Stirring the Flames

Captain Don't Quit

  Back in Wythras, it was late at night and everyone was preparing to retire for the night...Except for the prince.

"Why me? Why Arion?" Abel bemoaned as he paced around the room. His friends only exchanged wry looks as they watch the prince lament his younger brother's luck. The group consisted of some of his teammates from his days in the junior league and national league.

"You can't deny that he has the royal luck of getting into trouble, just like you." Joshua, his bodyguard and teammate on the national league pointed out mildly. And boy was he right. Being the bodyguard of the prince meant he had his fair share of getting Abel out of trouble from his shenanigans.

"Is that supposed to reassure me?" Abel seethed as he yanked on his hair. "If we didn't hack into the Fifth Sector's database and found out about what happened during the Eito match, I could not have gotten Dahlia to Japan in time to prevent a kidnapping attempt!"

"Calm down, your highness." The person in front of a laptop told him calmly. "Prince Arion is safe now with Endou Mamoru as the coach and Dahlia in Japan. I forwarded some information I gathered from the Fifth Sector's computers to Dahlia as leverage in case they try to do something again."

Instead of being relieved, Abel soured his face. "Nosaka, be honest with me. Do you really think that it will be enough to stop Arion from attracting trouble?"

"Not the slightest." The pink haired tactician shrugged nonchalantly, making everyone else sweatdrop. "But," Nosaka narrowed his eyes at the prince, "you cannot do anything to stop the Fifth Sector on an official level. You can accidentally cause an international incident for interfering with a power foreign organization." He warned, as he knew exactly what his friend was thinking of doing.

"And with the insurgence on our hands, it's probably best to steer clear of that." Joshua winced.

"I know. There's a reason why Mama hasn't taken any action against him despite all this time." Abel sighed as he sank into a couch. "What other options do we have?"

"Let me check on our mutual allies against the Fifth Sector and see if I can give them some help." Nosaka volunteered.

"Wait, you mean..."

"Unlike you, I can go to Japan without arising suspicion since I made arrangements with the Fifth Sector to scout their schools for players to join Wythras' Jr. Soccer League Team months ago. Additionally, I am least involved in political matters so I am not needed here to deal with the insurgents."

Abel gave it some thought and had to admit his friend has some logical points. Reluctantly, he nodded. "Fine, when you go to Japan, find Kidou. I know that he left the Italian National Team to coach Teikoku to bring down the Fifth Sector. Tell him that I am willing to help where I can but my involvement will be minimal because of politics. But don't tell him about Arion or Dahlia."

"As you wish." Nosaka inclined his head and turned to his assistant. "Nishikage, please make the arrangements to go to Japan. I will inform the Fifth Sector that I will be paying a visit soon."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, over in Japan, Tenma was unaware of his brother's dilemma as he prepared himself for school. Sighing, he remembered what he said to Tsurugi and hoped that the punk took his advice not to get Endou fired. And there was the matter of the captain. Aoi told him that she already talked to the captain and he seemed fine yesterday morning but suddenly decided to call in sick.

Yet, while he never came down to the riverbank, Tenma saw him and Kirino watching them from the bridge. The captain loves soccer a lot and really wants to play freely again, he can tell. And he contemplated if he should try to convince the captain to play real soccer with them. But he promised Aoi that he won't pressure anyone to joining his fight against the Fifth Sector.