What a Coincidence!

-What a Coincidence!-

“Hey Endou-kun,” Hiroto approached the brunette who was still eating dinner. The others were still eating on each other’s table.

Endou looked up from his plate to the other teen. “Yeah?”

A mysteriously mischievous smile appeared on Hiroto’s face. “Can I talk to you after dinner?”

Endou sweat dropped. “S-Sure?”

And Hiroto walked back to his table to sit with Midorikawa and the others. Kazemaru leaned closer to Endou with raised eyebrows. “What do you think he wants?” the teal-net asked.

Endou looked at him and shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know…”

And dinner for the Inazuma Japan representatives continued on normally.

Later that night, at about ten, Endou popped his head into Hiroto’s room. “Still want to talk?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Hiroto turned around from the window to look at Endou. He smiled happily.

“And it’s about…?” Endou walked in and closed the door behind him. He joined Hiroto gazing at the few visible stars from the room’s window.

“What date is it today?”

Endou’s eyebrows rose at this question, though he answered anyway. “10th of March, um, why?”

“The 13th…” Hiroto replied back with a grin.

“I’m still not getting the point here…” Endou said, frustrated.

Hiroto chuckled. “In three more days, it’s Midorikawa-kun’s birthday,”

Endou stared at Hiroto’s face. “You’re kidding… right?”

Hiroto looked baffled. “No, why would I?”

…

Silence.

“Endou-kun?”

“Kazemaru…”

“Huh?”

“KAZEMARU’S BIRTHDAY IS ON THE THIRTEENTH TOO!”

Hiroto’s eyes widened at Endou’s sudden outburst. But then the message reached his brain and he gasped. “EEEH?”

The two of them stared at each other with disbelief. And then they broke into laughter.

“Okay, okay, so now we know that they share the same birthday, what is your real plan?”

3 Days Later

“WHAT!” Kazemaru and Midorikawa shouted. This was not happening. “BUT COACH!”

“No buts,” Coach Kudou said sternly. “I forbid you two to step foot into this place for the rest of the day.”

“BUT BUT BUT!” The two teens looked like fish, with their mouths opening and closing and opening and closing.

“OUT!” The coach pointed his finger to the door, signalling Kazemaru and Midorikawa to leave.

“Come on Kazemaru-kun, Midorikawa-kun! The both of you deserve this day off!” Aki appeared out of nowhere and nudged the two towards the door. “You guys did awesome in the last match!”

It was true. Since they won last year’s FFI, Coach Hibiki and Coach Kudou had chosen these two once again for the FFI 2012 tournament. And Midorikawa had been smart enough this time to NOT overdo his training.

And in the last match, Kazemaru and Midorikawa had used their new hissatsu technique ‘Light Speed Meteor’ and scored two out of the three goals Inazuma Japan made against Knights of Honour, England’s new team.

“BUT STILL!” the two shouted again.

“BYE BYE~!” Aki waved goodbye, shoved the two out of the door and locked it from the inside.

Kazemaru and Midorikawa were frozen solid from shock.

“Um… So… what should we do now…?” Midorikawa turned his head to Kazemaru, who shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s just walk around the island… Maybe something will put our minds off of practice…”

“Yeah… Maybe…”

And the two of them left.

Back at the lodge

“Hey, did you know that the word ‘clitoris’ means ‘divine and goddess like’ in Greek?”

“WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?” Aphrodi shouted at Kogure, who snickered back in response.

For this year’s FFI, Coach Kudou had scouted Aphrodi long before Korea even knew there was going to be another tournament this year, thus the blond had no choice but to join Inazuma Japan.

Other than Aphrodi, Hidetoshi Nakata was in Inazuma Japan too. He had returned to Japan for a few months and was suddenly scouted by Hibiki. Deciding for a little change, he agreed to be in Inazuma Japan.

Aphrodi started to get impatient with Kogure’s constant remarks about his fandom (Greek mythology and such) that he started to chase the little Diablo around. “DON’T YOU DARE TAKE ANOTHER STEP YOU TWERP!”

“USSHISSHISSHI~!” Kogure – being the prankster he is – started running as well, not even thinking about stopping.

The others could merely sweat drop.

“Is Kogure always like this?” Nakata asked Endou – who nodded back.

“He’s been like this ever since we first met him…” Endou explained as his head followed Aphrodi and Kogure from here to there from there to here.

“WHEN WE FIRST MET HIM?” A voice boomed. Endou and Nakata turned around – and met face to face with their manager aka Touko Zaizen. “HE ALREADY TRICKED US BEFORE WE EVEN KNEW HIS NAME!”

And she had a point. The Inazuma Caravan members had been tricked by Kogure before they even knew about his existence; and in Touko’s case – twice.

Nakata sweat dropped even more. He had to admit, ever since joining the Inazuma Japan; his days had been more ‘livelier’ than ever.

“Hey Nakata,” Kidou emerged out of nowhere and greeted Nakata.

“Hey,”

“I’ve been wanting to ask you a few questions for the past few weeks now…”

“Sure, ask away,”

“Who’s the captain of Orpheus right now?” Kidou’s eyebrows were raised.

Nakata smiled. “Fideo, of course.”

“Coach?”

“The same one before Mr. K came into the picture,”

“Oh…”

Nakata smirked. “And your ‘twin’ joined the team too,”

Kidou did a spit take. “T-TWIN?”

“You know, Demonio! Demonio Strada!”

The other facepalmed himself. How did he forget about his look-a-like? Wait a second…

“Wait, how did you know about me and Demonio?”

“Fideo~” Nakata replied and with that one name, Kidou understood everything. He even couldn’t help but to wonder – were those two dating or something?

“Alright people! Gather up!” Aki clapped her hands together in front of the room. Everybody went quiet – even Aphrodi and Kogure stopped running. The girl smiled. “As all of you know, today is a very special day for two of our teammates!”

Endou and Hiroto smirked at each other deviously – though nobody seemed to notice.

“And with permission from the coach,” Aki nodded her head towards Coach Kudou – who was standing in silence in one corner of the room with Fuyuka next to him. “we get a day off just to celebrate!”

“WHOOHOO!” Everybody in the team yelled.

“BUT!” Another voice boomed. And it belonged to Natsumi. “All of you are going to help us prepare for that special celebration~”

“AWWW…” half of the team whined while the other half laughed. Even the managers giggled.

“Yosh, Endou-kun!” Hiroto shouted and held out his hand upwards towards Endou.

Endou grinned. “LET’S MAKE THIS THE BEST BIRTHDAY FOR THEM, EVER!” He took Hiroto’s hand and gripped.

Meanwhile…

“AHAHAHA I’M SO BOORED I COULD JUMP OFF OF THIS CLIIFFF~” Midorikawa sang/shouted out loud like a mad person. Kazemaru and him had wandered into the woods – and had by mistake, found a cliff.

“OI, ARE YOU NUTS OR SOMETHING?” Kazemaru shouted, worried for his friend.

“MAYBE I AM~” Midorikawa twirled around like a ballerina. “AND YOU CAN BLAME BOREDOM~ AHHAHAHA SOMEBODY GIVE ME A TUTU~” He jumped into the air and did a bow – his laughs being forced laughs.

Kazemaru cracked up laughing at Midorikawa’s antiques. He rolled on the ground and held his gut. It was too much for him to handle.

Midorikawa stopped his weirdness too and joined Kazemaru in his episode of laughter. “Man, I just can’t imagine what life would be if everything was… dull and… you know what I mean…”

“Yeah, I know what you mean…” Kazemaru rubbed his eyes and sat upright on the ground next to Midorikawa. “Everything would be so boring and I wouldn’t think twice before jumping off of that cliff,”

“Me too... And it would be worse if soccer didn’t exist…”

“Don’t even say something like that.” Kazemaru remarked.

“Hey, if soccer really didn’t exist, what do you think you’d be doing right now?” Midorikawa laid his back onto the ground with his eyes closed.

Kazemaru didn’t need to think twice before answering. “I’d still be in the track club and running around with my old friends,”

“You were in the track club?”

“Yep,”

“No wonder you’re so darn fast,”

Kazemaru chuckled. “So what about you?”

“I’d probably be sitting on a couch watching TV and ignoring Suzuno and Nagumo’s constant bickering… Or maybe doing some chores around the orphanage…” Midorikawa replied and sighed.

“… You don’t have anything else you like to do except soccer?” Kazemaru asked, quite shocked. Sounds a lot like a certain brunette I know…

Midorikawa shrugged his shoulders. “I’m kind of interested in learning the piano…” He said. Only because Hiroto started playing the violin…

“PFT! YOU? THE PIANO?” Kazemaru covered his mouth, trying hard not to crack up laughing again.

“What?” The green-haired teen turned his head around and smirked. “I’m not classy enough?”

“N-No… it’s just that…” Kazemaru calmed down and thought about it for a while. Then he smiled a little. “Know what? I think the piano suits you and your constant habit of saying famous sayings,”

“HEY!”

“But it’s true!”

“Alright… Alright…! Hm, what if I told you I can play one piece on the piano?”

“Eh? You can?” Kazemaru looked at Midorikawa’s face, trying to find any signs that said he was lying. He found none.

“Yeah, I learned by myself on my school’s piano,” Midorikawa said, with his back still on the ground. It was so calm here, he had to admit.

“Cool!” The teal-net exclaimed before falling back onto the ground with his arms outstretched. “Do you think you can play one time in front of everyone?”

“M-Maybe…” Midorikawa blushed at the thought of playing the piano in front of everyone in Inazuma Japan. “B-But we don’t have a piano in the lodge!” Score!

“Tsk!” Kazemaru snapped his fingers together in disappointment.

“Hey Kazemaru,”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you like anything else other than running around a field or a track?” Midorikawa sat back upright and he sat cross-legged. He stared at Kazemaru’s face.

Kazemaru stayed silent.

Midorikawa tilted his head. “Kazemaru?” The green-haired teen touched the teal-net’s shoulder and shook it.

“GAH! I’M AWAKE! I’M AWAKE!” Kazemaru jolted up – to which startled Midorikawa.

“Whoah dude! What’s the matter?”

Kazemaru’s face said that he was worried and shocked – like he had a big secret he’s been keeping from everybody. And Midorikawa read his face.

The teal-net breathed hard and grabbed his own shirt, as if his heart ached. Midorikawa turned his facial expression into a serious one and inched his face closer and closer to Kazemaru’s.

“You’re hiding something.”

“W-WHAT? N-NO! I’M NOT HIDING ANYTHING!” Kazemaru looked away, more worried than ever.

“Tell me. You are. And you’re a horrible liar. Plus, I told you I could play the piano – even though I can play only one piece – so you owe me one secret.” Midorikawa reasoned.

“W-WAIT! T-THAT WAS A SECRET?”

“Duh! Nobody knows in the orphanage!”

“… F-Fine…” Kazemaru looked down.

Midorikawa’s face lit up like a happy puppy. Kazemaru swore he saw the latter had dog ears and a wagging tail.

“… I… I… Icandance,”

“WHAT?” Midorikawa leaned in closer. “Speak up, dude! I can’t hear you!”

“Icandance,”

“I am Candace?”

“OH FOR GOD’S SAKE! I CAN DANCE! I CAN DO THE WALTZ, TAP DANCING, BREAKDANCE, YOU NAME IT!” Kazemaru exploded and stood up, his face red like a cherry.

Midorikawa scattered backwards at Kazemaru’s outburst. His eyes widened from shock. But then soon enough he rolled around the grass, laughing. “D-DANCING?”

“MY MOM SENT ME TO CLASSES OKAY! SHE FORCED ME TO!” Kazemaru exclaimed before Midorikawa got a better idea. The teal-net facepalmed before covering his red face using both of his hands. Clearly, he was ashamed of the fact that he was a pro dancer.

“S-SINCE WHEN? BUAKAKAKA!” Midorikawa just couldn’t stop laughing.

“Five…”

“THAT LONG? OH MY GOD! BUAKAKA! HEY! HEY! CAN YOU DO BALLET?” Midorikawa grinned mischievously as he epicly failed to stop laughing.

“THE HELL DUDE! OF COURSE NOT!”

“BUAKAKAKAKA!”

“ALRIGHT STOP WITH THE LAUGHING ALREADY!” The teal-net waved his hands up in the air.

“I’M… TRYING!” Midorikawa just laughed and laughed and laughed. “Dude, does anybody else know?”

“Yeah…”

“Who?”

“Endou…”

“WHAT? AH, YOU’RE CRACKING ME UP AGAIN!”

“You’ll laugh harder after finding out that Endou can waltz,” Kazemaru stated with no emotion as he stared at the vast sea in front of them.

“… WHAT?” This time, Midorikawa didn’t laugh. He just stared at Kazemaru – not being able to believe the fact that their captain could WALTZ!

Kazemaru smirked at Midorikawa’s reaction. “Much more shocking, ne?~”

Midorikawa quickly nodded. “Ho-how? And since when?”

“When we were ten, Endou suddenly asked me to teach him how to waltz, so yeah…”

“…”

“You’re holding in your laughter, aren’t you?”

“… As a matter of fact… YES! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Midorikawa laughed again. The green-haired teen could swear his gut would burst any minute now. This time though, Kazemaru joined in and the both of them laughed and laughed.

After more talking, the two finally realized that the Sun was setting. “Whoah, time sure flies when you’re having fun…” The both of them said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed again.

They stood up and dusted off the dirt from their tracksuits and by using their memory; they managed their way out of the thick forest.

By the time they were on the same street as Inazuma Japan’s lodge, the moon was already shining brightly in the night sky. The stars that accompanied it beautified the scenery even more.

“I’m so… tired…” Midorikawa said and yawned.

Kazemaru yawned as well. “Me… too…”

They opened the door – and were greeted by darkness. It was then did they notice that none of the lights were on. “Hello?” They chorused. No answer. Midorikawa stepped back out and checked the bedroom windows. There were no light in them too. He walked back in and locked the door.

“Where is everybody?”

“I don’t know,” Kazemaru turned on the lights in the hallway, and then ventured into the living room while Midorikawa checked the kitchen and the rooms upstairs.

“WE’RE ALONE!” The both of them shouted at the same time despite being in different parts of the lodge.

Midorikawa raced back downstairs – and crashed into Kazemaru as he did so. “OW!” they shouted again. They fell back onto the ground.

A small card floated towards the ground between them. “Ow… Hey, what’s that?” Kazemaru said as he took the card from the ground.

“Let me see,” Midorikawa – still rubbing his head – inched closer towards him. They both read it out loud together.

“’All of us are at the beach, see you guys there!’”

“…”

“…”

They dashed for the back door.

Outside, the sound of the waves crashing onto land greeted them. It was soothing and all was calm. And nobody was in sight. The darkness of the night didn’t help at all – despite it being a full moon night.

THUD! Thud thud! Thud…

They both flinched and turned around – Midorikawa with his hands up in a ninja like style while Kazemaru had his hands balled up into fists. “WHO’S THERE?”

A soccer ball.

A soccer ball had succeeded in scaring the shit out of them.

Their immediate reaction?

Facepalm.

“Boo.”

“GAAAH! LIGHT SPEED METEOR!” Kazemaru and Midorikawa used their hissatsu technique by instinct using the ball in front of them – kicking the said ball towards the source of the voice. They didn’t even notice they had used their hissatsu technique!

“OWWW!” The voice shouted in pain as it was thrown backwards into the coconut tree behind it. Kazemaru and Midorikawa stood back-to-back as small star shaped dust floated down around them – one of the many effects of their hissatsu technique.

But the two of them immediately gasped once they had realized their mistake.

They had kicked the ball to Endou! Who was… what? Dressed in a TUXEDO?

“ENDOU?” They shouted and ran over to the brunette. The two of them helped their captain up. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? SCARING US LIKE THAT!” Kazemaru scolded and grunted. The brunette laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

“Sorry…”

Midorikawa sweat dropped. “That aside, why are you in a tux? And where are the others?”

“…Umm… Actually…”

“Actually what?” Kazemaru raised his eyebrows.

“SURPRISE!~”

Midorikawa and Kazemaru were caught off guard yet again.

Everybody had jumped and appeared out of nowhere – and the place was suddenly lit up by Christmas lights hung around the trees. And not far, the two saw a table filled with scrumptious food and… TWO CAKES?

“WHAT’S GOING ON!” Midorikawa screeched.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!” Kazemaru shouted.

Endou grinned as Hiroto – who was also wearing a tux – stepped up. “Don’t tell us you guys have forgotten your own birthdays?”

Kazemaru and Midorikawa’s eyebrows lifted up. “Birthday? But my birthday is on the thirteenth of March!” they looked at each other with wide eyes. “WHAT! WE HAVE THE SAME BIRTHDAY? ME? AND YOU?”

And suddenly, the two of them were banging their heads onto the coconut trees. “How… Did… I… Forget… My… Own… Birthday… OUCH!”

Everybody in Inazuma Japan – boys wearing tuxedos and girls wearing dresses – laughed at their shocked expressions.

“Alright, break it up~” Fuyuka stepped towards the two. “Get to your own rooms and change into your tuxedos, and make sure you you’re quick or else we’ll eat all the cake without you guys!” She warned with a laughing face.

In a flash, Midorikawa and Kazemaru were gone.

And back.

Everybody blinked at their speed. They were just too shocked for words.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get this party started!” Midorikawa shouted with excitement. Kazemaru laughed next to him. “Never underestimate the light speed duo!” He added and everybody joined in laughing.

The candles were lit, the song was sung, the candles were blown out and wishes were made. Kazemaru and Midorikawa were grateful to have friends like them and they finally understood why the coach had ‘kicked’ them out of the lodge.

Not only that, the food was delicious! And the cake – don’t even mention the cake! Kazemaru had received a blueberry cheesecake while Midorikawa received a green apple moist cake!

“Everything’s great! Who made all the food?” Kazemaru asked Endou through the booming music coming from Tsunami the DJ’s boom box.

“The managers~”

Kazemaru did a spit take. “Did… Did Natsumi…?”

Endou laughed. “I told Aki. She made sure Natsumi only helped by cutting, stirring and etc,”

Kazemaru sighed from relief. That was music to his ears.

Midorikawa took another bite of his cake on one of the tables that were there. He watched as the others danced to the music. Hiroto however, was watching him eat instead.

“Hey, you’ve got something over…” he reached out, “there!” and wiped off some cream from Midorikawa’s face. Midorikawa blushed at the touch – and blushed even more when Hiroto licked the cream off of his finger.

The red-haired teen chuckled. “Come on, I think it’s time for yours birthday present from me,” he stood up and did a hand signal towards Tsunami – who understood and immediately turned the music off. Everybody else seemed to understand and stayed quiet too.

“Hiroto?”

“Come on, stand up already!”

“Okay! Okay!” Midorikawa placed his plate on the table and followed Hiroto, who was walking towards… a pile of coconut tree leaves?

“What is that?”

“You’ll see,” Hiroto smirked, pulled off the fake blanket of leaves and revealed – a grand black piano.

Midorikawa gasped and gaped. “Wh… Ho…”

“You thought I didn’t know did you?” Hiroto smiled and pushed Midorikawa towards the piano. The red-haired teen made the other teen sit on the chair.

“But… But!”

“I always saw you practice a piece on the piano in school, that’s how I knew. And how this piano got here?” Hiroto looked into the crowd and smiled gratefully towards Kidou. “You can thank Kidou-kun for that,”

“Hiroto…” Midorikawa smiled.

“Come on, let’s play… Ave Maria~” Hiroto said and he took out something from behind the piano. It was his violin in its violin case.

Midorikawa grinned and nodded. He placed his hands on the keys as Hiroto got ready with his violin.

And they started playing.

The soft music filled the night air and brought comfort to everyone there. It was calm and sooth – and the crowd was able to understand the emotions of the voiceless music. Midorikawa’s fingers danced on the keys while Hiroto’s fingers did the same on the strings of his violin.

As Midorikawa and Hiroto performed, Endou suddenly stood up from his seat.

“Endou?” Kazemaru looked puzzled as to why he had done that suddenly.

Endou turned around and grinned. He held out his hand and slightly bowed. “Wanna dance?”

Kazemaru blushed viciously. But he smiled and slowly nodded – before taking Endou’s hand. “Sure,”

It was the perfect night with Hiroto and Midorikawa playing, and Endou and Kazemaru dancing. Everybody watched with happy smiles on their faces.

Kidou and Gouenji who was watching smirked. “God, they’re waltzing!” Kidou remarked.

“Who would’ve thought?” Gouenji said next before slipping his hand into Kidou’s.

“Let’s join them,” the Flame Striker invited Kidou, who looked shocked.

“Don’t tell me you know how to dance too?” Kidou smirked.

“Expect the unexpected, Yuuto-kun~” Gouenji said hotly, melting Kidou before dragging the latter off of his feet.

And they joined Kazemaru and Endou in the middle of the circle. Everybody looked shocked but slowly – everybody else started to join too.

As the music continued, Kazemaru stared into Endou’s eyes. “Hey Endou…”

“Yeah?” Endou twirled Kazemaru around.

As Kazemaru was pulled back into Endou’s arms, he whispered one question he had been wondering for a very long time. “Do you love me?”

And unexpectedly, Endou pressed his lips against his. But without thinking, Kazemaru kissed back.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Fireworks lit up the night sky and the music and everybody stopped.

But Endou and Kazemaru didn’t care. They just kissed – and even when they parted, it was for air.

“Does that… answer your question?” Endou asked back with another grin.

Kazemaru smiled happily and hugged the brunette – who hugged back. They stared into each other’s eyes and laughed before enjoying the beautiful fireworks with their hearts beating along with the explosion of colours in the sky.

Hiroto placed his violin onto the piano – his head facing the sky. Midorikawa stopped playing too; though instead of looking at the never ending fireworks, he was staring at Hiroto’s face.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, Midorikawa-kun?” Hiroto said dreamily as he stared into the night sky.

Midorikawa felt his pulse quickening, his breath uneasy. Hiroto’s flawless face had mesmerized him again. He couldn’t answer to Hiroto’s question, so he just looked into the deep forest.

And the fireworks? Those things made it hard for him to guess if it was his heart that was thumping against his ribcage, or the explosive sounds of the fireworks did that.

“Midorikawa-kun?” Hiroto turned his head around – wondering why his best friend didn’t answer. He gasped slightly as he saw Midorikawa’s sad face.

“Hey, is there something wrong?” The red-haired teen leaned closer to Midorikawa’s face – as he was standing while the other teen was still sitting.

Midorikawa’s face went red yet again. “N-Nothing!”

“Are you sure?”

“Y-Yes!”

“… Well… okay then…” Hiroto shrugged. His mouth was curved downwards into a half frown.

Midorikawa gathered up the courage to stand up and look into the sky. He thought maybe that the fireworks would get his mind off of his feelings for his best friend who was standing inches away from him.

The green-haired teen smiled. “It’s the perfect night…” He said to himself.

Hiroto heard him though and he smirked. “Wanna know something that could make this night even more perfect?”

Midorikawa turned his head around with a puzzled look. “What?”

“This,” Hiroto held Midorikawa’s chin and the red-head leaned in to kiss Midorikawa passionately. The other teen gasped from shock but returned the kiss.

They parted – with the fireworks still exploding – and looked at each other. “You don’t know how much I love you…” Midorikawa whispered while covering his red face with his hands.

Hiroto chuckled and wrapped his arm around Midorikawa’s neck. “I could say the same thing, you know…”

“Happy birthday, Ryuuji-kun,”

“Happy birthday, Ichi-kun,”

“Hiroto…”

“Mamoru…”

Their hearts beat together for they are one.

Their souls were made for each other for they fell.

Their love for each other was true, for it will last.

.E.N.D.