Im extremely sorry that I havent written anything in a super long time. My schedule is quite packed and I havent been able to find time to write. I'll try my best to update as often as possible.
***
"How did I do today?" Tsurugi asked as he and Kimiko walked along the sidewalks leading to the hospital together.
"I thought you were amazing. That winning shot was fantastic."
It was nearly dark when they finally reached the hospital.
"Meet me at niisan's room when you're done?"
"Sure"
***
"Your health is improving well. If through out this month nothing goes wrong, I'll call up Ichinose-san and tell him you no longer have to come. Hows that sound?"
"Great! Thank you" Kimiko said with a large smile plastered on her face.
Kimiko quickly rushed out of the room and slipped into the elevator. She was excited to tell Tsurugi and Taiyou the great news. Now that she thought of it, she never introduced Tsurugi to Taiyou and vice versa.
"How was it?" Tsurugi asked as he pushed away from the wall when he saw Kimiko emerge from the elevator.
"Good news, the doctor says I don't have to come for checkups anymore if I get better within this month"
"Thats great!"
A familiar voice made Kimiko turn around from the way she had just come from.
"Kimiko!"
"Omg, Taiyou! Its been so long" Kimiko shouted as she ran into his open arms.
"I saw your match. Raimon was great"
"Thanks" Kimiko said as they pulled away from each other.
"Eh? Who's this?" Taiyou asked as he looked over to where Tsurugi was standing.
"Oh, Taiyou, this is Tsurugi-"
"Raimon's ace striker! Its an honour to meet you. Kimiko talks about you all the time" Taiyou exclaimed as he walked over to Tsurugi's direction and shook his hand enthusiastically.
"Nice to meet you" Tsurugi said with a dry smile.
"I'm Amemiya Taiyou, Kimiko's friend"
"Well, Kimiko and I were about to leave so I guess you two can catch up later" Tsurugi decided and grabbed Kimiko's hand while he dragging her after him. Kimiko looked back to see Taiyou standing there with a look of confusion on his face.
"Sorry" Kimiko mouthed and used her free hand to wave goodbye.
***
"Why did we leave so early? I didn't even get to say hi to your brother yet"
"Never mind that. We can come back another time"
"You and Taiyou were just getting along, why did we just leave like that?"
Tsurugi stopped in his tracks and turned Kimiko around to face him.
"Who is this Taiyou guy? How did you two meet? How long have you known him?"
"His name is Taiyou and he has a similar condition to me. We met at the hospital when I first got admitted and we've been friends since"
"Just friends?"
"Omg, are you jealous?"
Tsurugi looked away, folded his arms on his chest and sighed.
"I'm not jealous" he mumbled under is breath
"What was that? I can't hear you"
"Nothing"
"So you are jealous"
"Am not"
"You sure sound like you are"
"I said I'm not jealous" Tsurugi growled.
"Ok, ok, whatever makes you happy"
"It's late. I'll walk you home"
***
Endou-san, Haruna-san and Kidou-san came over to neesan's condo on Sunday afternoon because Endou-san said he had important "things" to discuss with us.
Everyone was seated in the living room and Yuuka-neesan brought over some snacks and drinks.
"We thought it was time to tell you some things about your brother, Kimiko" Kidou-san started.
"Endou-san, maybe you should tell her about that day"
"Which day?" neesan asked.
"I met Gouenji the other day"
"Niisan? How is he?"
"He's changed. A lot"
"What do you mean?" Kimiko asked.
"You might not believe me, but I assure you that I'm telling the truth. I couldn't believe it at first either. But the truth is, your brother is the Holy Emperor, the one controlling soccer right now."
"What? That doesn't make any sense. He told me that he was spying on Fifth Sector and trying to find a way to save it. He even wanted to meet Kimiko. How dare he lie to me?"
"Why would oniichan do this? Doesn't he love soccer too?" Kimiko asked.
"He did. But he told me that soccer has changed and he wants to be the one giving everyone the equal chances to play soccer. He wants to do this"
"I'm sure Gouenji has his reasons." Kidou-san comforted.
"I agree with niisan" Haruna-san said.
"The reason why we are here today, is to show you what kind of person your brother used to be. He was a very talented player who saved the Raimon soccer club." Endou-san said. "We wanted you to see the better side of your brother and keep the good images of him in your mind."
"We want you to see him in that way and not for who he is or pretending to be now" Kidou-san added.
"Maybe, you might learn a few things from him and share this knowledge with the team and find a way to take down Fifth Sector once and for all."
"Make sure you don't tell a soul about what we talked about today"
"But oniichan seems afraid of Fifth Sector. He was the one who asked me to look after Kimiko" Yuuka-needsan protested.
"There are reasons why he's there and thats what we need to find out"
For the rest of the afternoon, Kimiko watched past videos that Haruna-san took of Raimon's matches in Endou-san's time. Her brother was indeed as great as his friends had mentioned. His fierce passion and determination lifted the spirits of the team.
As they watched, she would always notice Haruna-san smile proudly every time her brother scored a goal. She would always advise Kimiko to notice how her brother handled the ball and the teamwork the players had during the match.
Later on Kimiko went down to the riverbank to practice with Endou-san and Kidou-san. She tried replicating her brother's moves and team dynamics which Kidou-san tried to guide her through.
It took some time for the information to sink in. The person she had been looking up to this whole time was the one trying to take down her dreams. She couldn't understand why her brother would decide to do such a thing. He dropped out of the nationals team to join Fifth Sector? What exactly was oniichan thinking?
***
Before practice, the players were gathered in the club room as they waited for Endou-san, Kidou-san and Haruna-san to arrive.
When the doors to the club room opened, everyone greeted the adults with a polite bow. As they rose, they noticed a young boy walking in alongside Haruna-san.
"Huh? Who's that?" Tenma was the first to ask.
"This boy wants to join the team" Haruna-san announced.
"What did you say your name was?" Endou-san asked.
"I'm Hikaru, nice to meet everyone"
Kimiko instantly recognised him as first year form the other first year class. She vaguely remembered seeing him at the camp.
"What about your last name?" Kidou-san furthered.
"Umm.. its umm K-Kageyama. Kageyama Hikaru"
Haruna-san's clipboard instantly dropped to the ground. All three adults had their mouths wide open in shock.
"K-Kageyama!?" The chorused.
"Kageyama Reiji was my uncle" the boy explained, his head down in shame.
"Nii-san" Haruna-san said as she turned to look at the unexpectedly calm expression on her brother's face.
"Why did you try to hide it?" Kidou-san finally asked.
"Well, I was told that my uncle had done a lot of bad things to the Raimon soccer club, so I thought that if I told you my full name you wouldn't let me join. I guess I won't get to join the soccer club. Sorry for the trouble." Hikaru-kun said with a half smile before turning to leave.
"Wait" Endou-san called after him. "Hikaru-kun, do you like soccer?"
"Yes sir!" Hikaru answered confidently.
"Then there is nothing more to ask" Endou-san decided.
"It's true that your uncle did horrible things to Raimon but he truly did love soccer from his heart" Kidou-san added.
"From today, you are officially a member of Raimon's soccer club" Endou-san announced.
You should have seen the look on the kid's face when Endou-san let him on the team. Priceless.
"Thank you so much! It's good to be on the team!" he said as he bowed to the rest of us repeatedly.
"So, how good are you at soccer?" came Tsurugi's voice from the back of the room, causing everyone to look in his direction. If it was about soccer, he would never let anything slip pass.
"Well, I've only started kicking a ball around for 2 months"
Everyone in the room was stunned.
"Only 2 months!?" asked Hayami-san.
***
Hikaru-kun struggled to dribble the ball and fell awfully behind his seniors.
"He won't be of any use in the games like that" Tsurugi commented.
"Don't you think thats a little harsh?" Kimiko asked.
"It's the truth." he defended.
"Just be nice to him. He's still a beginner"
Just as Kimiko finished her sentence, she heard the boy crash into the goalpost and the sound of Kariya's laugh coming from nearby.
That boy does nothing but cause trouble. Kimiko sighed, referring to Kariya. She understood his situation better after Endou-san told her about his past the Sunday he came over.
Kirino tried giving him some real advice for dribbling and they were all shocked to see how fast Hikaru-kun picked up. In a matter of moments, he was dribbling like a pro almost like magic.
"Shoot Kageyama!" Sangoku-san called from the goal.
Kimiko noticed Hikaru-kun observe Karuma-san shoot the ball and emulated his moves. The ball zoomed through the air and caused Sangoku-san to slid back a little as he caught the ball.
Damn, that kid's got some skills right there. He'll be a valuable play in the games if he keeps this up.