Bring him back

chapter 8

The next day

It was Sunday currently and Tenma had woken up much earlier than Hikaru, so instead of waiting upstairs for the human to wake up, he floated downstairs, through the walls to check on his parents, and as expected, they were already awake.

His parents were actually very busy workers, his mom is an employee in a business company and his dad works as a coach in a gym. Ever since he died, Tenma had wondered where Hikaru's passion and interest for soccer came from, he had multiple guesses, due to his coaching father, to 'repay' his uncle's debt, pure interest... Whichever and whatever reason it was, the ghost boy hoped from the bottom of his heart that it wasn't anything scary and life-threatening like his past experience

'But... Then again... If I think about it logically, there's no way he would've done what I've done. After all, he isn't as reckless as I am.' Tenma almost wanted to laugh at the thought of that, but it was hard to even smile, so laughing is almost impossible in his opinion.

A few minutes later, the adults left for work while Hikaru was still sleeping, Tenma stayed downstairs, lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling. He was thinking deeply about what has been happening since the humans and aliens have found him

'I really want to forgive them, but... It's just so hard to let go and forget about the painful past...' Tenma could've sworn that he felt something trickling down his face, but when he lifted his hand to touch it, there was nothing 'Why is this more painful than what I've suffered before...?' He kept questioning himself, begging for an answer, even though he knew that it was all in vain. Eventually, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs and his only assumption is the third human he has smiled to ever since he got caught, but even so, he hid his expression behind a mask of blankness, since he still wasn't all that comfortable with showing anyone - other than Aoyama and Ichino - his actual feelings

"Morning Tenma." Chirped the young boy with a happier tone than usual, Tenma was a slightly confused due to his tone, but either way he greeted him back in a fairly faint voice.

Hikaru went ahead and began eating the breakfast that his mom has previously made for him before she left, and while he was eating he was also humming a cheerful tune in his head. He still remembers yesterday's event and even though he was shocked at first, he couldn't stop thinking about it all night. That smile from the ghost boy yesterday, brought his hopes up to a very high extend

'He got used to me, yes! He even smiled at me purposely!' That was everything that was going through Hikaru's mind, and without realizing, he had a very cheerful smile plastered on his face, similar to Tenma's iconic, wide smile, as for the ghost boy, he has certainly noticed the young player's bright happiness, he didn't know why but he didn't care either, all he could was smile at the sight of it, wether it was voluntarily or not.

After Hikaru had finished cleaning the dishes, the doorbell rang so he went to open it, at first Tenma didn't pay any attention to it, thinking that it might just be the mailman, but then the person's name caught his attention

"Kariya!" He slightly turned his head towards the door and he indeed saw the teal headed defender standing in front of Hikaru, with his usual mischievous look "What brings you here?"

"Well..." The rest of that sentence he whispered it to the young player so Tenma didn't manage to hear anything else. When he backed away, Hikaru had a face of disbelief and his only response was

"Ok then..." And with that being said, he invited him inside and the teal headed defender casually sat down next to the ghost boy, Hikaru on the other hand went upstairs to his room again. Tenma, not wanting to be left alone with someone he doesn't exactly like, was about to float back to Hikaru's bedroom, but then something stopped him from floating away and when he turned around, he saw Kariya holding his wrist while looking away, seemingly blushing

"Please... Stay..." Tenma couldn't believe his ears, Kariya begging!? Now that's a once in a lifetime experience - Tsurugi being the close second -, well, technically speaking it isn't a lifetime for him anymore, but even so, that's a very rare thing to happen

'I think this is the first time he has actually begged anyone.' Tenma was recalling every single memory he shared with the troublemaker defender and he really doesn't remember a single time where Kariya is begging, he doesn't even recall him having a genuine pleading face. In the end, he ended up listening to Kariya's words, which he absolutely hated, because to him it just meant that he still held a soft spot for his ex-teammates somewhere in his non-existent heart.

And unsurprisingly, heavy, awkward silence fell upon them, neither of them said anything nor moved a single inch, it was much more awkward than either of them imagined it to be. Occasionally, Tenma would do unsuspecting glances towards Kariya, and everytime he did, he saw him with his head down, his legs held up by his arms and his face hidden in embarrassment, the ghost boy just brushed it off, thinking that it was probably because he had never begged before, but later on he speculated that it may or may not be for a completely different reason.

After some time, Kariya also began stealing glances over to the ghost boy, and at some points they collided and looked at eachother at the same time. Tenma just shrugged it off as if it was not that big of a deal - which it isn't for him -, but he did notice that Kariya would immediately turn his eyes away, almost as if he was... Shy? That was the best word that came to Tenma's mind in order to describe it, the teal headed defender almost looked like an anime shy girl to him and it made Tenma laugh a little on the inside, but then came a question in his mind, why? Why was he acting so nervous and shy whenever they made eye contact? That was the main question that Tenma wanted to ask, but refrained to do so in case it made the ex-teammate uncomfortable.