68. VISIT FROM ENGLAND

note: tragic doomed yuri yuri yuri YES i effing love lesbians

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THREE

more days until your team's game with England, and things have never been more tense. Berating Igaguri to not skip training, wondering why Hiori even showed up to training (he never even cracked a sweat once—key: he did not ever try), and spending more lunches with Kaiser and his little dog than you would've liked—things did not look so good, even for you.

You didn't want to sound too rude or crass—but Noa really did not do much to stop this. In fact, most of the work for the team (not involving soccer directly) was left to you two managers. Mariele would usually be the voice of reason for her German teammates (though, they wouldn't listen to her more often than not) and you were forced to be the mediator between your Blue Lock friends (of course, often their anger would get the better of them and they would brawl anyways).

All in all, it has been a long week.

Luckily for you—you're starting to think that Mariele, the distant, mysterious German lady of your interest, is starting to warm up to you. The smiles—real, toothy, genuine smiles—are starting to appear on her face more frequently while she is around you, and the words she showers you with are starting to become more and more...

You almost can't find the word.

...

Riddle-like. Maybe even charming. 

Like now, at this moment.

You're both standing on the side, over-viewing practice. Noa was demonstrating some sort of technique a few minutes ago, but he left as soon as he was done and instructed both you and Mariele to take care of the practice right before he walked out the door. 

Blank-faced and deadpan—Noel Noa is not as diligent as you'd expected.

You let out a loud, heavy sigh when the two parts of Bastard München split themselves up and start up a practice match.

Mariele looks at you, eyes sharp with an indecipherable emotion, "You're stressing yourself out far too much. Do you need me to massage you?"

You shake your head, sunken eyes looking at how the two sides play against each other with as much intensity as they would an actual match. "No... I'm fine. Just... ugh. Tired. I don't think each side will learn to synergize in time for the next game."

She spares you one of her smiles—one that feels natural and real—"Perhaps it is not a bad thing. To have two opposing sides within yourself—does it not make you wish to strive for greatness? I think the introduction of Blue Lock within this team is a good thing."

You almost forgot what she had told you before—the whole fact that nobody on this team has ever questioned Kaiser's rule (reign of terror), and Blue Lock—Isagi—is the first to do so. Change is something she's wanted for so long—but never got until Blue Lock. In a way, you understand what she means.

Your shoulders feel a lot lighter. She has this effect when talking to you a lot. Your mouth is open, and you're about to say something—when a scream ripping through the field catches your attention first and your head darts towards the source of the noise instantaneously.

Isagi scrambles up from where he (somehow) fell, eyes narrowed sharply and he's aggressively pointing at Ness, "Fuck you! You fucking tripped me!"

He gets all up in the froggish boy's face with a heated glare, lips curled upward in anger. Ness doesn't visibly react, still having his signature mindless smile placed on his lips, even as his and Isagi's faces are mere inches away from each other, "I don't know what you mean."

"You stuck out your fucking leg and tripped me!" He turns to Kaiser, face still contorted with rage. "You told your fucking lapdog to do this, right? Son of a bitch!"

Kaiser's shit-eating smirk does not even waver slightly with Isagi's hurling insults. It upsets Ness, though, and he gasps at the foul language spilling out of Isagi's mouth, "Don't say that to Kaiser!" Though, the fact that he does not even give the fact that he was called a lapdog a second glance, makes you start to reconsider your thoughts on the brunette.

"Isagi—" Hiori steps forward, reaching out his hand—but he's promptly cut off by Isagi's loud, clearly upset voice once more.

"Maybe if you stopped sucking his dick so hard you'd be able to see where you're running, huh?!" Isagi pushes back on Ness' chest and the smaller boy stumbles back slightly. His purple eyes widen and he sends Isagi a hard death stare.

That's when you decide it's time to get involved. You run forward before Ness has a chance to make this bigger than it has to be—placing yourself between the two of them—back facing Ness and arm slightly outstretched. "I think that's enough. Stop it. Don't do something stupid."

I still have this, you think, lightly grasping your pocket with a certain metallic button inside. Even if Shidou Ryusei was not present at this moment, you would still have a good reason to use such a thing.

Isagi looks surprised at the narrowed glare you're sending him, but he quickly breaks the uncomfortable eye contact to look down at the ground, fists clenched hard beside him. Ness peeks his head out from over your head, wide doe eyes blinking down at Isagi.

Kaiser looks pleased with your actions—the small subtle movements of, only in his twisted mind, antagonizing Isagi—he walks up to you and slings an arm around your shoulder, electric blue eyes curled up with his smirk, "Looks like you made your beloved manager upset, Yoichi. How beguiling. Isn't this a twist of events?"

You have a fleeting thought, while shoving the German man's arm off of you, that he had perhaps accounted for this. 

He laughs, absolutely cocky and simply dripping with confidence, "Well, don't let us hold you up, my dear, sweet manager. Go on."

Your eye twitches when he gives you a small pat on the head and waves his hand to send you off like you're a dog. You do not amuse him with an answer, however, and you sluggishly walk back to your silver bench and slump down like you had run a mile (really, your brain had).

Mariele looks over at your twisted expression and frowns a little—soon it is replaced by one of those dazzling smiles, "Chin up. You shouldn't be too bothered by all this. The most talent shines through with the hardest things to deal with."

Apart from the fact she just called her teammates—the people she was supposed to take care of—things, her words did give you a menial sense of comfort. You look up at her, eyes half-lidded and brimmed with exhaustion, "... Thanks."

Mariele is positively glowing. She must be an angel. "Anytime."

A loud, sudden knock on the door does not catch your attention. The reason is that you believe it to be Noa (perhaps he brought up a gentleman, who was always taught to knock before entering a room), and to a lesser extent, you were currently conversing with your manager buddy.

You do not catch the sight of the thick bangs, colourful hairclips and big, bright eyes that are solely placed upon your figure.

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Kyouka gives Ego a cute grin, something which he (unfortunately, but not unexpectedly) does not return. "Thank you, Ego-san! I promise I won't let you down!"

He does not smile, no, not one bit. He sneers, lip curled upwards in disgust at the sheer positivity radiating off the small girl, eyes slanted downwards as he twists around in his chair and gives her a good eyeful of the back of his skull. "Just leave."

Ego waves her off with a flick of his wrist, and obediently, Kyouka leaves the room with her head held high. She does not remember the last time she had smiled this much.

Clutching the piece of paper tight within her lithe fingers, the knuckles on her hands grow milky white, and so are the teeth that peek out from behind her grin. To go to Germany's stratum... I can finally see...

Her fingers undeniably tremble as she walks through the halls. It is silent and cold, and the only noise that is made is from the way her heeled shoes click against the marble flooring. One, two. One, two, three. A simple rhythm, and yet it follows the sound of her erratic heartbeat to a tee.

I haven't seen her since these teams were all chosen... but... I want to watch her matches, too...

Kyouka wishes you had left her mind since then—but it seemed her wish did not seem to be coming true any time soon.

It takes her less than five minutes of speed-walking to find her way towards the front entrance of the German stratum. It's tall, it's imposing, it's every bit as grand as Kyouka remembers it sounding. The place where the number one striker in the entire world resides...

She stifles a small laugh. No wonder Prince hates him so much. Coming second only to somebody like Noa... it must be hard.

With a deep breath and a stern look—Kyouka steps forward and slides her piece of paper across a scanner. It takes a good few seconds, but eventually, the doors creak and slide open. It feels like a whole new world, stepping through the doors and hearing them slam closed behind her makes her jump like a frightened cat.

Kyouka places a hand over her heart and takes in another deep breath. Nobody... is here... She turns her head side-to-side—lo and behold, the common room is completely empty. Maybe... they're training.

The individual training rooms were also completely empty, she soon learned after poking her head into a few rooms. Totting around the German stratum looking for you is not really how she envisioned her fated reunion with you would have gone—but she is not one to complain.

Her heart thumps in her chest when she hears the sound of feet colliding with a soccer ball. A practice match... that is only ever overseen by a manager...

Kyouka's eyes glimmer with hope as she knocks as hard as she can on the door. It rings out through her ears and the hard metal is cool beneath her milky knuckles—but she receives no answer. She tries again—her bones are starting to ache—but just as before, she receives no answer.

A frown has started to unconsciously make its way onto her face. Still—there is no use looking down now, she thinks—and Kyouka keeps her head held high as she knocks, hard, one last time. When she receives no answer for the third time—she takes the initiative and slides open the door herself.

It is loud, scratchy metal against faux grass, but still, it all seems to fade away into the background when she finally gets an eyeful of you. Her eyes crinkle upwards into crescent-moon shapes and she grins wide, [name]... !!!

She opens her mouth, perhaps to speak, or to even prepare you for a tackle-hug—but the words die in her throat when she sees exactly why she had not been answered several times. Kyouka is frozen on the spot, staring at where you stand, talking with Mariele. Or more specifically, where Mariele has her fair-skinned hand laid on your shoulder—slowly tracing upwards and tilting your chin up when you make a miserable expression.

But it is not that show that makes Kyouka's eyes widen and shake. It is not the reason she clenches her jaw and the spit in her mouth feels like venom—it is the fact that you're looking up at her like she's the sun and stars.

If she could, Kyouka would've shattered into a billion fragile pieces onto the floor. What... who is... 

The German woman, with charming smiles and honeyed words, has you wrapped around her finger—that is all Kyouka can see.

[name]. Her lips tremble—nails dig into the skin of her palm and it makes the insides start to sting.

Why... are you staring at her like that...?

You... never looked at me like that.

Her breathing is uneven and erratic but she barely even notices it. Her stomach churns uncomfortably and she bites down on her bottom lip, hard.

She's so lost she doesn't even notice when Mariele points out her existence within the room, and you finally break your eyes away from the golden-haired woman, to look at her. You smile, wave a little and usher her over.

The way her heart horribly bumps feels worse than anything ever before. She smiles and greets you back—it feels a little forced, but she's sure you can't sense it—and she takes a place next to you, just outside the barriers of the field. 

She waits for a second, perhaps for a conversation to be stricken up—but it takes less than a minute for you to keep talking, keep looking, keep staring at that woman.

Kyouka watches in complete silence.

[name]...

Why won't...

you look at me...?

She feels utterly terrible. It is sad and she is horribly pathetic—Kyouka is acutely aware of this fact, and yet, she cannot help the way she wilts like a flower by your side. She does feel a single opening for her to possibly join into whatever world you are living in with that blonde—nor does she feel the least bit comfortable standing here awkwardly by your side.

This went worse than she had imagined. Perhaps she should not have seen you at all.

Kyouka looks up at your face as you smile at some sweet, sultry words spoken by that German woman—and she doesn't believe she's ever seen you make such an expression.

An expression of... tender... fondness.

The thought makes her skin crawl like bugs and she suddenly feels sick.

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note: kyouka is dramatic as hell guys but she's loser in love so give her a break cmon

also yes [name] and kyouka and reonagi are parallels what r u going to do abt it. NOTHING. pussy. ik kyouka has not been getting any attention since like the second selection but honestly there's so many characters and managers to give love to that its hard to balance everything out

i still love my silly little pookie tho. kyouka the cutest >_< ever