Chapter 9: Welcome Back

'That was close.. stupid me for not seeing this. Of course, there are a lot of blondes now because of that anime..', thought Watari as he wandered around Sumiya junior high. 'He's bigger than me now, so he could kill me.. I better stay away for a while. But come to think of it.. his reaction was hilarious.'

Watari snickered to himself as he sat on the bench outside near the football field, after he ran away from his best friend. Kousei had a look of a true executioner moments before, and he wasn't about to lose his head just yet, so he avoided him as quickly as he could.

The caramel haired trickster was actually surprised to see students. Their high school suspended classes for the winter break as early as the Emperor's birthday, two days prior.

"Well, Sumiya did have a tendency to extend school days up to Christmas day..", muttered Watari while observing the many folk going about their business around him. "Funny though that the students were on vacation mode already with all the carefree blabber around."

But something was distinct amidst all that noise. That sound was very familiar. Someone was playing the piano.

Watari looked towards the direction of the room with the broken window. Kousei was making music. "I have to admit. He's way more awesome than me whenever his hands got on that thing."

As Watari strained his eyes a bit more to see through the window, he saw some girls peeping through the door. They were listening intently to Kousei as if wishing they were the piano themselves.

'What a cheat..', pondered Watari as he sulked and pouted. 'He's such a dork, but he always gets the good ones. That's not fair.. so I guess it's best to mind my own business.'

Watari had nobody with him. He didn't know anyone save for some of the football team who were probably eating lunch somewhere. He looked at his phone and stared at Tsubaki's number for a while. Then, he found himself tapping it.

"'Sup?..", a girl with a little roughness around the edges in her tone answered from the other side of the line.

"I'm bored..", replied Watari.

"It's been only two days since the break started. Go expend your energy somewhere else, Watari."

"Aren't you coming home for the break?"

"I told you many times. My parents are coming here this time."

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, Tsubaki. Just so you know, Kousei's here too."

"Wait. Wha-.."

"Bye."

'That girl is still hopelessly head over heels obsessed with Kousei even after almost three years since their breakup..', thought Watari, giving off a sigh. 'It really irritates me whenever I think about it.'

Knowing that there was absolutely nothing to do, Watari just went home and fetched his training clothes. He might as well play football later that day while he waited for Kousei to cool down. And when he was just about to step out of Sumiya, his phone rang.

"What do you want now?..", Watari answered the call, a bit irritated.

"Why did you put the phone down? I wasn't done with you yet!..", Tsubaki replied angrily.

"Look, Tsubaki. Why don't you expend your energy somewhere else?"

"Eh?! Don't you dare put the phone down now."

"I won't, I'm listening."

Silence followed afterwards. It was as if Tsubaki was hesitating to say something. And Watari did have a feeling it was something that would further irritate him.

"Alright, time's up. Bye bye..", Watari bluntly stated.

"Hey, come on, Wa-..", Tsubaki wasn't even able to finish the sentence when Watari ended the call.

"She's annoying. Whenever I call her, she just shoos me off..", mumbled Watari as he sulked. "But when I say his name.. she lingers around. She's really annoying.. but I really can't stand it."

Watari was itching to open his phone again. He tried to resist it for a few moments, but he still ended up dialing Tsubaki's number once more. She answered, but she didn't say anything.

"Make it quick. I'm gonna start preparing for football practice..", Watari told her even though practice wasn't about to start in a couple of hours.

"Can you please not leave his side while you're there? I'm pretty sure he's not in a good place right now..", uttered Tsubaki in a pleading tone.

"No."

"Wow, heartless beast.."

"Why don't you do it yourself, Tsubaki? I've been checking on him in your stead since forever."

"You know it's not that easy, Watari. Please.."

It took some time before Watari answered. He just simply closed his eyes and sighed. Call him soft, but when it really came to his friends, especially Tsubaki and Kousei, he couldn't help it. "Okay.."

"Thank you for understanding. I promise I'll be there with you guys someday."

Watari gave off a sigh once more. And then, another moment of awkward silence followed. It amazed him on how Tsubaki can be deafening in both being full on noisy and just being plain quiet.

"Oi. Don't make promises you can't make..", Watari broke the silence. Tsubaki just giggled on the other side. He smirked at the sound. "Bye Tsubaki. I'll try to see you soon too."

"Okay. Bye. Thanks again, Watari."

'That didn't go so well. It was always Kousei this, and Kousei that with her..', sulked Watari in his thoughts again. 'But don't get me wrong though. I do care a lot for my best friend.. but every single time I talk to Tsubaki, it's always him she talked about. No wonder that Saito guy dumped her before..

'Which kinda reminds me. I hope that Kousei stayed put in Sumiya and didn't do anything stupid.'

Later that afternoon, Watari went back to their old school to train with the football team. He did admit they were better than expected. He felt like he was never that good at their age.

'Although they have yet to achieve the level of awesomeness that I have.. scoring against them was no easy task..', pondered Watari while playing with his juniors. And just when he was about to break the deadlock with his breakaway, Kousei suddenly jumped out of the music room, crashing to the ground along with what used to be glass windows.

It pretty much caught everyone's attention with the sound of shattering glass, like a ninja's failed plan to escape silently. Kousei didn't even stay down for long. He stood up right away and bolted with great speed.

'Gotta admit.. my buddy's gotten really athletic..', thought Watari.

When Kousei approached the field, and still sprinting, Watari saw clearly that he had a look of unimaginable terror in his eyes. His skin was as pale as the snow piled in the sidelines, and it seemed like he was running for dear life.

"Oi, Kousei!! What the hell is going on?..", Watari asked as Kousei came near him, still shocked with what he just did. Even the football training stopped just to figure out what was happening.

"Ghost!! T-there's a ghost! I-I-I saw a ghost!! R-run!!..", yelled Kousei loudly at first, and then faded away as he ran towards the opposite side of the pitch.

"Eh!?!? What's wrong? Is there something in my face?! Waah! The principal's gonna make me do a long report with this mess.. Come back here, you dummy!..", an extremely familiar voice sqealed coming from where Kousei jumped.

Watari looked slowly towards the direction of the music room and saw a very upset.. "Kao-chan?..", he said the very moment he saw the extremely recognizable blonde, ruggedly wearing her school uniform, and that thick black rimmed.. "Glasses? She wore glasses? Wait. Is she really.. no way.."

"Uh oh. Did that dude just piss onee-san off?..", a voice asked behind Watari. It was Shizu-san, the current captain of the Sumiya football team.

"I'm sorry.. who? Onee-san?..", inquired Watari, looking confused.

"We call her onee-san 'cause she's about three years older than everyone in our year level. Heard she had to stop school for quite a while, so she can get some illness of hers treated."

"She was ill?..", Watari asked again as everything was beginning to make a lot of sense for him.

"Yeah. Don't know what though, senpai. But she looks well enough to me..", Shizu replied while the blonde girl kept yelling in the background.

'This is all so surreal..', thought Watari in shock. "What else do you know about her?"

"Don't really know her that much besides being the head of the music club and the president of the student council. She's cute, definitely cute. Way too cute, in fact..", Shizu continued as Watari nodded in agreement. "But she's too old for my type. Don't tell her that though..", he added with a little concern in his voice.

And also, this "onee-san" was still persistently yelling at Kousei to come back. Watari was starting to feel like he had to do something.

"And why is that Shizu-san?", Watari asked again.

"Because I'll really get 'it' from her. Don't get me all wrong, senpai. She's all pleasant and kindhearted. Even her personality is strong enough to light up an entire place, but don't get on her bad side though. She can really be terrifying..", Shizu-san shivered when he said that last word.

'It's suddenly creeping me out. The way he described her sounded exactly like Kao-chan..', thought Watari as he stared stunned at the frantically screaming blonde. "What's her name again?"

"Miyazono, Kaori."

'Someone slap me, please. Am I dreaming? You've gotta be kidding me. How is she.. alive?!'

At that point, Watari got stuck in a pretty complicated predicament. He would want to go to Kaori, of course. He desperately needed to know how she was there and not in the afterlife. However Kousei, his best friend who his other best friend said he needed to look after, ran the other way and may have caused serious damage to both the school and his mental health.

'But Kao-chan's my friend too, who I thought was gone. Now she's here and very much alive.'

"Hwoaaaah!! Tsubaki, you owe me big time..", Watari thundered right before he suddenly took his football and ran after Kousei.

"What are you all standing there for?! Stop staring at me before I think of all of you as perverts! Go after him!..", Kaori screamed shortly after Watari ran.

'She had a point. I was staring at her like that. Wait. What am I thinking?!..', pondered Watari while running away.

The rest of the football team looked at it each other and started to turn pale right before they stood stiffly and replied to her.

"Yes, onee-san!!..", they all said in unison like soldiers. Then, they ran after Kousei and Watari.

Suddenly, there was this massive mob coming after Kousei. 'Come to think of it, it's a hilarious stampede. Kao-chan definitely had her way with people..', thought Watari as he chuckled.

If there was one thing Watari is sure of, he could run faster than his best friend. But a frantic and fear struck Kousei, being chased by an already tired from practice not so awesome former captain of the Sumiya football team, was a different story. 'I must say, he's fast.'

It took quite a while before Watari really caught up with his panicking friend. They were already a block away from Sumiya before he got a clear shot at Kousei. Without any sign of hesitation, Watari kicked his football straight and avoiding some obstacles towards Kousei's back, knocking him down.

Watari slowed down as he approached Kousei's seemingly bruised and lifeless body. 'Did I overdo it? I hope not. Tsubaki will kill me.'

Watari walked towards his unconscious friend silently like a true ninja. He picked his ball up without noise. However, Kousei suddenly stood up, knocking all of them backwards. 'When did the rest of the football team arrive?'

Kousei adjusted his glasses and looked at everyone with his head bleeding. "Oh. Hey guys. What the hell just happened?..", he asked with an awkward smile on his face as he scratched the back of his head. It knocked them all backwards again, confused with what was going on in his head. "Wait. Why is everything in red?!..", he panicked as he probably started to notice that his blood was creeping towards his eye.

"You're bleeding Kousei. Let's bring you to the school nurse..", insisted Watari, inciting a very familiar flash back.

"Senpai..", one of the players of the team called. To Watari's surprise, the members of the team all looked like they were possessed by the devil when he looked at them.

"We need to bring him to onee-san first to answer for his crimes.. or else..", Shizu paused, staring down on both Watari and Kousei (Well, all of them did). "She will erase us from the face of this earth!! Please assist us in this great time of need, senpai..", he added as they all seemed to transform like crying little puppies with their tails in between their legs. A drop of sweat fell behind Watari's head.

"It's okay boys. We're friends with Kao-chan. We got you all covered..", Watari said to them, which somehow assured them.

But it seemed to make Kousei's eyes widen again. And then, he started to turn pale. Good thing Watari was able to whack him in the head before he bolted. This time, they all walked calmly back to Sumiya.

"I actually thought it was a dream.. until you said her name..", Kousei said while he applied pressure on his head wound with his hand.

"Eh? What're you talking about?..", Watari asked in confusion.

"Nothing. I just simply recalled falling asleep in the music room and waking up on the sidewalk somehow a while ago. And I just simply assumed everything in between was just a dream..", replied Kousei, looking down while he walked. He looked really disturbed with what just happened.

'Tsubaki was right. He's not in a good place..', thought Watari.

"Am I still dreaming? No, it can't be. I feel pain all over my body..", Kousei added.

"It's because you went through a window, stupid. Not to mention the fact that you ran until every muscle in your body exploded. But yeah, I still can't believe what's going on right now."

"How is this possible, Watari? I don't get it. I was there when her life gave out."

"I'm just as clueless as you are, buddy.. and that is why we're going back there. But first.. you need to get that covered up. Hopefully, she's still there at school."

'Hopefully, she's still there..', pondered Kousei as he walked slowly in pain. 'What an incredibly dreadful and yet, familiar feeling.'

It only took them about five minutes to get back inside Sumiya Middle School. It had only been barely an hour since dismissal, so most of the students were still there. Jumping through a window made Kousei win the popularity vote as everyone stared at the two while they walked through the hallways. They immediately went inside the clinic after that to stop attracting unwanted attention.

"I knew somehow that you would end up here today the moment you visited us this morning, Arima-kun..", the nurse said jokingly while she patched up Kousei.

Kousei chuckled awkwardly. "You know what they say. Some things never change. I'm as clumsy as ever."

Watari laughed a little too right before silently digging deep into his thoughts. He just realized something that made some sense. He thought about the events from about three years ago. Around this time of the year, Kaori still seemed in good condition although couldn't walk without assistance anymore. She always was happy and had always lit up her hospital room with her giggles and smiles. No one would've ever thought she was dying already. 'Or was I just being naive?'

"Come to think of it.. there was no funeral..", remarked Watari, not realizing he was thinking out loud.

"Yes. Her parents told us they were going to bring her to their hometown.. so that their relatives could see her one last time..", Kousei replied to his friend's surprise.

'My awesome realization immediately turned to dust. But there's more..', pondered Watari again. "Right.. they told us that outside the ICU when she was declared dead..", he agreed, but he thought about it more because there was something he couldn't understand back then. "But what really bugs me was they just completely disappeared the following day. I mean.. I even went to the bakery to say my goodbyes, you know.. only to find out it was closed."

Then, Watari instantly regretted what he said as he saw the expression on Kousei's face. It was as if he just reminded him something he had already buried deep in his thoughts. "I'm sorry, Kousei. I shouldn't have.."

"It's alright, Watari..", Kousei stopped his best friend mid sentence as the nurse finished treating him. "No use being sad about it. Miyazono-san's alive, isn't she?..", he added with an actual smile painted on his face, which surprised Watari.

'I haven't seen my best friend smile like that in ages.. and he was able to say Kao-chan's name again..', Watari smiled at the thought. 'Welcome back, buddy..'

Translation Notes:

Emperor's Birthday - a national holiday in Japan wherein they celebrate the day of birth of the current emperor. In this chapter, it is December 23, which is Emperor Emeritus Akihito's birthday. Some high schools, instead of having classes until Christmas day, choose to suspend classes at this holiday to mark the beginning of the winter break. However, in real life, Emperor Emeritus Akihito abdicated the throne so the holiday was moved to February 23, which is Emperor Naruhito's birthday.

ICU - intensive care unit. In this chapter, Watari recalled being outside the ICU where Kaori was during her supposed death.