1 The Beautiful Game

"Hey, Yuuto?"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna play football?"

These words suddenly sprung upon the mind of Yuuto Higuchi, dozing off in his classroom. His seat was alongside the window where a cold breeze blew, the sky shaded a tint of orange. He stared across the skyline

"It was a evening like this, wasn't it?"

That evening, the evening when Sora Higuchi, the former ace striker of the Kyoto Prefectural Highschool dies of a prolonged illness. An illness he hid from his younger twin brother.

Realizing how late it was, Yuuto packed up and headed home.

He walked down the hallways of the school. As he stared down the windows of the school he could see the after-school clubs practicing. He could see the Tennis Club, Volleyball Club and whatnot but his eyes unconsciously wandered towards the Football Club. Watching them made him remember of his days as the starting Attacking-Midfielder of the team.

"Damn... I promised myself I wasn't gonna play anymore."

The KPFC (Kyoto Prefectural Football Club) was a powerhouse of a team, two prodigious siblings in Yuuto and Sora. The Speedy midfielder-turned-striker Hayama, The Defensive Trio, Center-Backs Tetsu and Kin and the towering goalkeeper

Towa.

The boy sighed, he cleared his mind and walked down the stairs.

Bam! The boy fell over, clenching his eyelids shut. He shouted.

"Hey! Look ou-"

He halted mid-sentence. It was a familiar person to him, infact too familiar. It was his childhood friend Ayase Yamanaka. He got up, dusted himself, and paced away.

"H-Hold on!"

"If it's about me to play football again, then I have no interest."

"Atleast help me carry these books!"

He scanned his surroundings to see piles of books scattered across the floor. 'No helping it' he thought to himself.

Without speaking a word, he picked up the books, almost as if signalling Ayase to quickly follow.

"Yuuto?"

"Rejected"

"I haven't even said anything yet!"

"Well I know what you are gonna say though."

"That's a given, I bugged you about rejoining the football club for a year. But I still don't understand, why don't you play the game you love."

"I-I don't understand myself, it's just that... this would be what Sora would want right?"

Those words were the breaking point for Ayase. Those sharp words poked a hole in Ayase's heart.

"That's just a convenient lie, isn't it. Your conflicted feelings over football... your broth- Sora... You can't help it so you just leave... It's pathetic." She said in a cold manner, much unlike her usual bright self.

Yuuto was wordless. He was wordless for the simple fact that everything Ayase said was the truth, an irrefutable fact. He gave the books he was holding to Ayase, turned around. Without showing his face, he muttered: "I know that."

He quickly bolted down the stairs, through the gate and out. He ran as fast as he could. His legs went sore as he ran down the streets down the river, that was tinted orange by the large sun. He ran into his home.

"Welcome Ba- Where's this boy running to"

He slammed his door shut, got on to his bed and cried. Never had he ever cried to this extent. His body drenched with sweat, his mind, his emotions all around the place. The tired boy cleaned his face, his sore legs had no more strength left. He laid on his bed, where he quickly went asleep.

"Hey? Yuuto"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna play football?"

"Okay?"

'Eh? Why am I dreaming about this'

"Good pass, now kick the ball"

"Hyah! Ow."

"Not with your toes, you idiot"

'Why this dream...'

"Hey, Yuuto?"

"Yeah"

"Did you like football?"

"No, I got hurt."

"Haha... Let's play football forever."

He woke up at midnight, his dream, or in Yuuto's case, his nightmare, had reignited something. That something was...

Passion.