Ares no Tenbin: Ever-Changing Child

Chapter 4: Ephemeral Time

"He's a weirdo."

Tanizaki Yoshiya wondered how many times he had seen the first years made a confused face after hearing this.

To the first years who were chosen as members of Outei Tsukinomiya's first team, which was also the special team of the Ares cluster, they would get curious about that trio. The first thing that the first-years did was asking their seniors in the first team which leaded to this conversation in the school cafeteria.

Nosaka Yuuma. Amaya Shigure. Nishikage Seiya.

These three people were always seen together, whether it was during practice or outside practice, as if they had known each other for many years. When it came to abilities, there was no doubt the other members could not be a match against them.

There was no problem with that. The main point would be when someone asked about what kind of person they are.

Naturally, the answer given by each member was different from each other. The first years were also very patient and listened carefully to their answers one by one. Yet, those answers only applied to Nosaka and Nishikage.

Whenever a question about Shigure was brought up, everyone would respond altogether.

"He's a weirdo."

As expected, anyone would get confused after hearing it. Calling your vice-captain a "weirdo" might sounded like an insult but, that was the best word to describe his personality.

Nosaka and Nishikage also tended to have strange quirks outside of practice but, for Shigure's case, it was a different dimension of 'strange'.

In fact, once, Nosaka actually said this to them.

"Shigure is very apathetic towards things that aren't within his concern. But, he's someone who says what he means. Although it's hard to get along with him at the beginning, but once you get used to him, he makes you feel relaxed."

He was quite shocked to know that the captain who everyone deemed as emotionless actually became frolic in front of the vice-captain. It was not so long after that he learned Nosaka and Shigure are childhood friends who were adopted into the same intuition.

To be honest, Tanizaki actually sympathized Nishikage who had to stay inside that hyperspace known as Boke and Tsukkomi routine.

"Amaya-san isn't a bad person though. He's quite strange but he's very caring towards us teammates." Kusaka who was sitting next to him said as he gave a bitter smile. "Although he mostly spends his time with Nosaka-san and Nishikage but, sometimes, he actually goes through troubles to become our talking partner."

"Talking partner?" The first year, Michiba Atsunori asked.

The word 'talking partner' seemed to be a foreign one for him. That could not be helped. Outei Tsukinomiya's soccer team was formed under Ares no Tenbin system. Even during practice, they played according to the data and cipher codes given to them, and ultimately proved the best results of the system through winning.

It sounded like they were no different from an industrial robot got programmed to be moved according to commands and instructions. Ironically, there was no doubt that the reason he became a member of first team was also because of Ares no Tenbin. Their soccer was not created out of something like friendship or fun.

Despite that, in these trialing days, there was actually a place that gave everyone a peace of mind.

"You're welcome visit anytime if you want."

Remembering a certain nostalgic memory, a small smile formed on Tanizaki's lips before he replied to Michiba.

"Whenever there was someone who tried to hide their injures or fatigue from others, Amaya-san would realize it immediately. Then, he would come to our room, checked our conditions and before we realized, we started to talk random things with him."