Inazuma Eleven Reincarnated Genius

Chapter 12: Royal Academy Come Back Part 2!

"Normal talk"
'Normal thinking'
"Voice talk"
"Hissatsu tactics"

English name/Japanese name

I don't own any of the pictures used here. The credit goes to their rightful owner.
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I've been feeling someone's eyes on me for a while now. It's bugging the hell out of me.

"Are you sure you want to keep staring at me instead of them?" I say, voice flat but loaded with bite. I don't even bother looking at her—I already know who it is.

The Raimon coach smirks. I can feel it without even turning. "Why do you think I'm looking at you?" she replies smoothly, as if this is some kind of game.

I finally glance over with a sharp glare. "I can feel you staring at me even before we got to this crappy place," I mutter, my tone laced with thinly veiled annoyance. I already had one foot out the door from losing my patience, and this? This just shoved me closer.

She has the audacity to flick her hair back like some high-and-mighty diva. "It's my duty to watch over the players."

"But not now," I snap back, eyes narrowing. "The rest of the team's on the field. It's the coach's job to observe and adjust—watch your team, study the opponent, build a damn strategy. Not fixate on someone who's not even allowed to play." My voice cuts through the air like a blade, words crisp and cold.

She doesn't flinch, just turns away like she didn't hear the venom in my voice.

"I'm sure your turn will come, but not right now. I want the team to show what they're capable of without your help," she says all calm and reasonable—like I'm the one being unreasonable here. But I hear it. That undertone. That wasn't directed at Narusaki.

That was for me.

My jaw tightens. 'Did she figure it out already?' I clench my fists in my lap, knuckles pale. I don't let the tension show in my face, but deep down, I'm seething.

Her reason for benching Narusaki... it wasn't about her injuries.

It was me.

'But what about Shawn/Shirou?! Isn't he the same as me?!' I scream in my own head, barely keeping myself from saying it aloud.

And as if she's reading my damn thoughts, she answers.

"Shawn is a different case. I let him play because the team trusts him, and he has the potential to grow even stronger if I let him."

Boom.

There it is.

My chest tightens—rage, offense, betrayal all twisted together in a single inferno I can't unleash.

So that's it. I'm just a problem waiting to happen, huh? No potential? No trust?

I dig my nails into the bench, grounding myself before I explode.

The urge to do something, say something, is nearly unbearable. But I bite it back, swallowing it down like fire.

I made a promise. To Aniki.

Not to cause trouble.

Not to ruin this for Narusaki.

But damn... this is testing me.

"But..." the coach continues, her tone still even, but carrying a strange weight. "I'm not saying you don't have potential."

I blink, caught off guard. The heat boiling in my chest simmers for a second. Just a second.