Fannish 50: Kageyama Reiji's Unfulfilled Revenge
The Inazuma Eleven canon is vague about the adult character's ages. As a enjoyer of raw numbers, I set out a quest with pen, paper, and a lot of patience on making sense on the ages among the generations presented in Season 1 (eg. Endou Daisuke's, Inazuma OB, Endou Atsuko's, and Endou Mamoru's). As I delved deeper, noticed a pattern which led me to establish some headcanons.
[IMG ID: Scan of scribbles trying to mathematically determine the ages of Kegayama Tougo, Endou Daisuke, Kageyama Reiji, Endou Atsuko, and Endou Mamoru based on canon information. / END ID]
My findings:
- Kageyama Tougo's and Endou Daisuke's age difference is fifteen years.
- Kageyama Reiji's and Endou Atsuko's age difference is fifteen years.
- Kageyama Tougo's and his son's age difference is thirty-two years.
- Endou Daisuke's and Endou Atsuko's age difference is thirty-two years.
With these general statements and a web search for a soccer player's average career span, I assumed that Kageyama Tougo's disappearance occurred in his forties (wayyy past his prime), and Kageyama Reiji caused the bus accident when he was fifteen.
You see what I'm seeing? Being the intelligent and obsessive man he is, I believe that Kageyama was obsessed with these two numbers.
Side note: The Inazuma Eleven wiki shows no counterargument for this theory. The Young Inazuma team displays his as as unspecified. I tread on.
[ID: Screenshot of a young Kageyama from the Inazuma Eleven Wiki's Young Inazuma team. The far right column is titled Year and under it is a question. We don't know how old Kageyama was when he left the team. / END ID]
Where then is the number forty used in the series then? Teikoku Gakuen's victory strike. The 40 Year Champion, forty years of Kageyama's absolute control over soccer. But what if it wasn't fourty past but forty present. What if, had Raimon not beaten Teikoku, the school would have obtained a forty year consecutive victory. What if this was exactly what Kageyama's revenge was? To win past fourty years, past the age his father became a loser and a coward who abandoned his career and his family, and him.
That fateful year, absolute victory was at his grasp. As Kageyama went through the motions, sponsoring with Mikage Sennou's to stop any strong teams in the Tokyo district tournament and scheming to prevent individual players from showing up in important matches, he was confident that year would end like any other.
When he learns about Raimon and Endou Mamoru, his confidence doesn't falter. Kageyama thoroughly believed that this new Raimon would not win against Teikoku on the regional preliminaries. His victory was assured. He would avenge his father. Endou Mamoru was fourteen. He was just one year short to be a threat. The following year, Kageyama would make Kidou Yuuto his successor just like he did for Garshield. His reign of victory would then be official. His victory was absolute.
Alas, things didn't occur according to the plan. After his arrest and losing control of Kidou Yuuto and Teikoku Gakuen, he became obsessed with destroying Raimon and Endou's Daisuke's sucessor. Yet neither through Zeus nor Shin Teikoku, could he fulfill his revenge.
During the time he laid low, something inside him started to change. He felt just a little more lost, a little more confused. When the 40th anniversary of his father's disappearance passed, something inside him cracked. The drive was gone. His fire extinguished.
When he learned that Inazuma Japan, that Endou Mamoru, was part of the national team, he begged Garshield for one more chance. The man conceded and made it clear that further loss would not be tolerated. Garshield would send for him if he lost the match against.
From then on, Kageyama fought to survive. He noticed that the heart that had been unresponsive since being unable to exact revenge, began beating once more. He could see the world a little bit more clearer. Then, for the first time in forty years, as he faced his own mortality with a clear head, he began to look back in an attempt to find the moment when everything had gone wrong.
Somehow I feel like this is where a fic should start but I don't have the energy to write one at the moment. I think a fic where Kageyama goes to a church in Italy and confesses all of his sins would be fascinating. Y'know, 'cause he got that religious motif he's got going on. There, he goes through each important person/group he has messed up (eg. Kidou Yuuto, Shin Teikoku, Zeus, Inazuma OB (cough Hibiki cough), etc). Maybe also include his relationship with Ruche there. Don't remember much it to be honest.
I hope you enjoyed reading this! I wrote this draft back in September of 2025. It awoke some kind of fixation to this horrible man. Don't worry, I'm okay. I just really want the above fic to exist. Please torture him in my stead. Thank you.
Last updated: 6 hours, 34 minutes ago
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