The locker room stilled the moment Riku spoke.
It wasn't just that he stood up it was how he stood. Straight. Still. Like he had already made up his mind long before this moment, and this was just the part where he finally said it out loud.
"I'm leaving the team."
For a second, no one reacted.
Not because they didn't hear him.
But because it didn't make sense.
"…What?" Yuma was the first to break, his voice sharp, confused. "What do you mean you're leaving?"
Riku didn't look away. "Exactly what I said."
"That's not an answer," Hiroto said, standing up now, his tone controlled but tense. "You don't just drop that and expect us to understand."
Riku's eyes moved across the room, meeting each of them briefly before settling forward again. "You don't need to understand. It's already decided."
"That's bullshit," Yuma snapped, stepping forward. "You think you can just walk out after a game like that?"
"A game like that is exactly why I'm walking out," Riku replied, his voice steady, almost too steady.
Takumi frowned. "That doesn't make sense. If anything, this is when we fix things, not when we start quitting."
"I'm not quitting," Riku said.
"Then what do you call it?" Sora asked from the side, his brows furrowed.
Riku didn't answer immediately.
When he did, it was quieter.
"…I'm being left behind."
The words didn't come out angry.
They came out… certain.
That made it worse.
No one spoke for a moment.
Yuma scoffed lightly. "What are you even talking about? We all got destroyed out there."
"Yeah," Riku said. "We did."
He looked at Yusuke for a second.
"Except when it mattered, everyone was looking somewhere else."
The room shifted slightly.
Uncomfortable.
Hiroto crossed his arms. "…If you've got something to say, just say it properly."
Riku nodded once.
"Out there… when everything collapsed, when we were chasing him " he paused briefly, not needing to say Aka's name, " no one saw anything else."
He let that sit.
"No one saw me."
Yuma frowned. "That's not "
"It is," Riku cut in, not raising his voice, but not backing down either. "I stopped running."
That got a reaction.
Kaito's head lifted slightly. "…You what?"
"I stopped," Riku repeated. "Middle of the play. Just stood there."
Ren looked up now too, confusion clear on his face. "That… doesn't make sense. Why would you "
"Because I wanted to see if it mattered," Riku said.
Silence.
Heavy.
"…And?" Sora asked quietly.
Riku's expression didn't change.
"It didn't."
That landed harder than anything else he'd said.
Yuma shook his head. "No, that's bro, that's just one moment. You're overthinking it."
"It's not one moment," Riku replied. "It's every moment."
Takumi narrowed his eyes. "You're saying we ignore you? After everything?"
"I'm saying I've been invisible my whole life," Riku said. "And I thought this team would be different."
No one had an answer for that.
Not immediately.
Hiroto stepped forward slightly. "…Even if that's how you feel, you don't just walk away. You talk. You fix it."
Riku gave a small, almost empty laugh.
"Fix it?"
He shook his head.
"You can't fix something no one even notices is broken."
Yusuke finally looked up.
"…I noticed," he said.
Riku's eyes met his.
For a second, something shifted.
But it didn't stay.
"Not enough," Riku replied.
That was it.
No shouting.
No explosion.
Just a quiet end.
He turned.
Started walking.
"Riku " Hiroto called.
No response.
"Oi, don't just " Yuma took a step forward.
Still nothing.
Riku reached the door.
Paused for just a fraction of a second.
Then
he walked out.
The door shut behind him with a dull click.
And just like that
he was gone.
The room stayed frozen.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
It didn't feel real.
"…He's serious," Sora said quietly.
"Yeah," Daichi muttered. "He is."
Yuma ran a hand through his hair again, pacing once before stopping. "…The hell is wrong with him…"
But even he didn't sound convinced.
Hiroto stayed standing, staring at the door.
Thinking.
Processing.
Trying to figure out where things went wrong.
No one had the answer.
Minutes passed.
Slow.
Heavy.
Then
the door opened again.
Coach Daniel stepped in.
His presence shifted the room instantly, even without him saying anything right away. His eyes moved across the players, taking in the silence, the tension, the absence.
"…I heard," he said.
Simple.
Direct.
No confusion.
No surprise.
Just acknowledgment.
His gaze lingered on the empty space where Riku had been sitting.
Then back to the team.
"…We're going to talk about this."
No one argued.
No one spoke.
Because they all knew
this wasn't over.