[SERENADE OF STRATEGIES] - nishinosa oneshots book

The human heart in its perversity finds it hard to escape hatred and revenge.

The beautiful tranquility of the dormitories was abruptly interrupted by a clearly accidental, ugly sob, and also caused someone's relaxed walk to come to an halt, making him turn around so that he could stare at the door of the room where that sound of desperation came from, which greatly piqued his interest; he felt sorry to know that a teammate would be feeling down after such a deserved victory against China in the Asian bracket, it had been a very memorable match even if the team's performance hadn't exactly been the best, like their coach said: but it wasn't anything they couldn't work on, especially a week before they were going to reach the beautiful island of Raiokotto-Tou, completely used for football and with areas that recall the culture of all the participating nations. His warm hand placed itself almost mechanically on the cold door knob which lead to Tori's room, once he confirmed that the small sound which caught his attention came from her room. However, an almost hesitant whisper stopped him from turning it over to enter the defender's room.

"Nosaka-san," said Nishikage, remaining still behind him with his usual condescending look, however Nosaka didn't even flinch as his hand stood still on the knob, turning his head around as if to suggest to his fiancé to continue, if he wanted to. "perhaps we should leave her alone." Nosaka gently tilted his head as his lips curved into a small smile (force of habit), as he shook his hand dismissively.

"If I don't take care of my teammates' problems, what kind of manager would I be?" Nishikage found himself nodding mechanically to that affirmation, he truly admired Nosaka and how motivated he was to take care of everyone; despite still behaving as mysterious as midnight just like the old times, he truly showed a slight change in personality which he couldn't explain, he guessed that his behavioral therapy was doing its wonders, and he was so proud of him for holding onto life despite all the hard challenges he had to face. "I'll wait for you outside, Nosaka-san." The manager nodded as if to thank him, before turning around once more and turning the knob over. The sound of the door creaking was what met Nosaka in the room, alongside with a dim light coming from a nearby lamp, which gently illuminated Tori's facial features; they were in utter stillness, as the girl seemed almost confused by the manager's presence, it was quite late, after all: however, she soon dried her tears, and her rosy lips formed a small smile. "Oh...Hi, Nosaka." Tori sat up on the bed as her friend approached her without saying a single word, he did mean to comfort her but, he didn't know where he was supposed to start. He was good with words and that was for certain, but in these situations he didn't really know what to say, despite a pathetic 'what happened?'. Nosaka positioned himself next to her and kept staring at her with his legs crossed, only fueling that mutual awkwardness they were feeling— that being put aside, the girl seemed calmer now that someone else was with her, and that motivated her to answer Nosaka's indirect question (silence can communicate more than a million words, after all, and everyone was slowly learning how to read his unusual behavior).

"While everyone was changing, I was outside the locker room, and a journalist approached me. It was Orokana Jānarisuto himself!" His grey eyes narrowed when he heard that way too familiar name, of course Nosaka knew that journalists. Orokana was as thick as two short planks, he didn't even understand the mere basics of the fascinating and complex sport football was, but yet he was redeemed one of the most important critics in the sector; back then he even got recommended for Teikoku Gakuen's press for the annual sports magazine, by Kageyama Reiji himself. For a spot in an industry that would grant him fame and money, he seemed to be more than happy to cover all the competitive dishonesty the academy was guilty of, a year ago. Furthermore, he had also harshly criticized his figure as the 'Tactical Emperor' in the football world, not that he still cared about that old narcissist figure of his which made him drown in his own misery, but he had brought in Nishikage who had done nothing wrong if not attempting to protect him by acting as his bodyguard. He had accused him of helping Nosaka to tamper with the evidence (basically, modify -just in case- and hide the hospital records which stated that the manager wasn't in the right shape to partake in any competitive sport which puts stress on the body, as it could've resulted fatal to him) and come up with Grid Omega, the flagship of Outei Tsukinomiya, a special tactic that was then labeled as 'forbidden' due to the effects it had on the mind and body of the enemy team. Needless to say that these were baseless accusations, Nishikage didn't do any of these things, he didn't even know that his boyfriend had something as dangerous as brain cancer. So, given his association with Kageyama Reiji, and the fact that he accused his fiancé of being rotten just like him, Nosaka had delighted in researching more about him, coming to have access to very...interesting informations about him. "He just...Told me I am undeserving of my spot as a defender, and that I'm just there because my father is the Prime Minister." She let out a sigh as she gripped on the bedsheets. "That's all, I just think he touched a nerve." Nosaka couldn't help but let out a contemptuous 'hm', as it to communicate her that he was paying a lot of attentiom to her words; he just hoped that Tori knew that it wasn't true, and that she was chosen by coach Kudou Michiya fairly, for her talent, and nothing else— it was incredible to think that 'The Tower' was a technique she came up with all alone during his childhood, not to mention that she was a little prodigy when it came to being a captain, as under her guidance, any problem could be solved in no time at all, even when she played for SP Fixers, being able to juggle them as she pleased despite all of its components being adults who worked in the field of espionage and defense. But despite how down she was feeling, the girl still offered Nosaka a smile, albeit a bit melancholic.