes. “Do not ask what you are not prepared to know.”

“It is true, but I do not recommend you to do it,” he said. “It would be much easier to damage it.”

“And you can swallow it,” Tsunami added. “I almost swallowed the condom when I tried to put it on Yuuki with my mouth once.”

Kidou opened his mouth and let out a grunt before pinching the bridge of his nose again while the boys laughed and exclaimed trying to put condoms on the wooden penises while Matatagi and Matsukaze talked with Tsunami since they couldn't do anything else at that moment .

“How's your leg, Tenma?” the man asked kindly.

“Good, it hurts a lot less than I expected and I've already started rehabilitation.”

In the group of Kageyama, Kariya, Kirino and Shindou, the only one who seemed calm was Kageyama. Kirino cleared his throat and took the first condom with red ears.

“Do you want me to do it?” the striker offered kindly. “As I have experience.”

Kariya jumped in his chair and almost slipped away. "What!? Have you… have you….!?” His friend looked at him, raising an eyebrow without understanding him. “Have you done that?”

"Done what?" Kageyama asked even more confused.

"Se…se…"

“Sex, Kageyama,” Kirino huffed impatiently and at his side Shindou shrank a little in his chair, wanting the floor to swallow him. “Kariya wants to know if you have had sex.”

"Me? No, not at all." The boy waved his hand. “But in the class they gave at Teikoku they already made us put condoms like this, so I know how to do it.”

“Ah… yeah… sure, sure,” Kariya said with a whistle, unable to help but look relieved. “Yes, it is logical yes, besides, who would be so stupid to want to date and do it with you?”

Kageyama looked hurt at his friend, pursing his lips in a sad pout and Kirino looked completely exasperated at the other defender, indeed, how could one be so stupid? Shindou even stretched out in his chair, looking at Kariya, perplexed, but then he thought that he had said something much worse to the person he loved and shrank back again, trying to hide an uncomfortable clearing of his throat.

Kirino, after punching Kariya, looked at Kageyama. "Don't pay attention to him, Kageyama, you're a great boy, and if we come to the point, the stupidest one here is Kariya himself."

He nodded trying to smile although he still looked sad and Kirino took one of the condoms to put it on. Kariya, realizing that he had hurt his friend, didn't even have the strength to tease Kirino.
Kirino only needed one try, and after him Kageyama did it with the same ease as if he had had years of practice. Shindou, on the other hand, needed two condoms after the first one was ruined when he felt the vice-captain's light blue eyes on him. But no one did worse than Kariya, who Fudou himself had to threaten to make him pay for the seven condoms he had misused.

Ibuki, Kita, Mahoro and Seto looked at each other.

“Who starts?” Seto asked curiously. “Do you want to start, Mahoro? You are the oldest of all of us.”

“I don’t, we can let it be Ibuki, who surely has more experience.”

Ibuki blushed and cleared his throat. “I think it's best we let Seto start, ladies first say.”

“Are you now the gentleman?,” Kita growled, narrowing his eyes and looking at his boyfriend suspiciously.

“Then I'll start,” Seto said, rolling up her tracksuit jacket and wetting her lips with her tongue, taking one of the condoms with great concentration. 

Until she noticed Namikawa staring at her from across the tables and failed miserably to open the condom. And then she failed even more miserably trying to put it on. She was on her third try when Kita got impatient and took the wooden penis. “Quit, clumsy, I'll do it.”

The boy put on the condom with absolute ease and Mahoro and Seto exchanged a meaningful look, until a cough behind them made the four of them jump.

“Kita, let Seto put the condom on herself, I don't think you want to be present when she has to apply this important knowledge in real life, am I wrong?”

“Ew, I obviously don’t want to.”

Seto took the wooden penis again and smiled amused. “Well, at least if we had to compete to see who can put on the condom the fastest, you would surely win, a lot of practice?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you interested in knowing?”

“No, she's not interested,” Ibuki growled, grabbing Kita who had gotten up and sitting him on top of his lap.

After Seto managed to put on the condom, Mahoro followed, who after a small initial technical difficulty achieved his goal.

“Nice, at least you won't disappoint my cousin with your condom-putting skills.”

Mahoro gritted his teeth, ignoring Kita, it was Ibuki's turn, he put it on without problem but not as fast and easy as Kita.

“I think we know who is in charge of putting the condoms on,” Seto whispered to Mahoro and they both burst out laughing.

In the third group, Mizukawa claimed her right to be the first to put on the condom by slapping Gomaki when he tried to get hold of the penis, under Senguuji's rude gaze.

“You can't do that, I'm the Queen.”

“You will be the Queen but I am a Minotaur and I am not afraid of monarchies.”

Makari raised his eyebrows. “A Minotaur?”

She blushed and cleared her throat with an acute cough. “That's what they called me in Middle School.”

“They keep calling you that in High School,” Senguuji observed.

“Thank you for adding more salt to that wound, Yamato!”

“Why do they call you that?” Makari asked again. “It doesn't fit you at all.”

“That's because she has a cow face,” Gomaki laughed and Mizukawa gritted her teeth and hit him with the wooden penis.

Then she looked more timidly at Makari and withdrew her gaze. “Because I am a danger to everyone and I am better off locked up.”

“Nonsense,” he muttered back. “I don't think so, to me you look more like a nymph.”

“Wouldn't it be more correct to say an Amazon?” Senguuji asked.

“No, a nymph is more fitting, their power is not born from hatred of men but from an unstoppable force of nature.”

“Pft, Makari must think he's such a gallant,” Gomaki laughed, although he narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the other defender, remaining thoughtful.

“At least he didn't call her a cow,” Senguuji pointed out, raising an eyebrow, his jawline quite tense.

Fudou walked behind them and caught their attention, so they returned to the activity of putting on the condoms.
Mizukawa put the condom on first without any difficulty despite it being the first time she had touched one, earning the teasing of Gomaki and Senguuji whom she kicked under the table. The white-haired took the wooden penis as soon as she finished. “It seems like you have a good hand, have you put on many?”

“Every night I put on four or five, don’t I, Makari?” she replied sarcastically.
“With both hands,” he continued with an amused wink.
The girl looked mockingly at her friend. “Do you want me to put it on you too, Tetsurou?”

“Get away, get away from my penis, you savage.”

Senguuji crossed his arms with white lips, waiting for his turn; When it was, Gomaki looked at him with great interest. “If it makes you feel better, you can imagine putting it on me.”

The goalkeeper got so nervous about this that he pierced the condom with the wooden penis, the other three started laughing.

“Well, I think that would have hurt you quite a bit,” Makari observed with a gesture of empathy.
Mizukawa was laughing too hard, her face red with laughter, her cheeks continued to blush when Makari took the penis and she couldn't help but clench her fists on her thighs watching him put the condom on with great naturalness. He caught her green eyes on him and smiled kindly, though his mouth was covered by his scarf.

The group of Namikawa, Kurosaki, Minamisawa and Kishibe had many difficulties in the activity. Starting with the fact that only the forward seemed willing to start.

“I've already gone out and done it in front of everyone, so I don't see why I should do it again,” Minamisawa snorted.

“Now, now, stop complaining, we've already seen your magnificent demonstration, none of us feel like seeing you put on condoms,” Kurosaki said boredly.

“Namikawa what are you doing with the condom?” Kishibe asked, drawing the attention of the other two who then realized that the boy had managed to break him in two by being distracted by a movement of Seto's hair.

“But what an animal you are!” Kurosaki scolded. “You must put it down gently.”

“Tsk,” Namikawa growled blushing. “I know how to do it.”

But three tries later it was clear that he didn't know and that condom that fell into his hands condom that he somehow exploded.

“You're hopeless, Fish Head.” Kurosaki rubbed his forehead, shaking his head.
When the boy finally managed to find a way not to break it, it was Kishibe's turn who, getting nervous, hit the penis that shot out, hitting Amemiya.

“Hey!” he complained. “Don't hit me with your penis.”

“That sounds horrible,” Kishibe whimpered, retrieving the wooden object to the laughter of everyone else.

“Don't worry, I'm sure Nozaki will gladly help you when the time comes,” Tsurugi smiled and he stifled an even louder moan.

Minamisawa seemed confident that he would never have to put on a condom again, until Fudou forced him to do it again and his three friends laughed at him when he put the condom on backwards again. Kurosaki had no problem putting on the condom and knew from the others' sly smiles that that in itself was a problem.

“My, my, look at the expert,” Minamisawa crooned with a vengeance.
Namikawa went to open his mouth; but he closed it when he noticed Kurosaki's pleading expression, so he simply patted him on the back proudly. “Well done, well done.”

In the last group neither Hakuryuu nor Tsurugi had difficulty with the activity because, like Kageyama, they had previously practiced in Teikoku. So they were able to enjoy the disaster that Amemiya and Yukimura were causing due to their nerves and clear inexperience. Before he could realize how he had achieved it, Amemiya, trying to help Yukimura, put the condom on his hand as if it were a mitten and he yelled at him angrily and very embarrassed, shaking his hand. 

“I wish I had recorded that,” Tsurugi muttered, chuckling meanly.

“Yukimura, calm down, it's just a condom, you're not going to lose your hand,” Hakuryuu wanted to calm down.
“Look on the bright side, so if you masturbate you won't get your hand dirty,” Amemiya said with a beaming smile.

“That's not a good side, animal! How did you even roll the condom the wrong way?!” The ice striker screamed at the other one. Once Yukimura removed the condom, he threw it to Amemiya’s face out of anger, who was rubbing his head without knowing what to respond and was hit by it and blushed even more.

“Don't start fighting,” the captain warned in a deep voice.

“Shh, Haku, leave them fight,” Tsurugi asked amused; but Hakuryuu did not pay attention and made them both sit down again and finally Yukimura was able to put the condom on correctly and free himself from that torture.

“I never want to put a condom in my life again,” he growled, covering his face with his hands.

“Well that's not right, Yuki,” Amemiya purred. “You've heard that sex without a condom is dangerous.”

“It's more dangerous to end up with a condom as a diving suit,” he responded, rolling his eyes.

Hakuryuu and Tsurugi looked at each other at the same time, raising an eyebrow, both believing that Yukimura was going to reply embarrassedly and rudely to Amemiya instead of continuing the joke. They allowed themselves a relaxed smile and watched as the midfielder tried to put on the condom only for it to shoot out like a projectile and hit Kidou in the head, who turned around with the same homicidal expression he had glared at Tsunami before.

“Great,” Fudou praised once all the groups finished, relatively even. “Even if it was difficult today, in the end it takes practice. So don't worry, it’ll get easier. Well, the last thing I want to talk to you about is sex toys, more because I know of people who have done atrocious things with them-” His eyes paused for a moment on Tsunami “- than because they are necessary as such.”

“I felt attacked by that,” the adult growled.

"Oh really?" his friend asked, pretending to be surprised. “Why would that be?” He rolled his eyes and took out one last box, distributing the toys among the five groups.

“Oh my goodness,” Namikawa said, taking a dildo with wide eyes. “Does this really fit inside an ass?”

“You are such a brute,” Kurosaki chided.

Fudou nodded without worry. “Of course it fits, Yuuto has it bigger than that and it fits perfectly.”

“Maybe he wasn't lying that he was the one who had the biggest one,” Senguuji murmured next to Namikawa, staring at the object with wide eyes. 

“Actually the anus can dilate up to 15 centimeters, the only thing you need is to be patient and do a good preparation with massage and enough lubricant,” Kidou said, rubbing his temples and ignoring everyone's gaze on him after the last comment of his husband. 

“Do you know something that goes hand in hand with that?” Matatagi commented from the screen, as he had been bored for a while due to not being able to participate. “Raccoons can fit into 15cm holes!”

“Matatagi!” Matsukaze shouted with a groan of shame and horror.

“Do with that information what you want,” the boy laughed, amused as he saw how everyone exclaimed at his comment.

“Never, I repeat never, put anything alive into your ass,” Kidou growled, tensing up. “God, we wouldn't even have to say something like that. Why are people so stupid? If you are going to use something external, only use sex toys that are properly sterilized and approved, you can get an infection or get injured by putting in what you should not put in.”

“Okay, I brought five types of sex toys for you to see. A dildo, a vibrator, an anal plug with lights that was fashionable years ago, anal beads-” His eyes stopped again on Tsunami who cleared his throat “-and a cock ring.”

Amemiya took the anal beads with his face much redder than it should have been. 

Minamisawa looked at the dildo in Namikawa's hands with disgust. “These items are not yours, are they?”

The striker quickly left it on the table. The coach raised his eyebrows and snorted. “I bought them new for you to see, I wouldn't bring something that I put into my ass for you to touch. In fact, my only intention in bringing them is to be sure that you always clean and sterilize the toys that you are going to use and teach you how to use them safely so no one takes out the anal beads as if they wanted to spin a Beyblade.”

“Hey!” Tsunami cried.

But before he could say anything else there was a scream and everyone turned towards the right end of the table where Amemiya, who had the anal beads in his hands, had been turning redder and redder with his vision out of focus until causing a burst of light.

“What the hell?” Kidou growled.

When the light disappeared they realized that where Amemiya had been sitting there was an orange lion, thick mane and green eyes, who fell back in the chair inelegantly with a dull thud.

“Oh,” the two coaches murmured in shock, and the only thing besides them that could be heard were the anal beads falling to the floor as they slid off the table.

“Amemiya has released his Soul by thinking something dirty, how appropriate,” Gomaki laughed immediately.

Everyone wanted to laugh at that comment, but they couldn't because Amemiya roared, breaking the chair with a blow and hitting a few times, unable to control his Soul. His eyes went to Yukimura who felt a jolt of panic running through his body, because at that moment his friend was a beast.

Amemiya pounced on the boy who was paralyzed by surprise and was saved by Tsurugi who jumped in front of him, transforming into Ookami, making Amemiya retreat, who roared again.

The Lion looked around and when he spotted the door he ran towards it.

“Don't let him get away! He can’t be seen by the ryokan customers!” Fudou shouted, leaving after him without thinking, jumping over the tables where Mizukawa and Gomaki were sitting to go in pursuit of his player.

Yukimura, after a millisecond of hesitation, reacted by leaving after the coach and that made everyone else move too. 

They separated into small groups to better cover the entire perimeter of the huge place, before a disaster occurred and the Lion attacked someone innocent while fleeing. Yukimura and Hakuryuu decided to go together to look for their friend, searching the outside of the establishment without being able to find a trace of the boy anywhere no matter how much they called for him. 

“He's probably already returned to his human form,” Hakuryuu commented uneasily. “Kyousuke when he transforms into Ookami can't last more than ten minutes.”
“Yes, let's go back now, that idiot will be with the coach right now laughing about what happened,” Yukimura replied with a dull face.

They were walking through the garden back to the ryokan when an orange shadow fell on Yukimura, knocking him to the ground without any of them being able to react in time. 

The striker watched in horror as the lion licked his lips with enormous, round pupils, and he let out an exclamation. “Amemiya! Get off me, animal!”

Hakuryuu was startled, reacting unconsciously, stopping in the middle of invoking his Kenshin when he realized that if he took out Shining Dragon in the middle of the garden he was going to destroy everything in his path and only cause problems for his family. He dissipated the energy thinking of a way to stop Amemiya without hurting them or breaking anything.

The Soul roared fiercely in his face and Yukimura believed that it was going to really attack him, feeling an unprecedented sensation of danger and adrenaline that made him release a flash of light before the captain could block the Lion.

Under Amemiya a huge Snow Panther appeared and struck the Lion with its paw, making it retreat again. Yukimura snorted with all his fur standing up, giving him the appearance of a gigantic ball of fur.

“Akio! Yuuto!” Hakuryuu shouted, hoping someone could hear him, ready to jump on his friends if necessary.

However, Amemiya, upon seeing Yukimura converted into his Soul, opened his eyes wide and crouched on the ground with a hoarse and submissive moan, recovering the light in his gaze that showed that he was finally in control of his animal body. Yukimura gasped next to him, shaking his long furry tail, before lying down next to him.

When the rest of the team arrived along with the coaches who had been alerted by the captain's call, both had returned to their human forms and seemed quite embarrassed by what had happened, especially Amemiya who sobbed from time to time hugging Hakuryuu.

“I-I'm sorry,” he said crestfallen. “I don't know what happened to me… I couldn't control my body…” 

Kariya let out a mean laugh from the protection of the group. “He doesn't know what happened, he says, what happened is that he got overly excited at the thought of putting the anal beads in…”

Kishibe, who was next to Kariya, hit him and put the index finger to his lips to silence him with a grimace of irritation. Behind them Gomaki had to bite the inside of his cheeks to avoid laughing at both the comment of one and the reaction of the other.

“It's okay, don't worry,” Fudou soothed, stroking the boy’s head. “Nothing happened.”

“It's not true,” Amemiya hiccupped with tears in his eyes, still hugging the captain. “I almost attacked Yuki… I couldn't control myself, if I had hurt him…”

“You haven't hurt me and you wouldn't have hurt me, before that I would have frozen you with a hissatsu,” the striker cut off sharply, at his side Makari looked with concern at the boy who was clenching his fists. “So stop feeling guilty, you've just been an idiot like you always are; You better learn to master your Soul instead of wasting time crying about what hasn't happened."

“Yuki…” Amemiya separated from Hakuryuu and hugged him.

Yukimura huffed uncomfortably, more out of embarrassment at having him hugged in front of the entire team than out of annoyance, until he resigned himself and accepted the hug, patting him on the head. “Now, now… don't worry, it's over.”

“Yuki…” he sobbed again, hugging him tightly.

“I'm glad it was just a scare,” Kageyama said with a sigh. “I guess controlling a Soul is not that easy and sometimes instincts win over us.”

Kidou nodded and after looking at his husband he said in an authoritative voice. “We'll leave the ryokan now, I want you to be ready to come back in ten minutes.”

Fudou rubbed his chin thinking about the animal instinct of the Souls and did not miss that Tsurugi and Ibuki were exchanging a few whispers.