Chapter Text
For Hikaru being back in Russia felt nostalgic and strange. It was like being back home but to a home he wasn't sure it was what he wanted. His memories with Froy and the team were dear to him, but everything else that Orion did to him caused nothing but ache in his heart.
He truly believed back then that he was both playing under Orion's surveillance and admitted in the hospital at the same time... and he was, he really was, and the thought of it made his head spin. He didn't want to think about it. The contradictory memories still were hard for him to process and all he could do was to admit what he now knew to others in order to do better and repent himself... Guilt ate him still, even if he knew that it wasn't his fault to be unaware of it all, even if everyone else said that they forgave him. He acted as Orion's puppet and hurt the team and this was an undeniable fact whenever he was aware of it or not, whenever he had control over it or not, his situation wasn't an excuse for that.
And now he was back here in the same country where he spent all his younger years, where he worked hard to improve his skills as a soccer player, where it later led him to join Inazuma Japan and everything else that followed after. He was here at this place where he wasn't sure he wanted to be as much as he wanted to stop Orion to help others to be free. But taking down Orion wasn't going to be an easy task, and destroying the foundation itself meant to abandon a lot of kids who would have no other choice than to go back to the situation they're trying to change by joining them. He knew that well, he joined Orion back then because he had no other choice, or rather, at the time he didn't have any other choice as he did now; he was alone and Orion was his savior and he hated to admit it but the people at Orion were the only ones to lend him a hand and try to help him even if it meant he would have to become their puppet and harm others for them... Between being stuck in a hopeless situation or having a chance to change it, this was the choice he made himself, and he was sure that for every other kid who joined Orion the situation was more or less the same.
Hikaru walked through the city, looking at familiar places and reminiscing of the times he walked around along with Froy after endless hours of practice. Sometimes Yuri and Viktor joined them, and the group of friends would finally have some time to relax and have fun where they all could forget about their own struggles and Orion's orders for a short time. But now those times were over and that old and dear group of friends were his enemies, and while he knew that it wasn't actually their fault, he had to play an antagonistic role towards them if he wanted to stop Orion from their wrongdoings.
... But, even if none of that was happening and Orion didn't exist anymore at this point, he wasn't the same person they all knew; Froy had pointed at it multiple times and he wasn't sure they would truly accept who he was right now or if he would be able to get along as they did back then. It was awkward and strange as if he didn't know himself, but he was who he was and he did what he could do and continued to live that way.
It was a mistake when he took a turn around the next block and ended in front of Orion's headquarters. His mind had been wandering the whole time going from one thought to another as he paid less and less attention to his surroundings and walked on auto-pilot. Hikaru's first reaction was shock as he stared at the building, his mind has truly brought him back to this place without it being his intention. He knew it all so well, this building and what happened there. But this was in the past, the past, and he never intended to go back there.
Hikaru shook his head at the thought of ever stepping back inside as the turned his eyes away from the building, ready to go back to the hotel where his current team waited for him.
"Well, if it isn't a surprising visit," a man's voice spoke, interrupting Hikaru's own thoughts. He looked around to find the owner of it.
Hikaru didn't recognize him at first but a closer inspection made him feel true fear... It was a tall man wearing a suit with long white hair and blue eyes, features that reminded him of his old best friend, Froy... It couldn't be, right?
"I believe you've the wrong person," Hikaru stated, turning around hoping to flee the place as soon as possible only to be intercepted by a couple of men in black suits. He knew this pattern. Fuck.
"I don't think that's the case, Ichihoshi Hikaru. Why don't we have a chat?" the man continued. "You're one of the disciples who failed at their mission. I believe that you know full well what this means.”
Hikaru looked at the man to take another look, his body and mind were telling him to run yet he was unable to move the moment he heard those words. He knew it, they were back for him, waiting for the moment he would be alone.
The man looked back at him with a satisfactory smile on his face and he seemed as someone who knew well and with all confidence that he had the upper-hand of the situation.
“Shinjou has been too kind with you, who knows how many others he has set free,” he lamented. “But worry-not, that won't happen again. And we also have the matter of you, you haven't fulfilled your part, it's time to pay the consequences."
Hikaru knew it, he had to run away from here right now. He had to leave this place and go back to his team, to the only safe place he had. He had to or else…
An agent grabbed Hikaru’s arm forcing it behind his back. It hurt, it hurt like hell but it was now or never. If he didn’t escape now, there was no guarantee that he would ever be able to or of what could actually happen to him.
An adrenaline rush took over Hikaru unleashing his basic instincts as he kicked Orion's agents and successfully escaped from their grab—even for an foundation centered in soccer, their agents had no comparable skills and Hikaru’s own kicks were strong enough to fight back. But the moment he thought he was free yet another agent appeared from behind him tackling him down, face facing the ground and unable to move. The agent grabbed a towel soaked in chloroform and forced it on Hikaru’s face, making him breathe it in order to completely immobilize him.
He could fight them once but not twice, they would always manage to outsmart others and fulfill their objective no matter what—that was how terrifying Orion was.
Hikaru's vision and consciousness became blurrier and blurrier as the man got closer to his visual field, saying the last words he could hear before losing complete consciousness: "Ichihoshi Hikaru, you're given two options. You'll betray Inazuma Japan once more and come back to us by your own will, or this time we will have to dispose of you once and for all."