Boonies in Kobe

The week flew by in a hurry - at least that was how it felt to Madoka. With how tough training had been in preparation for the upcoming scrimmage, the poor first year girl just spent a good majority of her time in class thinking about football.

More than she would think about usually, even.

Her notebook was littered about formation and charts that Chizuru had taught them over the weekened. She could even hear the words from her captain that day as she sat them down in front of the clubroom's whiteboard:

"Alright listen up, remember that we are in preparation for a scrimamge game, not a tournament game. I want everyone out there to work hard, play hard but don't get injured out there. Alright, here's our starting line up."

GK - Shion Tokigetsu.

No one had doubted that for a single moment. Shion just looked bored.

CB - Haru Shikimura

CB - Natsu Akikawa

Again, this was surprising to no one really. With Chizuru being outside to give coaching during the game, there was no one else that would fit in this position. However, she did single out Natsu and Yaichi to give extra comments.

"However, we will be switching in Tetsumiya during the play to give her some actual experience. We will pair up Shikimura with Akikawa and Inari with Tetsumiya Alright...next on the list..."

CM - Saya Yukimura

Saya sat up straighter than before, her eyes wide open like a shocked fawn, even if she personally had already expected this coming.

"With Yukimura, she is going to be our anchor this game...everything goes through her, both in attacking and defense...Yukimura, you will be our control tower this game as a box-to-box attacker in some phases and a deep playmaker in others. That also means..." Chizuru's sleepy eyes scan over the room. "The other players have to know when to play around her or with her."

And finally....

LW - Hina Yukimura

RW - Tsubaki Yamamoto

CF - Madoka Ishikawa

Madoka remembered how everyone's eyes looked at her with Hina giving her a thumbs up, Murasaki giving her a single glance, Haru just hugged her and Tsubaki gave Madoka a reassuring smile as if to say 'it will be fine'. Except it DIDN'T feel fine - despite what Chizuru insisted about this game being primarily as a practice opportunity, Madoka herself could not shake off the feeling that she might ended up being a disappointment.

She checked her phone again; It read 7:23 and she was supposed to meet everyone in 2 hours at the station. Madoka contemplated texting Arisa again after already spending 3 hours last night getting comforted by her senior. Well, as comforting as someone like Arisa could reasonably say...

===========

April 11, 2025

11:31 PM

Arisa_Senpai: Go out there and give them hell

Ringo: But what if I screw up everything??

Ringo: Like one mistake and I ruin everything for the team

Arisa_Senpai: You won't

Ringo: But what if??

Arisa_Senpai: Go to sleep

Arisa_Senpai: If I say you can do it, you can do it

April 12, 2025

05:02 AM

Arisa_Senpai: Good luck today

===========

But ultimately, she chose not to...because this was her own trial after all. Spending the next hour just going over tips and tricks on Youtube and online, along with reading the gameplan that Chizuru sent them so much she could recite it from memory now, it was finally time for Madoka to leave.

No one was at home that day, and she left the house as she would with any other school day ever. Pan-chan still greeted her the same, the sky was still the same cool April morning just as any other day, and yet for Madoka, it felt different to a profound degree. Perhaps she was being dramatic, and maybe it truly was not that profound...but even as she got onto her bike to cycle to the station, Madoka was filled with a mixture of uncertainty yet excitment at the same time.

It was a brisk 30 minute ride to the station, located at the near southern side of Hanamura. Well, to call it a station was a bit much - it was more akin to a build with a single platform in front of it, overseeing the river. The building itself resembled a Kappa with its greenish roof and yellow 'beak', which Madoka thought was kinda cute.

"Madoka-chaaaaan!" Hina greeted her from afar

Everyone was already there, and they were playing football. Well, it was just mostly passing the ball around in a playful rondo, but it was still playing! After parking her bike, the redhead hurried over and said hello to everyone.

"G-good morning! Oh my gosh, I'm so late, I'm sorry!"

Chizuru just shrugged on the bench nearby "Still on time, that's better than Tokigetsu. Knowing her, she will arrive 5 minutes before the train does. Tsubaki already bought your ticket, so don't worry about that."

The rest of the girls were mostly sitting around or playing football and naturally, Madoka joined them in the fun. She stood besides Murasaki, who just gave her a warm smile.

"Pleasant morning, is it not, Ishikawa-dono?"

"A-ah, yep! Definitely...nice."

Then, a ball was sent her way and Madoka controlled it without much difficulty and passing it to Yaichi. Hina was the one who made that pass and began to talk to her from the other side of the circle.

"Madoka-chan, are you nervous?"

"Yeah, why isn't anyone here nervous at all?!"

Murasaki laughed next to her ear, tickling Madoka's earlobes - the fox girl was looking extra radiant today.

"Ishikawa-dono, we have undergone trials and tribulations far greater than this. After all, a scrimmage is a learning experience after all."

"Oh..." Madoka couldn't help but feel a bit silly - was she the only one that was nervous about today then? That dampened her spirit a little, but Yaichi spoke up with her quiet and strong voice.

"I'm a bit nervous too. Despite knowing this is a practice game, I think it is normal for me to feel like this considering this is my first game out of practice."

She spoke that with no reserves in phrasing it more lightly, but Madoka felt like she had suddenly developed some camaraderie with her fellow first year player. Natsu also spoke up after sending a pass to Saya who just gave it to Hina.

"I feel the same way too! I've attended a lot of tournaments in the past, of course, but this is my first actual football match against another team!"

"There's always first times for everything!"

Haru replied from outside of the mini rondo that was happening as she opened up her big backpack and pulled out little bags of cookies with adorable ribbons and bows on them, handing them out for everyone.

"Haru made something for everyone! Eat up, okay?"

"HARU'S COOKIES!"

Hina cheered the loudest, already opening up the her bag to dig into the scrumptious treat. Madoka watched hers more closely - everything looked like it was made with love in mind...if said love was mouthwateringly delicious. And then in the pile of goodies, she spotted something...

"Eh?"

An apple-shaped cookie? Haru noticed Madoka's intrigued look, and just smiled...

"Haru often makes custom treats for everyone in their bag! Haru hopes Madoka-chan enjoys it!"

"Thank you so much, Haru-senpai! I'll...take good care of it!"

...

Did she just say care? But she had to eat it right? Oh my gosh, Madoka.

Somewhere behind her, Natsu exclaimed something about getting a sun-shaped one.

Around 7 minutes later when Shion finally arrived, looking like she would love to spend today in doors or be anywhere BUT playing football today, the team was finally ready to set off. They hurried on the train which was mostly empty today and stuffed themselves on a line of seats. It was lucky that there was not a lot of people on the train today...

Because they were very loud.

"Hina, stop...squeezing...!"

"But I want to sit on Onee-chan's laps!"

"Wait, I want to join too!" Natsu said, ready to join the pile of school girls.

Shion looked like she was going to murder someone. There was a choice to stand, or chose a different seat but most of them wanted to stick together for the long ride ahead. Chizuru, who HAD a seat of her own with Tsubaki next to her, opened up her phone and spoke with the enthusiasm of an old man.

"Settle down...it will be another hour until we get there. Don't tire yourself out before the actual game."

The scenery of Hanamura flew by as the train left the station, the tree line that shielded the town zoomed by the windows as the train moved ever onward. Madoka watched at everything pass her by, feeling a weird lingering feeling as she had felt so many times before. It was just like when she left her home in Tokyo.

Or that time in Osaka.

Or god forbid, Sapporo.

Tsubaki, who was sat neatly next to her, gently tapped her arm.

"Ishikawa-san? Are you feeling alright?"

"Yep, totally good! I'm feeling mighty fine!" Madoka tried to reply brightly, but immediately fizzled out like a wet fire sparkler. "No...no I'm not. I'm nervous...it sounds silly right? Everyone has already told me to not mind it...but I can't help shake off the feeling that..."

Tsubaki gave her a little smile, her red eyes seemingly exuded a warmth that made the first year take in one more breath than she normally would.

"...That you will drag everyone down. That even if no one says it, they will unconsciously carry the mindset that 'Ishikawa-san can't play'?"

Madoka looked up at her, stunned...because it felt like Tsubaki just read her mind. The student council president leaned back against her seat, staring straight ahead.

"That was me too, around two years ago. I joined the team out of my juvenile, childish rebellion against things that were happening around me...it was not until we played our first actual practice game, just like today..." Tsubaki laughed thinking about this "...that I came to Chizuru to tell her how scared I was. And do you know what she did?"

Madoka thought about the Chizuru she knew.

"She told you to...do your best?"

"She told me to just 'get good' and 'don't give a shit about what others think'." Tsubaki replied and Madoka just...stared at her. Then she looked at Chizuru who was fast asleep.

Then back at Tsubaki.

Then back at Chizuru again.

"There's no way..."

"There is a way...well, I can't say much for myself...I was a very...gloomy person back in my first year." The vice-captain of the Blossoms turned to give her first year junior a light stroke on the head, threading her fingers through Madoka's hair. "I was a very...edgy person."

Madoka could not imagine it at all. Tsubaki looked like the personification of the perfect Japanese woman after all...but here she was, talking about her 'dark and broody' past-self. Seeing that Madoka has felt better, she continued.

"I still remember...I did horribly that game. I felt like I was a failure, deadweight, useless...Chizuru had to drag us through the finish line...and yet after it all, everyone was laughing, smiling, asking if they should go have some popsicles together. It taught me that...perhaps my failure does not determine who I am...and it should not determine you too, Ishikawa-san."

"I...see..."

But before they could continue the conversation, Madoka saw Hina bump into Haru, who bumped into Natsu who bumped in Shion who got flattened against the railing of the seats. Everyone stopped dead in their track.

"...Hina-san..."

"W-wait, Tokigetsu-san! I didn't mean it!!! AHHHH"

Madoka saw some older folks on the train chuckle at their antics and could only look away in embarrassment while Tsubaki next to her began laughing.

They got to their stop in Kobe after a few train swaps on the way...and up they went from the immensely crowded station packed with people even on a Saturday. Sunlight flooded the girls' gazes and what greeted them was...

"Holy heck..." Hina exclaimed from somewhere next to Madoka. Even the usually unfazed Murasaki had a sort of curiosity in her gaze, because for most of the girls here - with the exceptions of Madoka and Shion, most likely - this was the first big city they had been to in a long long while.

This was the Sannomiya area of Kobe.

Natsu pointed to a skyscraper in the distant, jumping up and down lile a child. "Everyone, look at that! It's so huge!"

There was...everything there: department stores, shopping streets, restaurants, cafés, hotels, railway stations, pedestrians, bicycles, buses, taxis, signs, students, office workers, etc. Things that Hanamura HAD, but not to this degree and density.

Hina looked like she was about to go running off...if Chizuru did not hold onto the neck of her t-shirt like a mother cat with her children. Chizuru herself also seemed to be unbothered by the size of Kobe.

"Calm yourself, we have been here to play for regionals before, remember?"

"But still...!"

"Come on girls, we need to get on a few more buses, can't let them girls at Nadeshiko wait for us for too long."

Oh right...the initial excitement felt by everyone had made Madoka briefly forget abou the trial ahead. But...looking at this...after hearing what Tsubaki told her...she was not alone.

So along with everyone, Madoka took that step forward.