14. Destruction Of Dreams

The whistle blew three times.

Overhead, the VAR system rang out loud. "Time's up. Team Z wins over Team Y, 2-1."

Team Z crowded around Isagi, yelling. "YEEAAAAHHH!" They jumped, they screamed, they cheered that they'd hung on. They could still play soccer. Their dreams were still alive, if only by a thread.

Raichi wiped the sweat off of his chin, his scowl a little less pronounced as he watched the others. Gagamaru pumped his hands in the air in a victory pose, and Iemon ran over, cheering loudly.

Chigiri took a deep sigh of relief. Kunigami clenched a fist in silent victory, and a wide smile grew on Bachira's face as he giggled.

A few of them hugged each other, wide smiles all around as they celebrated. Sure, they would have to draw one game and win another to progress, but for now they were still in it.

And across the field, Y/N watched Team Y collapse to the floor, their faces completely the opposite of Team Z. One of the defenders stood, a blank expression on their face as they stared at the ball in the back of the goal.

More of them lay or sat across the floor, struggling to hold back tears as they muttered things under their breaths. One boy was quietly whimpering to himself, curled into a ball as his chest heaved.

Y/N was used to it. He was used to watching people's dreams get ripped away from them in an instant. And he knew what he wanted to do.

Team Y was basically out of the Bluelock program, and all the games they played from now on couldn't help them at all. The only person that would be staying was their top scorer.

Right now, that would be their number 9. But Y/N didn't want him. Y/N wanted Niko to carry on.

He didn't really know why, but he felt oddly protective of the younger boy. Besides, Niko was the best on their team by far, with his eyes and brain.

Isagi walked forwards, out of the crush of Team Z members as they complimented him for his goal. Y/N waited for a few seconds, walking behind the blue-haired boy and staying out of his eyesight.

It was like he was in a daze. Isagi's strides were slow and steady, but his body swayed ever so slightly, and his eyes flickered from each player as he passed them.

When he stopped, it was in front of Niko, who was kneeling with his head in his arms. The skinny boy looked up. His bangs had parted, showing huge sea-green eyes, and Y/N momentarily paused at the look of absolute misery on his face.

Niko's lip quivered, and as Isagi stared down at him, it was clear he was struggling to hold back tears.

Then Isagi walked off, leaving Niko behind him, and back to Team Z.

Chigiri came up to Y/N from behind, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. He smiled a little, and tried to tug Y/N away. "Hey, let's head back to the team. They want to have a celebratory dinner together."

"Tell them I'll be there a few minutes, prepare it without me." Y/N smiled at Chigiri, clasping a hand over his and nuzzling a little into it. "I have something to do first."

"Ah... alright." The pink-haired boy left him with the rest of the team. Chigiri didn't talk much with everyone else, he had noticed. The only person he seemed to even interact with was Y/N... With everyone else, he looked just worn out.

Shaking off the thoughts, Y/N headed towards Niko. The team Y player was still in that same kneeling position, his forehead pressed to the turf like he was praying to someone.

He was taking it even worse than the rest of his players, entire body shaking as muffled sobs rang through the air.

"Fuck... I had him... I had it..." He mumbled, voice trembling with emotion. "How... why... fuck it all..."

"Hey." Y/N spoke quietly. "Nice to see you again, Niko."

The other boy's head instantly came up, eyes red-rimmed and watering. Upon seeing Y/N, he flushed, wiping at his eyes and trying to appear tougher. "What do you want?"

"You lost to us." Y/N didn't answer his question. "How do you feel?"

"Why would you care?" Niko rubbed at his eyes, sighing. "Go be with your team."

"I'm asking you a question."

"Look, if you're here to gloat-" The younger boy's voice cracked as he looked up. "Just go, you shouldn't care about what happens to me."

Y/N immediately knelt to Niko's level, placing one arm on his shoulder, and another on his back. He pulled the other boy close, hugging him tightly.

Niko's body tensed for a second at the contact, but after that he was relaxing into Y/N's embrace. Y/N pulled back, making eye contact. "I do care. Sort of."

"I feel... shit, to be honest." Niko forced a laugh, finally choosing to answer Y/N's question. "I thought I was in control, but Isagi pulled that out of nowhere? And it's my fault for passing."

"Hm." Instead of comforting Niko, Y/N did the complete opposite. "That loss was all your fault. You failed the team, and you failed yourself."

"Wha..." That wasn't expected.

Y/N moved his face close to Niko's. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

The younger boy seemed stunned silent. His mouth fell open, as he gazed up at Y/N with those huge green eyes. Y/N just grinned widely.

"I'll teach you." Y/N lowered his voice a bit. "You feel upset. You feel angry. And you feel jealous. But there's no point just crying on the floor. Niko, right now, what do you want?"

"I..." He seemed lost for words.

"Just say anything, it doesn't matter too much."

"I want to be like Isagi. I want to score goals, using my eyes."

Y/N grinned. "There we go. You're jealous of Isagi. So let's work with that." He patted Niko on the shoulder, a warm feeling bubbling up inside of him as the younger boy leaned into the touch. "Meet in the training field, tomorrow morning? Six am?"

"Sure..."

🥕🥕🥕

Later on, Team Z sat in their designated seating area in the cafeteria, smiles all round.

They had moved the tables and chairs into a large group, so everyone shared one large table in the middle. Said table was creaking with food, two huge sizzling steaks in the middle and dishes laid out surrounding them.

Everyone had chipped in. There was natto, a salad, Chigiri's stir-fried veggies, fish, bacon, gyoza, and so many other dishes Y/N couldn't name them all. He spotted his own skewers as well.

"Let's eat!"

Team Z was ravenous, especially the lower ranked people. They all immediately tried to go for the best food, with Kuon stepping in to make sure nobody hogged the steak or the best dishes.

Y/N sat between Bachira and Chigiri, with Isagi two to his left and Kunigami two to his right. Everyone was in high spirits, chatting loudly to each other.

"This is the sweet taste of victory!" Igarashi cheered, which made Y/N cringe a little as the tiny boy bit into a slice of steak.

"Oh, I missed you, meat!" Iemon practically yelled, while reaching for one of Y/N's skewers.

Naruhaya took three slices of the steak, and started munching. He'd somehow managed to finesse a slice off of Gagamaru, and the caveman was chasing him round to get it back.

Everyone dug in. Y/N grabbed a few slices of the steak for himself, as well as some gyoza and veggies to balance it all out. It was nice having a proper meal for once, and around the table Team Z felt like a happy family.

Kunigami paused, swallowing before he spoke. "So, Isagi, how did you know to get yourself into that position?"

"Oh, that's a point." Gagamaru had Naruhaya in a headlock, but looked completely at ease. "How did you know the ball would go there?"

"I didn't, really. I just wanted to take a shot and hoped the ball would land around there." Isagi said quietly.

"But I saw you, Isagi!" Bachira leant over to Isagi with a piece of steak skewered on the end of his fork. "Good job!"

"Thanks for the pass, Bachira."

"Here's your reward! Say ahhh..." They were both smiling, but Isagi tried to back away as Bachira offered him the steak.

He waved a nervous hand. "Uh, I can eat by myself..."

"Don't be shy, take it!" Bachira leant closer, causing Isagi to nearly fall off his chair as Bachira went after him. "Pass!"

Y/N snickered, taking a bite of his own food. "Isagi, it's good stuff. Try it."

The blue-haired boy groaned from the floor, trying unsuccessfully to get up with Bachira's weight on his body. The bumblebee was just laughing, still trying to feed him. "I can eat myself!"

"Sometimes you just have to sit back and let someone feed you." Like Reo... that boy was a bit weird though. And he was oddly happy to do it. Y/N grinned. "Take it from me."

"Anyways, it seems Isagi's 'weapon', as Y/N and Ego described, is to smell a goal. And thanks to that goal, we won." Kunigami continued, choosing to ignore the muffled cries of Isagi.

"I refuse to believe that." From across the table, Raichi huffed.

Y/N smiled widely, enjoying himself as he dug into the food.

He glanced around the room, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he spotted Chigiri sitting mostly by himself. The princess had put a gap between him and everyone else, and didn't seem to be eating.

Stretching over his head, Y/N hopped up from his chair, skipping the few steps around the table to Chigiri and threw himself onto the boy's back. His arms went around either of his shoulders, and he leant his head down close to his neck.

"Heyyyy!" Y/N grinned widely. "Are you not gonna take some food?"

"Not really hungry." Chigiri's response was short. "Eat without me."

"Come on..." Y/N pinched the other boy's cheeks, making him sigh with exasperation. "At least have a bit. You'll be hungry later."

"Y/N-"

"Pleeeeeaaaseee?" He didn't wait for Chigiri to talk, pinching his cheeks more.

Chigiri rolled his eyes, picking up his spoon and taking his first bite of rice. He was hungry, but he didn't really want to eat. "Fine." He relented.

"Good." Y/N patted him on the shoulder, before heading back to take his seat at the table. On the way, he noticed Isagi, still trying to get Bachira off of him.

"Just accept the feeding, Isagi. It ain't that bad!"