Bring him back

chapter 14

Am I on a writing marathon right now? Newly published story - Light and Darkness - and a new chapter.

Really does seem like I am on a writing marathon right now.

~'0'~

After Hikaru's shower

"Nee, Hikaru."

"Hmm?"

"Someone messaged you while you were in the shower."

"Oh, thanks." That's all Hikaru said before taking a look at his phone and right away he saw the message notification for his WhatsApp, at the same time showing the messenger, who happens to be Shindou. Tenma watched him as he replied back to whatever the message was and after few minutes have gone by, the forward finally put his phone down and went back to drying off the additional water off his hair with his towel

"Nee, who was it?" Out of nowhere, Tenma blurted out the most random sounding question when it comes to the current him, and it definitely shows on the forward's face. The young player had to blink twice before answering that question

"It was Shindou-senpai, he said that he's coming over tomorrow."

'Pffrr, great.' Tenma didn't say it out loud, but in his head he pictures himself sounding very sarcastic. Shindou used to be a role model in his eyes and also a close friend of his, especially after all the trials that they've faced together, which is why his betrayal hurt him just as much as his best friend's betrayal, Tsurugi.

Although, deep down inside him, he was actually thinking

'If I can face Tsurugi, then I should be able to face Shindou-san too, right? But... I really don't want to...' Even though he was trying to think as logically as possible, and maybe even as positive as possible, there was also another part of him, screaming at his brain that it didn't want to face his second close friend right after facing his best friend, but in the end, it wasn't his choice and he wasn't the one who had the right to make the final decision.

~'0'~

While Hikaru was downstairs eating dinner with his parents, Tenma decided to stay upstairs since there was no point for him to be down there and watch the family enjoy their meal. Since he was all alone, he finally had some peace and quiet to think about the events that have happened today, more specifically, what he recalled at the mention of the word family.

At the mention of that word, the first thing that came to Tenma's mind was Aki, sure, he had his actual parents in Okinawa, but it's been a long time since he last visited them, they've only talked to eachother through phone calls and their separation had gotten to the point where Tenma began considering Aki as a sister/second mother.

Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face...

You told me how proud you were

But I walked away

If only I knew, what I know today

Oooh, ooooh

The ghost boy began singing in a faint voice the one song he dared to sing in front of Aki and he still remembers all the praise he got from her, mostly saying that it was either very emotional or really in tune.

But as soon as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, he quickly shut his mouth to stop his singing. The door opened, revealing the purple headed forward that he was expecting to see.

It was already pretty late, so Hikaru basically just went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and after saying goodnight to eachother, they called it a day.

~'0'~

The next morning

As expected, Hikaru's parents were already off to work, so it was only the two of them in the house again.

After a while of watching TV, the doorbell rang and both of them guessed that it must be Shindou. Hikaru went and opened the door, but to his surprise, it wasn't only his captain who came

"Oh, hello Shindou-senpai, Kirino-senpai." Tenma peeked his head towards the door and sure enough, there stood the two bestfriends side by side in front of the first year.

Hikaru welcomed them in politely, as a junior should be when it comes to their seniors and they sat down on the couch, but also taking a little risk at the same time by sitting on both sides of the ghost boy. Tenma by now has already gotten used to being approached by people he dislikes, especially after facing Tsurugi yesterday, so this time around he just stayed in place, resulting to surprise everyone else

"Umm, anyway, Shindou-senpai why didn't you tell me you were gonna come with Kirino-senpai to try and get closer to Tenma?" Shindou internally sighed while he saw a glimmer of mischief in his bestfriend's eyes, a specific shine he would usually only see in Kariya's amber eyes

"It wasn't actually planned, we bumped into eachother on my way here and he ended up coming with me"

"Hope you don't mind." Said Kirino right after the captain finished his line

"Of course not." Answered the young junior with a smile. Although he was okay with it, it was Shindou who really had the bitter taste in his mouth and heart.

Being bestfriends, they both knew eachother very well and that includes their crushes, and judging by the pretty well hidden look in Kirino's sky blue eyes, it was pretty obvious that not only did he tag along to get closer to Tenma, but also to compete with Shindou in order to not fall behind

"Anyway, I didn't come to only get closer to Tenma, I also came for a specific reason." Tenma and Hikaru both had questioning looks while Shindou and Kirino were grimacing, with Shindou obviously knowing the reason and Kirino because his bestfriend already told him on their way to their junior's house "My reason for coming here is Aki-san."

Tenma literally jumped up and grabbed his ex-captain's shoulders while demanding him to spill the beans

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!? DID SHE DO ANYTHING??? IS SHE IN DEPRESSION!? DID SHE-"

"Woah, woah, woah, Tenma calm down. I'll explain, but I can't if you're screaming at me like that." The ghost boy was about to protest his lungs out, but he couldn't say anything and after a minute of quiet, his mind finally calmed down and his brain quickly processed this situation thoroughly before telling his body to sit down and listen to what the other has to say "Thank you. So, as I've said before, the reason why I came here revolves around Aki-san, but I don't know fully what's wrong with her."

"What do you mean, Shindou-sen-" Hikaru slammed his mouth his hand, realizing how rude it was to interrupt a senior like that. But the captain just gave him a reassuring smile before going back to his explanation

"What I mean by that, is the fact that I'm only basing this off of what the Golden Oldies told me."

'Oh them.' Tenma was a little surprised that he actually forgot about that team, especially because Aki was their coach, but nevertheless, that wasn't the case right now

"They said that ever since you died, they haven't seen Aki go out, she always stays indoors." That already was enough to startle Tenma, because Aki is a fairly outgoing person, especially when walking Sasuke, not to mention she loves traveling, so for someone like her to stay inside all day long is weird and kind of scary in itself "And they're basically really worried for her, I tried to convince her to come out and it was no use whatsoever, I didn't even get to see her, even Sasuke wasn't energetic at all when I went there, he just stayed inside of his dog house, he didn't even look at me, no matter what I did."

'Oh my god...'