Nadeshiko Crystals

Kobe Nippon Nadeshiko school stood out against its already flashy landscapes - not because it was garish - but because against the grays and the blacks of concrete buildings the girls from Hanamura had seen, the sleek light blue color of the school's outline made it distinctly recognizable against the backdrop.

"Captain, are you sure this is the right place?" Hina asked, glancing up at the school buildings in front of her.

"There is literally one school named 'Kobe Nippon Nadeshiko High School' in Kobe, Hina. Yes, we are at the right place."

Chizuru replied with a sigh, though she did check the address one last time to be sure that they had all gotten off at the right stop. The captain of Hanamura Blossoms looked up at the buildings ahead and let out a quiet hum.

"How did their school get so much bigger in just a year?"

"Right?!"

Madoka tilted her head a little at that - sure, it wasn't a small school by any means, and it was definitely much bigger than Hanamura Highschool...but it was also probably due to the fact that Hanamura was just small. Or maybe Madoka lacked the appreciation of scales that her teammates had.

"Chizuru, I've contacted the captain of Nadeshiko, she should be out here to meet us soon."

Tsubaki said, and Chizuru nodded before looking at her...pack of girls standing around, pointing fingers, staring at the 'big cities' like they were jungle people. It was Shion who said out loud what Chizuru was thinking while leaning against the wall.

"Then she better be quick with it, because another 5 minutes and the passerby are going to think we just got out of a zoo."

A few more minutes passed, and finally, someone rushed out from the school building and out of the school gate with frantic waves. She ran to them, panting along the way as she did. Standing in front of Chizuru, she was significantly taller than Hanamura Blossom's captain, with jet black hair and a headband around her forehead.

"Maaan...sorry, sorry Watanabe...I was too busy getting the girls warmed up."

"It's fine, we weren't waiting for long anyways." Chizuru shook her head, taking her hand out of her pocket to beckon her rowdy 'children' over to say hello to this girl from Nadeshiko. "Everyone, this is Yoshikage, captain of Nadeshiko's female team...or commonly called Nadeshiko Crystals, say hello to her."

A chorus of 'hello' and 'hi' and a few 'thank you for setting this up' rang out, leaving the captain of the home team a bit flustered as she waved it off.

"It's fine, it's fine! Just call me Aimi! Wow, Watanabe, your girls are held on a tight leash, huh?"

"No clue what you are talking about." She glanced at Hina "Hina, stop trying to climb on stuff."

Hina pouted.

The pack of 11 girls plus Aimi walked through the school grounds of Nadeshiko High School, and from Madoka's perspective, it looked like any other school but perhaps for the girls who had lived in Hanamura for their entire life and who had actually been here a year ago for a match, their change was astounding to see.

Considering it was on a Saturday, hardly anyone was on school grounds other than the student sports clubs who were busy preparing for their own season or were just hanging around. But there were people yelling in the auditorium, there were people swinging bats and throwing balls and running around the nearby sports ground, and of course, there was a football pitch.

"Wow!"

Madoka couldn't help but exclaim. The field was huge! There was actual grass on the field that was maintained and trimmed compared to Hanamura Blossom's field that was probably a quarter of the size of this entire thing.

"This place is huge..." Yaichi said from somewhere next to her and Inari nodded along.

"Indeed, this was the field in which our glorious triumph in prefecture happened, Nadeshiko were very kind to host that game~."

Aimi laughed cheerily, turning back upon hearing those words.

"Yep, gave us real trouble last year! But with me as captain this year and our new squad, it won't be as easy! Ah, but we'll be playing only half of the field today, hope you won't mind it, the BOYS team is using the other half."

She stressed the word 'boy' out strongly, and on the other side of the boundary net, some of the members of the boys' team looked over and stuck their tongues out at her while giving the Blossom girls friendly waves. The group finally made it to the end of the field where other girls were standing around, playing football in their brightly colored white-and-blue jersey. Some of them noticed the Hanamura Blossoms's pink and gave a familiar or polite greeting while others were more absorbed in their training.

"We're here! Coach, the Blossom girls are here!"

On the sidelines, holding a clipboard with a stopwatch, is an aged man in his 50s in tracksuit. He turned his gaze to the approaching group and nodded firmly.

"Hanamura Blossoms, thank you for coming all the way to Kobe today for the friendly."

He bowed slightly and Chizuru returned with her own, deeper bow.

"Yamashita-sensei, please, it is our honor that a powerhouse like Nadeshiko Crystals is willing to play a friendly with us."

Madoka swallowed - why did the air feel so tense? How can Chizuru-senpai stay so calm in face of such a veteran coach?? Did he feel disrespected that Chizuru, a teenage girl, was standing face to face with him...??

But then suddenly, Aimi broke out laughing, apparently unable to hold it back any further.

"AHAHAHAHA! Coach, you're too serious! You're scaring everyone!"

And immediately, the tense aura evaporated. Coach Yamashita had his gripped fist over his chest, his eyes seemingly tearing up.

"I-I just can't help it...after all, for a team without a coach leading them, yet determined to fight on anyways...isn't it too manly?!! Watanabe-san might be the age of my daughter, but she has the spirit of a true warrior!"

He said with such bravado that Madoka felt almost...like this was some kind of movie trope?! She thought this only existed in fiction - but judging by the second years and third years looking completely unfazed, maybe this was an old development?

"He's kinda weird huh? But he's fun, I like him!" Natsu giggled.

"...he's like my father. Scary on the outside, but nice on the inside." Yaichi commented after her.

'...I guess so?'

But after that performance, the intimidating coach returned with his low rumbling voice.

"Still, because of my respect to you, Hanamura Blossoms, that I simply cannot ask my girls to take it easy. I hope you understand."

"Of course, we will be playing our hardest too."

Chizuru replied calmly, but Madoka could see sparks flying from their gaze, meeting one another in an epic duel! It was coach Yamashita who broke the staring match first to turn to his girls.

"Then we shall start in another 20 minutes! Watanabe-san, get your players warmed up!"

Hanamura Blossoms filtered out to the opposite end of the field, and Chizuru waved them off to do warm up under Tsubaki while she...ran some stuff. Madoka didn't question her, because all she could feel right now as the jitter catching up to her as she went through her usual stretches, lunges, jogs and runs.

On the other side of the pitch, Madoka could see the Nadeshiko Crystal girls practicing and warming up as well: they were mostly playing give-and-go and...pressing the one on the ball? But before she could analyze it any further, Tsubaki's voice called out to her.

"Ishikawa-san, we're moving onto dynamic movements now."

"O-Oh, I'm sorry, I was distracted."

After going through their regular warm-ups then kicking the ball around to get their touches in, Chizuru finally called everyone back around her in a huddle, 5 minutes before the game. The captain of Hanamura Blossoms opened up her laptop and showed them a tactical white board of the field.

"There is the game plan, so listen well everyone."

She looked at Hina and Shion before continuing.

"Nadeshiko Crystals is going to play a heavy pressing team with better physicality than us, that's what we have already trained for, and they are going to press in unison...that means Saya will be under a lot of pressure. We can play zone defense in order to let our defenders walk up to help protect possession, but because of the choice of players this game, that's a bit risky. So Hina, Tsubaki, remember to consider dropping in case Saya needs help."

Madoka listened to all of this and just raised her hand.

"Chizuru-senpai, what about me?"

"As for Madoka...hm...for the time being, I just need you to stay high and try to pin back the two defenders, you will be quite isolated up there but we need you to hold them back or else they can just push the line up on us."

She looked up at them as if to say 'any questions?' to which no one said anything. With a sigh, this 'young coach' stood up and stretched her back.

"Alright, in that case...let's get out there and do our best. If there's any problems, we'll adjust it at half time. Just get out there and practice what we have learnt, alright?"

Everyone nodded firmly, each of them wearing a different expression - nervous, anxious, excited, blank. But then, Hina raised her hand.

"Yeah, I have a question! We should do our pre-game cheer!"

...

The air of tension basically immediately disappeared as Haru began giggling and Tsubaki couldn't help but cover her mouth to hide a small laugh. Chizuru just stared at her and sighed, but motioning them closer to form a huddle.

"Fine. Alright Ishikawa, Akikawa, Tetsumiya, Hanamura Blossoms have a cheer that we say before games. It's incredibly cringe, but you all will have to make do with it. When I say Hanamura, you say 'bloom'."

They get their heads down.

"Hanamura!" Chizuru called.

"Bloom!"

Their voices rang out in unison, and Madoka felt a heat exploding from inside her - this was real, oh my god, this was not a dream, she was truly here in person, playing her first actual (friendly) game. As she walked to her position at the middle of the field, she felt Hina patting her back, she felt Saya standing right behind her...oh my god.

She was really here.

Coach Yamashita, on the sidelines, said with his booming voice.

"Is Hanamura Blossoms ready?"

Chizuru, standing next to him, covered her ears.

"Yes, we are."

The whistle blew, and everything moved at once.

[KICK-OFF]

Madoka sent the ball back at Saya and took a step forward as the line of Nadeshiko Crystals attackers moved forward - Aimi was the first amongst them. She ran at Saya who was on the ball, followed by another blonde, short-haired midfielder following quickly behind her that just gave Madoka a single glance before letting her go forward.

"Onee-chan, over here!"

Hina had read the press correctly, dropping down parallel to Saya to receive the pass from her twin and immediately carried the ball upwards, running down the flank out wide. Nadeshiko's midfielder moved backwards, closing down the back while one of their two CBs made a move outwards to mark her.

Hina, however, didn't look afraid and in fact, she was even grinning wildly as she accelerated and zoomed down the flank with someone hot on her heels - there was no need for fancy dribbles, she could just beat them with speed.

"CROSS!"

...

But then...Chizuru pressed her lips together in realization: there was no Hanamura Blossoms attacker in the box. Madoka Ishikawa was standing just outside of it, near the zone of Saya rather than taking up space in it. Hina realized this too, and at the last moment, she tried to whip it in as a curved ball from a tight angle.

But naturally, it went out of the field.

"Ishikawa! Your position, focus on your positioning! You're supposed to be in the box!" Chizuru yelled from outside the field and Madoka flinched visibly, as her eyes widened up realization that she had screwed up.

"I-I'm sorry...!"

"It's fine! Pay attention to it next play!"

Hanamura players moved back to defend as the ball was on their opponent's court now. Meanwhile, Coach Yamashita gave Chizuru a glance.

"Who is that little warrior? Where's the fiery spear last year?"

"She's out with a light injury, Ishikawa is our new first year player, I'm testing her as a CF." Chizuru replied simply, but the big man just hummed and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"She seems shaky. If you don't find a way to deal with that, I'll have my players gobble her up soon."

Chizuru didn't reply to that and just kept her eyes on the field.

But Madoka was going through it...she felt her heart pumping like crazy - she had failed, how could she had forgotten one of the most fundamental, basic rules of football that a striker has to attack, especially in a 7v7 game like this?

She had failed everyone, she had wasted Hina-senpai's chances...what to do...

'What to do...?'