Play the song when Rena finishes her conversation with Genda
*********************************************************

"Geez, what matter was so important that you had to be absent?! We have a new team member named Ichinose Kazuya!" 

Kuroi had told me everything again. The Magician of the Field, also known as Ichinose Kazuya, had joined the team yesterday. He, Kino, and Asuka knew each other when they were in America. So I guess that solves Asuka's plays for missing something.

But after training, we found out that we were up against Kidokawa Seishuu, Shuuya's old school. I could tell by the look on his face, he was upset about this. Going up against your old teammates is pretty awkward. Especially if they hate you that much for them to compete against you. And we also found out that the winner for Block A was decided, and of course the winner was Zeus. I gulped silently, and I saw that Kuroi gave a weird glance but I ignored it.

Now, Kidou, Kuroi, Endou, Shuuya and I were under a tree that was right outside the school grounds. And I felt more comfortable wearing my casual clothing. Well, we were outside the school so it was fine for me to change into this.

"Endou, you make sure that the defense is tight." Kidou said to Endou. "The opponent should be focused on attack for the most part."

"Yeah. Our defense is going to be easy! I'm pumped up!" Endou exclaimed.

"So our attacks is gonna be in counterattack style?" I asked.

"Not only are you a copy cat, a hissatsu examiner, but you're also a good field strategist." Kuroi teased.

"Oh please." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Gouenji, watch out for the timing when the formation changes." Kidou turned to Shuuya, who answered with a, "Yeah". Again, I could tell he was feeling upset about this. I felt that kind of feeling before, so it's no surprise that I would understand that.

"Maybe we should take a break from the planning?" Kuroi suggested.

"Kuroi's right. Come with me!" Endou exclaimed, already running ahead. 

We followed him, and he lead us to a sweet shop that was in town. Frankly, I didn't know this would be here, so me, Shuuya and Kidou were surprised at this. Kuroi however had gone inside already.

"What? You haven't been here before?" Endou asked.

"Yeah..." The three of us answered at the same time

Endou had already went in, and Shuuya gave a smile and shrug before going over to the vending machine.

"So they still have places like these in Inazuma Town." Kidou said, looking around the place, and I could see he was smiling a little. Come to think of it, it's the first time I've seen him smile.

"Yeah, it's my first time here too." I said, smiling back.

The both of us sat down on a bench which was near the vending machine, where Shuuya was. He got 2 drinks out of it, and tossed one at me. (I didn't catch it, but it landed on my lap anyway)

"A sweets store, eh? Just like a little kid." Kidou suddenly said.

"Eh?" Shuuya looked at him.

"Pure-hearted, straightforward... That's probably why he can be such a soccer freak."

"Guess you're right." I muttered.

"Move it!"

"You can't cut lines!"

"Stay in line, will ya?!"

"What's going on there?" I stood up and went to take a look, Kidou and Shuuya following me.

"Just stay in line you look-alikes!" Kuroi said furiously, looking at the Mukata Triplets. Oh, so what are they doing here, aside from picking on little kids?

"It's three against one, so we'll win!" One of them exclaimed proudly. (I believe his name is Masaru)

"This isn't about numbers!" Endou shouted.

"No, it is about numbers." The second said. (I think his name is Tomo)

"We're three who share the same soul!" The third one said confidently. (Maybe... Tsutomu?)

Then the three of them looked at Shuuya, then smirked. 

I knew where this was going anyway. The Mukata Triplets were Shuuya's former teammates last year, and because of Yuuka's accident, Shuuya had bailed out from the match. 

"Who are these three idiots?!" Kuroi pointed at them while looking at the three of us.

I crossed my arms. "They're the ones who replaced Shuuya last year."

"Oh? Sakuma Jirou joined Raimon? I thought he was flat out injured!" Tomo looked at me.

An irk appeared on my head. "I'm his sister, Sakuma Rena. Sister." I emphasized the word "Sister" for them to get the message. Honestly, aside from Kidou's father, these guys are clueless of who's who.

"Then they're Gouenji's former teammates?" Endou asked.

"As expected of a girl. Looks like you've got all the information on your potential opponents like a manager." Masaru said. The irk on my head grew a little larger.

"Heh. She only remembered it because it's unusual seeing three forwards." Kidou said. "And frankly, so did I."

"What?! Don't you how much we've done this year?!" Tsutomo asked furiously. "We've proved that we can win without Gouenji!"

"You could call Kidokawa Seishuu the best in the world right now." Tomo said. "It's got three strikers who are all better than Gouenji, after all."

"Well, like, our opponent for the semi-finals is Raimon, yeah?" Masaru asked, smirking.

"What's it look like, genius?" Kuroi asked sarcastically.

"We wanted to casually greet you." Masaru said.

"If you wanted a punch as a greeting, then you should've asked." I heard Kuroi mumble.

"We've come to make a proclamation." Tomo fixed his glasses while smirking.

"We're going to take down Gouenji Shuuya!" The three of them shouted at the same time. OK, now I know why Narukami and the others were a tad freaked when me and Jirou said the same thing at the same time.

"What's this about?" I asked, putting on my cold personality.

"Since you asked," Tomo started. "We'll take down Gouenji Shuuya for Kidokawa Seishuu--- Oh, no, to satisfy our grudge."

"That's something Gouenji knows, so ask him!" The three of them pointed at Shuuya.

"Hmph. Stubborn." I muttered.

"Gouenji does?" Endou asked.

"From what I've heard from last year, Kidokawa Seishuu won up to the finals thanks to Gouenji." Kuroi started. "He had a lot of good skills, so these idiots weren't brought up." 

"Hey!" The three gave a mean look at him.

"So because he didn't show up, you're having a grudge?" I placed my hand on my hip. "Big deal."

"What was that girly?! It seems like you have something against us!" Tsutomo looked at me furiously.

"Do you have something against them?" Kidou looked at me. I gave a light nod at him but I didn't say anything after that.

"Anyway, we thought you were a hero, but you ran away from the pressure of the finals like a coward!" Masaru shouted at Shuuya.

"That's wrong!" Endou defended. "Gouenji's not like that! On that day, he was---"

"Stop it." 

"But--!"

"It's over already." Shuuya said. "The truth won't change."

Masaru held out a ball and placed it on his feet. "Well, since we're here already, let's do some scouting. We'd like to see Gouenji's abilities like now."

"Sorry, but I don't feel up to it." Shuuya said, already walking away.

"Oh? Are you going to run away again?" Masaru mocked. "You are a coward of cowards!"

Masaru kicked the ball straight at him. I narrowed my eyes.

"Mad Stream."

I held out my hand and water came out, catching the ball.

"Sakuma!" Shuuya looked at me.

"Oh? So a girl is defending the coward?" Masaru mocked.

"Seems to me like she developed something." Tomo mocked as well.

"You're underestimating me." I said. 

"Rena, I think now isn't the time to be showing off." Kuroi said. I gave a look at him, and he moved back.

"Sakuma! You don't have to---"

"If you want a challenge, then it's a challenge you got. I have an experience for being a goalkeeper, so let's see what you have." I declared, cutting of Endou's sentence.

"Sakuma--"

"Kidou, don't even try stopping me." I muttered.

"Sorry, but we don't take challenges from weak and puny girls." Tsutomo mocked. 

"If you're strikers, don't you want to know what kind of goalkeeper you're going up against?" Endou asked.

"Well, that's true." Masaru muttered.

"If you're better than Gouenji, then prove that you can get a goal past me!" Endou shouted.

"Endou, I can---"

"Sakuma, they won't accept your challenge," Kidou said. I glared at him. "So it's like back at Teikoku again, huh?" 

"Back at--- what?" Kidou gave me a look of confusion.

--------------------------------------------------------

All of us were at the riverbank soccer field. In the end, Endou was the one taking the goal, while the Mukata Triplets were going to score. I was glaring at them, the whole time. As mad as I was at them for calling me a manager, I was even more mad that they called me weak. They are so going down.

Masaru did the first shot, he did Back Tornado, which looked like Fire Tornado but in the opposite direction. Endou used Bakuretsu Punch and stopped the ball, only to get two more balls in the goal because of Tomo and Tsutomo.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Kuroi shouted.

"Stop!"

All of us turned to Kazemaru's voice, and he was with Shishido, Ichinose, Aki, and Asuka. 

"Don't use violence, Endou!" Kazemaru shouted.

"Violence?" Endou shouted back.

"Isn't it?" Asuka asked.

"I heard something about a duel." Ichinose said.

"Who said that?" Endou asked back.

"Well, you were saying 'let's do it' and 'come with me'! It really sounded like you were going to have a brawl!" Shishido shouted.

"Shishido, the competition is soccer." Kuroi said.

"With soccer?" Shishido looked dumbfounded.

"Geez! You made us worried for nothing!" Aki scolded.

"That caused quite a ruckus."

We saw Natsumi come out of her car, crossing her arms.

"Well, it's always like this anyway."

"Why are you here too?" I saw Endou gave a... mean look of frustration. Maybe.

"Since we got a bigger crowd now, we'll show you this! The Mukata Triplets' strongest hissatsu technique!"

The three of them ran forward with the ball. First Tsutomo kicked it to Masaru, then Masaru kicked it to Tomo, and Tomo had kicked it straight into the goal, doing a triangle formation.

"Triangle Z!"

"Bakuretsu Punch!"

Unfortunately, the shot scored in.

"I think I've seen enough." I walked away.

"Hey! Where are you going puny?" Masaru mocked.

"Away from four idiots." I said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rena, Kuroi told us what happened."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I know you proved it and all, but getting mad at Kidou?"

"Koujirou, you know how I get when people underestimate me."

"I know, I know. Good luck against Kidokawa. After this, if you win, you're fighting Zeus."

"Yeah, I know. And thanks."

"Oh and uh...."

"Hmm?"

"The thing I said... during the finals..."

"Oh uh... lemme think about it."

"Oh... well, bye."

"Bye."

After that conversation I hanged up on him. I sighed to myself as I played some music on my phone. The song "Futari" was really catchy, and sometimes I find myself singing to the song.

"Kimi ga, oshiete kureta,
Hana ga, saku basho toka
Sora no, seiza no namae
Koi no, setsunasa----"

"I knew you'd be here."

I looked at Kidou. "Oh, you." I looked away from him, and glanced back at my notebook, which had all the hissatsus for now. "God Hand", "Hyakuretsu Shot", "Power Shield", "Zanzou", "Kung Fu Head", "Emperor Penguin #2", "Killer Slide", and the most recent one, "Triangle Z".

"You wrote these?" Kidou asked, glancing at my notebook and sitting next to me on the bench. I didn't answer and just looked at the setting sun.  

"I'm just going to assume that's a yes." He said.

"Yeah, I have. I've been, well," I shrugged. "Drawing and writing these hissatsus. Being benched has it's perks."

"So that's why they call you the 'Copy Cat'." Kidou said.

"Yeah. You could say that. I can copy all of these. I have three more back home. One time, you could come over." I said.

There was silence for a moment. 

"Sugiru, toki no hayasa wa
Tanoshii, hodo hayakutte
Boko to, kimi no kisetsu no
Kaze no you ni sugisatta ne----"

"Futari?" Kidou asked.

"Yeah, it's catchy." I shrugged.

Another silence.

"I'm the only one who hasn't said sorry, right?"

I glanced at him. "Sorry?"

"Genda and your brother, and I'm pretty sure the rest of Teikoku apologized." Kidou said. "I was going to say sorry, but I had forgotten after that match with Zeus."

"Nah, it's alright." I said, then I flicked his forehead.

"When will you refrain from doing that?" He asked irritatedly.

"When you start trusting me as a teammate and not underestimating me like last year." I said.

"That's why you got mad?" He asked.

"Yeah...." 

Another silence.

"So, wanna have a look?" 

I showed him the notebook. It had hissatsus that everyone had done in this year's soccer year. That's my ability. I can copy any hissatsu, but I also have to practice them in order for me to perfect them. The longest one I did was Hyakuretsu Shot, which was three days.

"What's this one?"

Kidou pointed at an incomplete drawing of a technique.

"Oh, that was supposed to me mine." I admitted. "I couldn't make one, so I gave up."

"But, will you make your own?" Kidou asked.

"Yeah. Probably." I shrugged again.

"Rena," Kidou looked at me. It's the first time he said my name.

"Yeah?" I looked at him. 

"We... we should get going. The match is tomorrow."

Oh.

"OK."

The both of us stood up and walked to our respective routes home.

I wonder though... he was going to say something, but then changed it...