[ notes/ hello hello hello, getting closer to the end hehehehhe. this one is pretty. . . intense, so brace yourself. ]

The finals were finally taking place - this surprisingly meant so much more to you than you'd thought it would about a few months ago. The feeling of being in stuck in bed for days on end was long gone, but for some reason you couldn't stop thinking about a certain red head. While your words and demeanor a while ago were extremely bold and confident, you were now starting to understand the stakes of this match. Nosaka wasn't completely healthy, in fact you didn't know how serious his illness was. Though, as long as things didn't change, then neither would he - and in turn. . . Nosaka would let himself die.

You took a look at yourself one last time in the bathroom mirror after washing your face. Your [e/c] eyes stared back at yourself, confirming that you really were feeling uneasy about this. Things weren't made better when someone barged into the bathroom. After wiping your face with a towel, you looked at the entrance, and there stood Anna.

"Hello." You greeted her calmly, but her face still showed nothing but panic.

"[L/n]-san, you have to do something. . . !" She suddenly burst out. "You're the only one Nosaka-kun will listen to!"

". . . What are you talking about?" You furrowed your brows, looking at the blonde female in confusion. She stared at the ground with heavy eyes for a while before looking up at you again.

"You have to stop him from playing this match. . . He might-. He might die out there." Anna lowered her head again, lifting a hand to wipe her now clouded eyes. "He only has two months to live."

Nosaka was an idiot, telling her all of this for no reason and now she was stressing herself worrying about it.

"Anna, I wish things weren't like this as well. I know you're worried about him," You softened your voice. "But I don't think Nosaka would let something like that happen. As always, he has a plan that he won't let anyone else in on." Stepping over to her, you gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Once Anna raised her head, you gave her a sweet smile. "Have some faith in him. Everything is going to be okay."

This was the last thing said before you had to leave, and head to the field. Anna had taken a few minutes for herself, but later joined the rest of the team. You'd all been training back on Asuto and the others' home island until last night when everyone got back. 

You were a little sore, but it wasn't anything you couldn't handle. In fact, everyone on the team was so used to this after all the relentless training regiments. Nosaka stood at the front of Outei's side, all by himself. He was going to be their ace forward for this match, but you expected that.

In that case, so would you.

"Good luck, [Y/n]." Nosaka just barely narrowed his eyes with a small simper.

"To you as well, Yuuma." you slowly nodded your head.

Outei had started the kickoff as soon as the whistle was blown. Nosaka passed to another forward. So far the plan was to play defense, but Haizaki completely broke the position and went straight for Nosaka. His immediate plays were rough, and he only gained possession of the ball by knocking the red head off his feet.

You were suddenly struck with two choices; to help up Nosaka and see if he was alright, or help Haizaki and head straight for the goal with him.

You'd rather not show any sense of weakness and vulnerability, so you went with Haizaki. He passed the ball to you, but you were immediately marked by three other players. Clenching your teeth, you passed back to Haizaki - but Nosaka cut through and took off.

"Dammit!" Haizaki cursed under his breath, passing you a short glance before racing after Outei's emperor.

"That was a little rough, don't you think?" Nosaka mocked the gray haired striker, bracing for his set of shoulder tackles. Shaking off Haizaki's mark, the red haired male kicked the ball up and shot it purposely at the male. The ball made a clean hit before returning back to Nosaka - who paid no mind to stick around. "An eye for an eye," he muttered.

"And the world goes blind." Your voice sounded right over his shoulder as you attempted to steal the ball back.

"Reading all those books paid off," Nosaka chuckled, passing to a teammate and suddenly stopping in his tracks. You subconsciously continued ahead, but this proved to be a terrible mistake in mere seconds. The Outei player passed right back to Nosaka, and he lifted a hand.

"Grid Omega: Phase one!" You were hardly given a chance to blink before two players ran ahead from either side of him, and the field was engulfed in a thick, fuchsia pink smoke. Everyone on your team raised their arms to shield their eyes, including yourself. The last thing you saw before they shut was him. . .

This felt so. . . Familiar.

This felt like when your apartment burnt down. . . A fire from a level below yours.

Yet somehow, Nosaka managed to get to you in time and save you. While you weren't even at the window. The memories suddenly rushing back to you left you completely paralyzed.

"We're happy together, right?"

With your eyes closed, all you could have felt was the wind, and for some reason your hearing was blanked out. Though, you were breathing heavily, trying to calm and steady yourself. Your eyes were burning with tears for some reason.

It was as if your heart was trying to tell you something that your brain didn't want to hear.

Before hitting the ground, Haizaki had created a wind vacuum to cushion everyone's fall. You were supposed to be apart of this, but for some reason you couldn't bring yourself to move. So out of everyone, you fell the hardest.

The audience was completely silent as Outei hovered over all of you in the grass. Nosaka made a shot and while there was no one to guard the goal, it went in. Wordlessly, he started to head back to his position, deeming the rest of the match as futile.

This was when your fingers curled in to form a fist. Clenching your teeth, you sucked in a deep breath and forced yourself to stand up.

Immediately, Nosaka looked over his shoulders, his gray eyes widening. Everyone else on the team was starting to get up as well, shocking the entire crowd.

"H-how are they able to stand. . . ?" One of Outei's players mumbled.

"The Raimon eleven have somehow managed to endure Grid Omega!" The announcer's voice brought everyone in the stands back to life. They immediately all started cheering.

"No matter what, we're going to stand at the peak." Asuto piped up.

"And the real match starts here!" Haizaki was especially excited.

For now, you had to blank out everything. They all managed to brace themselves for the sake of the match, so you had to as well.

The whistle was blown again, and Norika threw the ball in. Asuto held it for a while, moving up and slipping past a forward, then passing to Kouzoumaru.

It was getting difficult to shake off the constant marks on you, clearly Nosaka gave them specific orders to do so. For a while the ball was being passed around until you spotted an opening. You gave Asuto a quick cue, and after he passed to you, you used Aggressive Beat to slip past two defenders.

Your eyes locked with Nishikage's slate hues. Without letting yourself hesitate, you made your shot with your hissatsu.

Nishikage's counter was Ouke no Tate - and he managed to stop your shoot. You didn't make the goal, but this still made you smile to yourself. The keeper was a friend of yours after all, at least that's what you hoped.

"I finally got a chance to stop it," Nishikage stared down at the ball that was once rotating wildly. "Your shoot is amazing, [L/n]-san, but I know this wasn't your best." He lifted his head, the smallest smile was visible on his usual deadpan expression.

"Sorry, I'll do better next time." You chirped, pivoting to head back to your position. That's when the whistle was blown for some reason, and you hadn't realized why until the announcer spoke up.

"Nosaka Yuuma has fallen!"

Those words were ringing in your ears as you instantly ran up front to see what happened. He was completely fine one second, and now he was frail on the ground.

"Yuuma!" You quickly knelt down beside him and held onto his shoulders. "What happened? Are you in pain-?" Your brows furrowed as your heart beat was racing. He was clearly suffering, his hands covering his face as he desperately tried to block out the light and ease the obvious pain he was in.

"H-how did this happen, I-I thought-" You couldn't even form a proper sentence. You were almost certain that he was okay enough to go through the match, but maybe you were just too prideful and refused to back down. "Yuuma, you have to get up! You said you were going to fight us fair, but this is so unfair! All of this is so unfair!" In the middle of a meltdown, you started sobbing.

Most of the members from Outei came over as well, including Nishikage who was too shocked to come any closer. He didn't think this was fair either, and just a few minutes ago, Nosaka assured him everything would be okay.

"[L/n]-san. . ." Hiura muttered your name under his breath, watching you from afar with the rest of your teammates.

"Yuuma. . . ! Yuuma. . . ! You can't stop now, you have to get up!" Your voice cried out.

His vision was blurry, either from symptoms or tears, at this point he couldn't tell. Nosaka's breathing was heavy, and shaking, as his gray eyes slowly lifted to you. You were seeing your savoir, your closest friend, fade away on the ground. At this point you couldn't care less about the past, and anything he'd done to you.

Deep down, you really didn't want to lose him.

Nosaka lifted his shaking hand to your cheek, which you quickly took hold of and supported with both of your hands. His thumb brushed away at the streak of tears, as a small smile marred his features.

"Please. . . Forgive me. [Y/n]." His voice was just below a whisper, as his expression faltered, and his hand fell limp onto your lap.

[ spoiler; no he's not dead, don't worry ]