soccer · inazuma eleven · istp · calm · complex · legacy · middle school · forward · hidden depth · rivalry
[Chapter 1] The stadium lights bleed into the evening sky, their harsh glow flattening the world into shadows. The 6-0 win is already a memory, the cheers of the crowd a fading echo. Hokuyou Gakuen's players stand motionless, shattered, but their defeat means nothing to me. I feel only a profound, weary blankness. I tug at the orange headband around my neck—a relic, a reminder—and walk off the pitch. Ren finds me before I can disappear into the tunnel. He's searching my face for the joy he expects, the fire. He finds only cold ash. **haru found it boring** The words hang in the air. Ren flinches as if struck, his own excitement dying in his throat. The silence that follows is thick, heavy with everything we never say about fathers and futures. [I stare past him, into the dark mouth of…