First Of The Blossoms

It took Madoka less than 5 minutes to run to the big building that was introduced as the 'Sport Clubs' Building' during orientation. It looked less like a building and more like a small two story apartment building made almost entirely of concrete with rickety metal stairs.

It looked just as charmingly mundane as the rest of Hanamura High School.

Madoka began looking around, counting the names of the clubs listed on the building's side...

Basketball.

Volleyball.

Badminton

Baseball.

Madoka paused at this - because looking around, she saw no baseball field in sight, although she did know that Hanamura had a baseball field.

Table Tennis.

Track & Field.

Karate.

Madoka stopped. And she counted again.

Basketball.

Volleyball.

Badminton

Baseball.

Table Tennis.

Track & Field.

Karate.

And she stopped with one burning question...

'Where is football??'

She wondered if she had miscounted, or worse yet, if she had misremembered and Hanamura High School has never had a football team to begin with.

'What to do...what to do what to do...WHAT TO DO-'

"Umm...excuse me...do you need any help?"

Someone called out to her, probably because he noticed how distraught Madoka looked. She looked up, quickly wiping away her teary eyes and nodded.

"Y-yeah." She cringed at how wobbly it sounded "Um...sorry but...do you know if...Hanamura High School has a football club?"

The boy looked quite pensive, his brows furrowing as if he was trying to recall something. Madoka was getting ready to be told 'no' and that she should probably go back home and cry her eyes out at this disappointment and prepare for another 3 years kicking the ball by herself and-

"Oh, yeah. There is one! They're... ah, what's their name again? Hanamura Blossoms, I think. Their clubroom and field is over there." He pointed in the general direction behind her.

Madoka's eyes instantly lit up like firework.

"Their place is out of the way though so-"

Madoka was already running off, her backpack in hand.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!"

And off she went, Madoka disappeared in a storm of dust. She ran as fast as she could, leaving the firm, sandy grounds behind as she followed a well-worn dirt path between the trees.

She ducked beneath a few overhanging branches. When the thicket finally cleared, a field appeared before her...an actual football field!

It was a quaint little thing; It was green, though not because the team had money for immaculate turf. Grass simply grew here. White lines marked out the boundaries, faded in places from years of use. At either end stood two goalposts, both missing their nets.

It was worse than the fields she had played on.

It was worse than the youth clubs she used to practice with before she had to inevitably move.

It was...

"Perfect..."

Madoka could not stop herself from uttering out a word of reverence.

Nearby stood, for lack of a better word, a shack. A renovated shack, but a shack nonetheless. On its door, there was a little sign written in bold kanji.

[Hanamura Blossoms]

This was it...this was really the place!

But before Madoka could jump around in glee, a voice came from behind her.

"Can I help you?"

Madoka Ishikawa froze, her heart jumped so hard it nearly climbed into her throat. Behind her...was another girl...

"...well...?"

She narrowed her gray eyes like a cat.

"I..umm..." Think Madoka, say something! "...Hanamura Blossoms?"

The girl paused. She motioned to the sign.

"You saw it right there."

Right, stupid question.

Madoka took in a deep breath.

"Sorry, that was not what I meant. I wanted to ask if...if I could join Hanamura Blossoms."

She paused and looked at Madoka with an expression that came close to shock - at least as close as someone who looked so tired and sleepy could.

The girl ran a hand through her pale white hair, letting out a hum as she did.

"Are you sure you are right in the head?"

"H-huh?"

She waved her hands. "Sorry, that came out super wrong. I mean...look at us, we don't do well competitively, we barely have a clubroom, the field is all messed up, if you want to see the inside of the clubroom, I can show you."

However, Madoka resiliently shook her head despite the deterrence.

"No, I want to join...please. I just...really want to play football."

She dropped her head, bowing earnestly to the shorter girl. But the moment Madoka lowered her head, the girl hurriedly spoke up.

"Alright alright, pick up your head. I just...want to make sure you know what you are walking into." she said "...well, you seem to be the right kind of eager at least. I guess you can join."

Madoka's head snapped up like a whip.

"H-huh? Just like that?"

The other girl drawled lazily "Just like that. Congrats on being a...probably temporary member of Hanamura Blossoms. I'm Chizuru Watanabe, but just call me Chizuru. Third year, Captain of Hanamura Blossoms."

Pause.

Loooong silence.

"C-Captain?!" Madoka screeched.

"Don't fuss about it, just call me Chizuru..." Chizuru replied, and Madoka suddenly realized Chizuru's menacing cold and calm aura had squished down into something akin to a blob-shaped human with her hands in her pockets. "I'm just an old man with a bad back."

"Oh."

Silence.

"...so...umm...Watana- I mean, Chizuru-san...where is the rest of the team?"

Chizuru waved her hand dismissively.

"It's first day, everyone is still busy. Let's see...one is busy with student council stuff, one is busy with new students stuff...the other first years are in...recruitment process." she counted people, raising one finger at a time "Give it a week, they will be all here."

"Oh..." Madoka said, sounding more dejected than she should have "...I thought I would get to play today."

The white haired captain looked at Madoka and was instantly reminded of her three siblings at home sulking when they did not get to eat candies for lunch.

And she sighed.

"Alright, let this old man indulge you...uhhh...sorry, I forgot to ask for your name."

"My name is Madoka Ishikawa!"

"Mm, alright, Ishikawa then. Have you ever played 1v1 before?"

Madoka nodded eagerly "Yes!"

"Then we'll play 1v1, we will each be defending 5 times and attacking 5 times. Get down on the field and warm up first....I'll get the ball."

She could not have nodded faster. Madoka ran down onto the grassy field, and began doing her stretches, warming up with little runs and even doing extra motions she would usually skip just to make sure that IF Chizuru was looking, she could impress her new captain.

"Ishikawa, warm up with me, gotta work in my old man bones or else I might pull something."

Chizuru's drawling voice and sleepy face entered her vision again as she placed a worn leather ball that had seen better days down. Chizuru hit her a pass, and Madoka received it, remembering to 'open up her body' and 'controlling the ball' before sending it back.

"So, how long have you been playing football for? You are a first year, right?"

Madoka looked up at Chizuru who returned the pass back and forth.

"Um...since I was 8...so 7 years...but umm...mostly by myself, I train alone a lot of the times. My family moves a lot." she stopped for a bit "Would that be a problem?"

"Nope, easier having someone who is willing than a talented wonderkid who won't bother coming to practice. Oh, I'm a third year by the way, so 17." Chizuru said, she seemed to be really easy going. "What role do you play?"

Madoka accidentally hit the pass a little hard, but Chizuru received just fine without needing to take her hands out of her jacket.

"Umm...striker, I think. But I don't know yet, it's just...I want to find out, but I think striker."

Chizuru let out a hum. Madoka had no clue if that was a good or a bad thing. Eventually, the back and forth stopped and Chizuru quietly led her over to the 18 yard box and placed the ball at the edge of it.

"Alright, it's time for 1v1. You will be attacking first, you get 5 attacks...if you get pass me cleanly and put the ball in the net, you win. Got it?"

Madoka nodded eagerly - she had been practicing for this day after all!

Chizuru was shorter than Madoka, if only by a little bit, and it was hard to tell how experienced she was so Madoka just had to try her best.

After the captain put a timer on...

The first trial of Madoka Ishikawa officially began!