Chapter Text
When Koushirou had heard that the football teams of the lower grades would be merged together with the upper grades, he was sure that this was not going to be a good day.
Ever since he had decided to join a group sports club instead of a club focusing on individual achievements, he had successfully managed to blend in with the crowd. He wasn’t all too enthusiastic about putting himself in front and on the spot and up until today, he had been fine with playing alongside the other third graders, who happily played without paying much attention to him. And after all, everything was better than having all eyes upon himself when he had been trying out the table tennis club in second grade…
Now that a big flu wave had hit the school, several club activities had to be put to a halt due to a lack of students – until the club representatives had decided to let the teams train together.
“To improve the team spirit, communication and competition.”
Koushirou looked around – and swallowed. He wasn’t built for athleticism, he was pretty short, even for a nine-year-old, and not the most skilled runner. If anything, he had always been lucky to get back home safely without any significant bruises. Now he wasn’t too sure whether he would make it out alive anymore – one could practically smell the overly competitive spirit of the upperclassmen and he had already sensed grim glances upon himself when he had, once again, missed a pass.
It was unnerving. Oh, the things he would have given to sit in front of his computer and write e-mails instead of…
“You’re one of the third graders, right? Ignore them, they’re just jealous, because more players mean less chance for them to get into the first team without actually working for it… So don’t worry.”
He hadn’t even noticed that somebody had stepped next to him – so Koushirou turned around to face the taller figure the voice was coming from and was immediately greeted with a warm smile and even warmer hazel eyes.
“I’m Yagami Taichi, fourth grade!”, the smile turned into a bright grin and Koushirou couldn’t suppress the urge to turn around to make sure he was actually the one he was talking to. “Who are you?”
“Izumi Koushirou”, he replied politely, bowing down a little. Under normal circumstances, getting approached like this somewhat triggered a flight impulse – but not this time.
“Nice to meet you! Looks like we’re on the same side today! What position will you play?”
“Eh, I was assigned to play as central defender.”
Taichi was still smiling at him – Koushirou visibly didn’t have the appropriate height for a centre back, being almost an entire head shorter than the boy next to him. But being responsible for defending the goal appeared to be less straining than running up and down the line all the time. Which he had done before whenever the ball had changed sides and he had at least tried his best to give the opponent a harder time, even if it meant to completely exhaust himself. Taichi didn’t comment on his height – or anything else for that matter and just said: “Alright, then let’s have fun! Just watch out for these guys over there, they can get icky…”
He nodded over to the two boys whom Koushirou had already heard whispering over his head before. Koushirou was used to classmates gossiping about him and usually, he didn’t even care about that as long as they left him alone, but hearing the other boy warning him like this felt oddly soothing.
“Yagami-san…“
“Just Taichi is fine!”
With that, the older boy jumped forward again – he was obviously an attacking player and joined a girl with short, red hair in midfield, who seemed to be in the same grade as him.
Once the match had started, Koushirou found himself occasionally running up and down the line whenever the ball came back into their half – as much as he tried to save his energy, the sun was hot and despite weeks of light training, he still wasn’t used to the quick pace, thus he began panting and nervousness rose in his chest.
“Then let’s have fun!”
He still heard those words, up until now, they hadn’t really made much sense in his head. But when his eyes caught the boy with the big, bushy hair on the other side of the pitch again, watching him – or the girl with the red hair – score, it genuinely made him want to try his best.
Then he saw the opposing team approaching their side of the pitch again – he didn’t know how to physically stop the tall players like this, tackling and fouling was nothing he thought he would ever grow accustomed to, but then again…
He had read a lot about football in preparation. About tactics and maneuvers. He knew that there were other ways to put an end to an attack – and that physicality wasn’t the most important thing…
“Koushirou!”, he heard a familiar voice shouting as a warning and he already saw Taichi running towards their own goal – but Koushirou was faster.
With a quick step, he ran towards the middle of the pitch at the exact moment one of the opponent players attempted to pass the ball to one of his teammates who was closest to the goalkeeper. No more than two seconds later, the whistle could be heard, stopping the match.
“Offside!”, the referee exclaimed – and Koushirou, who had stumbled due to the speedy movement on the turf and now kneeled on the ground, heard a clapping sound near him.
“Nice offside trap, that was amazing!”, Taichi yelled and Koushirou couldn’t help but smile as well this time. The older boy, who had already been on his way to protect their goal himself, now kneeled in front of him, probably intending to help him up to get the match going again as soon as possible – but instead, he just held up his left hand for a high five.
Something that had never ever happened to Koushirou on a football pitch before.
The smile still prevailing, he didn’t leave him hanging and gently clapped his own right hand against his.
“Thank you very much, Taichi-san…!”
Maybe football wasn’t so bad. Maybe mingling teams wasn’t so bad. And maybe this day also wasn’t so bad after all.
~~~~