Date: 8th June, Tuesday

Tenma's POV

Yesterday Tsurugi and I were barely able to finish the training menu's before 7pm. Tenki and his friend learned a simple HS by the name of Rapid Boost. You just push the ball downward to spin and shoot a ball quickly. Because it was spinning downward, the ball will curve to the left when reaching to the goal. It was HS, created by Yuuichi when he was in elementary. But the only disadvantage of that HS was that it will usually work if you shoot it from the left side of the field. If you shot it from the right side it will completely turn to the left side avoiding the goal.

"Tenma!" Aoi called my name and brought me back to reality. I forgot I was already in the classroom.

"Class just finished, are not heading to the club?" She asked me.

" Of course, I am I was just remembering yesterday that's all." I replied to her.

"it seems Shinsuke didn't come today." She said sadly.

"Yeah, well he did send me a text saying. He will rest and come as soon as possible." I reassured her.

"I see, come on let's go to the club." She said. I packed my bag before I left with her to the club. When we arrived at the club we were greeted by the second years introducing an old friend of theirs.

"Tenma, Aoi. I'd like you to meet Nishiki Ryouma." Hamano introduced him. Nishiki was quite tall with dark skin and large eyebrows. He had long black hair tied into a ponytail. I remebered him showing up yesterday to stop the shoot against Shinsuke.

"Oh, you're the guy from yesterday. Thank you so much for covering for Shinsuke at that moment." I bowed and thanked him.

"I apologize I couldn't stop the other shoot. I swear next time I will make sure to block it." He also apologized as his face turned a bit worried.

"No worries, Shinsuke mentioned to thank you for stopping that shoot." I told him.

"How is he by the way?" He asked about Shinsuke.

"He's resting at home, he said he will try to come back as soon as possible." I reassured him.

He sighed in relief before he spoke."That's good to know."

"What about the second team? Are they alright?" I asked Hamano.

"Oh yeah, Coach Kazemaru has dismissed them all to rest for the week." He said he scratched the back of his head.

"What?" Aoi said in shock.

"He said It's better this way. He doesn't want anyone to push themselves when they are injured." Kurama replied.

"I see." she said.

"Where have you been Nishiki senpai?" I asked him. He wasn't here at the beginning of the year so I was kind of curious.

"Oh I was participating in the Italy Pro league. I came back last Saturday." He relied with a huge grin.

"Italy Pro League?! That's Amazing! What did they teach you? You have go to teach us Senpai?" I asked him excitedly.

"Well, I'd love to teach but I don't think I'm great at these things." He said laughing it off. Coach Ichihoshi came in told us to meet at the stadium immediately, so we all changed into our uniforms before heading to the field.

When we reached there Coach Endou and Coach Kazemaru was there.

"Coach Endou?!" I said in surprise along with the others.

"Alright is everyone here? Nishiki, Welcome back. Unfortunately I can't be here for too long as I have to head back so I will be quick. Since yesterday Second team was attacked by unknown team. We have decided to forfeit from their match this Saturday." Coach Endou annouced regarding about the second teams matches.

"And also apparently 1 of the players on the team was sick and unable to come yesterday. That was Kageyama Hikaru. He will be joining the first team from now on since Kirino was also injured yesterday." Coach Kazemaru added introducing the guy to everyone.

"And the practice match which was supposed to be with Second team will be replaced by Eisei Gakuen. They were eliminated in 1/32 in the nationals against Seidouzan. They have met a tough opponent in the beginning, so they had been working so much harder than before. So I hope you all will be ready for them." Coach Endou added.

"Hai.!!" We all said in agreement.

"Alright, I got to go now. I wish all good luck. Bye everyone." Coach Endou said his good byes before heading out of the stadium.

"Since Coach Endou heard about the incident, he decided to get you guys a match at least. He got in contact with Midorikawa Ryuuji and arranged a match. So I hope you all finish your training menus by tomorrow. And Nishiki and Kageyama here are your menus." Coach Ichihoshi said as he gave the two their menus. We all immediately went to focus on our individual training. The atmosphere around the team was quite serious. Everyone was focused on themselves to improve. Of course everyone was upset, they saw their friends and teammates destroyed before them. Even if we know Zodiac's motive, we don't know who their next target is.

"That's weird" Kariya said. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Captain isn't here." He said looking around. "Now that you mention it, he's not here." Shuu said. Shindou didn't show up for practice today? That's pretty rare.

~

Shindou's POV

I came to Kirino's house after classes ended to see how he was doing. I excused my self from the Coach after promising I will finish the training menu later after visiting. Once I came to the house Kirino's mother led me to his room.

"Would you like something to drink or eat?" Kirino's mother asked me. "That is alright ma'am. There is no need for that." I said. She left the room after my reply. I took a seat next to Kirino's desk.

"Are you alright?" I asked Kirino who was resting on his bed.

"Well, I dolphin dived in front of Kariya to take the shot to myself." He said as he sat up and leaned against the bedframe.

"Can you recall to tell me what happened?" I asked him.

"Well..." He said before hesitating a bit.

Date: 7th June, Monday

Kirino's POV

Hamano, Hayami, Kariya and I were playing tag to work on our reflexes and reactions by running through school grounds. There is a lot of students so getting through them was quite tough and slows down us. All of a sudden we felt a huge gale burst through on the soccer pitch. It looked like a typhoon. When we went to see the pitch, second team was down with a group of unknown team. I told Hamano and Hayami to go inform the team. Kariya was persisted so he came with me.

I went in and stole the ball from them.

"Kirino senpai!" one of the first years called out to me.

"Shinsuke, are you okay?" Kariya asked him.

"Yeah, I'm not that hurt." He said as he was standing up a bit wobbly.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" I asked them but as soon as my anger sub sided I could see the familiar looking symbols and a person.

Cancer. The guy who me and Shindou met before Teikoku's match.

"Well, if it ain't Kirino Ranmaru? I'm sorry but your not our target today." Cancer said.

"I won't let you hurt anyone anymore." I said as spread my arms up.

"Do you think you can stop us? Did you forget? You are a pawn. We only needed you as a sacrifice to make sure Shindou felt anger." He said laughing.

"You scum! I wont let you hurt him!" I screamed at them. Then one of the players took the ball and passed to Cancer. "Alright, clearly we have an obstacle in front of us. Gemini!"

"Yeah!" A guy with short brown spiky hair replied.

"What do we do if we can't find an opening?" Cancer asked him as he passes the ball over to him.

"Create a new one!" Gemini said as he looked over to my right. I looked to my right and widened my eyes as I saw Kariya. 

"Water Cannon!" He called out his HS. Before I knew my body moved on it's own and felt an impact from the shot. I passed out at that time because it had hit me directly on my stomach.

Present

Shindou's POV

"I guess their target was Shinsuke. But why him?" I wondered.

"I think it's the avatar. Even though I got knocked out I opened my eyes for a moment when one of them screamed. At that moment I saw shadowy figure behind Shinsuke." Kirino added.

"What?! Shinsuke had an avatar?" I said in surprise.

"I guess." Kirino sighed. "It's just like he said."

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"I'm just a pawn. Like before they targeted me to make you release your avatar. And it went the same way for Shinsuke as well." Kirino said.

I walked over to him and spoke. "That's not true. You're not a pawn. You're my best friend and Shinsuke's senior. I'm sure he cared about you."

"whatever, so what happened to practice? Did Coach dismiss everyone?" He asked me.

"I don't know, after classes finished I told him I'll complete the training menu later today." I said.

"I see, what about the practice match?" He asked.

"Well while on the way here I received a text from Sangoku. Apparently Coach Endou came by and told everyone that our match will be against Eisei Gakuen instead of the second team." I explained to him.

"I see, well you should go. The earlier you finish the training the more you can rest." He told me.

"Right I will go now. Get well soon Okay." I said as I grabbed my bag.

"Of course." Kirino replied in a soft voice.

I said my goodbyes to Kirino and left his room. I walked to the door and excused my self from his mom. As I left his house, I called my driver to come pick me up. After the driver arrived I went home.

~

Apologies for not uploading yesterday. I was bored... and do not have a a valid excuse.

My work place was literally deserted...

I'm so hungry I can hear the rumbling...

I hate working the morning shift...

I wanna sleep...

Anyways hope you enjoyed reading vote whatever.

Tell me joke to put me of out of this starving misery