My Father's Secret

Chapter 23

It was the day of the first match in the Holy Road competition. The day before, Shindou had found out about the score order, Raimon loses 2-0 against Tengawara. but Shindou's mind was already set. He was going to play his soccer.

Once the match started, Shindou gave it his all. He and Tenma tried to the steal the ball and Shindou made a shot using his hissatsu technique, Fortissimo and made the first point. The rest of the team remained frozen still as usual.

Tengawara went hard core and brought out an avatar to tie the point. The whistle blew to signal the end of the first half and the teams walked off the pitch.

When the second half started, Tengawara went all out and used their avatar to make a shot. Seeing his mother at the game, Sangoku-san is suddenly reminded of how important soccer was to him, even in his childhood and like Shindou, he made up his mind to fight with Tenma to protect their soccer.

As the avatar shot zooms past Tenma and Shindou's avatar, Sangoku uses his hissatsu technique, Burning Catch to stop the ball. The real Sangoku-san was back.

Shindou receives the ball and brings the ball up to the goal. He brings out his avatar and makes a shot, Harmonics. It blasts through the goal, making Raimon in the lead with a score of 2-1 at the end of the match.

"With Tenma, we can change this corrupted soccer" Sangoku-san said.

***

The next day at school, the soccer team seemed as miserable as ever. They were afraid that by going against Fifth Sector, they would have to be punished.

And just as they feared, Tsurugi came to Endou, requesting to play in the next match. Simultaneously, Minamisawa quits the team, bringing the team's moral down even more.

Seems like Tsurugi is taking action. There has to be some catch. Maybe he has gotten orders from Fifth Sector, or is he really changing?

***

The presentation on Friday went well. Tsurugi was able to perfect his speech and didn't forget any of the points. He knew the information by heart, he just needed to be able to convey it to the audience.

But after the presentation, he was back to his cold hearted self again. It was as if he was hiding a secret or acting in front of other to cover something up. Maybe both?

***

That evening, Kimiko made her way to the hospital again. This time she made sure she didn't forget. As she walked down the road, she spotted Tsurugi up ahead.

"Tsurugi!" she called running up to him.

"Going to visit your niisan?"

"Yeah" answering less coldly than during the day.

"I was on my way to the hospital too, want to go together?"

"Why not, but why are you going there?"

Seemed like Tsurugi was starting to wonder about their encounter in front of his brother's room last week.

"Oh, I have to do weekly checkups at the hospital and I have to be admitted every Friday. Doctor's orders"

Tsurugi looked at her in confusion but tried not to act too nice.

"I've been ill since I was young, so I have to go the hospital regularly. That also means I have to refrain from intense sports like soccer"

The conversation ended up making it's way to the topic of soccer. It was Kimiko's intention to find out what exactly Tsurugi was up to.

He didn't seem like the kind of person who would want to destroy soccer especially because he was so good at it and his beloved brother liked soccer too. It was risky but it was worth a shot.

"Tsurugi, you're really good at soccer though. Your kick power is the real thing. What I don't understand is why you want to destroy it. Theres also a reason why you requested to join the next match right?"

Tsurugi stopped walking and sighed.

"Looks like I can't hide it from you anymore"

Is Tsurugi finally going to open up?

Will the soccer team make it through with its current condition? And what does Tsurugi intend to do in the next match?