Tenma isn't acting like his normal self today.
Fei knows it without hesitation. His captain, who faces everything head-on with a smile, is not entirely with the team or with him. He dribbling skills are horrible, to be honest, and the change is so sudden it is impossible for someone close to him to miss it. And not only his dribbling skills; he is also not listening to instructions or gives them out as quick as he always is.
As Tenma's friend, Fei can't help but feel worried. Well, this is natural. They're friends after all, and it certainly isn't fun to watch him not as worked up as usual without knowing why. The mint-haired boy keeps a close eye on the tanned boy, but still, he can't figure out what's wrong with him. Apparently, he doesn't want to say it, and Fei knows that his friend will eventually tell him when he wants to, so he keeps silent, pushing down the urge to ask directly.
A whistle blows, and it snaps Fei back to reality. "Practice is over! You may all go home. The clubroom will be cleared in 30 mins!" Gouenji Shuuya announces.
Everyone immediately rushes for the change room, causing quite some chaos. It is better at the girls' side though, since the only female soccer player here is Kinako. Fei is temporarily distracted from what he is doing earlier, which is observing his tanned friend. Instead, he walks up to Kinako and starts chatting with her, seemingly completely forget about his thoughts just a few minutes ago.
But not Shindou and Tsurugi.
To be honest, Tenma's strange behaviour is just…hard to miss. True, he smiles at them as always during practice, but those smiles didn't reach up to his eyes. And both of them know the young midfielder well enough to know that something is wrong.
"…The question is, what exactly is bothering him?" Tsurugi says his and Shindou's thought out loud. The navy-blue hair boy eyes his senior. "Do you think I didn't notice, Shindou-Senpai?"
Shindou shakes his head. "I just think you don't care, Tsurugi. You always act like that."
Said boy narrows his orange eyes and gives Shindou a glare. "I do care," he states, taking his team uniform off as soon as they duo reach their lockers. "And we are not the only one. Fei must've known something too; from the way he keeps his attention on Tenma, there's no way you'd miss that."
The grey-haired game maker stares at the door as Fei walks in. "Well, it seems like he either forgets to continue focusing on him, or he didn't notice at all." Then something comes into his mind. "By the way…where's Tenma? I don't see him anywhere."
A short boy hears that sentence, and he turns to both Tsurugi and Shindou. "Tenma is already done changing, Tsurugi, Shindou-Senpai. He said that he has something to do, so he will go early."
"Something to do…huh…" Tsurugi murmurs, one of his hands holding his chin. Shindou knows what he is thinking, and his thoughts are proven right. "I wonder what that 'something' is." The striker then turns to the short boy and asks. "Shinsuke, did he tell you what it is?"
The small goalkeeper shakes his head. "Nope…wait a second." He tilts his head as he remembers something. "Tenma was buying some flowers this morning…I saw him on the way to school and…" Then his eyes widen, and he doesn't continue.
"Is something wrong?" Shindou immediately asks, sensing something dark at the sudden stop of Shinsuke's sentence.
Shinsuke looks at them, speechless for a while. Even Fei from a distance notices the heavy aura. He walks up to his teammate. "Do you know something?"
"…" The small goalkeeper looks around to make sure that only Tsurugi, Shindou and Fei are present, not wanting to let too many people to hear his hypothesis. "I don't actually know…this is only a possible guess but…I think he is going to visit someone."
"And why is that making you can't even speak properly?" Tsurugi raises one of his eyebrows.
The small boy clenches his fists and, after another silence, he lets out a breath. "He…he didn't buy normal roses…those flowers he bought…they were white."
"…N-nani?"
All people present freezes. "…You sure they're white?" Fei mumbles, his green eyes wide and disbelieving. "I never heard him talking about any…dead relative of his." The boy then glances at the trio. "What about you guys? Shindou? Tsurugi? Shinsuke?"
"…Tenma rarely talks about his past." The gray-haired ex-captain shakes his head violently before he speaks, trying to shake himself out from the shock. "So, as a result…we don't know. The only thing we know for now is that he comes from Okinawa, and he is currently living with Kino-san, who, according to him, is a distant relative. Other than that, we know nothing." He then waves his hand, motioning for the others to walk out of the changeroom and find somewhere else so they can talk long and through.
After a few minutes, they reach under a blossom tree and sit down. Although the pink blossom tree is eye-catching, none of the boys have the mood to appreciate it right now. Another long silence passes and, surprisingly, it is Tsurugi who breaks it. "If we really want to know…there's only one way to find out."
The other boys look at him with a confused expression, but Shindou, as always, is the first one who get the navy-blue haired boy's meaning. "You mean…we go and follow him right now?" He asks, startled. "But…what if we are spotted? Tenma's sight is quite sharp." He instantly thinks of the time when he wanted to approach the younger boy silently, but failed because Tenma had seen his exposed feet at the corner of his eyes. "There's a high chance we'll be spotted easily."
"His sight is great, yes, but not his hearing," Tsurugi minds him. "Remember when we followed him all the way to his home? We made a lot of, well, loud noises, but he didn't even notice us until our shadows gave us away." He frowns a bit. "To be honest, his hearing is…terrible."
"Ah…you're right." Shindou nods slowly. "So…you want us to do exactly the same thing?"
"Well, not exactly. This time, we need to hide, in case our something gives us away again." The striker answers. "Anyways, Shinsuke, do you have any clue of where he is heading off to?"
Said goalkeeper tilts his head to one side as he thinks hard. "Eto…let me think…ah!" His small eyes sparkle. "He said he will be going to the apple tree, near the river bank he always practices on. And he also mentioned that he will be staying there for quite a bit so…I guess if we go right now, we can still find him before it's too late."
"Yosh…let's go guys!" Fei, who has been quiet for the whole conversation, gets up and runs off head-first, followed by his teammates and friends in an attempt to find his best friend.
When they arrive, they are surprised to see that a girl is already there. "Wait…is that Aoi?" Shinsuke points at the girl, who is hiding behind a bush. Following her gaze, the five teen boys realize that she is looking at Tenma, who seems to have no clue that any of them are present.
"Aoi!" The small boy whisper-shouts at her. The girl whips her head around and widen her eyes at the sight of them. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Doing what you're doing." Fei answers, the mint-haired boy joining in, kneeling beside Aoi. "We are worried about him too. His kicks and dribbling were bad during practice, so we decided to come here since Tenma told Shinsuke where he would be going. Do you know something too?"
The dark blue haired girl nods. "I do," she says softly. "Not long after we first met, Tenma brought me to the tree, with the same flowers he had. But he wouldn't tell me what happened, or who he is giving the flowers to. He only told me that he places these flowers once a year to remember someone dear to him…but he, well…"
"Never tells you his past?" Tsurugi guesses.
Aoi looks at him and didn't say anything, silently admitting it.
Shindou closes his eyes and opens them again after a brief moment. "Then now will be a good time to find out." He decides and, without saying anything more, moves toward another bush that's closer to the apple tree. Everyone sweat-drops when Shindou goes into the bush completely.
"He doesn't have to do that…" Fei mumbles, following the game maker but hiding behind the bush instead of going inside. Not long after, the others come and hides among him as well. "Thank goodness this bush is big enough to hide all of us." Tsurugi comments.
"Yeah…shh! Tenma's speaking!" Fei and Shinsuke put all of their focus on hearing their friend. Shinsuke even covers his hands on the striker's mouth, which he earns a glare from him.
Five pairs of eyes, five different colors. Brown, orange, black, blue and green, all focused on the apple tree below, and the boy who is sitting right under it, holding the white flowers.
Some God-damming long moment passes before the young brunet finally speak. "…I wonder how you are doing," He said, getting up and putting down the flowers beside the tree trunk. "Life is well. I'm still smiling. So, don't worry. Like you predicted, I made some good friends."
A faint smile appears on the soft face, but it fades almost instantly. "And I did soar high…but not free. Well, perhaps I didn't even soar high…it's impossible without you." He sighs and sits down again, facing the tree trunk. "If only I held on to you…"
Then Tenma did something they never want to see. He cries, but quickly wipes the tears away, seemingly afraid of being seen. "…I still have the necklace and the armband you gave me. I will always remember you no matter what…so don't worry." The captain smiles again. "And…the deaf-aids are doing well."
The guys and girl hiding behind and inside the bush can't help but gasp, and they quickly cover their mouth. "Deaf-aids?" Shindou whispers. "I never know that."
"Neither do I," Aoi was covering her mouth with both her hands, eyes glittering with tears. Fei glances at her in brief surprise. "You don't know?"
"Yeah…every time he misses my text messages or call for parties, he merely shakes my question off and say that's because he has bad hearing. He never tells me the truth so…"
Tsurugi interrupts their conversation. "I know you're concerned, but why don't we talk about that once we've finished hearing and looking at the whole thing?"
And everyone quiets down (except Shinsuke, who has been quiet the whole time), resuming their focus on Tenma's words.
"…So far, none of my friends know that I'm deaf. Not even Aoi. I make them believe my hearing is just so bad. It does bother me though…sometimes if I forget to put them on, I'll be late for school, since I can't hear my alarm clock. But that's okay I guess…"
He takes out his green phone and checks the time. "Oh my! It's already six! Aki-nee will be worried!" He exclaims, those metallic blue eyes wide. He starts to stand up, but stops and turns back toward the tree. "…I will never forget you…" He whispers softly, and with that, he leaves.
The others wait until they're sure the brunet won't spot them accidentally, then let out a sigh. "Well, this time we didn't get spotted," Shindou in the bush comments.
Fei looks at him. "I mean, you're in the bush so…"
"I know, I know." The older boy waves his hand. "Still, it's safe to do that." Shindou then frowns deeply. "So now we know a bit more about him…"
"Ah…he has a…missing relative?" Fei guesses. "Although he seems to think they're dead." The mint-haired boy put his chin on top of his knees. "I wonder if something horrible happened to them." He sighs.
Aoi shakes her head. "I wonder if something horrible actually happened to both of them." She notices the questioning gaze from the boys and continues, grabbing her arm a bit. "There's one time I saw something terrible on him during holidays. We both went to the beach, and it was just suspicious, since he's actually wore the whole of swimsuits instead of just swim trunks. And though he didn't notice, I could see scars, faint but deep, starting from the collar of his swimsuit. But he didn't tell me anything and, well, I got distracted." She shivers as she remembers those scars.
"Long scars…huh…" Tsurugi raises an eyebrow. "Well…we don't know anything other than he might have a tragic past and a missing or dead relative…guess more will reveal as time passes." He then looks at the descending sun and the orange sky. "Anyways, I feel like we should go home."
Shinsuke nods. "Tenma mentioned that it is six so…better head back."
"Actually guys," Shindou interrupts within the bush, brown eyes looking at them. "Um…can you help me out for a bit? I'm stuck inside these twigs and leaves…" He laughs embarrassingly.
Again, everyone sweat-drops. "…then why did you do it in the first place…" Fei repeats what he says earlier.
"For camouflage. I didn't want to get spotted so…guess I should just hide behind one instead of inside next time." Shindou reflects, scratching his head.
Shinsuke chuckles and nods. "Of course, Shindou-san." The others help pull the wavy-haired boy out as well, stumbling on top of each other.
After quite some time, they finally stand up properly again and head toward their home.
