Maraba Always Lies: An Inazuma Eleven Go Fanfiction

Everywhere

The clock struck 5, and the team was free to go home. Some went to the arcade, some went straight home, and some even got a quick bite around the street food vendors around town, but Sangoku had to run errands first. His mother informed him that she'd be coming home late, which meant he'd have to be left to his own devices and cook dinner.

He cycles over to a local store to pick up a few things to fix up dinner. Sangoku's bike is parked on the bike rack at the front of the store, and he makes his way inside with his eco-bag in hand. But something felt slightly off.

His heart beat sharpened for a second, and the cold air of the air conditioner felt uncomfortable, like prickles on the back of his neck. What was wrong? He didn't quite get it.

He walks over to the vegetable aisle to look for some ginseng roots and green onions, which seems like such a mundane task, but an uncomfortable feeling in his bones and skin made it not-so-mundane. He could feel as though a set of eyes were watching him from afar. Sangoku feels his stomach doing flips, almost as if it were trying to break its way out of his body.

He brushes it to the side, but he can't help but look to his left and right every once in a while. Even if this unbearably discomforting feeling in his body came from nowhere, playing it safe wasn't a bad idea. After all, in today's day and age, there was no telling of what could happen.

Once he had picked up a few ginseng roots and green onions, a woman walked towards the cabbages, which are right next to the green onions, and picked a few. He took a look at the woman, and his heart rate increased.

Maraba.

He could tell by her hair and the quick glimpse he had of her face. It was undoubtedly hers. And with good reason, he didn't want to stay there too long, right next to her. It would have been awkward. And knowing her, she'd probably strike up a conversation with him and mess with his head, which he already had his 'healthy' dose of earlier this afternoon.

Sangoku immediately speed-walked his way into the next aisle, which was the spice aisle. He looks back for a moment, checking to see if she has noticed him at all. Once he was confident that he was in the clear, he exclaimed:

"Phew..."

He then turns around, away from her direction.

What a mistake.

"Hello, Taichi."

Sangoku's bones jump in his skin, his heart spikes up to its highest peak, and his hands almost loosen their grip on the eco-bag. Just when he thought he got away from her, or at least what he thought was her, there she was in front of him with her hands tucked behind her back. All of a sudden, it made sense why something felt so horribly wrong as soon as he walked in.

He looks back at the vegetable aisle for a moment to look at the woman who he mistook for Maraba, and then his eyes go back over to her.

"What are you doing here?" he nervously asks, his voice slightly shaking.

Maraba quips back, "In Germany, we usually say something like 'Hi' before asking questions. And last time I was here, the same applied to Japan too. Did this place change while I was gone? Or is it just you?"

"Hi. Now what is it you're doing here?"

After the delivery of his response, Maraba puts on a fake friendly expression, her voice laced with a teasing tone: "Shopping, of course. You think I have enough time to grow or hunt food myself?"

Sangoku's eyes narrow slightly in suspicion. Sure, that may have been plausible, but what wasn't plausible was that their little encounter here was merely coincidental.