Let’s win the World Cup together.

“Is that even possible?” Sakura mutters to herself, lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling.

The Blue Lock manga she has been reading, now lies abandoned beside her. She found it impossible to follow the action packed panels when all she’s thinking about is the promise she made to Kazuha yesterday, and how she is supposed to keep it. Or is it even worth keeping? Has she made another reckless decision? Only this time, she couldn’t blame it on Yunjin.

It’s not unheard of that both starting strikers on the national squad come from the same club, but it’s also not something common. Or easy to achieve, for that matter. Not only she and Kazuha have to play exceptionally well as individual players, but more importantly, they have to prove that together they make an unmatched combination, that making them play beside someone else is an objectively worse decision to make.

And yet, somehow, perhaps thanks to her overactive imagination, Sakura can picture her and Kazuha as an unstoppable duo that defenders across all teams fear to face. Sure, yesterday’s awful game was a far cry from such a scenario, but when she began analyzing it and comparing it to their match with Juventus, she realized something that should have been obvious to her all along, namely, that she and Kazuha play the best when they play together. 

Because Sakura plays with her head, analyzes the situation on the field and knows exactly what to do with the ball to create scoring opportunities which other players would have never even thought of. Meanwhile, Kazuha plays with her heart; she trusts her instincts, never hesitates and readily adapts to whatever plan Sakura devises. And yesterday, it was as though they switched bodies - Sakura got carried away by her emotions while Kazuha kept overthinking her every move. 

Like their coach had said, they have to start playing the way they do during their training scrimmages. When Sakura passes the ball without even checking if Kazuha is there to take it, because she simply knows she will be. It’s like she trusts Kazuha to always be where she needs her to be, and Kazuha is always there, without fail.

A slight blush creeps onto her cheeks at that last thought. 

“Ahh,” she groans, throwing arms over her face. “Since when I’ve become so corny?”

Since you made a pinky promise with Kazuha to win a World Cup with her? Once again she groans, embarrassed.

She has no idea what possessed her to wrap their pinkies together. It was ridiculous and childish and yet… it felt like the only sensible thing to do. 

Also, Kazuha hasn’t exactly made it easy for her to say no. She has mastered the sad puppy look to perfection (no wonder, considering she has been practicing it since she was three), and Sakura is not in fact as cold-hearted as some of her friends make her out to be. She wouldn’t have stand another week, or God knows how long, of Kazuha looking at her like she took away her ball and left her crying on the pavement. She still feels like an for treating the girl the way she did for the past week, and that’s despite being granted her forgiveness.

But regardless of why she did it, the result stood the same; the promise she gave her dad has now gained a disclaimer written at the bottom of it in fine print so that he would never notice it. Because if he ever found out, he would laugh in her face, saying something along the lines of ‘you’re naive if you think both of you can end up on the starting eleven’, and it would have been their last conversation, most likely. But for the first time in her life, she feels like he would have been wrong.

She has never really been one to argue with him or question his methods. With over 80 appearances in the national team and 39 goals scored, he was her absolute authority when it came to soccer. And yet, for whatever reason, he seemed blind to how well she and Kazuha work together and insisted she treated the girl like she was her biggest obstacle on her way to winning the World Cup title. However, as shown by the recent results, that wasn’t his best advice. If Sakura hadn’t played so selfishly, like he had wanted her to, that game would have probably had a much better outcome than a measly 1:0 victory. 

Which makes her wonder, what he’ll tell her when they meet later today for their training session. His message said only ‘ 6pm ’. Guess he gave up on her punctuality after the last time.

A knock on the door interrupts her musings, and she lazily lifts to a sitting position.

“Come in,” she says while fixing her hair and smoothing out her t-shirt to look somewhat presentable.

Not that it matters how she looks, but she can already imagine Kazuha walking in with her silky, smooth hair, wearing some crop top, looking like she stepped off the set of a Calvin Klein’s commercial and… wait, where was she going with this?

“Uhm, hey.” Kazuha opens the door but only pops in her head. “Am I interrupting? Are you busy?” 

“Not at all, and you really can come in, you know?” Sakura says, amused.

Just yesterday Kazuha was making pinky promises with her and today, she’s too shy to enter her room. She’s just so random sometimes, but Sakura would lie if she said it wasn’t endearing. 

(And yes, her hair is all shiny and smooth, just like she has predicted.)

“Okay.” Kazuha opens the door wider and finally steps in.

But she doesn’t go any further than a step beyond the threshold. Running her hand along her arm, she looks around like she doesn’t know what to do next. 

Sakura stifles a chuckle and pats the spot next to her on the bed. Kazuha finally gets the hint and sits down beside her. Her back straight and stiff and hands clasped on her lap as she stares ahead.

It’s funny how she wasn’t this shy when Sakura was in her room but now, when the situation is reversed, she’s acting like an absolute nervous wreck. Sakura isn’t sure what’s causing her to act this way, but she hopes it’s not because she still feels somehow intimidated by her. After yesterday, it should be obvious that she bears no ill-feelings towards her.

She shifts to face the girl, one leg folded and the other dangling off the bed. 

“What’s up, Zuha? Do you need anything?” she prompts, keeping her tone light and casual in hopes of easing Kazuha’s obvious discomfort.

The younger girl shakes her head. “Not really,” she says and moves to mirror Sakura’s position on the bed. “Just wanted to ask would you like to hang out later, maybe?” The way her eyebrows knit and how she bites on the corner of her lips tells Sakura she braces herself for an immediate turndown.

“Oh…”

Sakura honestly didn’t expect such question. Also, if anything, she would expect Kazuha to text her rather than come here and ask her in person. She almost accepts the invitation, but then she reminds herself about her training with her dad. 

“I mean, I’m meeting up with Yunjin and Chaewon, and I thought maybe you’d like to join us,” Kazuha adds quickly, her hands fiddling with the drawstring of her shorts, and Sakura fights off the urge to reach out and stop the restless movement. “Chaewon said she doubted you would want to, but I decided to try, anyway. Well, Yunjin also mentioned she would buy me ice-cream, if I managed to somehow convince you. Not that I’m doing this just to get free ice-cream, I swear. I just thought it would be fun if you’ve joined us too.”

All this rambling speech elicit a smile from Sakura, and the gesture must have given Kazuha false hope, because she smiles back which makes the next words all the more difficult for Sakura to say. 

“Thanks Zuha, that’s sweet of you. But I have some issues I have to take care of. I’m sorry.”

Immediately, Sakura regrets what she just said and almost takes it back, seeing how Kazuha’s shoulders droop and her lips form a sad pout.

“I see. That’s a shame,” Kazuha mumbles, looking down.

Sakura thinks the girl may be overreacting a little, but at the same time, she feels like she’s the worst person ever for rejecting her invitation, on the same level of awful as people who kick puppies.  

So she ducks her head to meet Kazuha’s eyes and says, “Hey, but maybe next time, hm? And we’ll make Yunjin buy us both ice-cream. She kinda owes me.”

Kazuha looks up at her, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. And when Sakura hears it, a familiar warmth surges inside her chest, catching her completely off guard. She stares at the girl in stunned silence, her knee pressing against Kazuha’s, and she wonders at what point did that even happen. At what point has the distance between them shrunk to mere inches? 

Oddly enough, some kind of questions seem to register in Kazuha’s mind too, because her smile slips away, and she gives Sakura a curious look. 

Disconcerted by the sudden, intense scrutiny, Sakura blinks and looks away.

“Miyawaki-san?” 

“Hm?” She forces herself to glance at the girl again, only to find her leaning in closer.

Sakura’s eyes widen in panic and she jerks back from Kazuha, propping herself up on her hands to regain her balance.

Could it be that you two kissed, or something? Yunjin’s unwelcomed voice echoes in her mind, intensifying the burning sensation in her face.

“You have really big eyes, you know?” Kazuha mutters, staring into her eyes with an awestruck curiosity of a scientist who just discovered some new species of animal.

Sakura snorts a chuckle, the tension leaving her body. 

“So I’ve been told,” she says and sits up properly as Kazuha puts some much needed distance between them again. “You’ve never noticed before?”

“I did, but from this close, they look even bigger,” the girl admits, and Sakura doesn’t know what to think of this statement, or what to think in general, because what is this conversation even?

“Ah…” She laughs it off awkwardly. “I see…”

“Anyway, it’s a promise,” Kazuha says, lifting her pinky.  

Sakura rolls her eyes but wraps their pinkies together anyway. “Promise.”

“See you around, then.” The girl hops off the bed and gives her a small wave.

Sakura waves back and once the girl leaves and closes the door, she flops back onto the bed with a groan, hiding her still warmer than usual face in her hands.

Huh Yunjin… I’m blaming all of this on you…

🌸🍃

To Sakura’s surprise, the training with her dad isn’t as bad as she thought it would be. Sure, it’s absolutely exhausting, since she keeps performing the same drills over and over again until her legs give out, but her dad isn’t as angry with her as she has expected him to be. She has imagined him berating her for her awful performance the moment she steps onto the court, but he actually provides his feedback only after she’s finished with the training. He even allows her to sit down on the bleachers when he talks to her and doesn’t seem to judge her for it.

He starts with positives, another surprise, and commends her for having taken his advice to her heart, trying to be that ‘selfish striker’ he had wanted her to be. 

However, that’s about it as far as his praises go, as then he starts questioning her finishing skills and mentions how if it was ‘the new eleven’ (her blood boils hearing the nickname) in her place, she would have certainly scored. Because she’s better, faster and yada yada yada, basically, he once again tries to sell her the whole spiel about Kazuha being out there to get her, but the more she listens to him, the more she starts to find the whole idea absurd.

And although she wants to, she doesn’t point out to him that Kazuha has scored only one goal during that game, whereas judging by the way he talks about her, one would assume she scored at least five. Not to mention that perhaps, if Sakura had played like she usually does, instead of stupidly hogging the ball all the time, the score would have been higher then, too. Besides, logically speaking, isn’t it better if two players are trying to score instead of just one? That’s the whole point of having two strikers on the team. 

Yet her dad acts as if he’s Ego Jinpachi from Blue Lock, reiterating his ideas about the best strikers being the most egoistical ones. Next thing she knows he’ll send her to some prison-like facility where she’ll have to play against other strikers in order to become ‘the world's greatest egotist striker’. And Kazuha will be there too, of course.

She starts wondering which character from the manga she would be and which one would be Kazuha while her dad continues his long-winded rant about the younger girl.

“Sakura? Are you listening to me?” Her dad gives her a pointed look.

Oops…

She realizes she has completely tuned him out as she began imagining Kazuha with Chigiri’s red hair, but she nods firmly to his question, nonetheless. He raises a skeptical brow, yet he doesn’t call her on her bluff and resumes his speech, telling her she should try harder to prove to their coach that they don’t need Kazuha and that she can be the sole striker for their team like she used to.

But while he’s saying this, all Sakura can think of is Kazuha’s wide, dimpled grin as she jumps into the air after scoring a goal. And it’s probably stupid, and to be honest, she doesn’t quite get why, but she just wants to keep witnessing those moments. 

Her dad moves on to remind her once again about their match with Juventus, having no idea how everything he says has an opposite effect on Sakura. Because now in her mind, there’s that hug she shared with Kazuha and she realizes that this too is something she wouldn’t mind experiencing again.

Her palms ball into fists on her lap as she finally comes to a decision that for the first time in her life, she’s going to ignore everything her dad tells her and she’ll do things her own way. She’ll play together with Kazuha and once they start winning, he’ll have to admit that he was wrong.

And if he still decides to walk away from her life because of her act of defiance against him, she knows where she’ll find him anyway.

On the stands, during the World Cup final, when she’ll be holding the trophy. 

And then, things finally will get back to normal.

🌸🍃

After the training, Sakura opts to take a taxi home, despite knowing that she’ll pay an insane amount of money for the ride, but she’s certain that if she takes the train, she’ll just end up falling asleep and she doesn’t really feel like waking up in a different prefecture. 

She reaches the apartment at around 10:30 pm. Quietly entering as if she’s a burglar, she toes off her sneakers, leaving them in the corridor along with her duffel bag then heads straight for the fridge. 

A yellow sticky note on the fridge’s door catches her attention. Left you some sushi, it reads with a little heart scribbled next to it. 

She smiles, tracing the wonky heart with her finger, before she takes out the box with sushi out of the fridge and sets it on the kitchen island. Just then Kazuha leaves her room, stretching and rubbing her eyes. Seeing Sakura, she gives her a dopey smile and takes a seat on a stool across from her.

“Sorry, have I woken you up?” Sakura asks, before stuffing with a piece of sushi.

“No,” Kazuha says, but the yawn that follows her answer speaks otherwise.

Sakura arches her eyebrow, chuckling. “You’re a bad liar, Zuha.”

“I wasn’t sleeping. I was napping,” the girl says, propping her elbows on the counter.

Sakura doesn’t understand how that makes any difference since it still means she woke her up, but she doesn’t argue about it, too busy scarfing the food.

“Good?” Kazuha asks, resting her chin in her palm as she stares at Sakura.

In the dim light of the kitchen’s led lamps, Kazuha’s sleepy eyes look softer than ever, and there’s a hint of a smile on her lips which are partially covered by her palm. And all of a sudden, Sakura feels awfully self-conscious under her gaze, enough to slow down her chewing and look away. 

“Mhm,” she nods as she swallows another bite. “Thank you for leaving some for me.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Want some?” Sakura slides the box to her, feeling awkward eating alone with Kazuha just staring at her, but the girl shakes her head.

“I’m fine, thanks.” 

They lapse into momentary silence broken by Kauzha’s next question. “How was your evening?”

“It was okay,” Sakura says with a shrug. She doesn’t want to lie to the girl, but she doesn’t want to tell her the truth either, as it would be just too much to explain, and thus, she settles for deflection. “Yours?”

“We went to the arcade and played video games. It was fun.”

Sakura perks up at that. “You played video games?”

“Yeah.” Kazuha lets out a chuckle, most likely at the sudden shift in Sakura’s mood. “You like video games?”

“Back in middle school, I spent most of my Sundays playing games at the aracde with friends.” Sakura smiles at the fond memory. 

Unless she had a match to play, Sunday was that one day when her dad allowed her to do whatever she wanted. Playing games was fun and relaxing while still being a bit competitive. 

“We also played League of Legends a lot, but I was awful at it. The highest rank I got was Silver which in soccer terms would be like playing in some amateur league.”

Kazuha chuckles. “I’m glad you were bad at it. Otherwise you would become some e-sport champion, and I would have never met you,” she says, her voice a few octaves lower than usual.

Sakura guesses it’s from the lingering drowsiness, but its huskiness catches her off guard, and she swallows the bite she took when the girl was talking without chewing. She almost chokes on it but keeps her composure, only averting her gaze to the floor.

Kazuha has this habit of saying the strangest (nicest) things in the most casual (sweetest) manner, and Sakura never knows how to respond to them. Technically, she could tell her she was wrong because they met each other long before Sakura even knew what League of Legends was, but she doesn’t.

Because she doesn’t like how she can’t predict what Kazuha’s reaction would be. What would she say if Sakura told her that she’s the girl who stopped her from flooding the pavement with her tears when she was three? Would she be happy? Or would she be upset that she hasn’t told her earlier? Or maybe she wouldn’t care at all? Somehow, all three options seem equally plausible.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Hm?” Sakura glances back at Kazuha. 

The girl has tilted her head to the side, uncovering her smile. 

“You seemed to be thinking hard on something just now.”

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Sakura shakes her head. “I’m just tired. It’s late already. I think we should go to sleep.” She packs the rest of the sushi and goes to place it back in the fridge. 

“Okay,” Kazuha says, and Sakura hears as she shuffles to her room. “Good night, Miyawaki-san.”

Miyawaki-san…

Sakura cringes inwardly. No one on the team refers to her like that, and she doesn’t understand why Kazuha should be an exception. Especially, since they’re living together.

Closing the fridge, she glances over her shoulder at Kazuha’s retreating form and calls out to her softly, “Sakura.”

Kazuha swivels around, giving her a puzzled look. “Hm?”

“You can call me by my name,” Sakura states. “It feels weird when you’re the only one using my last name when talking to me.”

Kazuha gushes with a grin and nods. “Sure, as you wish, Sakura.”

Sakura turns around and leans against the fridge with a raised eyebrow. “Well look at you. You know how to quickly adapt, huh?” she teases.

“Uhm, I-it’s just--because you said, so I-I assumed,” Kazuha stutters, rubbing the back of her neck as her cheeks dust with pink hue.

Sakura bites on her bottom lip, trying to stop herself from showing just how much she enjoys the sight of flustered Kazuha, because why would she be enjoying that in the first place? It doesn’t feel right. Then again, she shouldn’t have teased the poor girl, but it was just so… tempting. And now she kinda gets it why Yunjin does this to Chaewon whenever she has a chance.

Wait, what…?

She straightens up and clears , dismissing the ridiculous thoughts. 

“It’s okay. I’m just teasing you.”

Kazuha fake gasps and glares at her, but it lacks conviction because of the way she smiles.

“Good night, Zuha,” Sakura chuckles at her and leaves to her room.

🌸🍃

The next morning Sakura wakes up, feeling dull pain in her right shoulder. She figures it’s either because of all the push-ups and pull-ups her dad made her do yesterday, or because she has been sleeping at some awkward angle. But since it doesn’t seem to be anything serious, she chooses to ignore it, hoping it’ll eventually go away itself. 

Checking the weather outside the window, she notices it’s quite cloudy, and also windy, judging by how the trees are swaying, so she puts on her zip-up hoodie. Then she goes to check on Kazuha whether she’s ready for their morning jog, making a mental note to herself that if she sees her wearing a crop top, she’ll have to tell her to change or else she’ll catch a cold. 

And sure enough, when she leaves her room, she sees Kazuha in the kitchen, wearing her usual black crop top. She’s humming some song under her breath while refilling her water bottle.

Scowling, Sakura crosses arms at her chest.

“Zuha,” she says sternly. 

The girl jumps at the sound of her voice and turns around. 

“Oh, good morning, Sakura,” Kazuha greets her with a smile that immediately falters. “Uhm, is everything okay?”

“No.”

“No?” Kazuha’s eyebrows furrow comically.

“No. Have you seen the weather? There’s like,” she makes a pause to check her smartwatch, “fifteen degrees outside, and it’s windy.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Honestly Zuha, would it kill you if once in a while you’d cover your stomach?”

Kazuha glances down at herself, giving an impression as if she has just now realized what she’s wearing, then she looks back at Sakura.

“I have it covered during the training and matches,” she states matter-of-factly.

Sakura’s mouth fall open, and she gives the girl an incredulous look, but then she notices how Kazuha’s lips begin to twitch and she starts to suspect what this is about - a payback for yesterday. 

“Relax. I’m just teasing you,” Kazuha says, smirking. “I’ll go grab a hoodie then. Wait for me.” She winks at her and leaves to her room.

And just as Sakura thought she had her all figured out, Kazuha had to do something to throw her completely off balance again, because what the hell was that wink just now? And since when they are trying to one up each other in teasing? 

Completely unnecessary underhanded tactics, she thinks with reproach as she suddenly feels hotter under her hoodie. Letting out a frustrated huff, she takes off the hoodie and ties it around her waist then marches to the sink to refill her bottle.

“I thought you said it’s cold outside,” Kazuha remarks when she returns from her room, now sporting a black hoodie, and Sakura can hear that distinct lilt of amusement it in her voice, but she chooses to ignore it. 

“Come on, we’ve wasted enough time,” Sakura grumbles and heads for the door.

Once they’re outside, it turns out that the weather isn’t that cold and the wind itself is pretty warm too. And that’s how Sakura realizes that her smartwatch has been actually showing her the weather in Sapporo instead of Tokyo. 

Thus Kazuha ends up shedding her hoodie the moment they step outside, but she doesn’t make any comments about it. Still, Sakura feels stupid for making her carry it for no reason and makes a mental note to invest in a new smartwatch as this one clearly has reached its end.

They’re running side by side in silence like they always do, but Sakura keeps rolling her shoulders from time to time because the pain from the morning is still bothering her. Each time she does it, Kazuha gives her a concerned sideways glance, but Sakura just dismisses it with a smile. 

Soon they reach Sakura’s favorite walkway in the park, one that runs alongside the river’s bank. But today, that scenic route becomes ruined by the appearance of a familiar face. 

She almost stumbles from the shock when she sees it, because heading their way is none other than…

…her dad.