On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Another Division

"This is so good!" Tenma suddenly exclaimed in the middle of breakfast. "What kind of fish is this?"

"It's fat greenling." Tetsukado pointed out.

"Fat greenling?"

"You don't even know what fat greenling is? Fat greenling is a white fish that's about this big, and it's called 'fat' greenling because it has a lot of body fat."

Aoi smiled from the table behind him and their captain. "Tetsukado, you know so much about it!"

"Of course I do! I come from a family of fishermen."

"Oh, that's right." She was about to continue eating when she felt someone's foot nudging hers. Looking up to her left, she spotted Tsurugi doing his best not to smile.

"If you-know-who was here, she'd be asking why it's called 'greenling' if it's white." He quietly muttered.

She covered her mouth so she wouldn't laugh, but Shindou, who was on the third seat of their table, choked on his sandwich.

Tenma looked over with concern. "Shindou-san? Are you alright?"

After a cough, he managed to nod at him, looking like he's struggling not to smile. "Fine. I'm fine." When the brunette turned back to continue his conversation with Tetsukado and Matatagi, he shot Tsurugi a look. "Since when were you into making jokes?"

He only smirked in response. When he turned to Aoi, the girl was focused on her food and pretending the past few seconds didn't just happen. He raised an eyebrow at their behavior, but before he could ask―

"What would you know about me, Minaho? Don't say random things when you don't even know what I've been through!"

Manabe was suddenly yelling at the orange haired boy. Tetsukado got up to stop them, and Manabe was about to protest, but they then decided to simply sit on opposite ends of the cafeteria.

~~~~~

They were soon asked to go to a meeting, but they didn't expect to earn a few compliments from their trainer, which felt like it was as much of an achievement as getting one from Shindou. However, their coach decided to shoot down their excitement by telling them their current level wasn't enough to win the semifinals.

Then, he led them back to the information gate. Or more specifically, a deadend beside it. He pressed a button and the floor opened up to show a staircase leading underground. They couldn't help letting their eyes wander as they went through the halls.

At the end of the corridor, their coach opened a metallic door to reveal a strange room with a large screen on the side. Manabe crouched down and knocked on the floor, deducing it was made from strengthened glass.

Suddenly, the lights switched off, but only for a second before the scene around them was replaced by an endless meadow.

"Matsukaze." The coach called from a little further ahead of them. "Run towards me."

He exchanged confused glances with Aoi for a moment before nodding. "Yes, sir!" He started simply speed walking, before beginning to sprint, and eventually ran with everything he's got. But he wasn't going anywhere. "Coach! What's going on?! I can't get closer!"

Tsurugi lowered his gaze to his friend's feet, just in time to see the ground stop moving just as he stopped running. A treadmill?

"This is a hologram." Their coach explained. "But it does not consist of only images. By sending signals to your brain, it reproduces the same sensations of the real thing."

As if to prove a point, a dummy in a jersey suddenly kicked a ball at Ibuki, who was just barely able to catch the ball. It then disappeared, along with the dummy player.