Hello again! Wow, three updates in three days? That's a new record~

First, I want to warn all of you. This story will contain OCs (mostly as the bad guys) and there will be one very important OC. He won't appear much, but the end of this chapter will focus mostly on Tenma and my OC. Before you leave this story because of the OCs, I want to ask you to at least read this chapter. If you still think you don't want to read this, I understand and I'll respect your choices. But anyway, the reviews~

do your best: Hahaha, sorry, sorry. I think that there will be at least thirteen OCs. I really hope you keep reading the story, even though there are OCs in it. Good to hear you can't wait for the next chapters, that means I'm doing a good job at this story! Thank you very much!

Sai Og Sus: Okay, I'll answer both reviews at once. And the number 136? No actually not, I just picked a random number, but maybe it will get a special meaning later~ not sure about that. Thank you, I'm doing my best, even though I'm a very inexperienced writer.

Nomadic Defender: I was planning to continue this~ I want to see where this goes, too.

AmyGolden1104: Oh, another one of your reviews. Yay! Thanks, normally I don't write this fast, but I really like this story. I don't know why, but somehow, I can't wait to write a new chapter. It's like I'm the one who's reading the story and can't wait for the author to continue. Strange, huh? Well, anyway, here is Tenma. I hope he isn't too OOC, but there will be more of him in the next chapter. Yeah, I don't think Tenma would abandon soccer either, but this has to do with Kanashimi. They… welll, I can't tell you too much, where would be the fun in that, but yeah, they have something to do with it. I'm with you on the 'protecting' part, but in this story, it will be slightly different. No problem, and by the way, this chapter ends with a cliffhanger (again)…


Last chapter:

Silence returns, while the two are lost in their own thoughts. The few adults in the room – Hiroto, Kazemaru, Midorikawa, and a few others – are typing on the computers, trying to find something to help Endou and the ex-Raimon Eleven.

And then the silence is broken, by a surprised gasp from Hiroto. He turns around to look at Gouenji and Kidou. His eyes are narrowed, suspicion and surprise clearly evident in his gaze. He seems to look for words for a moment, before he opens his mouth and says the words everyone has been waiting for the last three weeks. ''Guys, I… I think I found something.''

A dark-haired adult is sitting on the couch, staring into nothingness, when someone else enters the room. The woman has wavy, auburn hair and auburn colored eyes. She frowns when she sees the man, and walks towards him.

She sits next to him on the couch, looking at his face. The man looks a little better than yesterday, when he looked ready to collapse. She sighs, and places her hand on top of his. She hesitates for a moment, then opens her mouth to speak. ''Endou-kun… how are you feeling?'' she asks carefully.

The man looks up, and smiles weakly at her. ''Better than yesterday. Turns out, Gouenji was right.'' Natsumi nods, and smiles. It looks like she wants to say something, and Endou looks at her questionly. ''Something wrong, Natsumi?''

The woman shakes her head. ''Promise me not to freak out?'' she asks him. Endou looks surprised, but nods. He looks at her with curious eyes, and Natsumi takes a moment to gather her thoughts. ''Gouenji and Kidou requested your presence at the main base. Hiroto founs something.'' Endou's eyes widen, and he almost stands up. ''Endou-kun! Please, calm down. First, you have to eat breakfast and take a shower. Gouenji and Kidou told me they wouldn't let you in before twelve o'clock.''

Endou frowns, and pouts lightly. ''Should've known they would say that.'' Natsumi smiles slightly. ''Okay, I'll get ready. What about you?'' he asks his wife.

The woman smiles, and nods. ''I'll be coming with you to the main base,'' she tells her husband, and he leaves the room. Natsumi sighs. ''This better be good, Gouenji, Kidou. False information is the last thing we need right now.''


When the two arrive, they're surprised to find that the main base is a lot more crowded than usual. Most members of the Inazuma Japan are there. Fudou is talking silently with Kidou and Sakuma, Hiroto, Midorikawa, Haruna, Fubuki and Tachimukai are typing away on the computers, Kazemaru, Someoka, Toramaru, Tsunami, Kogure and Tobitaka are standing a few feet away, discussing something. Endou sees Gouenji and coach Kudou, and walks towards them, Natsumi following her husband.

Endou nods as a greeting, and looks sharply at the two other adults. ''What did you find?'' he asks, straight to the point.

Kudou looks at Gouenji. The white-haired male sighs and looks at his old captain. ''A few hours after you left, Hiroto found some interesting facts about Kanashimi. It isn't anything illegal, or something like that, but it's pretty strange. We called everyone, and told them that we would reveal everything when all the people were here. We are only waiting for Fuyuka and Aki.'' He turns to look at the big screen, which was used to watch the matches of the Holy Road Championship, but is now black. ''They should be here any moment now.''

Not even a moment after he says that, the lift opens and the two women walk out. Endou frowns when he looks at Aki. Her dark green her lost its brilliance, she looks very pale and has bags under her dark, sad eyes. Endou frowns, as he remembers that she lives with one of the ex-members of the Raimon soccer team. The goalkeeper decides to ask her about Tenma later.

Meanwhile, Hiroto, Kidou and Gouenji are standing in front of the big screen. Gouenji starts talking. ''We called you yesterday, because we found something about Kanashimi, after three weeks of constant searching. Hiroto, if you please.'' He nods at the redhead.

Said man turns towards the big screen, which lights up. ''I've been looking for some simple facts of Kanashimi Junior High. And then I found something.'' On the screen appears a picture of a building. It looks like a school. The first thing everyone sees, is how white it is. The walls, the stairs, everything is white, with here and there a hint of blue. The second thing is the logo. It's in the form of a lotus. The lines that create the flower are blue and the petals are white, except for the heart, which is a light colored blue. Hiroto turns to look at the people gathered in the room. ''This is Kanashimi Junior High. I couldn't find anything else about the school, so I decided to look for the logo. And that's where I found something interesting.'' He takes a moment to gather his thoughts, before continuing. ''The logo has been used before. It's pretty famous, actually. About six years ago, there appeared two young, talented scientists in the science world. They were twin brothers, Ishikawa Jirou and Ishikawa Kazuo.'' On the screen appeares a picture of two men wearing white lab coats. On the coats is a little, familiar lotus logo. The men have sky blue hair, a slightly tanned skin and blue eyes, though they are more sapphire blue. The men are about nineteen years old. It's vey obvious the two are twins, but there are a few differences. One of them has long hair, hold together in a low ponytail. He has a scar on his left cheek, and a mischievous glint in his eyes. The other one has short hair, and wears glasses. He smiles slightly, and is obviously the more rational one of the two. Hiroto starts talking again. ''They are very smart, and used to work on cloning methods. After they finished their first project, four years ago, they started to work on something new. Not much details are known, but I found out that it was about the mind and memories.''

Endou frowns. What is this about? What have those two to do with Kanashimi? From the looks of it, he's not the only one who wonders that. Hiroto smiles and continues. ''I know everyone is wondering what this had to do with Kanashimi.'' His eyes turn serious again. ''Four months after they started their project, they suddenly disappeared from the spotlights. Not much is known about what happened after that, but… after a lot of research, I found out that they started a school somewhere in the middle of nowhere. That school is Kanashima. Ishikawa Kazuo, the oldest, became the director. He's the one with the glasses. The other one, with the ponytail, is Ishikawa Jirou, youngest brother, coach of the Kanashimi soccer team.''

Silence engulfs the room,as everyone is lost in their own thoughts. Fudou is the one to break it. ''So we known the director and the coach. We know that they used to be scientists, and for apparently no reason, abandoned their work to start a school in the middle of Japan. Am I the only one who thinks that doesn't make any sense?'' he says, frowning.

Kidou takes a step forward. ''You're not. I thought it was strange, so I did some research of my own.'' He hesitates, and everyone looks at him with curious eyes. ''I… it seems like the two brothers continued their work, even after starting Kanashimi. And… it hasn't been proved true, but in the past, they've been accused of illegal research,'' the game maker says, and sighs.

Gouenji frowns, and opens his mouth to voice his thoughts. Endou, who, apparently, had the same thoughts, beats him to it. ''Kidou…?'' he asks quietly, and said man turns to look at his friend. ''What exactly did you mean with 'illegal research'?'' Endou asks.

Kidou is silent, not meeting Endou's eyes, like he doesn't want to answer his question. After a few seconds, he sighs and looks at his old captain. ''They've been accused of researching the human brain. In other words, they've been accused of human experimenting on mind manipulation and memory filtering.''


Meanwhile, on the other side of Inazuma Town, a boy clenches his fists, glaring at the two adults. He grits his teeth, and in his orange colored eyes burns an angry fire. His reddish brown hair is kept up in a high ponytail, and around his neck is a white bandage. A bruise is forming on his left cheek. ''No!'' he says loudly, even though he knows what defying the two men means.

One of the adults smiles coldly at him, and the sapphire eyes behind the glasses have a dangerous glint. ''You can't defy us, Sakaki Haruki. The moment you set foot in our school, your fate was signed,'' says the oldest of the two, Ishikawa Kazuo.

The other one, Ishikawa Jirou, glares at the boy before him. '' I don't want to see your face anymore. Leave,'' he says in a commanding voice.

Haru grits his teeth again, and bows, though it misses his normal grace. ''Yes, coach,'' the boy says quietly, and turns to walk away.

After he left the room, Haru sighs, and walks towards the exit of the building. As he leaves, the sun shines down on him, giving his hair and eyes a fiery look. Haru starts walking, not really noticing where he's going. After walking for a while, he sits down. He looks around, and sees that he is on a soccer field on the riverside. He sighs and closes his eyes, slumping forward.

When he opens his eyes again, their normal fire is gone. He stares at the ground beofre him, lost in thought. Once again, he curses the Ishikawa twins for interfering with his life. The moment he saw them for the first time, Haru knew they were just putting up a facade. He didn't want to help them out, but he didn't have a choice. After all, they promised to help her, and she was the most important thing in his life.

When Haru looks up, the first thing he sees is a greyish blue. He blinks, and realises that he looks in the eyes of a boy, around the same age of him. The boy looks at him curiously. When he speaks, his voice sounds surprised. ''You're from the Kanashimi soccer team, aren't you?'' he says.

Haru narrows his eyes. This boy seems familiar. The greyish blue eyes, the brown hair… then he remembers. Seeing this boy, on the field, wearing a white and blue jersey, with the red captain's band. ''And you're from the old Raimon Eleven,'' Haru states.

The boy nods. ''Sorry, I didn't catch your name the first time I saw you,'' he says quietly, and Haru is surprised with the hostility in his voice, or rather, the lack thereof.

But he doesn't comment on it, at least, not yet. ''I'm Sakaki Haruki,'' he says instead. ''I don't remember your name either.''

Haru sees an amused glance in those greyish blue eyes. ''Matsukaze Tenma.'' Silence returns, as the two boys look at each other. Tenma is the one who breaks it. ''Do you mind if I sit down?'' he asks.

The Kanashimi player is surprised, but shakes his head, and the ex-captain sits down next to him. Haru hesitates for a moment, but then opens his mouth to speak. ''Matsukaze-san… why are you being so… normal to me?'' The other boy looks at him curiously. Haru continues. ''I mean, I'm part of the team that… well, I'm part of Kanashimi,'' he explains, not wanting to talk about the real event.

Tenma sighs, and looks at the sky. ''Yeah, I should probably be giving you the cold shoulder, right? But… I'm just too tired to stay angry. And you looked like you needed someone to talk to,'' the other boy explains, and looks at the bruise on Haru's cheek.

Said boy looks at him surprised, but nods. The silence continues as the two boys look at the sky. Both of them have a sad look in their eyes. Haru is the one who breaks the peace. ''I used to love soccer. When I was little, I always played with my younger sister and friends.'' He smiles at the memory. ''But then, my sister got sick. She wanted me to keep playing, and I did. But our… we didn't have the money to pay my sister's hospital bills. And then, the perfect opportunity appeared. If I came to Kanashimi Junior High, and played in the soccer team, they would pay the bills. I didn't want to, but I couldn't let such a chance slip. So I said yes,'' Haru tells the other boy.

Tenma smiles. ''Once, when I was young, I saw a young puppy. He was stuck between a few plank that were about to fall. I saved the dog, but fell and was almost crushed myself. But before the planks could hit me, a soccer ball hit them, and saved me. I saw a figure who smiled at me. I still have the ball, and on it is the Raimon logo,'' the other boy says. ''That's the reason why I joined Raimon.''

Haru looks at him, surprised. ''I see. So you were saved by soccer,'' he mutters. ''Thank you for telling me, Matsukaze-san.''

Tenma smiles at him, and shakes his head. ''Please drop the -san, Sakaki-kun. We're the same age, after all,'' he tells him.

The other boy smiles too. ''Then you drop the -kun, Matsukaze.''

Tenma nods, and hesitates. ''Can I ask you… what happened to your cheek? And why are you wearing bandage?'' he asks carefully.

Haru stiffens, and then relaxes slightly. ''Just an accident during training,'' he answers, not saying anything about the bandage.

An awkward silence falls between them. They both stare at the river, trying to think of something to say. But really, what can they say? One of them literally crushed the other. Yeah, that's a great conversation topic. So the silence stays, but the awkwardness slowly disappears.

The sun slowly starts to sink, giving everything a fiery glow. Haru looks at the other boy, who is looking at the orange sky. He takes a deep breath. ''Matsukaze, I…'' he pauses, and Tenma turns to look at him. ''I just wanted to say… I'm sorry.''

He flinches, not meeting Tenma's eyes. Tenma looks at him for a ling time, not answering. Then he sighs. ''I would like to say 'it's okay', but honestly, it's not. You took away the thing I loved most.'' Haru sighs. He should've known that Tenma couldn't forgive him. But he is proven wrong when Tenma speaks again. ''But… After hearing your story, and talking to you like this, I don't think you wanted to do it, right?'' he asks, and Haru shakes his head. Tenma smiles. ''Well, what do you say, should we start over?'' he asks Haru.

Haru looks at him surprised, and then smiles. ''I'd like that.'' He takes a moment to gather his thoughts. ''I'm a student at Kanashimi Junior High, and my name is Sakaki Haruki.'' He hesitates for a moment, but then decides to go on. ''Please call me Haru.'' They did say they would start over, right?

Tenma looks surprised, but smiles anyway. ''I'm Matsukaze Tenma, Raimon Junior High. Please call me Tenma.''

Haru smiles at his new friend. ''It's nice to meet you, Tenma.''

Tenma smiles back. ''It's nice to meet you too, Haru.''


The following morning, Tenma reflects on what happened the day before. When he first saw Haru, sitting on the side of the soccer field, he wanted to turn and walk away. That guy was from Kanashimi! But then Tenma noticed the bandage and the bruise, and the sad look on his face. So, without any logical explanation, he walked towards the boy. Somehow, they immediately became friends, even though what happened at the Kanashimi-Raimon match.

Tenma looks up to see Sasuke sitting in front of him. The boy smiles at his dog. ''What is it, Sasuke?''

The dog turns, and looks at something. Tenma follows his gaze, but doesn't see what Sasuke is looking at. Then, the dog nudges the old soccer ball that saved Tenma all those years ago.

Tenma frowns. ''What is it, Sasuke? You want me to play again?'' he stands up and walks towards his dog, placing his hand on the ball. ''I can't, Sasuke,'' he says, but the dog only looks at him. Then, Sasuke pushes the ball, and it falls on the ground. The dog follows the ball, nudging it towards his master. Tenma looks at him, surprised. ''Sasuke…''

The dog turns towards the window, looking at the cloudy sky. Tenma follows his gaze. ''It looks so sad…'' he mutters. ''Like the sky is crying…'' he sighs, and looks at the soccer ball again, before picking it up. He looks at the Raimon logo. ''Ne, Sasuke?'' he asks quietly. ''Do you think… do you think that soccer is sad?''

Before he can continue, a sharp pain shoots through his head, and Tenma groans. The ball falls on the ground, as he grabs his head with both hands. Another pain-filled sting goes through his head, and Tenma falls to the ground. More stings shoot through his head, each one worse than the lost one, until the only thing the boy can feel is pain. He is lying on the ground, clutching his head, as he tries his best to breathe.

And when Tenma feels the first signs of unconsciousness, he breathes a sigh of relief, before blacking out.


And that's done. I'd like to apologize if Tenma seemed OOC, but I have my reasons for that. I mean, his team was destroyed, he quit the sport he loves most, and then he suddenly sees someone from the team responsible. As for Haru, I know it sounds strange that Tenma would just go to him and act all nice and friendly and stuff, but I can't imagine Tenma getting angry at someone who won against his team. And the friendship between Haru and Tenma? That's very important~

I understand if people don't want to read a story with OCs, and I understand if you don't want to read this story anymore. But I just want to say, this was one of the few parts that will focus on Haru, and I needed to have a 'good guy' in Kanashimi. So yeah, Haru was created. I promise that the next chapter will focus on the old Raimon Eleven more.

Thanks for reading, and I hope I didn't disappoint you~

Until next chapter,

Yara Meijer~