Slight warning: It's just a conversation. Mostly talking is present in this chapter.

Date: 6th July, Tuesday

Tenma's POV

My mom was waiting till Aoi arrives to take Tenki home. I read over the letters sent by my teammates. Most of the said to get well soon. Some of them mentioned not to push myself any further and rest well.

It's good to know that they are all okay. Looks like I'm gonna have to rest anyway.

A knock was heard before the doors slid open. A recognizing face showed up in blue hair in her casual clothes. Aoi...

"Aoi your finally here. We had been waiting for you." My mom said.

"Ahh, you didn't have to wait for me."  Aoi said with a gentle smile.

"It's alright. I just need to take Tenkishi home. I will return around 6pm after I feed him. Tenma do you want anything?" She asked me as she grabbed her bag.

"I'd eat anything handmade by you, Mom" I said to her with a smile. She smiled back and took Tenki with her and left the room saying her goodbyes.

Aoi turned to me and had an angry expression. She stomped her way over to me. I quickly cover my head with a blanket in case she was going to hit me or something. "Tenma, remove the blanket." She said angrily.

"I don't want to." I replied to her.

"Remove the blanket." She said.

"No" I refused.

"Stop being so stubborn" She added.

"Nope." I denied. Since I was still refusing she pulled up the blanket and pulled it over her head. We met face to face and I just put a nervous smile on my face while she was still angry.

"Just how stubborn can you be?" She pouted as she pulled the blanket off us. I apologized to her as I scratched my head. She sat in the chair my mom had sat on before before she spoke.

"The coach and I said so even if you didn't stop it, it is okay." She looked at me with concern. I soften my gaze and smile at her. I put my hand on top of her and told her softly.

"I'm really sorry but I couldn't just watch all of them get hurt." She frowned a bit as she held my hand back.  "But you want be able to play in the finals. Doesn't that feel unfair?" She sighed.

 I rubbed my thumb on her hand as a spoke. I looked into her eyes as I spoke. "It's fine plus, the only reason Raimon is able to advance into the finals is because of me. Right?" She softly smiled as she spoke. "I guess so..."

I let go of her hand as I stared at her. Then I remembered her cheer practice so I asked her. "So how is cheer practice going?"

She got surprised and chuckled before speaking. "I stopped going because you were not gonna be there when I cheer."

I frowned a bit. "That's too bad, but still you are cheering for Raimon. So it will be better if you do it" I asked her with a bright smile. "Don't stop for me, do it for me"

There was a bit of a pause as she stared back at me. I tilted my head a bit and she responded looking away. "I'll do it for you I guess.."

I grinned back to her and she giggled back. I wondered how the team was so I asked her about them. She said that are practicing very hard to make sure to win. Though some of them seem to be unfocused and unmotivated once in a while. Shindou did his best to make sure their spirits never died. Maybe I have to drop by the school tomorrow.

After some conversation with about the team, my stomach grumbled a bit. I held my stomach as i sighed. "I'm a bit hungry..."

"Do you want me to go buy some drinks?" Aoi suggested as she stood up. I nodded to her. 

"Ill be back in a while okay?" She said as she left to buy some drinks. 

After sometime, Aoi opened the door as she returned with the drinks. "The vending machine didn't seem to have a lot of flavors available. So I got three. Orange, Lemon and Melon." She said as she put them on the bedside counter. "Which one do you want?"

"I guess, I'll take the orange one." I was familiar with this taste rather than the others.

"I'm gonna drink Melon." She said as she took it.

We both opened the cans and drank it and let out air. "Ahhh~" We both laughed together having the same reactions. "What do you think the lemon one tastes like?" I asked her. "I don't know, let me try it." She said as she took it.

She opened it and took a sip and had a facial expression of regret. She gulped it and said. "Oh my god, it is so sour." She said.

"Isn't it a soda? Usually they put a lot of sugar in it?" I chuckled.

"You try then." She said as she handed it to me. I took a sip and realized it was sour but I was pretty used to this sourness.

"Wow, It is sour." I said blankly.

"What kind of reaction is that?" She said in disappointment with my reaction.

"I mean I used to drink a lot of different varieties of soda when I was younger. Our inn had different flavors of drinks all the time." I explained to her.

"Really? Wow you never told me that?"  She said in surprise.

"I didn't, I guess o don't talk about it often cause I love soccer." I responded to her.

"Let me try that again" She said as she took the lemon can again. As curious as a cat I asked her. "Can I taste the melon one?"

"Oh, here" She gave it to me immediately. We both took a sip after doing the cheers.

"Ooh this is pretty good, how's yours?" I said smiling.

"Terrible... Can I try the orange one." She said in disgust.

"Go ahead." I laughed.

She took that one and drank. "Ahh, still has a bit of a sour taste but pretty sweet." We had some short conversations and when my mom came she left to go home.

"Did you two get along?" My mom asked. She probably noticed that she was upset with me before. Both of us nodded to her.

"I better get going, Bye Tenma." She said as she picked up her bag. She took the drink in my hand and walked out of the room. 

"Did she just take your drink?" My mom asked pointing to the door.

"No, it was hers. We were just exchanging. The orange one is mine" I said as I grabbed the orange soda.

"Hmm, sounds like you experienced an indirect kiss." My mom smirked as she sat down.

I spit the juice everywhere and coughed a couple of times due to what my mom just said. 'AN INDIRECT KISS???'  I thought. 

What happened in the past few minutes finally processed in my head. I covered my mouth with my left hand. I put the drink down on the bedside table and hid myself under the covers. Blushing under the covers, like a red tomato I tried to forget what had happened. Mom on the other hand, kept teasing me.

Oh God why... 

Date: 7th July, Wednesday

I decided to drop by to the soccer field with my mom. I wanted to see how the team was doing and wanted to let them know I was alright. As i arrived at the soccer pitch, Shinsuke who was defending the goal immediately lit up as he screamed my name. 

Everyone else jumped at the scream but turn to me as he started running towards me. I came down the stairs and got a warm hug from Shinsuke. The team approached together like they all wanted to hug me but I let go of Shinsuke and told them I was still under some few pains.

Some of them frowned at that news sadly. Kirino approached me and smiled as he held my shoulder. "You know, you had us all worried. Seeing you here, standing. All the worries has disappeared. But most importantly thank you again Tenma."

"Kirino is right, without you none of us would be standing here." Shindou remarked.

"Tenma-kun!" Haru called me out. She split the crowd apart and approached me and hugged me. I was really surprised at her move. The rest of the team gasped in shock. "Thank you!" She whispered in my ear. I turned to Tsurugi as he was also in shock but slowly soften his gaze.  I smiled towards him as I held her back before she let go.

She wiped the tears she had as she slowly walked towards Tsurugi. Haru was worried about Tsurugi getting hurt. Now I wonder how much I had hurt, Aoi. Even though I apologized I feel like I should I had done a better apology.

" What's this? You both have a secret?" Kariya teased me all of a sudden but got his head hit by Kirino who sighed. I chuckled before speaking. "It's nothing. Honestly I came here to say something to all of you."

"what would that be?" Sangoku asked.

"I want you all to win the tournament for me."

All of them looked at each other before Shindou spoke. "Of course, It's the least we can do for you."

"Thank you Captain!" I said as I bowed to him. Afterwards they all went back to their training and i left after saying my goodbyes.