Inazuma Eleven Go - His story

Storytelling

Who's ready to hear Tenma's storytelling~?

~'0'~

"Smart as ever, Tenma."

"Of course, Shindou-senpai. Now, what would you like to ask?" Said the brunet as if talking about the weather and quite frankly, on the inside, he feels oddly calm.

Maybe it's because he already knew, from the moment he ran out of school, that he's gotten himself cornered, with zero possibility of escaping.

"Would you mind explaining what was that reaction about back in the clubroom?" Asked Kurama without hesitation and Tenma secretly thanks him for sparing the trouble by getting straight to the point

"Yeah! You looked terrible back in the clubroom, Tenma." Exclaimed Shinsuke worryingly

"We initially thought it's because you felt guilty, but then again, guilt doesn't make a person go pale and quiver."

"Plus, your eyes looked way less than ok. You looked afraid. Terrified even."

It's a hard pill to swallow, but both Hamano and Hayami are correct.

It wasn't just guilt.

It was fear

'Did I really look that bad?'

"Tenma, we want you to know that whatever issue you may be having, you can always count on us and tell us about it. A team doesn't judge its teammates."

"We're more than aware that you've had your fair share of rocky moments in this team and for that, we'd all like to formally apologize for not making you feel a part of this team." Said Sangoku, making all the teammates stand up and bow to the still sitting brunet.

This caught Tenma off guard.

He was expecting himself to be telling them about his past right about now, not receiving such a formal apology from his friends

"Minna... Please get up. Those moments are in the past, so there's no need for you to apologize for them."

"We knew you'd say that, but we still had to get this off our chest in order to feel at peace." Commented Amagi, after getting out of the bow posture along with everyone else

"Well, it does actually feel pretty nice now that we can officially leave those harsh times behind. That I will admit."

"However, we should probably get back to the original topic now."

'You don't need to worry, Tsurugi. I'm not planning on avoiding this topic.'

After all, there's no point in avoiding.

Even if he somehow manages to get out of it today, he'll still have to tell the truth sometime in the near future

"You all came here to find out why I behaved the way I did, right?"

Seeing all of them nod, Tenma decided that it's about time...

"Let me tell you all a story. A boy was once born in Okinawa, to a family of two nurturing parents and a loving older brother. To the average person, they seemed like a great family. A working father, a stay-at-home mother and two sons. The oldest one being a sporty kid and the youngest being more academic oriented. They really do sound lovely, don't they?"

Everyone nodded at the final question, though they could all clearly sense a 'but' coming up next. As for the striker of the team, he opted for looking at the ground while listening

'I suppose it's hard having to listen to the same story twice...'

"Well, they did seem lovely. On the surface that is. The truth is, the family was a pretty broken one. The parents were an egocentric couple, they wanted the best and did whatever it took to be better than others, and for the lack of more appropriate words, they always did it through the inhumane ways."