The Truth Behind His Smile

Explanation

Shock set into to the air as everyone tried to process his quick words. Hikaru and Kariya slowly got off from their beds and approached them with the rest of the team. Then from beside him, inflamed, their coach simply said what everyone else was thinking, "What?"

With all eyes on him, Shindou darted back looks to the only two others who already knew. Tsurugi kept his back turned and it almost seemed like Shinsuke was trying to wriggle away.

"I...heard it from one of the people here." Shindou tried to go on. Endou, who was clearly seething from the news, narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Who, exactly?"

Shindou and Shinsuke winced at their coach's cold tone while Tsurugi just lowered his head. The navy-haired forward deliberated over what he should do. He thought that he would let Shindou do the talking, but now the said midfielder's clearly in a pinch.

"...Me." The striker then abruptly said out loud, to the surprise of his two companions. The room went quiet, as if it was in a stand-still. Tsurugi could feel everyone's shocked stares behind him. With Shindou's case, he could hear him asking what was he doing. He almost wanted to chuckle, seeing that this situation was somewhat familiar. Not surprised that Tsurugi was the first to know, Endou carefully asked, "How did you know, Tsurugi?"

The said boy sighed before turning to face his coach, determined to tell them everything. He casted quick glances at the team, eyes narrowed. He needed to be wary of their reactions, so he had to explain this carefully.

"I was suspicious at how weird Tenma's been acting lately, so I wanted to investigate. So when Tenma and Kenta-san left dinner, I followed them and... they stopped at a room that looked like a study. Tenma went inside and I overheard someone yelling at Tenma. When he came out, he was crying." Tsurugi said slowly, again casting glances at everyone in the room. "It was Tenma's father. He said he had disowned him. He was slapping it into Tenma the whole time..."

As expected, almost all of them widened their eyes in shock, even more so when he said the word 'disown'. Some tried to look calm, but desperately failed. The bubble that was around them, the bubble that they had unknowingly created so that they couldn't see what was wrong, was now ready to pop now. In Endou's case, it was a time bomb. Tsurugi could hear it ticking faster by the second.

"Tenma asked me to keep it a secret from you all so...don't mention any of this to him." Tsurugi ended, deciding not to tell the part when Tenma bolted away and snapped at him. He did make a promise with the brunet. While he broke it literally minutes later, at least this way, he could still keep some of it.

The room stayed silent. Tsurugi looked at his coach and friends around him. They were apparently horrified, his words sinking into their minds. The striker closed his eyes, sighing internally. "Any second now."

"Tsurugi."

The boy slowly opened his eyes, before turning back to his coach. "Yes?"

"Is that true?" The coach asked with venom in his tone. Tsurugi suppressed the urge to wince and sadly nodded, "...yes, Coach. All of it is true."

Shindou, who stood back the whole time with Shinsuke, stepped forward to his coach and friends. "After that, we found Tsurugi in the hallway and made him tell us everything. The rest...you already know." he added sadly.

Shinsuke tried his best not to cry, even when his tears were already visible. "That's cruel. Doing that to Tenma...he doesn't deserve it at all! Not one bit!" the defender cried. Shindou looked back at his junior, feeling the same way. "Shinsuke..."

Behind them, the bubble surrounding the team finally popped.

"How dare he..." Kariya muttered, balling up his fists. Shinsuke winced at the amount of acidity in his tone. The defender's bangs covered his cold eyes and he gritted his teeth.

"I won't forgive him." Kariya said with a low voice, and he quickly looked up to the trio before him, "Like hell I'll forgive someone like him!" he yelled angrily.

"That's enough, Kariya." Endou sternly said, much to boy's vexation. Everyone turned to their coach, shocked. "What do you mean, 'That's enough'!?" Kariya asked, his patience running thin. "Didn't you hear what he just said? That bastard didn't just hit Tenma! What he's doing isn't something that just goes away!"

"I know that!" Endou snapped at him. Kariya gasped quietly, surprised at Endou's sudden change of behaviour. Endou blinked, finally realizing what he had done. The brunet sighed, before looking at his team.

"But that's why right now, we need to keep a cool head. I know everyone's angry about it-"

"More like furious about it." Kariya muttered. Behind him, everyone slowly nodded.

Endou suppressed the urge to sigh again, and ignored the teal-haired defender's interruption. "-but we can't let our anger take us to the wrong path. Tenma proved that a lot of times already." Endou reassured them with a small smile. Everyone was still very agitated, but they managed to process his words and take in a breath. Noticing his team being slightly calmer, Endou continued. "Anyway, we should tell this to the police now."

"Wait, what? You can't do that!" To everyone's surprise, it was Tsurugi who voiced the objection. "Didn't you hear what I said earlier? We can't tell this to anyone!"

"Why not? Didn't you tell what had happened so we could help Tenma?" Kurumada said, a little frustrated at his junior's excuses.

"Yeah, but not like this! Tenma asked me to keep it a secret, remember? He doesn't want this spread around!" Tsurugi explained again.

"So what do you expect us to then, Tsurugi?" Endou said. "Informing this to the police should help Tenma greatly. If you're worried about Tenma's father not being caught, it's fine. I know someone who was a great detective. He helped me many times before. Now wouldn't be any different. You can trust him."

"N-No, it's not that!" Tsurugi looked down, trying find the right words. "Look, at least he should get to decide. Let me talk to him about this." He reasoned to the team. Everyone looked at each other, clearly troubled about Tsurugi's suggestion. Endou furrowed his eyebrows, "Are you sure?"

Tsurugi nodded with confidence. "Yes." Endou studied the striker for a minute, before exhaling his breath. The coach visibly relaxed a little, smiling at the first-year in front of him. "All right, go to him. He might need some company, after all." Everyone, including Tsurugi, looked at him, surprised. Endou smiled again, before suddenly turning serious. "But, if something goes wrong, tell us immediately. That's an order."

Tsurugi was speechless. Yes, he did expect the coach to give him permission. But, he wasn't entirely betting on it. And he was surprised for the umpteenth time that day at how people can quickly change their behaviour. But, he shook those thoughts out of his head, and nodded at his coach.

"Yes, Coach."