It was a week before the regional preliminaries.
On one side of the field, the tournament brackets had been posted, and the players gathered in front of them during every break to check their opponents.
This tournament was not just a school match.
Several schools from the area were taking part, and if they made it to the final, they could compete for a spot in the national tournament.
That was why the team atmosphere was different from usual.
The coach gathered the players before training started.
"In this tournament, team coordination matters more than individual skill. Especially since our team has strong offense but tends to be slow in defensive transitions, if even one person gets selfish, we'll leave an opening right away."
Riu looked at the players.
"You all heard that?"
"Yes!"
"This time, I’m not going to talk much. Just do your own part properly."
Ihan looked at Riu.
If it had been before, he would not have liked those words.
Because he thought moving with confidence was the best thing he could do.
But now it was different.
Ihan had memorized Riu’s tactics, one by one.
Where he should move.
When he should receive the pass.
And above all, he checked where Riu would be first.
Soon after training began, a problem came up.
One of the starting midfielders twisted his ankle and had to stop training.
The coach immediately changed the tactics.
"Ihan, today you drop back to the center."
"Me?"
"Yeah. Don’t just attack—coordinate with Riu in midfield."
Ihan nodded.
"Okay."
Riu said from the side.
"Don’t push yourself. You don’t have to solve everything by yourself."
"I know."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"You’ve been listening pretty well lately."
Ihan looked at Riu.
"Because you told me to, senior."
"Told you what?"
"That it’s more important to do well together than to do well alone."
Riu looked at Ihan for a moment, then smiled.
"So you do get it now."
"There’s one thing I still won’t listen to, though."
"What?"
"You telling me not to push myself."
"And why not?"
"Because you push yourself too, senior."
Riu let out a short laugh.
"Because I’m the captain."
"I’m a teammate now too."
At that, Riu’s expression changed for a moment.
It was something the old Ihan would never have said.
The practice match began.
Their opponent was a school widely regarded as one of the strongest in the region.
The early going was even.
Ihan kept receiving the ball in the center while constantly scanning his surroundings.
Before, this would have been a situation where he would have broken through immediately.
But this time was different.
He could see Riu moving up front.
Ihan slipped the ball forward in a split second.
"Riu!"
Riu took it.
Once.
Twice.
And then passed it back to Ihan.
Ihan slipped between two defenders and shot.
It was a goal.
"Nice!"
His teammates ran over.
Riu was the first to grab Ihan’s shoulder.
"That was good."
"This time I passed it, right?"
"Yeah."
"I did well, right?"
"You did really well."
Ihan smiled at that.
"Then that’s enough."
Riu smiled too.
At that moment, the coach shouted loudly.
"Good! Take that play with you into the tournament exactly like that!"
The two looked at each other.
It was only a brief moment, but it felt like a signal only the two of them could understand passed between them.
But just before the practice match ended.
An opponent came in with a rough tackle.
Ihan couldn’t dodge and went down hard.
"Ihan!"
Riu ran over first.
"Are you okay?"
"I’m fine."
"Let me see."
"I’m really fine."
The moment Riu grabbed Ihan’s arm to pull him up, Ihan grimaced.
Riu’s expression hardened.
"You’re not fine."
"It just hurts a little."
"Then sit out."
"No."
"Ihan."
"There’s only a week left until the tournament."
Riu’s voice dropped.
"Exactly why you need to sit out more. Pushing yourself now and then not being able to play at the tournament would be a much bigger problem."
"I can play."
"That’s not your call."
"Why not?"
"Because it’s your body."
Riu let out a sigh.
"If you get hurt, I’ll have a hard time too."
Ihan stopped speaking for a moment.
Riu looked away as if he realized what he had just said.
"...Get treatment first, anyway."
Ihan nodded silently.
After training ended.
Ihan was sitting on a bench by the field, holding an ice pack to his ankle.
The injury wasn’t serious.
It was just a sprain.
But Riu kept worrying him.
A little later, Riu came over with a drink.
"Drink this."
"Thank you."
Riu sat down beside him.
For a while, there was no conversation between them.
Then Ihan spoke first.
"Senior."
"Yeah."
"I really want to win at the tournament."
"Me too."
"No."
Ihan looked at Riu.
"Not just win."
Riu turned his head.
"Then?"
"I want to win with you, senior."
Riu’s eyes wavered slightly.
Ihan continued quietly.
"At first, I thought all I had to do was be the best. I thought if I scored, changed the game, and played well, the team would follow."
"...."
"But lately, I’ve been thinking differently."
Ihan looked down at the ice pack.
"No matter how well I do, it would feel wrong if you weren’t there, senior."
Riu didn’t answer for a long time.
Then, smiling, he lightly messed up Ihan’s hair.
"You’ve really grown."
"Don’t touch my hair."
"Why?"
"...Because it makes me weirdly nervous."
Riu’s hand stopped.
"Me too."
"About what?"
"When you say things like that, I get nervous too."
Ihan lifted his head.
Their eyes met.
This time, neither of them looked away first.
The day before the tournament.
After the final tactical practice ended, Riu gathered the players.
"Tomorrow’s first match won’t be easy. They’ve got better size than us, and their defense is strong."
After looking over the players for a moment, he went on.
"Still, as long as we do what we prepared for, we’ll be fine."
Ihan looked at Riu quietly.
Riu said one last thing.
"And if I happen to make a mistake during the match."
The players laughed.
"The captain makes mistakes too?"
Riu answered with a smile.
"I’m a person, so I guess I do."
Then Ihan said,
"I’ll cover for you."
Riu looked at Ihan.
"What?"
"If you make a mistake, I’ll stop it."
"Worry about yourself."
"I’m good at this, though."
"That’s why you’re even more reliable."
The teammates laughed at the two of them.
"You two really fit together well."
"Aren’t you basically one body these days?"
Ihan and Riu looked at each other at the same time.
Then both of them smiled without saying anything.
The next day.
The morning of the tournament.
Tension hung in the air among the players gathered on the school field.
Just before getting on the bus, Ihan called out to Riu.
"Senior."
"Hm?"
"You remember what you said yesterday, right?"
"What."
"That this time we’d win together."
Riu smiled.
"I remember."
Ihan held out his hand.
"Promise."
Riu looked at that hand for a moment, then laid his own hand over it.
"Promise."
Their hands touched.
And at that moment.
The coach’s voice rang out from afar, announcing the bus’s departure.
"Hey, everyone! Get on quickly!"
Riu let go first.
"Let’s go."
Ihan followed after him.
But just before he got on the bus, Riu looked back.
"Ihan."
"Yes."
"Today I’ll watch your back."
Ihan smiled.
"Then I’ll watch your front, senior."
The two looked at each other, then boarded the bus together.
There wasn’t much time left before the tournament began.
And this match was different from all the ones before it.
By now, Riu was no longer just the captain Ihan played with.
He had become someone Ihan absolutely wanted to protect.