The corner kick arced into the penalty area.
Twenty-two players surged toward it at once.
Yuma rose.
Marc met him in the air.
The two crashed together before the ball skipped beyond them, bouncing awkwardly toward the edge of the box.
Takumi reacted first.
He struck it without hesitation.
The shot tore through a forest of legs before smashing into Jules Caron's thigh and spinning harmlessly out toward midfield.
Nocturne countered immediately.
"Go!" Réservoir shouted.
Theo burst down the right wing.
Lucien sprinted through the middle.
Aka accelerated into open space.
The speed of the attack caught everyone off guard.
Southside turned as one and gave chase.
Yusuke spotted Aka receiving the ball and exploded forward.
"You're not getting past me!"
Aka didn't answer.
He pushed the ball ahead with one touch and increased his pace.
Yusuke matched him.
The two sprinted shoulder to shoulder across the halfway line, their boots tearing chunks of grass from the field.
Behind them, Hiroto, Ren, Daichi, Takumi, Yuma and the rest of Southside sprinted as hard as they could to recover.
The crowd was on its feet again.
Every person in the stadium watched the race unfold.
Aka.
Yusuke.
The duel everyone had come to see.
Even the commentators couldn't stop talking about them.
"Yusuke's keeping up!"
"Can Aka finally break free?"
"What an unbelievable rivalry these two have become!"
Riku sprinted too.
At least...
he tried to.
His legs still carried the weight of weeks away from the game.
Everyone else pulled further ahead.
One metre.
Then two.
Then five.
Nobody looked back.
Nobody called his name.
Nobody noticed.
The attack raced onward without him.
Riku slowed slightly.
His chest tightened.
The image in front of him began to blur.
Not because he was tired.
Because he'd seen this before.
Another match.
Another sprint.
Another moment where everyone else surged ahead...
while he was left behind.
His breathing became uneven.
The stadium around him slowly faded.
Instead...
he heard another crowd.
A different one.
Cheers.
Louder and louder.
"...Yusuke!"
"...Takumi!"
"...Yuma!"
The names echoed inside his head.
Thousands of fans screaming for everyone else.
He remembered standing there after that match, waiting.
Waiting for someone to call his name.
Nobody ever did.
His fists slowly clenched.
The memories kept coming.
Watching his teammates celebrate together.
Watching interviews where everyone else answered questions.
Watching his own captain's armband become meaningless.
Watching himself disappear.
His pace slowed even more.
The distance grew.
Aka and Yusuke were almost at the penalty area now.
Everyone else was flooding into the attack.
Everyone...
except him.
Riku stared at their backs.
"...It's happening again..."
His voice was barely audible.
His teeth ground together so hard his jaw began to ache.
"...They're forgetting me..."
His heart pounded violently against his chest.
"I came back..."
Another step.
"...and nothing changed."
Ahead of him, Yusuke lunged into another challenge against Aka.
The crowd erupted.
His name echoed through the stadium.
"YUSUKE!"
Again.
Again.
Again.
Not once...
Not a single time...
Did anyone shout for Riku.
He stopped running.
Just for a second.
Watching everyone disappear further ahead.
Watching history repeat itself.
His hands trembled.
"...No..."
The word caught in his throat.
"...Not again."
The match continued without noticing.
The ball remained glued to Aka's feet.
Yusuke refused to let him breathe.
The rest of Southside closed in from every direction.
The entire stadium focused on the duel unfolding near the edge of the penalty area.
No one looked behind them.
No one noticed the captain standing alone near midfield.
No one...
except Réservoir.
The French midfielder glanced over his shoulder for only a moment.
His eyes landed on Riku.
Standing still.
Alone.
Forgotten.
Réservoir's expression didn't change.
But he understood immediately.
He looked back toward Aka.
Then quietly whispered to himself,
"...So that's the wound you're carrying."
Riku slowly lowered his head.
The roar of the stadium faded into the background once more.
And for the second time in his career...
he felt invisible.
To Be Continued.