Crossover featuring a lot of minor (in some cases) main characters from various sports anime! The final cast hasn't been decided yet!
Well, at least I wrote something, though its mostly self indulgent I think it'll be fun to share as I write it, so its probably not going to have consistant update times (when is anything I write thb). Regardless enjoy!
In high school sports students only have three years, in some cases two and a half to make their dreams come true. It may seem like a long time to the first years coming in, but the second years have seen their senpai fall at the end of a game so close or the difference in their skills were too different. The third years faced their first game of the year like it was a race against time.
It was hot and the sun blinded them as they walked out of the tunnel. This was the second game in the Inter-high, they were in high spirits. The captain pushed his vice-captain jokingly.
People were cheering, mostly for the other team and the goalie turned his head to see a kid who looked like he was middle school staring at them in wonder. He waved to the kid. There was a time when he was awed by high school athletes, and he turned to look at the other team's practice shots, taking the high right corner, he figured he was still awed by them.
They set up for their warm up. His limbs were feeling loose and he managed to stop most of the warm up shots sent his way. Of course they were all bottom corner seeking kicks except for the captain who liked faking before sending in a mid height ball to the side of the net.
Warm up ended ten minutes later and the captain and the vice-captain went to the coin toss. They had never had much luck with it, and as he expected they lost it; they would be on the defensive starting off.
He held up his hand, ready to get this match underway.
The ball was kicked and quickly the team was overwhelmed by the speed. Passes were made across the field with ease like he had never seen. He was barely able to move in the direction the ball was kicked.
Still, too slow. There was a goal 20 seconds into the match. Even with the adversity they were facing they didn't give up. They fought until the end.
The final score was 4-1, and that ended their last tournament. It wasn't a bad end. He laughed along with his teammates at one of the wild saves that they had tried to do.
It was only when they were back on the bus that they cried. They weren't going to nationals with this team and this was the last chance to save them. The one that had become their family through high school. Even the coach and her endlessly positive attitude looked upset at their loss.
"You guys managed to get the last goal, be proud of that! They were the best team in our bracket. It was all you could do."
"It wasn't enough," one of the midfielders spoke up.
"It wasn't enough to win, but was it enough for you all to know that you had done everything in your power to show the fruits of your three years?" She hesitated for a second, "you did your best, and I'm proud of you."
He knew that his only consolation was look the kid was giving them as they walked off the field laughing.
Excitement rolled through him. High school started today. He would become a star on the soccer team. Nodding to himself he moved towards the gate. The students wandered around the main path, talking to old friends or club advisers.
There was a man, probably a third year, passing out pamphlets or maps. Jun couldn't hear what he was saying.
"Hey you!" He bellowed.
Pamphlet guy jumped, his fingers tightened and he frowned, "yes? May I help you?"
"Which way to the soccer club table?"
Something shifted on pamphlet boy's face, "you haven't heard? No, of course not. We don't have one this year."
Jun ignored the feeling curling in his stomach, "why?"
The kid recoiled. Oops. "Sorry."
"Er, the third-years graduated and they were the ones that made up the team. It wasn't a good team."
The comment struck Jun wrong. Even if someone wasn't good, you didn't just come out and say that. Those seniors probably worked as hard as they could to place in the tournament. Just before he could start yelling a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"How would one go about reviving it?"
He turned around to whoever had spoken. The guy was barely taller than Jun, but he felt huge. Intense, and probably very good. He tried to think if he had heard about this kid in middle school. No name came to mind.
"The old club adviser might be willing to help with that," pamphlet guy shrugged, "Isobe-sensei."
Intense guy nodded once and then turned to Jun, "let's go."
"Uh, where?" Jun blinked.
"To revive the soccer team."
Oh, that's all? He still followed - it only felt natural to do so.
"I'm Yuuki Tetsuya, pleasure to meet you...?"
He had almost missed Yuuki speaking, the din of the crowd making everything buzz in his ears, "Isashiki Jun."
Yuuki started walking again and Jun jogged to catch up. Long strides. A few minutes passed and Jun began fidgeting nervously.
"I'm going to be the team's ace!" He burst out.
For his part Yuuki only looked at him before resuming his pace. It a better reaction than when he yelled it out his first day of middle school. The full bodied laughs still haunted him.
"Nothing to say?" Jun was still yelling and people were looking at him now, a blush dusting his cheeks.
"That passion and drive will be useful."
Jun grinned, he liked this kid. There were no complaints from him about having Yuuki as a teammate. While they were walking Jun wondered if anyone was talking about not having a boy's soccer team. Everyone still sounded like wild, active buzzing.
It never crossed his mind about this challenge being impossible.
They reached the building before Yuuki turned around again, this time he was frowning. "Where is Isobe-sensei's office?"
"I have no idea," Jun said with a shrug.
Yuuki's frown deepened, causing Jun to start laughing, they made quite a pair. A few seconds later he was no longer laughing alone, Yuuki's laughter was overpowered by his, but for once no one was telling him to quiet down or simply to shut up.
When they finally found Isobe-sensei, Jun was talking freely, about some professional game he had seen. Yuuki hummed at the right moments, with an occasional profound comment. It was mostly one-sided, but this was the easiest conversation he'd ever had.
The classroom was mostly empty. A petite blonde woman stood behind the desk. Yuuki sent him a look and Jun compared the room number to the one that they had been told. It was a match.
"Isobe-sensei?
She looked up sharply. It was obvious she was foreign, bright green eyes studied them. "Yes?"
Jun stepped up when Yuuki didn't say anything. He tried to make sure that he was talking at an acceptable volume, "were you the adviser for the boy's soccer team?"
Isobe-sensei made a face, "coach, actually."
"Sorry," Jun bowed.
"First years?" Her voice softened, "the team disbanded."
"Well-"
Surprisingly Yuuki spoke over him, "We want to revive it."
Jun nodded. He was planning to give a long speech, but it seems that wasn't Yuuki's style, which was fine with him. It was almost guaranteed he would make a bad impression and blow their best chance at getting a team.
"Oh?"
Yuuki straightened, "yes."
The air was awkward, causing Jun to shift nervously. He wanted this team badly, and he knew this time it would be different. Thankfully, Isobe-sensei hadn't dismissed them right away.
She cocked her head to the side, "with the two of you? Soccer has eleven people you know. Also, you should have at least two subs."
"We'll get them." Jun and Yuuki spoke simultaneously.
"Then I'll coach you," she grinned.
It was a dismissal. Yuuki turned around and the other followed. They got down the hall before Jun felt like it was okay to speak.
"So, do you have friends that want to join?"
"No," a second's pause, "you?"
"You mean it's just us?" Jun was yelling again, voice accidentally loud.
Yuuki started speaking, but this time it was too low for him to hear. Jun tried to read the lips but the sentence was mostly completed by that time. He panicked.
The frown was back and Jun braced himself for some rude comment. Instead, Yuuki tilted his head.
"There will be enough people that would want to join, don't you think?" Yuuki had spoken up.
"Yeah!" He roared. He loved a challenge and he wasn't a coward.
"Let's check in our classes. Compare notes at lunch?"
They weren't in the same class then. Jun wondered when Yuuki had found out which one he was in, but then he decided it wasn't important. He was glad that he hadn't made a terrible impression. Yuuki waved at him as he went into his classroom. 1-2. Jun's own was 1-3, just a door down.
There were still several minutes before the bell rang, leaving the room partially empty as many of the students hadn't arrived yet. Jun glanced around, he saw that there was one student almost physically projecting dejected mood.
He wondered if it was a good idea to disturb him.
Eventually he couldn't stop himself. He was feeling guilty for letting the guy wallow in misery, so he walked over, gently shaking his shoulder, "uh."
"Oh!" the boy jumped up, startling Jun.
"Sorry!"
The chair clattered to the floor as the other boy stood up and Jun had to look up. The guy was tall, and had an odd taste in hairstyles.
"No!" The boy bowed, "it's my fault."
Jun knew the conversation was growing louder when they were getting angry looks from the other students. He changed tactics, though he was a little pleased to meet someone else with a volume problem. It probably was not for the same reason but it was still nice.
"Are you okay? You looked kind of down."
There was a change in the set of the boy's shoulders, "I will be. I just learned the soccer team disbanded and I wanted to play."
Jun couldn't believe his luck, "well it just so happens that, me and... someone else are trying to restart it."
The kid's mood physically brightened, "really?"
"Yeah."
"Bokuto Kotarou!" Bokuto bowed.
"Isashiki Jun."
Bokuto ran his eyes over him, "how many people do you have?"
"Counting you? Three."
"That's a start!" Bokuto nodded vigorously, it almost looked painful.
"Do you know anyone that would be interested?" Maybe this wouldn't be as big of a problem and he and Yuuki thought.
A shrug, "maybe one person."
Jun didn't let his disappointment show. He was hoping that they'd get one big group and not have to get people one by one, but it was only day one. That might take too long and set them back for competing in the Inter-High. Yuuki also might be having more luck.
He grabbed his stuff and moved to sit next to Bokuto. It was the third row and middle column, and hopefully the teacher wouldn't move him. This was the best sport, enough to hide him from casual eye sweeping so he wouldn't have to participate in class.
Bokuto had already moved onto chatting with his other neighbor. Jun thought about starting up a conversation with his neighbor but she was in the middle of talking to another girl. Besides, he was sure he was already pushing his luck with good impressions today. Thankfully the warning bell chimed and he could focus on getting his materials out.
Yuuki met him outside of his classroom.
"I recruited one for sure," he thought about the thumbs up Bokuto gave him as he ran out of the classroom, "probably two."
"Same."
They leaned against the wall, out of the way of passing students. Jun thought about drawing a quick recruitment poster and putting it up behind him, but he wasn't sure he'd enjoy the attention.
Either way they had six people now, just a little under half. Jun glanced over at Yuuki, who was burning with a quiet passion.
"Put that aura away, we'll get the people, Yuuki."
The silences that fell between them were comfortable, Jun had noted and it was odd considering he was always a fan of as much noise as possible. People passed by them, in their own little worlds.
Bokuto was easy to see, he was tall and running through the halls fast enough people had to dodge out of the way, "Isashiki-kun!"
Jun looked up in alarm, Yuuki just watched.
"Here's the one I was talking about!" Bokuto skidded to a stop in front of him.
The person trailing behind Bokuto looked mildly disheveled from being yanked through the halls. He pulled his hand from Bokuto's grip.
"Uncool, man."
Bokuto grinned, "I know you are."
Are they friends? Jun tilted his head and kept looking at Yuuki from the corner of his eye.
"Kuroo Tetsuro," he bowed.
Kuroo had just as oddly styled hair as his companion, like he only slept on that one side, but his uniform was worn properly. Jun couldn't get a read on him. They spent a few seconds trying to figure out how to respond.
"You're the guys rebuilding the soccer team?"
"Of course they are, I just talked to Isashiki!" Bokuto elbowed him.
"Bro, that doesn't mean anything with you."
Bokuto gripped at his chest, "bro, you wound me."
"Bro."
Yuuki looked at him, and Jun shrugged, "I said I found two."
A couple minutes later two other boys were walking towards them. They were fairly tall, and the shorter of the pair looked like Yuuki with the serious look in his eyes, the other one was trying to flirt with every passing girl to no real avail.
"These are the two I was talking about." Yuuki nodded in greeting.
"I'm Kasamatsu Yukio," the serious one spoke.
"Moriyama Yoshitaka."
Jun returned the bows, "Isashiki Jun."
"Kuroo Tetsuroo," Kuroo pointed to himself the gestured his thumb behind him, "and the guy behind me is Bokuto Kotarou."
"I can introduce myself you know," Bokuto pouted.
Belatedly Yuuki bowed, "Yuuki Tetsuya."
Jun snickered, temporarily forgetting that Bokuto or Kuroo wouldn't know him. He wondered if Yuuki was always like this or if it was just today.
"So, are we going to start practice?" Kasamatsu asked.
"With only six people?" Moriyama didn't look enthused.
Kasamatsu shrugged, "there's only a couple of weeks before the Inter-High, we need to work on recruiting as well as our skills so we have something to show."
Jun nodded, it was a sound argument, and he looked at Yuuki; everyone else did as well. It was going to be unanimous that Yuuki would be voted into being a captain.
"We won't have a coach, but there's some basic drills we can do."
"Soccer field after school then?" Kuroo spoke hastily, "bell's about to ring."
"Yes."
With that they dispersed, Bokuto grabbed Jun's arm and pulled him back to their classroom.
"Do we even have a potential coach?"
"All we have to do is get the numbers," Jun pulled his hand out of Bokuto's grip, grateful that he had heard enough of the question to have an answer.
"What's he like?" Bokuto sat down in his chair.
"Well," Jun began, "she seems nice enough."
"A woman? That's cool."
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as the bell rang to start the afternoon period. There were some people that would let that little detail stop them from joining. They couldn't afford to lose any of their numbers.
Jun changed quickly after the bell rang and made his way out to the field, Yuuki trailing behind him for once. He grinned and settled into a jog ready to see the field of his heroes. It had to be something amazing.
Only when he got there he saw it was uneven and filled with weeds. The groundskeeper must've been kind and kept cutting the grass, one thing less to worry about. He looked back to Yuuki.
"We'll just be good at trapping balls with weird bounces."
It was one way to look at it, the best way probably so Jun followed the other's lead down to the field. They set their stuff next to the mostly rusted bench and waited for everyone else to show up. He grinned to himself. His old team always started warm ups at different times, you just had to be done within ten minutes or you missed out on the start of drills.
Kuroo and Kasamatsu were the next to arrive, both already in their full gear. Jun took a second to look at their cleats. They were beaten, scuffed, and covered in that seemingly permanent dirt spot. So, they were clearly experienced players. He was in his old practice cleats, molded by the hours he had spent running up and down the field with minimal ball touching. Out of curiosity he saw that Yuuki was in brand new cleats, but he looked comfortable in them.
"Moriyama had to run back to his house for his gear," Kasamatsu explained.
"Bokuto is... somewhere. Probably lost," Kuroo shrugged.
Ten minutes later Bokuto showed up being towed along by Moriyama. Jun sprung to his feet, ready to begin warm ups.
"Let's do five laps around the field and settle into some static stretching?" Yuuki suggested.
Everyone nodded, it was the best idea that they had heard. Yuuki set the pace and they followed behind them. Jun felt like showing off, to show he should be the ace and sped up to match Yuuki's much faster cadence. After a few seconds he sped up so that he was leading the team. He jumped when he felt like someone was catching up to him.
Turning around he saw it, Bokuto had caught up with Yuuki and was steadily gaining on him. Jun was the first to finish the first lap but after the run between the corners Bokuto had matched his stride and started to pull ahead of him. Jun picked up his pace in return.
Just as they were about to turn the third corner Yuuki passed them easily. Jun sped up again, but there was already a familiar burn in his legs and he was relishing in it. Bokuto stumbled a bit before picking up his pace again.
He thought he heard Kasamatsu yell something, but he couldn't be sure. His own heavy breathing was rattling around in his head. The second lap was finished in a tie. Slowly Yuuki started to pull ahead and Bokuto fell behind. Jun wanted to look behind him and see how Moriyama and Kasamatsu were doing.
Still, he kept his head forward, he didn't have the luxury yet. The third lap finished with Yuuki still leading. Jun pushed his legs harder to match pace with the other's longer stride. Bokuto caught his second wind and kept pace with him.
Yuuki won the fourth lap. Sweat poured off of Jun, and he was regretting not keeping up with his conditioning in the spring break, Bokuto fell behind him again.
Just as they turned around the third pole for their fifth lap, Jun moved into a sprint, overtaking Yuuki in a second. His legs and lung protested the speed, but it felt nice to run full tilt again. He was only a few feet away from what marked their finish line when Kasamatsu shot past him with a speed he hadn't seen since he watched last year's second round game between Hiroo High School and Ginzu Academy.
He gaped as Kasamatsu pushed himself all the way through the finish line only then starting to slow down. Jun finished second, stopping too fast and feeling it in his shins. Yuuki was behind him and then Moriyama. Kuroo was keeping pace with a worn out Bokuto, even slowing down further to make sure that Bokuto wasn't the last one to finish.
Clapping startled them and they wheeled around to see who it was. Isobe-sensei was walking towards them, with the slow clapping as she approached. She had changed out of the pantsuit she had worn and was now in leggings and a faded high school spirit shirt, gone were the flats and in their place were cleats.
"Strong finish, kid."
"Who...are...you?" Bokuto panted.
"I'm Isobe Ashley, and I'm your coach." She crossed her arms.
"What?" Jun winced, he knew he was too loud, "I thought you were only going to coach us with a full team."
Isobe-sensei raised an eyebrow at him, "I didn't know we decided that. Besides, if you're practicing it's better to be guided than getting into bad habits."
"Finish warming up and then we'll get started," There was a gleam to her eyes that let Jun know that they would be exhausted by the time practice finished, and he was pumped for it.
Like it, hate it, a place I can improve? Leave it in the comments below? Like I said the updates will be irregular, because this is really mostly self-indulgent. But yeah, my boys are soccer players now. Thanks for reading~!
