My Father's Secret

Chapter 41

It had been almost a week since the boys had won the district championships. That also meant that class camp was nearing. It was a Friday evening and as usual, Kimiko rushed to the hospital. She had decided to talk to Taiyou about Tsurugi. After thinking it over multiple times, she thought that Taiyou would be the one who had the best advice for her. Then again, she was unsure wether talking about Tsurugi would be the best option. But, Kimiko desperately needed someone to talk to right now. She was confused with her life, with everything going on.

Once she arrived in her room, she was surprised to see that Taiyou was already sitting inside looking at a soccer magazine.

"I knew you'd be coming at around this time"

Kimiko laughed.

"I was just about to go look for you"

"So, whatcha wanna do today?" Taiyou asked putting his magazine down on the coffee table.

"Actually, I have something I wanted to talk to you about"

"Sure. Lets go grab a drink downstairs and we can talk about it"

Taiyou led Kimiko downstairs to a coffee shop within the hospital. Overtime she looked at Taiyou, Kimiko felt like he was more than just any friend she has had before. That was why she put so much thought into deciding wether she should tell Taiyou about Tsurugi. She felt as if there was a bond between her and Taiyou but it wasn't like the bond she had with Tsurugi. Everything was so hard to explain because her feelings were so messed up.

Taiyou had bought her a glass of peach soda - her favourite and they sat down at one of the tables to talk.

"So, what do you have to tell me today?"

"Umm, its..."

There was a moment of silence before Kimiko spoke again.

"Our school is having a residential trip" she finally said. She couldnt bring herself to talk to Taiyou about Tsurugi; it was much too awkward given all the situation they were all in. Kimiko wasnt even sure if she thought of Tsurugi that way. What about the way she thought of Taiyou? Maybe she liked Taiyou? She didnt know because she didnt know what it was like to feel a liking towards someone. After all, she hadnt had friends or hung out with anyone over the course of her 12 years being stuck in the hospital.

"That sounds fun" Taiyou said, taking another drink from his iced green tea.

In the end, Kimiko ended up telling Taiyou about the residential and they talked about school. It was mostly about Raimon because Taiyou didnt go to school. Technically, he did but the whole thing wasnt really official so he didnt like talking about it.

***

That evening, Ichinose-san brought up something surprising at the dinner table.

"I think I should get a job" was what he said.

"I think thats a good idea" Aki-nee said.

"But I have no clue what to do. In the beginning, I was thinking of becoming a coach but the soccer world here is pretty messed up. I dont want to get myself involved"

"Maybe you could try talking to Kogure-san. He works for Hiroto-san's company right?" Kimiko suggested. Just recently, Kimiko had discovered that Kogure lived in Kogarashi Manor. He even had his own soccer team composed of the residents here and Raimon and fought them a couple times before.

"Thats an idea. I think I'll talk to Kogure tomorrow"

***

Kimiko laid silently in bed. Her mind was wandering all over the place and she couldnt manage to keep it still. Her mind was worrying about Tsurugi. She tried to convince herself that the reason she kept think about him was because of Fifth Sector and how she wanted to help. It was simply the concerns of a fellow teammate and nothing more.

Regardless, Kimiko wanted to talk to someone about it and preferably an adult. She decided that Aki-nee and Ichinose-san werent the best options because they didnt know much about Tsurugi or her school life. Natsumi-san was never one of her options to begin with. Fuyuka-san on the other hand knew Tsurugi well but it would be too troublesome to talk to her if it wasnt on Fridays.

That left Haruna-san. She knew Tsurugi best among all the other candidates and was easy to contact. Furthermore, she was kind of oniichan's girlfriend so in a way, they were almost like family.

That thought took her mind wandering to further topics, preventing her from getting a good nights rest. Where are you oniichan?

Apart from Tsurugi, there was still the Holy Emperor thing to worry about. Who exactly was he? With everything going on, Kimiko barely had time to keep up with her homework. Researching about this Holy Emperor guy was definitely not something she had time to do at the moment. But she made a mental note to ask Tsurugi about it if she had the chance. After all he had worked with the Holy Emperor himself before.