Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Alright everyone,” Ms. Anri calls out. “We’re done with practice today, but before everyone leaves, Ego and I want to make a quick announcement.” The field hushes.

Ego steps up. “Some of you may have heard about the new transfers coming to our school. Three of these students–Michael Kaiser, Alexis Ness, and Charles Chevalier–signed up for our soccer club and will be joining us tomorrow. I expect you all to welcome them in and treat them respectfully. That’s all.” He dismisses the excited players off with a wave.

“Yay! We’re getting new teammates!” Bachira exclaims, clapping his hands. “My monster is excited to see what they’re like, hehe.”

“We already have so many players, though,” Isagi worries. “Do we need any more?”

Otoya groans, “Do you think any of them will be girls?”

Karasu scoffs, “Girls? Are ya stupid, ‘Toya? This is a men's soccer team.”

“Okay? But what if she signed up to be a manager or something?” he shoots back.

“Yer delusional, man.”

“I'm kinda happy to meet new players too,” Hiori offers.

“Yeah” Shidou chimes in. “Hopefully they'll be entertaining... This team needs some spice, y'know?”

“No, this team doesn't,” Chirigi counters. “We have enough freaks and fruits just from you alone, Shidou.”

“Yeah, Chigiri! Tell ‘em!” Without even looking, the redhead knew it was Reo who spoke. “Although, you saying that is kinda wild, not gonna lie,” the rich boy adds coyly.

Chirigi whips around, “Oh right, like you and your little sloth of a boyfriend can talk,” he snaps.

“Ooh!” Shidou exclaims happily. “The girls are fighting~!”

Rin only rolls his eyes from the side of the field, done with his teammates’ bullshit. Who cares about three fresh-off-the-boat players anyway? Who knows if they can even play, let alone if they're decent, for god's sake.

“Rin!” Isagi proclaims, jogging to the dark-haired boy. “Rin! Are you excited to meet the new players?”

Rin suppresses the warmth growing in his chest when he sees Isagi’s glittering eyes. “I mean, not really,” he mutters truthfully.

“Aw, for real? I kinda am,” the other boy chuckles.

“Sure,” Rin states, grabbing his bag from a bench and slinging it over his shoulder.

“Oh, right!” Isagi blurts out. “Shouldn’t you tell Sae? He wasn’t here today, but Ego probably wants him here tomorrow.”

Rin internally groans at the mention of his older brother. “Ugh, knowing him, he likely won’t even bother. I’m gonna leave.”

“Ah, okay,” the shorter one resigns. “Cya tomorrow?”

Rin doesn’t respond, but the answer is yes.

Annoyingly enough, Sae does decide to join soccer practice tomorrow.

“A couple of new students are joining our club,” Rin voices at the dinner table. It’s only the two of them here. Again.

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Are you going to come?” He expects a no. He’s pretty sure Sae has club practice–not highschool club, an actual soccer club club–and he usually doesn’t miss them for the world.

“Okay.”

Rin very nearly chokes on his food. Really? His brother choosing to engage in their lukewarm highschool soccer practice just because of some newbies? Really?

“I want to see what they’re like. Check them out,” Sae tacks on.

Suddenly, Rin understands. Check them out, yeah right, more like checking Shidou out.

The next day rolled around and next thing Rin knew, the moment that was on his mind all day had finally arrived.

The newcomers, however, haven’t, so it gave his teammates an excuse to talk noisily with one another while Ms. Anri is on the side glancing at her watch every few seconds like the world ends in five minutes. Rin stands on the left side of the field and stares resolutely to the left because if he saw that freak touching Sae one more time, he was going to set fire to their school. Unfortunately, the most notable people on the left were Isagi and Bachira. He watched as the two interacted with each other and those around them.

Bachira must’ve said something funny because Rin watches the smile spread across Isagi’s face as he begins to laugh. It’s kinda cute when he-

“Hey! Sorry for being late, guys!” an unfamiliar voice calls out. At once, everyone’s heads turn to the speaker, their eyes landing on a group of three people, all of which look especially not-Japanese. That explains the accent, Rin muses.

“Oh! You three made it!” Anri exclaims, breathing a sigh of relief. “Let’s quickly begin with introductions. We’re already running really late so let’s hurry it up, everyone.”

The students gather around in a circle, with the newcomers standing up at the front. Rin studies the three. The speaker seems to have been a kid with purple, wavy hair. The other two are blonde, though one of them is smaller than the other. The smaller one has thick, side-swept bangs and an oddly mischievous spark in his eyes as his foot bounces in place. Unlike the other student, the taller blonde isn’t fully blonde, with his hair shifting into a deep blue halfway through as it splits into what looks like two rattails. Rin wonders who cut the guy’s hair and if the blonde's ever looked in the mirror because if he has, there’s no way he’d be oozing such confidence.

Rin couldn’t wait to wipe that smug grin off Ugly-Haircut.

“Let's introduce ourselves. Please say your name and grade. Add your position if you would like,” Ego states. “I’ll go first. My name is Ego Jinpachi. Call me Ego. I will be your coach. Anri, you go next.”

“Hello!” she cheerfully greets. “My name is Ms. Anri and I will be your assistant coach. If you need anything, please come to me first.”

Rin listens as his teammates continue the pattern.

“I’m Bachira Meguru! I usually play winger or striker and I’m a second year! My monster’s very excited to meet you guys!” Rin doesn’t miss the confusion and wariness that follows Bachira’s last statement.

“I’m Isagi Yoichi. I’m also a second year and I’m a forward,” he smiles.

Reo steps up, next to go. “My name is Mikage Reo, but please just call me Reo. I’m a second year, a midfielder, and this club’s president.” He nudges Nagi to go next.

The white-haired boy, whose eyes are still locked onto his phone screen, simply states, “Nagi. Second year. Striker.”

“Yo, I'm Oliver Aiku. I'm a third-year and a defender.”

Rin notices the surprise on the faces of the two shorter newcomers. That was probably the most interest they'd shown in a player so far. Except maybe Bachira.

“Oliver?” the purple-haired one repeats.

“Yup,” he lazily answers. “Please don’t call me that, though.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure,” the student scrambles. “But, uh, that name doesn't sound really Japanese.”

Aiku raises an eyebrow. “That's ‘cuz it's… not? I'm half Japanese.”

“Oh! That's neat. What's the other half?”

“Mostly Swedish” Aiku answers.

Some ‘ooh’s’ echo through the field, but before the other boy could respond, Ms. Anri claps her hands together and tells them to move on.

Rin was not excited for the next two.

“Itoshi Sae. Midfielder. Third year,” his brother states, impassively as always.

“And I'm Shidou Ryusei,” the demon announces. He sends the three a slightly unnerving grin. “I'm a third year and striker,” he smirks.

Rin does not ignore the way the cockroach’s hand creeps around Sae's waist.

“Oi,” he snaps. “Hands off, you freak.”

Shidou raises his hands up with a smile that does not look guilty in the slightest. “My bad, lil’ bro~”

“Not your lil’ bro,” Rin seethes under his breath. He's pretty sure that some of the newcomers are uncomfortable by now and he can only blame that on the bright pink insect.

“I'm Itoshi Rin. Second year. Striker.” The better striker, he thinks to himself.

The introductions continue for a few more minutes before it's finally time for the newcomers to speak.

The small blondie goes first. “Hi! I'm Charles! I'm a first year, I think-” He thinks? “-and I'm a midfielder!”

Rin sighs. First years tend to be… something. They only have one other first year on the team, and thankfully, Niko is a pretty calm guy. Unfortunately, it seems like the balance may tilt as Charles appears to be the complete opposite.

A few guys make comments about how young Charles is, his position (which would have to be shared with Sae), and ask him where he is from, to which he responds with “France! You ever heard of it?” Rin hates first-years.

Next to go is the weird one with dyed magenta hair. He's smiling and looks friendly–in contrast to the guy behind him–but something about him puts Rin off. “I'm Alexis Ness, please call me Ness!” he announces cheerfully. “I'm a third-year and also a midfielder!”

Rin rolls his eyes. How many midfielders do they need? They already have more than enough, and since everyone knows Sae will almost always take up a midfielder position during official matches, it's just everyone scrambling for the last midfielder position like hungry dogs for scraps. The point is, there's enough competition for midfielders. Not like he cares. It’s not his fault they have poor taste in soccer positions.

The last guy with the atrocious haircut steps up. “Michael Kaiser,” he drawls with a smile, as if the name is supposed to mean anything. “A third-year and a striker.”

He's gotta be kidding, Rin silently groans. The midfielder competition is bad, sure, but the one for forwards is even worse. Because for some reason, everyone, including their midfielders, enjoys playing as strikers. Well, Aiku prefers to play defense now, but he also used to be on offense–kind of like Sae–and there’s also Lorenzo, though Rin isn't confident if he ever had much interest in anything besides defense.

It's whatever, Rin thinks. The immense number of forwards on their team surely means that Kaiser has little possibility of simply touching the field during matches, maybe even practice ones.

Yeah, because between himself, Isagi, Kunigami, Nagi, Barou, and even Shidou, what are the chances he'll be on the main draw?

Rin has no idea where the German's–he overheard that Ness and Kaiser were German–arrogance sprouted from.

Fortunately, Ms. Anri and Ego agree to a scrimmage to explore the newcomers’ skills, which thrilled everyone. As it turns out, all three of the Europeans are pretty impressive. Granted, Ness and Charles don't hold a candle to Sae, but their playstyles contrast enough to be quite intriguing.

Whereas Sae is more methodical, precise, calculating, and just enough unpredictable with his passes, Charles is basically a ball of chaos. He doesn't always aim for those in the best positions because that's too boring, he says. Still, there's a method to his madness, or so he claims. To Rin, it appears like there’s more madness than method, but he supposes it just adds more unpredictability.

The problem, however, is that while Charles's passes effectively surprise the opponent team, they equally surprise their team. His passes might take a bit adjusting to, Rin surmises, because throughout the games they played with Charles as a midfielder, Rin can confidently say that he's never seen so many people fumble a pass aimed at them.

Ness, on the other hand, is significantly less chaotic. His issue is that of every five passes, three go to Kaiser, which makes him predictable. It's likely because he's unfamiliar with the team while he mentioned that he grew up with Kaiser, so hopefully it's a habit that'll get fixed in a few practices.

The problem is, while constantly passing to Kaiser makes Ness predictable, it isn't necessarily a terrible strategy because Kaiser himself is a whole other monster.

He's nimble, he's cunning, and he's aggressive as he keeps on weaving around players like they're statues as he shoots goals with a dumb smirk, acting like their match is nothing more than a little game of tic-tac-toe when he's a board game grandmaster.

And arguably worse than that is how Isagi seems to be in awe of the idiot blonde. Rin discreetly watches Isagi from the side, noting every change in facial expression. He spots how Isagi initially studied the game with nothing more than impassiveness and how his face quickly morphed into surprise, then interest, then fascination.

Rin doesn’t like that. Before, Isagi’s admiration belonged almost solely to Rin. Now, it looks like a fraction of that is headed towards the German bastard, and Rin could not be unhappier.

Until Kaiser walked up to Isagi.

Every muscle in Rin tensed like he was preparing to get sent to the front lines of a battlefield, and he was barely able to restrain himself from marching to Isagi when he heard the two speak. He doesn't know what Kaiser told Isagi, but what Rin does know is the satisfaction that flooded his nerves when Isagi’s previous look of awe vanished into one of disgust after the blonde spoke.

He listened a little closer to Isagi’s voice.

“--you! Arrogant bastard! Ugly…rattails. You should…more concerned…that than…”

Good, good, good. Looks like Isagi doesn't–and probably won't–admire Kaiser after all.

Still, even to what Rin assumed were some nasty phrases from the bluenette, Kaiser brushed them off with loud laughter and a comment in his native language. Rin does not like that.

And apparently, neither does Isagi, who only hurls another creative insult at the newcomer. Score.

The next day, Rin finds out that he and Kaiser share two classes together. And while he wasn't particularly happy to see the European, it's not like they had to interact and it meant that Kaiser would have two less classes with Isagi.

He also learns that Kaiser and Ness have a really odd relationship. When they introduced themselves the day before, everyone just assumed that the two were close friends. Ness passed often to his counterpart and was often seen talking to him.

But it ran much deeper than that.

Ness has some weird, obsessive, over-the-top adoration for the taller man and Rin, along with many others, could not fathom why–especially after they saw Kaiser's treatment towards Ness, which was two steps away from what would likely be considered abuse. He called the shorter incompetent, useless, along with many other degrading terms, but reminiscent of a boomerang, Ness always returned.

Ness was like Kaiser's puppy. His loyal servant. His stepstool. His shoe-polisher. His dick-rider, which Karasu, Isagi, Chigiri, and Shidou (though who let Shidou talk?) all pointed out.

It's pathetic, Rin thinks. Letting another person, who you call a friend, step all over you like that? He'd rather stay friendless.

On the third day of practice, everyone (except Ness) is beginning to realize how exhausting it is to have someone like Kaiser on their team. Someone who's so ridiculously egotistic and smug. Someone who's constantly demanding others’ attention. And someone whose whole personality–and gameplay style–revolves around how oh-freaking-fantastic he is.

Rin is so done. Isagi is so done–possibly more done than Rin. Chigiri is so done. Reo is so done. Even Karasu and Otoya–who are always unbelievably unserious about everything–are done. Heck, even Nagi, who barely registers the outside world besides his phone and Reo, is annoyed at the arrogant blue-blonde German. Everyone is so done with Kaiser.

On the fourth day, it becomes obvious that Kaiser has some odd little interest in Isagi–which makes Rin, and Ness, he supposes–all the more irritated.

Rin watches as Bachira and Isagi chat happily on the side. Happily until Kaiser sidles up, uninvited, to Isagi.

“Yoichi~” he purrs, causing grimaces from Isagi, Bachira (though he hid it well), and Rin (who hopes he hid it well).

“Don't call me that,” Isagi snaps.

Kaiser ignores the statement–of course he does–and continues on prattling. “Y'know, that last attempt at a goal was really pitiful, how can you call yourself a striker?”

“Yeah?” Isagi strikes back. “Well, your attitude is even worse, how can you consider yourself an ‘emperor?’” The argument is escalating and Rin can see how some other teammates are subtly glancing at the trio.

“I wouldn't talk all big if I were you, Yoichi,” the other mocks. “Your skills are too bad to even put that little ‘metavision’ thing you got to use.”

“Maybe you think that because you always fall short of my visions,” Isagi shoots.

“Now, now guys!” Bachira exclaims with faux cheer. “Let's not fight over small things, right Isagi?”

Isagi clearly did not agree as he threw out another insult at Kaiser, but this time, Ness stepped in and responded just as spitefully in place of his ‘friend.’

Bachira, on the other hand, let out a “welp, nothin’ I can do here!” and slipped away from the three. Sae would've commented that Bachira was smart for leaving and Rin would've too, but when he saw the yellow-haired player coming towards him, he mentally groaned and averted eye contact, hoping that Bachira wouldn't continue towards him.

In short, that did not work.

“Rin-chan!” the boy loudly exclaimed. Rin sighed. Ignore him and he'll leave. Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore hi-

“Yoi-yoi's fighting with Kaiser again!” the dual-toned winger whines. “Can you help me stop this one?”

Rin opens his mouth, ready to jump at the word no, but he reconsiders. It's a good excuse to not only defend Isagi (though Rin does not defend people), but also a fantastic opportunity to begin getting closer to him.

“...Fine,” he concedes, ignoring how Bachira’s face lights up. “Why'd you choose me, then?”

“‘Cuz you always look super scary! Scowlin’, glaring, and all that,” Bachira hums.

Rin scowls. Then immediately schools his expression when he realizes that he's proving Bachira right. Unfortunately, the hyperenergetic player has some quick eyes and notices regardless.

“There you go! Just do that to Kaiser and it'll probably do the trick!”

Rin sighs. It's dumb, but he agreed, so he has to honor the request.

“Okay. Let's go,” he states, moving forward without looking back at Bachira.

A “yay!” is heard, but Rin keeps his eyes on the blue-haired bastard. Kaiser, that is, not Isagi.

“Oi,” he says as he reaches the two who were too busy bickering to notice him. “Shut up. You two are annoying everyone,” he adds, doing his best to appear bored and apathetic. If it works for Sae, then it'll surely work for his younger brother.

Belatedly, he realizes that he might not be giving Isagi a good impression, but it is what it is. Besides, if he were to act too considerate, he'd seem weirdly out of character.

“Who the hell are you to be bossing me around?” the German scoffs.

Fucking mouthy bitch.

“Why don't you get back to benchwarming, hm? Aren't you a little out of your environment?” Rin raises an unimpressed eyebrow. Now, he knows Kaiser is not a backup player, let alone a benchwarmer, but if Kaiser was going to play the I-don't-even-know-who-you-are card, then so is Rin.

Kaiser looks pissed. “Benchwarming? What, you projecting or something?” he shoots back. “Aren't you funny,” he deadpans.

Rin levels Kaiser with a look that's a mix between a glare and looking unbothered. An unbothered glare, one might say.

“Nope. I'm Rin.” He says it so flatly, as if he's asking the teacher to switch seats, that Kaiser looks confused whether Rin's joking or not. Good. Well, Bachira’s cackling like a menace behind him and Isagi looks a tad bit concerned, but Rin could not care less.

“Itoshi Rin,” he belatedly tags on, in case his surname inspires Kaiser to fuck off. He kinda hopes that's not the reason Kaiser fucks off, but he'll take what he can get.

Then, he walks off. And he hopes Kaiser does too so it's a successful mission, but if the other stays, he's not going to try again.

He doesn't know why he thought it'd be a good idea to step in. It feels like he achieved nothing but embarrassing himself. He didn't do it to be 'funny’ and to make Bachira laugh and fuck–he's so lukewarm.

Fortunately, Kaiser does leave, so Rin's dignity remains somewhat intact.

If Rin kicked the balls significantly harder during that practice, he refused to acknowledge it (though Shidou, Chigiri, and even Hiori happily brought it up).

The next day did not start well. Like, it really didn't.

He and Sae got into another fight–which he couldn't remember why–at seven in the morning. To make matters worse, Shidou had picked his brother up for school, meaning Rin had to also see the roach's face at, again, seven in the morning, and though Sae got lucky (if one would consider it lucky) with getting a ride to school, Rin still had to walk to school like loser, which was absolutely detrimental to his pride.

He was still salty about the whole situation when he entered the school building. Still salty about it when he stepped into the class. Still salty about it when the teacher announced that they'd be switching seats.

And of course, it's not in a class with Isagi.

And of course, it's with-

“Aren't you the guy from yesterday?” Seeing Kaiser's disgusted expression and scornful tone, Rin threw in the towel. He gives himself a solid pinch on the arm to confirm if it was a nightmare, but unfortunately, he was proven wrong.

“No?” Rin scoffs, sarcasm dripping off his words like hot tar, “what made you think that?”

“Well damn, it's not like I want to sit with you either,” Kaiser returns, his tone matching Rin's though he threw in an eye-roll.

God, this attention seeker.

It's fine–he'll just ignore the German.

Except, Rin finds out minutes after the teacher launches into a lecture, it's kinda hard to.

He can't help but hear the scritch of Kaiser's pencil. Can't help but get annoyed when Kaiser erases something and rattles the table along with it. Can't help but notice the way Kaiser occasionally mutters something that sounds spiteful yet also German under his breath when the teacher goes over a complex phrase.

Who put this European in an advanced Japanese Literature course? Maybe Kaiser should just fail the course so he gets his ass kicked out of the soccer club.

After amusingly watching Kaiser struggle in Japanese, Rin eventually gets bored and turns his focus back to the lecture.

Things get easier by next week. Soccer practice isn't steaming with tension anymore–just unhealthy competition. Most everyone adjusted to Kaiser and Ness's odd behavior by ignoring the two, and though the blonde still approached Isagi quite often, Isagi clearly held a distaste for the German, allowing Rin to relax a bit.

He hates to admit it, but scrimmages are more interesting with Kaiser around. He is good. He adds more complexity into familiar games, and Rin silently appreciates that, even if they've never talked after their spat.