"...I'm just heading back to my room." Tsurugi told him flatly. He could hear the slight, rushed panic in his tone. He meant to walk pass him, but with the first step, Tenma's father took another to intercept him.
The man stared down at him, reading him fast like he was a simple children's book. "...Tsurugi, right?" He said. The surprise and confusion on his face was too obvious for the man. He could practically hear all the internal questions running through his mind. 'How?' was undoubtedly the prevailing one.
"I recognized your voice," He answered, deciding to skip over the tiresome predictable question. "You were there, weren't you?"
Many things scared Tsurugi if he could be completely honest. In joining Fifth Sector, however, he learned to face all of it head on. At the end of it, his fears either ceased or turned into indifference. His fear of the darkness, for instance, vanished through the regular lonely nights and any fear he had for pain he learned to disregard and ignore thanks to the routinely hellish training he forced himself to endure. Fear had become something he had conquered; that was what he had believed up until now.
For the first time in years, he was scared. Scared to give a simple answer. Scared for what it might mean to the horrid man in front of him. Scared at what he might do if knew as much as he did.
"Never mind, I suppose it doesn't matter." He said.
Now that, Tsurugi couldn't ignore - no matter how scared he was.
"Doesn't matter? How could Tenma not matter? Oh, right, he's not your kid, is he?" Tsurugi snapped at him, keeping down any unease when he failed to see Tenma's father stir.
"If you think someone will hear you, you're wrong," He told to him in slight annoyance over the stupidity he saw in the boy's actions. "Your classmates are ways down the corridor and most of the rooms are blocked behind thick walls and doors. And if someone did hear, it would be the staff and they're used to childish tantrums."
Tsurugi sincerely doubted that it was just tantrums that they were used to.
"You've also misunderstood something. Tenma is my child whether I like it or not." He sighed with clear annoyance.
"What? But, you said-"
"Do not interrupt me." The man threatened Tsurugi, not with a yell or shout, but in a low, hushed but furious voice. "That was simply a reminder of what he is to me. But under legal law, he is still my child."
There was no warmth when he said 'child.' Tsurugi had never heard the word said in such a way before. He glared back at the man in disgust and contempt and a wish that he had brought a soccer ball with him.
"What does the law matter to you anyway? I'm pretty sure what you're doing is against it."
"You mean sending Tenma away to live happily with his relative?" He asked. Initially, he was met with an irritated glare from Tsurugi, but soon it faded along with the blood under his skin. Tsurugi understood what he had been saying. "If that is against the law, maybe it would be good for him to return. The staff do miss him and I can't stand my own child being bullied at his school."
"Bullied?! Tenma's happy in Raimon!" Tsurugi shouted at him.
"Even when his teammates speak so low of him? When his so-called 'friends' hate him?" The man pointed out.
Tsurugi looked at him, clearly appalled. "Wha-We don't hate him!"
"Don't lie to me, kid. I've heard of what you did when you first met him," he said.
Tsurugi was nonplussed, he couldn't think of a way to say something back. He didn't want to admit it, but that man was actually right. He couldn't deny that he absolutely despised Tenma when they first met. And the fact that Shindou and the other seniors were pretty annoyed by him back then didn't actually help.
"...How did you find out?"
"I have my resources. Your matches were useful too, seeing your sloppy teamwork literally made my day."
"But, that's in the past! We're a great team now; we even won Holy Road!" Tsurugi said. "And none of us hate Tenma, he's our best friend!"
"And yet, you still bully him nonetheless." Tenma's father said, frustrated.
Tsurugi gritted his teeth, "Now it seems that you don't-" '-understand me.' was what the striker would say but he was silenced by a fierce glare from the man before him. His eyes were full of rage and he was deadly serious.
"Listen, kid. If you tell anyone about what you heard," The man slowly threatened. "I promise that I will make Tenma's life harder than it already is."
Tsurugi's eyes widened. His body trembled in fear and his face started to sweat. The striker wouldn't admit it directly, but this man had managed to bring all of his supposedly conquered fear back into him. But it wasn't fear of darkness or fear of pain. No, it was something Tsurugi hasn't felt in a long time. Fear for a person; for a friend. Tsurugi couldn't even begin to imagine what man was thinking on doing to Tenma, his own blood.
Tenma's father slowly smirked. "I'm sure it would easy to bribe the principal to get him back. Just a quick phone call away and he's mine," he leaned back from Tsurugi and started to walk pass him. "If you want the best for Tenma, I suggest you consider my words carefully." The man said with the calmest countenance as if his words were something of a business settlement, one Tsurugi had no choice but to sign whether he even knew it or not.
The man then bowed to him before leaving Tsurugi in complete distraught.
-
"He threatened you?!" Shinsuke half-yelled. He expected Tsurugi to come back with answers, not with a threat. The defender had the full mind of hunting down the man within the house and attacking him if he didn't have so much power over Tenma. Even just talking now was dangerous, the man made that much apparent.
Everyone was gathering at the back of the room. Aoi had called the other girls to join them when Tsurugi was with Tenma. Endou and the team told them what happened, and they didn't take it too well.
"...Yeah." Tsurugi frowned, still distraught over the whole thing. Shinsuke clenched his teeth, annoyed at the fact that their situation just got a lot harder. Beside him, Shindou looked at the striker expectantly. "What exactly did he say?" The midfielder asked, eyes narrowing.
"He said that if I tell what I heard to anyone, he promised to make Tenma's life more harder than it already is." The navy-haired forward didn't bother to sugar-coat it.
Shindou balled his fists, trying desperately to look calm but failed miserably. He then glanced at his friends. All of them had troubled looks on their faces, and they were clearly seething. If they were trying to be calm, well that ship had sailed. He could almost see steam coming from their ears.
"Harder than it already is..." Hikaru muttered, putting his hand under his chin. "What did he mean by that?"
"He probably meant something about Tenma that we don't know." Something he refused to tell us. Tsurugi scowled, not liking the idea of that.
"I didn't know Tenma-kun had a lot of secrets," Hayami stated with his head down, ashamed at the fact. Hamano nodded, "He didn't look like he had, so I never would've guessed," the second-year smiled sheepishly. "Kid had us fooled."
"Well, at least there's one thing I'm sure about now. This has gone way out of our hands." Endou said, disconsolate. As a captain once himself, he was used to being the one who helped solve problems. To pass it on to someone else was... difficult. "I'll tell this to Detective Onigawara. For now, we need to play along like we don't know anything until we leave."
Shinsuke was about to object, but Endou turned to him, giving a sharp glare. "If he gets suspicious, it'll be dangerous for Tenma. I don't like this any more than you do, but we can't take any risks."
The defender halted before sighing in defeat. "...Okay. But he'll help Tenma, right?"
"Yes, he will. He helped me many times before, so I'm certain." Endou did his best to beam out his ever famously boundless confidence with a smile. Inside, he was just as worried, but for now, he would have to settle with being able to calm some worry of the team.
It worked; everyone seemed to calm down a little. Some of them were still unsure, but they decided to trust their coach. Endou noticed their worry lessen, amused. He glanced at the clock behind them before clapping his hands.
"Now, let's go to sleep. It's already past midnight, we need our rest." The brunet then turned to the girls. "Haruna, you and the girls go back to your room. The rest of you," he gestured to the players. "Go to your bed and sleep."