He cleared his throat, earning her attention just as she arrived at the lobby.

"Oops..."

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Guess I'm caught red handed, huh..." She let out an awkward laugh. "I wanted to take a small walk around. The air was getting stuffy in there..."

"Did they let you out?"

"No one was there to stop me, so..."

He narrowed his eyes on her before reaching out. She shut her eyes, probably thinking she was going to get hit for being stupid again, but his hand went to the back of her head and pulled her forward. He pressed her forehead against his, getting a feel of her temperature.

It was burning.

"Uh... Kyou?"

"You're not going anywhere on your own like that."

"Well then, since you're here now, can you come with me?"

"What if I drag you back to bed instead?"

"Aww, come on. There's no problem if we still stick around the area, right? Like..." She looked around before pointing to the far side of the garden. "There! Let's go to that bench by the tree!"

Without waiting for his response, she grabbed his arm and pulled him along. He still prefered her staying inside, but the sky was clear and there were only soft breezes passing by. He supposed the air was good for her.

And the place was rather hidden, almost secluded. The perfect place to bring that up.

They took their seat with her smiling wide at the view. "It's a shame that we couldn't go back to Odaiba first. When you toured me around last time, we hadn't explored the area fully. We only had time to go around the ferris wheel and dorms."

"Mm."

"Riding it was so fun! Everything looked so tiny from up there. Makes me want to drag you to England to ride the really big one there!"

"That so?"

"... Okay, are you going to tell me why you're upset, or do I have to guess?"

He shot her an unamused look. "I wonder."

"Hey! I'm genuinely asking here! Or do I have to use―"

"Koutei Penguin 1-Gou."

"... Ah."

"By that reaction, you can already tell what I want to say, can't you?"

"That's..."

"Using it once puts a strain on your entire body. Twice puts you at your limit. Three times..." He trailed off before letting out a sigh. "You knew the consequences when you did that move... No, when you learnt it. And yet, you still―"

"I never practiced it. It was just something I did on a whim." She cut in with her arms crossed. "I took the data from them out of pure spite, but I've watched it enough times to know how it worked. That was the strongest shot I've got, so I thought that was the only way―"

"It was not." He hissed. "There's always another way. We could've figured something out!"

She looked down. She knew he was right.

"You're always like this..." He sighed exasperatedly. "You never think about what your own actions do to you. You're always doing stupid, reckless things that can get you hurt without thinking about how worried other people could get!"

"That's ironic coming from you." She huffed. "How many times have you made me cry?"

"Well, at least I'm not doing anything that could make me never play soccer again!" He snapped back.

Silence came. It stayed for quite a while as he watched her process his words. At least, that's what he hoped she was doing.

Seeing her refusing to speak up first, he went to his own train of thought. Her words replayed in his mind as his eyes narrowed further on the possibility of...

"... Are you seriously that petty?"

She blinked up at him.

"Are you doing all this just to get back at me? Do you want to see me break down crying?"

"... What if I said 'yes'?"

"You―!"

"I'm joking. I wouldn't want that." She turned away with a strained smile. "I would never want that."

"Then why?"

"Because... I'm too selfish."

"What...?"

Her gaze went down, her fists clenching on her lap. "Kyousuke... Have I ever done something right? Have I ever, even once, helped with anything at all?"

His answer was obvious. "Of course you have! You've saved us... You've saved me countless times before!"

"Wrong."

"Wha―"

"I've never saved anyone. I only ever pick up after my mistakes. Either that, or I needlessly meddle in other people's business."

"That's not―"

"How is it not true?" She slammed her fist to the small space between them. "I didn't do anything when you fell off that tree. I dragged you into Fifth Sector. I attacked you when my keshin was still incomplete. Twice. Two days in a row! And don't even get me started on Ragnarok!"

She was thinking about that...? "Kimiko..."

"Even with all this power I have, I'm still pathetic." She muttered. "Whenever I do think of myself, I always end up not doing anything and someone else gets hurt. You get hurt!"

He shook his head. "That's not something you could control."

"Isn't it? Could I not control it? Or was I too much of a coward to even try?"

That's... He wanted to tell her how wrong she was, but the words were caught in his throat.

"This is... It's also why I decided to stay in the future." She suddenly said. "You know that... My powers hadn't disappeared even with the vaccine. While the scientists are creating the new one for me, I spent most of my time with Zanark."

Him again...

"He actually refused to take the vaccine until I could take mine." She sighed. "With his powers... He wouldn't get hurt. And he knows how to control mine too, so..."

He couldn't say anything to that. After all, he himself once said that he trusted that person with her. Because he does care about her.

"But you know what's funny?" She said without a hint of amusement. "Even after everything... Even after understanding my limits and how to control it, I'm still useless. I still can't do anything!"

"You can―"

"I let you get kidnapped, Kyousuke! I saw you on the floor with that fake towering over you, but I ran. I even timejumped behind everyone's back to find you, but I couldn't do a thing! All I did was watch. All I ever did was watch." She finally faced him, glaring. "In the end, you returned to us purely because of your own efforts to convince that queen... What was even the point of me coming back? I'm not needed here. I only ever cause you problems―"

"If you really feel that way, then why did you come back in the first place? It can't be just because of the aliens."

"It's not... It's for personal reasons."

Well, that was not what he expected. "Personal reasons?"

"Because I missed you!"

Her words from the ferris wheel... That couldn't be all there was to it.

She bit her lip, turning away again, confirming his thoughts. "... Would you believe me if I told you that I was thrown into an alternate timeline by Professor Aruno to help with the crisis happening there?"

... What.

"It was a timeline where I didn't exist. A timeline where you took back soccer and Endou-san from El Dorado without needing to assemble all of the strongest eleven in history."

"T-That exists?!"

"That world was in danger of getting erased, while also mixing with another world that had these tiny robots as the most popular hobby game in the world. I won't go into too much detail about it since it gets confusing, but... I met a girl there who came from that world's alternate timeline. She told me how she was... also abandoned by her best friend once."

Ah.

"Seeing how that 'you' acted towards me made me uneasy... You have the exact same face, the exact same personality... The exact same everything, except that... Well, that 'you' has no memories of me since I don't exist." Her gaze went back down to her feet. "It made me wonder if the 'you' I know would forget me after leaving... Since it doesn't seem to matter whether I was in your life or not."

The way she said that felt like she was implying it would've been better that way. Even if it wasn't something either of them wanted.

"... And?"

"Well, you and her are a lot alike it seems." Her chuckle sounded forced. "You didn't forget. You just got mad."

No shit. "I have every right to be."

"I know, I know. It wasn't fair of me to leave on such short notice like that, and with no telling when I'll be back too... Frankly, I wasn't planning to come back this quickly... or at all, but... Yeah."

"And now that you've got it sorted, what are you going to do? Leave again?"

Her lips zipped shut.

"You're kidding me."

"... I wasn't supposed to come back in the first place. You knew that, didn't you?"

He did. He figured it out the second she appeared in front of the time traveling bus that day months ago.

"I told you already, I only ever cause problems when I'm there." She turned to the side, refusing to face him. "You're doing so much better now. You have so many friends and rivals... You don't need me―"

"So what if I don't?!" He stood up, involuntarily raising his tone. "So what if I don't need your help?! So what if you can't save me all those times in the past?! So what if you think you're the reason my life went upside down?! People make mistakes. What's important is you fix it and learn from it. You did that! You found me on Faram Obius! You helped us score a goal in Ragnarok! You took the punishment for me when I double-crossed Fifth Sector!"

"But that's not―"

"You stuck by me for seven whole years..." His mouth clamped shut for a moment, properly considering his words, before eventually deciding to go through with it. "Was it just out of pity for me? Or did you actually want to be my friend?"

Her head snapped back up. "Of course I wanted to!"

"Then why isn't that a good enough reason for you to stay?!"

She went silent again. That wasn't something he was going to accept.

"If you told me even just a few minutes earlier than you did... If you'd given me enough time to think before you left... I would've told you to stay. Hell, I would've begged if that's what it took!"

"Kyou..."

"Everyday, I... No matter how hard I try to not waste my time, I still go to the station everyday hoping to see you there as usual. Even when I had no reason to, I still waited for you. Do you have any idea why?" Both his fists were clenched so hard his veins were popping out. "It's because I wanted to go to the world tournament with you!"

Her eyes widened.

"I wanted to play in the professional leagues with nii-san and you! How the hell am I supposed to make that dream come true if you leave... or break your own body for that matter?!"

"Kyou..." She stared up at him for a moment before biting her lip. "But... when I mess up... people get hurt..."

"And I'll say it again. So what?" He sat back down, lowering his voice. "Everyone makes mistakes. I've hurt people too. Hell, I've hurt you and nii-san like twice each." His hand landed on hers. "What really matters right now is... Do you want to be there or not?"

"... Of course I do." She finally admitted. "More than anything, I... I want to play with you again... Like the old days..."

"Then, stay."

"Is that... really okay...?"

Before her gaze could fall again, his other hand grabbed her chin and lifted it back up. "How many times are you going to make me repeat myself? Yes, it's okay. In fact, it's more than okay. The only question left is, what's stopping you?"

"... Nothing... Absolutely nothing..." She finally gave a proper smile. It was small, but genuine. "You're right, Kyou. The answer was so obvious..."

He opened his mouth to retort, but seeing how content she was, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he kept silent, pretending not to notice their fingers interlocking, and rolling his eyes as she leaned on his shoulder.

It was... nice.

"You're getting a lot better at talking, you know. The Kyousuke from months ago would've kicked a ball to whatever frustrated him."

And immediately, she chose to ruin the moment. Or she might not even realize this was a moment. Typical. Still, he'll respond to her as usual. "It's not like violence actually solved any of those problems I had. And thanks to the Football Frontier International V2, I learned how to be a lot more patient too."

"I was honestly surprised that Shindou-san was the last one to start tolerating them, but I guess I understand it too." At first, she was laughing, but it suddenly turned into coughing.

He rubbed her back, but when she didn't show any signs of stopping, he frowned. "Alright, that's a sign. Come on, let's get you back inside."

"Y-Yeah... That... That'll be for the best..."

He held her close as they went back to the labs, saying it was to keep her from falling over. But whether that was the real reason or not didn't matter.

Neither of them felt like separating any time soon.

~~~~~

Masato wondered why he was surprised to find the navy haired striker asleep outside of his sister's room. After hearing about the forbidden moves, the team noticed that he had disappeared, but they all knew it was to confront her about it.

His goggles wearing friend mentioned how she probably found out about the move during her time in Teikoku, but when exactly? Her training had nothing to do with hissatsus. It was meant to be pure physical training.

Just as his hand reaced up to knock,

"They put her on anesthetics again." Amber eyes were half-opened, but his pupils remained sharp as ever. "She'll be sleeping until the afternoon."

"Did something happen?"

"She snuck out when no one was looking. I dragged her back."

"So it's to keep her from over-exerting herself?"

"Yeah..."

It didn't sound like the full truth, but he knew by now that these two wouldn't share their secrets to anyone. Yuuichi may be the sole exception to this though.

He suppressed a sigh. "Then, let's discuss what we'll do next while we have lunch."

~~~~~

It wasn't that hard.

They knew that they wanted to see where she learned the move and what she did with the data. Because apparently, Kidou made contact with his assistant coach, who said that he could no longer find it in the archive room.

(Teikoku having an archive room dedicated to soccer related things was something they chose not to question. Especially Raimon, who had seen the Resistance's base before.)

They ultimately chose to use El Dorado's 'Timeline Surveillance Room'.

"If we time travelled, there's a chance someone might do something to change the timeline." Rei Rukh stated bluntly. "Kimiko herself is proof of that."

They remembered how she wanted to stop her younger self from entering her home that day. With that, there were no more arguments.

After eating, they all gathered in the room.

Masato helped the android to set the time they needed to see, and soon enough, the scenery around them changed.

Tsurugi's eyes widened. He remembered this scene.

~~~~~

Two kids were sitting back to back in the middle of an empty park, a soccer ball not too far away from them. They were covered in dirt from head to toe, only their faces clean after using a towel.

"We're getting more and more synced." The boy suddenly spoke up. "Maybe we can come up with a special technique together soon."

"That'll be great! And then later, if we get to play on the same team again, we can use it to score a ton of goals!" His friend replied, giving him a toothy grin. "Speaking of which, have you got the results yet?"

"The entrance exam? Yeah, I got the mail a couple days ago. I made it in."

"That's awesome! You get to go to your idol's school!"

"You should take the test too, you know." He pointed out. "So what if you're a year early? You're already learning more advanced stuff."

His friend pouted. "Wish I could, but you know I'm not allowed to... Parents are still overprotective. They agreed to let me go to Raimon for middle school, but they won't let me go any sooner than that."

"There's really no helping it, huh..."

"Mm." She looked down slightly, before perking up again. "Oh! But in two weeks, I'll be allowed a little more freedom!"

"Two weeks? Your birthday?"

"Yeah! They told me that I'll be allowed an extra two hours to hang out with you starting this year!"

"Two?" His eyes widened in realization. "That means we can play until evening! Why don't we just start working on the combo hissatsu then?"

"Oh! That'll be sweet! And it's enough time for us to get dinner afterwards too!"

"There's a good gyoza place I like not too far from here, so we can eat there if you want."

"Sure! I rarely get to try street food when I'm here, so that'll be nice!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're a city girl, I know."

"It's not my fault my parents live there!"

He rolled his eyes, earning a playful nudge. After a short silence, he spoke up again.

"By the way, when's the next time you're going abroad?"

"Huh?"

"I mean... It's been a couple of months since you last had a surprise trip. When do you think the next one's going to be?"

"I guess it'll be pretty soon. Maybe even tomorrow."

"Seriously?! City people really are different, huh..."

"But don't worry! All my relatives promised that I could come here on my birthday! So, if I don't show up next week, just know that I'll definitely be here the week after."

"Fair enough." He sighed. "You know, I'm kind of jealous you get to go abroad so often. But at the same time, I know you're not playing around."

"Ahaha... Yeah. Honestly, I'd rather be here. It gets boring a lot of the time since I'm not allowed to walk around on my own. I mostly just follow my brother around and do stuff he tells me to do." She shrugged. "It's the same at home, actually. I'm not allowed to go anywhere, so I spend my time either studying or playing on my own. If I get into Raimon, I'd get to see you more often than just the weekends, and things will be way more fun!"

"Hurry and grow another year older then."

"That's not how time works!" She shoved him again, earning a smirk. Then, her eyes landed on the clock by the gates. 17.43. "Oh, wait, it's this late already?! I need to head to the station! See you, Kyou!"

"Stupid!" He called after her as she scurried up. "Then, we'll start working on that hissatsu on your birthday!"

"Yup!" She waved as she ran out the gate. "It's a promise!"

~~~~~

"That was..."

"Tsurugi and Kimiko from last year?"

"That was only last year?"

"How did you go from that to... you know..."

The navy haired boy kept his mouth shut, his focus solely on the girl running towards the train station. Seeing that, the rest of them gave up questioning him too.

~~~~~

"Wha...? Masato-nii? Why are you in Shuuya-nii's car?"

Just as she said, a red sports car was parked near the riverside pitch.

"Hey, Kimiko. I'm taking you to your next training grounds."

"I mean, I kind of figured, but... Why the car? Is it somewhere close by?"

"It's Teikoku Academy. Kidou Yuuto will be your trainer."

"The Kidou-san?!" Her eyes sparkled immediately. "That's amazing! This is the first time one of Shuuya-nii's friends is getting involved in this!"

"He's an analytical genius, so it makes sense that he's picked. He knows the bare minimum, but he'll be testing to see your full potential. I'll warn you right here and now, he won't be going easy on you."

"I know, but that's fine. I'm also curious to see what I'm capable of!"

~~~~~

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... She has never reacted to Kidou-san like that for as long as we've known her."

The brunette in question gave a solemn nod. "And you're all about to see why."

~~~~~~~~~~

Showering a bit of love to the InaDan movie because Yes.

If you're confused about that bit, then go read Flower of Courage! I posted it a long while ago, so my writing style is way different, but plot points still stand.

And anyways, YAY KYOU AND MIKO FINALLY TALKED THINGS OUT!!! Surely things can only go up from here, right? (Warning: This author is untrustworthy)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you next week!