Hello! This is now my 2nd SA-FF! I hope you like it!



"Yuri comes to us and that's that!"
"But he can't play football at all, Seichi!"
"Exactly, we want to win after all and that just doesn't work with him! No offense, Yuri!"
"Yeah, you're a nice guy, but soccer is just not your thing, sorry!"
"It's okay," I sighed.

It was monday. Once again I had to listen to this discussion. Seichiro, my best buddy, wanted me to play on his team, but as we all knew, I could play football as well as a potato. But she didn't want to see that at all. Nevertheless, he tried to elect me to his team every Monday morning. But why did we have to play this stupid game in sports every darn Monday?
I sighed again. My eyes wandered to the only boy who - besides me, of course - had not yet been elected to a team - Masaki. Every Monday we both stayed until the end, because Masaki wasn't a footballer either. He wasn't really good at any sport. Nevertheless, the others would rather have him on their team than me, because at least he didn't score any own goals ...
"Hey, now finally choose one, guys! Otherwise the whole sports lesson will be over!", The teacher called out to us. The discussion grew louder and finally a decision was made.
"Masaki, you come to us! I'm sorry, Yuri ..." came from Kei. I sighed. Well finally. The sooner we got this over with, the sooner I could throw myself back into my normal clothes. Because I felt pretty uncomfortable in my sports gear. It wasn't that they were decorated with any embarrassing flowers or something, but I wasn't a sporty type - and you could tell by me. While most of the boys in my class - oh, what do I say most of our school - were trained like professional athletes, I looked like a toothpick.I wasn't nearly as unsportsmanlike as Masaki - because I loved swimming - but I still didn't want to show my muscles.
When I made my way to the other group, I looked for Sei's eyes. As expected, he pouted. If he couldn't get his head on, he was sometimes pissed off for up to a week. He turned to me and smiled at me apologetically. With a dismissive gesture, I made him understand that I didn't mind. It was only for forty minutes, I would get through that. I was just taking up my position as a defender when the starting whistle sounded.
"Okay, forty minutes, you will manage that, Yuri! You just have to keep the round thing away from the angular thing with the net on it and make sure you don't score an own goal! That can be done!" occupied with my self-motivation when Takeshi, the striker of the opposing team, came running towards me with the ball. My knees suddenly started shaking. Normally I would not have been afraid of an opponent, but Takeshi was the captain of the school team - and that was not without reason! The guy had a shot! Grass stopped growing where the ball landed!
Despite my fear, I stood between him and the goalkeeper. My eyes were on the leather at his feet. I waited for him to shoot, but suddenly he stopped and put one foot on the ball. What was this going to be now? I looked up to find that Takeshi had a mean grin on his face. Without warning, he started moving again, took a swing - and shot the ball right in my direction! The round egg had a tooth on it that I couldn't help but turn away. Not a second too early, because the leather bounced off my back and flew in a high arc in front of the gate. Lee, the goalkeeper of my team, had probably thought that Takeshi would shoot past me on the left and accordingly jumped in that direction.But now the gate on the right was completely open! Takeshi jumped into the air, gave me another quick wink, confident of victory, and sank the ball into the goal.
Embarrassed, I turned to Takeshi. He had foreseen it all! That I would turn away and Lee would jump in the wrong corner. I am such a fool! If I hadn't been so scared of his shot, none of this would have happened!
I returned to my position. I was very angry with myself. Be on the other hand was angry with Takeshi because he ran up to him, grabbed him by the collar and shouted: "DO YOU HAVE ALL OF THEM? You know that he can't play football well and is a little clumsy, and EVEN you shoot the ball with full force in his direction ?! Tell me, IS IT STILL OK ?! "
Ui, you must have been really angry. When it came to me, his best buddy, he had no mercy. It was the other way around, of course. His water-blue eyes glittered dangerously and his light-blonde hair - a little too long for me - fell into his face. Yep, Sei was definitely angry, because otherwise his eyes always sparkled amused and not dangerous. But now he should get back on track as soon as possible, because the teacher was already on the way to the two of them.
"Kuro! Let go of Mikano immediately, otherwise something will happen! Put your fingers off, but dalli!" He yelled at Seichiro. He let go of Takeshi as quickly as if he had burned himself, but he promptly turned to our teacher.
"But Mr. Ishimoto, didn't you see what Takeshi did? Had he not turned away, the ball might have hit Yuri in the face! It could have injured Yuri!" Accusingly, he pointed at Takeshi. Ishimoto raised her eyebrows, put her hands on her hips and snapped at Sei: "Really, Kuro! You're pretending to be Matsuo made of glass! Are you a mother hen or something ?! The ball might hurt a little." but he won't die if he hits him, so please don't make a riot here, okay? "Loaded, Sei looked back at Takeshi, who had a big grin on his face. "Exactly, Seichi!", He began, "Don't make such a riot here. Yuri's milk face might do one or two scratches quite well. Then it might be more popular with women!"
Takeshi had just finished speaking when Sei's fist landed in his face. I had already suspected something like that, but I couldn't move. Seichiro's gaze stopped me from doing it. His eyes had darkened, you could even tell that they looked hateful. I had never seen him like this before and that scared me.
Takeshi landed on his backside, clutching his left cheek, and stared up in disbelief. He also seemed quite surprised that Sei became violent because it just wasn't his way. But Ishimoto didn't know us students half as well. The blow hadn't shocked him as much as it did us teenagers and so he was the one who grabbed Be first by the collar and gave him a brief shake before Takeshi's friends got their hands on him.
"Kuro!" He shouted, "KURO! What the hell is that supposed to be doing again? Come on, march off to the locker room. You will contact me after the gym class, understand?"
She just nodded. I couldn't look him in the face because his head was bowed and his blond hair was forming a curtain. "And you," Ishimoto now turned to me, "accompany him. See that he comes to his senses again!"
With a curt nod, I gave him to understand that I had understood what he wanted from me. I had already grabbed Be by the arm and pulled towards the locker room. Without any resistance, he let me go. We crossed the soccer field with quick steps, knowing that we were all staring. I didn't have the courage to look at him. I just couldn't turn to face him. But maybe it was better that way. He probably didn't want me to see him like that at all.But what was "so"? So angry? So angry? So surprised? So ... completely confused?
We approached the room, I quickly reached out my hand to the handle and opened the door. I pulled Sei after me into the small room and slammed the door behind us. Now we were alone, but I still didn't dare to look at him. He really scared me. I still had his wrist around me and at that moment I didn't even consider the possibility of letting go of him. I stood still in front of the closed door, he was only a meter behind me. What would I expect when I turned to face him? Was he still mad? Maybe even mad at me for being in this dilemma only because of my fault?
"It's not your fault, Yu."
I winced. Less because of the fact that he knew exactly what I was thinking - we almost always knew what was going on inside the other - but more because Be was the first to speak. I bit my lip, then turned my head a little to the right so I could see my best friend out of the corner of my eye. I still couldn't see his face. If only he would raise his head then-
Suddenly the person opposite looked up and what I saw I would probably never forget again. You cried. It wasn't his oh-my-god-there-is-no-more-chocolate-ice-cream! -Crying but an I-have-no-idea-what-to-do-sob. I had never seen him cry before. Not when we were children and he opened his knee, and also not when his beloved dog died. Didn't cry. You never cried.
That he did it now could perhaps be cited as a reason for what I did next: I pulled him into my arms. It wasn't an I-love-you-so-much-that-I-never-let-go-you-again-hug, but a We-will-do-it-push. At first he just stood there and didn't move.He was probably way too shocked because we had never hugged before. I mean, there were such little buddy pushers every now and then, but not so intensely. But suddenly he put his arms around me, yes, literally clawed my t-shirt. I felt my shirt get wet where Sei had nuzzled his head, but I didn't care. His whole body was shaking, but he made no sound. It seemed like he was clinging to me tighter and tighter, so I did the same. Maybe he just needed the feeling of not being alone right now.
I had no idea how long we'd been standing next to each other when suddenly we were separated from each other by increasingly louder voices. The sports lesson was apparently over! Everyone quickly went to their seat and began to change when the door opened and our classmates walked in. The happy laughter stopped when they saw us. To break the sudden silence, I asked, “How did the game end?” My voice sounded unusually high and also trembled a little. I had noticed that Sei turned his gaze back to the floor so that no one could see that he had been crying. I wanted to help him hide it, so I tried to get attention to