"Even your backstory's stylish," Aryu said with a smirk. "You're qualified to be my teammate."
Tokimitsu's voice trembled. "T-to be on the same team with someone like that… I'll just drag everyone down."
Kunigami muttered under his breath, "Are we really fighting this team?"
"Seriously," Chigiri sighed. "Everyone on that side is weird."
He glanced at Ryan and noticed that the silver-haired striker was deep in thought, his expression one that usually meant something ridiculous was about to happen.
Then Ryan suddenly muttered under his breath,
"Tatakai."
"…What?" Chigiri blinked.
Ryan straightened up, his expression solemn. "Tatakai fight. I'll show no mercy. I'll drive you all out, every last one of you."
Chigiri groaned and facepalmed. I knew it… here he goes again.
"D-drive us out?!" Tokimitsu's eyes widened. "That's terrifying! He's ranked first of course he's stronger than me! If we lose, he definitely won't pick me! I don't want to be eliminated!"
Aryu flicked his hair dramatically. "Elimination, huh… that's actually kind of stylish."
Ryan leaned over to whisper to his teammates.
"Hey, listen. This is what you call psychological warfare. Rin's speech earlier was just to throw off our momentum so I had to fire back. We can't lose the mental battle. Admit it, my line was cool as hell, right? Didn't it sound totally invincible?"
Chigiri sighed. "Whatever you say. Honestly, I don't remember you being this unhinged when we met. What happened?"
Ryan grinned. "I've always been like this. I just didn't provide commentary before while I was acting cool."
Kunigami crossed his arms. "So… are we really challenging them?"
"Of course we are," Ryan replied instantly.
He turned to the opposing team.
"Hey, Rin! Let's play."
Rin's sharp gaze met his. "Fine. I was about to say the same."
Ryan grinned devilishly. "Don't come crying to your big brother when I beat you."
The moment he mentioned "big brother," Rin's composure cracked.
"You bastard. Don't you dare mention him!"
Ryan shrugged toward Kunigami. "See? Told you. Just say his brother's name and he snaps. Classic little-brother complex but after a falling out, it turned into hate born from love."
Kunigami nodded thoughtfully. "Ah. So that's what it is."
Rin froze mid-step, eyes widening slightly. …He's not wrong.
A Memory of Brothers
When Rin was young, he used to watch his brother Itoshi Sae from the sidelines of the soccer field.
Back then, his brother seemed invincible. Effortless. Brilliant.
He admired everything about him the way he played, the way he never backed down, even the way he ignored reporters after a match only to stick his tongue out at them afterward, pulling Rin along to join him.
To Rin, his brother was the coolest person alive.
He still remembered those summer twilights walking by the sea, eating ice pops side by side as the sun sank.
Sae had said it then:
"I'll become the best striker in the world."
He'd smiled, stubborn and proud. That was his brother Itoshi Sae, the one who never accepted defeat.
One day, Rin watched Sae play from the sidelines again, clutching a toy soccer ball.
When Sae passed the ball, Rin instinctively ran in front of it and kicked it into the goal.
Sae had been surprised… and impressed.
From that day on, they trained together. Sae told him:
"You'll be the second strongest, right behind me."
To Rin, playing soccer with his brother was pure joy.
As long as Sae was there, he felt unstoppable.
Then came the day Sae left Japan to join R.E.AL Madrid's youth academy, the world's best.
They made a promise before he left:
"We'll both become the best in the world."
Without his brother, soccer became colorless. Empty.
So Rin decided if Sae wasn't here, he'd become Japan's number one himself.
But then… he lost.
He met a player named Ryan Hoshino and was utterly defeated.
That loss haunted him. He trained harder than ever, desperate to reclaim what had slipped away.
And then, on a snowy night everything changed.
The Night of the Snowfall
Rin was practicing alone, his breath white in the freezing air, when a familiar voice called out.
He turned and there was Sae, dragging his suitcase through the snow.
"You're back…" Rin said, eyes bright.
"Yeah," Sae replied quietly.
"I've been following your matches! You even scored in the R.E.AL youth league! You're incredible, big bro!"
Sae looked down at him. His tone was calm too calm.
"There are players better than me out there."
Rin frowned. "Huh? Why are you saying that all of a sudden?"
"That's why I've redrawn my dream," Sae said. "I'm going to become the best midfielder in the world."
Rin's heart sank. "You mean striker, right? Why be a midfielder? What's the point of being number one if you're not a forward?"
"Shut up," Sae snapped. "Only someone who's never seen the world talks like that."
"What? You're the one who said we'd fight together! That we'd both be number one!"
Sae's eyes softened just for a second. "Exactly. I'll be the best midfielder. You'll be the best striker. We'll be number one in our own positions."
But Rin interrupted, voice shaking.
"I'm the brother of the world's number one striker. Did you come back just to say something so lame? You're not the brother I admired, the one who dreamed with me!"
Sae turned away. "I understand now. You and I… we've both been too soft."
"What does that mean?" Rin demanded.
"Simple. One-on-one. If you beat me, I'll chase that dream with you again. But if I win… it ends here."
"I don't want that, big bro! Don't just decide that by yourself! I don't want to fight you!"
Sae stopped him cold by stepping on the ball. "Then defend. One shot decides it."
"Wait !"
But Sae was already moving scissors feint, step-over, blur of motion.
Rin couldn't react in time. In a flash, Sae was past him.
The difference was overwhelming.
He's… on a completely different level than before.
But Rin still chased after him.
"Big bro!"
Sae didn't look back. "Rin, in these four years I've been gone "
With a heel flick, he nutmegged Rin cleanly and surged past.
" What have you been doing?"
He took one more step and fired.
The ball rocketed into the net.
That single goal shattered Rin's dream.
From that night on, he stopped believing in "becoming number one together."
Because Sae had changed.
He'd chosen a different path and abandoned their promise.
The memory of their conversation that night still echoed in his mind, sharp as broken glass.
"I don't want it to end," he'd said back then.
"I don't want to give up our dream of being the best strikers in the world together. If it's not with him… then what's the point of soccer?"
Sae's reply had been cold, final.
"Then give up."
Those words froze Rin's heart.
Sae's next ones shattered it.
"Every time I hear you talk like that, I feel sick. Don't make me your reason for playing. To me, you're nothing but an annoying little brother who's lost his value. My life doesn't need you in it anymore."
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