On The Side Of The Pitch With You

The Pendant

The door opened and a surprised face greeted her. "Kimiko?"

Spiky blue hair, sharp amber eyes, pale skin... She knew it had only been a couple of weeks, but it felt like she hadn't seen the familiar face in years. Before she knew it, even more tears were falling.

"H-Hey! What's wrong? Why are you...?! Kimiko, where did all these wounds come from?! Who hurt you?!"

She couldn't respond. She didn't know if it was out of relief or pain, but her legs buckled beneath her. Probably the latter.

"Hey!" He caught her before her knees even came close to the floor. With worry still clear in his face, he helped her into the living room.

"Kyousuke, who is it?"

"Mom! First aid kit! Hurry!"

When his mother came in with the small white box, her expression went from confusion to utter shock. Kimiko felt awful for worrying them this late into the night, but she couldn't do anything but cry.

"Kyousuke, get some clothes she could borrow. I'll treat her."

He nodded, but he couldn't leave. She was latching on to his arm, eyes begging him not to. Gently, he lifted her hand off and gave it a squeeze. "I'll be right back, alright?"

After a staring contest, she reluctantly let him go. When he had gone up the stairs, his mother asked her to lift her shirt up to inspect the wounds. She was right about her needing a change of clothes. Her current ones were covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. Most of it coming from her back.

"What happened, sweetie?" His mother's voice was shaking, but it was gentle. If her head wasn't such a mess, she would probably have spilled out everything. If everything that happened wasn't confidential, she probably would've said even more.

Unfortunately, life wasn't that kind to her. She could only shake her head as the tears continued falling. When her friend came back, she was all covered in bandages. With his back turned, his mother helped her change.

"I'll have these cleaned by tomorrow." His mother smiled as she headed for their laundry, but then eyed the bag she had beside her. "But this is quite the surprise. Does your family know you're spending the night here, Kimiko?"

"Mm." She didn't nod nor shook her head. She couldn't bring herself to lie to her, so she gave the vaguest answer she could.

The boy probably noticed how little she wanted to talk, and helped her escape. "Mom, we'll go roll out the futon now."

"Alright. Good night, you two."

He took her bag and led her up and into his room. She tried to keep herself from looking at the soccer posters he had and focused more on the music ones. He rolled out the soft mattress next to his bed before sitting on it. Patting on the spot next to him, he gestured for her to sit.

She obliged, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them tightly.

He was silent for a while before asking, "Does this happen often or...?"

He probably thought her family did it. Well, that's not too far off the mark, but if she admitted that, he'd get protective. That was the last thing she wanted. "They sent me on a trip... without warning, like usual... I was supposed to visit a friend of my relative for some lessons..."

She explained the bare minimum of her training experience with her face buried in her knees. Before he could respond, she looked up again.

"Kyou, I'm scared... If I go home, they'll make me play again."

"Eh?"

"I... I don't want to play soccer anymore!"

His eyes widened. "H-Hey! Don't say that!" He exclaimed, grabbing her arms. "What happened to you wasn't soccer's fault! I just know it wasn't! Soccer isn't supposed to hurt other people!"

"But..."

"Listen. The one who hurt you was someone who was misusing soccer. Soccer is supposed to be fun for everyone. If that person hurt you with it, then that person is the one to blame."

The look in his eyes was familiar. He wasn't just referring to her current state. He was thinking of him too. "Kyou..."

He gave a small smile. "Come with me to our usual spot tomorrow. I'll show you what real soccer should be like."

So, she did.

Right after breakfast, they headed for their destination. He brought his favorite ball with him, and as soon as they got there, he dropped it on his knee and began to juggle it. Then, he let it fall to his feet before kicking it up to his head. He bounced it there a few times before the ball went over his spiky hair and kicked it back up using the back of his foot. Catching it with his chest, he let it drop to his feet again and he passed it to her.

He smiled at her confused face. "Copy what I just did."

She could read his mind right now if she so chose to, but she decided to give him the benefit of doubt for now. She managed to do it all in order, though she wasn't sure if she bounced it as many times as he did. She passed the ball back to him and he did some more tricks. And again, she copied him.

They kept on going like this for a while.

"We did this a lot a while back." He said, trapping another pass from her. "This is soccer too, you know."

"... I guess."

"When you said you don't want to play soccer anymore... Were you also going to give this up?"

She didn't know. But now that they were here, she didn't want to.

Her silence was enough of an answer to him. "I don't know what happened to you, Kimiko, but I don't want you to hate soccer. After all, it's thanks to soccer that I met you."

"Well... I don't... hate it..." She scratched her cheek, flustered over that reminder. "I just... I don't think I'll be able to play seriously anymore... It's too... scary..."

He nodded. "That's fine. I know soccer isn't kind, so being afraid is normal." He kept the ball still under his foot. "If it's fear that you're feeling, then I'll help you get through it, step by step. Starting with this." He took out a pendant linked to a black rope cord.

Her eyes widened. "That's..."

"Like it? It's based on Gouenji Shuuya's Fire Tornado." Without letting her respond, he walked over and clasped it around her neck. "There. Happy birthday, Miko."

She remembered how it felt when she first held it in her hands. Since he kept it in his pocket the whole morning, it was warm. Though, because it was made of metal, when they visited his brother afterwards, it got cold rather quickly. Still, she could never forget.

The door opened and a familiar blonde man came in. "Are you feeling better now?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You dyed your hair back already?"

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." He sighed. "And you know how terrible it looked."

"Yuuka-nee and Masato-nii are the ones who were always commenting about it, not me." Her hand ran through her own hair. "I think I'm gonna keep mine though."

~~~~~~~~~~

Quick question...

I happen to have a few side stories after each arc of the story ends. Would it be better for me to combine them in this book or should I make a separate book for them?