Inazuma Eleven 3, Book 1 : Morning Twilight

Chapter 36 : The Final Battle Begins! Vs Outei Tsukinomiya!

"They...actually lost?" Galahad exclaimed with disbelief.

"This is...not good." muttered Serika while twirling her hair uneasily.

"That's a rather optimistic assessment Serika" Mika replied bitterly, at which point the Zeus members turned to look at them rather pitifully. If Eisei Gakuen wasn't able to beat them, then realistically Raimon had almost no chance of beating Outei Tsukinomiya.

Tactics. Hissatsus. Keshins. Techniques.

Every aspect was in their favour and no matter how much any of the Raimon members tried to flip it, their final match with Outei Tsukinomiya next week looked bleak.

"You can't give up, Kuroha-san!! As long as you have faith in each other, then there's nothing you can't do as a team!"

Mika looked at the Zeus forward who had grabbed her hands comfortingly. Mika could see in Khronoa's eyes that she had genuine belief that faith in the power of teamwork would allow them to perform miracles but considering how Zeus had still lost to Raimon despite this, she didn't put much stock into the Saintess's words at the moment.

Then looking at the field again, she saw Seiryuu was being comforted by Daigiichi and Suzaku but continued to kneel on the field, obviously distraught, and she couldn't fault him for that.

She herself was still unable to believe what she had seen in the final moments.

One second Seiryuu was preparing to unleash 'Draconic Sea' and equalise the score but the instant Tamaki moved in to intercept the shoot, the Eisei striker had frozen as if he had fallen into a trance.

Almost like...some sort of hypnotism.

What had Tamaki called it? 'Glimpse of Glory'?

Each of Tamaki's hissatsus were turning out to be just as strange as the 'Child of Soccer' himself and Mika wasn't sure if Raimon had an answer for him. Even by himself he posed a major threat, but in a team with perfect coordination under Nosaka's tight leadership and a willingness to do whatever it took to win...

Eyes becoming downcast, Mika watched melancholically as Yuka left the field alongside his new teammates.

Yuka...

Though he couldn't have been said to have a direct impact on the game when compared to Nosaka or Tamaki, Outei's win today wouldn't have been nearly as certain if he hadn't been there.

His ruthless plays...

Desperation to win even if he had to use trickery...

While she knew from a rational aspect that such drive for victory should be applauded, Mika just felt so...uncomfortable with his new playstyle. Before, even when Yuka showed no skill, every time he touched the ball his entire face lit up as if soccer was the greatest thing to ever happen to the universe. While at first it had been difficult for Mika to understand how he could derive so much joy from such a simple thing...

Just when she was beginning to understand the old him...the Yuka she had known, vanished.

"Thanks Kuroha-senpai! I think I really improved a lot today and it was all thanks to you!"

Today, Mika has seen none of the boy whom she had trained with at the riverside.

Sparkling eyes that radiated pure happiness, replaced by cold eyes that burned with chilling intensity.

A wide smile that resembled a warm sun on a winter day replaced by a thin line which expressed no emotions.

Was Yuka...