5. keep burning (no matter where you go)

Kurama and Shinsuke play soccer. It's magical-- a sight that's entirely new to the people of this dimension-- but none of that matters if they can make the last joyful memories together here, right now, before it all ends again.

Shinsuke leaves.

Kurama stays to fight.

-

-

-

The explanations were, unexpectedly, not as difficult as he'd thought.

The concept of time travel was pretty simple if you broke it down– people already had impressions of it in sci-fi media anyways. All they had to do next was say they got caught up in a future political war to eradicate soccer, it's a long story, yada yada.

"Sounds tough," is all they can offer from there.

"We can't get back home without the caravan, so all we can do now is wait," Kurama says. And he looks away, trying to think of a better way to say probably forever. "If they can find us soon, that'd be great."

Being thrown into another world, with no one to be associated with, no one to rely on, and no identity to lean back on–- it wasn't something the Raimon of this era could ever imagine.

"So that's why you feigned amnesia and hid everything from us, and immediately ran away from the hospital once you could?" Kidou asks.

"That was still dangerous!" Aki chides.

"It's understandable, though," Fubuki says, "tensions are high now with all the alien business. It was probably for the best."

"Still, you could've died," Touko says, frowning. "If the guys at Hakuren didn't find you, you'd be worse off!"

Kurama nods. "I panicked," he says, in his defense. "I'm not like you guys, okay," he directed the last part at Shinsuke, "I don't have as much experience in other timelines as you."

Shinsuke chuckles. "It works pretty well if you just go with the flow! People are nice," he bows toward the Oumihara players. "I'm really, really thankful for the help. I don't know what I would've done without your help."

"Oh please," they blush, "it's just common decency! No biggie."

"Though you did freak me out since you fell in the middle of the night and all," Rinka says. "I'm scared to know what would've happened if I wasn't there."

Shinsuke chuckles.

"Well, that's enough for the explanations, isn't it?" Shinsuke says. "Enough of this sad talk! Didn't we come here for a practice match today?"

"That's right," Kurama says, picking up Shinsuke's pace because he sure as hell doesn't want to talk about it anymore either. "I came here to watch a soccer match. Make it a good one for me, would you?"

They all knew exactly what he was doing. Changing the subject suddenly like that was much too blatant to be subtle.

But when Kurama and Shinsuke smiled like that– like they were trying so hard for just a moment of reprieve– there was no way anyone could deny them of it.

"Alright, then!" Endou stands up, grinning.

He turns toward Tsunami, who raises a thumbs up.

"Time to show our aliens how we have fun, everyone!" And then, because the crowd definitely knows what Endou is going to say next, the next line comes in unison.

"Let's play soccer!"

-

Kurama and Shinsuke sit by the managers and coaches.

"If you're from a world a little in the future of us, does that mean you know what becomes of this battle?" Coach Hitomiko asks.

The managers straighten at that.

Kurama's and Shinsuke's expressions don't change. They're completely fixed on the soccer match before them, and the rhythmic tactic happening on the field.

It's Kurama that finally answers, "we don't know the details, but you guys win."

"Aliea doesn't exist anymore," Shinsuke says. "We all play soccer together and have lots of fun now!"

The vague phrasing makes the managers believe that they spoke of the world– of the humans, of the happily ever after that was no longer haunted by aliens.

But Hitomiko heard something a little different.

"Everyone, together?" she asks.

Kurama and Shinsuke only give a short chuckle in response– but it fills her with hope, and she can't help but smile, albeit a little sadly.

"We'll fight for that future, then," she says. "Thank you."

(They never bring it up again.)

"Hey," Aki finally speaks up, a little hesitant. "Kurama-kun and Nishizono-kun... just now, you mentioned a Tenma..."

"Ahh," Kurama lifts his head, suddenly remembering. "That's right. We were talking about Matsukaze Tenma."

Aki's expression lights up. "So it's really...?"

"What is it?" Haruna asks, to which Aki has to chuckle slightly.

"I have an aunt that lives around the area..my cousin," she says. "So ten years from now, he plays soccer with you guys?"

Shinsuke grins. "Of course!" he says. "He's my best, best friend!"

They continue talking about him.

-

The practice match between Raimon and Oumihara ends amazingly, with Endou managing to finally use Fist of Justice, Kidou gaining a friend in Otomura, and Kogure pulling pranks on some of the other team while Haruna chases him down to get him to behave.

"It's almost time," Shinsuke says, all of a sudden, while they're preparing for the barbeque.

He lost his iconic headband in the bus crash, but instead, he had an eyepatch and the headphones Otomura gave him. His arms were phasing out of existence, flickering like a glitch in a hacked Pokemon game.

Kurama looks upon him, upset.

They didn't know how to bring it up to the others in this timeline, but Shinsuke was going to disappear any time now, and there was nothing Kurama could do about it.

So he thinks– what would Tenma do?

(Because Kurama could do nothing but turn to the most insane person he knew for advice. He didn't know how to be happy otherwise.)

"It'll work out somehow," Kurama says.

Shinsuke, knowing whose catchphrase that was, grins. "I'll try to remember that."

Kurama sighs, spending a moment in silence, just sitting beside him. He didn't want to leave on such a solemn, helpless note.

So he stands up and picks up a soccer ball.

"Catch some of my shoots," Kurama offers.

Shinsuke immediately blossoms with joy. Kurama usually never let him do that– he was just too proud to, and he always trusted Sangoku more.

But now– now it's different.

"I'll go borrow some gloves!" he beams.

Shinsuke runs off immediately toward Oumihara, where the Coach brightens right up at the suggestion and Rinka hurriedly leads him toward the storage, where they kept spare equipment.

A few people looked over curiously, but Kurama paid them no mind.

He simply walked forward, picking up the pace in his steps as he began to dribble, making his way toward the goal post, warming up minimally.

"Hold on– you're playing, Kurama?" Endou says, coming over with the rest of the very busybody team.

"No way!"

"He said he was a forward, right?" Rika says. "Geez, is everything you do a copy of me?"

Kurama scoffs. "I'm better," he challenges. Speaking of which, Urabe Rika is not a person he's met before. Does she quit soccer in the future?

"Then what's Nishizono?" Tsunami asks.

"I'm a goalkeeper!" Shinsuke grins, coming by, pulling on gloves that are his size. "Please go easy on me, Kurama-senpai! My depth perception isn't that great anymore."

"Yeah, yeah," Kurama says.

"Wh–" Endou and Tachimukai react at the same time. "A keeper?! You're a goalkeeper?!"

"But you're so tiny??"

"This is the first time I'm seeing such a small goalkeeper!"

"Hey!" Shinsuke pouts, "I may be small, but I can jump!"

"He started off as a Defender," Kurama explains. "But... well, you'll see. Alright, coming at ya, Nishizono!"

Shinsuke claps and braces himself. "YEAH! Bring it!"

The first kick doesn't get stopped. Shinsuke's depth perception is shaky, even after he's taken off the medical eyepatch for a slightly blurry vision. But he gets used to it quickly, and soon enough, Kurama gets serious.

The Raimon and Oumihara teams don't interfere. It was amazing enough to just watch them– to see them practice, as two friends whose skills Raimon felt the need to evaluate from a distance.

"Alright! Getting serious now!" Kurama grins.

"Bring it!" Shinsuke beams.

"Mixi-Trans, Fudou!"

And then all of a sudden Raimon's perception of reality is violently ripped out from right under them and Kurama transforms, his hair shifting, darkening in tone to form brown and white highlights– his smile spreading so much wider.

"Did he just say–"

"--Fudou?"

He lifts the ball into the air, splitting them into five, and winding them back into rays of purple and green light. He chuckles, whirling into the air before sending them launching in a burst, spiraling toward the goal.

"Maximum Circus!"

"What the– what's that shoot?! It looks crazy!" Tachimukai gapes.

"It's nothing like the one he sent last time!"

"The shoot aside, did he just go super saiyan?"

Shinsuke barely falters. Focusing for a long, deep moment, he roars, a deep blue fire burning behind him, rising into a tornado. It finally breaks apart at its peak, revealing the large, gargantuan creature with humongous proportions.

"Planet Guardian God Titanias!" he declares.

And once again, the world shifted a little to the left and flipped right over.

The entire crowd were eyes wide, jaws dropped– terrified. Except Endou and Tachimukai, whose eyes were sparkling with fascination.

"Oh my–"

"What... what were we saying about Nishizono being a small goalkeeper again?"

"Holy shit."

"Wait, that movement is– is he doing the– you're kidding right?!"

"Is that–"

And then Shinsuke throws his arms back– body forward– and his eyes sharpened, one arm thrown forward with a vigor, a deep resolve firm in his entirety.

"Majin the Hand!"

Shinsuke grins.

Kurama clicks his tongue. "Hey, that's not fair! Asura's mad at me, so I can't summon him yet!" he says.

"You didn't say we had a limit!" Shinsuke whines. "And you did it first!"

They watched as the two of them argued heatlessly, one after another of shots and defenses clashing. At some point, Shinsuke dribbles forward, and Kurama dances right around him, snatching the ball with a simple hook of the foot.

"Might want to run back!" he snarks, decasting his Mixi-Max just to shift a new one right back on. "Let's go, Hamano– Shark the Deep!"

The churn of dark water seemed a little green when it was used by Kurama, but the shark emerged anyway, dipping right into the waters and surging forth..

"No fair no fair no fair!" Shinsuke yelps, scrambling back forward, "but don't underestimate my sprinting abilityyyyy!!!"

Shinsuke spins, his hair brimming bright white, his eyes sharpening into red.

"Mixi-Trans, Ibuki!" he declares. And then whirling forth, he makes it right into the penalty area before tearing his hands upward, five rising slashes emerging like claws from the earth, in the opposite direction so it was grasping the ball back rather than blocking it forward. "Rising Slash!"

Kurama sputters. "I thought Ibuki said he would rather die than do any of this mixi maxing bullcrap??"

"Yeah, we got it secretly," Shinsuke grins. "Wondeba can be sneaky when he wants to be! First time I'm actually trying his hissatsu though... he's mostly heavy-weight and beast based, so it doesn't really match with my usual style..."

"Huh," Kurama says. "Maybe you can mix that with your sprinting ability to make a Full Throttle Claw! Or something?"

"Oooh!"

"On second thought, no, you're going to kill someone if you charge at them with that thing."

"Hey, plenty of goalkeepers destroy balls! I'd say it's fair–"

Shinsuke is sharply interrupted by a violent eruption of sparks in his hand, and he loses his grip on the ball, dropping it abruptly with a loud yelp.

"UwaAh! Oh that scared me."

Shinsuke's arm fizzled and for a second, it seemed translucent.

"What happened?"

Kidou and Endou had hurried over, alarmed.

"What– your hand!" Endou exclaims, crouching down. Shinsuke takes off his glove to show it, and sure enough, it's translucent against the light– and this time, it's not returning to a more opaque colour. "What's going on with it?"

"...dimension travelling stuff," Shinsuke says. "My time in the corporeal world is limited."

"Don't say it like you're a ghost!" Kurama chides sharply.

"That aside... what were those hissatsu you used?" Kidou says. "You mentioned Fudou."

"And that was a Majin the Hand, wasn't it? It's the real deal, I could tell! But it's so different from mine!" Endou says. "You called it, uh, Titan?"

"Titanias!" Shinsuke beams, obviously redirecting the question from his hand as he very subtly puts his arms behind him. "He's my Keshin. Oh," he realizes his blunder, "so Keshin are like, these energy projection things? I'm pretty sure your Majin the Hand is part of your Keshin as well. You just awakened it prematurely so it's incomplete."

"Hold on, you're saying I can summon something like that too?!"

"And what about the other," Kidou repeats himself, sounding a little irritated. "The thing with Fudou's name in it."

Kurama pointedly looks away, but he only meets the eyes of the other Raimon members, all who looked like they wanted an explanation or they would strangle Kurama first.

"Uhh, I'll take it you guys are still on bad terms in this time," Kurama says.

"Where, in what world, and exactly how the hell, do we ever, get on good terms with that absolute douchebag?"

"Wow, that's the crudest thing I've ever heard from you," Kurama says, dryly. "But I don't know either! We mainly know you guys when you're adults!"

"I don't acknowledge this!"

"You can say that all you want, but I worked really hard to develop Maximum Circus with Fudou-san, so I obviously have the right to use it however I want," Kurama argues.

Kidou throws his arms up in defeat.

"Looks like we've got a lot to dig through about that later on, but," Tsunami steps up, "Nishizono. What happened to your arm?"

"Now and before, too," Otomura says. "What's going on there?"

Shinsuke looks down, hesitant. "Uhh, well..."

-

"You're disappearing?!" the teams exclaim, horrified.

"And you didn't think to tell us?!" Rinka yells, baffled.

"Well..." Shinsuke chuckles, "this is probably the first time I properly interacted with people before I disappeared, so..."

"There's nothing we can do about it," Kurama says. "At least he's not dying."

"Yeah. I'll just be sent to another world!" Shinsuke says. "I haven't disappeared yet, so I don't think I will. Maybe I'll find myself near some experts soon and I'll be able to ask them. It'll be fine."

They gathered at the barbeque pit, where the meat was grilling. No sense in having this conversation mulling through it when they had food to eat, and Kurama actually appreciated that.

"Huh? Your hands are that bad?" Shinsuke exclaims when Kurama struggles to use a fork. Chopsticks were impossible, and eating it off the pick was just asking to stab an eye out. "But that's such a shame! What's gonna happen to our annual parkour showdown?!"

The teams were trying really hard to pretend they weren't eavesdropping.

Kurama carefully swallows the meat in his mouth before retorting, "Nishizono, you do know we have to find our timeline first before we ever wonder about that again? And you know I'm going to win either way. Hayato and I are gonna master Parkour Duel–!"

His voice dies out midway, and he looks away with a sigh.

"--if we ever find him again," Kurama says. He groans, "agh, I'm trying not to think about it, okay?"

Shinsuke chews quietly.

Then, "so you call Matatagi 'Hayato' huh?"

Kurama bristles, "it doesn't mean anything, you little shit!" he wields his fork menacingly, "come back here, you punk!"

"AHhh!" Shinsuke runs, "he's going to kill meeee!"

"I will, you brat!"

Shinsuke runs to duck behind Kabeyama. Kurama hisses, because it's not like they haven't used Amagi as a shield like this before, they definitely know how to fight around it.

"Now now, I thought you guys were high schoolers mentally? Behave," Touko says.

"Boys will be boys," Rika sighs.

"Hey, settle down and just eat," Tsunami says, "we're going to eat it all without you!"

"And stop using Kabeyama as a barrier, you're scaring him," Domon says.

Kurama managed to snag Shinsuke into a chokehold, and now he's in the process of strangling him while Shinsuke whines for help.

Surprisingly, when he laughs– it's genuine.

He might have forgotten how good it felt to be genuinely happy. It's been so long.

-

"I can keep this?" Shinsuke holds the headphones around his neck. "But– but I'm never going to be able to pay you back for it."

"Of course," Otomura says. "Keep the gloves too, a goalkeeper's gotta need those."

"And don't worry about paying," Rinka says. "The Area Committee will find a way to sponsor all those expenses for ya. Just stay healthy and don't die, ya hear?"

Shinsuke nods gratefully.

"The next time you land somewhere in Okinawa again, come to us again!"

"Yeah! We might not remember you, but if you're a rider, you're one of us all the same."

"That's right– keep the glove! We'll recognize it if you explain the situation."

Shinsuke couldn't help but smile, though the tears burned in his eyes. He took a breath– sniffled, and breathed out, trying to keep his calm.

"I'll remember this for the rest of my life," he promises.

-

-

-

"It's really different," Shinsuke says, looking toward the beach from the beach house. Most of the team was resting here while Tsunami and Endou worked on surfing a distance out. Some of them had even found themselves helping out the store.

Kurama points toward the children at the shore– and Tenma was among them, too. Aki was already down there, talking with her aunt. Natsumi and Coach Hitomiko were also down there, to be polite more than anything else.

"Look how tiny our captain is," Kurama chuckles.

"I might be taller than him for once!" Shinsuke says, optimistically.

"Nishizono, that's not a good thing. You're comparing yourself to an actual toddler."

"Let me dream!"

Shinsuke was translucent. The setting sun shone through his little figure, blinding against Kurama's side. He sat on the ledge as Kurama leaned against it– and they both looked out, forlorn.

It was time.

"You met me," Kurama says. "That means that one day, as long as you keep drifting about the worlds– you'll find our Tenma, too. Somewhere, somehow."

Shinsuke considers that.

Then, a chuckle, "are you cheering me up?" he says. "That's so unlike you!"

"I'll shove you off this building," Kurama threatens.

He turns around, leaning back with a sigh.

"We'll meet everyone on the team again," Kurama says. "Tenma, Shindou– even the managers and the coach... everyone, we'll meet them again one day as long as we exist."

Because dimension travel is possible. Time travel is possible. When the timelines stabilize again– people will begin to travel between worlds, and they'll be able to find each other. The day will come, they just have to be patient.

"Not just the team!" Shinsuke says. "I'm sure when things are fixed, we'll be able to meet everyone again. Even the ones that weren't in the caravan."

Kurama looks over– and his smile is bitter.

What happened to their timeline? Their dimension? Did it really exist anymore? Was it right to have hope? Was it an inevitable disappointment?

Neither of them could tell now.

"I'm sure you'll be able to play soccer with Minamisawa-senpai again!" Shinsuke says. "It's you guys' dream, after all!"

But Shinsuke looks at him, bright and innocent and as confident as they've been when they declared war against Fifth Sector– and somehow, Kurama felt that he should believe them.

Believing in these stupid first-years were always a pleasant surprise in store, after all.

So Kurama smiled. "I'm sure we can, too."

There's a flicker, and they both turn toward the sunset at the same time.

When Kurama turns back to Shinsuke, the boy is gone. Without so much as a goodbye, or a warning– he was gone, just like how Doctor Aruno used to disappear.

And when Kurama looked back into the beach house, no one had noticed yet. They were all busy in their own conversations, in their own walking paths.

Somehow, it was crushing.

Like his heart was being clawed out as slowly as possible.

He wished that if he blinked hard enough, Shinsuke would be back. Just another minute. Just for something cheesy to say– like 'let's play soccer properly next time' or something. Like an empty promise to meet again one day. Something stupid like that.

(How funny– he never liked the kid. He'd always clicked better with Kariya. And yet...)

(...and yet, now that Shinsuke was gone, Kurama felt like crying again.)

Was he always such a crybaby? He didn't know.

"...hey, Kurama-kun?" Rinka had spoken up, finally noticing something about them. "Where's Nishizono-kun?"

Kurama brushed aside the tears and willed the rest to never show up again. He managed a dry chuckle, leaning back against the banister. The setting sun behind him, and no one by his side.

"He's gone."

If anyone noticed how his voice cracked, they didn't say a thing.

-

-

-

"Seems like you've had a long day," Hijikata greets Kurama as he returns, ice box in tow– "uh. Kurama?"

Kurama blinks, looking up to address Hijikata again. "Ah, my bad. I'm a little tired."

"Was that kid from this morning alright?" Gouenji asks, from his spot on the couch with half of the children climbing over him.

"What kid?" Hijikata asks.

"Oh, you mean Tenma and the puppy?" Kurama says. Did all of that really happen in one day? It felt longer than that. "Yeah, he was fine. He'll probably grow up as a Raimon fanboy since he took your ball with you.."

Gouenji grimaces. "Well, as long as he's fine."

"He says thank you by the way."

Endou was the super spreader of the infectious soccer lover disease, but Gouenji definitely had more idolaters. Tenma, Tsurugi and Taiyou were just a few of the whole cesspool of people who would die for Gouenji Shuuya's autograph, and the man didn't even know it.

Hijikata looks between them, confused.

And then, very seriously, he deems, "you guys are getting along! That's great!"

Neither Kurama nor Gouenji knew what to make of it. They were just coexisting, that's all. And today was just a coincidence.

"Anyways, time for dinner," Hijikata says. "Hey kids! Roll call!"

Immediately the kids launched out of Gouneji's side to hustle to the front walkway, standing at attention and saluting way too sternly, "Yeah! One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Fwor!"

"Fibe!"

There's a moment before Gouneji says, "uh, six?"

And then everyone stares at Kurama until he startles out a "seven?!"

Hijikata nods. "Okay, all here. Go set up the cutlery, kids!"

"Yeahh!"

The kids file right into the dining hall, and Gouenji and Kurama watch in defeat. Gouenji follows them to make sure they don't break anything, and Kurama sighs.

He's not sure if he's ready for this much energy. He's really tired.

Hijikata sticks his head out of the kitchen, "hey, Kurama! You're the only one here other than me that knows how to not burn an omelette, so I'll need your help here."

Kurama couldn't help but break out a small smile.

"I'll go wash up. Give me a minute."

(Domesticity was fine, too.)

-

Kurama came to practice with Raimon and Oumihara the next day.

"Y'know, I was wondering, but why is Tsunami the captain?" Kurama says, "he's the only amateur among you guys, right?"

"Ehh, no one else wanted it, so," Rinka says. "We just rode with it!"

"Yeah, we kinda just ride with things around here," someone else agrees.

"And Otomura doesn't like the captain band, he says it's uncomfortable."

Kurama thinks he hates it here. Sure, it's not necessary for the gamemaker, who has the most authoritative role, to be the captain (Shindou and Kidou were both, effectively, not captains anymore,) but for it to be a complete amateur was just weird.

"So who was captain before Tsunami?"

"Hm? Oh uh, it was just whoever got out of the locker room last."

"What?!"

That was so stupid, Kurama might faint.

The team was trying to master Fist of Justice– or at least, trying to see how far Endou got with it. He was succeeding, which was amazing news.

"Hey, Kurama!" Endou says. "Can I try catching one of your shoots again?"

Kurama blinks. "Sure," he says. He didn't quite see a reason to refuse today– he was in a rather pleasant mood, perhaps, and there was really no other business stopping him from it. "But I'm not doing any Mixi-maxing today, that tires me out."

"EHhh?!"

"Hey, Kurama..." Kidou says, "you refused last time because you had other duties to get to– but is it still in the way now?"

Kurama pauses.

"That's right," Domon says. "We already know your secret too, anyways."

Ichinose steps in. "We'd really feel assured to have a striker of your caliber on our team."

"It'd definitely help us in our fight," Fubuki says.

"I agree!" Touko says.

Rika scoffs, "you overlap in my character a bit, but I suppose since you'll never be as elegant as me, I can allow you to be my sub."

"Who knows, maybe if he's stronger than you, you'll be the sub," Kogure snickers.

Everyone chuckles at that, but it's Endou that comes up to really say it. "So, how about it, Kurama?" his hands are extended toward Kurama, and his smile is wide. "Join us on the Inazuma Caravan!"

Kurama didn't want to interfere in history– but this isn't his world, so changing the events will only go on to make an alternate dimension, separate from the one Kurama knew. It won't overwrite the future they've already worked to build, so there was no harm in stepping in and making himself a space here.

There was no longer anything stopping Kurama Norihito from joining the Raimon Eleven of this generation.

That's why– Kurama took that hand.

If only to chase the familiarity than nothing else.

"...Sure," the words come out of him, not fully thought out. "I don't– it's," he's choked up. "I have nowhere to go, so I might as well."

He turns away and scoffs, embarrassed, but everyone is already grinning.

"YAY! HE SAID YES!"

"Coach Hitomiko, he said yes!"

"Don't you dare say no to that! He said yes! We're not listening to you if you say no!"

"Kurama's joining us!"

"YEEEAH!"

Kurama flustered at the sudden spike of attention, especially from the way too enthusiastic Oumihara people that just wanted an excuse to make noise. It wasn't that big of a deal, seriously– ugh.

"Geez! I'm regretting this!" Kurama yells.

"Too late!" someone jumps on him, "we have you now!"

"You're not getting away anymore! No more running!"

"Yeah, we're kidnapping you and we are making sure you get your proper care you suicidal punk!"

"LET GO OF ME!"

All things considered– Kurama realized that this was quite fine.

His new number was 17. It didn't mean anything, but it was an amusing coincidence that he'd worn this number before, when he was part of El Dorado team 02.

Ironic.

The colours are a little off, but he's glad to be able to wear Raimon's jersey again.

-

Everything was fine. It would've continued being fine if the black soccer ball didn't descend from the heavens and teleport a whole team of aliens to their field.

Epsilon Remastered emerges, and declares war.

And Raimon, as unfortunate as they tend to be– are unable to refuse.

Megane and Kurama sit out the start of the match as Kurama gets caught up to the current state of events.

They've fought The Genesis, the Master class team and possibly strongest of Aliea– and they were crushed beyond recognition. That's why Kazemaru and Kurimatsu weren't around. Someoka hurt his leg, too.

Kurama was also given a brief rundown of what was going on with Fubuki.

"This is a lot," Kurama says. "If I knew a little more about what was going to happen, I'd be able to help, but..."

Other than the fact that Gouenji came back here, Kurama knew nothing.

Is Gouenji going to not show up because now Kurama's a member? Surely that wouldn't stop him. That guy was better than this– if whatever stopped him from playing was gone, he would show up, whether he was direly needed or not.

"It'll be fine," Aki says. "We've all gotten stronger since. We have your help, too. I'm sure we'll be fine."

-

They were not fine.

And Fubuki was crushed, both literally and mentally.

"Kurama-kun," Hitomiko says as everyone hurries to help Fubuki back to the bench. "This is sudden, but I'll need you to take his spot."

"Yes ma'am," Kurama says, already warming up. His arms were a little stiff, but that was perpetual now. He'll get used to it.

The team is shaken.

Too shaken.

"Woah, what's this?! Even though it's only the first half, Fubuki is being switched out," the announcer exclaims. "In his place is a player we've never seen before– Kurama Norihito! What will he bring to the field?"

"Let's do this, everyone!" Endou yells.

"We've got to fight for Fubuki's share, too!"

"Counting on you, Kurama!"

Desarm scoffs. "If only there was someone that could even come close to entertaining me," he frowns.

Kurama remains calm.

He's used to being the underdog. He's used to being not enough. He doesn't even think now that he can win against Desarm, at least not without any help from a Miximax.

And that– that's exactly why Kurama will never make it to FFI standards. He's relying way too much on those powers and he just hated when that happened.

"Pass the ball to me!" he declares loudly as soon as the whistle is blown.

Everyone jolts, alarmed.

This is the first time Kurama will be playing as a member. They've got no real synergy, no teamwork– just one new element, trying hard to fit in.

And that was perfectly fine.

Kurama charges ahead after opening the ball toward Rika, and he charges straight ahead, undeterred.

"You're just going to demand the ball like that?" Rika scowls, but she passes sharply to Kidou.

"Just trust him!"

Kurama charges forward, past the midfielders, and into the territory of the Defenders.

"Kurama!"

The ball comes at him, and he leaps, catching it by his thigh. He shifts right into a Miximax on his way down, his hair spurning down over his shoulder, as he flicks his hand, calling upon the green and purple fires.

"Maximum Circus!"

"Wha–!" Epsilon's defenders didn't see the shot coming.

Desarm's eyes widen– and he turns right to attention, spinning out green orbs of light, spiraling his wormhole to life.

"Wormhole!"

Kurama curses when his shot is eaten through by the space, and though there was a single grunt of effort, it was diverted, emerging from another wormhole that shot it down to the ground beside Desarm, burrowing perhaps a few inches too far.

Desarm's eyes pointedly lingered on it for a long moment.

"Close, but no cigar!" the announcer exclaims, a little disappointed. "That was a strong shot, but Desarm blocks it!"

Kurama hurries back to his position, a little irritated.

"My bad," he says.

"No, it's fine," Kidou says. "But play as a team this time, understood?"

Kurama nods.

He may have agreed to help, but he's not an apt replacement for Fubuki. He's not strong enough to be a powerhouse on his own, and that was something that will never change.

(Kurama has never been able to be an exceptional player. A good one, maybe, but exceptional, never even close.)

(It was disappointing, but that is the clear line between himself and Shinsuke. It's why he hated the first years so much to begin with– Kurama was a demon of jealousy.)

But he'll just have to adapt and move on.

(Let the jealousy eat him as much as it can, so Kurama can turn that spite into power.)