Glass Coffin (an Inazuma Eleven f.f.)

Eye of the Storm

Arata's POV

Regardless of present circumstances, I had been eager to see Suishou's plays ever since she first requested a jersey and introduced herself as a transfer student. My curiosity momentarily suppressed the torrent of raw, inexplicable emotions that tore at my will. The coach's approval only made her background more intriguing.

I had heard the whispers ranging from uncertain to unwelcoming in the locker room. My teammates were wary at the coach's underhanded roster shuffling, but I understood that most of them grudgingly accepted the addition of national youth soccer star Sugimori Takeshi. But no one had heard of a stately silver haired girl who would surely raise eyebrows had she played on a recognized team of such a popular, male-dominated sport and was any bit accomplished at it.

The faintest accent was traceless in her colloquial Japanese, which made it unlikely she had spent a large portion of her career outside of the country either. When I stayed after practice to run a casual background check in Mikage Sennou's extensive database, I received these results:

File not found.

As far as the authorities of our soccer club was concerned, a player by the name of Suishou Hakuchou did not exist.

Of course, unregistered players were not necessarily uncommon; it would be impossible for even the nation's best junior sports analysis team to keep tabs on every quitter and local hobbyist. But what was uncommon was a second or third year player considered formidable enough for us to search by name return null results.

My stomach had knotted as my mind drifted to a tall, dark place. In general, I tried to turn a blind eye from that man's vast palm, but no amount of compromise could subdue the understandable abhorrence select club members held for Teikoku Gakuen's principal. I had quickly ushered Suishou past the gate earlier because I did not want her to dwell on their accusations and form a corrupted first impression. I would not put identity fraud below Kageyama, however, so I had followed the negative results with a facial recognition test throughout all our player profiles, all the while crossing my fingers he had not tangled my school in one of his schemes.

Fortunately, Suishou did not appear to have a dishonest history.

Unfortunately, I meant this with an emphasis on history.

I had not bothered spending much time on Sugimori's after that dejecting dead end. His file displayed the typical breakdown of a well documented player, but did not contain details on why he left Carribean Jr. High for us. The most recent addition had been updated about six months ago, but that was not necessarily suspicious, as Carribean was located in a different region than Mikage so we rarely had opportunities to study their players until Football Frontier season. In the end, I left the club building empty handed.

But now, at least Suishou's play analysis was no longer relevant, for I would be able to draw my own conclusions after witnessing her soccer for myself. As for the questionable nature of her arrangements, I suppose I had no choice but to trust her virtue.

The whistle sounded. Yamagishi, my fellow forward, kicked off. Appearing curious of the enigmatic player as well, Teikoku let the ball sail smoothly to Suishou's feet.

The world held its breath and watched with me.

She studied the universal sphere of black and white as it bounded toward her unblemished cleats. It came to a firm stop as Suishou planted her foot atop the ball, and a look of novel surprise came about her features before she snuck a glimpse back at Yamagishi. Unfortunately, none of that went unnoticed by Teikoku's sharp game maker as she prepared to return the pass.