Chapter Text
Koutei Penguin N°1. A forbidden technique so powerful it could score against the strongest of goalkeepers.The only counterpart being that it would send a horrible wave of pain through all the muscle of its user's body. But that didn't matter anymore. Not if using the technique would allow him to have even a glimpse of Kidou's world.
_
Sakuma’s body hurt everywhere. It had been two days since the whole fiasco, but the pain he felt after using the forbidden technique hadn't diminished at all. The doctors had given him painkillers, but they didn't seem to work. Serves you right, he thought.
The diagnosis of the doctors still hadn't arrived; all he knew was that the damage of his muscles was primarily focused on his legs.
Shin Teikoku had been a disaster, hadn't it? He had just been out of his hospital bed to be sent back there again. Fudou was right. They really were pathetic.
Speaking of that bastard, he wondered what had happened to him. Lying alone in his hospital bed with nothing but his thoughts, sometimes he wished that that maniac had drowned with Kageyama, sinking to the deepest corners of the ocean, trapped inside the remains of the submarine. But the detective and Raimon's Coach, Hibiki would have evacuated everyone aboard, even if it meant someone like Fudou.
He still felt stupid for having been manipulated so easily. He had witnessed with his bare eyes Kageyama attempt murder on a bunch of teenagers, yet he still came back to him after hearing the promise of power. He had never realized how jealous he was of Kidou until that moment inside the hospital room, when Fudou had promised them both that they would be better, stronger than Kidou ever was. Sakuma had never felt his envy, powerlessness and hunger for power so strong until that instant, when nothing mattered more than being able to surpass his ex-captain.
Now he knew that none of that ever meant anything, because he will never be able to play soccer ever again.
Genda had turned off better than him. He luckily only used Beast Fang one time. It probably hurt like hell, but after a short examination, he was free to go home.
Sakuma knew that his father(who had been away from Tokyo) had been informed of the whole situation the day before, but he had never demanded to speak to him. Sakuma wondered what he thought of the situation. He probably thought that he was a disgrace to his name right? The son of a policeman is accomplice to a murderer: The Shin Teikoku incident.
Sakuma sighed. He still didn't fully understand what had gotten into him when he accepted to sell his soul to the devil himself. It was like he had gotten a boost of strength that had amplified all his negative emotions and made him feel like he could take on the world. He wondered what had pushed the other members of Shin Teikoku to join Kageyama. Surely they had known what kind of man he truly was. Had Fudou convinced them? Were they searching for more power like he was? For attention? Who were they really? Sakuma hadn't really talked to any of them during his short stay at Shin Teikoku, he hadn't known them at all. Curiosity got the best of him and he grabbed his phone on the night table next to his hospital bed. He typed the phone number of his butler and pressed the “Call” button.
“Oh, hello Osamu-san, could you bring me a laptop?”
Enough self-pity. Investigating the lives of the Shin Teikoku players seemed more interesting.
_
What he found was horrifying.
He was able, thanks to his connections, to access some files related to his “teammates”, learn more about their background.
All of the other members of the team were teens from Ehime with talent for soccer that had been missing for around a month, which proved that Kageyama had been planning this long before the end of the Football Frontier Tournament. Before their disappearance, people had spotted a boy with a mohawk and a weird tattoo on his head hanging around them, often hidden in the shadows, watching them play soccer. Knowing only this information, it would be easy to think that Fudou had recruited them after seeing their potential, convincing them to join the Commander, but an article that Sakuma had found had proved him wrong.
One of the missing kids had came back, claiming that he had been kidnapped. A few days later, only one day before the Shin Teikoku incident, men in black were seen following him and an hour later, the boy was found dead, drowned in a river with something reassembling a necklace around his neck. More research and he found that that pink haired girl, Takahashi Shinobu was seen being dragged into an alleyway by men fitting the description witnesses had given of the people following the boy.
Kageyama had been kidnapping children from all around Ehime in hope of creating a team even stronger than Teikoku or Zeus. Most of the teens didn't join willingly. They had been forced.
Now that he thought about it, the Shin Teikoku players, apart from Fudou, hadn't spoken a word since he had joined the team. Not only to him, but at all. This was definitely creepy.
But what did he expect from Kageyama? The man only had one more crime to add to his list: kidnapping. He really was ready to do anything to win.
Now he could trace a pattern; Fudou would watch the potential Shin Teikoku members and judge if they were good enough to join. If so, he would inform the men in black, who were aliens from Aliea, from what he could infer, and those men would kidnap the kids and bring them to Shin Teikoku's base, the huge submarine Kageyama had somehow been able to afford.
Oh well.
Sakuma hadn't done any research on Fudou. Thinking about him made him sick to his stomach and honestly, he didn't need that after performing Koutei Penguin N°1. He couldn't understand how he would want to help Kageyama in his plans. The guy really only was a power searching maniac.
Just like him.
_
Finally, updates on the diagnosis. It had taken so much time to get a straight answer about his condition because, according to the doctors, his body had reacted strangely after he performed the forbidden technique.
After using Koutei Penguin N°1 three times, Sakuma should have been completely paralyzed. Strangely, while they were monitoring his condition the first day, the doctors observed a strange phenomenon in his body. It was working non-stop to repair the muscles that had been torn. That usually took a long amount of time, but Sakuma’s body seemed to have been motivated by an impulse of power that seemed to heal him rapidly. The next day, that phenomenon stopped suddenly, but after another x-ray, they realized that most of his muscles had healed, with the exception being some in his right foot that were still slightly damaged.
Hitomiko-san, Raimon's Coach, had suggested a treatment for his injuries after learning about his condition and the doctors at the hospital had approved of it, being slightly surprised at how effective it could be.
After two months of physiotherapy and regular visits to the hospital, he'll be fully healed and free to play soccer again.
He still had to stay one more night in the hospital for a final check-up before he was free to go home.
This was better news than he ever hoped.
_
Sakuma, like the rest of Teikoku Gakuen and the rest of Japan, watched the match between the Dark Emperors and Raimon.
He saw Raimon get completely destroyed by who they once called friends. This situation strangely reminded him of Shin Teikoku Academy. He and Genda, consumed by power, had faltered before the promise of becoming stronger, just like the old members of Raimon.
Tachimukai Yuuki had been injured, and Endou took his place as goalkeeper. Kazemaru, the captain of the Dark Emperors, expressed his eagerness to face his former captain in his original position.
Kazemaru stood out amongst the Dark Emperors. He didn't seem to have been manipulated in any way and outwardly expressed his wish to best "the strongest team on earth” , looking like he genuinely wanted to see their demise. When Endou asked him why he chose to use the power of the Aliea stone(The message to the prime minister of Japan had been broadcasted on the TV news a few hours earlier. Sakuma still needed to ask Kidou about it later), Sakuma got a strange sense of déjà vu.
“To become stronger” the blue haired boy had said.
A simple sentence that held so much meaning.
Everything suddenly made more sense. The reason why Kazemaru decided to become the loyal soldier of that unhinged man and crush his old teammates.
Sakuma could sympathize. He had fallen into the same trap only one month before.
It was basically the same thing. The feeling of worthlessness. The desire to surpass their captains, to finally catch up to them, but the crushing realization that they belonged to a completely different world.
And more importantly, the longing desire for power.
All he said to Kidou that day, Kazemaru summarized it in three words that meant so much.
Endou seemed to realize it as well, his face switching from a mask of anger and confusion to a deep sadness and renewed determination.
He accepted his best friend's challenge and faced him head on.
_
Sakuma never wore the necklace. He had seen it on Fudou, but his mind was too clouded to see anything wrong with that maniac wearing jewelry. All the other members of Shin Teikoku had worn it and it seemed that the Aliea stone either amplified or suppressed one's feelings. Sakuma and Genda had both been influenced by Fudou's stone the day he came into the hospital. During their stay at Shin Teikoku, Fudou was always close to them and they had been roommates. He only now realized that it was to keep them under control. Sakuma in his right mind wouldn't willingly destroy his body…probably.
The Aliea stone also made the body heal a lot faster. Most of the members of the Dark Emperors had suffered from serious injuries that wouldn't have healed before at least a few months after the match they had against Raimon. It was also what had helped Sakuma’s muscles heal quickly after being ripped apart. But the effects of the stone had stopped after only a day because he was no longer exposed to it.
It was pretty ironic how the Aliea stone could both destroy you and heal you.
He owed this analysis to Kidou, who had obtained more information on the meteorite than the general public. Hitomiko-san, who had been revealed to be the daughter of the Emperor of Aliea Academy, had known some of the attributes of the stone and was able to create an effective treatment to his injuries. He was really grateful to her.
_
What he wasn't grateful about was finding that guy participating in the tryouts for the National team. For the love of God, what was Hibiki-san thinking when he decided to call him over?! He was a delinquent disgrace, had participated in terrorism and kidnapping and was an accomplice to a murderer!(Sakuma was too but that didn’t matter right now)
And he just had to do that dramatic entrance. Kicking a ball at Kidou and dismissing him like he only was a piece of trash.
He could feel his blood boiling at the sight of the smirk the brown and white haired teen always wore.
(Wait, when was his hair tainted with white? Was it a secondary effect of being exposed for too long to the Aliea stone? And did his tattoo just disappear? All things considered, it was probably a drawing Fudou made with a marker on his stupid bald head to look cool.)
He wanted to rip it off his face. Why was he here when many amazing players (like Genda) would be a better choice than him? What did Hibiki even see in him?
These thoughts kept him distracted during the whole match. It was probably why he had missed so many occasions to prove himself to Kudou. When the coach started listing the players that had made it in Inazuma Japan, Sakuma wasn't surprised to see that he wasn't one of them. There were too many good forwards Hibiki-san had called over and the constant reminder of his greatest failure being here had not helped him concentrate.
He congratulated Kidou on him making it to the team, glad for his friend, even if he felt a string of jealousy creeping his heart. But Sakuma let go of that feeling as soon as it came. If Shin Teikoku taught him something, it was that holding on to jealousy and the feeling of inferiority would do him nothing good.
But something he was angry about was Fudou making it to the team. Sure, the guy had shown amazing skills during the match..but…but!
(He was just searching for excuses wasn't he? Fudou had played a lot better than him and deserved a spot in the team. At this point, searching for anything was only pitiful and pathetic)
_
All Sakuma had to say is that he particularly enjoyed seeing Fudou on the bench during all the matches of the Asia preliminaries. Sometimes the camera would zoom on Fudou's face when he wasn’t chosen to replace a player(especially if it was a midfielder) and it was hilarious.
But he had to give it to coach Kudou. Keeping Fudou as their “Joker” had been an amazing idea, even if the team didn't trust him at first.
But if the team had slowly started trusting Fudou, Sakuma did not.
After Midorikawa and Fubuki had to leave due to an injury, he and Someoka were chosen to join the team.
_