"I hope I was allowed to do this--" Park muttered, inching away from the group.

"Of course you were, I gave you permission didn't I?" Kino had chirped, smiling softly at the other female.

Park had went the extra mile and brought snacks for the team, last night she'd made them with her grandmother. Kim wasn't sure she wanted her in the team, but, if it made her happy then why pull her out of it? She'd come to terms with it soon, Kim was mature enough to know this, she was a grown woman after all.

"Wow! You made sushi, thank you!" Endou brightened up, immediately taking hold of Park's hands and shaking them frantically.

"U-uhm, it's called kimbap, like, Korean sushi I guess?" The white haired girl let out a nervous, breathy laugh.

Her grandmother brought over the lunch box so she didn't have to haul it all the way by herself, Kim had immediately left afterwards. While munching on pieces here and there, Endou went over the new formation, given a bunch of members had shown up out of the blue.

The team was later informed of the school they'd be playing against next, and at that, Endou took everyone out to the riverside pitch to train. Of course, even after their supposedly dumb luck win against Teikoku, they still couldn't manage to borrow a school field.

"Here!" Kurimatsu made a clean pass to Park, who brought up the ball a little, then passing to Matsuno. Before the ginger could even get much time to respond, Someoka made a slide tackle and stole the ball in seconds. Even Park flinched at the sudden impact. The striker continued on, knocking down both Kageno and Kazemaru in the process before attempting a shoot. Due to the possible agitation taking over, he completely missed, hitting the bar instead.

"Hey, are you alri-" The white haired defender skittered over to her classmate Kazemaru, immediately then being knocked at the back of her head with the stray ball. Kazemaru wasn't all that hurt, but now Park face planted into the dirt beside him, this was probably more concerning than the tiny scratch on his palm.

"P-Park-!?" The tealette quickly tried to help her up, taking her arm while she groaned. "Someoka! What's gotten into you!?" Kazemaru nearly snapped at the other male.

"It's her fault for getting in the way." He responded with a nasty glare.

"It's fine, I'm fine. . . !" Park sighed, rubbing at the back of her head. "He seems upset, maybe he didn't mean it." With a little of Kazemaru's help, she rose to her feet and brushed off the dirt on her jersey.

"You can't be serious." Kazemaru breathed out, hesitantly bringing a hand to her cheek.

". . . What are you doing?" The white haired girl froze in place, only looking up at him for a second before averting her eyes afterwards.

"You've got some dirt on your face," nonchalantly, he rubbed it away with his thumb. "There!" The tealette flashed her a quick smile. Though, this moment didn't last very long, as Kino called everyone over for a quick break. She introduced a first year student from the newspaper club, Otonashi Haruna. Apparently there were some avid rumors about the next team they'd be playing; Occult.

"They're just rumors, it's nothing to worry about!" Endou chirped, a forced smile on his features. Despite this, the others weren't feeling very spirited about things.

". . . Maybe we do need Gouenji-san." Shourin mumbled innocent, but was immediately scolded by Someoka. In some cases this would be considered jealousy, but, Park didn't think that was what would make him so infuriated.

"What's wrong with you guys!? We don't need that guy, I'm our forward, I'll get our goals!" Someoka spat, pointing a thumb at himself.

"We'll just have to make do with the members we have." Matsuno crossed his arms, a small simper evident on his face.

"But, captain. . ." Shishido quietly spoke up, slinking away from Someoka and closer to Endou. "If Gouenji-san didn't show up, we would be disbanded. Isn't that the same case this time, too?"

This, brought everyone even further down the rabbit hole.

"May I say something?" With an even tinier voice, Park poked herself into view, awkwardly holding an ice pack against the back of her head.

"Sure, go ahead." Endou didn't really see the need in having to ask in order to join the conversation.

"If it weren't for Endou, too, we could have lost the match." She perked up. "It was his God Hand that caught and threw the ball up to Gouenji, right?" With a small smile, Park lifted a finger.

Everyone had paused for a moment to picture what she was talking about.

"That's exactly right." Kino lightly knocked at her clipboard with the joint of her finger. "Teikoku won the Football Frontier last year anyways, we were against the strongest team there is." She continued. The girl was right, they were the best of the best, of course they'd be tougher than your average team. At least against Occult they had more than a decimal of a chance.

"Yes! I think we have a lovely team already." Park chirped, her smile clearly growing. "Please, won't you believe in us a little more?" Genuinely speaking from the heart, she lifted a hand to the left side of her chest.

"Everyone! Be more like Park!" Endou grinned.

". . . I'm not cooking, don't look at me." Handa lifted his hands in defense.

Kazemaru only let out a small chuckle, before returning his gaze to the white haired female. Pep talks in the track team were nothing like this, but it wasn't like they ever got into so much conflict either. It was an individual sport after all, and being so involved with others were starting to grow on the speedy male.

After some more training, everyone had parted ways and went on home, asides from Endou who was later joined by the track star. They'd chattered on about Gouenji and Someoka, as the brunette downed a bottle of water.

"I'm not going to try and talk Gouenji into the club anymore." Endou sheepishly admitted. He'd been harassing that poor boy for too long, and it had to come to a stop. While the blonde male was definitely a skilled player, Endou still respected him as a person, too.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Kazemaru asked, leaning over to get a better look at the keeper beside him.

"It's especially rude to the rest of the team, it's like I don't appreciate them for working so hard." Furrowing his brows, Endou responded. "I should apologize to Someoka, and Park. She was really excited to join, but all we've ever done is fight so far." A humorless laugh slipped passed his lips.

". . . I thought it was against the rules to let a girl join a boys team." Regrettably, Kazemaru mentioned what he'd been thinking about for a while.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it is." As casual as ever, the brunette responded.

"What!?"

"They already told her it was, but I let her join anyway. I don't see the big deal." To aid his argument even further, he started slipping his gloves back on. "Kazemaru, you've been a really big help so far. Thank you!" Endou turned to the tealette and smiled brightly.

"Y-yeah. . . No problem." Kazemaru breathed out.

Sitting at the island table in the kitchen while doing her homework, Park took another bite of her steam bun. After school snacks were especially the best.

She'd already washed up and changed into something more comfy as Kim made dinner. Jae was out in the backyard tending to the garden - this was his absolute favourite hobby despite growing up in the city, unlike Kim who was a girl from the farm. It seems like he caught onto her hobbies as a young woman and carried them on.

Cho was scampering around the house with his ball, sometimes he'd bring it to Park and she'd toss it for him.

"How was practice? You look like you had fun." Kim chirped, bringing a spoonful of soup to her mouth to taste test.

"I did!" Park chirped, scribbling on her handout sheets. Then, she suddenly remembered earlier events. Her expression suddenly turned sour as she brought a hand up to her cheek. . . He'd touched it.

". . . Why are you making that face?" Kim asked, lifting a brow.

"Halmeoni, were you uncomfortable with boys when you were my age?" Park lifted her eyes to the woman.

"Well, let's see." The dark haired lady hummed softly. "My mother had strictly told me not to mingle with boys, so I didn't. I definitely was uncomfortable with them though, and a lot of Japanese boys would tease me." She responded softly, looking back at those times were both nostalgic and difficult at the same time. "I was fifteen when I met Harabeoji, but he was very open, so I slowly became comfortable with him."

"I see. . ." Park mumbled, lowering her gaze back to her work.

"Did- did a boy try to talk to you improperly?" Suddenly concerned, Kim put everything down and inched closer to the young girl.

"Well, no, but. . . He sort of touched me." Using the worst possible phrasing, Park tried to explain.

"He what!?" Kim burst out in flames. "Do you know his name!? Where does he live!? What does he look like!?" Her voice got louder with every question, this even alerted Cho who stopped in his tracks - and let the ball fall from his mouth.

"H-Halmeoni-"

"That little shit! I'll hunt him down, I'll find his parents, I'll contact the school! Little brat thinks he can get away with this, does he know who I am!?" To make things even more terrifying, Kim grabbed a kitchen knife from the stand. Park nearly fell off her seat.

"Halmeoni! That's not what I meant!" Lifting her hands in defense, she tried to calm down the woman who was absolutely enraged.

"Oh. What did you mean then?" Placing down the knife, Kim flattened down her hair.

"There was some dirt on my face, and he wiped it away." The white haired girl lowered her head in her arms on the table in defeat. "I felt like crying for some reason."

"Aiiish," Kim let out a sigh of relief, thank goodness. There wouldn't be any blood on her hands today. "I'd say it was nice of him, but even still. . . It's nothing to be so upset about, though."

"He just. . . Kind of scares me." Park mumbled softly, earning a small frown from her grandmother. The woman brought a hand to stroke at Park's hair.

Maybe her upbringing had something to do with this, and while she had no memories of events, she had memories of certain feelings. Kim's eyes slightly narrowed. The sight of those two young teenage boys. The dark haired boy had glared at her, but the one with the red eyes. . .

'It's all their fault. . .'