Chapter 9 people! It's finally here! Recap: Spectre has come to visit Ryoken to the mental hospital and they talked for a bit, mostly about Tanaka harassing him after their "fight" and Mizushima acting weird towards Ryoken than his usually, and then Tanaka thinks Ryoken is gay because of his hair. Spectre said his goodbyes to Ryoken after his visiting hours are over. Then later that night, Mizushima visits Ryoken all of the sudden and tells him that they need to talk in private and Ryoken fears that Mizushima might yell at him or hurt him or worst, but it was actually Mizushima thanking Ryoken for defending him from Tanaka. Mizushima tells Ryoken about his past and why he is in the mental hospital, so Ryoken felt sorry for him. Soon, Ryoken and Mizushima settled with their amends and became friends, much to everyone in the mental hospital's surprise. Now for this chapter, Ryoken will discover something that will shock and sadden him so much, and it has something to do with Kanata's "cancer friend." You'll all find out in this chapter right now. Enjoy!

At nighttime, Moriko goes inside an office and is greeted by Kamiyama. "Hey there, Kamiyama-san," she said with a smile on her face.

Kamiyama looked up from doing his paperwork with surprised eyes. "Moriko? You're not supposed to be in the doctor's office." He told her.

"I know, but I just wanted to pay a visit from my good friend and my favorite doctor is all." She sat down as she said that.

Kamiyama gives out a sigh of defeat and then smiles. "Alright. I won't report you for coming into my office."

Moriko gives Kamiyama a wink, then pulls out a cigarette and a lighter. "Hey, I thought I said there is no smoking in the hospital." Kamiyama said, upset.

"Come on, I won't get in trouble. Besides, you like me, don't you?"

Kamiyama gives out another sigh of defeat. "Fine. I'll let this one slide this time."

"You're a good man, Kamiyama." Moriko puts the cigarette in her mouth and lights the lighter on the cigarette and takes a puff of it. "So I noticed that our new kid became friends with Mizushima," she told the doctor.

"I know. I been keeping an eye on Mizushima lately. It's kind of surprising that he's even with Kogami-san and he was even smiling too. That's the first time I ever seen him smile." Kamiyama said.

"I think it was because of what the kid did towards Tanaka."

"You mean the fight?"

"I guess. Well, it wasn't much of a fight."

"Either way, I'm kind of surprised that Kogami-san would even defend Mizushima like that. He's stubborn and rude, but I'm surprised someone would do that."

Moriko nods in agreement. "I guess the kid has a good heart. He didn't want Mizushima to be picked on by Tanaka."

Kamiyama smiles for a bit. "I know Kogami-san is dealing with his mental illness, so is everyone else, including you, Moriko," Moriko slightly hits him a bit, but she knows he is supporting her, "but I think he is trying his best to help others. Maybe when he is cured, he might work here and help a lot of people with mental illness as well."

Moriko smiles at Kamiyama's comment. "That must be nice." After a few hours of the two talking and Moriko taking a puff from her cigarette, she gets up from the chair, opens the window, and throws the cigarette away. "Well, I'll be heading off to bed now. See you in the morning."

"You too."

"Oh. By the way, Kamiyama, thanks for letting me stay and handle my issue. I really appreciated." She said with a sad smile.

Kamiyama gives out a sympathetic smile to Moriko. "I know what he did to you was wrong, but you've been getting better for a long time now. Except the part where you're smoking in the hospital."

Moriko gives out a small laugh at Kamiyama's comment. "I'll try to quit. Promise." And with that Moriko leaves the office.

Kamiyama lets out a sigh and finishes the paper work before calling it quits for the night.

When morning came, everything is as usual. Eating Chef Opal's disgusting food and being treated by Kamiyama. After that it was noon and after eating another one of Chef Opal's disgusting foods, Ryoken, Nobuyuki, Tomo, Hirabayashi, Chika, and other mental patients sit in the lounge and Nobuyuki is trying to fix the TV by moving the antenna things on top of the TV.

"Come on, Mizushima! We need the TV box to be working so we can see the Battle City Tournament Part 3 live at Neo Domino City!" One of the patients said, waiting patiently.

"Hey, I'm not a handy man, you know," Nobuyuki told one of the patients, "those assholes should really call a cable guy to handle these things."

Nobuyuki moves the antenna things on the TV to see if the picture is coming on, but there is still static.

"Hey, Mizushima," Tanaka shouted over by the table and Nobuyuki looks at him, "maybe when you cured from your drinking problem, you can be the cable guy! That way you can drink again and get drunk while fixing TVs!"

"Hahaha! Good one, Tanaka-sama!" Osamu said while laughing.

"Not funny, Tanaka." Nobuyuki goes back to trying to fix the TV while trying to ignore Tanaka.

Honestly, Ryoken really doesn't watch dueling tournaments a lot. Well, he used to when he was a kid with Kanata, but not anymore because of him trying to find the Ignis and trying to kill them, but Nobuyuki insists on watching them.

Soon, the picture screen comes up and the live event of the Battle City Tournament Part 3 is on. "Hey, I fixed it!" Nobuyuki yelled.

"Hooray for Yuki-senpai!" Tomo cheered. "Come over here, sweetie and I'll give you a big kiss!"

"No thank you." Nobuyuki said with a disgusted look and walked over to the couch and sat down to watch the tournament.

Ryoken watch some amazing duelists duel for the Battle City Tournament Part 3, including the famous duelists, Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba. It wasn't all that bad. He did miss watching some duels on TV.

Just then, Kamiyama comes in and approaches the mental patients. "Everyone, I'm expecting a delivery from one of the pharmacists with a medicine that I need for a patient of mine," he explained to them, "would any of you go down to the lobby and go pick it up for me?"

"Not it!" Tanaka shouted and raised his hand as an answer.

"Oookaay… Anyone else besides Tanaka go pick it up for me?"

All of the patients are silent. It seems no one doesn't want to go down to the lobby to get the medicine. So Ryoken raises his hand for a bit. "I'll go get it."

Kamiyama smiled when Ryoken volunteered. "Thank you, Kogami-san."

"Aww… Come on, Ryo-Ryo, you're going to miss Muto dueling Kaiba in the finale." Nobuyuki said with an upset look.

"Don't worry, Nobuyuki, I'll come back very soon." He told his friend. And he leaves the mental hospital room to go pick up the medicine.

When Ryoken comes to the lobby, he sees a man holding a bag. It must the medicine that Kamiyama mentioned and that man must be the pharmacist. He goes up to him. "Hi, Doctor Kamiyama send me to get the medicine for him."

The pharmacist takes a good look at Ryoken for a moment. "The doctor is sending a mental hospital patient to pick up the medicine?"

"Um… Sure, I guess."

The pharmacist shrugs and gives the bag with the medicine in it to Ryoken and then leaves the hospital.

Ryoken looks at the bag with the medicine in it and smiles. He turns to go back to the mental hospital room, but stops as he sees something that made him froze.

He sees Kanata talking with Sugisaki for a bit, but… she was wearing the same hospital outfit that Sugisaki and the other hospital patients wear.

Why? Why is she wearing that? She's not sick… She didn't get into an accident… Why… is she wearing it?

Sugisaki and Kanata wave goodbye to each other and they headed towards opposite directions and Kanata is heading the same direction where Ryoken is standing and Ryoken didn't have any time to hide.

Kanata stops walking and sees Ryoken and she is surprised to see him wearing mental hospital clothes. "Ryomi?"

Ryoken snaps out of his frozen status and looks at Kanata. "Why are you wearing the Den City mental hospital clothes?" She asked, kind of curious and very confused, just as much as Ryoken is.

"I…" He wanted to say the same thing with Kanata wearing the Den City hospital outfit, but he couldn't. He is too shock that Kanata is even wearing it. He has so many questions he need to ask. "We need to have a private talk." He grabs Kanata's hand and takes her to somewhere private.

They go inside the closet. It's small, but at least it's private for him to have answers.

"Um… Ryomi, why are we in a closet?" She asked, even more confused.

"I'll be the one asking the questions." He told her with a serious look. "Why are you wearing the Den City hospital clothes anyway? You're not sick at all and you didn't get into some kind of accident. Or are you just wanting to try them on since you are so friendly towards all of the patients here?"

Kanata was silent when he asked him that question. She looks down at the floor for a moment and then she gives out a sad smile. "I guess the secret is out…"

Secret? What secret? She's been keeping a secret from him? For how long?

"You were always antsy about my secrets, so I'll just tell you." Kanata looks up and stares into Ryoken's eyes and still has that same sad smile on her face. "I have cancer."

Ryoken's eyes widen when Kanata said cancer. He didn't understand. Didn't her friend have cancer? Tanaka said so when he first met her, didn't he? "I… I thought…" He is being hesitant of his words. This is not like him. He was hesitant when he wanted to destroy the Light Ignis in their duel while Jin Kusanagi was there, but he couldn't, and now he is hesitant because he is so confused right now. "I thought it was your friend from school who has cancer. And don't say that cancer is contagious, cause it's not contagious."

Kanata is confused when Ryoken said friend and school. "I'm not in school. I've been in the hospital and staying at home since I got cancer. Also, I don't have any friends. Except for Aoi and Miki since they were very nice to me."

Ryoken's heart dropped when she said that and he feels it almost crack into a million pieces. This… this can't be happening… "Why?" He asked, his voice is cracked and he is pissed. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

Kanata got startled when Ryoken started yelling at her.

"Why did you keep this a secret?! Why did you have cancer in the first place and then kept it a secret?!" With all of these questions rambling inside his head and his anger dropping down for a bit, Ryoken bit his lip and feels the tears forming in his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall. He didn't want to feel so weak. "Why… didn't you tell me… about it…?"

Kanata looks at Ryoken and feels bad for not telling him about her cancer. They were childhood friends after all and they shouldn't keep secrets for a really long time. "It's strange that I kept this a secret from you. Or rather, why I didn't tell you about it?" Then she gives a smile towards him. "Maybe it's because… I didn't want you to worry about me, like how my parents are."

Ryoken blinked in surprised when she said that. Him? Worried? He never worries about anything. … Okay. Maybe he is worried about Kanata a lot. This is cancer. A sickness that can actually kill you. And it came after his old friend. Why? Why does the universe hate him?

"I started to have cancer when I was 9 years old. I've been getting a lot of bruises and then this hay fever came, so my parents took me to the hospital and the doctors conformed that I got cancer," she explained to Ryoken, who is still devastated that his friend has cancer, "so they pulled me out of school and the doctors did some treatment to help get rid of the cancer so much."

She got cancer when she was 9 years old? That was 7 years ago and the around the same time his father got infected by the virus, leaving him into a coma. What the hell…?

"So, most of my life, I've been going in and out of the hospital because of my treatment. Usually I go back to the hospital because of my nosebleeds and throw ups. And this time, I'm here for my chemo treatment."

"Chemo? You mean that stuff that will make you lose your hair…?"

"Yup. That's the one." She said with a sad smile. "Even though I'll lose my hair, it will help me get better."

Ryoken looks down at the floor and covers his eyes with his hair. His whole body shakes a bit. Why? Why does the universe have to do this to him? He phones the police to save six children from torture, his father gets arrested. His father returns after 3 years of imprisonment, he gets inflicted by a virus that resulted him in a coma. He tries to destroy Link VRAINS with the Tower of Hanoi, Playmaker comes and stops him. He tried to join forces with Playmaker and the others to stop the Light Ignis, 5 out of 6 of them get killed by it and Bowman, including himself. Then his ghost father comes back and haunts him, and now he is in a mental hospital. Now he is reunited with his old childhood friend after avoiding her for 10 years, he learns that she has cancer and she can actually die from it. Ryoken feels like he is cursed…

"You know, Ryomi, you've never answered my question earlier."

"Huh…?"

"Why are you wearing the Den City mental hospital clothes?"

Oh right… He forgot about that… He really doesn't want to tell her, but… If he manages to tell her secret to him, then he can tell his secret to her, even if it means Ryoken will never see Kanata again. "I… I have a mental illness."

Kanata's eyes widen in surprised, but Ryoken keeps on speaking. "A few days ago, I saw my late father's ghost and he is been on my mind ever since, and nobody, except for me, can see him. Not even you can see him."

Kanata gulps a little bit. "You're dad is a ghost?" Kanata looks around the closet, kind of scared a little bit. "Is he here now?"

Ryoken sees that his ghost father has appeared and he has listen to everything that he and Kanata been talking about. Including Kanata's cancer. "Yes. He's here."

"Zoinks!"

Ryoken's eyes cast down to the floor once again. "And I'm sorry that I have never told you about it… If I have told you about my mental illness, then you would have been scared of me, or better yet, get angry at me and hate me forever. I didn't want to lose the only person who still cares about me…"

Silence was made in the room. Ryoken shut his eyes tight as he is expecting Kanata to yell at him any time now.

"Why would I do that?"

Ryoken opened his eyes when Kanata asked him that. She… wasn't angry at him?

"I shouldn't be mad at you just because you can see your dead dad. I want to help you get through it, no matter the cost. I know that you've missed so much after he died in prison, so I want to support you and help as much as I can. Cause, we're friends, after all." Kanata gives Ryoken as sympathetic smile for support.

Ryoken just stood there without saying anything. Maybe… she's right. If she can support him for his mental illness, then maybe… he can try to support, and hopefully, help her, with her cancer.

So, he walks over to Kanata and hugs her, which made Kanata surprised he did it. "Ryomi?"

"I… I want to help you get through with your cancer. I want to be by your side no matter what. I'll make sure you'll get through this… Kanashi."

Kanata's eyes widen of what Ryoken has said, then she smiles. "You called me by my nickname."

"Of course I did. You're my friend and I care about you so much. That's why I want to help you fight the cancer inside you. Even if it gets any worse, I will still help you."

Kanata really appreciates it so much. Then she hugs Ryoken back. "Thank you, Ryomi. I'm glad I have someone like you who still has a big heart."

Ryoken nods his head, and without her knowing for a bit, he lets his tears fall for a bit. He will do anything to help Kanata… no, Kanashi, get through this and he will make sure that Kanashi will help him get through his mental illness and that his ghost father will be gone forever. They will both get through this.

Ryoken returns to the mental hospital room to give the medicine to Kamiyama. He brings Kanashi with him so he can introduce her to his new friends.

Kamiyama approaches to Ryoken. "There you are, Kogami-san. I was beginning to worry that you might of escape."

"Sorry. I kind of bumped into someone that I know." He hands the medicine to Kamiyama.

Kamiyama takes the medicine from Ryoken. "Thank you for bringing this to me." He then notices Kanashi. "Funakoshi-san? What are you doing out of your room?"

Kanashi looks at Kamiyama and smiles. "I'm sorry, Doctor Kamiyama. I just wanted to go see Miki for a bit and then I ran into an old friend of mine."

Kamiyama looks at Ryoken for a bit, then looks at Kanashi, then back at Ryoken, then back Kanashi again. "You two know each other?" He asked the two teens.

Ryoken and Kanashi both nod their heads as a reply. "We've known each other since we were little kids." Kanashi told the doctor.

"Ah. I see. And you do know that Kogami-san has a mental illness, right?"

"Yes, Doctor Kamiyama. Ryomi just told me about it."

"Very well then. I'll leave you two be." Kamiyama leaves the two teens alone.

Ryoken grabs Kanashi's hand and guides her to where Nobuyuki, Hirabayashi, Tomo, Chika, and the other mental patients are at. "Ryo-Ryo! You're just in time!" Nobuyuki said with a grin on his face, then he notices Kanashi. "Who's this?"

"Everybody, this is my old childhood friend, Kanata Funakoshi." Ryoken introduces to his friend to his mental hospital friends.

Kanashi gives a bow. "Nice to meet you, minna. Call me Kanashi if you like."

All of the mental patients greet Kanashi in a friendly manner, and Ryoken made sure that none of them get too close to her face. Kanashi even gives out nicknames for Nobuyuki, Hirabayashi, and Chika. Nobuyuki is nicknamed Nobushima, Hirabayashi is nicknamed Morishi, and Chika is nicknamed Chikuko. She couldn't think of a nickname for Tomo since her last name is Ohno, but Tomo tells her to call her by just her own nickname, which Kanashi agrees, and Tomo calls her Kana-chan for short.

Then Kanashi notices what the mental patients are watching on the TV. "Hey! Are you watching the Battle City Tournament Part 3?" She asked as she goes over to the couch and sits next to Nobuyuki.

"Wait, you watch this kind of stuff?" He asked, kind of surprised.

"Me and Ryomi watched the first part of it online, and then second part. I didn't think Neo Domino City will held a third part of the Battle City Tournament."

"Well, you're in luck! They're about to show the finale between Muto and Kaiba!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah! Hey, Ryo-Ryo! Get over here before they start!"

"I'll be right there, Nobuyuki. I just need to handle something first." Ryoken turns and heads over to the table where Tanaka and Osamu are sitting at. Once he is there, he glares at Tanaka and crosses his arms. "Tanaka, can we talk?"

"A serious talk? Alright then. I will handle all of the talking since I am Tanaka-sama's personal assistant!" Osamu said, looking very confident.

Ryoken made a weird face when Osamu said that, then he looks back at Tanaka. "In private?"

Osamu is now upset when Ryoken said they should talk in private. So, Tanaka gets up from his seat and follows Ryoken to the hall. "Alright, noob, what is it you wanna say?"

Ryoken keeps on glaring at Tanaka, and he is not happy. "You talked with Kanashi when you first met, along with Zaizen and Sugisaki, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. They were nice. Well, too nice to be exact, but they weren't annoying as well. Well, Akira Zaizen's sister kinda scares me a little bit. And Coma Girl is kind of naive, so is Funakoshi." He told the 18 year old.

"Why did you lie to me?"

Tanaka got confused when Ryoken asked that question. "Wuzzat?"

"You told me that Kanashi's friend has cancer, but it was actually Kanashi who has cancer. So why did you lie to me, Tanaka?"

Tanaka gets annoyed by it. "I didn't lie or anything at all! I told you, I don't pay attention on what those girls were saying."

"If you didn't pay attention to what the girls were saying, then what on Earth did you pay attention to?"

"Um… Their faces. Their soft voices. … Their busts… Their sexy busts. Including Funakoshi's big ones… So sexy…"

Ryoken's eyes widen in shock when Tanaka said that. Then he shut his eyes tight and he is very pissed off.

"YOU GODDAMN PERVERT!"

BLAM!

"WHAAAAAAAOOOOOWWW!"

Kanashi and Nobuyuki heard the screams from the hallways. "What was that?" She asked, kind of worried.

"Oh, nothing." He told the 16 year old girl. "Tanaka probably did something stupid and Ryo-Ryo got upset about it."

And that's exactly what happened, because Tanaka comes walking in, holding his nose, which is bleeding, and Ryoken comes walking in as well, and he is still pissed off and sat down on the couch next to Kanashi.

"Tanaka never learns, does he?" Hirabayashi asked the pissed off 18 year old.

"No. He doesn't. That pervert…" Ryoken grumbles.

Kanashi looks at Ryoken with a worried look. She doesn't know what happened at the hallway or why Ryoken thinks Tanaka is a pervert, but she does know that he is very upset.

So, she reaches towards Ryoken's hand and squeezes it gently, which made Ryoken surprised.

He turns his head and looks at Kanashi, who gives him a gentle smile. Then after a moment, Ryoken smiles and gently squeezes Kanashi's hand back.

After the Battle City Tournament Part 3 ended, with Yugi Muto being the winner (Obviously), it's dinner time and Chef Opal made veggie mush, much to the mental patients' complains, but Kanashi doesn't mind to try it out, which shocks them a lot.

Soon, Kanashi began to ate the whole bowl of veggie mush, and later, it was all gone, much to everyone's surprise.

"Holy crap! No one has ever eaten Chef Opal's disgusting food!" Nobuyuki said as he is still surprised that Kanashi ate it. "How did you manage to not throw up from this stuff?"

Kanashi giggles at Nobuyuki's question. "It's not so bad. I just pretend that it's porridge and down the hatch it goes. That's all."

All of the sudden, Nobuyuki falls to his knees and bends his back over like he is bowing to some queen or something. "Teach me your ways, Funakoshi-sensei!"

Kanashi got startled and is very surprised that Nobuyuki called her that.

After dinner, Chika got one of her gaming systems, the new Nantendo Swap and plugs it in the TV and she, Kanashi, and Tomo play Heroic Bash Brothers and they were enjoying it.

"It's kind of funny how it's called Heroic Bash Brothers when none of the guys are playing it." Tomo said as she is playing the game.

"You're right! I feel like I'm having my first girls night out!" Kanashi said as she is playing the game.

"Kind of violent for a girls night out, Kana-chan." She explained to the 16 year old.

So far, Chika is in the lead of winning and after a few hours of playing, Chika won.

Kamiyama comes in and sees the whole group just having fun. "Funakoshi-san, it's time for you to go back to your room."

Kanashi looks at Kamiyama and gets upset and made a pouty face. "Awww… Already?"

"You need rest now or your cancer will get worse. Plus, I have to treat you with chemotherapy tomorrow." He told her.

"Mmm… Okay." Kanashi gets up from the floor and walks to the door where Kamiyama is standing at. She turns around and faces the remaining mental patients. "It was really nice meeting you all. And Ryomi, I'll see you soon!"

Ryoken smiles at Kanashi. "Yeah. You too."

And with that, Kanashi leaves the mental hospital room. Then Kamiyama faces at the mental patients. "Make sure you all go to bed and no sneaking out during the night." And then he leaves the mental hospital room to escort Kanashi back to her room.

Ryoken can't stop smiling for some reason after Kanashi left. Nobuyuki notices. "Hey, Ryo-Ryo. You feeling okay?"

Ryoken looks at Nobuyuki in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, whenever you keep staring at Funakoshi, you keep smiling a lot and I can see some blush on your cheeks. It's as seems that you kind of have a crush on her or something."

Geez, what is with everyone thinking that Ryoken has this thing on Kanashi. It's getting annoying. "It's not what it looks like." He told his friend.

Nobuyuki shrugs for a bit. "If you say so." And he heads back to his room. So did Tomo. And then Hirabayashi, who carries Chika to her room.

Soon Ryoken heads to his room and lays down on his bed and then he keeps thinking about Kanashi.

His ghost father appears by his son side. "Mizushima does have a point, son. You seem to have feelings for Kanata." He told him.

'Good lord. It's not-' Ryoken tries to tell his ghost father that through his thoughts, but then stops for a moment. Ever since he learned that Kanashi had cancer, he never wants to lose her at all and promised her that he will support her no matter what. Then he held her hand after he got pissed off by Tanaka, he was impressed when she finished eating Chef Opal's veggie mush, and he cheered for her when playing Heroic Bash Brothers. Plus he was smiling sweetly and was blushing so much whenever he thinks about her. Maybe his crush on Kanashi from 10 years is coming back to him. 'Yeah… I guess your right…' And with that, he fell asleep.

AAAWWWW! Ryoken is in love! So sweet! I feel like Ryoken and Kanata's relationship will be similar to Jack and Carly's relationship from 5Ds, even though I haven't watched all the episodes of 5Ds. I think I've seen 5 episodes of it from 2 years, I think. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 9 of Father Thy Blood! And the next chapter will be Yusaku discovering that Ryoken is in a mental hospital and that Dr. Kogami's ghost is in Ryoken's head. How will Yusaku react to this? You'll all find out soon enough! I'll see you guys very soon!