My Father's Secret

Chapter 10

Everything happened so fast. Yuuka requested that everything was to be ready before the school year started meaning that they only had less than a month.

Yuuka took action immediately and went to find her friend who's mother was a professional wedding organizer. They worked day and night with Aki and Ichinose for several days before the plan was ready to be executed.

During that week, Ichinose had gone to sign legal documents to officially adopt Kimiko. She was now "Ichinose Kimiko". Though the name sounded strange to her, she knew this was for her own good.

Furthermore, he had also signed the documents with Aki to make them official husband and wife.

Ichinose had to call Domon-san to fly in from America to be his best man, which he happily accepted without hesitation.

A week later, everything was ready. The wedding was beautifully and efficiently organized and the invitations sent out. Kimiko was nervous yet excited. This wedding had to be held so early because of her - she was making things complicated for everyone. On the other hand, she was getting the chance to be Aki's bridesmaid along with Otonashi Haruna, Kudou Fuyuka and Endou Natsumi. That certainly was very new.

All three of them had been managers for Inazuma Japan before. Natsumi-san was now married to Endou, Fuyuka-san worked as a nurse in the Inazuma General hospital where her father was, and Otonashi-san was the manager of the current Raimon soccer club (she was also dating oniichan from what Yuuka told her but things were slightly complicated between them now that oniichan was so busy).

***

Kimiko got the chance to speak to the three of them as they got dressed for the event. It seemed that Yuuka had already told them who she really was and Kimiko ended up having to explain her life story to them.

Yuuka had trusted them with this secret along with Endou and Kidou but no one else was allowed to know.

By the time Aki was all dressed, all three bridesmaids knew every little detail about Kimiko's life.

As Aki walked towards the stage with her father (where Ichinose was waiting), music started to play. Since their wedding was so abrupt, they were unable to reserve a slot to have it at the church. Hence, it was more like an evening party to congratulate the two of them.

***

The wedding that night went very well. The food according to Kimiko was the best she had had in years; hospital food wasn't exactly the best.

The guests had taken turns congratulating the newly wed couple and told stories of their times together. They also played some games and gave out small prizes to the winners.

Kimiko was introduced to both Ichinose's family and Aki's family.

Kimiko got to meet Ichinose's team members who flew in from the states and she was introduced as his adopted daughter "Ichinose Kimiko". That made her slightly uncomfortable.

She also met many of Ichinose former teammates and rivals from his junior high years, such as Endou-san, Kazemaru-san, Hiroto-san, Fudou-san, etc. To most of them, she was introduced with her "fake" name.

Despite that, her oniichan never showed up. She was actually looking forward to finally getting to meet him, but he never cared to come.

Later during the wedding that evening, Ichinose decided to announce to all the guest of the matter regarding Kimiko as well as to introduce her to everyone officially. That way, people would stop coming to ask him questions.

"This is Gou-Ichinose Kimiko" Ichinose had slipped slightly but quickly covered it up. "I met her at a hospital in the states and I was told that she was ill. Her family was unable to look after her and so I am doing them a favor by adopting her as my daughter" everyone clapped as a sign of welcoming her.

Kimiko was glad that she had finally found herself a loving family and home. However, she couldn't help thinking of her father. She still wished he would remember her.

And her oniichan. He didn't even attend his former teammate's important event even though he was invited. She also understood that they were quite close and that made her question his absence even more.

Where are you oniichan? I wish you'd know that I exist.

Aki and Ichinose are now officially married! Kimiko finally gets to meet the important people that play a big part in the story like the managers and some of Ichinose's junior high friends.

But again, Gouenji didn't come. He was so busy he could spare time to come to a single part that was very important to one of his friends. Will this change the way Kimiko views him?