12. anything's possible (if you try it with a smile)

Teikoku vs Raimon begins.

Tsurugi talks with Haruma Mikado, Teikoku's Captain SEED, and things do not go well. Kirino thought they were only a little more than strangers last time around, but this time, there's only bad blood between them.

Something's strange, but Kirino dismisses it in favour of good news.

Brynhildr is back.

-

-

-

Of course, El Dorado had a broadcast during the Teikoku vs Raimon match. Actually, they had one even the night before, and the entirety of Raimon bolted awake in the middle of the night just to hear it happen.

They talked about the lockdowns happening, and how all evidence pointed to Raimon not being involved in this broadcast. The Fifth Sector agents stepped in for a spotcheck, and no one had their devices, and the broadcast was airing from the TV.

"We can do this with every school in the prefecture, and you won't find a trace of us anywhere. We are not one being, we are a collective. We do not exist."

Whoever came up with this ominous script, Akane loves it. Kirino could see her jittering in her seat, eyes filled with excitement. They definitely knew how to go with the antihero vigilante aesthetic she's set up for them for drama purposes.

Even Kirino didn't know who was saying it this time, voice changer and all. It was probably one of the adults.

The reveal that El Dorado was a scattered coalition may be good or bad for them– but at least, it would spread suspicions among the society. That is, if Fifth Sector was still going to try and pinpoint the culprits.

"What are you doing over there?"

"Hmm? Reading comments."

And all of a sudden everything whirls right over its feet and the whole world spun to the broadcast again, because that was another person talking.

This would be the first time that a broadcast was deliberately done with the intention to appear as more than one person– and they were speaking informally, unlike everything Kirino and Akane had set it up to be.

Kirino was baffled at first– but on second thought– this would sell the fact that they were multiple people easily. They were even using different voice changers for different people– they could now easily flunk around the identities to throw Fifth Sector off their trail further.

No seriously, who was speaking? Is this genius if even the fellow members don't know?

"Fifth Sector denied the stuff we've got on the site, and everyone supporting us is speaking on an anonymous note, so apparently, we're not very convincing in our defamation plans."

"Huh. No wonder they're only suspecting Raimon– it's the only school related to the proof we've published. Well, they're the only ones that got recent, blatant SEED infiltration so..."

"I guess you could call it scapegoating. Try and pin all the blame on Raimon so everyone else can be rid of the consequences."

They were speaking, not toward the listeners, but to each other.

"That's something different," Hamano muses. "This guy seems chiller than the previous ones."

"Speaking of which, I've been thinking," Sangoku says, "remember that video that showed Tsurugi's phone?" Tsurugi sends him a very pointed look but Sangoku continues, "I think that was a girl's hand, wasn't it?"

"Could have just been a boy with a very pretty, non-callused hand," Minamisawa says.

"Ah, that's true," Sangoku shrugs, "but definitely not a player. Or at the very least, not a goalkeeper."

"Hey, can someone respond to the fact that these guys are deliberately putting us on blast?" Hayami says, "we're going to get in trouble! We're being defamed!"

"Huh, let's use that to our advantage," Kurama says, smirking, "we're obviously being set up as the main culprits here. They even admitted it themselves. So if the Fifth touches us, they're playing right into El Dorado's hands."

"Don't play mind games with the government, please..."

The first voice, through the voice changer, was a higher pitch. Not quite a girl's, but highly amused. "Think they'll just 'subtly replace' the Raimon club like what they did with– what was that school you told me about again?"

"Kaiou," the other said, "had a cousin there, apparently the entire lineup changed a month after his graduation and none of his old juniors are there, not even the one that was supposed to take over as captain. Isn't that weird?"

"That's true... I talked to someone in the audience of one of their matches last time. They don't know who any of the kids are, they were just there because it was our regional representative."

"Hey... are you sure the current Kaiou players even study in Kaiou?"

"Dude, of course they are! That's like, common sense," a dry laugh, "but imagine if they all just conveniently transferred in from another city a few months prior. That'd be crazy."

"What nonsense," the other says. "Surely they were a little more subtle."

"Hey, we never know," there's a hum, "not all SEEDs come right up and say they're SEEDs. Kaiou's one thing, but some other schools might have a spy in their midst and they won't even know."

The broadcast ended soon after that, but when Ms Otonashi retrieved her phone from custody, the internet was screaming with activity once again.

Because the residents in the Kanto region have found that they were right.

"Kaiou is– or at least, former Kaiou soccer club students– they're all saying that they were kicked out of their clubs for one reason or another," Aoi says, looking through the information on the laptop for data gathering that the Fifth Sector agents gave up gatekeeping. No point anymore, the broadcast already went up.

"I got into a fight and got suspended," Amagi reads some of the rather uncompromising comments. Apparently, the filter's off for this particular group of spiteful people in particular, "got kicked out of clubs because of grades– I don't know why my essay did poorly, I never got the paper back. I've been suspecting ever since."

"You're kidding, they flubbed a student's grades to get them out of the club?!" Minamisawa says, horrified. "That's illegal!"

"The got into a fight sounds familiar," Shindou says, side-eyeing Tsurugi.

"This one missed the application time and got slotted into another club as per school regulations for late application submissions," Sangoku says, "and another one here said they just somehow got their second choice club instead, even though they were in their second year."

"Oh, is this school the kind where everyone needs to be in a club and club capacity is limited on a first-come, first-serve basis?"

"And this one says he was the captain, but he failed to get into the first team, and just left instead," Kurama cringes. "I understand, buddy. That's gotta suck."

Somehow, the point still got across. People were still being shaken right up by things El Dorado was saying– and Kirino couldn't help but be relieved. He didn't even need to be there– the allies he'd gathered understood well enough to get things done.

That felt awesome.

Kirino looks around to see utter horror on everyone's faces.

"Uhm," Endou says, "I'm sorry– I don't think I understood that right. If the whole team's replaced, does that mean the, uh, entire Kaiou lineup are SEEDS? Tell me I misunderstood that."

Everyone stops speaking.

Tsurugi raises a brow when everyone turns to him. "My Black Knights team were all SEEDs too, you know?" And somehow that was something they hadn't truly let sink in yet.

Endou gulps.

"Suddenly I really want to lose against Teikoku," Hayami mutters, and this time, no one disagrees with him.

-

"Ooh, Tsurugi! The Raimon jacket looks great on you! You finally got the uniform, huh?"

"Shut up. Don't talk about it."

"You're ditching the cape? But it was your thing! No more purple for you?"

"Why the actual hell would I wear a cape over a jersey jacket?!"

Teikoku Academy was oversized, strangely gothic-looking, there was this military air about them, and well, it was massive.

Which made sense when your school name meant 'Imperial State'.

(Kirino remembered the many times they came over for a practice match. Kidou went back there often, as a Trainer instead of Coach because Sakuma took over– so they continued to maintain friendly relations with Raimon.)

(There was always a problem– if Teikoku went to Raimon, Raimon would string them along on some crazy stunt that led them right onto the front page of local news.)

(If Raimon came to Teikoku, the adults could watch them better, but then they would cause trouble inside the building and force a school-wide cleanup that took the whole night to make it in time for classes tomorrow. It was a lose-lose situation for all of them and Kidou was getting gray hairs. Endou just laughed.)

(Kirino vividly remembered the first time they slept over in Teikoku. Shinsuke and Hikaru got lost and they started crying. It took the two teams some hours to find both of them, mainly because everyone that went to look got lost, too.)

Ah, fun times. Disastrous, let's do it again one day.

"Do you know if there are Seeds in the other team, Tsurugi?" Coach Endou asks in the changing room.

"Huh? No," Tsurugi says, "there're a lot of us. It's not like I know all the faces. They probably know me, though."

"Because you're an asshole?"

"No!" he snaps back. "Think of it as graduating at the top of class, it's not that difficult to understand! I'm a model SEED, alright?"

"Are you bragging?"

"Was a model SEED," Shindou absently corrects, tired of this now.

"So we don't know how many of them have Keshin, either," Coach Endou says, "I'm guessing they're not afraid to use it, so Tsurugi and Shindou, be careful out there."

Kirino hums, pulling his shirt on, pulling his pigtails out of the collar.

(Should he tell them? Yeah.)

"There's two Keshin," he says, and everyone stops for a moment to stare, confused. He ignores them, sitting down to pull on a foot brace. "They're both at least on Tsurugi's level, so I think we're better off avoiding Keshin-on-Keshin confrontations. Shindou'll lose when it comes to stamina."

He looks back when no one responds.

"What?"

Half of them are just slack-jawed, flabbergasted. Even Tsurugi.

"You're just going to say it like it's common sense?!" someone yells, "Kirino, please."

"Wait, is that true or–"

"Now that I think about it, he knew that Shindou and Tenma had Keshin, didn't he?" Hayami sighs, "it was so long ago I forgot about that plot point."

"Don't call it a plot point," Kurumada chides.

"How do you even know so easily?" Tsurugi demands, coming up to him.

Kirino hums. What can he say to this– ah, "we passed them by just now on the way here," he says, "my Keshin's pretty sensitive to things that pose a threat. Call it an instinct."

And that made Tsurugi even more confused.

"Your Keshin is, you say," Tsurugi mutters, "you talk like it's personal? Like you're actually communicating with each other? It's not like they can talk."

Kirino blinks. Come to think of it, no one started off living in complete synergy with their Keshin. Kirino barely remembered those days he only summoned her as an extension of a greater strength– because at some point, they both surpassed the level of simple hissatsu and he began to understand her, began to truly bond, and truly became one.

(Maybe it started with Armed. But at some point, they just knew how to understand their Keshin, because they were one and the same. It came naturally now.)

Kirino chuckles, "well, one day you'll get to the point where you understand how to hear their words."

"Huh?" Tsurugi bristles at that. "What does that even mean?"

Kirino decides not to answer that.

-

-

-

The match begins.

Ichino and Shinsuke sit out. Tsurugi stands alone at the front of the formation, flanked by Minamisawa and Kurama. After them were four midfielders, and three defenders.

"A clear emphasis on offense, I see," Kidou says out loud to Sakuma. "How unusual. Raimon has always gone with a formation leaning on the defensive edge."

Sakuma hums. "That's true... Raimon's greatest strength has always been in its solid middle structure... I wonder what Endou's thinking. They're really stretching their defense thin."

Kidou stares out into the field, where the players are warming up.

Then, "you assume he knows how to think?"

Sakuma lowers his head, "lapse of judgement. My bad."

Endou sneezes. The girls yelp, flinching away. Ichino reaches for a tissue, and Ms Otonashi confiscates the clipboard of player analytics from him before he pollutes it further.

"I wonder if someone's gossiping about me," Endou sighs.

-

On the field, everyone gets into position. Kirino takes the spot right before the penalty area. He doesn't usually get put in the center back like this– it's usually Tenma here, but Tenma got pushed forward to stand side by side with Shindou.

(He supposes that's fine.)

Tsurugi gets to the forefront– and he faces Haruma Mikado, the captain of Teikoku. And immediately, he freezes.

Mikado, noticing the look, reaches up toward his own face, obscuring a scar at his cheek. He pointedly turns so his scar faces away from Tsurugi.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" he scoffs.

Tsurugi tears his eyes away immediately.

Tsurugi knows those scars– and just one look over the field and he sees Teikoku's Number 10 with a similar strike across his cheek. And he curses silently, fists clenched.

"What's with you? You act like you've never seen a marked one before," Mikado mutters, rolling his eyes. "You're not so jaded you can't even handle the sight, are you?"

"Don't fucking call it that," Tsurugi hisses.

"What, marks?" Mikado raises a brow. "You're being incredibly rude. Just because yours are much more presentable than mine–"

"Presentable? You call that shit presentable?" Tsurugi snarls, whirling right back on him, "you don't even know what on earth you're talking about!"

Mikado's brow twitches in irritation. "I don't? I know just as much as you do--" 

"Hey, hey, what's going on here?" Minamisawa speaks up abruptly, and they see Teikoku's goalkeeper, Miyabino, making his way over as well.

"Hey, I don't know what you two have got between each other, but chill out. The match is starting anytime now," Miyabino says. "Stand down, Mikado."

"You too, Tsurugi," Minamisawa says, a hand on Tsurugi's shoulder.

The two stand between the two SEEDs that were fiercely staring each other down.

Tsurugi's teeth grinded sharply, and his eyes were furrowed right into pure hatred. MIkado was similar, but much less angered than Tsurugi's near-explosive demeanor.

"Teikoku's going to win," Mikado threatens, turning away. "And I'm looking forward to seeing you back in God Eden, traitor."

Tsurugi sees red.

"How about you try–!!" But before he can continue his loud retaliation, the rest of the team have gathered around them.

"What's going on?" Shindou asks. "Tsurugi?"

"Hey, Mikado," the other scarred SEED says. "What's the deal? You don't usually pick fights."

Both of them scoff, immediately turning away from each other.

"Nothing," Tsurugi insists, marching away. Then, "Minamisawa-senpai, change positions with me."

"Huh? Just like that?!" MInamisawa says, pursuing him. "Hey, Tsurugi!"

Shindou keeps a wary eye on the opposing team. They continued to look Tsurugi down warily– and Shindou didn't have a good feeling about that.

They were definitely going to target Tsurugi on their offensive, and Shindou looked between them, frazzled.

-

The whistle blows and the match begins.

Straight off the bat, Tsurugi has to confront Mikado in his way. Tsurugi slips past him, but Mikado immediately spins right back into a dangerous slide, hooking the ball right out of Tsurugi's leg and into the possession of his teammate.

The ball is passed right back, and Teikoku's intense offensive begins.

"Oh! What a surprise! Teikoku's #11, Mikado, easily steals the ball from Tsurugi!"

Tsurugi curses, and Raimon's offense skids to a halt. Everyone spins back to the defense line, but MIkado is too far ahead.

"What's wrong, Tsurugi?" Tenma says, but Tsurugi's teeth is grit tight as he stays where he stopped, unforgiving for himself.

"Something's wrong," Amagi says. "That bastard, did he stir up some crap with Tsurugi? He better not have–"

"Amagi-senpai, focus!" Kirino raises his voice.

Kirino saw the argument occur. Tsurugi wasn't one that was easy to trigger– sure he had his breaking points, but this didn't happen last time. It didn't even take a near injury to get this far this time, and Kirino would dread to know what was the cause.

Either way, he did not like it one bit.

Everyone's in disarray because Tsurugi's composure is shattered. This didn't do well at all for the team morale, and this was going to lead to a downward spiral if Kirino left it be.

Shindou was rushing back, but he was too far away.

Teikoku approaches the defense line, and Kirino steps forward.

"Out of my way!" Teikoku's #10, Itsumi, yells, charging forward without any hesitation.

And Kirino breathes in– abnormally calm.

Raising a hand, smiling– he calls forth the fog, clouding through him, across from him– and shrouding the bigger half of the field in sheer white eeriness.

"The Mist."

Stealing the ball was easy from there.

"Kirino's hissatsu, The Mist!" the announcer raises his voice, "the ball is back in Raimon's possession!"

Kirino passes to Hayami, who brings it up to Tenma, and then back to Shindou.

"Alright!" Shindou spins his arms to life, the gleaming light of the baton forming in his palms. "Let's go! Minamisawa!"

The ball goes smoothly, running through from Minamisawa, to Kurama, back to Shindou– and smoothly, back toward Minamisawa.

They were right before the goal now.

"Not so fast!" Miyabino declares. "Defense! Hissatsu Tactics: Penguin Carnival!"

The four Defenders of Teikoku gather in the center, side by side. And in complete unison, they bring their fingers to their lips and whistle, loud and sharp.

Minamisawa halts, startled by a legion of penguins sprouting from the ground. They spin to the air, rush forward– and charge right into him, knocking him right off his feet, shredding right through to Shindou and Kurama behind him.

There was no way he could suppress that howl of pain before he fell harshly.

Teikoku picks the ball right up, passing it to the Midfielders, and right back into the offense. #10, Itsumi, picks the ball right up, and this time, he pointedly goes right for Kirino again.

Kirino meets his eyes and realizes he was challenging him.

"No choice but to take it, then," he says, charging forward. "Amagi-senpai, Kurumada-senpai! Stay on your marks!"

They called out in affirmation, and Kirino confronts Itsumi.

Itsumi grins. "Try that mist thing again, I dare ya!" he yells. Clasping the ball between his feet, he whirls back in a somersault.

Kirino pauses, surprised– and for a second, his life flashed before his eyes.

"Burning Summer!"

A flaming heel spins right back up, ball and fire shooting right up to his face– knocking him right off his fist with a blow to the chin, throwing him to the air.

Kirino collapses in an agonized heap, and Itsumi laughs, hopping right over him to continue onward.

He cursed. He was dizzy now– that was a foul, right? That couldn't have not been a damn foul. The heel hit him, it wasn't just the ball. He's so dizzy he thought he died for a second.

The ball is passed to Mikado, and then, a spin of multicoloured penguins arise.

"Emperor Penguin 7!"

"AAaand GOAL!" the declaration comes so quickly, Kirino had to wonder if he'd zoned out for half a second. "Teikoku Academy abruptly pulls ahead with the first goal of the match!"

Kirino pushes himself up, cringing at a ringing that rises in his head.

"--rino... KIRINO!"

Kirino yelps when the loud voice suddenly shoots into his head, and he reaches up to his ears only to realize he was currently surrounded.

Kurumada is before him, on his knees, trying to look him over.

"Hey, you hearing me? How many fingers am I holding up?" he says, holding up two fingers, "crap, someone get the referee we need a moment here!"

The referee does, in fact, hurry over, along with the coach.

"Ah, I'm fine!" Kirino stands up quickly. The dizziness is passing now, "I was just taken by surprise a little. Wind got knocked out of me, that's all. I just need to get my head back in the game and I'll be fine."

The referee looks at Coach Endou, unsure.

Endou frowns. Kirino has to go through a few quick questions, and they'd deemed he doesn't have a concussion, probably.

"Don't push yourself. You're coming back the moment I think things are dangerous, understood?" he warns, and Kirino nods.

The team can't afford to lose Kirino now. Their defense is thin enough as it is.

-

They dismiss the referee, who allows the game to continue.

They have a few moments to talk out before they need to get back to their position.

"I'll be fine!" Kirino assures, when the team still gives him worried looks. "Me aside– Tsurugi! Are you alright?"

Tsurugi actually stops to gape. "Y- what. You're asking me?!" he says, incredulous. "I'm not the one that just got uppercutted."

"Yes, but that's not the point," Kirino says. "Your plays are off. What are you hesitating for?"

Tsurugi fumbles his words next. He can't find an excuse.

"It's because that guy said some shit, didn't he?" Kurama says, clicking his tongue. "If this weren't a proper match I'd throw hands."

"Don't worry about whatever it was he said!" Tenma insists, "you're on our team now! You're not a SEED anymore, so you've got nothing to do with them!"

Tsurugi looks away at that, ashamed.

"Being a SEED is more than just a name," he says, spiteful. Tsurugi elaborates no further, and Tenma deflates.

But Kirino doesn't.

"You're not okay, obviously!" Kirino yells, and it's incredibly ironic he's the one saying this.

Everyone jumps, not expecting him to raise his voice like he was angry. Kirino never got angry.

"Not just you– Shindou! What's with your sloppy directing? You forgot how to direct a three-top or something?" Kirino says, sharp. Shindou makes a startled whimpering noise. "Tenma, you're running everywhere! Stay still and stop wasting your energy! Hayami, I know you're anxious but get up there instead of staying near the defense line!"

"Eh?! I- I'm sorry," Tenma mutters.

"Why am I getting scolded too?" Hayami whines.

"All of you have your attention divided!" Kirino says. "Forwards should focus on attacking, Midfielders should focus on advancing. Don't look back, that moment of hesitation is leaving our offense full of holes!"

The team winces at that.

"S... Sorry," someone says.

"Kirino, uh, you can calm down now," Sangoku tries.

"What are all of you so worried about?" Kirino continues. "You're worried about the defense, is that it? Are you underestimating me?" He crosses his arms, and he puts on his mildly offended face. "Ah, you think the three of us Defenders aren't strong enough, because I let one go through?"

Everyone collectively balks, and they talk right over each other in a panic.

"No, no absolutely not!"

"Of course we trust you!"

"It's just– it's too much for the defense to handle alone, so–!"

This time, Amagi and Kurumada speak right up, "hey, we are perfectly capable of handling the defense! We'll show you!"

To which Kurama rebuts explosively, "I'm not saying you can't, I'm saying Teikoku is too strong for that!"

"So you're saying we're dragging you guys down?"

"We said nothing of the sort, can you guys stop fighting over nothing?! We're just trying to help!"

"We're saying we defenders don't need your help!"

"Oh, looks like there's some sort of disharmony happening in the Raimon Team... I wonder if things are alright?"

They were getting heated now, and the crowd was beginning to notice. 

Tenma tries to get between them to push Kurama and Amagi apart. Kirino almost feels the churn of something burning through his arms, and his hands feel empty– like there should be a flag he needs to hold, a stave he needs to slam to the ground to maintain order.

(Something whispers in his ears.)

(He doesn't know what she says, but he knows whose voice it is.)

Kirino chuckles. Everyone turns to him.

"What are you laughing about now?!" a few people yell, annoyed.

"Nothing!" Kirino says. "Just that I can't imagine any other team arguing among themselves like this. We're going to get the referee really mad at us, so let's get back to our positions."

"Wha– You started this, Kirino-senpai!" Tsurugi snaps.

Shindou adds, "you're just gonna walk away like you're unrelated?!"

Kirino smiles. They were both so much more spirited than they were just five minutes ago, so he regarded that as an absolute win.

Kirino places a hand at his chest.

"I'm Raimon's Ace Defender," he declares.

And the team goes silent immediately. Kirino rarely ever calls himself that– he was much too humble for it. But Kirino smiles, entirely confident.

And behind him, a curl of purple brings a wisp of pink and blue to life, astral and nearly invisible, but it felt real and powerful.

Tsurugi's eyes widened-- but when he looks around, he realises that only Shindou has seen it too. The others-- they couldn't see the burning will, threatening to materialise any second now.

"I'll prove to you that I'm the Ace. I'll turn this around and bring the ball to the midfielders," Kirino says, pointing forward, toward Teikoku. "All you guys have to do is keep bringing it forward, and attack with all your might. Don't stop until you get the ball through that goal."

The team turns their eyes toward Teikoku, who were all looking over as well, eyes meeting.

Somehow, Kirino's words feel true.

"If you want to prove yourselves to be proud players as well," Kirino challenges, "maybe we should stop this senseless arguing among ourselves, and actually show each other."

-

When the whistle blows again, there's a furious resolve in the eyes of the Raimon players, almost as if a fire was lit between them.

Tsurugi starts the match by charging right through MIkado and wrenching the ball from his feet, passing it right to Shindou before sprinting forward, right into the defense.

"There it is! God's Baton is orchestrating the field once more!"

Shindou's hands move.

"Hamano!" The ball soars through the air, right into the boy's feet. It doesn't stop before Hamano sends it right to the next target, not looking, simply trusting the directions.

"Kurama!"

Kurama's shoved behind a much larger mark, but his small stature had its perks. A strategic spin and fake allows him to duck under an arm and slip right through, and he heads the low ball to the side.

"Tenma!" he calls, and the boy scoops it up, albeit a little clumsy.

"Nice pass!"

The ball goes to Tsurugi next, and he comes right before the Defender #5, Ryuuzaki.

"What on earth are our midfielders even doing, letting you guys come up so quickly?!" he snarls, irritated. Ryuuzaki stops for a moment and throws his arms back, a roar tearing from his throat. "Dragon Knight Tedis!"

Tsurugi curses, but before he can summon Lancelot, Ryuuzaki charges forward in a hurricane of wind. The Dragon Knight throws his lance forward, spinning it into the eye of a typhoon.

"Dragon Storm!"

Tsurugi couldn't see a thing before he was dragged through by the gales, launched into the air, and landed harshly in a roll.

"Ryuuzaki's Keshin defends the goal! The ball is back in Teikoku's possession, Raimon's in trouble!"

"Crap! Everyone go ba–" Kurama almost declares, but Shindou's firm look makes his words die out.

This was the territory of the midfielders now. Hayami comes right up with a sliding, forcing a pass. The ball is picked up by another Teikoku member, who comes right into Tenma's path.

"I'm not letting you pass!" Tenma declares, and a shoulder to shoulder hustle begins.

"Try that again when you're tougher, brat!" the boy yells, and a single rough shove throws Tenma off balance. "Mikado!"

The ball is sent to the captain, and Mikado stands before the goal, Kirino in his way. "I'll need you to clear my path," Mikado says, raising his arms. "Black Winged Raven!"

"Another Keshin?!" Tenma yells.

"Crap– we were struggling even when they weren't using any of them!" Shindou curses, "Kirino!"

Worried calls of his name rang out in the field, but Kirino wasn't worried.

(What a disaster.)

It looks hopeless. They were two moments away from scoring their second goal and absolutely crushing the entire team's morale. Forget all the countermeasures Raimon has thought up to fight against Teikoku, none of them have ever gotten close enough to even attempt Ultimate Thunder yet.

(What a hopeless situation.)

Kirino smiles, feeling the burn of purple churn right up his arms, to his back– and sprouting, like wings of a bravely familiar amalgamation.

(This is exactly where I excel.)

"Kirino?" a confused voice calls.

"Is he– smiling?"

"Come on out!" Kirino yells, and his aura rips to life, whirling out in wisps of purple and black behind him, gathering into clouds of bubbly fumes before tearing away to reveal a flag-bearing lance. Turquoise armor gleams against long pink hair– and she stands, large and looming.

When Kirino declares her name, he couldn't help but straighten his back and stand with her.

"Battle Flag Bearer Brynhildr!"

"You're kidding!"

"Wh– WOAHHh!!!" the crowd roars to life, the world exploding with noise at the sight. "Would you believe that! Kirino pulls out a KESHIN!"

"But you're not even a SEED!" Mikado exclaims, horrified.

A ways away, Tsurugi is similarly shocked. "When has he been able to–?!" A few eyes turn to Shindou, but he genuinely, genuinely, doesn't know either.

"So that thing we saw really was..."

There was an incredibly amazed look from the other members of the team, particularly the first years. "NO WAYYY!!" and "Kirino-senpaiii!!" that almost sounded like sheer fanboying.

Endou whistles, impressed.

"A non-SEED can't possibly master their Keshin so easily," Mikado grinds his teeth. He lifts the ball, and sends it into the air.

Black Winged Raven soars, and their shot whips through with a rip of claw and aura, tearing right through the ground.

"Raging Claw!"

Kirino doesn't hesitate. He raises his arms in time with Brynhildr, and she swipes her lance forward, before slamming the spear into the ground.

"Valkyrie Flag!"

The ground lifts, ripping the shot right off the ground, off tracks. It still churns with some power, and Kirino misses the receive, so it spins right onward toward the goal.

"Not yet!" Kurumada declares, coming in with a foot. The weakened shot was nothing for a normal player, and he catches it easily. "Kirino's not the only defender we've got!"

"KIRINO AND KURUMADA STOP THE KESHIN SHOOT!" the announcer screams, sounding near hysterical.

Kirino grins, and Brynhildr dissipates. Kurumada raises a thumbs up. He turns to the rest of the team. "What are you brats staring at! Keep attacking! Don't even come back, just wait for us to pass it over!"

And Kurumada sends it right to Shindou.

"Sangoku and I are here too, don't forget that!" Amagi declares.

No one in Raimon can suppress the curl of their lips. The words fill them with hope– with the real understanding that this is possible. It was so easy– and they can keep going.

"Hear that, folks?!" Kirino declares, Brynhildr's energy coming right back to him, and he raises his arm, declaring that, "this is where Raimon's battle really begins!"

So when they all roar out a synchronous, "YEAAHHH!!!" It felt like the entire world was screaming with them.