Life As Teikoku's Manager (an Inazuma Eleven f.f.)

Resurfacing Memories

I got a lot of people (on Fanfiction.net not Wattpad) saying how OOC Kidou was in the last chapter, but I'll just say in my defense that I have something planned, and it ain't all because he likes her. Soon (but not in this chappie)...

It was two days after I had became the manager, but today was the first day I was watching them practice on the indoor field. What was I doing before, you ask? Cleaning the very-unlike-them clubroom. You would think that it should be neat and tidy since they all came from educated families, but what did I expect from a room where boys could do anything they want in it?

I was sitting on the floor on the side, watching them stretch before practice as I wiped a slightly scruffed soccer ball with a cleaning cloth. Since I was a manager now, I had changed into a black tracksuit with white striped accents which brought out my pomegranate eyes. They had always been my best trait, since well, a long time ago. I pursed my lips as a wave of sadness passed over me, then I quickly shook it away. "Forget about the past, you are Sakurai Shizumi now", I scolded myself inside my head.

A TV set wheeled in by Genda an Jimon caught my attention. What's that for? As if reading my mind, Genda shouted across the field at their captain with dreadlocks, "Why did you tell us to go get this?" "Just watch," Kidou replied, with that I-know-something-you-don't-know tone in his voice. Then Kidou slid a tape which he had been hiding somehow into the slot.

A slightly grainy video started. I heard the familiar voice that belonged to none other than the long time commentator of the Football Frontier. "And...he scores again, bringing the score up to a tie!," Kakuma Oushou shouts enthusiastically, "With only one minutes left of the game, can player number 13 get another point for Kidowkawa Seishuu, or will the game go into overtime and make him lose the nickname Death Bringer?"

Hearing these words, my body froze up. The hand holding the cloth was trembling so much that the cloth fell from my hand and landed on the ground. But my eyes stayed fixed onto the screen as if held there by a magnet.

A boy with short black hair that had a sheen like a blackbird's feathers and the number 13 on his jersey kicked a ball at the goalie. The shoot, which was as if the ball was traveling through a typhoon of black feathers shot directly past the goalie and into the goal before the goalie had time to react. "Wha-ha-how?" stuttered the poor boy guarding the goal just as the whistle indicating the ending of the game was blown. The black haired boy who kicked the ball at him turned his head sideways just enough so that one ruby red eye could meet contact with his. "My hissatsu move. Kuroi Hane Taifuu," he said then slowly walked back to the rest of his teamates who were cheering at their victory.

Kidou clicked a button on the remote control, which who knows where he hid that too, and the screen went dead. All pairs of eyes including mine and one single eye turned to their team captain. "We don't have enough time to create another hissatsu shoot technique before the Football Frontier this year starts, so I thought Sakuma and Jimon should both learn a solo shoot from Kidowkawa Seishuu, the second best soccer team in Japan, just in case." That explained what the short clip was for.

"Don't we still have Koutei Penguin 1gou?" asked Narukami. Kidou's aura immediatley changed. "Don't ever mention that hissatsu's name," he growled. Instinctlively, I asked, "What's that?" Everyone stared at me, probably since I hadn't really said anything to them before. "Er," Kidou said, and an awkward silence passed between them. Kidou turned to Sakuma, who nodded at him, then to Genda, who also nodded, then stared at me directly in the eye.

"It's a forbidden hissatsu shoot technique that Sakuma can use. It is a move stronger than Koutei Penguin 2gou and does damage to the user, so we sealed it away along with Beast Fang which is catch hissatsu technique that Genda can use and also does damage to the user."

Now I get why Kidou got so angry. Seeing Sakuma use Koutei Penguin 1gou and getting hurt must have been too painful for Kidou to remember. I know how it feels to see a friend in pain, and you could do nothing to help them.

"Okay. Sakuma, Jimon, proceed to the goal. The rest of you, start your dribbling drills. Genda, lead them for the rest of practice," Kidou commanded, and everyone followed. I was about to kick two soccer balls to the fowards, but then stopped myself and tossed them instead. "Sakurai Shizumi," I repeated to myself in a whisper.

"Try to use Kuroi Hane Taifuu," Kidou told the two fowards with his arms crossed. "He moved too fast! I couldn't see what happened at all," complained Jimon. "I guess we just shoot as fast as we can and hope that one of them eventually feels right," advised Sakuma, but you could tell that he didn't have much hope of it succeeding either. "I think his kicking posture was something like this," Kidou said, and shot Sakuma's soccer ball into the net. "Hmm..." Sakuma said as he watched Kidou carefully. "Okay, let me try," said Jimon. Then he charged at the ball and kicked it into the net. Both his and Kidou's looked no different from a normal shoot.

The three boys looked at the video again, this time replaying it in slow motion, then went back to try it again. And again. And again. One and a half hour had already passed with any of them having any success. Before I knew it, my voice cut through their practice. "The key is to bring your leg back then let it swing at the ball for a critical hit instead of using strength to kick it as hard as you can."

The three of them stopped and stared at me, then at each other. Then Kidou shrugged and said, "Might as well try it. We're having no success so far anyway." Sakuma nodded at his captain's words and kicked at a soccer ball. Even though you couldn't exactly tell why, this time, the shoot looked different from the failed tries before. A little bit of wind swirled around the ball as it headed for the net. Jimon and Kidou stared dumbstruck at the ball. "It felt...different this time," Sakuma finally said, equally as shocked, "I think I'm getting a grasp at how it's done." The other two nodded slowly, mouths still gaping.

Then Jimon turned to me. "How did you...?" he asked. "Arigatou, Shizumi-san!" Sakuma shouted at me with a big smile. I felt my heart beat faster, but I wasn't sure why. "It-it's nothing," I stuttered, waving my hands in front of my chest. From my peripheral vision, I saw Kidou stare at me intently as if deep in thought. Then Kidou shouted, "Try again, Sakuma! We have to perfect it!" and they went back to practicing Kuroi Hane Taifuu. I let out a sigh of relief.

I added some mystery to Shizumi's character and what Kidou is thinking in this chapter. As for Kuroi Hane Taifuu, it is a hissatsu move I invented, so you won't be able to see it in the game or anime. This story is so fun writing so I'm gonna focus on this so sorry my other fics won't be getting much updates these days. Gomensai~ especially to those of you who are looking for the next extended chapter in Morning Jog (I kinda left off at a cliffhanger).