"Did you miss me?"
As those words resonated, the first thing Aki did when she looked up to find the one who spoke those words...
Was freeze.
This appearance of her best friend, previously believed to be dead, had startled her, and it shocked her to her very core. It drained her of both emotion and thought, simulating the lifelessness of a statue as her brain tried to make sense of what was going on.
Kazuya witnessed the drastic loss of color in his friend's visage; his small smile now fading into a grimace as he did so. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Kazuya took Aki into his arms to comfort her.
The gate closed behind her as he embraced her warmly, and cried into her shoulder, "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Aki-san..."
The tears dribbling off of Kazuya's cheeks seemed to break Aki out of her shock as they wettened her shirt.
She dropped her belongings at her feet, and ran her hands along Kazuya's back, trying to feel the life flowing through his body. She felt the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, pressing against her body in rhythm with the beat of his heart. Blood rushed through his hands; giving his skin a unique softness as he held her in his arms.
Indeed, this was no lie. Ichinose had returned.
After her shock had passed, Aki found her voice in the twilight zone, "Of course I missed you...I believed that you were dead this whole time. Why wouldn't I?"
Kazuya finally parted from her, wiping the tears from his dark eyes, "I'm deeply sorry." he apologized. "I knew I shouldn't have done that but..."
He was on the verge of tears again, but he pacified them this time; focusing his attention on the girl before him.
If anything, she should have been the one crying, but it was as if Kazuya's tears replaced hers.
Holding on tightly to her hands, Kazuya looked into Aki's childish eyes, and said, "I haven't seen you in such a long time, Aki-san. I feared that you've forgotten me, or never wanted to see me again."
She shook her head, "Don't imagine such things. I always kept you in my thoughts. Not a moment has passed since the day I left America that I hadn't wanted to visit you." she paused, taking a moment to arrange her thoughts. "To tell you the truth, I'm quite irritated that you lied to me. But nonetheless, I have to say that I'm relieved that you're alive, Kazu-kun."
She gently released herself from Kazuya's hands, and picked her schoolbag off of the ground. She dusted it, and then turned to face her friend, "Man, we have so much to catch up on! I can't wait to introduce you to the football team, and it'd be sweet if we could play together just like the good ol' days!"
Kazuya's smile returned, "Well, I sure would love to meet them! I've seen you guys on international television a number of times, you know?"
Aki's eyes widened at his comment, "Seriously?! We're that famous? Huh, I had no idea. Up until now, I thought all the cameras were for local television, but I never imagined that they were for international television too." she gazed up at the vast blue sky as she walked towards Raimon's front entrance. "Whoa, I never knew that I woulda reached such great heights someday..."
As the two of them kept walking, a similar scene played in Kazuya's head when Aki lifted her head to see the sky.
The moment was reminiscent of the day that Kazuya crossed paths with Aki for the first time; a treasured memory.
However, this day was far more heartwarming, for today was the day that they reunited; filling each other's heart with the comfort they desired all of these years.
Truly, in distance, the heart grows fonder, but only in coexistence does it grow stronger.
Author's Note: In the original Inazuma Eleven game, Ichinose never interacts with Aki, due to him being recruited as opposed to being introduced to the cast. During the time that I played the game for the first time, I actually disliked Aki, as she seemed very one-dimensional, but while replaying the first game, I noticed that the reason why Aki seemed that way was because she didn't like to talk about her past. She was always so quick to dismiss it that it revealed little about her growth as a character. I guess my curiosity for Aki is what made me choose Blizzard over Firestorm, although Natsumi is still my favorite character in the series.