Childhood Strangers 30

“Zzzzz…”

“…”

“ZZZZZ…”

“…”

“ZZZZZZ!”

“Ah, come on!”

It was a few hours after Reo and the rest had come back from the football game they had spent their evening watching, and with dinner already served everyone seemed to have clocked out for the night. Yet that also meant Totori’s snoring wasn’t going away anytime soon…

“Ah…”

Unable to take it, Reo silently heaved a sigh, after even his enraged slurs did not do anything to tame the snoring beast, nor the unexpectedly heavy sleeper Toraichi. Thus, he decided to get some fresh air, since sleep very clearly eluded him at any given chance.

Walking down the empty hallways of the motel the school had rented to accommodate the students, the young player silently prayed Gonda was fast asleep. God knows what he’d say if he saw he was still up after lights out, a few hours before their match.

Although Reo did tend to have pre-match jitters the day before a game like every other player, it was certainly not that big a factor for him to miss sleep for. Totori’s snoring was one of them sure, but also…

His mind rarely left thoughts of Shuna aside, and with Risa’s arrival and their very clear strained and mysterious relationship he couldn’t help but let his mind wander every which way.

As his feet carried him to the highest balcony of the motel, his slippers basically gliding on the wooden flooring, he heard a set of voices behind the thin, paper thin sliding door.

One in fact, belonged to the very same person who occupied his thoughts day in and day out without fail.

“So, are you going to finally tell me why you’re following us around?”

It was Shuna, and judging by her question she was either talking to a stalker, or Risa, the female team’s ace, and the one she had been butting heads with constantly throughout the week.

“Whatever do you mean, Shuna-chan?”

Evident by her cool, relaxed voice, it was indeed Risa whom Shuna was conversing with.

“Come on Risa, it’s just the two of us. Can you drop the whole act?”

“There is no act to drop. I simply don’t understand your question.” Risa seemed to pause, her voice taking in a different tone this time. Almost softer. “We have been friends, for as long as we remember, haven’t we?”

“…” Shuna merely sighed. It wasn’t a tired sigh, but a disconnected kind of expression. A painful exhalation. “…A lot has happened since the last time we called each other that, you know.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that.”

“Look, Risa.” Shuna’s voice regained its sharpness, the goal she had in mind breaking through the fog of uncertainty within her head. “If you’re trying to get Reo to side with you over what happened, you better not pull anything more extreme than you already have.”

“Making him side with me?”

“I’ve seen you, and you know very well what I’m talking about.”

“Don’t you think you should tell him already? Doesn’t he deserve to know?” Risa’s tone wasn’t cold as she asked, but Shuna’s clear silence spoke volumes of what she felt like upon the sound of it.

“It’s in the past. It’s done, and over with and I don’t want to talk about it. And if you think you’re gonna change my mind then you’re wrong.”

Shuna responded in what seemed like a sudden outburst. Her voice grew clearer, as her shadow casted over the thin sliding door.

“I’m NOT budging on this. My mind is set and I’m NOT coming back.”

Coming back…

Reo’s mind was filled with even more questions as Shuna’s words resounded within the walls of his head.

“Ah!”

Crap, he had forgotten he was effectively eavesdropping, and Shuna’s footsteps echoed closer and closer to the door. Looking around frantically he spotted the next window to the side, and didn’t hesitate to rush in there and roll the curtains closed. Hopefully, his slippers weren’t too visible.

“…”

As the door to the balcony opened, Shuna’s hard hitting footsteps sounded heavier than ever, as she retreated down the hall, taking all of the noise with her.

“Phew…” Reo exhaled as silently as possible as he seemed to have weathered the oncoming storm.

*SLING*

“You can come out now.”

In an instant, as Reo was basking in his victory, the curtain concealing him was pulled aside by an unplanned variable. Risa, her cool smile always on display raised a brow at him, arms crossed.

“Hey, can’t sleep?” Reo smiled back trying to look as nonchalant as possible. As nonchalant as someone pressed up against a glass door could be, that is.

❖ ⚽ ❖

“So you heard everything?”

“Eh, pretty much?”

Even if Reo’s acting skills weren’t bottom tier, getting out of that situation was simply impossible for someone who wasn’t a magician. Thus, the eavesdropper was caught red-handed.

“Hm.”

Thankfully, Shuna had rushed out of the scene so fast she never caught wind of what happened after her departure, and now only a single amused grin was facing him.

“…I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”

“Why would you be?”

“Besides the fact that eavesdropping is bad in and of itself, I’d say what I heard was pretty personal.”

”You’re not entirely wrong about that.” Risa tapped at her chin, “Yet, what you did hear was only a fraction of something way bigger.”

Did she really have to talk like a game master all the time?

Pushing that silly whimsical thought aside, Reo focused on her words. Did he really get any answers? All he got from all this was that Risa and Shuna had a fallout despite being friends, and Shuna refused to go back to someplace. She also refused to acknowledge its significance upon Risa’s mention of HIS right to know.

What was that all about?

Reo could spin a guess, but judging by what Risa just told him, he still lacked a lot of details.

“Okay, but…”

“What?” Risa raised a brow, “As much as I think you deserve to know about Shuna and her past, it’s not my place to tell you.”

“Figures.” Reo nodded. He probably wouldn’t have felt right hearing something about Shuna, if it didn’t come from her, or at least through her own wish.

“You’ll probably tell me to… forget all about that, right?”

“Do what you want. And for one I won’t report you, but be warned that you just might have stepped on a landmine.”

“Got it…” Reo exhaled, “Thanks Haneda-san.”

“You’re welcome, Yuusaki-kun.”

As coolly and breezy as always, Risa Haneda turned on her heel and softly but promptly made her way down the hallway and towards her own room.

“Well…” Reo sighed. As difficult as it was to sleep before, it would certainly feel a lot harder after what he just happened to overhear in the middle of the night.

❖ ⚽ ❖

Coming back? Coming back to where? Not changing her mind… about what?

Were she and Risa really best friends? What could possibly cause them to—

“Yuusaki Reo!”

Suddenly, Reo snapped out of his thoughts and came to inside a locker room, where everybody’s eyes were sharply trained on him. Gonda’s especially so, after Shuna had uttered his name like an annoyed lecturer.

“Ah…” Reo looked around and tried to look sharp and focused, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Yes ma’am, he says.” Shuna sighed, fixing her glasses up her nose, “This time, please pay attention.”

It was Sunday, and not long before the ball was kicked off between Tetsudo and Hinami Pirates. Inside the away team locker room, Shuna was as always giving her tactical analysis.

Her explanations where concise and to the point. Tetsudo were a team that tactically relied on pressing their opponents to the brink of suffocation. Their coach’s motto was none other than “attack is the best form of defense”. You didn’t have to defend if your opponents could not attack. Thus, they relied solely on getting the ball back as soon as possible when they were out of possession.

Of course that came with flaws. And in Tetsudo’s case they weren’t just far and few in between.

“One of their star players, their all-around attacker, by the name of Takuma Ressha, is an undoubtedly great technical player. But he often relies too much on his ability, and doesn’t always pick the best option for his team. He sees it more as something he’s having fun with rather than a competition.” Shuna explained, and suddenly Reo felt all eyes on him once more.

“What? I’m not like that!”

Reo could protest all he wanted but his teammates knew. That’s why they all laughed instead.

“Their other star player, Akinori Kotsuji is on the other spectrum of the football player category. He is strong, resilient and overly serious about everything he does on the field. He always puts the team first and reads the plays of his opponents to perfection. But there’s only so much one attacking midfielder can do. He is their best bet at winning every game, but it doesn’t always work out.”

And that is because, despite Masaru Bizen’s coaching, the team could not 100% implement that attacking style without fault, and if a team was smart enough they could definitely break through their pressing. That’s what Gonda set out to do.

Fast passing, no looking back, and playing the ball high was what Hinami trained on the week prior to the match. If the ball couldn’t stay on their half for long, the possibility of them losing possession in a danger area was significantly lower too.

The lineup was similar to all the past games, save for a change in midfield, where Koichiro Mizuta started his first game over the towering Ayase Ishiguro. Koichiro’s fast passing was very much needed in place to Ayase’s big, strong yet also slow presence. Hinami relied on speed and agility this time around. There was also another change that wasn’t exactly foreseen though…

“Toto, I’m sorry but we’re changing our formation today.”

“Haha, it’s okay coach.” Totori scratched the back of his head in disappointment, but smiled nonetheless. Instead of a 4-4-2, Hinami changed their shape into a simple 4-3-3, where Reo would play as the sharpest point in midfield. The front three was Kaoru on the right, Toraichi in the center of attack, and on the right a raring to go Mikki Asano. Putting a true winger on the wing instead of Reo boosted their speed in counterattacks, and allowed Reo to play in his natural spot, the so called number 10.

All in all, the tactics were incredibly sound, but Totori couldn’t help but want to sigh. Noticing, Reo patted him on the back.

“You can always come in and score as a sub you know.”

“Heh, you’re right.” Totori smiled back, while Toraichi grinned too.

“Here’s to hoping we give coach Gonda a positive headache when he’s thinking who to pick as the striker in the future.”

“Aye.”

Reo, Tora and Toto were pumped, and so were the rest of the Pirates. The match was upon them, and nerves were straightened out and jittery just like before every other match.

Let’s get them!