16. with high tensions (we're on the assault)

"Spite is a great motivator!"

...says Hamano, before deciding that the best way to pay homage to their currently missing members is to attempt murder via reckless animal control. 

He is not the only Raimon player to get mad today. 

-

-

-

"You're way too optimistic," Shindou looks toward Hamano, who's bright as the sun as he fixes the laces on his shoes. "I know that's your thing, but seriously, do you not have any tension at all?"

Hamano beams, "nope! I'm excited!"

"Why?"

Hamano hums as he works his way through his stretches, careful of the slightly tender, healing skin on his arm.

"I mean, I'm more of a river and lakes kinda guy, but the sea calms me, you know," he says, stretching out and taking a refreshingly deep breath. "Feels like home!"

"I totally get you!" Tenma says, sighing contentedly beside him he follows with a very visible breath of his own. He'd walked out of the locker rooms still sulking, but a while in the salty sea breeze and he's been reinvigorated by the blessing of the ocean gods, it seems. "I want to run into the grass and scream."

"I'm the opposite," Shinsuke whines, "I don't like this salty, fishy, smell. It's very heavy and makes me feel a bit sick."

"Same," Akane says, covering her mouth a little.

"Let's ignore those two, I'm so happy you understand," Hamano says, hooking an arm around Tenma's shoulder, "let's find the sea after this match. Let's dive. Let's fish."

"Yes," Tenma says.

"Stop. Stop right there, enough, nope!" Sangoku enters the conversation physically, "absolutely not!"

"The waves are dangerous," Kirino says, and they really ought to know that honestly, "you're going to get us yelled at."

"It's okay, maybe they'll want to join us!" Tenma says, and then he and Hamano spin around enthused, toward the other team's bench, "HEY, Kaiou guys, is it okay if we—"

Shindou and Sangoku hastily throw a hand over their mouths as Kurumada takes it upon himself to manhandle the brats back to their side of the field. Which leaves Aoi, Kirino, and Minamisawa bowling toward the Kaiou team, apologizing for the ruckus.

"Do NOT!"

"Behave!"

"Do you want to get in trouble with the locals?!"

Ms Otonashi brings out the timeout signs, so Tenma and Hamano end up wearing the signs before doing handstands beside the bench. Apparently, since they had so much energy, they should use it to cool their heads before the game. The entirety of Raimon proceeds like this is normal and begins their pre-game briefing.

The Kaiou players watch from their side of the field with confused interest. One of them had to be pulled back to attention because they were way too invested in the sight.

Hamano chuckles. "Well, of course."

Tenma pouts a little, "I kinda wanted to."

Hamano sighs fondly, reaching over to pat him on the head. "We'll get the opportunity on the field," he assures.

They're all restless and finding ways to let it out. And the excitement of familiar winds only brings their spirits further up.

"Speaking of the sea," Hamano says, "actually, I had this idea. I was gonna do it with Hayami, but since you're a man of the waves like me, I think it'd work out better."

Tenma does not like the way Hamano's smile is not on his face while he says this.

He's been keeping his spirits up, but inevitably, the incident weighs heavy on his chest. The ache in his arms won't go away so soon. Hamano is frustrated, despite everything, and he's been doing all he can to distract himself from it.

Tenma understands. He understands that feeling very well.

"...did you ever succeed with that thing you were trying with Shinsuke?" he asks. Hamano's been having weird ideas lately, and Tenma already knows this isn't going to be a conventional one.

But it's definitely going to be a fun idea.

"Oh, that," Hamano says, "Otonashi-sensei gave us a suggestion, so we switched partners. Kurumada-san practised it with Shinsuke for a bit... I don't know anything after that. Anyway, about my idea..."

Tenma hums, "okay. I'm listening."

Sitting beside them on the bench, Akane's expressions grow from perplexed to enthused.

-

Tsurugi sighs at the sight of Kaiou Academy.

"Their captain's the clearest threat at the moment," Tsurugi says. He glances to the other bench to see Namikawa Rensuke glaring right back at him, the scar that slashed through one eye a clear indicator of his status as a Seed with notoriety.

There's an extra bite of hostility in his glare, like he'd had a personal vendetta. And honestly Tsurugi wouldn't put it past himself to have fought this guy before and forgotten.

"What about the Keshin?" Endou asks, turning to Kirino.

"Hmmm..." Kirino hums. "Three... I think."

"You think," Endou says. "But that's not a good sign. Let's not rely on ours against them, we'd most likely lose on the account of stamina, and we can't afford to lose any players at the moment."

Kidou looks over, confused. "What's this about?"

"Oh, Kirino can sense Keshin users," Otonashi says.

Kidou needs a moment. "And I wasn't informed of this two days ago when we were thinking up strategies because?"

"Because it's funny to see you baffled and I didn't want to be the only one figuring these things out late. Now, moving on," Endou says, "which ones?"

"Uhh, the captain #10, then #9..." Kirino frowns as he tries to remember, "and #2. Will this information actually be helpful? They're probably all tough opponents, with or without a Keshin."

"Yes, but they probably know our users as well," Endou says, "so they'll most likely be marking you three heavily... and do you know what that means?"

"We can go batshit?" Amagi asks.

Everyone turns to him. Then to Sangoku. Sangoku relents an obligatory, "language..."

Then they all turn back to the coach.

"That is not how I would put it, but yes," Endou says. "They're most likely underestimating us, except for our Keshin users. So first, we turn that on its head. Are we all on the same page?"

"Uhm..." Ichino speaks up, raising a hesitant hand.

Everyone turns to him and he squeaks.

"It's just... we haven't practiced this team formation yet," he says. "And we're not used to this field either," he looks at Shinsuke. Then at Hamano and Tenma, "plus, those two look like they've got something impromptu planned. So for the first half... I have a bit of a suggestion?"

-

The match begins rapidly. A fast break from Kaiou cuts right through Raimon's offensive line, and Kaiou's #11, Yoshimine, whips through with a jet of water, spinning the ball through his feet before launching it like a javelin toward the goal.

"Flying Fish!"

"Crap— Sangoku!" Kirino hisses when it crosses past the point he can defend.

Kaiou's team members grin. This was a shoe-in for victory, as far as they knew. But Sangoku's composure is very quick to prove them wrong.

Sangoku smashes his hands together, a churn of dark energy pouring right forth from his arms spiralling up to his elbows— and then he splits them apart, the dark matter conjuring two gigantic hands on either side of him.

"Unassisted Hand!"

It seizes the shot right in his palms, and he brings it to his side with a little less than a huff of effort. He grins.

Amagi cheers, and Sangoku points forward, ready to start the next throw-in. Kirino has to just stand there completely baffed. Shinsuke is stoked, and Shindou grins, turning back around to direct the rest of the team forward.

"Don't let your guard down just yet!" Shindou commands.

And the team roars back, "YES, CAPTAIN!"

-

Back at the benches, Kidou has his hand buried in his eyes.

"Endou..." Kidou mutters, "when I said 'do something about that one', I didn't actually mean teach him how to summon the hand of the gods. We do not need another legacy of the Endou in this world, please."

"That's a little different from a God Hand though?"

"Details."

"Well what else was I supposed to do," Endou pouts, like a child. "You gave me the kid. You left me unsupervised. So I teach him how to summon a demon, obviously. You should have predicted this or something. You're a genius."

"I am so sorry I ever had faith in you."

Otonashi notices the managers staring in bewilderment and she has to hurriedly assure them, "don't worry! This is just their weird way of getting along!"

-

Hamano has the ball now, dribbling it forth.

Kaiou's #9, Wanda, catches up with him, crashing shoulder to shoulder. Hamano winces when the rough shove jostles at his injuries, but he manages to keep the ball between his feet. Hamano hops, looking for a pass—

—but Wanda reacts first, leaping up to steal it.

The ball turns in the other direction, and Hamano bites his tongue, gathering himself back on his feet.

"Don't push yourself," Wanda chortles, glancing back, "are those burns? They look pretty bad, you sure you should be on the field?"

His smug grin sends a spike of frustration churning through Hamano's gut. He knew what happened, didn't he? He clearly did.

Wanda is fast, and once he's done gloating, he speeds up further, a sprinter having found his stride. Hamano falls behind, and doesn't chase further.

"You alright?" Minamisawa asks as he passes him, passing him on the back.

Minamisawa crosses immediately, not expecting an answer, but Hamano makes an affirmative noise anyways.

Hamano frowns.

The way Wanda runs, the posture, the mannerisms— they remind him of Hayami... it didn't have the clumsy habits of someone like Tenma, so he realizes that Wanda's someone that runs track.

Most likely a sprinter, too.

And that realization annoys him to no end. Oh okay, so Hayami's stuck on a hospital bed nursing a broken foot and this guy is just here—

Hamano feels something under his feet. It's not a real feeling, it's a phantom urge, an illusion— or something, he's not sure.

"Don't get cocky!" Wanda yells, his Keshin spiralling to life in a churn of sea green wisps, "Sonic Speed Varius!"

It's too fast. The Keshin Shoot cuts past Sangoku before he can get his hands ready, bursting forth like a whirlwind driving right through him.

"GOAL! Kaiou earns the first goal of the game! Sangoku's new hissatsu is broken almost immediately! What will Raimon do now?"

Being an announcer must be such a dangerous job. On a worse day, Kurumada will be over there punching the poor boy's lights out. He's dangerously close to a player-accessible side of the field. Now Hamano understands why official game announcers are behind glass windows.

Ah, Hamano comes to a realization. He knows what this negative emotion in his gut is now. It's anger. It's raw, unadulterated bloodlust, only reined in by his rational thinking.

Oh dear, that's really not like him. What should he do with this desire to murder? He's not usually an angry person, so he has no idea how to manage it.

Hamano starts running again when the ball comes back toward him. He dribbles on, but Kaiou, seemingly noting that he's the current weak link, zero in on him immediately.

They surround him with a churn of water, and the fin of a— shark? Whale— emerges in the watery depths. He winds back, startled— only for Ide to leap, the whale— the orca— leaping forth right behind him, deadly jaws open.

Hamano stares up, jaws agape.

(And for a moment he thinks, hey that's a pretty—)

He's blown back and the ball is stolen from him. He yelps, falling harshly, but managing to scramble back on his feet immediately.

Oh. Oh, I see now, he thinks, as he runs, and he smiles, enthused— that's how.

-

"My bad!" Sangoku calls. The whistle declares a point to Kaiou.

"We'll get it back!" Kurumada yells, "get up, Sangoku! It can't be helped, we'll have to reorganise our defensive formation. Kirino?"

Kirino nods.

The rest of the first half goes similarly.

Kaiou's #2, Ide, keeps Tsurugi pressured. His Keshin isn't as strong, but it's just distracting enough to deter Tsurugi from any risky moves. Shindou has his limbs busy with Wanda, and Kirino is completely locked out of the game by Namikawa.

There's not much of an opportunity for Raimon's offense to really break through. They're stuck on the defensive, and the reason is clear.

Ichino plays too differently from Hayami to fill in his shoes well. And with the lack of Kurama in their offensive formation, Raimon's ability to surge at the other end of the field is weaker than usual.

The first half ends with a 0-2 in Kaiou's favour.

"I thought we'd have a bigger lead," Namikawa says, "but no matter. We have our pride as Fifth Sector's forces, and we won't pull back until you rebels haven sunken! Especially you, traitor! You're destined for the brig, to the gallows, if I have a say in the decision!"

He points at Tsurugi as he declares this. Tsurugi's brow twitches.

"I have no idea what the hell that means, but I don't like that tone," he grinds his teeth, taking a confrontative step forward, "I'll have you know, I'm far more familiar with God Eden than you are, you—" he throws his hands up, "you fucking chuunibyou!"

Everyone in the vicinity gasps at that.

"What did you just call me, you measly piece of moss-cludden driftwood??"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Tsurugi raises his voice, "just say 'asshole' like a normal person!"

"You're utterly vulgar and reprehensible! You lack pride, both as a human being and as a Seed! As a man of the sea I am ashamed to be associated with you!"

"As a man of the s— Do you even know what 'swear like a sailor' means?!"

That's about the time when Minamisawa stops gawking and has enough mind to realize he has to separate them before this gets physical. The short guy on the other team, Kaizu, is doing the same. Ridiculous of an argument as this is, they can't exactly let this happen on live TV.

"What, are we throwing hands?" Amagi asks. "You guys got a problem with our resident dark monarch?"

"Do not call me that!" Tsurugi snaps.

"Yes, my liege," Minamisawa says, dryly.

"You're not helping, you two," Ichino says, coming by, "let's go back to the bench! Please!"

"Your highness if you would just let this go for once," Minamisawa groans, holding Tsurugi by the shoulders but somehow this kid is too damn strong for Minamisawa to physically move, "we will be able to duke it out later on."

"What's going on there," Midori hollers, running up into the field, more excited than she should be, "are we throwing hands, boys?!"

"Can we go one match without some sort of petty quarrel on the field?!" Ichino whines.

"What is this, the Raimon disease?" Yoshimine sighs, trying to hold Namikawa back by the shoulders, "give me a break. If two Marked Seeds are gonna duke it out, there's nothing the rest of us can do, you know?"

"Unhand me, Yoshimine!" Namikawa waves a fist, "that imbecile deserves to be subjected to the horrors of the oceans!" he spins toward where the sea probably was, "may Davy Jones curse him for generations!"

"Do it yourself, you coward!" Tsurugi yells back.

"Tsurugi, SHUSH!"

"Namikawa, Captain, stop! You can throw him off the plank later when we win the match or something!" Kazui reasons.

"No you literally can't?!" Shindou turns to him, mortified by the suggestion.

Kazui balks, "I mean, yeah, we can't. But SHHH!" he hisses, "do you want this argument to continue?!"

"Think of a healthier way to stop him, then!"

"I don't want to hear that from you," Kazui points at Tsurugi, who's being held back by Minamisawa, Ichino, and Kurumada, and Tsurugi is still able to take a step forward against it all, and Amagi is actually sizing up the goalkeeper Fukami, "you need three people to restrain your Seed and he's winning!"

"Former Seed," Shinsuke says to his fellow midget.

"You wanna fight?!" Kazui whirls on him.

Shinsuke squeaks, scrambling to hide behind Midori immediately. The delinquent stands firm, arms crossed, eyes glazed over with annoyance.

"You got a problem with our first-year, pipsqueak?"

"You're not even supposed to be on the field, Miss!"

The referee has made his way over in utter confusion, and the announcer has no idea what to even say at this point. Coach Endou hurries over with Kaiou's coach, Coach Kuki, and they're both apologizing to the referee. Thankfully, it's half-time, so there's no real disruption to the order of things, but this was still unbelievable.

"Cease this, you scallywags!" Coach Kuki yells, loud as a blaring siren horn, and everyone has to stop roughhousing to cover their painfully ringing ears. "You're embarrassing yourselves!"

"That's right!" Coach Endou picks right up. "If you need to fight, do it on the field! I've said that plenty, haven't i?"

"We are on the field, Coach."

"You know that's not what I meant," Endou mulls, realizing he'd walked right into that. "Have some sportsmanship, all of you. You can't keep getting physical every time someone disagrees with you. We're all here on this field, in this stadium, to play soccer together. You two don't have to get along, but don't ruin it for the others!"

That makes them fall silent.

Tsurugi clicks his tongue first, turning around quickly to march back toward the bench. Namikawa grumbles under his breath, turning around just the same. The other players sigh in relief, and the coaches sigh in resignation.

-

"Look on the bright side, Tsurugi," Aoi hands him a bottle as he angrily takes it to rehydrate. "We made it to halftime."

"Yeah," Shindou says, and Ichino smiles sheepishly. "From here on, it's the real battle for us."

"I hope it doesn't backfire," Ichino says, a little nervous.

"Be a little more confident in yourself," Kurumada pats him on the back. "Shinsuke, you alright now?"

Shinsuke nods. "I'm getting used to it. The wind doesn't make me feel nauseated anymore."

The plan was simple— take it easy in the first half. Raimon needed time to adapt to this new ground, learn their attacking patterns, and so much more. Plus, Raimon's always been a strong offensive force that found their stride in the second half.

That's why they saved their energy— or, at least, that was Ichino's plan.

"I'm going all out in the second half," Tsurugi says.

"That's the idea," Shindou says. "Minamisawa, can you keep up?"

"I want to say yes, but..." Minamisawa's eyes drift toward Hamano, who, after taking his drink, is heading back toward the teachers. "I have a feeling I'd be better off laying low for the rest of this match."

"Huh?"

"Uhm, Ms Otonashi, can I borrow your phone?" Hamano asks, stepping up to the teacher advisor. Tenma's beside him, and the both of them clearly had something in mind. "I promise it's a super important conversation that I have to have right now."

Otonashi eyes them skeptically, but she relents her phone.

"Oh, and does anyone mind letting me and Tenma handle the opening shot of the next half?" Hamano says, beaming brightly, with an uncharacteristic amount of initiative. It would be the pace-setting and tide-changing shot, so it's awfully heavy of a responsibility. "I have this really cool plan!"

This unnerves everyone immediately.

Hamano is usually bright and optimistic, but not like that. Not with his eyes wide and blank in a nearly unhinged way. His smile isn't even reaching his eyes.

"What's going on over there?" Sangoku asks.

Kirino hums. He doesn't have a good feeling about this either. "The last time I saw Hamano with that face, he was on a quest to fish up a shark."

"Excuse me, what," Kurumada says.

"I'm afraid to know, but did he succeed?" Sangoku asks.

Kirino doesn't even have to nod. Because the phone call connects, and Hamano brightly greets the person on the other side.

"Oh hey Kurama! So I wanted to ask. How do you summon a gigantic snake? Ah no, I'm not summoning a snake, I just need it as a point of reference. And also just for reference, what are the chances of losing your leg with a hissatsu shoot like that first try?"

The entire team falls into mortified silence.

And then Hamano happily turns to Tenma, "he says it's about seventy percent! Apparently we're only supposed to use the predator-type hissatsu as the second shot, unless your name is Gouenji."

"Gouenji?" Tsurugi is suddenly interested in that conversation.

"Didn't Minamisawa take Sidewinder a while ago?"

"That's because of the power of l—"

Minamisawa drops a sweaty towel on Midori's head before smushing it down onto her hair. She spins around and retaliates, chucking a water bottle at him as he runs.

"Enough is enough, delinquents!" Sangoku declares, lifting his head from the ice box, "don't make me go over there!"

"Ahh, it's okay, I'll handle it," Ichino quells quickly, standing up. "I think she threw my bottle, anyways."

"Fubuki was fine, too," Endou says, glancing over at the quarrel and deciding he was going to ignore it, "maybe the criteria is 'are you afraid of the dragon or is the dragon afraid of you'."

"Why must you put such a terrifying bad ending of Wyvern Blizzard into my head?" Haruna sighs. "And why is that appropriate?"

Tenma frowns with concern at that. "That's scary!" he sighs. Clenching his fists, he huffs, "okay. I can do this. I survived attempted murder by wooden planks when I was like, four. I can handle this! This is like, hardly the most important thing I have to worry about today!"

"Tenma, what the fuck?" Tsurugi says.

"Love your energy!" Hamano says. "Okay then, we're going to do it," he says, ignoring the frightened 'wait Hamano what are you planning' from Hayami on the other end of the phone.

"You wanna switch positions with me, Matsukaze?" Minamisawa offers.

"I can?!" Tenma is flabbergasted by the generosity.

"I mean, if you're going to be a dumbass, I'd rather be in a position where I can watch and point and laugh," comes the response.

"That is so mean! But I appreciate it!"

"Wait, are you guys just deciding this?" Endou balks, "I'm the coach, you know! Can you at least pretend to talk it through with me first?!"

Kirino feels dread pool in his stomach and he looks around, only to see a few people covering their faces in misery while the others are just openly gawking.

The only thing Kirino can relent is a whispered "I'm sorry, Fei. I promise Hamano always had the capability to go batshit like this. It's not my fault."

-

Whatever Kirino was expecting, it was not for Hamano to summon a shark.

Or for him to send it in a shoot of all things. Hamano's never tried to personally make a goal before, even though he's a midfielder. And he actually never does try, not for all the years Kirino knows him in both timelines. The only exception was his Miximax with Kurama, and even then, it was usually Kurama that actually shot.

Kirino honestly thought his heart was going to stop when Tenma charged right alongside it, before winding a foot right into those jaws and connecting it with Mach Wind to make one hell of a shoot chain.

(Hydro Anchor stood no chance at all.)

Kirino vividly remembers the conversations of the days before, where they all broke down the mechanics of summoning a predator species into life and the amount of courage and charisma one requires to command a being like that.

And every Raimon member had been present in that conversation.

Which is why Hamano, kind optimistic mood-maker Hamano just summoning a Shark of all things sends the fear of the gods right into everyone's veins. While Kaiou gawks at the new shoot and Tenma and Hamano celebrate their score, the entirety of Raimon just stands still and tries not to fear for the lives of every Kaiou member present.

And Kirino can only put his hands together and offer a prayer to Jeanne's lord above. Because yeah, now that he thinks about it... Hayami's bedridden and Kurama's hurt, and Hamano was right there to witness it.

They say that the scariest ones are always the most patient ones.

"Why, oh why, did Fifth Sector have to make Hamano angry?" Kirino says. "Like, we had so many safer choices but no. They pick the one that would drown you in your sleep."

-

Honestly, Kirino didn't know where to go from there.

He knows he has to go— but he doesn't know, how else to go forward. He doesn't even know if he can, because his legs would give out under him, and it'd all be for naught. Maybe Kirino's grown afraid of soccer. He's afraid of losing it all over again. Because he knows that he no longer has the ability to go all out, he no longer has that liberty.

It hurts.

But it'd work out, right?

(Right, Jeanne? If we believe, we'd make it through. We just need to take a brave step forward no matter the odds. We can do it.)

Kirino envies them all. He envies their capability to grow. Kirino doesn't know if he can do that anymore, because right now, and for a while more, his goal is not further capabilities, but to regain his lost strength.

"Kirino-senpai, did you see that?!" Tenma comes toward him, enthused. I turned the shark into a tornado shark!"

"Yes, I saw," Kirino says. "For a second I was terrified you guys were going to kill the goalkeeper, but I think it's okay. They're sailors. They can handle a shark."

"We hunt sharks for breakfast!" Namikawa yells in response in the distance.

Well thank the lord for that.

"Please don't listen to him. Shark hunting is not ethical," Saruga says.

"I mean, who hasn't hunted a shark in their life?" Yoshimine says. "We do not hunt tornado sharks, though."

"Tornado sharks are a bit..." Kaizu grimaces. "I mean, I'd fought one before, and they're pretty tough. You can never be too prepared for the sea, though..."

What? Ichino listens in, utterly terrified. What??

Shinsuke stands there, utterly confused. "Sharknado?? Why is no one making the obvious sharknado reference??"

"Ah, let's call that shoot 'Sharknado' then," Hamano says.

"Cool!" Tenma cheers.

Shindou sighs, raising his hands. "I admit defeat. I will be out of the way, in the corner of the court. If anyone needs me, please don't."

"Ah, now you get me," Minamisawa says.

-

"C'mon, Shinsuke," Kurumada hollers from the other end of the defense line, "let's not get shown up now! Prove our training wasn't for naught!"

"Huh? We're doing ours, too?"

"Hey, no competing," Kirino says, completely troubled, "what's with you guys trying to one-up each other in achieving new things? Let's focus on our opponents, please?"

Kurumada considers Kirino for a moment before he points accusingly. "Speaking of which, what was the Keshin team doing?"

"I already said let's not compete!" Kirino stressed.

Kurumada hums skeptically. "Then you weren't doing anything?"

Kirino scowls. "You're being really rude here. Insensitive."

Kurumada grins. Kirino gets incrementally more irritated. Oh, so it's on purpose.

Amagi sees it happening and contemplates the consequences. He promptly ignores it.

"Yeah, Kirino, you're really not pulling your weight today," Amagi says. "But that's okay. The rest of us will work harder to make up for it!"

Shinsuke's very confused, but he looks between his seniors, misunderstands their intentions, and go, "uh! I'll do my best! Don't worry, Kirino-senpai! Just take it easy!"

Kirino feels something snap in his head.

His smile stiffens on his face, and honestly, something is starting to burn. Probably his rational thinking. He folds his arms before him, tapping a finger at his arm as he tries to level himself.

"You guys are really getting cocky recently, aren't you?"

Sangoku stands at the goal, glancing forward and then at them and back, not very sure if he should be mediating this argument right now. "Guys, you know the ball is currently in play, right? Guys?"

"HEY, pay attention!" Wanda snaps, charging into the defense line.

Kirino spins, turning away from his despicable seniors and churning right forward, his hands burning with flames.

"LA FLAMME!" he yells, hands slamming against the ground.

Let's say that when the field erupts with flames that burned indiscriminately, blowing back Wanda with a fierce heat. Everyone just straight up starts screaming.

"Kirino?!"

"THAT WAS COOOL!"

"Fire? Kirino??"

"Kirino, put that fire out! Put that fire out, you're burning the fake grass!"

Kirino retrieves the ball with a grind in his teeth. "What are you all staring at?! No time for gawking, go on the offense right now!" he yells, hands waving forward, "I can take care of the defense line, so get your asses up front!"

"Crap, he's swearing! Shinsuke we're running!" Kurumada yelps, laughter in his throat.

"Yes, sir!"

Sangoku is left utterly miserable. "I am hereby banning 'making teammates angry' as a powerup encouragement."

"But it worked, didn't it?"

"I can hear you!" Kirino snaps.

"Stop making him mad, who do you think has to calm him down after this?!" Shindou yells from the other end of the field.

There's laughter as Minamisawa thrives in the chaos, and honestly, with the way Endou and the girls are just cheering them at this point, this was fun.

Kirino sighs in resignation.

-

"Endou, seriously, where are you finding these kids?" Kidou asks, exasperated.

Endou beams as an answer.

"Do you have any idea what Kurumada and Shinsuke are doing? They're not even listening to orders," Kidou says. "They're leaving the defense empty."

"Well, if Kirino orders it, you just gotta listen," Endou says. "It's not like it's unusual anyways, didn't we use to do that all the time?"

"Yes, and we learned our lesson while fighting aliens because you kept leaving the damn goal wide open," Kidou says.

They don't say anything for a while, watching the kids meander through the Kaiou team faster than they can retaliate. Shindou and Tsurugi summon their Keshin, double-teaming Namikawa and breaking through the offensive line.

And then the ball goes to Shinsuke, who's somehow all the way up there now.

"Alright! Let's go, Kurumada-senpai!"

"Yeah, just like we practiced!"

Kurumada and Shinsuke both leap, Kurumada backward and Shinsuke kicking the ball high into the air before flipping right around— to land heavily, right on Kurumada's feet.

And then, he gets launched into the air, right into Full Throttle Jump.

Hydro Anchor stood no chance against that.

"...when did you teach them Inazuma Otoshi...?" Kidou says.

"...oh, you mean it wasn't you?" Endou says, equally baffled.

Otonashi is smiling.

"When did you even?!" Endou spins on her, "leave something for me to do, man!"

"I mean, the records were in the clubroom and, in my defense, they found the tapes first," Otonashi says, "I just gave advice. Like a teacher. Which is my job."

"Endou, I know this is going to be a hypocritical question at this point," Kidou says, " but are you seriously the coach here? Like, where's your authority?"

"You know what, I wanna know too!" Endou whines.

-

Tenma points at Shinsuke and Kurumada as the littler one jumps up to meet a double high-five. Tenma turns to Tsurugi with eyes shining bright.

"Absolutely the fuck not," Tsurugi says, looking at him like he was a disgusting creature.

"You could afford to humour him," Minamisawa snickers mean-spiritedly, "you're like, one of the few in the team with the strength to do that anyways."

"Why is this team so fucking annoying?"

Tenma chuckles, "I was joking, I promise!"

He turns back toward the game, where Kaiou are glaring daggers at them. They've caught up now, 2-2. They don't have much time left in the game.

Everyone's growing, at an insane pace. Tenma's catching up, but he's not making a break into the new world yet. Not on his own.

He has to go higher. He has to go higher, or he'll eventually run out of strength, too.

"Hey, Tsurugi. How do you summon a Keshin?"

Tsurugi raises a brow.

"If it could be explained, everyone would be able to do it," Tsurugi says. "Don't be distracted. Focus on this game first, or you'll just be an overachieving dumbass."

If they let their guards down, they might still lose this game. But they can keep up this pace and go forth, that's enough for this round.

"That's not enough," Tenma says. "This amount of determination isn't enough in the long run of things."

"Isn't soccer supposed to be mindless fun?" Tsurugi says. "Stick with that. It works best for you."

"I— I know that, but..." Tenma stutters. "Just... is it really alright for me to stay like this?"

Tsurugi raises a brow. 'Why not? Do you think Lancelot's the product of me trying to be something I'm not?"

Lancelot is a knight. A loyal, fierce soldier that serves with a noble heart. Whether it was once for Fifth Sector, for his dreams, or for his brother, Lancelot is the product of Tsurugi finding his purpose and endeavoring to go through with it no matter what.

"You want to save soccer, right?" Tsurugi dismisses Tenma.

It's a dream all about treasuring the ballsport, keeping with the spirit of it. The heart of a child is the crux of Tenma's dream. There's no point trying to grow out of it, because then, it would lose its point.

Tenma clenches his fists tight. "Isn't it childish, though?"

Tsurugi scoffs. "We are kids?" he groans. "Even then, have you seen Coach Endou? There's nothing wrong with him, is there?"

Tenma blinks in surprise at that realization.

Coach Endou. He's naive to a fault, even as an adult. He's only driven forward by a singular motive— soccer, and saving it. He's the beacon of soccer at its peak, the spirit of a team, its driving force.

An emblem of charisma, through the ages.

And Tenma realizes that that's it. He doesn't need to change anything.

He just needs to find someone to look up to, some goal to strive onward to— and keep true to himself on the way.

(A figure in an orange hood and a soccer ball that saved his life— those things spring to mind. And those things fill him with resolve.)

"Okay, I got it," Tenma says. "Thanks, Tsurugi!"

Tsurugi watches him leave in silence. Minamisawa inches closer to ask, "uhm. I was following the conversation but I need to ask, what did he get?"

"I don't know," Tsurugi says, sincerely.

-

"Great," Wanda mutters, "this fucking happened."

Namikawa curses.

"Something's just weird about those guys!" Kaizu insists, "just— look at them! They're having fun and just pulling new hissatsus out one after another! That doesn't even make sense!"

"They say the tide takes and takes," Namikawa grumbles. "This cannot stand! Not on our pride as Seeds!"

"I don't want this," Yoshimine sighs, reaching up to his head in despair, "if we lose like this, it's back to God Eden with us!"

"It was inevitable, anyways," Wanda says, "what with the shitshow that's El Dorado."

"Well you might be alright with it, but I really don't want to go back there!" Ide says.

"I'm not alright with it!" Wanda snaps. "I'm just not being a baby about it!"

Namikawa clicks his tongue. They know that already— that if they leave this match with anything short of a crushing victory, they're getting sent back into that hell. Into that chain of no escape.

"Honestly, I'm so envious of that guy," Kazui says, turning toward the Raimon team, where Tsurugi and Shindou were discussing something as a group. "Tsurugi. He got out of this situation easily. And the option was just never present for us."

"Watch your tongue, all of you," Fukami warns, "you know better than to talk about that."

Do they want to be tried for treason against the Holy Emperor? The coach is right there. They were literally Seeds. Any of them could report each other back to Fifth Sector and none of them would blame each other for doing so.

"Even so.... I'm just tired," Yoshimine says. "We joined this place for victory. Why do we have to struggle like this? It's unfair that they get to have fun while we're stuck being miserable, terrified of losing!"

"It's all their fault for going against Fifth Sector to begin with," Wanda says.

"Then why is Fifth Sector losing—"

"Enough!" Namikawa raises his voice. "Focus on the match!"

He grinds his teeth, unable to bear looking at his own team. He reaches up toward his face, toward his scar— and the thought of returning to God Eden haunts him. And yet, there's nothing they could do. No one they could blame for losing.

"We'll seize our victory," he says. "We must."

They can't lose. Won't. Can't. Mustn't.

"I'll make sure of it," Namikawa says. He has to. He has to. "I'm the one that was assigned here, and you guys chose to follow under my flag," he says. "I won't let our voyage end here, no matter the circumstances. So if you trust me, just follow."

His team looks between each other, hesitant. But Namikawa steps forward— and the others come together to follow, one after another.

They've been together all along.

There's nothing to do but keep going on. If their vessel must sink, maybe they should just go down with it.

-

"Sea King Poseidon!" Namikawa summons, calling upon the ruler of the seven seas, his teeth clenched firm with determination.

"We can't let that go in!" Kirino yells. They don't have time for two more shots.

"YEAH!"

Namikawa gathers water into his hands, energy churning into the ground as Poisedon thrusts his lance forward.

"Heavy Aqua Lance!"

Kirino curses. He'll have to summon Brynhildr, but is that wise? They might need her a little later, and— There's no chance thinking about it this late!

Except, his panic is abruptly interrupted by Tenma's loud roar of determination. He spins into place right before Kirino, hand on the ground for balance— only to lift his head just in time to meet the hissatsu shoot with a headbutt.

"TENMA?!"

"Tenma, what are you doing, you idiot?!"

Even Namikawa is flabbergasted by this. You don't just receive a ball with your head, that's asking for a concussion or worse.

At the bench, Kidou watches as Endou balks in worry. "Just asking, Endou, but did you and Natsumi have a child without our knowledge?" he asks, dead serious.

Endou has to throw half of his exasperation right back at Kidou, "NO?? I'm twenty four?? Tenma is like, thirteen??"

"Just making sure. If a hand comes out of his head—"

"It's not a disease!"

Tenma yells out, louder, and a black wisp of energy forms behind him. The figure materializes in a mix of blue and white cloud— white and red, rings of light, and a roar for liberation.

The hands come down on the ball before the wings expand, red feathers framing Tenma's figure as the churn of Poseidon's power dissipates. And then Tenma's swings his head violently forward, sending the ball spurring forth right past Namikawa.

"Demon God Pegasus!"

He gathers it up into his feet, and raises his hand victoriously.

The crowd erupts with excitement, loud cheering filling the stadium as Demon punches the air joyously.

He turns around, V sign in hand, grinning wide at Kirino.

Kirino can't help but smile in relief.

Well, what are you waiting for, he mouths, and Tenma's eyes steel with resolve once more. The celebration reverberates through the field as Tenma surges forth with Pegasus on his back, the wind of revolution spurring him onward, to greater heights.

Namikawa doesn't snap out of his stupor in time. It's too late— Tenma's already rushing ahead, Shindou and Tsurugi by his side.

The passes connect on God's Baton, and Shindou takes the last shot.

"Harmonics!"