It was getting late. The sun was setting, making the sky turn orange by the minute. In a big city like Tokyo, that wouldn’t make any difference, but in that small town a bit far away from the Japanese capital, most kids had already returned home while adults were getting out from their jobs or doing last-minute errands. Well, not all kids, as there was a little group of kids who couldn’t return home yet. These youngs kids were in one side of a park, scared and crying.

-Hey, give me back my ball!- screamed one of the kids.

The kids were yelling at two bad-dressed male teenagers. One was quite big and wide, twice their size, while the other one was skinnier, but with a face filled with malice. That one was stomping on a soccer ball.

-Really? Is this your ball? Then why don’t you take it?- asked the skinnier teen with a threatening voice.

The little kids were frozen in place. They were too scared to face those teens. While the bigger one had his reserves to harm the kids, the skinnier one wouldn’t doubt a second to do it.

-Come on, here it is! Weren’t you so brave? Take it!- exclaimed the skinnier teen, making the kids more frightened. -You can’t even do something so simp… Woooaah!

The skinnier teen screamed as he lost his balance and almost fell on the ground. Somehow, the ball he was stomping just vanished, but he felt someone pulling it with their feet.

-OK, who did it?- asked the skinnier teen angrily. -Did you see anything?

-Ehmm… ehmmm… Look, over there!- exclaimed the bigger teen.

The bigger one pointed to their side, where a strange hooded figure had just appeared, just as tall as the teens. They wore what seemed to be a sports jacket with white and yellow colors, some short jeans with some tears and sneakers. On their back, the jacket had a weirdly-designed logo saying “SO… DEAD”, with “DEAD” painted by hand. They were kicking the ball in the air, as if doing some tricks.

-What you think you’re doing, brat?- exclaimed the skinnier teen. -That ball is mine!

The hooded figure let the ball fall on the ground and stomped it firmly. Then, they slightly turned their head and leered at the teens and the kids later.

-Aren’t you ashamed?- said the figure with a soft voice. -Harassing some kids… Why don’t you fight someone as big as you?

The figure proceeded to remove their hood, revealing the face of a teenager girl with short, messy hair and brown eyes. Her face looked round and innocent, but she had big eyebags under her eyes. Her expression was serene, but sad.

-What are you, some hero-wannabe?- asked the skinnier teen. -Go to hell or I’ll send you there!

-Never played soccer, it seems- said the girl with a sad voice, and then she turned around to face the teens. -If you want this ball… you gotta take from me, you punks.

The skinnier punk didn’t like that threat and rushed towards the girl. As he was going to punch her, she just vanished, or so he thought. She just swiftly moved around him with the ball on her feet, lifted it on the air and kicked the ball into the punk’s back, making him fall forward.

-Aaaagh! What the hell?- yelled the skinnier punk.

-This is still soccer- said the girl. -If the ball hits you, I get no card.

Infuriated, the skinnier punk stood up and tried to hit her once again… in vain. With every intent, the girl just moved around, avoiding his attacks and using the ball to hit him in different ways. After a while, the punk was tired.

-What are you doing over there? Grab her!- yelled the skinnier punk.

Out of nowhere, the girl felt something wrapping her body: the big arms of the bigger punk. As he didn’t take part of the fight at first, she didn’t pay any attention.

-What now? Not so brave anymore, eh?- said the bigger punk.

-It depends- said the girl struggling a bit. -I would be worried about that bug, but I’ll take of it.

Before he could understand what the girl said, the punk felt an inmense pain in his right foot as the girl stomped (or more like crushed) it. With all that pain, he didn’t have any option to release the girl, who took the ball again and moved away, now focused on both teens.

-What are you doing, jerk?- yelled the skinnier punk to the bigger one. -She’s just a girl!

-It hurts!- exclaimed the bigger punk. -There’s something on her feet…

-Wait, are those… cleats?- asked the skinnier punk.

That was true. As the girl put her foot on the ball, she revealed that hers weren’t just normal sneakers, but soccer sneakers with cleats, which are usually used to stay steady on the grass. The skinnier punk was confused, but the bigger one began trembling.

-Hey, why are you shaking?- asked the skinnier punk.

-Wait…- murmured the bigger punk. -Black hair… sports jacket… shoes with cleats… It’s her! It’s the girl who’s been fighting every punk in town! She’s... Natsume Kumojima… the Nightstriker!

The girl called Natsume seemed displeased at hearing that.

-That damned nickname...- just said Natsume.

-I don’t care! I’m killing you and taking that ball! Do something!- yelled the skinnier punk.

-No way, I’m not messing with her!- screamed the bigger punk. -She’s too much!

The skinnier punk got angried and rushed once again towards Natsume.

-Too open...- murmured Natsume to herself.

In a moment, she avoided the punk and used to ball to kick him in the stomach, making him crawl on the floor.

-Damn you…- said the skinnier punk. -I’m gonna…

-You still want this ball, right?- said Natsume.

When the punk rose his head, he could see the ball clearly in front of him… and Natsume getting ready to kick it.

-There you have it!- exclaimed Natsume.

She kicked the ball with all her might and threw it directly into the punk’s face, throwing him backwards. He could barely move and his face was red, with a small blood drop coming out from his nose. Natsume then looked at the bigger punk, who began shaking and quickly picked up his partner in crime and run away from the scene.

Natsume simply sighed. She was tired, but her expression remained as sad as it was before. She took the soccer ball with her hands and then looked at the little kids, who were still frozen from all the fear. When their eyes crossed, the kids began shaking, but could barely moved. Then, Natsume rubbed the ball with her long sleeves to remove the little stains from mud and blood and offered it back to its owner.

-This is yours, right? Take it- murmured Natsume to the kid.

Still shaking, the kid approached her slowly and took the ball. Natsume looked first at the kid and then the ball.

-You know… you should be careful...- said Natsume in low voice. -If you don’t, that ball… will destroy your life…

After those words, Natsume left the park, leaving the kids alone. She strolled through some streets until she got to the commercial street, one of the few places in town where people would gather. As she walked in front of the stores, she could hear people’s murmurs:

-Hey, isn’t that…?

-Yeah, it’s Kumojima…

-I heard she’s so violent…

-Poor parents…

Natsume heard all that with a bit of pain. She already knew what she did and how many fights she took part in. Why did they care? Nothing seemed to bother her until she saw something from afar. Her eyes were tired and her vision blurred sometimes, but she could recognize a group of girls wearing her highschool’s uniform. Her breath turned heavy and her eyes shook a lot. She quickly put her hood on again and walked fast through the street, passing by the group of girls without looking at them. After a while, she turned around a corner and stopped to calm down and recover her breath. She felt an inmense pain at that time, but subsided after a while. Then, she kept strolling until she got to her house. She got inside, removed her shoes but took them with her instead of leaving them at the entry hall and walked through the corridor to reach the stairs but…

-Natsume! Come here!

A loud man voice screamed from the kitchen. Natsume just sighed and turned around towards the kitchen. She stopped at the open door, seeing her father Katsuhiro sat in front of the table. Wearing a brown sweater, with his short, black hair and thick glasses, he didn’t look very happy.

-Your school called me at my job! You skipped classes again!- yelled Katsuhiro to his daughter. -How many times have you done that? Really, you are throwing your life away after everything we’ve done for you!

Natsume just looked down as her father kept going with his speech, The girl then leered towards her mother, Kaori, who was washing dishes in the sink. She wore a green skirt and white blouse, hidden under a beige apron that matched her long hair that formed a ponytail on her left shoulder. Even if the mother was backwards to the scene, the girl could see her crying without saying anything. She felt a bit of pain for that, but at the same time, she was quite numbed too. The girl just turned around without saying anything and walked upstairs.

-Hey, come back here! I’m not over!- yelled Katsuhiro from the base floor.

Natsume just ignored it, entered her room, threw the shoes at one side and let herself fall down on her bed. She was just too tired and needed some sleep. She took a look to her room, revealing a sad view.

Her room mostly had her bed and wardrobe, a desk and a chair… but nothing else. Nothing on the desk, nothing on the shelves on the wall, it was mostly empty. However, anyone could see some square and round marks over the walls and on the shelves, as if there was something there at one time, but it was gone now. With no thoughts in her mind, she looked at those places, closed her eyes and slept.

All was darkness, and out of nowhere, a soccer ball bouncing forward. She kept running after it, the ball bouncing more and more. Suddenly, two angry eyes looked at her and someone screamed “Natsumeeeeee!”.

Natsume woke up, covered in cold sweat. Her heat was beating with intensity inside her chest and her hands trembled a bit.

-That thing again...- murmured Natsume.

“That thing” was the same nightmare that had been chasing her for over a month, making it impossible for her to sleep in one go. Tired and sleepy, she looked at her phone. It was 2:11 a.m. She needed to get out and get some fresh air, so she put on her sneakers, opened the window and climbed down a nearby tree to go outside without her parents noticing. Just like most nights, she walked slowly towards a nearby park. She searched on the garbage bins and the floor and found empty cans that she lined up on the floor. Then…

-One!

Natsume counted and kicked the can to a far away garbage bin. The can went in without any problem.

-Two! Three!

As the girl counted, she kicked each can in the line and all of them ended up inside that garbage can. The final one hit on the fence and fell inside as well.

-And… ten...- murmured Natsume panting.

After that short training session, she went to a nearby vending machine and bought a tea can. Then, she sipped a bit of it and lied down on a bench. Natsume was tired, but it was not just that.

-What… What am I going to do?- wondered Natsume.

Natsume was well aware of all the problems she caused, of how angry her parents were, of all the chitchatting from the neighbors. Just… she didn’t know what to do. Deep inside, she believed there was no solution for anything. Her head was a mess and didn’t feel anything anymore but pain.

-I just screw up everything- said Natsume to the air while closing her eyes. -No matter what I do… Maybe if… if I could… no, that can’t happen, but I wished it could…

-So… you really have a wish then?