Chapter Text
The tire wasn’t helping him.
Deep down, a part of Endou knew it wouldn’t. His thoughts were too jumbled up for any physical exercise to sort them out on their own. The best thing to do was talk to someone, but that wasn’t an option because that would mean telling them about Natsumi, and Natsumi had asked him not too, and Natsumi was his friend-
Was she?
The thought made him wince, once again catching the tire with a single hand. He couldn’t think like that. But he couldn’t help but think like that with everything she had done. But she hadn’t known how close Italy and him had gotten, right? From her point of view, they were just another rival team to get rid of to help her own. But why was she on that team in the first place? And with him, that man who Endou was half convinced was his grandfather- but if he was, then why-
He stepped out of the way, letting the tire swing past him. No, training was not helping right now.
But he couldn't go back to the inn like this, so what should he-
"Excuse me?"
Endou jumped.
Turning around, he saw two people dressed up in official looking uniforms standing behind him. They looked a little familiar, now that he thought about it, but for some reason something about them put him on edge.
"Uh- yes?" He managed to say. "Can I help you?"
"You're Endou Mamoru, right?" the shorter one asked. "We're coworkers of Detective Onigawara. We'd like to ask you some questions about your experience with M-Garshield."
"Oh!" Endou felt the tension leave his shoulders (why was he so tense in the first place?). "If you're friends with Onigawara-san, then sure! I'll help however I can!" Talking about something else might get his mind off this whole mess with Natsumi and that old man anyway, so really it was a win-win!
One of the men's mouths twitched. If Endou had been paying attention, he would've noticed the flash of a smirk appear before going back to a neutral expression. "If you would follow us, please."
"Eh? We can't talk here?"
"It's not safe." The taller one leaned in. "He could be listening."
Oh. Yeah, that was a good point. "Okay! Should we go back to the inn? My friend Kidou could probably help-"
"No," one of them snapped suddenly, before relaxing. "I-I mean, there's a secure location we need to take you too before asking you anything."
Endou blinked. He remembered hearing Onigawara-san talk about that back in Japan, right after the whole metal beams disaster. Endou always thought he just said that because he was worried about any more traps Kageyama might have laid in Teikoku. "Oh, okay. Where do we go-?"
"Just follow us."
The two of them headed back into the line of trees, leaving Endou to stumble and jog to keep up. Hopefully this would make for a good distraction too. Maybe Onigawara-san would even listen to him about everything with Little Gigant and Orpheus? It wasn't like the team had done anything illegal, but still....no, he probably already had his hands full with everything going on with Garshield. Endou didn't want to bother him when there was already so much on his plate. First Kageyama, and now this...why were there so many people trying to use soccer for evil things? It wasn't right. Then again, according to Kidou Kageyama got it from Garshield in the first place, but Endou didn't know how much he trusted that. After all, Garshield didn't make him use things like Gods Aqua or team up with Aliea, did he? If he did, then he would've known how pointless it was to use soccer for these kinds of things. But, if Garshield had gotten to the point where he was powerful enough to host an international tournament of this scale...maybe it had worked more than it had failed. Endou didn't like that thought.
He looked up, trying to pay attention to his surroundings in order to drown out that idea. But then, he realized...he had no clue where they were. The police station wasn't this far out, was it?
“Hey-um-” Endou stuttered. “Where are we going?”
Neither man stopped to look back at him. “A secure location,” one of them repeated. “Don’t worry about it.”
Endou swallowed, slowing down. Wasn’t there a whole rule about not following strangers into weird places? “I- If we’re not going to the police station I-I’m not sure-”
They finally stopped, turning back to face him, scowling. “Don’t you want to help the detective?”
Endou clenched his fist. Yes, he did, but something…something was wrong here. The place around them looked more like an abandoned industrial area than anywhere Onigawara would want him to go, let alone meet. But what could he do? He didn’t know how to get back from here, and it wasn’t like there was anyone around to ask-
“Ah!” His eyes lit up. “I can just call him and see where he wants to meet! Give me a second…” He reached into his pocket and fished out his phone. He remembered Onigawara giving him his phone number after the Shin Teikoku incident. The main problem was that he had so many numbers in here now it was going to be hard to find-
BZZT!
It was such a small sound, so small Endou didn’t even register it before the pain spread through his body.
It was sudden. It was burning. Starting from his stomach, every nerve in his body suddenly screamed in pain, his phone falling to the sidewalk with a light thud. His mouth opened, but no sound came out, not because it didn’t hurt enough to make him scream, but because his brain was filled with so much sudden pain he couldn’t remember how to.
“Damn, he’s still standing? You put it on the highest setting, right? 300 volts?”
“Master Garshield said he was tough. Ah well, if once doesn’t work-”
BZZT!
His vision was clouded by tears, but Endou could make out the faint, gray shape of a metal box slamming into his stomach before the pain returned, this time much worse than before. He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach as fire bloomed in his veins and burned at his blood, making him pant and gasp for air that just hurt his lungs more with each breath in and out.
“Wow, he still didn’t pass out?”
“He’s not going to be putting up much of a fight either way. C’mon.”
A hand grabbed him by the back of his shirt and threw him over one of the men’s shoulders. Endou tried to fight, he really did, but any movement just made everything hurt even worse than before. The most he could do was try to curl up on himself and let out small gasps of pain. He hadn’t felt this bad since their first game against Gemini Storm.
He kept his eyes tightly closed if only so that he didn’t cry in front of these people. They had called him ‘Master Garshield’... were these men working for him, then? But wasn’t he supposed to be in jail? And even if he somehow escaped, what did he want with Endou? No matter Garshield told him, he wasn’t going to-
“Is this the place?”
“Looks like it.”
Endou cracked one eye open. It looked like they were in front of some dusty old warehouse. Before he could get much of a look at it though, the sound of an old door sliding open filled his ears and the next thing he knew, he’d been tossed against the concrete on the floor of the building.
“Master Garshield?”
“Ah, you brought him.”
Endou felt a chill run down his spine. Slowly, he turned, ignoring the pain to see him standing there, next to a strange…cage?
“Did you hurt him?”
“Ah-uh- we had to use the taser on him twice, but considering his history, it shouldn’t lead to anything permanent, sir.”
“Very good. Now get out of my sight and help the others with their preparations.”
The two men scrambled out of the old building, slamming the door behind them with a loud CLANG!
And then, it was just him and Garshield.
For a few seconds, there was silence, and Endou struggled to his feet. The pain was slowly fading, so maybe he could- run? He didn’t know where to go, but anywhere had to be better than here-
“Endou Mamoru.”
Endou steadied himself, fully standing straight up and meeting his gaze head on. “What do you want?” He hissed. To be entirely honest, he was feeling more scared than angry right now, but he needed to be strong. His team needed him to be strong.
For his part Garshield simply stared down at him, before finally saying, “You’re just as troublesome as your grandfather.”
Endou flinched. How did he-? “You knew my-”
“I know your grandfather is on the island, yes. And that he is coaching the Little Gigant Team. And that he has talked to you several times throughout the tournament.”
Endou’s mouth fell open. Garshield continued.
“This is my island, Endou Mamoru. I know everything that happens here.”
“I-you-” So that man really was his grandfather? Is that why Natsumi was helping Little Gigant? She said she was investigating what happened to him, but how-
Endou grit his teeth. He couldn’t think about that now. He had to focus on the man in front of him. “So what?”
Garshield leered at him, taking a step forward. “I have known your grandfather for 40 years. I have seen you for around a month. And somehow, you have managed to cause just as much ruckus as he did all his life.”
Endou wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment to him or an insult to his grandfather, to be honest he couldn’t really care. “If you didn’t want me to get in the way, then maybe you shouldn’t have used soccer for awful things.”
Garshield shrugged, like the pain he caused Ronejo and the others was nothing more than an afterthought. “It doesn’t matter now. Besides, if I just wanted to complain to your face, there are far more efficient ways to do that.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Your power.”
Endou blinked. “My…what?”
Another step forward. This time, Endou had the sense to take a step back. “You have a fascinating power over people, Endou Mamoru. I’ve seen it in the reports Kageyama gave me and with my own eyes. Half of your team are people you have turned to your cause from dire straits. Your ability to break through the control of the Aliea meteorite is nothing short of miraculous, far more than anything Kageyama could’ve molded that Kidou to do.”
Endou growled. “Don’t insult my friends.”
Garshield continued as if he hadn’t heard. “That was Kageyama’s problem, in the end. He found one thing that worked, and he grew addicted to that feeling of making something successful. He never learned how to…” He paused, as if trying to find the word. “Let things go. He never knew how to throw used things away, you understand.”
Endou sucked in breath. Garshield had come closer and closer with each sentence, and he’d quickly felt his back hit the wall. Every word out of Garshield’s mouth felt like a bug crawling up his skin, and he wanted nothing more than to run, to get away from that staring eye and that glowing monocle and find somewhere safe-
“But he’s dead. There’s no use talking about that sad excuse for a man now. You, on the other hand…”
A hand came down. Instinctively, Endou closed his eyes and braced for pain.
Instead, he felt that large hand grab his hair, jerking his head upwards.
“You will make a fine enforcer.”
Endou almost choked on the sheer ‘what?’ going through his brain.
“Wh- Why would I ever work for someone like you?!”
Garshield paused at that, before letting go and stepping back. “You’re right. I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, let’s focus on what you’re going to do now.” He turned to the cage. “This is where you will be injected with the RH program.”
Endou stared. Several things were racing through his mind, mainly what and why. For a second, his eyes darted over to the door. The pain from the taser had mostly subsided. If he ran now, maybe he could-
“I have men canvassing the block,” Garshield said, interrupting that train of thought, only turning his head slightly to glare at him. “If you run, you will be caught, and I will make sure to make everything much worse for you.”
Endou swallowed, slowly shifting his gaze back to the cage. “I- I’m not going to take the RH program.”
“Oh really?” Garshield asked, and Endou swore he sounded almost smug. “Don’t you want to get stronger?”
“I-” Endou stomped his foot down, electricity crackling through the ground. “I want to get stronger through my own power! Not relying on some program to do all the work for me! That defeats the whole point of soccer!”
“Hm.” Garshield looked away from him, instead unlocking the door to the cage and then swinging it open. “Do you truly believe that?”
“Of course I do!” Endou shouted. The electricity was coiling around his fists now, just begging to be unleashed. “With me and my team, we’ve gotten this far, and we’re only going to go higher-”
“With people like Hibiki Seigou leading you?”
Endou stopped in his tracks. “Huh?”
“Hibiki Seigou, who is currently in Room 316 of the general-inpatient wing of Liocott Hospital? Who is currently incredibly vulnerable to someone slipping something in his drink and putting an end to his miserable existence right there and then?”
Huh?
“Wh-wha-”
“Or with members like Kurimatsu Teppei, who is currently back at Raimon, attends practice at the end of school at 3:00 pm, only to go home around 6:00 pm almost every single day? Who walks past many dangerous routes and neighborhoods where people are known to go missing on his way there?”
“I-I-”
“Or with the help of people like Endou Atsuko, whose husband is currently on a work trip? Who spends her day alone in that house, hoping that soccer won’t take away her only son too?”
“STOP!”
Garshield leveled his gaze. Endou wanted to do nothing more than hide his head and just stop thinking, but with everything he’d just said- what was going to-
Garshield tilted his head. In the back of Endou’s mind, he could picture that same, Kageyama-like smirk that haunted his nightmares.
“The choice is yours, Endou Mamoru. Join me or have the others suffer for your cowardice. What will it be?”
Endou’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. The cage glistened, even in the dim light of the warehouse.
And then, he took a step forward.
He thought about Hibiki-san. About seeing him on that hospital bed, with that oxygen mask strapped to his face, not knowing whether he was going to live or die. About Tobitaka, punching the bench until his hands were raw and bruised, screaming about how it wasn’t fair to lose Hibiki-san now, when they were so close.
Another step forward.
He thought about Raimon members still at home. Handa, Max, Kageno, Kurimatsu. How as the representative of Japan, it was up to him to carry their ideals, their hopes and dreams, onto the world stage.
Another step.
He thought about his mother, who held him and cried for a good long while just before he left to the airport, begging him to stay safe, because she already saw him get hurt enough during the Aliea Incident and she’s not sure she can handle seeing him like that again-
And all of a sudden, the cage was right in front of him.
What would it feel like? Ronejo said it was painful. Like your body was being ripped apart. Demonio said it was dizzying. Like your whole world was being flipped on its head.
Endou didn’t know which one he preferred. The only thing he could feel as he stepped inside was lonely, so very lonely.
“Good choice.”
The door shut behind him, making him jump and turn around. All he could see was Garshield, staring down at him as he tapped something on a remote.
The wires above the cage whirred to life. The floor beneath him began to heat up. The walls felt like they were closing in on him, and Endou couldn’t do anything but shut his eyes.
Suddenly, the only thing he wanted to do was disappear.
“Just a warning,” Garshield said casually. “This is an older model. It will work, but…the process won’t be as painless as the others. I’m sure you can handle it though.”
The only thing that answered him was a single, blood-curdling scream.