On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Surpassing the Darkness

In the next round, Tenma and Ozrock were constantly on each other's heels after the ball. However, unlike previous times, Tenma was taking the lead.

Until he was tackled.

The ball went out of the field, but the brunette fell hard on his back. When Shindou and the others saw he wasn't moving, they rushed towards him, Aoi close behind with a medical kit.

"Tenma? Tenma!" She continued to call out to him, not too soft and not too loud, just enough for him to hear and not hurt.

Slowly, his eyes began to open.

"Tenma, are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." He got up almost immediately, showing that he really was fine.

Doesn't seem like there's a concussion either. Passed out because the air got knocked out of him, I guess. Only then did Shindou let himself sigh out in relief.

After Aoi made absolutely sure he was fine, he got up with a look that held even more determination than he has ever seen. "I'm alright, so let's go, everyone!"

Standing tall, just as a captain should.

Shindou couldn't help a proud smile, but it disappeared as soon as he saw Matatagi's sour expression. He hasn't been able to get a read on him at all since they got to this planet.

In the next round, Tenma was once again the center of the attack. He passed to Sakura, who got the ball to Matatagi. The latter called out his Soul, but it was stopped by the keeper's.

"Guys! We still have a chance! Brace yourselves!"

"Yeah!"

"Matatagi! We'll make it in the next one!"

"I know that."

Seriously, just what is wrong― His thoughts were cut off by the whistle.

The game was in session again. Tetsukado managed to intercept the keeper's pass and sent it over to Minaho. However, when he passed to Kohona, she was knocked over and the ball was stolen from her. Tenma fell back and tackled the opponent, sending the ball out of the line.

In the next round, Tenma came face to face with Ozrock again. He couldn't pass with both forwards being marked, so Kusaka had advanced instead. However, his Kyoubou Head was stopped with a catch.

It's not looking good. The enemy knows only Tsurugi and Matatagi have the strength and speed to score, and they're constantly keeping them marked. His eyes went to the rest of the field. As if to make the situation worse, all the others were reaching their limits. Tenma's doing his best to keep their spirits up, but...

"You have no hope." Ozrock suddenly declared. "Through your skin, you will learn this!"

He got through Tenma, so Shindou went to face him next. However, even with the other midfielder's support, they weren't able to stop him. He charged past the defense just as easily and called out his Soul to go against Ibuki...

"Gekirin Dunk!"

... And it went in.

After checking up on him, Tenma turned back to the field, his voice still full of hope. "Guys! We still have plenty of time! We can turn that one-point difference around real soon! Don't give up! That's what we've always done, isn't it? We can do this! We can! It's what we've always done! We can do it again!"

The doubts in their expressions faded, slowly, but surely.

"Alright, everyone! Let's rally!"

"Yeah!"