"Welcome to the cosmic soccer world! Today on the planet Ratoniik is Grand Celesta Galaxy's semi-finals! The match between Ratoniik versus Earth Eleven is brought to you live! Don't miss it!"

"Now that we brothers are here, you've already won. You guys can go take it easy and prepare for winter."

"Whoa! That was a good one, Ryugel-nii!"

"Listen closely, Gandales. This is what you call 'taking your hat off'."

"Oh! Ryugel-nii, you sure know complicated stuff! As expected of Ryugel-nii!"

Shindou did his best not to sigh as they watched the two new aliens on the pitch. They were clearly not locals, "You mean 'taking the helm'..." Nor were they bright.

"Those are the helpers this time?" Ibuki muttered, not sounding very impressed.

"There are two this time." Minaho smiled.

"They don't seem very impressive." Tetsukado said in a laid-back tone.

"You can't separate the Baran Brothers. While their speed is off the charts, they're both real' stupid, so fooling them should be easy. I'll just lay low and stay back for the next match."

Kimiko remembered Manuuba's words well, though she thought he was exaggerating about their stupidity. It seems that wasn't the case, which means...

"We shouldn't underestimate them." The words left her lips before she could think, which in turn made everyone turn their heads to her. "Maybe their brains aren't their strong suit, but if they have enough brute force to make up for it, then..."

"You really think they're that strong?" Sakura asked.

"Is it because of your mind-reading powers?" Shinsuke chimed in.

She shrugged. "It's just my experience talking. We've met a ton of crazy strong soccer players who are complete dumbasses in this one school year alone, you know?"

"Language." Shindou cut in sternly. "Really, I could've sworn you didn't use to curse this much. What happened?"

She gave him a wry smile at that. "Have you ever spent a night alone with Zanark Domain?"

"... Can you at least tone it down? You're being a terrible influence."

"Who the heck sees me as a model figure when I'm the youngest of everyone here?"

"Well..." Surprisingly, it was Ichikawa who cut in. "You are our trainer, Kimiko-san. We all do look up to you in some way or other."

"Yeah, but I'm with Kimiko on this one." Ibuki went and slung an arm around her shoulders. "Loosen up, Shindou. Our parents aren't around to tell us what we can and can't say." He then smirked. "Or do you want us to start calling you 'mom'?"

"It'd make us Earthlings look bad in front of the locals of this planet."

"As if they're listening."

We're really having this argument before the semi-finals, huh... She sweatdropped slightly, but it was also a relief. At least no one is panicking anymore. We've come a pretty long way.

"Oh, oops!" Ibuki suddenly jumped, letting her go. "Sorry about that! Got a bit too comfy there!"

She blinked. "What? You mean with you practically chokeholding me? I don't really mind."

"Yeah, you don't. But someone here does."

"Wha...?"

"Sorry, Tsurugi!"

All eyes turned to Manuuba, who immediately looked away. It was clear he was taken by surprise by the sudden dump in attention. "Whatever..."

Ibuki chuckled. "Oh shit, he's mad."

He really isn't. She wanted to reply, but then again, letting Ibuki assume so was a good cover for him, so she kept her mouth shut.

"IBUKI!" And Shindou started scolding him once again.

Some laughed while others shook their heads. She noticed, however, that Kusaka wasn't paying them any mind. His eyes were on Banda.

~~~~~

"Guys! Let's win this match! We'll fight with everything we have!"

"Yeah!"

It started with Earth Eleven's kickoff. They managed to pass the ball pretty far up the field before it got stolen by their opponents. It got passed to one who seemed to resemble a butterfly. When Matatagi tried to take it back, she was able to dodge it easily with only light movements.

"It's like she really has wings!"

Kimiko sweatdropped slightly at that. "I mean... We don't actually know if those are wings or hair, so..."

Aoi's face flushed. "T-That's true, but you know what I mean...!"

"While pondering on their anatomy would be interesting, I believe a more useful way to use our time would be to help think of a strategy for the match and cheer our teammates on." Ichikawa reminded, to which she only shrugged to.

"I've done all I can to prepare you guys for the planet's gravity." She leaned back on her seat, eyes wandering around the field. "We can also more or less predict their abilities based on what type of insect they seem to have evolved from. Our main worries are those brothers."

The monochrome pair were smiling wide as they simply watched the match unfold.

Shindou was able to take the ball back and, after giving a quick reminder not to get caught up in the enemy's pace, they continued the attack again. He passed the ball to Tenma, who used his expert dribbling to get through the defense. But then it was stolen off of him again. And from there, it became a game of back and forth, with neither side giving in.

At one point, the captain got through Minaho using Mushroom Hop, but Manabe turned into a honey badger (Or Ratel, as it calls itself) and threw an energy claw at him to block the way.

He passed to Tenma, who charged ahead with Z Slash. He then aimed to give it to Matatagi...

But he was intercepted by the helpers.

"This is the right moment. This is impact."

"YOU'RE SO COOL!!! RYUGEL-NII IS SO COOL!!!"

Matatagi tried to take it back with a slide as the older brother was seemingly distracted midair. However, he avoided him by landing on his hand and pushing himself up right again before he could reach him.

"Gandales!"

The younger brother caught the ball and the two continued to push forward together, letting neither teammate nor opponent get in their way.

The ball disappeared and instead, a golden apple was in Ryugel's hand. He took a bite out of it and threw it into the air. Upon seeing the apple, Gandales let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Scream of Eden!"

"Wild Dunk―"

Before Ibuki could complete his move, the ball was sent hurling into the goal.

"We did it, Ryugel-nii!"

"Yeah. Listen closely, Gandales. This is what you call―"

"I know! 'A piece of bread', right?"

"Hey, you're getting smarter!"

"Ehehehe!"

Kimiko could only blink. "Not even a single braincell is present there, but I can see why they were saved for the semifinals..."

"That was similar to what we've seen before, wasn't it?" Shinsuke asked. "When Shindou-san's team fought against Team Gil! With the ones who have twin keshins!"

"Meia and Giris." She nodded. "Although, those two have brains despite acting silly from time to time."

"I meant their joint attack! Those moves require a lot of skills to pull off!"

"And also a lot of trust." Ichikawa piped in. Though he had no idea who they were talking about, he could at last give an opinion on the technique. "Of course, trust is something that all teams have, but rarely do you find people who are able to read each other so well that they are able to anticipate what the other is and will be doing at any given moment."

"Either that, or you just pass randomly and hope to whatever deity out there that your attack partner will reach it before anyone else." Kimiko surppressed a certain memory from three years prior, as well as the anger she felt when she laid eyes on who should've been there. "An attack that uses nothing but instincts... It's a tactic that takes forever to master, but once you get it down, it becomes a literal no-brainer move."

~~~~~

The next round started with their kick-off. They made a couple of back passes, which led to Sakura getting the ball. She used Beautiful Hoop to get through the offense, but was quickly stopped by another opponent. Before it could be passed to Banda though, Shindou intercepted and gave it to Tenma. It then went to Kusaka, and then back to Matatagi.

The brothers made a beeline for him.

"You guys can't match my speed!"

... They could, in fact, match his speed.

They stole the ball in a blink. Before anyone could react, they were already by their defense line. Once again, they used Scream of Eden, which blew through the defense and broke Ibuki's Rising Slash. Luckily, he managed to deflect it straight into the goalpost.

But no matter how many times they tried to attack, Ryugel and Gandales would always find a way back to the front of their goal.

Tetsukado managed to stop them with a body block next and passed the ball to Minaho. The orange haired boy started charging ahead, straight towards the brothers.

At this rate, our defeat will only be a matter of time. I'll have to take a chance.

Kimiko blinked. So he's got an idea...

Minaho stopped right before them and tried to find a way to get past, but suddenly, his head snapped towards the sky and he pointed, looking surprised. "Asokoni UFO!"

The two looked in the direction he was pointing to, letting him get through them easily.

The entire field could only blink.

He then made a pass to Kusaka, who was nearly blocked by Banda, forcing him to return the ball to the young detective.

Upon realizing they were tricked, the brothers quickly ran after him and tried to get the ball back, only to fall for the move again.

And again.

"You know it's a trick, but you can't help yourself from looking. It's the perfect hissatsu technique that makes clever use of a person's mentality! Only I could have come up with it."

Aoi sweatdropped. "He makes it sound so grand..."

Kimiko clicked her tongue. "But you do have to admit it's pretty clever." She turned to Manuuba, who was doing a decent job at not drawing attention to himself. He met her stare and proceeded to tap on the side of his head twice before shrugging. He really wasn't just over-exaggerating, huh? His information on those helpers are the only things I can give him credit for, I guess. She then took out her phone.

"What are you doing, Kimiko-san?" Ichikawa, sitting beside her, peered at her curiously.

"Hoping that Minaho does that move again so I can immortalize it within our group." She really only meant to show the real Tsurugi, just like Sazanaara's match, but what she said could be the truth if she just uploaded it to the team's group chat.

Sadly, he didn't. Banda got in his way, forcing him to pass back to Kusaka... who immediately lost the ball. Matatagi hurried to cover him and he wasted no time in calling out his Soul to even the score.

As they all moved back into position, Minaho went over to the Faramians and gave them a cheeky smile.

Gandales let out a wail. "He's laughing at us! What do we do, Ryugel-nii?!"

Ryugel was very clearly shaking in anger. "Retreat!"

And just like that,

"They left..." Aoi blinked up as she, Shinsuke and Ichikawa watched the ship take off.

"What a shame." Kimiko closed her phone and tucked it back into her pocket just as the whistles came, noting the end of the first half.