Vs Chizuru

Madoka took a deep breath to calm her nerves and made the first move. She dribbled on her right foot, keeping the ball on the outside as she tried to maneuver around Chizuru and prevent a tackle from the shorter girl.

But then out of nowhere, Chizuru just smashed into her shoulder with her own shoulder in a clash and Madoka was displaced almost instantly, losing control of the ball as the captain swooped it up.

"Good effort, Ishikawa. Again."

"A-ah, yes!"

Round two.

Okay, so attacking her directly like that didn't work, Chizuru was much stronger than Madoka gave her credit for. Then she could maybe try to beat her in a foot race?

She kicked the ball forward and raced for it, accelerating as fast as she could and Madoka actually earned a bit of grass over Chizuru who was behind her, she could clear this!

"Not bad..."

But then Chizuru cut in aggressively, using her body as a walking screen that blocked Madoka's direct path to claim the ball, leaving the redhead to lose the second round. As the white haired captain returned the ball back while Madoka was hard in thought...

Or for a lack of a better word: internally panicking.

Chizuru was good. Well, she expected Chizuru to be good because she was the captain after all...but Madoka wasn't having a good showing! What if Chizuru saw her performance and decided that she wasn't good enough?

What if-

"Ishikawa."

"Y-yes?" Madoka squeaked out like some sort of...toy mouse; she cringed internally.

"Do your best." Chizuru said. "Don't overthink it."

Somehow, those simple words flooded Madoka with courage. That was right...this was her chance to play after all, she had to...be brave! Taking in a breath, she made her next attack.

Chizuru was strong, but it could also be that Madoka was not prepared before. Considering Chizuru being about a few centimeters shorter than Madoka, what if Madoka can just grind her down-

The captain of the Blossoms immediately proved why that was a bad idea as Madoka fell flat on the grass and groaned.

"I mean I told you not to overthink it, but I didn't say to...not think at all, Ishikawa." Chizuru crouched down next to Madoka, poking her hair buns with her fingers. "You have a very apparent strength, think about it...and then use it."

"My apparent strength...?" Madoka sniffled, looking up all teary "W-what is it?"

But Chizuru just stood up and rubbed her lower back.

"Think about it yourself."

Madoka lay on the grass...what did she have right now? She had no physicality, that was out of the question...she had speed over Chizuru, which was a thing, but it alone was not enough to overcome Chizuru's technique.

So it had to be speed plus something else...But what then? Dribbling? Madoka never considered herself to be a fantastic dribbler, but maybe she could try.

"Senpai, again please!"

"Mm, alrighty then."

Chizuru stood up again and lowered her stance just a little bit.

Right, think Madoka, think.

'Senpai is currently lowered and balanced, meaning it will be hard to make her lose balance in her turn...let's try a body feint then!'

Madoka dropped her left shoulder. And exploded to the other side!

But Chizuru just tackled it away.

"Not a bad idea, trying to create more space so you can create a gap using your speed, huh?"

The white-haired senior even looked close to amuse...but Madoka was obviously not as happy.

"What was wrong with that one?"

"You can't lie with your body to save your life, Ishikawa. When you do a body feint, you need both your hips to commit to the movement as well. But just dropping your shoulder doesn't mean I'll bite."

"Oh."

Just that simple word. Right, Madoka had forgotten all about it despite every video she had ever watched told her the same thing, but it was so much harder to do against another person.

Alright, it was her last chance to at least get something in.

"Chizuru-senpai..."

"Mm?"

"Please...don't hold anything back."

Chizuru didn't move from her position. "I don't plan to."

Madoka hit the ball to her right again, dropping her shoulder in that direction but Chizuru did not bite the bait. Rightfully so, as it was a feint!

The first year girl took a step over the ball and sliced it to the left - a cross elastico, and this was where Chizuru made her move. But Madoka shielded the ball well with her back and shoulders, and despite being hounded by Chizuru grinding up against her, she didn't lose possession of the ball!

And it seemed like the captain realized this too, so she began to play shepherd by angling Madoka away from the goal while blocking a potential turn from the girl.

"...Come on...!"

With one 'war cry' to herself, Madoka hit the ball forward a bit into space and ran her hardest into it - it wasn't meant to be an attack, it was at a location that allowed her to establish her base for shooting!

[Speed x Ball Control x Left Foot]

Madoka swung her foot back...and release it as hard as she could, aimed right into the far post.

THUNK

CLANG

But Chizuru somehow got her leg in the way in time, barely deflecting the shot right into the crossbar and up into the air.

Madoka Ishikawa was FLOORED because...despite all of that, Chizuru somehow managed to defend a seemingly 'perfect' attack?

"S-senpai, how did you...I thought I had beaten you!"

"Trade secret, girl. Ugh...change of plans, no more attacking rounds for me, my old back is complaining." Chizuru waved it off like defending things like that was just a regular Tuesday for her "Oh yeah, and Ishikawa?"

"Y-yes?"

Chizuru let out a grin "Excellent effort. Now sit down with me for a bit, my bones are killing me."

They sat down on the makeshift bench nearby with Madoka trying to make herself as tiny as possible compared to Chizuru who looked close to just flopping over.

"U-Um...so...Chizuru-senpai...will I be kicked off the team?"

"What? No, why would I do that. Let me tell you something...recruiting is already hard enough."

Oh.

Madoka fidgeted with her fingers.

"I just thought...I might be too bad for the team...and..."

"You're not." Chizuru said bluntly like it was the most obvious thing in the world "Obviously, you're not perfect, but I don't really care about that. As a whole, you have good ball control, you are decently quick on your foot, though I am also just slow. You are a skilled guitarist who has only played alone."

Madoka looked at her. "But...I don't play guitar..."

"It's a metaphor. It means by yourself, you are actually not bad, so don't beat yourself over it. But when there is another person facing you, or maybe even playing with you in a real game, you clamp up a lot."

Madoka paused. That made a lot of sense...she had hardly ever played with someone, other than her dad who mostly indulged her, for a long period of time after all.

"You also have...hmm...actually, I'll let you figure that out by yourself." Chizuru sighed "It's too early for me to say after all."

"E-eh? What is it? Senpai, I want to know!"

"Nope, class is over, go home for the day, Ishikawa." Chizuru waved her off before remembering something. "Oh yeah, give me your LINE as well, I will add you into the team's group chat."

However, Madoka...stood up straight and refused with a dramatic bow.

"No! I mean...I would love to, but...I don't think it's right yet. I want to meet at least the other team members first before I get added into the team's group chat."

...

"You do know that you will be added in either way, right?"

"Yes, but...I...I want to get to know everyone first before I can call myself part of the group."

Chizuru scratched her head, utterly confused. But honestly, this girl was too interesting for her to not crack a cat-like grin.

"Whatever you say, then come back tomorrow, we should have more people around tomorrow for practice. Alright, go home, Ishikawa, see yourself out."

Madoka gave Chizuru another 3 reverent bow before running off. She ran from the field, back to the school grounds, to the main gate where she hurriedly fumble with the locks on her bike and cycled home. She cycled like she was on fire, like she had never felt better.

"Oh my goshhhhhh, I got to play football!!!!"

She got to play football!

She got to play football!

SHE. KICKED. A. BALL. WITH. HER. NEW. CLUB. CAPTAIN.

The journey home was a blur, Madoka hardly registered anything on the road passing her by until her home was in sight again. She shoved her bike into the shed and Pan-chan barked to welcome her home.

And Madoka could not help it but dive in and hugged her dog, peppering him with kisses that might get her scolded from her mom.

"Pan-chan! Mwaahhh! I'm so happyyyy! There really was a football team here, I finally get to play...with a team!!"

Obviously, Pan-chan could not understand what his owner was talking about, but her happiness was contagious as he began to cheer as well in his little 'yip yip' and face licks.

She was so getting scolded by her mom later, but right now, Madoka did not care.

~~~~

Chizuru laid down on the bench, slowly dozing off in the cool breeze of the April wind. But before she sank into dreamland, the captain of Hanamura Blossoms opened up her LINE and pressed on a contact with the name <3.

====

Chi-Neko: Are you down with student council stuff yet?

<3: Almost, we can go home together

<3: Did you find any first year worth recruiting today?

Chi-Neko: Yep, a real go-getter. Has a lot of potential, sometimes shaky but it's fine.

(There were . . . bubbling on screen)

<3: That's good. I also got one on my side, but she would probably need a week to join us

Chi-Neko: All good. I'm getting sleepy at the usual place. Come pick me up when you finish with stuff

<3: Alright, rest well. Love you.

====

Chizuru switched off her phone, and closed her eyes.

'Madoka Ishikawa, huh?'