Chapter Text
The soccer club team of Raimon Jr High was currently playing in the school's vast field. They were practicing for the match against Suzuki High School. Everyone seems very eager about their upcoming match with the other school as they were giving their all in their practice.
That also goes to a boy with rosy pink hair color that is tied in two pigtails. The graceful ace defender of the Raimon soccer team, Kirino Ranmaru. Kirino was currently blocking Kurama's way. They were face to face together not letting the forward get past him. Still, Kurama seems determined to break through Kirino's defense.
"You won't really going to let me through you, do you?" Kurama said, smirking at the pink-hair boy. Kirino eyed him, his blue irises meeting his opponent's dark ones. Kirino gave him a toothy grin, "I ain't a defender for nothing, no?" he said with a hint of a smug.
Kurama let out a light chuckle, "We'll see about that." The short boy backed away from the defender's pace. This caught Kirino slightly off guard. as Kurama runs through the other side along with the ball. "What the-" Kirino gaped. He runs after him, not noticing that his friend, Shindou, appears and manages to steal the ball from Kurama.
"S- Shindou?!" Kurama gasped, "That's unfair!" the short boy added. Kirino stood on his ground, eyes following his friend's movement, "To be fair, I didn't also notice him." Kirino sniggered, then runs to back to his position.
"Ranmaru, catch!" Shindou cry out, kicking the ball toward Kirino. The defender quickly got it, looking around to pass the ball to someone, but he was already being cornered by Ichino and Hamano. "Well, this is what I call unfair" Kirino muttered in his breath, glancing towards the two midfielders.
Ichino looks at the defender, scrutinizing the pink-haired boy's movement. Kirino defensively retreated back, knowing that with Ichino's watchful gaze, the ball could be taken away from him. Hamano moved and quickly rushed towards the other side, "You really live up to that title of yours no?" Hamano said laughing.
Kirino smirked, "Well, I ain't an ace defender for nothing.". The ace defender activated his hissatsu technique, and the surroundings were swiftly consumed by the Mist. "Gah! Nooooo! My sight is getting foggy!" Hamano whined, as the field was still filled with mist, Kirino gracefully escape the two midfielders.
The mist eventually disappeared, along with the once-cornered defender. Kirino dribbles the ball, looking around to pass it on to someone. Scanning the area, his eyes landed outside their soccer field. He saw a figure of a girl, with hair of teal. The said girl was staring right at him, "Ranmaru!" His friend, Shindou, called out. Catching his attention back to the game, he survey the place until his eyes landed on Hanami, who was gesturing to pass to him the ball, which the pink hair defender did. He kicked the ball strongly enough, but Hanami managed to catch it.
"Nice catch, Hanami!" Kirino remarks, giving the boy in round glasses a thumbs up. Hanami returned the gesture. The pink-haired boy felt a hand crawl on his shoulder, catching him off guard. "Ranmaru, what's wrong? You were spacing a bit earlier." Shindou asked, brows burrowing in concern. "It's nothing to worry about! Hahaha," Kirino sweatdropped at the look his best friend's giving him. "Okay, just don't space out again while playing," Shindou said, tapping Kirino's shoulder before going back to his position.
"Y- yeah," Kirino utters, scratching the back of his head. He looked around the field, everyone was looking so serious despite that they were only practicing, and then again, he returned his gaze back to the outside field. The teal-haired girl was still there, but not looking at him anymore, he looks at where her gaze was, then it made him realize that she was not looking at him, she was watching them play. He felt a little embarrassed inside, note a little. Shaking his head, he sent out the girl, who was watching them with such amazement, one last look and then continues to focus on playing soccer with the others.
Their practice match ended, and Tenma's team won the round. With a score of 6, while Kirino's team scored 4.
Everyone went to their soccer club room to change their soccer uniform to their school uniform. After changing their attire, everyone went to say goodbye and went ahead. Well... not everyone, But a certain pink-haired boy with two pigtails was still in the room, his best friend went ahead of him along with Akane and others. Before leaving, Shindou asked if Kirino would come home with them, but Kirino politely said no saying that he has still some left things to do and let them go on their own.
The pink-haired defender closes his locker, already done changing his attire and ready to leave the room. Not noticing that someone was still with him.
"Upperclassman Kirino!" a familiar voice rang around the room.
Kirino shuddered in surprise, slowly turning his head to meet the owner of the voice.
Facing the person fully, his underclassman, Hikaru Kageyama, was standing right next to him and his locker.
"K- Kageyama," Kirino found his voice, recovering from the shock his underclassman gave him. Putting a hand on his underclassman's shoulder, Kirino met him eye to eye, "Kageyama... please don't appear out of nowhere, I thought I was going to have a heart attack." Kirino said, putting his other hand on his chest, and heaving a deep sigh.
"Ah- I'm sorry, senpai!" Hikaru bows apologizingly. "It's alright, Kageyama." Kirino reassured the young boy, "Lift your head up, you don't need to bow when apologizing!" The pink-haired defender sweatdrops, Hikaru slowly lifted his head, still looking sorry.
Kirino let out a fake cough, "So why are you still here? Everyone else has already gone home," he asked. Scratching his cheeks sheepishly, looking at the boy in front of him.
Frantically glancing around, Hikaru bit his lips, looking nervous, which also made Kirino slightly nervous about what the boy had to say.
"Ah well you see, senpai. I was waiting for you!" Hikaru said, "Waiting for me? Why?" Kirino asked, tilting his head confused.
"I- I know I shouldn't be asking you senpai for this..." the violet hair boy began, Kirino raised one eyebrow waiting for the boy to continue his sentence. "but- er...um, t- there this... girl that I -I like and I want to confess to her," Hikaru's sentence came out as a whisper but Kirino heard it clear. "Oh so that's what all this is about, but out of all people, why come to me?" Kirino crosses his arms, contemplating.
Hikaru had a genuine look plastered on his face, "Because I think that Kirino-senpai can help me since other than upperclassman Shindou, you get a lot of confessions from others." the young boy replied causing the older boy to feel shy out of the blue, he couldn't deny that since it was true that he receives a confession from others.
"Er... that's true, but how can I help you? You could ask Shindou instead of me you know?" The pink defender said, the younger boy made a thoughtful expression before answering the older boy, "Yeah... but I don't think Shindou-senpai could help me, he's very clueless about this stuff if you ask me." Hikaru fills in, slightly chuckling. Now that Kirino thinks about it, his best friend is indeed clueless about this kind of stuff.
Shaking his head, Kirino turns his attention to his fellow teammate "Alright, fill me the details,".