"𝐀𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐟 three before I explain your next project." You leaned back in your chair and groaned quietly.

I'll just sit and wait to see which groups have people left, you thought. Or if you got lucky, you'd be the odd one out and get to do whatever project your Medical Science teacher was about to give you by yourself. You closed your eyes, hoping that those around you would think you were asleep and find more reason to leave you alone.

"Hey, new girl." You looked up to see a purple-haired male standing over you. Instead of responding, you closed your eyes.
"That's not my name," you said, and the male clicked his teeth.
"Y/ n, right?"

Damn.

You opened your eyes again.
"What is it?"
"Well, me and my friend over there..." He motioned to a white-haired boy who had his head lying on his desk asleep. "... Are looking for a partner, and since it was either you or Zantetsu, I decided to go with the smarter choice...Literally." You had heard a bit of Zantetsu talk whenever he was called on in class, and it didn't take you long to conclude that he was dumb as fuck. Still, you raised a brow suspiciously.

"What makes you think I'm any smarter than him?" You challenged only for him to shrug.
"It's not harder to be smarter than Zantetsu," he countered. "Come on, it's not like you have any other offers. Plus, this could be your chance to make some new friends or something."
"Actually, I'd rather just do this assignment alo-"
"That's so nice of you, Reo!" The high-pitched voice of your teacher cut you off "Going out of your way to make friends with someone new!" She smiled as she wrote something on the board.

Y/n L/n, Mikage Reo, Seishiro Nagi

"Alright, you'll be group one," she said, walking away before you could protest. You side-eyed Reo, who smiled in return.
"Nice to meet you." Your project was to write about different mental disorders because being a doctor or working in the medical field isn't always about what's on the outside, but on the inside as well, or at least that's what your teacher said. You had no idea why this required a group, and you were left to wonder as Reo shook Nagi awake.
"Come on, Nagi, you have to wake up." The male in question groaned as he reluctantly sat up, seemingly about to complain until he noticed you.
"I thought we were gonna partner with Zantetsu," he said to Reo.
"I mean, you can partner with him if you want to, but if we do again, our grades are going to drop even more and we won't be able to play," Reo said. "Besides, she looked so lonely, I couldn't help but ask her."

This bitch...

Before you could correct him, Nagi turned to you, eyes blank as the two of you held eye contact for an awkwardly long time.
"No, she can stay." You didn't know if you should or shouldn't thank him, but before you could say the first sarcastic comment that came to mind, he spoke again. "I like her. She's pretty." Your face heated up at his words.
"Nagi, it's rude to talk about people like they're not here," Reo scolded him before looking at his phone. He sighed.
"Class is about to end," he told you. "New gir- I mean, Y/n. Lemme see your phone." As a thank you for calling you by your name, you unlocked your phone and handed it to him, watching as he entered his contact information.
"We'll have to meet up outside to start working on it so we don't fall behind. I'll text you later, alright?" You nodded as the bell rang and you walked over to your desk to grab your things and leave.

Lunch had to be your favorite time of day. While other students would leave to get lunch, you'd walk home and eat or take a nap. Isagi offered you a seat at his table, where he sat with the rest of the soccer team, but you weren't too fond of the idea of ​​sitting with a bunch of boys you didn't know. And you secretly enjoyed your afternoon nap.

"Hey, Y/n!" You turned to see Isagi approaching as you headed to the exit.
"I didn't see you at practice yesterday," he said. "Did you decide not to do it?" You had tried to see the counselor again, but she still wasn't there, and after being told by Mr. Takashi that you'd get in trouble for not attending the activity you (technically) signed up for, you finally relented.
"I was getting school supplies yesterday," you said. "But I'll be there today."
"Really?" Isagi seemed to light up at the news. "I can't wait. I'll tell the coach and the others that you're coming."

Well, now you couldn't back out even if you wanted to. As he rushed back into the school, a chill suddenly went down your spine, and the feeling that someone was watching suddenly overtook you. You looked around at the students as they walked by. Maybe your constant avoiding this manager job managed to instill some dread about it.

Or maybe that bad feeling you were getting was real.

You walked through the unfamiliar halls that led to the soccer field outside. That was one part of the school you had never been to, and the unfamiliarity of it made you nervous. You checked your phone. Twenty minutes before practice. At least you'd be able to introduce yourself to the coach. Speaking of coach, you stopped in front of a door labeled Coach's office, and praying that you were actually in the right spot this time, you knocked on the door.

"What?"

A low voice came from the other side, and you opened it, revealing a man with black hair and glasses sitting at a desk, a bowl of Ramen to his left, and the computer he was typing away on sitting in front of him.
"Um, are you the soccer coach?" You asked, and he clicked his teeth.
"Yes, now what do you want?"
"I'm the new manager," you said. "My name is Y/n L/n." The man sighed as he stood up.
"I told them I don't need a manager," he muttered as he grabbed a whistle and two clipboards. "I don't know why you signed up for this, but just know you're not needed. If the work you're given is too much, I'll have them move you somewhere else. I don't slow down for my players, so I definitely won't slow down for a manager."

Your eye twitched as you resisted the urge to tell him to do just that, but another part of you wanted to prove that you could handle dealing with a bunch of jocks. How hard could it possibly be?

"You can call me Ego. Now let's go." He walked past you, not even bothering to hold the door open as he left, and you reluctantly followed him.

The two of you walked into the school's soccer stadium, which looked almost like a real one, the endless-looking seats and lights standing tall and pointing at the stadium for when they played at night. Damn, how popular was their soccer team, you wondered.

There were about thirty people on the field doing different drills, which confused you.
"I thought soccer was an eleven-man sport," you said.
"Well, obviously, I need stand-ins," Ego said. "And some of them are just glorified water boys that think they have a spot. But don't be fooled. Most of them will never play." You knew enough about sports to know that this was common, but you couldn't help but feel bad. Ego blew his whistle.
"Line up!" Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and rushed over to the two of you, and you felt mildly uncomfortable being surrounded by so many boys, some of them being six feet or over. You noticed Isagi standing there, and when he noticed you looking at, him he smiled, and you felt somewhat relaxed.

"This is our manager," said Ego. "Y/n L/n. I'll be putting her in charge of taking stats and a few other things, but, importantly, from now on, all your dumb questions can go to her, and not me. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir!" What the hell kind of introduction was that? You didn't even bother trying to say anything, sure that Ego wouldn't let you get a word in.

"We'll be doing mostly conditioning today, and at the end of practice, we'll take the top players and have them face off. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Then quit standing there and get to work!" As everyone rushed off, Ego turned to you, handing you one of the clipboards he had grabbed from his office. On it was a list of names. "You'll be taking down sprint times, max lifts, and whatever else is listed there." He pointed to the paper.
"But how will I know their names?"
"Find out," Ego called from behind him, already on his way to his group. You huffed, walking over to a group of people standing by the goal. The first on the list was sprints, and you hoped it would be the easiest to manage.

Surprisingly enough, the conditioning part of practice went quickly. There were two groups of fifteen, and you realized quickly you had gotten the lesser group. Most of them were athletic, but every time you looked over and saw the other group with Ego, they were doing more difficult training regimens. Luckily though, the group you got was nice. While some were a little cocky and trying to show off, you didn't try to make conversation, and just took their names and stats and went along until Ego finally blew his whistle.

While everyone else ran over, you were in no hurry, and once you reached the center of the field, you handed Ego the clipboard, which he took a brief glance at.
"As expected," he said, before turning to the group. "We'll have those with the top stats play each other. Now listen for your name."

"Isagi and Bachira will be on team one along with..." You skimmed over the crowd of boys as they grouped up together. The first two Ego named were on the team with him, but it seemed like their goalie, and the last eight were on the team with you. That was the first team.

"Team two will be Chigiri, Nagi, Reo, and..." Recognizing the names, you turned to see the other team getting together. Reo was too busy talking to Nagi, and Chigiri was standing off, head lowered almost as if he had been hoping not to be seen. You supposed they had all been in Ego's group, which had caused you to not notice them.
"Watch closely," Ego said as they headed into their positions. "I need to work more with the lower group since our best is our upperclassmen, but they'll be leaving soon. If you prove yourself, I may very well put you in charge of this group." You nodded, gripping your clipboard tightly.

If you were going to be forced to do this, you'd make sure you were the best at it.