Bring him back

chapter 4

The group of humans and aliens began running towards them and the adult and ghost also started walking towards them. The ghost was actually very obedient, the coach barely had to tug him and he already started walking along, he didn't even struggle which made his job relatively easy, but with that being said, Endou himself didn't feel at ease

'No fight at all... He gave up so easily... This is not like him... Not at all...' The more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt, after all he was one of the reasons why Tenma's so... Lifeless, and he knew he didn't have the right to judge him.

The others had arrived in front of them and they didn't know what to say nor do, Tenma was just staring at them, blankly, his lips were no longer in the wide smile form in which they usually are and they all knew it was their fault. Tenma moved his head from right to left, examining every single person standing in front of him, he didn't know wether to be sad, afraid, angry... Actually, words are insignificant to express his current feelings, but then his eyes landed on two people and his lips curled up into a small, compassionate yet sad smile, the others were stunned seeing this and turned their heads to the two people he was eyeing, only to find their fellow teammates, Aoyama and Ichino, who had tears barely held back in their eye sockets, but they weren't tears of sadness, they were tears of joy.

A wave of realization came upon the three aliens, but as for the rest of the Raimon members - except for Aoyama and Ichino - , they didn't understand a single thing, why was Tenma smiling specifically towards these two? And what's even more shocking is the next move he does. He freed himself from the grasp of the coach, which was actually pretty easy since due to the shock his grasp force lessened and went to the two boys that he had originally eyed, the blond and brown haired players didn't move a single inch, already predicting what's about to happen. They wrapped their arms around eachother into a tiny group hug, the aliens felt relieved that Tenma was somewhat at ease around somebody in the human group, then they realized the wide eyes, dropped mouths and confused expressions on the rest of the Raimon members faces and knew exactly why

"I'm guessing you guys are confused as to why Matsukaze is willing to hug two of your teammates, right?" Asked Ozrock, though the answer was pretty clear based off of their faces, but nonetheless they still nodded in reply. Ozrock and the princesses exchanged looks and Katra began explaining

"The reason is fairly simple, your two friends-" She said gesturing the blond and brown haired boys, who had already separated from the hug "-actually helped Tenma in secret everytime you went away." After saying that the Raimon members were even more in shock than before, but more than anything they felt their guilt coming back. Tenma on the other hand, was watching the entire thing unfold, and seeing that his 'friends' were starting to lower their heads and shrinking away in shame, he couldn't help but feel a tight feeling in his chest

'Why does it hurt to see them like this?' He questioned it to himself, despite already knowing that he won't get an answer from doing so

"Since the spirit is already found, we're now gonna explain with further detail about you convincing him." Said Ozrock and they all sat down on the grass in a circle. Tenma refused to sit beside anyone else, other than Aoyama and Ichino, so after a few attempts of trying to wiggle his way out, he ended up sitting between the two people, who he still considered as friends in a different way from when he was alive

"As you know, from now on your job is to convince your friend to come back to life." Said Ozrock, and Tenma despite having a straight face and posture, he was laughing on the inside

'Yeah, right. Dream on.' He was certain that no matter what they did or tried, they would fail miserably to persuade him, after all he didn't have a reason to live

"So to make your job a little bit easier, so to say, the princesses are gonna put a second spell on one of you, that will basically attach the spirit around you 24/7-" Said Ozrock "- otherwise we'll have to keep coming back to track him down, and that's gonna turn out to be an absolute headache for all of us." The humans who were initially shocked, finally understood why, and thinking about it logically, Ozrock did make a stable argument. It wouldn't just be a lot of trouble for the extraterrestrials to travel back and forth, it would also be a massive lack of sleep for their own health

"But we do have a suggestion for this spell, that we don't know if any of you will like." Said Lalaya, worried about the reactions she's gonna get. She did a small sigh before continuing "We're gonna cast this spell on someone, other than you two." Said the princess, gesturing the two boys beside Tenma

"WHY!?" Screeched the ghost boy, making everyone else jump except for the three aliens, already expecting such a reaction. That was the very first word that came out of his mouth ever since they caught him, and it certainly didn't sound pleased at all, in fact it sounded scared, disgusted, desperate... Everything negative all at the same time, in that one single word

"The reason is because if you stick around someone you currently hate instead of someone you currently like, the chances for your hatred to decrease are much higher." Explained Lalaya, not only to the ghost but to everyone else too. Tenma was nowhere near happy with that simple yet complicated explanation, but after giving his head a loop around it, it does make sense in a weird way. If he sticks around someone he hates, then he'll have no other choice but to live with it, and as time goes on he'll probably stop hating or get used to that person, and then that person could eventually become his friend again and easily persuade him to come back to life. Even so, he didn't like the idea of forgiving any of these humans sitting in front of him "So, the real question is, which one of you is gonna be the one getting the spell?" Asked Lalaya, directing it to the humans, they've been paying close attention to every speck of detail in her words, and now they had to choose. They all looked at eachother and some of them took quick glances of the ghost, they saw the displeasure behind his empty eyes and they weren't surprised at all.

Without realizing, they've formed into a circle, excluding the aliens, the ghost and the two boys that were pretty much out of their discussion's theme. A simple answer would be straightforward, they would pick coach Endou right off the bat, but they had to choose one of the teammates, cause even though Endou was one of the people at fault and also has to fix it, the priority ones that needed this whole mess to be fixed are the kids.