soccer is crying

[soccerwhisperer]

Who: Matsukaze Tenma, soccer, and you
What: nightmares up in this wazoo
When: Throughout the plot
Where: in your dreams
Rating: PG-13, for violence

All is dark. There is a faint, muffled sound before it becomes chanting.

Fifth! Fifth! Fifth! Fifth!

Blunt pain surges through your body, enough to bring you to your knees, where you can feel freshly cut grass, if you're wearing gloves or long pants. The darkness lifts only to half of a soccer field. There are soccer players, only middle schoolers, lying on the field. Dark bruises dot their skin limbs are angled strangely. Perhaps if you double take, you'll see someone important to you among them.

Suddenly, something whizzes through the air. It's a soccer ball! It pelts one of the prone figures on the floor and rebounds back into the darkness. Then the barrage begins. The jeering eyes of the audience suddenly chants louder and with more intensity.

Fifth! Fifth! Fifth!

Comments

[deterrence]

The pain comes as a surprise more than anything. Before she can stand back up, her attention is caught by the flying soccer balls. While none have made contact, she knows they will soon if she doesn't make a move.

Breaking into a run, Shizuru heads for the near end of the pitch, hoping to see where the balls had come from.

[soccerwhisperer]

When Shizuru makes her move, the chanting turns into jeers and boos. The soccer balls stop raining on the other players for a moment.

"Shi--Shizuru!?"

One of the players gets up. Tenma. Then, all the fury of the invisible opponents is focused on this intruder.


"Shizuru, look out!"

[deterrence]

"Speak for yourself," she replies, dodging with practiced ease, trying to get closer. Her eyes widen at the sight of what looks like faces she knows in the scattered bodies around him, but she makes no move to reach for them. If they're already down, it'd be pointless. "Let's get out of here."

[soccerwhisperer]

He watches in awe how Shizuru easily dodges. He tries to stand, but he can only get onto one foot at the moment.

"I--I can't leave them!" Tenma cried. "They're my team members!"

[deterrence]

"Wake them the way I did you, then." She isn't sure how that would even work, or whether it is possible. Extending a hand, offering support, she hopes he can take the hint and attempt to stand once more.

[soccerwhisperer]

Tenma doesn't hesitate to take her hand. He knows he alone cannot stop the Fifth Sector, the castle, or whatever force is at work right now. He knows he has friends, and as long as he has that support, he will do what he can do to reach his goals.

"We need to get them to a hospital too."

[deterrence]

She gestures in the direction of the still-oncoming assault. "Not like this. They'll be hurt worse before they're off the field." Considering the state Tenma is in, his teammates likely aren't any better off, and neither can she expect him to pull them outside the line of fine.

[soccerwhisperer]

He wanted to protest, but she was absolutely right. They would have been easier targets if they were singled out.

"Either way I'm going to have to watch my teammates suffer?!" He exclaimed angrily. "I can't do that!"

[deterrence]

Why is he being so stubborn? When she faces him again, her expression has hardened. "You're the only one I can do anything for right now. We're leaving." She tightens the grip still on him.

"Unless you can propose an alternative." And if it is one she might agree to.

[soccerwhisperer]

There was only one option they could try, the only one he had at home. He had to beat the Fifth Sector. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew if it came here, he would just have to beat it. No more children getting hurt, no more schools getting closed down, no more soccer crying...

"We have to beat them... Show them that this is wrong!"

But he doesn't have enough strength to break free from Shizuru's grip.

[deterrence]

A pause, almost too long for their situation, follows. "I'm not mistaken in remembering that soccer is eleven-a-side, am I?" The absurdity of this all aside, she is fairly certain of what he means by "beating" the people behind it.

Not to mention how even she knows that her skills in this area are about, well, none.

[soccerwhisperer]

Logic, Tenma's worst enemy. He blinks and looks around. Even without Shizuru on the pitch, all of his teammates lay injured on the field. And when he looked closer, he realized more people were with them. Different people he met in Paradisa, even Taiyou...

"That... That just makes this even worse!"

[deterrence]

Which pretty much confirms what Shizuru had expected. She tugs at his arm again, lightly. "We can come back for them later. Your friends are strong enough to take a few bruises, aren't they?"

Never mind that the injuries are more than just bruises -- she's appealing to the faith he has in these people. Some of them, she is acquainted with as well. But she knows her limits. They have to look beyond the short term.

[soccerwhisperer]

He hated being unable to protect his friends. He hated leaving them behind. He couldn't leave Sasuke behind, and that time and this were the same. Only the planks were soccer itself. He wasn't sure if Shizuru understood how he felt, but he knew he had to at least protect her from the wrath of the Fifth Sector.

"Promise we'll come back?"

[deterrence]

"You have my word." If a promise will get him to agree and move, then why not. Once this comes to a close, he can do as he likes. And maybe she'd return with him. Not out of any particular concern for most of the strangers lying here (or, honestly speaking, even Tenma if it comes down to that), mind. Safety, everybody's safety, is the best way to tell whether things are indeed all right.

[soccerwhisperer]

He stared long and hard at Shizuru (which was really just three seconds, but if it were a dramatic confrontation scene, it would seem long) before nodding.

"Alright, let's go."

He trailed behind Shizuru, constantly turning his head to predict where the next soccer ball might come out from.

[deterrence]

She doesn't speak again until they somehow, finally, navigate their way through the rain of balls and reach the sideline. Physical distance helps with the emotional part of it. She needs to keep her head.

"We should cut these off at the source. There must be a mechanism nearby."

[soccerwhisperer]

He tilts his head.

"You mean like a machine?"

Shinsuke had told him about the mysterious man who helped him learn goal keeping techniques. He did describe an old machine Miss Otonashi brought out for him.

[deterrence]

"Yes." Occam's razor -- that is, she'd prefer to think so rather than contemplate the likelihood of balls hailing from the sky being a typical occurrence here. "If we find it, we can stop it from causing more damage."

[soccerwhisperer]

"Alright."

He said with renewed strength. It was infinitely easier to think of the opponent as a machine. Machines, for the most part, didn't have hearts to taint. They were purely acting on orders without any feelings to make soccer cry.

"Let's find those machines!"