IEGO || Heart Catcher

『 CHAPTER 29 』

"Please take care of yourself more."

You patted Taiyou's head while he pouted at you. You hadn't had much time few days back to visit him, and since voice calls for the hospital wasn't doable for the both of you, Taiyou missed you very much that he became rather intimate with you.

An example of that was right now: his arms were wrapped around your torso while he had placed his head against your chest. (When you arrived to his patient room, Taiyou first greeted you with a want to experiment certain hugging positions, as consolidation for the days you didn't visit him. He picked this one since it was the most comfortable for him, as well as the fact your chest was soft but he wouldn't tell you that.)

"You always say that to me too you know," Taiyou continued from where he last stopped. "That I should take care of myself more, listen to Fuyuka-san, yada yada, so I could get better quicker. But it's unfair how you get to play out on the field in bandages and do dangerous stunts."

You smiled apologetically at him one more time that day. You continued to pat his head in hopes of cheering him up. It worked, for he stopped pouting. He pressed his ear and cheek against your chest, closing his eyes at your heartbeat.

(It's very slow, he thought. It's almost hard to hear.)

"Ah!" You jumped when he pulled himself from you. He looked straight into your eyes. "I met your teammate today, before you came, I mean!"

You tilted your head. Does he mean Tsurugi-kun?

"He's exactly like how you described. Energetic, bit of an airhead, has brown hair that looks like the wind —"

Oh, it's Tenma.

"— a very interesting person alright!"

You patted his head again. Suddenly, Taiyou's smile became a bitter one.

"I really want to get better too," he said. "You know, I look up to you a lot, [Name]. Communication is important, whether off or on the field, but you aced it off no matter where you are. How'd you do it?"

You looked down in thought. Writing the answer out wasn't a problem, but to form it together was another.

"You know what?"

You looked up.

"I wanna find out about it myself. It's going to be exciting that way."

His usual sunny smile returned. He also went back to hugging you while he laid comfortably against your chest. You sighed through your nose, but hugged him back.

For the rest of your visit, you two hugged and you combed through his hair in peace.

♡ --- ♡ --- ♡

"Everyone, I'm sorry. I'm leaving Raimon. Kidou will take over as coach."

It was from things that took a turn, starting from Raimon's training regimen. At first, it was alright as Kidou had everyone did some pushups and laps around the field.

But as days passed on, the type of training increased in intensity. Pushups had a max of 20, laps were to be finished in 100, carrying tires over shoulders while running, surf-balance on a soccer ball, and more.

Sometimes, when Kidou saw the ones that were at ease with the training, he'd increase the difficulty stacks. Hamano would have to balance on two soccer balls stack on the other with the wooden board, Amagi had to carry four tires instead of two, Tsurugi did almost the other exercises except the tire ones x2, while you and Hayami had to run around dummies within a time limit that would get shorter once a round was completed.