My Father's Secret

Chapter 29

Taiyou and Kimiko were in the hospital gardens again. It was nearly noon and the burning sun scorched their skins, but that didn't keep them from playing soccer. Running around, chasing the ball and thinking about nothing else.

As they kicked the ball towards the other end of the hospital, a man in a black hood blocked them in their path. She felt Taiyou grab hold of her arm as he positioned himself between her and the hooded man.

Then, he was on the ground. The grass beneath his lifeless body was stained by the blood that was gushing out of the hole in his stomach.

The next thing she knew, the gun was pointed at her own head and she heard the sound of the single gunshot that awoke her from her worst nightmare. Sweat was still dripping from her forehead and she could have sworn she could still hear the echo of the shot that took her life, even if it was only in a dream.

***

Sunday was a blur. After the dream that night, Kimiko kept seeing images of Taiyou's body on the ground soaked in blood and no matter how hard she tried to bury them up, the kept surfacing themselves. It was worse than the thought of her Dad not being able to remember her.

Ichinose and Aki seemed to notice that something was wrong with her and tried to talk to her, but it didn't help. Kimiko sulked at home all day and even thinking about the upcoming semi-finals for the Kanto district didn't cheer her up. Not because she wouldn't be able to play, but because she just couldn't get the thought of Taiyou's dead body out of her head.

When she found out on Monday that their opponent for the semi-finals was changed to Teikoku academy, everything got so much worse.

The team was practicing hard for the upcoming match against Teikoku. They tried out a hissatsu tactic that Coach Kudou had created, one that they attempted before but never succeeded. Ultimate Thunder was a hissatsu technique that required someone with very strong kick power at the end and no matter how they tried, their power wasn't strong enough.

The only person who could do it was none other than Tsurugi, just that the team didn't want to admit it because after the game against Mannouzaka, Tsurugi never came to practice anymore. Kimiko wondered at some point where he could have gone but now, her mind was somewhere else.

It was at the other end of the hospital, again.

***

Endou-san and Haruna-san must have noticed that Kimiko was down because after practice they came up to ask her if something was wrong.

"I had a really bad nightmare" Kimiko replied.

"It doesn't sound good, so I won't ask what it was about"

"Thank you" Kimiko replied weakly.

"I know a place that will clear your mind" Endou-san added and he took Kimiko and Haruna to his favourite spot in Inazuma Town.

The view from the steel plaza was breath taking and all the thoughts in Kimiko's head seemed to vanish for a moment, just like how Inazuma Town was vanishing as it was slowly swallowed up by the sun melting into the horizon.

"Endou, we meet again" came a familiar voice.

It was the genius tactician, Kidou Yuuto.

Endou, Haruna and her brother had a long conversation about the upcoming match. Even though Kimiko was trying to eavesdrop from afar, she could tell that Kidou-san was very different from the first time she had met him.

It also appeared that Teikoku was with Fifth Sector because Haruna-san and Endou-san seemed surprised when Kidou-san talked about Teikoku. Kimiko saw Endou-san trying to convince Kidou-san to stay away from Fifth Sector but he simply refused.

Kidou-san has changed. Something must have happened, and why is he working with Fifth Sector?

***

Tuesday came around faster than normal and Kimiko was so not prepared to see the next match. She desperately wanted to participate but everyone knew that it wouldn't be happening soon. She had used her quota in the previous match and should wouldn't be able to play even in the finals for the Kanto district.

Though the bloody images kept popping into her mind, she easily got rid of them because there was so much she had to be doing. She had to prepare water for the boys and other equipment they needed. Furthermore, she and Tenma were supposed to go look for Tsurugi.

Tsurugi was absent from practice ever since the Mannouzaka match and he was even hard to get in contact with at school. He seemed to be avoiding everyone he knew. In the beginning, Kimiko let it slide because she knew he was going through a lot. But now, they had an important match to go to and it would be almost impossible to win without Tsurugi's kick power.

Ultimate thunder was still incomplete and everyone agreed that the key to completing it was Tsurugi. Kimiko and Tenma had to find Tsurugi and convince him to play in the next match before they had to board the van to the stadium at 9.

They had less than an hour and the clock was ticking fast.

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