너는 최고야 ! [ You Are The Best ! ]

27. the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

"Mio, time to wake up." Kim slowly opened the door to her granddaughter's room. She blinked her eyes in confusion when she didn't see the white haired girl fast asleep in her bed with Cho. It was part of Kim and Jae's morning routine, to wake up together and then wake up Park - but she was nowhere to be seen in her room. The whitette always wanted to sleep in, but today her bed was neatly made and the bed sheet was flattened down perfectly.

"Yeobo*, she's down here." Jae called out from the main floor. Kim shut Park's door and quietly made her way down the staircase (*Yeobo is a Korean term used for addressing your spouse).

"Morning." Park was seated at the breakfast bar with Cho sitting on the seat beside her.

"You're up early," Kim frowned a little, noticing Park was fully dressed in her school uniform. "What's the occasion?"

"Nothing really." Park responded with a smile on her face. "What's for breakfast?"

The entire day, Endou was running around the school doing nonsense. At first he was in the training center, standing at the goal while tens of soccer balls were bulleted towards him. Then he was sticking his face in the wash basin as if trying to drown himself.

Practice went on as usual, Endou fired up as always.

"One more time!" The brunet called out.

Park and Kazemaru both kicked the ball into the air, a decent height. As they did so, a gust of wind picked up, ultimately engulfing the ball. Kazemaru put his hands down, giving Park a boost into the air. She placed her hands on his shoulders for a moment before jumping high up. Once she and the ball were in sync, the girl made a strong bicycle kick against the ball. The ball was sent bulleting towards the goal, but the tornado behind it was slowly losing power. With a simple Bakuretsu Punch, the shot was stopped.

Park landed gracefully on her feet, a small frown on her face.

"Damn. Something's just not right." Park let out a small sigh.

"We'll keep working at it, don't worry." Kazemaru tried to cheer her up a little.

"Right." She passed him a quick smile.

Kim had ended up visiting at practice to see Park and the other girls. While everyone was training, Kim and the managers made onigiri in the clubroom. Natsumi didn't do all that great, but she did her best, and that's what counts. 

At the end of the day, Gouenji left the group to go visit his sister Yuuka in the hospital. When he entered the hospital room and shut the sliding door behind himself, he came to a halt once seeing Jin was in the room.

"Doctor?" Gouenji blinked his eyes a few times. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh- no, not at all." Jin shook his head. He was standing at the side of Yuuka's bed, "I was just changing her IV. I'll leave you two alone now." He got ready to leave.

"Thank you for looking after her." Gouenji deeply bowed his head, to that which Jin just chuckled a little.

"Hey, no need to thank me, okay? I'll keep looking after her," Jin walked over to Gouenji as the boy raised his head. The raven haired doctor wanted to find a wake to wake her up, but unfortunately it wasn't easy. For now, all he could do was moniter her until she did wake up.

"Good luck against Zeus by the way." Jin smiled at the teen, before making his way out of the hospital room.

"How was your vacation?" Hibiki set a bowl of ramen in front of Hayate.

"Not bad." Hayate responded after a while. He took of his black rimmed glasses and set them down on the counter. The white haired man grabbed his chopsticks and picked up some of his steaming noodles.

Hibiki was just about to welcome another customer, until he looked towards the entrance. His expression immediately changed into a grimace.

"Kageyama." Hibiki clenched his teeth.

"What a surprise to see you here, Raid." Kageyama allowed himself inside the little noodle shop.

"Shut up, I'm trying to eat." The whitette shot back.

"If you didn't come to eat, then get out." Hibiki sent a cold glare towards Kageyama, who only grinned.

"Very well. Make me some ramen then." Kageyama went ahead and took a seat not too far off from Hayate. "Or does this place chooses who it serves?"

Of course, Hibki didn't want to serve this jerk, but he wasn't going to be shallow and refuse. Hibiki decided to just make a bowl of ramen for him.

"Don't be so crabby. The both of us used to be part of the Inazuma Eleven after all." As Kageyama said this, Hibiki was visibly disgusted, "we used to stand on the same field. But we're notable different now. You own a ramen shop, and I have control over Football Frontier events, and I stand at the summit of the soccer world."

"I hate people who boast." Hayate grumbled. "I come at this time so I don't have to hear people like you chatter on just to hear your own voice. You showed up to talk shit, rub salt in the wounds and then leave. Let that sink in - how much time you wasted coming here." He didn't even glance at Kageyama, his ramen was far more important.

"You had your chance to join me, and yet you refused." Kageyama just wouldn't wipe that smirk off his face. "Your precious sister will face the consequences in the finals. As will the rest of Raimon."

"My precious sister  can face up to someone like you any day. I'm not worried." Hayate shot back, with hardly any anger in his voice. He wouldn't let someone make his blood boil so easily, Hayate had complete control over his emotions. He believed in his little sister, he knew all that she went through had made her stronger, and she would only grow even more from here on out.

The next day at practice, Endou believed he cracked the code behind his grandfather's secret technique: Majin the Hand. He had Gouenji and Someoka use Dragon Tornado at him, as well as Ichinose and Kidou using Twin Boost. Before Endou could even react, someone jumped in front of him, and a blinding light was shined.

When the light died down, a boy with long blonde hair was standing in front of Endou. He stopped both shoots with a mere hand. At first, Endou thought he was a goalkeeper, but the boy shot that notion down, saying his team's goalkeeper would only need a finger to stop those shoots.

"That team of yours is Zeus, isn't it, Aphrodi?" Kidou approached the stranger, who was just revealed to be called Aphrodi.

Aphrodi had shown up just to mock everyone on Raimon, and especially Endou, saying practice was a waste of time, and laughing at him. Never had anyone on the team seen Endou so angry. There was acid in his eyes and venom in his voice.

As a demonstration, Aphrodi kicked a ball into the air, and then towards the goal. At first, it looked like any normal shoot, but soon grew stronger with each passing second. 

Endou couldn't stop it, and was knocked into the ground. Everyone went to his side, but he tried to still stand up all on his own. As easily as Aphrodi made his appearance, he made his exit as well.

"Endou. . ." Park furrowed her brows as Gouenji and Kidou lent him a hand. "Don't let him get under your skin. We've faced a lot of opponents with confidence like that."

"You're right." Endou heaved a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Still. . ."

"But at this rate. You won't be able to win." Hibiki stated, appearing out of the blue.