The Ultimate Scoop 06

“Pour one more, Mastah!”

“Ah, you sure?”

“Aye, mastah!”

“Well, if that’s what you want…”

In the cool, interior of a Japanese styled shop, Toraichi and Reo fiddled with their cups, while Totori was served his third ice cream for the night.

And yes it was ice cream.

After Reo had finished his work at the field, Totori proposed they celebrated at the small sweets shop just outside their school. In his words, the ice cream was to die for. Maybe that’s why he was stuffing his face with it?

“Won’t you get a massive brain freeze?”

“Nevermind that, his teeth will fall off after so much sugar.”

Reo and Toraichi shared their sentiments on the matter, but their friend was no longer listening.

“Haaah...”

Instead he was just basking in pure post ice cream bliss.

“So did you speak with coach Gonda?”

“…”

Toraich's words made Reo freeze mid spoonful.

“A-About?”

“About Saturday’s match. Did he tell you anything?”

“Nope, not exactly...” Reo relaxed a little, the alarms that went off inside his brain fading away into nothingness.

“What’s the match about anyway? I heard some people say it’s a must win on our way here.”

“Oh, it most definitely is.” The shop’s owner, a middle aged man brought over a few cups of tea, to the teenagers sitting and chatting by the counter overlooking the kitchen.

“Here, it’s on the house.” He smiled warmly, and placed a hand on Totori’s shoulder. “This one here is my most loyal customer after all.”

“Aw, mastah…” Totori wiped a few tears on his sleeve, as Toraichi scoffed.

“Well it’s not every day you get a customer ordering three deluxe ice creams, and see him devouring them all by himself.”

“He does that every day?”

The owner’s smile, and Toraichi’s look of contempt, betrayed two sides of the same answer.

Totori had a massive sweet tooth.

“Anyway!” The young man in question interjected, “Saturday’s match is a matter of life and death.”

“Life and death… you must be exaggerating.” Reo shook his head and sipped some tea, before the trivia monster Totori took over.

“Well you see, it’s actually simple. Saturday’s match is the second match of the preliminary tie. We uh… lost to Kame Hama away last week.”

“We did? I mean… you did?”

“Yeah it was a tough game, but we ultimately lost 2-1. However, the away goal rule is valid here, so we just need to score 1, and keep a clean sheet.”

Clean sheet was a term that referred to having no goals conceded for a team in a single match. One match without a conceded goal, resulted to a single clean sheet.

The away goal rule however was a more confusing term. In soccer, sometimes teams play two games against each other to determine who advances in a competition, one at each team's home stadium. If both teams have the same number of goals after these 2 games, the team that scored more goals when they played in the other team's stadium wins.

“But why are there preliminaries?” Reo couldn’t help but question. Naturally, Totori was delighted to fill him in.

“That’s because there are 12 islands participating in total, with a number of 14 teams. However, to honour the number of islands in the Hoshina Complex, only 12 of them get to participate in the Shinrin league every year. Thus, at the end of every season, the two teams at the bottom of the table, play against the other two teams that hadn’t participated in the league that season, in a playoff, and the winning pair joins the league for the next season.”

“Wow, that’s kinda…”

“Confusing?” Toraichi sipped his tea with his usual straight face. “We thought the same when we first learned about it.”

“You already know how it goes, right? All teams play each other twice, the winner of a match is granted 3 points, the loser gets 0, and in case of a draw both teams share 1 point. The one with the most points at the end of the season, wins!”

“Yeah, I already knew that.” Reo smiled wryly, silently thinking back to his own playing days. That was how all the leagues in football worked after all.

“Haha, am I info-dumping again?” Totori laughed, slightly apologetic.

“Wait! So that means Hinami was in the bottom of the league last season?”

“Ah…”

“Haha…”

Toraichi averted his gaze nonchalantly, while Totori gave a dry laugh to the new kid’s very accurate question.

Don’t tell me. Reo raised a brow.

“You see, last year Hinami didn’t participate in the league.”

“What?!” Reo’s hands against the counter made the cutlery and cups clatter slightly.

“Two years ago, we finished last and last year, we lost in these very play offs.”

“Wow… And here I thought we were some kickass powerhouse.”

Suddenly Reo thought back to Housen’s hot shot attitude. What was the point of acting like hot shit if you’re actually dead last?

“Well, last year was bad luck. But I think that with the new first years that arrived, we got solid chances for a good campaign.”

“We did play in cup matches too.” Toraichi added.

“Cup… matches?”

More information? Reo got the urge to slam his head against the counter for some reason.

“The format for that is more like two mini leagues. 14 teams are divided into two groups of 7. The teams in the group play each other only once, at random locations, and the top 4 of every group advance to the knockout stage. From there, there’s the standard two-legged ties all the way to the final.”

“Well, that was surprisingly simple.” Reo shrugged, “So how far did you go last season?”

“Haha…”

Come on.

Reo was just about ready to wallow in despair with every new bit he learned about the Pirates. This time, Toraichi was the one to reply.

“We finished 5th in the group. Just 1 point away from 4th…”

Like he had just dug up old wounds, Toraichi winced as he spoke.

Much to Reo’s surprise, it seemed like Hinami and the other islands had gotten to great lengths into establishing an actually functioning, almost professional league and cup format for their small high school teams.

“But, don’t let that fool you.” Totori bounced back, his chest stuck up proudly. “Hinami is actually one of the most historically successful teams in the league.”

“They are? I mean, we are?”

“Ha! The good old days!”

The owner of the place, cried from the kitchen, his hearty laugh emanating closer with each step.

“When I used to play in the team, we had managed to win our 5th cup!”

“You played for Hinami Pirates too, Mastah?!”

“But of course!”

Totori eyed the tall, burly, and slightly plump owner of the sweet shops. He didn’t look exactly athletic, yet his stories were probably way in the past for him to look the part now.

Incidentally, only high school students could play in the league, so whoever graduated from school, was inevitably forced to retire from Hinami and the other teams.

The four men stood in silence within the otherwise vacant establishment, their attention suddenly drawn to frantic footsteps approaching the door. The sound of running feet grew louder and closer, culminating in a skidding and abrupt halt just outside the flimsy sliding door.

“Excuuuse me! Coming through!”

With a thud, the entrance slid open to reveal, a set of orange-colored twin tails, and a pair of green bubbly eyes.

“There you are!” Suddenly, that small cute round face broke into a grin, and her uniform skirt fluttered in the wind as she hopped inside.

“M-M-Ma-Maemi-chan?!”

Totori stuttered like he had forgotten how human speech worked, and for the first time since he met Reo, his boisterous attitude died down by the blush that crept up his ears.

“Maemi....” Instead of stuttering like the young man besides him, Toraichi gave a lazy, annoyed wave.

While the orange bundle of energy completely ignored her two schoolmates, as was clear by her black and white school uniform, she grabbed a seat right next to Reo on the counter, and gave an order.

“One scoop of lemon ice cream, mastah!” With a hop, she adjusted herself, and smirked.

“… But, transfer student, Yuusaki Reo!” With a look in her eye exactly like a con-artist and a massive declaration, she pulled out a small notepad, a single tooth fang glistening in the non-existent sun.

“Yeah?”

“YOU are the ultimate scoop!”

“The ultimate… what?”

With Totori too stunned and embarrassed to speak, and Toraichi looking away in disinterest it seemed the new arrival would have had Reo all to herself, if not for…

“You idiot, what are you doing?!” Shuna, who angrily bonked her in the head with her fist. The recipient of the blow responded with a whimpering sound similar to that of a distressed cat.

“But! I sensed a scoop! The ultimate scoop! He’s the new addition to the team? ‘Maybe Hinami found their edge to victory? The mysterious young man!’ penned by Maemi Toraichi, the up and coming star of— UGGHH!”

“Stop talking so much, and calm down already.” Shuna exasperatedly resorted to violence once more, as she grabbed her friend’s (?) cheeks and pulled them out like you would a rubber band.

“Shuna, is she your friend?” Reo raised a brow, while he also thought back to her words carefully. Toraichi, huh?

“Unfortunately…”

“And, sister of…”

He then turned to the young man nonchalantly fiddling with his phone in the back.

“Unfortunately.”

“Why have I been disowned so readily…?” While Maemi, the newest addition to the colorful cast of Hinami, sniffled for more reason than her reddening, aching cheeks.

“What was this about a scoop? And what are you doing here anyway, Shuna?”

“M-M-Maemi-chan is in the school journalism club…” Totori staggered a little drunkenly, but didn’t miss his chance to provide information like always.

“And I’m here to make sure, she doesn’t talk your head off.”

“I won’t… I promise, I won’t Shuna-chan…” While Maemi whimpered still, even the strict Shuna couldn’t stay mad at her for long.

“The journalist club, huh? That means you’re—“

“The greatest reporter Hinami has ever seen.” Without a moment’s delay, and seemingly having regained her vigor, the school journalist proclaimed with a proud grin.

“Maemi-chan, is in fact the school’s main reporter when it comes to sports…” Totori pointed out, as he sipped on a glass of water and managed to calm down. Reo was still curious about his suspicious reaction, however.

“She’s a nuisance is what she is…” Toraichi muttered, looking quite fed up ever since his sister showed up.

“Shadup, Onii-chan! Nobody asked for your input!” Maemi taunted her brother by sticking out her tongue, giving him a mocking look before turning her back on him, though she remained facing him.)

From the looks of it, they seemed to be approximately a year apart.

“So, Yuusaki Reo-san!” The bubbly reporter straightened her back, an action that made her proportions stand out, as she averted her attention to Reo once more. “What’s your impression? Like it?”

“Hm, strawberry was nice.”

“She’s talking about the team, not the ice cream, genius.” Shuna remarked.

“Haha, you’re so funny Maemi-chan!”

Totori laughed, although Maemi didn’t say anything remotely close to a joke.

“About the team…” Reo scratched at his chin. Other than the abusive coach, or the snob of a captain? He thought, but of course he couldn’t vocalize his thoughts. Instead he shrugged.

“Dunno. Nothing in particular to say.”

“Come on, Reo-senpai! Work with me!”

“Don’t trouble Maemi-chan, Reo!”

“Shut up.”

Toraichi smacked Totori upside the head, his over-indulgence in his sister finally rubbing him the wrong way.

“Never mind that, I heard you managed to dribble past captain Housen in training. That couldn’t be true, right? You couldn’t get past the CAPTAIN… Riiight?”

Maemi’s tone was somewhat odd and her choice of words even more so. Shuna thankfully filled in the blanks.

“She’s got a weird fixation on Housen…”

She spoke in a hushed tone, as Maemi awaited for an answer.

“No comment.”

“Eh?! Come on!” She gritted her teeth, crossing off exageratedly over a few of her notes. “…I’ll just ask Onii-chan during dinner…”

After that little mutter of hers, Maemi continued with her questions regardless.

“Any words on the match against Kame Hama? Maybe a prediction?”

Now that was an interesting question. Reo eased back in his seat, as he eyed the silent Shuna, who had taken a bite out of Maemi’s melting ice cream.

A grin crept up Reo’s face.

Since he knew he would get the chance to play. And there was nothing he could do about NOT playing, there was but one route to take…

“Hinami will progress. And I will score.”

“HOOO!” Maemi’s eyes sparkled like a pair of stars, as her pencil seemed to catch fire from the speed in which it raced against the paper. “That’s great! Sublime! I knew you were a scoop!”

While the young girl giggled to herself, Shuna, raised an inquisitive brow.

“You sure are a narcissist, aren’t you, newbie?”

“A good narcissist does everything in his power to keep his word.”

Reo maintained steady eye contact, refusing to back down. The tension was broken by Totori’s loud, high pitched voice.

“Let’s go! Let’s beat Kame Hama! Hinamiiii, FIGHT!”

“I like the optimism.” Toraichi smiled slightly from his corner. “Pour one more, master! And put it on Toto’s tab!”

“EH?! Why mine?!”

❖ ⚽ ❖

Back in the Yuusaki Pub, a slim middle aged woman, leaned against the counter.

Her daughter was running errands around town for their shop, since it would still take a few days for the opening. Her younger son however, still wasn’t home from school. Maybe that was testament of a productive day?

She had brought him to a place where if things went well, he’d be able to overcome his trauma, and recover his love for football.

And maybe something else along the way.

She knew it was a gamble. She knew she might end up hurting him if things didn’t go the way she’d planned.

But in order to see her son smiling like he did when he played football, once again, she was willing to take the risk. She made herself a cup of tea, and moved to the window, pulling the curtains aside.

The sun had set, and soon the old street lamps around the residential area would light up. The lighthouse in the far distance was the sole vantage point. A simple, yet beautiful structure.

Hinami was the island in which her aunt lived. And like she had once come here to mend her own heart, she hoped the same would happen to her son.

Reo. She thought.

“…I hope you won’t hate me, if you ever learn of this.” She sighed, but smiled nonetheless, “And I hope you weren’t too harsh with him, Gonda-san…”

A/N:

Hey, everyone! I wanted to inform y'all that since the cast for this work will be fairly big, with every weekly chapter, a character visual will be uploaded in the showcase! Which also means, that every week that visual will be replaced with a new one... (seriously, why only 3 images in the showcase?) Sooo, if you want to look back to past visuals, you can check out the ones I will upload on my instagram account weekly, at @katsuhitogram!

This week we have a Toto Shuichi visual! Which one do you want to see next week? Toraichi, Housen, or Magowski? Let me know!