My Father's Secret

Chapter 19

"Where did you go last night?" Fuyuka-san asked first thing when she brought Kimiko's breakfast.

"I was exploring the hospital" Kimiko replied making sure to not tell Fuyuka-san about Amemiya-kun.

"You remind me a lot of one of my other special patients. He never likes staying in his room. I'm sure you two would get a long perfectly"

"Who is he? If you think I get a long with him well, I want to know who this guy is"

"His name is Amemiya Taiyou-kun"

Upon hearing the name, Kimiko tried to hold in a laugh. Looks like Fuyuka-san's prediction was right because even though they only had a short conversation, Kimiko felt like they had some sort of bond already.

"Can you tell me more about him? He seems like an interesting person" she asked trying to look curious.

"Well, when he was younger, he was very ill and he has been hospitalised ever since. He has to refrain from any vigorous exercises, including soccer. But, I can tell he has passion for it and he seems quite talented too. If you ask me, his story is a lot like yours just that he wasn't as lucky to receive treatment in the States like you had. Thats why he'll be staying here for a while longer than you"

Kimiko was silent as she took in the new information. It seemed like she and Amemiya-kun did have a lot in common after all.

Kimiko was allowed to leave the hospital after breakfast and she quickly made her way to Raimon. There, they would board the bus to Eito Junior High where the match was going to take place.

***

The match started quickly and Kimiko along with the other managers watched silently. It was a fixed match that Kimiko wished she could have done something about. She was sure things would be different if she did.

Tsurugi wasn't at the game that day. She was actually quite glad because she would have a bigger headache if he did.

She could tell that Raimon was going easy on Eito purposely. Tenma and Shinsuke looked surprised because anyone would know that Raimon could easily beat a weak team like Eito. Nevertheless, Tenma did his best, but that was no use if the rest of the team was unwilling to help.

By the end of the first half, Eito was in the lead with a score of 2-0, something impossible without a fixed score. Tenma and Shinsuke were extremely confused by now about the team's behaviour and attitude towards the game.

"Everyone, what's going on with your plays? This isn't the Raimon soccer team I know!"

Tenma's words caused frustration among the team members, especially Captain Shindou.

"You would never understand!" Shindou shouted. This was shocking to Tenma and he decided to let Shindou continue.

"The score for this match has already been set. Raimon loses 3-0"

"A set score before the match starts!? Thats not soccer!"

"Theres no other choice. Either we follow the scores of they take away soccer from us"

"Who is doing this?"

"Don't you know about Fifth Sector?"

"They control soccer. They set the scores before the games and if you go against them, your school's soccer club would get disbanded"

Tenma remained silent. He didn't know how messed up everything had gotten. All he wanted to do was play soccer in the school he had been admiring his whole life. Instead, he had caused so much frustration to the team.

At the start of the second half, Kimiko saw that Tenma was disappointed and his plays weren't as enthusiastic as usual. So, she decided to take action. She got up from her seat and walked over to the edge of the field.

"Tenma! You can do this! Everything will work out some how!" she shouted and gave Tenma a thumbs up to give him confidence.

It seemed to work because his spirit started to come back. He repeatedly tried to steal the ball from the opponent and overtime, he would pass it to Shindou. Despite his effort, Shindou wouldn't move and he simply stood there with his head down.

Nevertheless, Tenma did not give up and continued to send the ball to Shindou. At last, Shindou made up his mind and answered to Tenma's feelings and shot the ball towards the goal. It zoomed pass the players and blasted into the goal. Ending the match with a score of 3-1.

They had defied the scores, which meant defying Fifth Sector. Little did they know that the consequences of defying Fifth Sector would cost them so much.

In the audience, a certain man watches the game.