FASH: Another challenge from kirskipkat. This one-shot disregards all that lovely stuff that happens after the Christmas Bowl.
Disclaimer: It is still not in my possession.
Sena had been feeling a bit moody lately.
After the Christmas Bowl he'd been elated, ecstatic, he felt like nothing in the world could drag him down.
Then school had started up again and Hiruma had told everyone to start the search for all the second year's replacements.
The knowledge that, soon enough, he wouldn't be able to play football with some of his closest friends anymore made him downright dismal.
Mamori had noticed, hell, at that point probably everyone had noticed, but Sena hadn't wanted to worry anyone, so he'd told them he'd be fine. It wasn't like he was the only one who'd miss playing with them after all, and if everyone else could deal with it then so could he. But for some reason he just couldn't seem to bring his spirits up.
He wasn't sure how Mamori had come to the conclusion that taking him to a public bath would help the situation, but he'd been too worried about her worrying about him to not come along.
It was just his rotten luck that Kakei had been there. The blue eyed boy had taken one look at him and asked: "What's wrong?"
Maybe it was because he'd been trying to hide his melancholy attitude from his team mates for too long, or maybe it was because he just wanted to talk to somebody who wasn't on his team about how he felt. Either way for some inexplicable reason Sena found himself tearing up.
Kakei had looked startled for a moment before rushing out of the bath and worriedly asking him a bunch of questions.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Sena mumbled. "But... Would you mind if I talked to you about something?"
Kakei, worry still evident in his eyes, smiled and replied that he wouldn't mind at all.
After Sena had settled into the bath beside Kakei he began telling the other boy about all of his woes, Kakei listening intently until Sena's monologue came to an end.
They sat in silence for a while and Sena, suddenly feeling foolish, apologized for complaining to Kakei about his frivolous notions.
"It's quite alright, everyone goes through this sort of thing when the time comes for them to part with someone who's been a great influence to them."
"Yeah, but it's not like I'll never see them again. It's just..." Sena paused for a moment, trying to think of how to explain himself. "Hiruma-san, he was the first one to believe in my abilities, and I'm going to miss being on the field with him, I'm going to miss all of the second years."
"Yes, but don't you feel better after getting it all off of your chest?" Kakei asked and Sena found himself nodding in response.
"It's not good to bottle up all your worries." The taller boy continued sagely. "Because it just keeps adding up until you feel a lot more negative about the situation than you normally would."
"Oh, I see." Sena shyly stared at the water in front of him. "Kakei-kun. Do you think, if I ever need to talk to someone like this again, would you be willing to listen again?"
"Of course." Kakei responded with a small smile that Sena instantly returned.
Mamori's idea hadn't been a dead end after all.
