Seeing the girl he had loved for so many years broke down in front of him, Aoyama felt helpless. Just like he always had. During their sentai days, whenever Miki is in danger, he could never rescue her. He was always driven by his emotion that he could not think strategically. It was always Akama or Kuroda who came to Miki's rescue.
"Gymnastic is all I have," Miki sobbed. "What am I going to do now?"
Aoyama felt like kicking himself. He could never find the right words. So he took Miki into his arms instead. Miki buried her face on her friend's shoulder and cried her heart out.
Meanwhile, outside, Akama had finished talking to the doctor. He wanted to confirm Miki's fate. He knew how much being able to compete meant to Miki. Just like how much climbing Mount Everest meant for him. It was dangerous but it gave him something to live for. He wanted to know if there was anyway she could recover. The doctor told him definitely not in the near future. Miki would need to use the crutches for awhile. It would take her a few months to be able to walk again, and a couple of years for it to heal completely. But a fracture is a fracture, it will never be the same again. The doctor also emphasised that she needed to be well cared for at this time because if she injured that ankle again before it had a chance to heal, the crutches would have to stay forever.
Akama shuddered at the thought. Miki would be shattered if she couldn't walk again. She was a very much physically active girl. One that just could not stay put.
As he walked back to the examining room, he saw Kuroda and Kijima hanging around outside.
"Why are you guys here?" he asked. "Where's Miki?"
"Inside," Kuroda replied.
"With Aoyama," Kijima added.
"Oh," Akama proceeded to open the door. Kijima quickly stopped him.
"She's WITH Aoyama," he said emphasising the 'with'.
"Huh?" Akama didn't understand why they would need to stay out there when they knew Miki was miserable inside and could use some comforting.
"You know, Aoyama with Miki, he had long been…you know," Kijima tried to explain. "Ack, don't tell me you didn't know!" He said after observing Akama's clueless face.
Everyone knew Aoyama had been crushing on Miki since forever. Nobody ever talked about it, but it was obvious from the way he looked at her and his constant worrying whenever Miki was out alone with the enemies.
Akama knew but had forgotten.
To him, Miki had also always had a special place in his heart. She was like a precious gem to him. He needed to protect her so bad guys would not touch her and so no one would rob her from him. He didn't know what sort of feeling he had for Miki. He initially thought it was because she was the only girl, because she was like a little sister.
Since they all went their separate ways, he could not stop missing her. But he was so focused on his climbing journeys that he put these feelings aside. Strangely, whenever he reached the peak of a mountain, the first person he thought about was Miki. When he finally reached the peak of Mount Everest, his life's goal, he thought about her and actually had written her a letter, which he had not had the chance to give her.
Ever since, he could not stop thinking about her. He wanted to see her again but did not know how as he had lost touch with her. It was lucky he saw it on TV about the Olympic qualifier.
Akama felt a pang of jealousy, knowing Aoyama was in the room with Miki comforting her. He let his body fell on the waiting chair.
Kuroda saw his expression. He knew something was not right with his team leader.
"You knew about Aoyama, didn't you?" He asked.
"Oh yes, I knew. I just forgot for awhile there," Akama forced a smile.
"You're not also…," Kuroda let his sentence hung.
"What? No, of course not," Akama immediately replied as if it was a silly thought.
Kuroda wasn't convinced.