Gemini

Chizuru had banned them from even attempting football training on the weekend. 'No', she had said when Madoka asked if she should do something extra over the weekend 'Take it easy, we don't want you getting injured just a week before our scrimmage'. That meant Madoka Ishikawa had NOTHING to do in the weekend...her homework was done, her chores were done, she had prepared her class works for next week.

Nothing.

And to make matter worse, Madoka was still INSISTENT on not joining the team's LINE until she had met the last member of the team, Nishijima...so now she was alone in her house, messing around with the ball absentmindedly while her mind was just...floating off somewhere. And then, her phone buzzed.

'Is that Mom?'

Assuming such, she haphazardly grabbed her phone and opened LINE, only to see it was a brand new contact.

[Pollux]

"Huh....?"

=====

Pollux: Hello!!

Pollux: Ishikawa-chan?

Ringo: :Shocked_rabbit:

Ringo: Do I know you...?

Pollux: It's me, Hina!

Ringo: Hina-senpai??? Omg I'm sorry for being so rude

Pollux: It's fine!

Pollux: Actually, it's NOT fine. And to make it up, do you want to hang out with me and Onee-chan today?

Ringo: Why me??

Pollux: Everyone was busy. Like seriously, Chizuru told me: "Oh to be young." before hanging up. Also, you're new to Hanamura!

Pollux: Meet us at the shopping street in like...2 hours, okay? See you bye bye!

====

Madoka stared at her phone in a daze...because she had NO IDEA what just happened. Apparently she was asked to hang out with one of her senior teammates? No, not one...she said 'Onee-chan'. Oh my gosh, Saya was going to be there too.

"AHHHH!"

In a panic, Madoka immediately shot out of bed and went through her closet in search for anything that was not a football team jersey. There was this dress...nope, too small. How about this pants? Ugh, it has this vomit green color. This blouse? This skirt?!

It took Madoka thirty minutes to find something at least presentable - a sensible: a blouse with a black pleated skirt and a pair of sneakers just in case they were going to kick a ball around.

Just kidding!

...Unless?

Well, whatever the case was, it was too late to think about it now. She rushed through dabbing up some make-up before running out of the door and on her bike, riding into the residential area. The scenery zoomed past as she cycled down the now familiar road, past the more traditional houses lined with trees in the background until the path turned from ground into asphalt. A quick glance at the big clock on the sidewalk revealed it was 9:15.

Oh thank gosh, she was still early.

The shōtengai was in sight and Madoka quickly found the parking space for bikes just a turn away, thanking the attendant as she left after paying 100 yen for the spot.

Obviously, she had been to a shopping street before so it wasn't like it was new or grand - in fact, just like most of Hanamura, the place was charmingly mundane and local. But this was the first time she was hanging out with her teammates outside of practice. And she didn't have to wait for long when only 5 minutes later...

"Ishikawa-chaaaan, helloooo!"

From across the street, Hina ran over waving with Saya being dragged along behind her. Hina, as expected, was in a very fashionable crop-top graphic T-shirt ripped jeans while Saya was in a more subdued blouse-dress combo like Madoka, though she had a cardigan to soften out the edges.

"Hina-senpai, Yukimura-senpai!"

The spunky younger twin smiled brightly while Saya was content with just a nod and a tiny polite smile...although Madoka soon found Hina staring straight at her face.

"Is there anything wrong, senpai?"

"Hmm...would you mind if I call you Madoka-chan? Calling you by Ishikawa just feels like a mouthful, right?"

So forward! But Madoka thought about it for a moment...

"O-okay, Hina-senpai."

But Hina was apparently not done talking, because she pulled Saya a bit ahead and wrapped her arms around her older twin like she was 'introducing' her to Madoka.

"Why don't you call Onee-chan as 'Saya-senpai' too then!"

Both Madoka and Saya looked like they were about to explode from embarrassment.

"H-Hina!"

"I can't do that!"

They said at the same time before looking at each other...and then looking away with Hina making a little pout before letting go.

"Boring...fine then, let's go have some fun then!"

Madoka raised her hand.

"U-Um...where exactly are we going?"

This time, it was Saya who answered actually. Though with her sigh and the slight adjustment of her glasses, she sounded more like she was going to give a lecture if her voice wasn't so small and cute.

"Hina likes to...walk around town. We were actually considering paying Akikawa-san's butchery a visit."

Hina added in with a strong nod. "Yup, their croquettes are FIRE! I buy their stuffs all the time, but I didn't know Natsu-chan was the daughter of the owner until recently!"

And so they walked around the paved path of the shopping street. It was much smaller than anything in Tokyo, of course...but there was still a lot to see. Madoka counted Hina running off at least five times, but she was luckily also grabbed five times by Saya who held her younger twin on a leash. They were attached at the hips, really...as much as they were total opposites, it was undeniable that the twins were close.

"Ishikawa-san...?"

Madoka snapped out of watching Saya wiping the mini-Taiyaki crumbs off Hina's lips as the older girl called out to her.

"Sorry, sorry...I was just thinking about something. It is really nice having a sibling, right? I'm an only child, so I wouldn't know..."

Saya looked surprise for a moment before looking at Hina, who had already ran off before them and...talking to some acquaintances (mostly old grandpas or grannies) as they walked past her. There was something incredibly fond in Saya's face, even though it was slightly muddled by a tiny narrowing of her eyes.

"I suppose it is nice...Having Hina by my side makes me..." Hina waved at them from afar. "...nevermind. We should...hurry after her...or else Hina might run into something troublesome."

The trio arrived at the location of the famed 'Akikawa Butchery' soon after, with the storefront still under...half-renovation just as Madoka saw it a few days ago. Manning the croquette stand at the front of the store was...

"Natsu-chan!!" Hina greeted her cheerily.

Natsu looked at the three girls before her before breaking out into a bright smile herself as she waved back.

"Hello everyone! Sorry I couldn't join all of you today, I had to help my family run the store!"

"Well...maybe you can apologize by giving us some croquettes!" Madoka spoke up from the back, and Hina gave her finger-guns and a wink - that was something good, right?

Saya was already reaching for her wallet when Natsu waved it off and handed them three hot, crispy yellow croquettes. The spunky girl gave a bright smile and made it sound like a secret deal between them.

"It's on the house this time! Ah, but don't tell anyone or mom is going to scold me!"

"Is that fine...? We can't possibly take it for free, Akikawa-san." Madoka added in and Saya gave her a nod of agreement. But Natsu was not taking no for an answer.

"No refunds! But come back next time too, okay?"

Thanking Natsu for the food, the three girls made it out of the shopping street and sat down at the nearby Hanamura park. On a cool Sunday morning, there was obviously a lot of people there - elderlies sitting on benches, parents walking around with their children, and even some teenagers their age were hanging around in this peaceful park.

Madoka bit down on her croquette with a 'crunch'.

The flavor of it exploded in her mouth, causing Madoka's eyes to widen a little bit.

"This is so good!"

"Right?!" Hina said, wiping crumbs from her mouth. Even Saya looked a bit surprise at how good it was...

"It has gotten even better..."

After eating in silence for a while, Madoka was the one who spoke up first with a question that had been bothering her for a few days now...maybe both of her seniors could give her a different view on it.

"Hina-senpai, Yukimura-senpai...I'm a bit worried about the upcoming 7v7 game...I know Chizuru-senpai said it is a learning opportunity...but I'm just afraid that I'll drag the team down with me."

Hina and Saya looked at her...and at the same time, they replied...

"Don't worry about it!"

"I'm worried too."

...

They both looked at each other.

"What do you mean you're worried too! Onee-chan, you'll do great!"

"You don't know that, there's a lot of things I'm still shaky on...!" Saya sputtered back "I-I...I'm not you, I'm nowhere near as good as Nishijima-san...there's a lot of things that I still mess up on and I'm scared, okay?"

Hina looked pensive for a moment - there was something about the way her face scrunched up a little bit that didn't feel like she was judging Saya, but more in that she was trying her best to understand Saya but failing to do so. Madoka didn't know what to say.

In fact, it felt like she had accidentally poked into the beehive with this one. Oh no!! What have she done?? But before she could say anything, it was Hina who replied after standing up.

"Well...whatever you think, I'll be there for you, okay? Isn't the whole point of football for us is to have fun together?"

Then, out of nowhere, a ball rolled Hina's way...a bunch of young children were running over, waving and calling out to Hina.

"Onee-san, can you please pass the ball back?"

And off she went, Hina had punted the ball back and joined the bunch of children in a game of football just like that. And from the aftermath of that Hina-shaped storm was Madoka and Saya sitting quietly on the bench next to each other. It was quiet...like awkwardly, uncomfortably quiet.

It was the type of silence where both parties wanted to say something to break the ice but completely lacking the ability to do so. Eventually, however, Saya decided to speak up first.

"I am an envious person...I think. I'm quite envious of Hina too."

"Huh?"

Saya watched with THAT look in her eyes again - a mix of fondness and hidden feelings - as she saw Hina laughing with the children after showing them her flashy skills. Her fingers interlaced together.

"Hina has figured out what football meant to her...to her, it means 'Freedom'. But as for me...I have nothing yet. To be honest, I don't even need it to be anything grand or philosophical...it's just...Hina is so bright, and I'm just...me." Saya laughed quietly "A-ah...sorry, Ishikawa-san...I didn't mean to overshare...just ignore it."

"I don't think so...wait, I mean...I don't think Yukimura-senpai is as lacking as you are making it out to be." Madoka spoke slowly, carefully weighing her words to not spout out something offensive. "You are still very technically capable, of course! Like I can't pass like you do...ZOOM and it's to the other person's foot...but also I think it's really admirable how you are always at practice everyday, working hard!"

...

"I-Ishikawa-san...I don't think you need to try so hard to compliment me..."

Madoka waved her hands in front of her face. "No no, that's not what I meant! Ugh, I'm so bad at this...I...I just think it's really admirable that despite everything you say about yourself...you are really resilient. Like looking at you, there's something that feels like the phrase 'I don't want to give up!", you know Compared to that, I don't think I have anything going for me right now."

The redhead laughed sheepishly, but Saya just...stared at her.

"I don't think that's true...Ishikawa-san...truth to be told, when I saw your assist to Yamamoto-senpai the other day...I felt a pang of jealousy and annoyance too."

"E-Eh?"

"Not at you!" Saya quickly added "Well...not at you but rather at what...that represented for me. I think for you, it was just an assist...a step forward...but for me, that was a step in the direction that I can't possibly take a step in. You have this weird pull to people...I think...I'm not good at this, but that's what I feel..."

A pull...? Madoka pondered about it...

"My own football..."

"I can't say for certain that...it means what it means...I haven't figured myself out either. But I think it's only f-fair that...I say what I think right? Because Ishikawa-san said so many good things about me."

Madoka Ishikawa herself stood at nothing - she was everything and nothing at the same time. Football for her, right now, just meant as something she had always been wanting to do. But now that she had a chance to do it...what did it mean to her?

What was Madoka's football?

"I..."

"Onee-chaaaaannn! Madoka-chaaaaannn"

But Hina interrupted in them with her loud call for Saya that made both girls on the bench jolt in surprise. The cyan-haired younger twin was waving for them while still dribbling the ball past 3 kids.

"What are you sitting there for? Come have some fun with us!"

Saya sighed, but she ultimately stood up and smoothed out her skirt and readjusted her cardigan. "I-I suppose we should head over there then, Ishikawa-san?"

"Oh! Yeah, let's go..."

But even as she ran towards the ball, Saya's words lingered in her mind.

'What does football mean to me right now?'