Another world's soccer

"Ha… it's been a few days. Why hasn't the coach come back?" Akatsuki asked as we had breakfast.

"Since they went to HQ, they'll stay for a little more time." Hiroto said.

I couldn't help but notice how chummy they all were after just three days.

*Well, I'm more of an antisocial guy, so how would I know.* I thought, standing from my seat and walking out.

"Hey, Atsushi-kun, wait up." Teijiro said, gulping down his cup of tea.

"Mmn." I answered, standing beside the door.

◇◇◇

"We got here faster than they did today. We can finally train." Teijiro said, smiling before looking at me.

"Yeah…"

"What's wrong, Atsushi-kun?" He asked as I looked up at him.

"Hm? Nothing, why'd you ask?"

"You look… never mind." He said, kicking the ball to me.

"…"

"…"

"Let's start jogging then." I said, smiling at him.

*Ha… this is getting worrisome.* I thought as we started running the lap.

The others didn't want to train with us that afternoon, saying that they made plans with the kids from Momiji.

*At least I expected Akatsuki to come out. He loves practice. Or Koenji.* I thought.

"At this point, we may end up disordered." I said.

"Hm? What was that?" Teijiro asked, breathing heavily beside me.

"Ah! Nothing." I answered, forcing a smile.

"You see… I can't help but ask this." He started.

"Hm? What's that?"

"Aren't you going out with Yamazake Akane?" He asked.

*I know where this is going.* I thought, biting my lower lip.

"Nah, we aren't. Why?"

"No, it's just… I thought so since you guys were acting very close after returning from the break."

"Haha, well… one thing led to another. But we aren't going out." I said.

*Women are something else. I can't go out with her.* I thought.

After running full lap five times, we began the main drills.

We just had to be patient and wait for the coach to get back and speak to them. But I wanted to start training before he came back since we had no idea when the next match would be played.

We won the first one, but if we fail the next two, then it's over for us.

"Atsushi: When will you guys be back?"

I looked at the message I sent Akatsuki earlier that afternoon but still saw no reply.

"He still hasn't replied you?" Teijiro asked, stuffing his mouth with rice.

"No he hasn't. It's already evening, so they might be back late." I said, lying on the grass.

*Akatsuki… what the hell are you doing?*

"Atsushi: Guys, we'll train tomorrow morning. After the training, you can do whatever you want. The coach sent the list of things we should train on." I sent on the team group chat before going to bed for the night.

◇◇◇

The next morning, I and Teijiro sat on the grass waiting for the others to come out.

"You sure they would come?" Teijiro asked.

"They will, since I mentioned the coach."

*The question should be if they'll take it seriously or not. I mean, I'm just a player like they are.* I thought, sighing.

"Good morning, Atsu." Akatsuki said, walking towards us.

"Morning." I said.

"Morning."

"Ah, sorry about yesterday. There was this place we wanted to go." Akatsuki said, sitting beside me.

"I understand." I said, smiling at him.

"Apart from that, there's something else I wanted to make sure of." He said, whispering into my ear.

As he whispered, I smiled and nodded. I already knew him telling me wasn't new, but I wanted to see for myself, to make sure it's true.

"Haha, thanks for the info."

"Atsu… you don't look bothered."

"Me? Not really…"

"Well… now that I've made sure, I'm back for our training." He said, lying on the grass.

*Well, I started losing interest a long time ago.* I thought, biting my lower lip.

"I couldn't help but listen into your conversation." Teijiro said.

"Oh…"

"There's no problem, I bet you already had an idea." I said.

"You did?"

"Yeah…"

"Yawn… why train when we have no match to play?" Ryuto asked, stretching while walking towards us with the other guys.

"Hey guys. We decided to join in the training." Watanabe Hiroto said, smiling and walking towards us.

Our eyes met, and he smirked wryly before looking away.

*Mm-hm, we can never get along.* I thought, standing up and dusting my behind.