Vs Shion, Saya, Hina

Chizuru called everyone back into a small circle to brief on the basic rules of the mini scrimmage. Madoka, however, was barely listening properly from how nervous she was at the prospect of potentially embarrassing herself in front of her new teammates.

"Here's the rundown on the rules. 3v3, no keepers so Tokigetsu, you will be playing outfield."

Shion made a sound that Madoka wasn't sure if it meant a compliant 'mm' or a grumbling complaint.

"The teams are me, Tsubaki and Ishikawa and Hina, Yukimura and Tokigetsu are on one team. Since a few of our members need to work on their ball possession, we will play heavy on the pressing. When you lose possession, you have 3 seconds to try and get the ball back."

Everyone nodded, and for some reason, Madoka's eyes met with Saya's as both whipped their heads away.

"For more advanced players...like you, Tokigetsu. And Tsubaki as well. You will also be pressing based on triggers rather than purely running at the ball. Are we clear?"

There was a murmur of variations of replies that all meant 'yes'. Chizuru, thus, began to walk away to her side of the field and beckoned Tsubaki and Madoka over.

"Rules time over, the team each has 1 minute for a basic game plan....no, scratch that, my team gets 2 minutes because I need time to set up the camera for the game. Tokigetsu, your phone."

Shion handed her a smartphone that looked incredibly default like it just came out of the box...but also FELT more expensive than Madoka's entire life savings.

"Why is it always my phone?"

"Rich girls don't get to complain, yours have the best camera."

So while Chizuru was setting up a camera angle that allows them to see the entire field, Tsubaki began talking to Madoka about the game plan...well, as much game plan as you can get for a 3-a-side.

"Ishikawa-san, do you want to play up front?"

Madoka could not believe her ears.

"W-what? B-but...I suck at it!"

"Well, Chizuru said you are considering becoming a striker, so it's good to get those reps in." Tsubaki smiled kindly "Besides, I think it's too soon to say you suck at something before you tried it, right?"

Right, she was right. Chizuru told her the same thing too. So taking in a deep breath to steel her nerves, Madoka nodded.

"Got it..."

"Don't think too hard about it, Ishikawa." Chizuru finally returned, motioning towards the other team "They have a plan alright...all things considered, they might be using Yukimura as an 'anchor' for their attack. They want to play through her."

Madoka raised her hand.

"Then I will press Yukimura-senpai hard, is that right?"

"Basically yeah, you need to kill their control tower before they can distribute. Of course, knowing Tokigetsu, it could very well be her...but somehow I doubt it."

Tsubaki added in.

"If it is Tokigetsu-san then we can play a bit deeper, mostly watching out for Hina-san, correct?"

Chizuru nodded.

"Yup. A snowball in hell would have a better chance at surviving than us trying to dispossess Tokigetsu in a 3v3."

The redhead turned to look at both of her seniors, gulping down a lump in her throat.

"I-it can't be THAT bad, right?" neither of them replied "T-then...what's stopping them from doing that?"

"Nothing, really. Just a guess from me, because for how much she complains and grumbles, Tokigetsu is serious about letting others grow too...she might be wanting you to press Yukimura to help her practice her possession under pressure."

But then, it was Shion who interrupted from the other side with her bored voice.

"Is sappy time over, captain? Can we play now?"

"Alright Tokigetsu, ready for a beating."

The players got into their position...and just as predicted, it was Hina and Shion forward while being a bit staggered while Saya stayed back, contrasting Chizuru's team with Madoka forward and Chizuru plus Tsubaki defending the space behind her.

[KICK-OFF]

Shion sent the ball back to Saya, and the moment she did that, Madoka sprinted towards the cyan-haired girl while the other two moved to directly mark Shion and the runaway Hina.

But Saya caught Madoka's movements out of the corner of her eyes. She opened up her body...and hit a long and accurate diagonal into the space behind Tsubaki's back. And Hina bolted, hair flowing behind her as if she was a spirit of wind.

"WOHOO! Try and catch me!"

And so Tsubaki did.

Both Tsubaki and Chizuru had expected it. They couldn't afford to stick too tightly to their marks. Give Saya even a sliver of space behind them, and she'd drop the ball straight into Hina's path.

Which was why...

"I'm afraid this ball is mine, Hina-san."

Tsubaki made it in time, using her better physicality to bully Hina off the ball and sending it back to Chizuru who got it back to Madoka. And Madoka sprinted...or at least she tried to...

Before being swept off her foot by a clean tackle from Shion.

"Watch your foot, Red. Yukimura, ball, move up the field."

Saya got the ball again, and the entire team shifted forward, pushing the line for Madoka's team backwards. Madoka recovered and ran for Saya who then passed to Hina.

Tsubaki closed in.

Hina passed it to Shion, then to Saya, and back to Shion again.

Madoka ran back and forth, looking all around her as she was dragged everywhere. It got to the point where Chizuru had to speak up.

"Madoka, ANGLE your press, don't just run at them."

'Oh right'

Then Madoka saw it...Saya was facing in an awkward direction to turn - she could not turn to face Hina nor could she pass to Shion if Madoka just stood...

"...here."

"...!"

Saya jumped in surprise as Madoka attacked the space just as the ball touched the older girl's foot, completely stopping her from being able to angle it back to Shion. Hina was also getting pressed by Tsubaki and losing her own fight.

Checkmate.

"Not bad. Yukimura, play to me."

But Shion had already moved herself at an angle, using her frame to fight off Chizuru who is dueling her. And this gave Saya the out she needed, bypassing Madoka and turning the initiative on their side again.

But instead of firing out a shot which...given the scenario, would most likely result in a goal, Shion motioned Hina to just...

"Run."

And run Hina did. Unconstrained by the lack of ball, Hina accelerated faster than Tsubaki into space, earning a respectable gap between her and her vice-captain. And Shion sent the ball right there, into the empty grass that Hina cut into.

Now, with everyone flooding into the box, with all of her teammates there...Hina made her move.

She shot the ball with her non-dominant left foot.

CLAAANNNG

The ball hit the old crossbar with a resounding ringing sound akin to a church bell going off as it then hit the ground with a soft thud while everyone was just...silent, only followed by the sound of panting.

"G-guys..." Hina started, already trying to talk her way out of this way.

"Why did you shoot?" Shion asked, rubbing her temple "Oh my god, and with your left foot as well. Pass the ball, Hina, Yukimura was RIGHT there!"

"Guys! Okay listen, I know it's better to pass to Onee-san...but imagine if I score that left foot!"

Chizuru looked at Hina...and just sighed while Shion looked close to throwing in the towel. Madoka though...well, she thought it was a bit funny. And all things considered, no one really looked that angry either.

More like...

Appalled at Hina's antics.

...

"C-Can we get back to playing now?" Saya asked and everyone moved back to a collective, unspoken 'yes'.

Madoka was deep in thoughts though...because, honestly, she felt like she was not doing much - her pressing had failed, she had not contributed ONCE defensively or made any plays and it felt like she was falling behind.

'No no, Madoka Ishikawa, don't you DARE think that yet...just...do your best, trust your intuition or whatever.'

The ball was back on Madoka's side now. She sent it back to Chizuru and began to move forward, with Tsubaki transitioning from the back to the front in a synchronized run with Madoka...but immediately, the other side marked them hard.

Chizuru made a pass to Madoka, who had already checked to make sure there was no Hina-senpai running up on her, who immediately hit a pass back to Chizuru.

Chizuru moved away from the pressure that was Shion, naturally and sent a long diagonal ball down the flank.

"Tsubaki!"

But Hina got there first, and cleared it back to where Shion was. The aerial duel was contested by Chizuru who timed her jump well...but against Shion, the physical gap between them was too massive for sheer skill to balance out.

The massive keeper leapt into the air and headed the ball back to Saya, who tried to keep it up in the air with a header.

That was her mistake.

Saya did not drive the ball with enough force, so it just flopped back down onto the ground. But the most terrifying part...

"...! W-why are you here?"

Was that Madoka had somehow appeared at the location of that failed header. And the answer was...

'I have no clue either...but Chizuru-senpai told me to trust my intuition more, so I did'

"Tsubaki-senpai!! Run, just run!!"

Madoka had no idea what compelled her to be so confident, to be so daring while on the ball she so revered. She had no clue if she was going to hit this or not, or had no clue if she could even rationalize it...

But Tsubaki, after a brief second of shock, kept exploding forward into space, into the box with Hina behind her. And before anyone could close in on her...

"Come on!!"

Madoka hit a strong pass into Tsubaki's runway. The ball sailed in a slight arc above their head, higher than anyone could possibly jump to...it dropped and bounced.

Once.

Despite being at a slightly awkward angle, Tsubaki could still volley the ball right into the goal.

[Chizuru's team 1 - 0 Shion's team]

After it all, Tsubaki just looked at Madoka, panting hard...but a smile blossomed on the usually serene girl's face before running over to give her a crushing hug!

"Ishikawa-san, what WAS that?"

Chizuru rubbed her chin from that play too...

"I'm not going to lie, how did you even see that?"

Madoka, still caught in Tsubaki's embrace, awkwardly replied with the best answer she knew...

"I-I don't really know? I...I tried to think less, like you said and I just sorta saw 'there', you know?"

Shion just looked at her funny before shaking her head.

"Either she's a freak in space interpretation or insane...I don't know which I hate more."

Tsubaki finally released Madoka, and as the recipient of that pass, she had her own thing to say too.

"That was a really good through-long ball too...it was slightly underhit, but overall, it felt really good. I definitely won't be able to come up with something like that on my own."

Chizuru was thinking about something...HARD, before she clapped her hands together

"Alright, that's all for today's practice then...my old man bones are complaining, so let's do some cooling down and review of the things before we go home for the day."

With no one voicing any complaints to that, everyone scattered at first to get their hydration in first. However, Hina noticed that Saya was still standing around...hands clutched at her jersey around her chest and just staring at Madoka, her fist balled up a little.

"Onee-chan?"

Saya jumped, startled by Hina's voice.

"H-Hina? What's wrong...?"

"What's wrong? Is there anything wrong with YOU! Look, Captain already called us to rest for the day already...is there anything on your mind?"

Saya paused for a moment, stealing one last glance at Madoka...before shaking her head.

"It's nothing...don't mind me."

Nothing at all.

As the team cooled down and did their stretched, Chizuru went through the basic stuff they did well today. Nothing major in particular for Tsubaki and Shion, obviously. But with Hina...

"Hina."

"Yes?" Hina said, acting all innocent like she had done nothing wrong.

"I don't mind you shooting that, contrary to what Tokigetsu might say." Shion made a noise, but Chizuru ignored her. "But you need to work on your finishing ability, alright? This has been a thing since last year, so let's work on it together. And just because I'm okay with it, doesn't mean you can recklessly shoot without thinking, okay?"

Hina nodded rapidly.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Captain! Sorry everyone...and Onee-chan! I will pay better attention next time."

Satisfied, Chizuru turned to Saya next, and her note on Saya was...

"Yukimura, you did well today in apply the new skills and training to good use in the match itself."

But Saya firmly shook her head.

"I-I didn't...I fumbled the last header...I should have controlled it."

"That is another thing entirely. We can practice on your aerial control in another time, I'm talking about you being better with handling pressure and finding teammates, do you think you managed that well?"

Saya just looked at Chizuru and nodded hesitantly, though it was unsure this was because she truly got it or just wanted a break from the pressure. Madoka chimed in.

"Yeah, like...there were so many times I thought I had gotten Yukimura-senpai...like 'BAM', you know? But then she just moved the ball away."

Saya looked a bit flustered at this, though there was a tiny shaky smile underneath all of that.

"T-thank you everyone...I'll...I'll do my best to get better."

Last, but certainly not least, was Madoka Ishikawa...

"Ishikawa, can you run us through why you attempted that pass to Tsubaki?"

Madoka froze at this, and her throat felt dry because...she actually had no clue on how she did that, and she was being quiz on it?! But looking at Chizuru, Madoka took in a deep breath and replied truthfully.

"I...I don't really know...I just sorta felt it? Like something was telling me 'bam, hit it there', you know? I-I'm sorry, that sounds cringy."

"I actually think it's really cool!" Hina interrupted her with a sharp grin as she stretched her body to the floor (something Madoka found REALLY impressive) "I can't do that...well I can, but that was a KILLER assist!"

"Hina...that's not how you compliment people." Saya squeaked out.

Tsubaki, who had been quiet, also raised her opinion.

"I think that was your intuition, Ishikawa-san...I think you have a real knack for assisting people, if that's your thing."

Chizuru stood up, and arched her back with a little crack. "Well, whatever it was...if we can replicate it, that's good enough for me. Too soon to say though...alright everyone, I know it's a little bit early today, but let's head home and get some rest in."

Everyone agreed to it and began heading their own ways for their own conversations. But before Madoka left...

"Hey, Ishikawa-chan!!" Hina called out to her, waving her hands. "See you tomorrow!"

"S-see you tomorrow, Ishikawa-san." Saya waved as well.

"Let's work hard tomorrow as well." said Tsubaki with a gentle smile.

"Good job today, Ishikawa." Obviously, that was Chizuru.

Shion just lazily made a motion that looked like saying goodbye. "Don't scream tomorrow, newbie."

Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Those words, functionally meaningless to someone else, caused something to blossom inside Madoka's heart as she turned to face them.

"Thank you everyone for today! I won't miss next practice!"

And off she went, running down the beaten path that returned her from her world of football to the mundane school ground, with her heart thumping with joy.

This was HER first step after all!