Inazuma Eleven 3, Book 1 : Morning Twilight

Chapter 30 : Our Dream

"Ugh..."

Grabbing her head that was still ringing from the impact of 'Deep Sea Call', Khronoa looked around with blurry vision as she observed the scoreboard change from 0-1 to 1-1.

"They're good..."

Turning to face Rhea who had just spoken up while helping the other members stand on their feet, Khronoa nodded thoughtfully.

"Just like we expected..." replied Khronoa in a low voice while looking at the Susanoo forward Okumi Kujira. Despite Susanoo Academy maintaining a rather low profile in the preliminaries it was no surprise that they were wielding the 'Dark Keshins' that Outei Tsukinomiya had shown off in their Exhibition match with Spain.

Still.

While it was still within their expectations, that wasn't going to make the next 45 minutes of the match any easier.

Clap Clap

Slapping her cheeks lightly, Khronoa smiled naturally and spoke up in a positive tone,

"We won't be able to just rely on the 'Catenaccio Counter' anymore but that doesn't mean it's over yet! It's just like Fideo-san said! Individual strength isn't the only factor that determines the victor, so let's keep focused and we'll move to Plan B."

"Khronoa-san is right! If Susanoo scores one, then we just have to score one more! We're still tied up so the match is still anyone's game!" said Rhea while rallying the Zeus members together towards the bench.

Ha...

Not making eye contact with the others, Selene sat down wearily beside the bench so she could recover as much of her energy as possible during the short 15 minute half-time. Even though, Khronoa and Rhea were trying to keep the atmosphere upbeat, Selene knew the team was in a pretty shi**y position thanks to that lumbering giant Okumi breaking through 'Catenaccio Counter'.

Before training with Fideo, Zeus had mainly kept to a basic midfield zone press meaning they barely had any time to practise the low-pressure oriented formation needed in order to master 'Catenaccio Counter'...

And even though they did have a 'Plan B' discussed, it was just too risky for Khronoa at this stage of the Holy Road and there was absolutely no way Selene would let her put so much pressure on herself if she had any say about it.

Looking up with a serious face, Selene's mouth hardened into a line as her gaze fell on the orange-haired striker who was currently moving around exuberantly and helping the managers hand out water to the others in an effort to keep the atmosphere light.

Sigh.

Khronoa was always like this...

"'Saintess of Zeus' my ass" muttered Selene in a heated tone.

The students at Zeus Academy had arbitrarily given Khronoa that title without even asking and had no idea about the crap that came with it...

7 Years Ago, Zeus Elementary Grade 1, Class 3

"Otsuki-chan!!"

Selene looked over at the group of girls who were waving her over and she waved back with excitement, happy to be back from Spring Vacation and be reunited with all of her friends...or well most of them. It looked like Aoi and Yui-chan were in different classes from her this year.

Oh well!

She could see them during lunch or after school anyway.

Not one to sweat the small details, Selene quickly got over her momentary disappointment and sat down with her friends as they whispered about the other groups of kids that were filling up the class. But as someone who wasn't really interested in gossiping about other people, Selene mainly just nodded her head at the appropriate times while she observed her new classmates with her own eyes.