Late Night – Dorm Rooms
The room was quiet, save for the soft hum of the heater and the occasional rustle of wind outside the window.
Shun lay on his bed, hands behind his head, eyes locked on the ceiling.
Rika's message still sat unread on his phone.
"Kiyoki. You know him?"
He hadn't answered.Because he didn't need to.
He didn't know Kiyoki personally.Had never met him.Had never even seen him play live.
But the name had started to spread like wildfire.
Kiyoki.
A player from Aizawa Technical High.Fast feet.Sharp vision.Dribbling like a glitch in the system.
They called him a monster.A prodigy.The kind of player who breaks formations just by standing on the field.
And now—he was in their bracket.
Shun exhaled slowly.
This wasn't fear.It wasn't nostalgia.It was calculation.
He lived for this.
The moment just before battle—When the name is still a mystery.When the opponent is still just a rumor.
He closed his eyes.
"Let's see what you've got, Kiyoki."
Meanwhile – Aizawa Technical HighPrivate Training Grounds
Kiyoki stood alone on a small turf pitch, the floodlights casting long shadows behind him.
He wasn't practicing.He wasn't running drills.He was just… moving.
The ball was a blur beneath his feet.Stopping. Starting. Sliding through invisible gaps.
His coach approached.
"You ready?"
Kiyoki smirked.
"Always."
"Tomorrow's your debut. Fukura High's no joke. They've got Aizawa."
Kiyoki stopped juggling.
"I don't care who they've got," he said calmly. "I'm not here to watch them."
He turned, flicked the ball into the air—
And walked off the pitch without a word.
Back in Fukura, Shun rolled over, eyes still open.
His pulse steady.
His mind already on the first whistle.
Kiyoki was just another challenge.And Shun didn't run from those.