A/N: Hello! The last time I published a chapter was in 2014, so it's been almost 5 years. It's incredible to me that after all these years I still get notifications of people following and favoriting my works (particularly this fanfiction), even though this story must be buried under thousands of other amazing (and more consistently updated) works. I barely remember what my chapters are about, and upon rereading, I can find substantial plot holes, inconsistencies, on-the-spot interjections of characters/events, etc. But hopefully I can salvage what I can. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: Do people still put these? I don't own KnB but still wish I did.

Recap:

"Tetsu, you've always been a girl," he said silently.

"But now I can finally embrace it without the fear of rejection," I said.

He simply nodded and got up from the bench and started walking. "Let's go," he said monotonously, sticking both hands into his pockets without the offer to hold my hand or even the slightly interest to do anything romantic. However, I followed happily and saw that he was in jeans and a t-shirt with a blue jacket, just like old times. As a nostalgic feeling overcame me, I knew that we would make new memories that would make old times seem like a mere catalyst into our current, happier lives.

If only it was that easy.

Chapter 6|Tetsuya's POV

When you fall in love, it's easy to forget your surroundings. You might find it surprising that I could be so happy when just a little while back, the secret I was working hard to maintain was ruthlessly revealed in front of a large audience. It's because an equally big secret of mine had been my long-time crush on Aomine-kun, and being with him in public as a female was beyond the realm of possibility for me for such a long time that it momentarily distracted me from the another issue at hand: my relationship changes with everyone else in both the Generation of Miracles, my Seirin team, and even my family.

We hadn't walked too far when I heard my phone ring. "Sei-niichan" it had said. My phone had muted notifications, so it only rang aloud when the few close people in my life called.

"Hello?" I answered right away, knowing that with his overprotective nature he would be concerned if I didn't answer in the first few rings.

"Are you okay?" he asked, blurting out each word as though he were in a rush to find me.

"Yes, I'm okay. I told you that I was heading out with Aomine-kun yesterday, right?" I asked.

"No, not that," my brother responded, again in the same, rushed tone. "The papers—didn't you see the papers all over town? Not even newspapers distributed from our school, but newspapers all around our city."

"No, I haven't. Why?" I asked, not making the correlation.

"The rumors have gone wild! Our parents and I are trying to stop their publications immediately, but apparently the senpai from middle school demanded a press release covering your huge revelation the other day. What's worse is that they have the money and resources to fabricate the story in their favor, so it appears as though you threatened him to keep your secret a long time ago, and he's finally—and I quote from this article, 'finally through with the constant threats over the years' and 'in fear of this inappropriate behavior inspiring a trend in other schools.'"

"What?!" I yelled, so suddenly and loudly, and completely out of my character, that Aomine-kun next to me jolted a centimeter up and immediately looked at me with concern. "How could they publish that, when there were multiple witnesses there? You know that it's far from true—can they really create such lies?"

"Apparently," my brother responded. "As much of a lie we, and most of our school in fact, know it to be, the fact that they released ten thousand copies, and are in the process of distributing more, has already spread these rumors around our city. And people are not happy to hear that their children are in 'a dangerous environment that allows, and even endorses, young female girls to be intimately involved with large groups of teenage boys,' referencing your involvement with the team, quite obviously."

"That's completely ridiculous! How can they allow such blasphemy when they can't prove the facts? They weren't there when I was practicing. Intimate relations? For years I feared that the GoM would find out my true self and kept a strong barrier. And they denounce my years of efforts with their slanderous statements?"

"If that were the only complaint, we might have an easier case, actually" replied Seijuro. "There are substantial recordings of what happened that your name can be cleared a little, but the fact that multiple people on the coaching and administrative sports departments knew of your involvement with the team and refused to report it causes another layer of chaos, that endangers our school's image as well as yours. In fact, some people are even coming to your defense in saying you were perhaps 'manipulated' by the school's administration to join the team."

It was disturbing to hear. Disturbing, maybe even a euphemism for how I felt in the moment. It was one thing to slander my name publicly, but another for the senpai, who had the same coaching staff as me in middle school, to be fully aware of their undying support of aspiring athletes to shame our district.

"What is there that I can do?" I asked, helpless. My mind was racing with possibilities, but the more thoughts I had, the more overwhelmed and unrealistic I became about the situation.

"For now, enjoy your date, really," my brother said. "Dad is on the phone with the city. Mom and I will head over to the school to deal with the situation there. Our family has a lot of connections, and we'll stop these reports and clear your name as soon as we can. I promise you."

My brother was reliable, and I knew when he promised me this he would find a solution. But once again, my problem became everyone else's because I was unable to properly deal with my own secrets, and I wanted to find a way to help everyone who was helping me.

"Thank you," was all I managed to say. "Call me back with updates. Please. Even if it's difficult to hear, I am prepared to help with anything I can. I'll be at the usual park if you need to pick me up for me to come with you."

"Of course; take care. Don't stress." The phone clicked.

It was then that I noticed the hundred, and I'm not exaggerating when I said hundreds, of messages and emails on my phone. Most were from unrecognizable contacts, especially since I only had a few numbers saved.

"How desperate are you for attention that you pretended to be a guy to share locker rooms with the basketball team? Have you no shame?" one unknown number wrote.

I received everything from nasty text messages to poster images with my face crossed out. It was apparent that the message Ouran had released was that my intentions for joining were impure and the administration corrupt and sponsoring indecent behavior. A viral blog post polled, "How many of the GoM members did Tetsuya sleep with?" and garnered students from outside districts participating and commenting on the subject as well.

"Tetsu—TETSU!" I finally heard being yelled. Being so lost and overwhelmed, I forgot that this was supposed to be a date. "What's wrong? Why did Akashi call?"

I opened my mouth but heard no words. I tried again, and again. It was clear that my voice gave out in shock, so I turned my phone to him at flashed the blog post.

"Are you serious?! 6000 views in the last 24 minutes?! Trending on the #3 spot? What is this nonsense? Who made this? I'll find them and make them take it down."

At last my mind and body gave out and I squatted on the floor, tears uncontrollably splashing onto the concrete.

"I-i-i-it's not just this one. Th-there's more. A-a lot more. Ten-ten thousand copies, bu-but more coming." My heart was racing so quickly that I closed my eyes as though the world would pause if I did so.

I don't remember much of what happened next. Only from a faraway distance, a blurred cry that desperately yelled, "Akashi, it's me!" I could only envision Aomine-kun, standing at the park, holding his phone and crying words of despair at my brother, who was probably annoyed and already doing everything in his power to change the situation. But strangely enough in this trance, they were both in their middle school basketball uniforms, each with a gentle expression on their face despite their words being hushed cries and their tones no less desperate.

I was saddened, nostalgic, but also reassured in that moment that somehow, everything would work itself out. I slept and did not wake for the next 13 hours.

A/N: So it's 3:15 am, but I don't have class Fridays :) If any of my long-time readers are still out there, thanks for clicking on this story, and I hope that at some point years ago it brought a smile on your face. And for my newer followers, thanks for clicking "follow." It's you who have inspired me to write update after so long.

In case anyone was wondering what happened, three years of high school and two of college have flown by, and I'm 20 now (almost 21!). When I first started writing fanfiction I was just getting into writing, and each notification validated my ambitions to continue fiction. Now at 20, I finally committed to studying English after switching my major a few times. While I don't see myself writing as a full-time career, English courses have really influenced my way of thinking and shaped my writing skills, though I must admit that grinding out analytical 10-page essays on societal changes in X historical period have really bogged me down from any creative writing. Surprisingly, my last creative piece was this one! 5 years ago. I've written maybe close to 50 essays since, but it's a nice change of pace to write fiction, and hopefully I will see this story's end.

Review! I'd love to see if any of you are still reading this from 2014.