Chapter 4

Reo walked through the school halls, his mind focused on the usual thing: making the school football team a national champion. He had been working towards this goal for about two weeks, and had already managed to recruit 7 players, including Nagi, who had impressed him with his skills despite never having played football before.

But today, something unexpected happened. He received a message from a previous teacher from his Elementary School, who started to teach at his current Highschool, not long ago, said teacher revealed that she's in financial trouble and asked him for help.

The teacher in question and Reo had in fact a secret between themselves. This teacher confessed her romantic feelings to Reo, some years ago, probably going after his money. Reo out of pitty decided that this matter should stay between themselves, so that she doesn't loose her achivements so far, as she was actually a pretty good at her job as a teacher, ignoring this incident.

Reo was shocked for a moment and didn't know how to react looking at the message, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand.

Despite the setback, Reo was determined to continue with his plans. He spent his free time researching the best players and teams from their leguage, trying to anticipate what they would be up against when the time came. He aslo studied proffesional players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and read posts on online forums by experts in the field, like the user "Ego_Epicenter" who had written that a football team could have everything, but would be nothing without a forward. Hopping  to find useful information that would help him speed things up.

As knew that he still needed to recruit atleast 8 more players to complete the team, and have reserve players. So his priority was recruiting players. After all, without an actual team there were zero chances to actually achive his goal. He was determined to find the best players out there but he could settle with just "decent" if his plans went alright. As he was convinced that with the right team and strategy, they could make it to the nationals and make his dream a reality.

As Reo walked, he noticed Seishiro Nagi walking towards him, a strange look on his face.

"Hey, Nagi. What's up?" Reo asked, curious as to what Nagi would do.

"I want to help you," Nagi replied.

Reo was surprised, "Help, me?", he asked as he pointed at his face, "With what?"

"I saw you walking around looking for players for the football team. I want to help," Nagi replied, again.

Surprised, yet again, but happy. Reo replied, "That's great! I could use the help. But are you sure?"

"Mhm", Nagi gave him a nod.

"The, let's start looking for players together.", Reo replied with a smile.

As Reo and Nagi walked through the school halls, Reo's voice was filled with determination and excitement as he spoke to Nagi about his plans for the school's football team. "We need to find some new talent for the team, Nagi. We have to win the nationals," Reo said, his eyes scanning the crowds of students for potential players.

Nagi, however, seemed less than enthused. Already regretting signing up for this. This was more of a hassle than he expected. They walked around too much. He let out a sigh and replied, "Do we really have to do this? Can't we just play video games or something instead?"

Reo's excitement faltered at Nagi's lack of enthusiasm. "Come on, Nagi. We have to put in the effort if we want to win. We're the team leaders, we have to lead by example," Reo argued.

Nagi rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Fine, but I don't see the point. The ones so far are all weak. They'll never make it up to the team."

Reo couldn't help but feel a twinge of frustration at Nagi's attitude. He knew that his friend had a lazy and unmotivated personality, but he had hoped that he would be more invested in the team...

"Let's go and look around the PE classes." said Reo, as there they had bigger chances of recruiting someone.

They walked more around the school, talking to students and watching them play sports during PE class. They quickly found several talented players but they were not interested in joining the team.

Finally, the duo came across a student who seemed interested, but they quickly realized he was not quite at the level they were looking for, but had the potential to improve.

After finally recruiting him, Reo couldn't help but feel a twinge of happiness as they walked away from the student.

"Looking for people to join the team is really tiring," Nagi complained, rubbing the back of his head, "I don't know how you do it, Reo. You're really good at this recruiting thing."

Reo was about to reply when, out of nowhere, he heard Nagi's voice behind him.

"Ow, ow, Yuna, what are you doing?! Let go of my ear!" Nagi protested as a girl he apparently knew, appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him by the ear.

The girl, Yuna, had long white hair that fell in cascading waves down her back. Her eyes piercing grey, and her skin was pale, almost ethereal white. She had a slender frame, her features were delicate and feminine, with high cheekbones and a small, pointed chin. Overall, this girl called Yuna was a striking and unique beauty that could stand out in any crowd. And Nagi was being pulled by the ear by her.

"You're always playing with your phone during class and not paying attention. I'm getting tired of it, Nagi," Yuna scolded him, her voice rising in frustration.

Reo watched the scene unfold, confused and curious about what was happening.

"But the lesson is so boring, Yuna. I can't help it.", Nagi complained.

"Nagi, you need to start taking your education seriously," Yuna said, her voice stern. "You can't just waste your time playing games all day. You have a future to think about." she exclaimed, her expression filled with frustration.

"I'm sorry Yuna," Nagi said, clearly looking down. "I'll try to do better from now on." Only after hearing Nagi's response did Yuna let his ear go.

Yuna's expression softened as she looked at her brother. "I know you will," she said, patting him on the head. "Just remember that I'm always here to help you."

Reo did catch up quickly and couldn't help but feel a little envious of the bond between the siblings. He had always wanted a sibling of his own, in both lives, after all it was something else to have someone to share his struggles and successes with. But he knew that he couldn't dwell on that now.

"And who is this?" Yuna asked, her tone sharp, noticing Reo standing nearby.

"I'm Mikage Reo, the leader of the football club. I was just walking with Nagi recruiting people for the team."

"Oh, I see. Well, I hope you'll be able to keep him focused." said Yuna, knowing her brother's span of attention.

"Hey, I can focus on my own," Nagi said, looking away from his sister in embarassment.

"Sure, that's why you're always getting scolded by the teachers," Yuna said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I have to get back to class. I'm Seishiro Yuna, by the way. It was nice meeting you Reo. Nagi, I'll see you later~."

"Bye, Yuna.", said Nagi waving his hand lazily.

"It was nice to meet you, Yuna," Reo said, as she walked away.

Reo turned to Nagi, "Is she your sister?"

"Yeah, she's my twin sister. She's always on my case," Nagi said, with a sigh.

"Agh, you're really lucky, Nagi" said Reo as he started walking foward.

Nagi, couldn't help but smile as he replied, "I suppose so."