Hello everyone, I know it has been a long, long while since I posted last but I just had too many things on my plate. When I posted last, I had a lot of spare time but now I have to struggle to make only a little bit of time for myself. Still, I am going to continue this story. Your reviews have pulled me back and motivated me to write again. I truly appreciate your reviews :)

See ya soon.

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Chapter 5

It had been almost a week since he was discharged from the hospital, a week since he had first looked from his new pair of eyes. It was such an astonishing experience.

Gasping for breath, he had to remind himself that he should not push himself too much. He had been jogging for only 1.5 Km straight and he could not do it anymore. His progress was slow, a lot slower than he had anticipated. Leaning against a nearby tree, Nobita chugged down water from his bottle and slid down to rest.

This time, he had decided not to go to the hill instead, he chose to workout in a nearby park. For three days, he had been exercising rigorously, making up for all the days he had lost. One might be surprised to see Nobita see this dedicated to his exercise. Actually, the reason why Nobita continued to push himself was to maintain consistency. In a book that he had been reading at the library, he had read that exercising required consistency. Otherwise, it would not benefit a person. Nobita had finally taken a step in the right direction and he did not want to go back now. He wanted to reach the destination and achieve the results that he had in mind.

To reach it, he had to continue exercising, regardless of how difficult or challenging it would be. Inhaling deeply, he looked at his wristwatch to find that he still had almost an hour before he would have to worry about going to school.

Thinking about school, Nobita could not help but let out a sigh. The fact that his friends had been surprised to see his new eyes would be an understatement. Two days ago, he had gone to school and it had been a disaster. He had anticipated that they would be surprised but he hadn't thought they would continue to talk about his eyes for the whole day. Both his teacher and Shizuka had continued to ask him whether he was okay or not, throughout the day. It was not that he did not appreciate their concern. He just did not know why it was such a big issue. He had gotten a transplant and his eyes were replaced. Nothing else.

Looking at his watch again, he understood why they were fussed about it so much. In the reflection, instead of his black eyes, there were two dull blue eyes staring back. Although he did not like to admit it, he indeed looked better with blue eyes.

Nobita ran a hand through his hair and thought about his workout plan. If he had not skipped the previous days, he would have been able to jog at least 2 Km, do 20 push-ups, 15 chin-ups, and 20 sit-ups. However, he was stuck at only 10 of each exercise. He had to work on maintaining his workout routine now and no matter what, he should not stop.

"I better get back and revise the test. Can't get a bad score this time."

Nobita muttered and stood up before dusting himself and stretching a little. He strolled back to his home, taking time to enjoy the sights. He had only been a few days in the hospital with his eyes closed but it had given him a true image of what could happen if he had lost his eyes. He suppressed a shudder at the thought. He was truly thankful that he recovered or else he didn't know what he would be doing.

Getting in his room, he was not that surprised to see Doraemon getting out of his makeshift bed and yawning. He noticed Nobita and raised his hand up in a greeting.

"Good morning Nobita. Done with your exercise?"

Nobita raised his own hand in greeting before sitting in the chair and nodding. "Morning. Yeah, just came back."

Taking his book of Mathematics along with a notebook, Nobita flipped some pages before opening the notebook and writing questions. Looking at Nobita, Doraemon was not that surprised anymore. After all, he had been watching Nobita studying before school for several days now.

"Aren't you going to rub your eyes or something to check if you are hallucinating or not?" Nobita asked with a smirk and Doraemon could not help but a chuckle.

"No, not this time. I have already rubbed them far too many times." Doraemon said before leaning on the table and looking at the questions. To him, they were not that difficult.

"Still, I can't say I am not surprised to hear you using such a strong vocabulary. Are my ears hearing right?" Doraemon teased and Nobita chuckled as he continued his practice.

"This happens when you read different books regularly pal."

"Hmm, I am going down to see if dad has woken up or not. Come down when you are finished." Doraemon said before he opened the door and walked down.

…

In the classroom, he was finally relieved that no one was fussing over his eyes. He had already given the test and now, students would be handed back their results.

"How did your test go Nobita?"

Nobita was broken out of his reverie and he looked to his side to see Dekisuki talking to him. He smiled. "Decent, I can say that. I think I will get a score in the range of 80-90. I might get above it but I am sure I will not fall below it."

Dekisuki smiled in return and nodded. "That is good to hear. I am expecting in the range of 90 myself. By the way, what will you be doing after school?"

Nobita thought for a second and frowned. "Nothing much, I guess. I was thinking about playing Shogi with Doraemon after studying and you?"

"I will be joining a team for a baseball match."

Before Dekisuki could say more, the instructor entered the classroom and every student stopped talking. When the teacher coughed, some students began to tap their shoe, some began to tap their fingers on the tables, and some began to chew on their nails in nervousness and anticipation.

Although Nobita was sure about his scores, he still felt a little nervous. After all, this was officially the time when his performance would begin to change.

"Although I had not expected it, I am pleased to let you know that all of you have performed better than before. So, the first one is …"

Soon, Nobita heard his name and he rose up from his chair to take his test back. He could not judge anything from the expression but as soon as he got in front of him, he broke into a smile.

"Well done Nobita, I truly hope you are going to continue performing like it."

Nobita not only got his paper back but also received a pat on his shoulder. When he looked at the top right corner, he was surprised to see a score of 93.

Upon returning to his seat, he could not help but finally clench his hand into a fist as feelings of joy and satisfaction began to overwhelm him. A large grin emerged on his face as he showed the paper to Dekisuki who nodded with a smile. Nobita just could not help but let out a yell of victory in his mind.

He was not aware that Shizuka had also seen his paper when he had showed it to Dekisuki and she was smiling at him. Nobita had finally gotten good marks.

…

The first thing he did when he got back home was to show the result to his mom. He had performed and had worked hard just to make his parents proud and his efforts had begun to pay off. As soon as his mother had seen the result, she had been left shocked. She had to wipe her glasses several times before she recognized that it was indeed his paper.

What he was feeling as he saw pride swell in her eyes was indescribable. At that moment, Nobita decided that he would make sure and do everything possible to make her proud of him.

"I-I am so proud of you, Nobita. Keep up this good work." Mrs. Nobi said as she wiped a tear away from her eye and smiled at Nobita before patting him on the head.

"Don't worry mom. I will be sure to maintain this score." Nobita gave a determined grin and received again a pat on his head.

"I am going up to tell Doraemon. If you need anything from market, do tell me." Nobita said before leaving the kitchen and climbing up the stairs.

"Nobita, you did it!" Doraemon exclaimed with joy etched on his face and Nobita grinned at him.

"I expected an 85 or 87, but I can't say I am not happy." Nobita said and Doraemon nodded happily before checking the paper and patting Nobita's back.

"Did you show it to anyone else?" Doraemon asked as he handed the paper back to Nobita.

Nobita opened his second drawer and placed the paper in it as he shook his head. "Only mom and Dekisuki. I was just too excited to show it to anyone else."

Doraemon chuckled. "I can understand."

"Hmm. By the way, do you know how to play Shogi?" Nobita asked and Doraemon raised his eyebrow.

"I know how to play but why are you asking so suddenly?"

Nobita shrugged. "Read about it and now, I am interested in it. So, do you know how to play?"

Doraemon scratched his cheek. "I knew how to play it but I have forgotten now. Still, I have it. We can just learn how to play." He proposed and Nobita nodded.

Taking the board, Nobita was inspecting when Doraemon suddenly remembered something and his eyes widened.

"Oh and I forgot to tell you something."

Nobita rose any eyebrow. "What?"

"Well, do you remember Moon? From the bamboo? She is coming to see you today."

As soon as Nobita heard it, a picture of a beautiful girl flashed in it together with less than some decent memories and the board fell from his hands.

...

Cliffhanger ;)

Don't worry, the next chapter will make up for it.