Accidental Reverse

Chapter 40

Hello! Remember me?

I'm once again back to torture you guys with more Inazuma Eleven GO angsty time travel content :D

Please enjoy the chapter because who knows when the next one is coming out ahahaha

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Accidental Reverse Arc 3

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Tenma wakes up to the sun on his face. He doesn't want to wake up, would, in fact, very much like to bury his face into his pillow and sleep some more, but the light is persistent. No matter which way he turns, it's still there, and it refuses to let him have some peace.

With the realization that waking up is inevitable, his eyes slowly open, carefully squinting against the light.

For a moment, he's confused to see the bright blue of the sky above him, gentle cotton clouds drifting past. Why would he be sleeping outside...?

Then the memories come flooding back and the brunet winces, something heavy settling in his stomach. Slowly he pushes himself upright, grimacing when his muscles scream in protest. Sleeping on the roof hasn't done much for the soreness that's been plaguing him since his last Fifth Sector visit, it seems.

There's no sign of coach Endou, although now that he's more aware of his surroundings, he can hear familiar voices from below. The young brunet sighs and lifts his good arm to rub at his eyes, half wondering what his coach told the team so they'd leave him alone and not worry. There's no way they'd just leave him to sleep on the roof without Endou interfering in some way, and he's grateful for it.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees a flash of white, and when he turns to look at it it's to find Endou's jacket. It's folded neatly, albeit creased, and it hits him a second later that it functioned as his pillow.

For a moment, his lips twist up into a shadow of a smile at the token of kindness.

It fades quickly, though, and he picks up the jacket as he gets to his feet. He doesn't want to sit around now that he's awake. Instead the brunet wanders over to the stairs, pausing for a moment to look over the stone balustrade and take in the scene below.

Half of his team is seated on the ground, listening to Fudou and Fubuki as they explain what sounds like strategies. Tenma winces when he notices that it's the more offensive part of Raimon that's gathered, Shindou and Tsurugi included.

He doesn't want to talk to them.

His skin is crawling and there's a tremor in his fingers that he can't suppress no matter how hard he tries, and the need to walk the other way has never been quite this strong.

(He misses them. God, how he misses them.)

(And usually their younger counterparts are enough, more than enough, to make up for it because it's still them, just younger. But now...)

(Now it only hurts worse.)

So, after he's descended the stairs, Tenma doesn't join them. His friends are all focused on Fudou and Fubuki's lesson anyway, so it's all too easy to disappear around the corner of the watchtower before anyone even notices he's there.

The space beyond is deserted, and he hates that he's relieved.

So he doesn't dwell on it, pushes it away to think about another time – preferably never – and silently slips inside the tower, glancing around. It's empty here as well.