Family isn't always by blood

Chapter 1

Tenma POV

“Captain, catch!” Tenma yelled.

Shindou caught the ball midair, kicking the ball towards the net. The ball went past their goalkeeper, Shinsuke, making it a goal.

Tenma ran from his place, engulfing his upper classmate in a hug from behind in celebration. 

“Good job captain!” he exclaimed with a wide smile on his face.

Shindou looked down at his underclassmen with a fond smile, “Thanks. You too! I wouldn’t have made the goal without your help!”

Tenma smiled up at the ex-captain, opening his mouth to say something before he was cut off.

“That’s enough training for today,” their coach, Endou exclaimed, calling them all in for a discussion.

The whole team walked in, wondering why their coach would call them in so early.

At this point it had been a whole month since the end of the tournament, and it is easy to say that a lot has changed since. Raimon kept getting thank you cards from other teams, who were also under Fifth Sector’s rule, thanking them for their bravery and for freeing soccer. 

Raimon themselves have started to become a lot closer than before. They started hanging out more often, spending most lunches together, and having homework sessions. 

In Tenma’s opinion, he couldn’t ask for more. To him, it seemed like a dream come true. Being able to play on his favorite team without the orders of anyone. It was a drastic change from how they started, with everyone being sad and broken. He couldn’t stand the looks in their eyes. The look of sadness, loneliness and hatred. The latter being aimed at him.

However, now he looks around and sees the complete opposite. Everyone seems so happy, being able to play soccer as much as they want.

Recently, they had midterms, so they minimized the practice to once a week, to give everyone time to study. Tenma has spent the last two weeks studying day and night, in order to get the highest grade possible. Now that they are done exams, he couldn’t be more thankful to be back on the field playing his favorite sport with his friends.

“As you know, now that midterms are done, the mid semester ceremony is coming up,” everyone’s favorite couch, Endou announced, “hopefully, you guys actually took the time off to study.” At that Endou playfully glared at Tenma, who has been known for his extreme attachment to the sport. “Anyways, as you know, us as a team will be called up for winning in the tournament! So, I expect you all to be there, even if you didn’t win any award! The deadline to save a spot for the ceremony is tomorrow evening, so tell your parents about it soon!”

With that, Tenma looked around at his teammates to make sure he heard correctly. He could see them all talking to their friends about how excited they are to go, and whether or not they believed that they would win another prize.

“It’s obvious isn’t it?!” Hamano exclaimed, grabbing everyone’s attention, “Sangoku and Shindou will win top academic, like every year. All the third years will get honors with distinction, and the second years will be scattered like last year. The geniuses like Kurama and Kirino will get honors with distinction, and the rest of us will get either honors or honorable mention!”

“True,” Shindou said thoughtfully, “but there are other awards to win too.”

“And we don’t even know what the first years will get!” Kurumada exclaimed.

Sangoku turned to the first years, “What do you guys want to win?”

“Honestly, I’m lucky if I get honorable mention!” Kariya exclaimed, with Kageyama and Shinsuke nodding along with a soft “Yeah…”.