On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Sakura Blossoms

"Guys! There's still time!" Tenma called with his ever-cheerful voice. He seemed to have just finished discussing a plan with Shindou. "Let's take back one point first!"

Ibuki passed to Shindou, who used Presto Turn V2 to get it to Tenma, but Sakura cut in once again. She tried to pull out her own hissatsu, but the ball was taken instead. Shindou had to make another save.

After her scolding, her gaze went up to the stands. Tenma seemed to notice it too. And after that, her plays just kept getting worse.

Tsurugi decided to just keep his focus on the game for the time being. When he got the ball the next round, he did what he always had and charged ahead. Seeing there were two people ready to cut him off, he glanced back and decided to pass to the first person he saw.

"Konoha!"

He made sure not to kick it too hard, knowing the girl would be scared stiff if he did so, but just before she could receive it, Sakura crashed into her.

"Are you okay?" When Aoi asked, Sakura shook her head. She seemed to have a hard time moving.

Manabe frowned. "Well, that's strange. You couldn't have hurt your leg from that angle."

"Um..." Konoha seemed to want to say something, but held back.

"It was my fault." Sakura suddenly spoke up. "I've been feeling dizzy today, and I'm not sure why."

"I see. So that's why you weren't doing as great as you did during practice." Aoi said.

"I'm really sorry for being a bother to everyone..."

A part of him wanted to call out her act, but if he did, the situation would only worsen. So instead, he turned to their captain. "We don't have reserve players to switch with her. We'll have to switch her position around."

He got a nod. Meanwhile, Sakura's gaze went up to the stands again.

She's been looking up there quite a lot...

"Hey, Sakura."

"W-What is it, captain?"

"Was it fun when you were performing for rhythmic gymnastics?"

"Huh? Of course! It was very fun."

"Then, I want you to remember how you felt at that time. I have this feeling that you aren't enjoying soccer from the heart right now."

"Enjoying soccer...?"

"Tenma!" Shindou suddenly called. "We're going into position!"

"O-Okay!" He quickly turned back to Sakura with a "Let's try our very best right now on what we're able to do! Okay, Sakura?", before following him back to the center of the pitch.

Tetsukado and Sakura switched positions.

Almost immediately after the match continued, Matatagi lost the ball to the hissatsu tactic, Suck Out. And the captain called for an all-out attack. They were stuck defending for a while before one of them got through.

Ibuki managed to punch it away, and even though he bumped his shoulder to the post, he still smiled proudly.

Looks like the training's really starting to pay off.

"Nice clear, Ibuki!" But just as Tenma said so, the ball rolled back to an enemy striker.

Another Megalodon was headed his way.

"I won't let it end here!" Ibuki yelled. "Wild Dunk!"

And he stopped it completely.

"Don't just stand there!" Shindou called. "Attack quickly!"