𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲

When Kira finally left after his pity party, a guy with a squint and chin-length hair decided introductions were necessary.

One boy with long red hair and another with a spiky orange cut sat on either side of you while the entire group was seated in a circle. Yes, criss-cross-apple-sauce. Obviously.

You decided to listen as then went from one person to the next, knowing their names was probably the first step you needed to take if you wanted to help them improve.

The kid with aggressively ginger hair to your left started, "Kunigami Rensuke, nice to meet you all." You could tell immediately his assets were probably physical, with the amount of muscle bulk he carried.

The rotation went to the next person on his left, "Gagamaru Gin!"

"Iemon Okuhito."

"Igarashi Gurimu!"

"Naruhaya Asahi."

The next guy just spent a few more seconds scowling at the air, he looked like he seriously needed to take a dump, "Raichi Jingo."

"Kuon Wataru," Yeah, that cheery smile was fake as fuck. Considering his directions from earlier, he's probably the demanding type. Looks like you'll have to deal with taking orders from some high and mighty man. Fun.

The kid who was napping at your feet an hour ago looked way too excited to sing his name out to the group, "Bachira Meguru!" He was sort of small compared to the rest of them. His eccentric persona made you certain he had to be wielding some sort of powerful weapon.

"Isagi Yoichi." The guy with black hair who had buried the ball into Kira's face held a small smile on his lips. You couldn't get a clear read on him, much to your surprise.

The next was the strikingly pretty guy on your right. You could definitely spiral into detail about the way his luscious, long locks of red hair cascaded down past his shoulders, but you digress. "Chirgiri Hyoma," y'know, maybe this person's pulling the same stunt as you. No way a guy-

"Dude, hey. It's your turn." Kunigami was waving his hand in front of your face in an effort to get your attention back. Everyone's eyes were on you, who was seemed to be in his own world.

Your face remained blank as you internally panicked. Shit! What the hell was my name supposed to be?? Godammit, why does that bastard's voice have to be so easy to ignore?

"Oh. Yeah, sorry." You pursed lips. A cold sweat broke out on your neck. The silence was getting a bit awkward at this point. OH- "Kazuma Kenji."

Man, fuck this shit.

Kuon shattered the atmosphere with an over-exaggerated clap, "Alright! Now that we have that done, have some off time for a bit. We have our first match tomorrow!"

You were crouching on top of the toilets in of the bathroom stalls.

Your binder was unfastened, you were relishing this opportunity to take deep breaths. Every living second in this place was an inconvenience.

Ego seriously did not think this through. How were you supposed to live 24/7 with this shit on? Your ribcage would collapse or your lungs would give out, it was just a game of which happened first.

Sweet, sweet breath, oh how I mis- "Kazuma? Are you still in here?" The voice giggled while it drew closer to the stall you were occupying.

Can you not get five minutes of peace in this hell hole? "Yeah." You swiftly redid your binder and pulled the uniform back over your chest. Hopping off the seat, the door opened to reveal Bachira grinning on the other side.

"Ah, was it the nerves or excitement that gave you a bad stomach?" How are this guy's cheeks not sore from all the smiling?

You washed your hands off quickly under the sink and the two of you walked side by side back to the designated 'Team Z' room.

"Neither. I had to get out of that damn room. I could practically feel my brain start to melt from the collective drop in IQ."

Bachira laughed at that, "You're harsh! It's fine though, spices everything up! Don'tcha think?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Y'know, Kazuma, you seem fun to play football with!"

"Okay." What the hell did he mean by that? All you'd done is forget 'your own' name and insult his intelligence. There was the game of tag, but all you wanted to do was piss off that monk kid.

His grin softened into a more delicate expression, "Well if you really don't want to go back in there, we can go practice on the field!"

He grabbed your upper arm and pulled you around the corner toward the direction of the practice field.

You inaudibly mumbled some curses under your breath, he didn't even ask for your opinion. Beats going back into that room filled with suffocating levels of testosterone, though. 

Your gaze remained on the back of his head while he dragged you behind him. You had to say, he interested you. You could use this time on the practice field to observe areas he lacked, come up with ways to challenge him. Man, this place was going to be some much work.

The pair of you walked through the field entrance as Bachira finally released you from his grip. You feebly massaged your arm. The kid has a strong grip- way too fucking strong.

"Kazuma! How are you at passing?"

Damn good, that's for sure. "Fine. Why?"

Bachira was standing giddily at the center of the field with a ball in hand. Once he saw your attention was on him, the ball was dropped down to his feet and came hurtling toward your face. This was most definitely not a pass.

Without a thought, you jumped up and secured the ball. Kicking it back up until you landed back on the ground, you continued to mindlessly dribble it as you saw Bachira's eyes light up.

"Yes! I wanted to see that again!"

Your expression morphed into one of utter confusion, "What?"

He walked close to you, practicing bouncing on the balls of his feet, "That! What you just did! You did it so easily. Your ball control is really cool, Kazuma."

Your mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as you tried to find something to say. You honestly didn't expect any of the guys here to be nice or even talk to you at all, too concerned with themselves to do think of anything else, really.

Bachira must have noticed your dumbstruck expression, "Heh, c'mon, let's work on passing back n' forth. We'll need all the teamwork we can get for the match."

Hopefully, your eyes had gone back to their normal size by now, "Yeah..."

You didn't know how long you guys had been at it, but you were heaving. Hard.

This binder should be renamed a stamina shatterer. Normally, you would have just broken a sweat.

"Kazuma? Hey? Hello..? You okay?" Bachira was crouched in front of you while you were bent over your knees.

He wove his hand violently in your face to get your attention.

"Oh," you panted. "Yeah." Another deep breath, "No."

The brunette chuckled, "You should work on your stamina, y'know."

No! Really?? Oh em gee. How did he ever even come to that conclusion?

"Yeah...I'm not usually like this." You kept your expression tight, desperately trying to restrain yourself from putting this kid in a chokehold.

You both straightened back up and faced the door. He smiled again in the corner of your eye. "Ah, let's go back. We have the match tomorrow. Thanks for practicing with me, I had a lot of fun."

Fuck. There he goes again being genuine. I might get whiplash from this kid going from being a menace to...normal, I guess.

You sighed and let your own soft smile take its place on your lips. "I had fun too, Bachira. Your dribbling and passes are amazing. Make sure to bank out on that."

His smile widened, "Totally!"

Wow.

Fact: Trying to sleeping in a room filled with boys you met the same day is impossible. Source: Right now.

The Team Z room was dark and you could hear the snores from each of the boys on their futons. You'd taken off your ribcage prison once you were certain they were all asleep, it was dark anyway. So, at least you had that freedom. And yet, the sweet release of sleep continued to deny you.

How were you supposed to survive at this place until it was over? This absolutely sucks ass.

With a sigh, you stood up and begrudgingly strapped the binder back on. Tiptoeing around the guys, you made it out the door. First stop, monitoring room. You can at least be productive and learn what you could about the players. Ego should really be paying you.

You opened the door and carefully stepped in. When you turned your head forward, you clamped your hands over your mouth to suppress a scream. "What the fuck!?" you mumbled behind your palm. You placed a hand over your erratically beating heart and tried to regulate your breath.

Chigiri, who was sitting comfortably in front of the screens, furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"The hell are you doing here? It's late."

"You're literally here too."

"..."

"..."

"Whatever." You walked over and sat down beside him while you were both facing the monitors, "Can't sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Mm, oh-" You yawned, "I've been meaning to ask, are you a girl?" You know...probably not the best way to word it, but insomnia does things to people.

Chigiri deadpanned and turned to face your side profile, "Are you seriously asking me that?"

You turned to face him in suit, your face wearing overdramatic shock, which was probably cause of the exhaustion, "What's that s'posed to mean?!"

"Get a mirror, man. I'd think you were a woman if I didn't see you in here."

You pursed your lips and ignored the sweat that built on your brow. "Pfft- no. Nah. I don't want to hear it from a redhead Rapunzel, anyway." Hopefully he'll ignore the nervous chuckle you accidentally let slip out.

The boy next to you side-eyed you for a moment before sighing, probably deciding to let it go. "Okay...what are you doing in the monitor room, then?"

"Oh, yeah- right. I just wanted to learn about the players we'll be up against."

You grabbed some files from your right and set them out in front of you.

"Me too." He picked up a few and started flipping through the pages himself.

"Sleeping in a new place is pretty hard. Those dumbfucks snore like they have a megaphone in their sinuses, too."

Chigiri let out a soft laugh, "I can't disagree there...you think we can ask to redeem earplugs with goals?"

"Good idea, bro!"

_______________

i fr spent twenty minutes going through the manga trying to find what that screen room was called

also i was gonna have [name]'s alter ego be "kazama" because it means like 'the wind in between' which i thought was kind of fitting and then when i went back to write i just kept writing "kazuma" so yk