A little into their second year of high school, the Raimon Soccer Club were on their way to the Holy Road finals. Then the car veers off the path, and they dive into the valley, where the car rolls off the cliff into the verge, and no one survives.
...
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The first problem now is how to make sure they survive past day one.
But surviving day one in the only way they know how to means every change before now resets nearer to the old path, and the trouble thereafter doesn't change. Raimon is still going to crumble into nine members.
Kirino sighs.
-
Kirino honestly wonders how he looks to the others.
Tsurugi's kept Shindou mostly unharmed thus far, simply to spite the captain-- so when Kirino stands back up, again and again, Tsurugi found himself facing two stubborn players instead of one standing.
With Shindou at the front and Kirino at the back, they have a formation. But outnumbered as they are, they don't get anywhere.
Kirino finds himself turning internally to Jeanne for help.
If only he could use her charisma, roaring his team back to life with his willpower alone. But no-- he can't use it too often. He's already used one Miximax this morning (a severe miscalculation, on his part) so he shouldn't use it again. The appearance change would really draw some unwanted attention, too.
An elbow digs into his back, and he cries out a strangled noise. His knees lose their energy, and he's thrown off the ground, rolling on the path sharply as the agony just throbs like a shattered organ in his side.
Bruise. Bad.
(But he'll live.)
So he stands up again.
"Stop it, Kirino!" Kurama calls out, worriedly. Wisely, most of them had stayed on the ground, nursing aching bruises of their own-- so evidently, they preferred for Kirino to have some sense of self preservation and do the same.
At the next shot, Kirino catches it with his chest-- and scrambling up for a last fit of effort, Kurumada crashes into his back, and together, they howl against the force.
