너는 최고야 ! [ You Are The Best ! ]

20. stick with those who love you unconditionally

[ a/n; what the frick these chapters are so long, i spend so long on them TT ]

If you were to call Park a lazy space case, she wouldn't deny it. She liked to sleep in late, or as long as her sleeping meds would let her. Today she woke up early, and ended up meeting Endou on the way to school - that's when they found Kazemaru at the riverbank.

Now, classes were almost over for the day. Park was half asleep at her desk, so lost in the clouds that she didn't even hear the last bell ring.

"Sleeping in class again." Kazemaru sighed as he packed his things. He sat right behind the girl, so if anyone were to know she was half asleep - it'd be him. In order to keep her from getting into trouble, he'd poke her with his pencil sometimes when the teacher wasn't looking. She seemed to always know who poked her and why they did, so she'd jolt back into a sitting position and pay attention. . . Well, until her eyelids became heavy again. It was strange, she never fully fell asleep, no matter how tired she was, but only Park knew that. To anyone else, she'd look knocked out.

"Park, wake up. We need to get to practice." Kazemaru reached a hand out and gently shook the girl's shoulder.

"Huh?" Park slowly raised her head, looking at Kazemaru with tired eyes. "Right, practice. Thank you for reminding me." She mustered a smile equally as tired as her eyes, and stood up from her seat. She grabbed her things and followed Kazemaru out of the classroom.

During practice, Kazemaru and Gouenji continued working on Hoono no Kazamidori. Meanwhile, Park worked on her currently nameless hissatsu that just wouldn't come together.

Park made a clean corkscrew kick against the ball, sending it careening towards Endou - who managed to catch it just fine. With each kick, Park was becoming more and more discouraged despite Endou's praise and support. It was just then that Natsumi received a call from her butler Batora, who let her know her father was caught in an accident, and sent to the hospital. Park wanted to go to support her, but Endou encouraged her to stay behind to help Kazemaru and Gouenji.

"But- How am I supposed to help?" Park furrowed her brows as she asked the team captain.

"Strengthen up your Daybreak-"

"It's Daebak."

"Right, Daebak!" Endou corrected himself. "Keep trying to protect the goal. We'll be okay!"

". . . Natsumi, I wish you the best of luck." Park quickly took Natsumi's hands into her own for a moment. The brown haired girl nodded, eyes glassy with tears.

"Thank you." Natsumi nodded her head only once. Afterwards, she, Kino and Endou ran the entire way to the hospital.

"Park! Ready?" Kazemaru raised a hand, calling out to the girl. She swiftly scampered to a spot in front of the goal, and took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. She didn't like standing in front of the goal without Endou behind her. Daebak was meant to be an assist, and not a full on block. Although, training it a little harder would make it even stronger, so she didn't refuse Endou's idea.

It seems like Kazemaru was in a better mental state, because each time he and Gouenji would use Hoono no Kazamidori - it would fly straight on towards the goal. Park was glad.

The white haired girl didn't seem scared of any shot that came flying towards her, nonethless this one. Each time they made the shoot, she used her Daebak and tried to stop it with all her strength. More often than not, the ball would still make it into the goal, although she did manage to stop it a very small amount of times. It took a lot out of her, she was much more exhausted than Kazemaru and Gouenji.