Don't Get the Wrong Idea

This isn't right.

I instantly regretted opening my mouth on a surge of reckless nerve. The thought hit me that I might have just given her a terrible impression of me for no good reason.

No. Hold on. Stay calm.

My mind spun into high gear. It was the thinnest of threads, but Giulia and I did have a point of contact—and it wasn't nothing. Because back then, she had been the one to speak to me first.

Right. That was it.

A Torino FC youth player almost never ended up at a prestigious regular high school like this one. So I'd been more recognizable than I expected. An unusual résumé had that effect.

Right now, Giulia knew who I was. That was exactly why she'd said she never even made eye contact with me!

And the reason she knew me was because someone in her family had been a Torino FC youth player!

So what was I supposed to say?

"You're the one who shouldn't misunderstand. What I actually wanted to ask is whether… someone in your family plays in the Torino FC youth setup."

Giulia's face flickered with momentary confusion.

"…Huh? Did I ever say that?"

No, she hadn't. She was probably going to say it a little further into the future than now.

"Maybe not? But why do I keep getting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this feeling I've seen you somewhere?"

I frowned slightly as I studied her face, and Giulia narrowed her eyes right back at me.

"No, wait—I'm sure of it! You kind of look like someone… or do you? Did I get it wrong?"

Then I scrunched my brow and deliberately pretended to wrestle with the thought.

"Ugh… this is driving me crazy. I feel like I know, and I also feel like I don't… this is seriously killing me…"

My reaction shifted the air around Giulia.

"Aren't you just mistaken? There's no way."

Her answer wasn't what I'd expected. There's no way? I'd thought she'd admit it. Instead she was dodging.

Well… nothing for it. I'd have to play along with what she'd given me.

"Yeah? If I've got it wrong, then I apologize. I wasn't trying to hit on you or anything like that."

Some of the wariness drained from her posture.

"Mm… you're not entirely wrong. There was someone in my family in the Torino FC youth. But the important part is how you know that."

Giulia's expression twisted into something more complicated instead.

"I've never talked about it anywhere. So where could you have heard it?"

From you, actually. Just not yet.

"Or wait. Did you just make up a reason after deciding to talk to me on purpose?"

Ah… that one was uncomfortably close to the truth. But I couldn't exactly say so.

"What are you talking about? You're the one who—"

"Ah…! Forget it. Nice try. You wriggled out of that pretty cleanly."

Giulia seemed to give up on pressing the point.

Hold on. The way she just casually said "Teo" meant she definitely knew who I was. I supposed that counted as a relief?

But as the situation wound down, a genuine curiosity started to itch at me—who exactly that player in Giulia's family was.

"No. Hang on. I think this conversation is going completely off the rails."

"What?"

"So who is it? I'm seriously curious."

"…"

At that, Giulia glanced slightly away.

"I don't think you've ever seen them."

"You don't know that. I skipped a ton of age groups—we might have overlapped. Even now I'm still U17 age, but I've already jumped all the way up to the first team."

At least four years of skipping ahead. Whether she grasped what that meant or not, Giulia looked mildly impressed.

"Hmm~ But my family member skipped ahead plenty too. So I doubt you ever crossed paths. If you're that curious, go look it up yourself. If you know my name, it shouldn't be that hard to find."

"Hey…!"

"They're playing for a different club now. That enough for you?"

Giulia started to walk off like she'd said everything she intended to say.

"Come on, just tell me. All you did was make the search range even bigger."

"I adjusted it because you might have had the range wrong to begin with."

"Yeah, or you could just tell me and we'd be done…"

Giulia kept walking with her back turned.

Whew… was that good enough?

Still, I figured this much wasn't a bad result.

Once the whole commotion had blown over, I let out a breath of relief. I'd spent time with the fans at school, and there'd been that unexpected encounter on top of it. Thanks to all of that, I left campus later than usual and walked at an easy pace toward where I'd parked my scooter.

But it felt like I'd forgotten something…

I tilted my head for a second.

"Ah. Probably just because I'm heading to the training ground later than usual today."

That was the exact moment I was about to kick the scooter to life.

"Hey! Finally crawled out of school, huh!"

At the familiar voice, I turned my head. Standing there were the problem kids from my year.

Ah! Right! This was it!

Centered on Mateo, Conti and the rest of the pack were drifting over one by one. Mateo opened his mouth with a face full of spite from the very first word.

"Man~ must be nice. Getting to chat that long with the school goddess and everything."

So his attitude hadn't changed at all.

Good. I'd been waiting for this moment too.

But for now I ignored Mateo—the Juventus fan—and turned my gaze on Conti instead.

"Hey, Conti."

"What?"

"You're a Torino FC fan. You know the players pretty well, right?"

"Well… yeah, I guess."

Conti looked mildly thrown that I'd brushed everything else aside to fire a question at him.

"By any chance, was there someone in Giulia's family who played for Torino FC? She said youth."

Conti thought for a second, then shrugged.

"Beats me. I don't really know. It's not like I keep track of every single youth player. You're the weird exception…"

I clicked my tongue and scratched my head.

"Ah, damn…. Who is it? If they were in the youth setup I would've seen them, but she won't just tell me straight and it's driving me up the wall. This kind of thing pisses me off the most…"

What I was doing right now was pointless conversation. But if I wanted to keep these guys from weaponizing the scene with Giulia later, I didn't have a choice. This way, they'd think I wasn't interested in Giulia herself—I was interested in that player. And by talking to Conti like this, I could peel the two of them apart without much effort. Honestly, as a Torino FC fan, once a first-team player like me started acting friendly, he'd have no choice but to stick to my side.

If something was useful, you used it.

"Hey! You ignoring me or what?"

Only then did I turn my eyes back to Mateo.

"Ah. Right."

I said it casually and smiled.

"So how did it feel?"

"…What?"

"This day showed up way faster than anyone expected, that's all."

In that instant Mateo's face flushed a deep red. The way he clenched his teeth was painfully obvious.

"Teo! Mateo here even knows you talked to Chiesa after the match."

Conti, who'd been watching ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the side, finally couldn't hold it in and snickered as he said ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it.

"Conti! You son of a bitch! Shut your mouth!"

"That's why he's been like this all day at school. But you had a whole crowd around you, so he couldn't even go up and say anything. Heh heh."

Mateo's face went scarlet as he shouted.

"Teo! I don't accept you. You just got lucky and had one good game. Sooner or later your real level's gonna show and you'll get buried back down where you belong."

"Ah~ is that right? I don't think so."

I slowly opened my bag. Then I carefully drew out the jersey I'd tucked inside.

"But do you know what this is?"

The moment the jersey unfurled, Mateo's eyes went wide and unsteady.

"…Is that…"

I deliberately held it fully open for him to see.

"This is Chiesa's signed jersey. Truth is, we even swapped kits after the match."

A thick black signature was stamped clearly across it.

"For real? Th-that's a lie. Why would a Juventus player give one to a Torino player…"

Mateo's voice shook.

I shrugged and smiled.

"Yep. Got it from him myself after the game. That's what we were talking about. We even took a photo of the kit swap."

Then I delivered the finishing blow.

"You don't have anything like this, do you? You fake Juventus fan bastard. Sheesh… not even a single signed player jersey. Tsk tsk…"

At that one line, Mateo's expression completely collapsed. Rage, envy, and a raw sense of injustice all tangled together on his face.

I watched that look with quiet satisfaction, then turned to Conti.

"Hey Conti, would a Torino fan even want this if they got one?"

"Hell no. Why would I take a Juventus thing?"

"Yeah? Then what am I supposed to do with this? I'm a Torino fan too, so having a Juventus player's jersey feels kind of weird. Should I just throw it out?"

"Hey."

Mateo's pupils trembled.

Conti looked like he thought that was going a bit far too—but he quickly caught the mischief in my tone and picked a side.

"Teo, throw it out? Obviously you can't just toss it. Some Juventus fan might ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pick it up and that'd be a loss. Better to shred it with scissors or torch it with a lighter…"

"Right?"

Mateo's expression soured even further. And Conti, it seemed, had firmly chosen his camp.

"Ah… that's too much. Burning a jersey Chiesa actually signed…"

Mateo said it like he was in despair.

Ah! Of course, I had zero intention of actually burning it. Chiesa had gone out of his way to show me that kindness—doing something like that would be unforgivable.

"Ah~ but you'd want this, wouldn't you?"

A flinch.

Mateo's eyes wavered.

"But what can you do? After everything you've pulled, you can't even bring yourself to ask me for it."

"Mm… yeah, that's fair. You've been picking fights for a pretty long stretch. Asking for this would take some real nerve."

Beside us, Conti needled him with little jabs.

Man, though—I hadn't really tried talking trash before, and it turned out it wasn't that easy.

And then something started to appear in front of my eyes.

What?

Hold on. That is definitely not it.