Bring him back

chapter 10

The next day

It was Monday currently, so the Raimon members had to go to school and that includes Hikaru and Tenma - since he's attached to him -. As expected, the ghost boy didn't have anything to do during class other than messing around a bit, so even though he was free to do pretty much anything, the hours still passed by like an eternity to him.

~'0'~

During practice

The team was training in two different groups while Tenma was sitting on the bench, just like last time. And everytime Aoyama, Ichino and Hikaru looked over to him, he replied with a simple and small smile, exactly like last time, but there was a difference today, one that goes pretty much unnoticed by the ghost boy, but doesn't go undetected by the team. For some reason, the ghost boy not only smiled at the three boys he was willing to be close with, he also smiled at Kariya numerous times, the only ones who weren't or at least didn't look confused were Tenma and Kariya, of course, and their young teammate Hikaru - obviously, Tenma told him that he forgave the defender -.

'Why is he smiling at Kariya?'

That was the main question that went through pretty much everbody's heads.

~'0'~

Later, during break

"Nee, Kariya."

"Hmm?" Hummed the teal headed defender, looking down at Shinsuke

"Did something happen between you and Tenma?" Kariya's left eyebrow raised a little and one look at the other teammates, their expressions said it all. The teal headed defender shot a questioning look at the ghost boy, who was seemingly paying attention to their conversation, the said ghost boy hesitated for a few seconds before nodding his head as a response

"Well, long story short, I went to Hikaru's house yesterday to apologize and he forgave me." The Raimon members had disbelieving expressions implanted on their faces, mostly saying

'It's that easy!?'

Obviously, since he had skimped out on the finer details, they would obviously think way too straightforward. But on the bright side, they now had better hopes on gaining the ghost boy's forgiveness after seeing the relatively accomplished success of Kariya's attempt, but they were still unsure. They didn't know if their insecurity was triggered by the mere fear of failure or because they were too coward to even approach the boy.

Finally, Aoi and Shinsuke decided to take the leap of faith to approach the ghost boy and apologize in advance, though it was easier said than done. It was fairly challenging to even get close to him, because everytime they did, Tenma would just back away with fear and disgust shining in his blank orbs. In the end, they stayed at about 5-6 steps away from Tenma and Aoi said

"We're... Sorry Tenma, and before u say anything or push us away, we want you to know that even if you don't forgive us right away, we won't give up on gaining it." The said ghost boy finally looked at her and the small boy, eye to eye, this was the first time they've ever made eye contact since the boy became a ghost. He was just staring at them, blankly, they were unable to see what lurked beneath those orbs and what emotions he held deep inside and it was no surprise, because even Tenma himself didn't know what he was feeling either, pity, pain, anger, disgust, sorrow... His mind was going in a bunch of different directions, but they all lead to the same place, his memories.

He clearly remembered how Shinsuke and Aoi used to treat him way back when they were still friends, but what he distinctively remembered was how they treated and turned their backs on him when Shiro came, unlike Kariya who didn't join in any of the physical and mental damage activities, they did. Alongside Shiro, they've put him through detention, bruises and verbal insults, and it was probably since that moment when Tenma lost the ability to love and feel, actually, it might've been since the moment when Aki also turned her back on him, but that wasn't the problem they were focusing on currently, the problem right now was the tug of war he was having in his mind, his memories against his partial desire to forgive them, the memories and feelings were pretty much clashing against eachother, making it harder for Tenma to decide.

After a while of staring, he looked away without a warning nor a sound, the manager and the small keeper already expected this outcome, so they went back to their friends group and began chatting with them, trying to lift the heavy feeling of guilt off of their chests.

~'0'~

This was a short one, I know.

But I've been struggling to come up with the next scene and I mean, I could've taken a lot longer, but I guess a short chapter is better than nothing.