Tracing Memories

14: S e r v i t u d e

Things went relatively uneventful for the next two weeks or so. Fubuki had slowly made friends with everyone and even Someoka had come to terms with the fact that he was now our ace striker for the time being. As for me, I no longer had any particular thoughts about it, I had focused my mind waiting patiently for you instead.

One afternoon, after practice, when we all were resting, Endou came after talking to coach Hitomiko and announced our next destination was Kyoto. This gained our attention and everyone started asking all sorts of questions. What we found was that there was an exceptionally powerful team in Kyoto that went by the name "Manyuuji". Their school had received a warning from Aliea's second team Epsilon and of course, that meant we would be there to help them face Epsilon.

Thankfully we reached the place in time. Upon talking to the members of Manyuuji we found out they had no interest in standing against Epsilon. They did not realise how big of a threat they were and when we tried to reason with them they dismissed us by stating they believe they are capable of dealing with this by talking it out.

We were bothered by their cavalier attitude towards this problem but in the end, we decided to fight Epsilon instead of them.

Between all of this, we met a very peculiar student of Manyuuji Junior High and his name was Kogure Yuuya. He was also a part of their soccer team but when we found him, he was cleaning the floors. We found out the reason behind it later. He was frequently doing these chores instead of practicing because he was always punished for pulling pranks on people. This was evident by the fact that the first time we met him he managed to make half of our team tumble and fall on each other as he snickered in the corner.

As long as we stayed at Manyuuji, Kogure's pranks did not stop. In addition to making Endou slip on floor wax, he also managed to make Touko fall in a ditch and scared Haruna with a frog on multiple occasions.

Seeing him acting this way, I couldn't help but remember the day we all stayed at the school overnight. We had gathered to practice together and everyone who had anything to do with the team was present there. As is customary on camps, someone suddenly started the topic of ghosts and everyone started wondering if our school had any too. We tried to find out and you took that opportunity to scare everyone. You succeeded resulting in everyone screaming at the top of their lungs while I stifled a laugh. I had never expected it of you and it made me realize how much I still didn't know about you. I had wondered what surprises were still hidden inside you.

A smile formed on my lips as the memory ran through my mind. I wondered when will those days come back again. We were all so tired of this ordeal we were forced to face and we all wanted it to end as soon as possible. But for now, we had no choice but to stand together in the face of trouble.

As troublesome as he was, Kogure was also a very talented player which prompted Endou to ask him to join our team. It took Haruna, who had been able to get through to him somewhat, some convincing to make him agree but in the end, we gained another team member before leaving Kyoto.

A/n : Guys, if you like this story please don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT.I'd love to hear from you what you guys think of it so far. Please don't hesitate.