The Secret

Chapter One: Strange Behavior

Hey guys~ welcome back!

Another chapter! Wo-hoo! I know, fast again. Welp, gotta write things down as soon as I know what I want to write! And good news: I will be updating more often since CHRISTMAS IS HERE YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas is always a good news. I can FINALLY take a break from school work and actually focus on my stories!

Too much talking. Hope you enjoy!

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Tenma isn't acting like his normal self today.

Fei knows it without hesitation. His captain, who faces everything head-on with a smile, is not entirely with the team or with him. His dribbling skills are horrible, to be honest, and the change is so sudden someone close to him can't miss it. And not only his dribbling skills; he is also not listening to instructions or gives them out as quick as he always is.

As Tenma's friend, Fei can't help but feel worried. Well, this is natural. They're friends after all, and it certainly isn't fun to watch him not as worked up as usual without knowing why. The mint-haired boy keeps a close eye on the tanned boy, but still, he can't figure out what's wrong with him. He doesn't want to say it, and Fei knows that his friend will eventually tell him when he wants to, so he keeps silent, pushing down the urge to ask directly.

A whistle blows, and it snaps Fei back to reality. "Practice is over! You may all go home. The clubroom will be cleared in 30 mins!" Gouenji Shuuya announces.

Everyone immediately rushes for the change room, causing quite some chaos. It is better at the girls' side though, since the only female soccer player here is Kinako. Fei is temporarily distracted from what he is doing earlier, which is observing his tanned friend. Instead, he walks up to Kinako and starts chatting with her, seemingly completely forget about his thoughts just a few minutes ago.

But not Shindou and Tsurugi.

To be honest, Tenma's strange behavior is just...hard to miss. True, he smiles at them as always during practice, but those smiles didn't reach up to his eyes. And both of them know the young midfielder well enough to know that something is wrong.

"...The question is, what exactly is bothering him?" Tsurugi says his and Shindou's thought out loud. The navy-blue hair boy eyes his senior. "Do you think I didn't notice, Shindou-Senpai?"

Shindou shakes his head. "I just think you don't care, Tsurugi. You always act like that."

Said boy narrows his orange eyes and gives Shindou a glare. "I do care," he states, taking his team uniform off as soon as they duo reach their lockers. "And we are not the only one. Fei must've known something too; from the way he keeps his attention on Tenma, there's no way you'd miss that."

The grey-haired game maker stares at the door as Fei walks in. "Well, it seems like he forgets to continue focusing on him." Then something comes into his mind. "By the way...where's Tenma? I don't see him anywhere."

A short boy hears that sentence, and he turns to both Tsurugi and Shindou. "Tenma is already done changing, Tsurugi, Shindou-Senpai. He said that he has something to do, so he will go early."

"Something to do...huh..." Tsurugi murmurs, one of his hands holding his chin. Shindou knows what he is thinking, and his thoughts are proven right. "I wonder what that 'something' is." The striker then turns to the short boy and asks. "Shinsuke, did he tell you what it is?"

The small goalkeeper shakes his head. "Nope...wait a second." He tilts his head as he remembers something. "Tenma was buying some flowers this morning...I saw him on the way to school and..." Then his eyes widen, and he doesn't continue.