"A football match?" Boboiboy asked, disinterested. "Why me?"

A hearty laughter erupted from the other end of the line, startling him, nearly dropping his phone that was sandwiched between his shoulder and ear. He managed to catch it in the nick of time.

"Because you are our star player! You promised you would play for our school until you graduate!" Papa Zola recalled. "I talked to your teacher! Your school agrees to let you play for us, SMK Pulau Rintis!"

Boboiboy hung up. Oh, that promise. The one he made when he was 12. When he was naïve.

He groaned and ran a hand through his bushy hair. Yesterday he'd lost control and almost killed everyone in TAPOPS. Would they even want to see him again? Besides, he'd given Fang permission to his old watch. It would be hilarious to see him messing up every three seconds.

But now he had another matter to worry about. The Malaysia football match was tomorrow, and he had yet to practice or meet his team at school. Everybody at his school knows he's the most handsome, the smartest, the strongest, a celebrity, and an ex-superhero.

He had tried to play it down. It never worked. He had an entire storage room filled with stacks of letters and gifts. It never ended, so he always had to make more room. Even if he didn't return the feelings, he had to cherish their gifts. It was only polite to.

Boboiboy finished the instant-noodles and turned to his computer. Being rich doesn't mean he can't enjoy the occasional junk food. Life would hold no point if he can't eat pizza.

Nothing on YouTube or Facebook attracted him, so he turned to his contacts. If he was being chosen for the football team at Pulau Rintis, he would have the choice of bringing along a friend.

"Hey, Shizuko?"

The next day rolled around. At 6a.m., he and Shizuko boarded the train that led to Pulau Rintis. He would have preferred teleporting, but they had to keep it down low. Especially when everyone wanted his autograph.

Boboiboy glanced at the station. "Haven't seen this place in forever."

Shizuko ignored him. She had already sped off to the nearest convenience store.

He sighed. That girl will never stay still.

At 8a.m., Boboiboy dumped his luggage in his room at Tok Aba's house, which was deserted because Tok Aba was out manning his store, and left to set up preparations at his old school.

There was only one school in Pulau Rintis, and it taught both primary and secondary school students. The government couldn't shut it down either, despite the abnormal behaviour it held since it was the only one there. The children deserved better education.

Shizuko rented a hotel room down to the busier parts of the island, so she would take some extra time getting there. But knowing her, she'll only use it to put her stuff. She rarely gets any sleep.

"Papa Zola," he called, jogging over to the field. "Who's the rest of my team?"

The older man jumped at his sudden appearance and quickly calmed down. "Ah, my old disciple of Justice! How I've missed you so!"

Boboiboy jumped back to avoid being embraced. He wasn't the touchy-feely sort of person. Papa Zola was clad in his PE jumper, and he clearly needed some sort of fashion lesson course regarding the topic.

"Eh, you've changed, huh? Here's the name list of your team." Papa Zola handed him a checkboard.

Boboiboy accepted it. He scanned over the list of names, and they were all familiar faces. Fang, Yaya, Ying, Gopal, himself, Shizuko... seriously? Now he wished he could quit.

He left without a sound. Not because he needed to practice, it's due to the fact that he's going to be in the same team as the people he tried to murder. It could end in chaos or a massacre. Even if he could take the entire team single-handedly, there was no telling what his former friends would do. Get in the way? Try to argue with him in the middle of a match?

Powers weren't allowed, so he was sad to have missed Fang's possible chance of screwing up by electrocuting himself.

He met up with Shizuko by the forest. She had no idea how to play football, but she was the only person he knew that took no bullshit and asked no questions. Perfect for football, but she didn't know how it worked.

She spent an hour and a half going through the rulebooks and possible scenarios. Her adapting ability rivalled his, so she caught up just fine. Her aim wasn't a problem, so the only matter at hand was that she couldn't avoid using her hands. It was an instinct, unable to control.

"You're going to get yourself kicked out," Boboiboy groaned when she still couldn't avoid it.

Shizuko glared. "It's not like I can control it!"

Eventually she had to tie her hands together so that she would be reminded she couldn't use it. She used this strategy even when they were gathering at the school field at the evening.

"Why are your hands tied?" Papa Zola demanded.

"Because I can," she muttered.

Shizuko left off again to tour the school, with her hands still tied. She attracted many curious looks, but the glare she shot was so lethal everyone shirked from her.

Boboiboy, on the other hand, was too busy for comfort. Once he entered, people from Kuala Lumpur, the opposing school's supporters, immediately surrounded him, asking for a picture or his signature on various body parts.

Someone even handed him a pen.

"You want me to sign where?" Boboiboy asked.

A man took his shirt off. "Sign my stomach!"

He signed his stomach. "Okay..." He wished he wouldn't have to do that again.

The crowd he was attracting attracted an even larger crowd. Soon everyone was focused on him rather than the actual event going on.

"I love you!"

"Marry me!"

"I named our kids!"

Boboiboy paled at the last statement. "Sorry! I would rather be a virgin!"

Fang, on the other hand, was baffled by the fact that nobody noticed that his team had just descended from a spaceship. Usually that would attract a heck lot of attention, but everyone's centre of focus had been tilted to something at the gates.

"What's going on?" Yaya asked.

"Is there something wrong?" Gopal yelped, already chickening out.

"At this rate, there won't be a competition," Ying fretted. "Should we do something? We should check it out."

Papa Zola was at the outer rim of the mass crowd, trying to inform everyone that the game was going to start. Nobody cared. Even the enemy team was fawning over whatever who they were fawning over.

"Everybody! The game of justice is about to commence!" Papa Zola's voice was drowned out by a larger fangirl-like squeal.

Fang narrowed his eyes in distaste. There was something he hated more than crowds. Someone more popular than him.

His shadow manipulation watch sprung to life. He summoned his loyal shadow tiger. The tiger's loud roar shook the ground, attracting everyone's attention and causing mass panic.

"What's that?"

"It's a monster!"

"Yeah! Get him, Boboiboy!"

"Boboiboy?" Yaya frowned. "He's the cause of this?"

The crowd parted to reveal the ex-TAPOPS cadet, signing someone's football. The man shrieked and passed out. The people behind caught him.

"Uh." Boboiboy noticed them. "Bad moment?"

Fang patted the tiger and it dissolved into shadows. He marched straight up to the human boy, and his fans fanned out from him.

"Why are you here?" Fang lashed. "You tried to kill Kaizo and Admiral Tarung, and you dare show your face here?"

Boboiboy's expression hardened. He didn't come here to argue with them. The only reason he was here was to keep a promise he once made.

"I wouldn't have attacked them if it wasn't for you stealing my things," he countered. "It's this one game, and we can never see each other again. I live my life, you live yours."

The fight could have escalated, but Papa Zola had used the moment of confusion to bring things back to the way they were.

"ATTENTION! THE MATCH WILL BEGIN IN THREE MINUTES, SO PLEASE TAKE A SEAT!"

Everyone fanned out grudgingly and the enemy team positioned themselves. Fang and Boboiboy were still glaring at each other, but they had to choose a spot that was the furthest away from the other. Actually, Boboiboy chose a spot where nobody was within ten-metres of himself.

Shizuko chose this moment to return from her self-tour and everyone stared at her as she strolled over a few metres from Boboiboy. Boboiboy could see his former friends asking who the fuck was that and why were her hands tied together.

Shizuko ignored them. Sometimes she cared so less it hurts.

"Alright!" Papa Zola boomed. "Begin!"

Fang was the one to snatch the ball and had began to assault on the enemy's defences, dodging intercepts and keeping the ball to himself. Yaya and Gopal went up to assist them, but Boboiboy remained rooted at his spot. Ying was the goalie since she had the fastest reflexes among her team.

"You're not helping them?" Shizuko asked.

He snorted. "It's not like you're helping them either."

They watched as Fang passed the ball to Yaya, which everyone on the enemy avoided her. For some reason she was really intimidating on the field, even when she screwed up in any actual battle.

Gopal received the ball from Yaya. Bad move. One of the interceptors managed to turn the tides and keep the ball from their goal, and was heading straight for Boboiboy's side.

Yet he remained at his spot.

"What are you doing? Boboiboy? Shizuko?" Papa Zola was practically pulling his hair out. "Defend! DEFEND!"

They both turned hard of hearing. Shizuko was already sitting on the grass floor as she fumbled with the rope on her wrists in front of the goal.

"I don't know who you are, but I assume you're here because you know how to play!" Ying panicked. "Defend!"

Shizuko dozed off.

Boboiboy tried not to laugh on his side. She was like this ever since he met her.

Seeing the enemy was not going to defend, the opposing striker shot the ball straight into the goal, only to see the ball flying right back into his own goal.

Shizuko had gotten out of her binds. She was in a pose like she was a racer at the starting line, but her right leg was stretched out like she had just kicked something and landed.

"The first point goes to SMK Pulau Rintis!" Papa Zola cheered.

Ying turned to Shizuko again, but she was already leaning against the goalpost and dazing off again.

Boboiboy rubbed his fists together. If Shizuko did it, he's not going to miss out. The enemy goalie tossed the ball out to his team members, only to see a red and black shadow snag it at the last second.

They looked around in confusion, but eventually noticed their lead enemy standing right next to them.

The ball was under Boboiboy's foot, and he stood here as a silent message to everyone.

I'm here.