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Kidou Yuuto didn't really participate in romance. He hasn't even had a crush on anyone so far. No one seemed to be able to hold his interest in that regard. Not that they were all boring; it's just that he had a specific type. He believed that his other half was someone who could keep up with him in many areas of life. Academics and soccer related the most. Someone who could challenge him and urge him to better himself. Currently, while Teikoku had great students, he hadn't found anyone remotely like that. He exceeded everyone, and no one even thought of beating him anymore. They did their best and had great results, but nowhere near his level. And he wasn't trying to boast. It's just how it was.
And maybe it was for the best. He was honestly more focused on his studies anyway.
That and his pinning friends did all the work for him.
He stared at his two best friends, Genda and Sakuma, as they giggled to themselves. The three of them decided to go to the zoo this weekend now that they finally had a bit of a break from school. They'd been here a couple of times before, sure, but it was always a nice place to revisit.
They especially revisited the penguin section. Even if they had penguins at Teikoku, it was still nice to spend time with penguins at the zoo.
As long as the Teikoku ones never found out.
“Look how big the small ones got!” Sakuma pointed out the penguins that still had different colored feathers on their chests than the others. Genda and Kidou smiled at them. It seemed theyreally had. Sakuma leaned against the railing, just admiring them. Out of all of them, he seemed to be the most connected with the penguins.
“Do you think Teikoku could buy them all?” Kidou asked, looking at them.
Genda winced. “Please, no. We have enough.”
“There's never enough,” Sakuma said.
“Then let the public enjoy the penguins, too. You can't adopt every penguin you see, Sakuma."
Kidou stared Genda down behind his goggles. The number one rule of Sakuma was to never tell him that sentence. He thought that after years of knowing each other, Genda would learn.
Apparently, he had overestimated him.
Sakuma frowned, a pout on his lips. “Every penguin is my child.”
Kidou felt his eye twitch when he saw Genda blush. In five seconds, however, Kidou believed the roles would be reversed.
“So that's why the penguins are so cute. They took after you.” There was a grin on Genda's face.
Sakuma's dark skin darkened further as he took in what his best friend told him.
Kidou was ready to throw himself over the railing and just live with the penguins. At least then he wouldn't have to deal with their pining.
“Screw off, Genda.” Sakuma turned back to the penguins. “I'm not cute.”
Kidou snorted. “Please. Your fanclub is the biggest out of all of us.” He smirked when he heard Sakuma's groan. “And that's not taking in the amount of girls that you made blush on the way here.” He looked over at Genda, who had a look of irritation on his face. Kidou thought he saw his eye twitch.
Good. Maybe you'll finally ask him out, Kidou thought. When their first year was coming to an end, Kidou noticed how much the two were actually unintentionally flirting with each other. The blushing, the stolen glances, and the sudden awkward behavior. He saw nothing wrong with it. The two having crushes on each other was honestly expected in his eyes. The thing he didn't want to deal with was the fact that now he basically third-wheeled on each of their outings. Hours upon hours of dealing with these pining idiots that probably wouldn't get together until they were in their 20s because they were too scared to ruin their friendship because of unrequited (yeah, right) feelings.
Kidou still hadn't mentally prepared himself for that.
“Shut up, Kidou,” Sakuma grumbled into his hands. “I hate that attention. I swear, one more love letter in my locker, and I'll lose it."
“Yeah, how about we talk about something else?" Genda's voice sounded a bit tense.
Sakuma frowned at him but nodded. Kidou just shrugged, mentally screaming at the two.
It couldn't possibly get worse than this.
It, in fact, could get worse.
Kidou raised his eyebrow as he followed Endou and Kazemaru shopping for the weekly team movie night. The two seemed to be even worse than Sakuma and Genda. Their hands would brush and they'd giggle; they had one too many inside jokes that they laughed at. When one of them bumped into the other, they'd apologize with a small grin on their faces. A blush appeared on their faces when they'd reach for the same thing. There was a fond look on Kazemaru's face whenever Endou would do something remotely childish, as if he was used to it.
If only Kidou could get used to it.
“Endou, we can't get anymore sweets. We already have enough to give a grown elephant diabities,” Kidou said while pinching the bridge of his nose.
Endou pouted. “I promise this will be the last one!"
“You said that four times already.”
Kazemaru ended up being a saving light. For Kidou's sanity or Endou so he wouldn't get strangled by him, Kidou wasn't sure. “Endou, you won't be able to eat all those sweets. Remember what happened at your birthday sleepover last year?” Kazemaru looked pointedly at Endou.
The goalkeeper winced at the memory. Kidou honestly didn't want to know.
“Okay, yeah. I'll put them back,” Endou said. He also grabbed one of the other sweets from the cart. “And these. They were the ones that set me off.” And with that, he vanished around the aisle to the sweets section.
Kidou looked over at Kazemaru. “Is he always like this?”
The blue-haired teen chuckled. “And worse.” He patted him on the shoulder. “Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon enough. Everyone needs a moment.”
Kidou's eyebrow raised. “You seem to know him well.”
Kazemaru smiled gently, a far-off look in his eyes. “We've been friends since we were in kindergarten. Known each other for years. So yeah.” He chuckled. “I know him well.”
The strategist nearly screamed. This was definitely another Genda and Sakuma situation. How couldn't it be? Childhood friends that ended up having crushes on each other. It was just his luck that he was dealing with two pairs of those.
“Like Genda and Sakuma, then,” Kidou said. “They've also known each other for years."
“By the way, how are they?” Kazemaru asked as they continued to the drinks section. “Any better?”
“They looked better when I talked to them last. They congratulated us on our win,” Kidou said. “They said they'd make sure to challenge us to a friendly when Teikoku is back on its feet.” There was a soft smile on Kidou's face as he remembered Genda's smirk at finally being able to go against Kidou. He always wanted to know what that would be like.
Kazemaru smiled as well. “We'll be sure to look forward to it.”
Just then, Endou came back, dragging a very familiar blonde with him. “Guys! Look who was in the sweets aisle!”
Gouenji waved at them, slowly removing his other arm from Endou's hold. “Hey. Movie night shopping?”
Kazemaru and Kidou nodded.
Endou then proceeded to grab Kazemaru by the arm. “Kaze, you have to go over to the candy. They have Matcha KitKat!"
Kazemaru's eyes seemed to have lit up at the mention. “If you're joking, I'll shoot you at a goal!” He then proceeded to drag Endou back the way he came, leaving Gouenji and Kidou alone.
Kidou clicked his tongue. “Are they always like-”
“Yep,” Gouenji interrupted him.
“There's worse-”
“Yep.”
“Will you let me finish a sentence?” Gouenji kept quiet at Kidou's complaint. “We're just supposed to suffer?”
“Yeah. But we suffer as a team,” Gouenji said, pulling out his phone. “Let me put you in the group chat.”
Kidou raised an eyebrow. “There's a group chat for this?”
Gouenji shrugged. “We have to keep our sanity somehow."
Kidou looked over to where Kazemaru and Endou were coming back towards them, giggling and smiling at each other. “Add me in.”
At least this time, he wasn't alone in his suffering.
Kidou hadn't been in Okinawa since the whole Aliea fiasco three years ago. None of them have, really. And some of them, like Fudou, Sakuma, and Genda, came for the first time.
Now that it was summer and they all had time to go, Tsunami had called the Inazuma Japan team over for a friendly game against his high school team. Everyone agreed to it, immediately thinking of ways they could all get to the island. Genda always wanted to travel around Japan more, so he tagged along with them.
And yes, he and Sakuma were still dancing around each other. And it was worse than ever. But at least Fudou was there to suffer with him through their terrible, awkward, and sappy moments.
“If I have to witness one more game with Genda throwing compliments at Sakuma the whole duration of it, I will lock both of them in a closet and drown myself at sea,” Fudou growled as the two of them ignored the two pining idiots and left them to their own thing.
Kidou snorted. “Sakuma would break them out because of the awkward atmosphere that would get to him, and Tsunami would already have jumped to save you."
“I'll serve him as a fish fillet if he does that,” Fudou said.
Another voice joined in. “If you do that, I'll force you to deal with whatever you're running from 24/7.”
The teens turned to see a blue-haired man with headphones. Fudou looked weirdly at him, confused as to why this stranger interrupted them.
Kidou smiled and approached him. “Otomura, it's been a while.” He shook the soccer players hand in greeting.
“It's nice to see you too, Kidou,” he said, smiling slightly. “How have you been?"
Fudou stood there for a moment, feeling ignored, but when he saw Sakuma and Genda go towards the beach, he smirked. If Kidou couldn't get them together, then he would try, even if it killed him. Kidou didn't notice the green-eyed one leave and continued to talk with his old acquaintance.
“It's a shame we couldn't face each other off in any of the high school nationals,” Kidou said as they walked down the beach. “But at least we get to have this game against each other.”
Otomura nodded. “If only I could stay back for a year to try and make that game possible, but I must be off to university."
“Have you decided where?"
“I'll be going to the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology with Tsunami, probably,” he said as they sat down.
“Oh?” Kidou was surprised to hear that. “What will you two be studying?”
“I've decided to go into neuroscience. It's been a bit of an area of interest for me for a while now.” Then he smiled. “Tsunami's been excited to start marine biology for months now. He won't shut up about it.” The smile was too soft for Kidou's liking. “He must have talked my ear off about it ten times now. He's adorable when excited."
Ah. That's why the expression was familiar. Genda got the exact same one when he talked about Sakuma and any of his new interests.
Please, not another pining duo. I already have two, Kidou thought.
“You two have grown close since the last time we saw you." Kidou inquired.
Just then, arms wrapped around each of their shoulders. “You bet we have!” Tsunami exclaimed as he grinned at them, his new glasses a bit askew on his face. “Otomura's great! Especially when he gets all sciency.” He let them go and sat down on Otomura's other side. “You should hear him! He's so smart!”
Said teen was blushing at the praise his peer was giving him.
And Kidou knew then and there that he was in for another third-wheel session.
A few hours later, back at the hotel room he was sharing with Fudou, he took off his goggles and faceplanted into the bed.
“What got you all cranky?” Fudou asked from where he was reading a manga on his bed.
Kidou groaned and lifted his head to speak. “Did you know Tsunami was pining for Otomura?”
“Well duh. He won't stop talking about him in the group chat." Fudou flipped a page.
“Well, Otomura is pining for him.” Kidou buried his head back into the pillow just as Fudou hit himself with the manga and groaned.
Yeah, this time he definitely wasn't suffering by himself.
It had been a while since the original Inazuma Japan team met up last. A few years, actually. With everyone being busy with their own lives, it was hard to meet up at all. Some left for another country; others had jobs or universities to worry about. Kidou himself was stressed with exams in Italy. However, summer had rolled around, exam periods had ended, and vacations could be used up. The original team could finally get back together for a long-overdue meetup.
“Oi, Kidou!”
Said man turned to see who was calling him and smiled when he saw Fudou approaching him. “Fudou.” He looked him over. “Still never heard of a hairdresser, I see.”
The wild-haired man snorted. “Still never heard of normal eyewear, I see.” He approached. “What in the world are you trying to imitate?”
“Haruna gifted them to me,” Kidou said, frowning. He didn't like people making fun of his appearance. No matter if he looked ridiculous or not. And especially not if his sister was the reason he was wearing it. Anything she gave him, he held dear.
Fudou nodded in understanding. He came to know Kidou greatly since the FFI tournament. They became very close, first trauma bonding a bit, then just working as a team for any project, high school soccer game, or just pair work in general. Everyone knew the two were a killer combination.
The strategist and the joker.
Kidou himself never thought he'd meet anyone who gave him a challenge like Fudou did. No such person existed. But this wild card proved him so wrong.
“Well, at least the rest of you has taste,” said Fudou. “A bit overdressed for a reunion party, are we?”
Kidou smirked. “Oh yeah? And what about you?” He gestured to the overly colorful clothing he wore. “Did you play Russian Roulette with your wardrobe?”
Fudou grinned. “You like it? It was 40% off.” Then he winked. "It could be 100% off too, if you'd like it.”
Kidou felt his cheeks heat up a bit. “As long as I don't have to have my eyes harassed by that fashion crime, I'll take it.”
He didn't know how Fudou's grin could get any bigger, but it apparently could.
“Mr Kidou! How scandalous!” He clutched his imaginary pearls. “At least buy me dinner first.”
Kidou was about to retort when they heard a groaning sound come from behind them. They turned to see Sakuma glaring at them.
“I swear, if you two don't get a room, I'll lock you in one,” he said. “I can't believe I just witnessed that whole interaction.”
Fudou snorted and crossed his arms. “You could have made your presence known. Not our fault you decided to keep quiet.”
“How long were you standing there?” Kidou asked.
“Long enough to feel like an unnecessary third wheel on a motorbike." He stared both of them down for a moment before he went to enter the establishment they were meeting at.
Fudou grinned and decided to follow him, not done messing around with Sakuma.
Kidou shook his head before he felt a presence stand next to him.
“So when are you going to tell the others that you and Fudou have been dating since last year?” Gouenji asked as he finished laughing at the previous scene.
Kidou shrugged. “When we feel like we received enough compensation for all the times they did that to us.”
“Might take a while, you know,” the blond said, a smirk coming to his face.
“We know.” They walked inside and headed towards the table where their friends were waiting for them. “That's half the fun.”
Gouenji laughed as Kidou went to join Fudou in talking to Endou and Tsunami.
And while Kidou still wasn't the most romantic guy, he finally found the match he was looking for. The one to challenge him and make sure he was getting better every day. He found the person who could keep up with him in Fudou.
And now they would make it everyone's problem.