On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Black Room, Updated

The next day, only three people gathered at the front pitch to train. Tenma, Tsurugi, Shindou. But after a loss like that, they supposed they shouldn't be too surprised. So, they spent the day working on their passes and coming up with different strategies to try out between the three of them.

However, just as they headed for their lunch break, while Shindou wanted time alone in his room, Aoi called her two first-year friends over. With the hidden passage opened up, she led the two down to the Black Room.

The sight shocked them.

Sakura was skillfully dodging the steel frames. Tetsukado and Manabe timed their jumps off the cliff to be able to get a ball coming their way. Kusaka and Konoha were keeping their balance on the river. And Matatagi was dodging through giant snowballs.

"They've been here long before breakfast." Their manager explained.

"That early?" Tenma asked, earning a nod.

Tsurugi had a small smile on his face. "The finals are close. They're all getting serious."

"Yeah."

Ibuki was on the far side of the room, training in his usual dessert field. "Damn it... Soccer will eat me up, you say? I'll eat it up instead!"

That's... not the kind of retort I was expecting when I said that, but sure. As long as you're all motivated.

And they were.

"I won't run away!" Tetsukado declared. "I'll conquer this without running away!"

"Since we've come this far, I won't want to lose!" Sakura said.

"I'm not done yet! Damn it!"

"I won't give up!"

Aoi was smiling wide. "They all finally understand your feelings towards soccer... Tenma?"

"O-Oh, yeah..."

"What's wrong?"

The brunette dropped his smile and looked down. "We've managed to work things out so far by doing the best we could, but that won't be enough to fight the finals. We can't win using the same methods as before. That's what Fudou-san and the others taught us."

"But Tenma," Tsurugi said without turning away from the sight before them. "They're starting to face soccer in their own way."

"Yeah, and I'm really happy about that, but... I feel like there's something we're missing..." His gaze lifted to continue watching them. "I can't put my finger on it, but..."

After a while, they started taking separate breaks. Manabe came out of his hologram to check on the controls, and Ibuki immediately requested for a Level 2 challenge.

"Here we go, Ibuki."

"Okay! Bring it on!"

Amber eyes widened as a familiar figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Hakuryuu!"

"That's just a hologram." Manabe reminded. "I've inputted it with all the possible data I could find on Resistance Japan's ace striker, Hakuryuu. Including the chip Kimiko gave the coach yesterday."

"I see. So it has the same power as the real thing."

"The force of his shoot can be replicated to perfection."

"Nice!" Ibuki smirked. "Shoot at me! I'll stop them all!"

He wasn't able to for the first few tries, but he was improving with every shot he had to take.