Really now. I should be focusing more on the MMTFC prizes. /facepalm/

IE Charas: Yes, yes we agree.

/eyebrows raised/ And why is that?

IE Charas: Because all of your other stories are killing us =^=

/anime fall/ So I see…

-Take Care-

Teenager Kidou Yuuto raised his eyebrows at the scene unfolding right in front of him. Surely, he hadn't expected to see something so… strange, especially on his way to school. The relatively short figure not far from him aroused suspicion in every soul who spotted it sneaking in and out of the bushes – especially in a hoodie.

Careful of his own steps, Kidou slowly closed the space between them. It could be a thief for all he knew, but he felt this need to know. He felt like he needed to know why this figure was sneaking around. It could cost him detention – seeing as he might as well be late for school – but it would be worth it. He knew it would be worth it, in a way he wasn't really sure himself.

"Um, excuse me?" Kidou placed a hand on the hooded figure.

"WAH!" the figure screamed and the hood fell off – revealing long black hair, tinted a slight brown. The figure turned around and Kidou caught sight of the figure's feminine face and blackish-brown eyes. His face held confusion and shock. What was a girl of his age doing here?

"Sorry for scaring you, but what were you doing in the bushes?" he dropped the hand that held the girl's shoulder.

The girl remained silent. She didn't answer Kidou's question, let alone stare at him in the face. Kidou sensed something was wrong and tried again.

"Are you okay?" his voice was filled with genuine concern. Maybe the girl lost something precious to her around this area and was trying hard to find it.

"I-I'm fine!" she turned around, flustered at being found out. Without a second to lose, she dashed away – leaving Kidou in a smoke of dust. The teenage boy stood there. His mind couldn't really process what had happened so he started to make a list out of it.

He was on his way to school.

He saw a strange figure who turned out to be a girl about his age.

He surprised her even though he was just curious.

And then she just… ran off? Ran off to where, exactly?

He stared at the direction the girl had vanished through. It looked familiar, the roads and houses. All too familiar. And then it suddenly hit him smack in the face. School! He was late for school!

"Oh damn it," he cursed and broke into a sprint. So much for gaining something beneficial from the figure. The only beneficial thing he got was going to be detention for sure! Ah, it was going to look bad in his record.

"Students, starting from today we'll have a new friend joining our class," the homeroom teacher of class 2-A said in a not really cheerful but not really bored way.

Kidou's head shot up. He had arrived just in the nick of time, spared from detention. He was so lucky to have been able to get into Raimon using another route rather than the usual long one that led to the main gate. But still, Endou had somehow found this as a new reason as to mentally torture Kidou, taunting the latter with childish remarks on how he was a bad boy for running through the neighbours' backyards and gardens. Kidou could only pucker his mouth to restrain himself from choking the brunette.

His red eyes narrowed from underneath his goggles. The door to the class opened and a teen with long braided black hair entered the room. Kidou stopped fiddling with his pencil and stared at the new student. There was no doubt; the new student was the same girl he had met with earlier. What made him even more suspicious was; why was she wearing the boys' uniform?

"Please introduce yourself," their teacher said. The girl nodded and flashed a grin to the whole class.

"Mitsukai Haru, at your service! Nice to meet all of you!"

Kidou furrowed his eyebrows. He swore that her voice wasn't this deep when they had met earlier this morning. Ah, he was caring too much. It's not like it was any of his business in the first place. He wasn't even sure why he had approached her earlier. Curiosity seemed like a legitimate reason, but he knew there was more than just that.

The class exploded into whispers. They were wondering the same question that Kidou had been asking himself. The transfer student had a feminine face, but wearing a boy school uniform? They needed answers.

The teacher nodded. "Mistukai-kun, if you don't mind, why don't you tell your new friends the reason why you transferred?"

Mitsukai's eyes widened but quickly returned back to normal. Whoever wasn't paying attention wouldn't notice it, but Kidou did; and now he was more suspicious than ever.

"A-Ah…" Mitsukai scratched the back of her neck. "W-Well, my old school was getting too crowded for my taste, so my aunt decided to transfer me to a less populated school…"

A student raised his hand.

"Yes, Kazemaru-kun? Do you have a question for Mitsukai-kun?"

"Um, yes..." Kazemaru lowered his hand. He turned his gaze from the teacher to Mitsukai. "You live with your aunt?"

Mitsukai nodded. "Yeah, I'm actually an orphan," there was no hint of sadness or pain in her voice at all. She had said it as if it wasn't a big deal.

Kidou, who had looked like he wasn't listening to a single word Mitsukai was saying or pretended to have more interest in his eraser than the new student, gasped slightly at the word orphan. She was an orphan? Like him?

"O-Oh, s-sorry for your loss…" Kazemaru said, surely as shocked as Kidou was.

"It's nothing," Mitsukai grinned, as if to show everyone she wasn't really affected by the loss of her parents.

"Are there any other questions for Mitsukai-kun?" their homeroom teacher asked. The class was quiet. Nobody said a word or raised a hand. The teacher blinked and looked at Mitsukai. "Very well, if there's no other-"

"Wait! I have a question!" Endou shot up from his seat. Kidou's eyes widened. 'Oh no,' he thought. 'Endou don't be dumb. Please don't be dumb and-'

"Are you a girl or a boy?"

Silence took over the classroom again. The teacher shook his head as he grimaced. Endou blinked.

"U-Um because you look like a girl but then you're wearing the boys' uniform so I'm just a little bit – wait, no, a whole lot – confused?"

It was silent for the next few seconds – Kidou had slammed his head onto his desk, Kazemaru did a double-hand facepalm, and Gouenji simply had the same reaction as their teacher had – until somebody broke into an endless fit of laughter.

Everyone turned to look at Mitsukai, the one laughing. All of them blinked in utter confusion. She's laughing? Or was it a he?

Mitsukai leaned against the blackboard while clutching her gut. It wasn't long before she slowed to a stop. "It's funny every time!" she said before grinning. "Endou Mamoru, captain of the soccer team that won the Football Frontier and defeated the aliens about a week ago, right?"

The brunette blinked. "How did you know?"

"You were all over the news." Mistukai shrugged.

"… You still haven't answered my question."

Mitsukai stuck her tongue out. "Of course I'm a boy, dummy."

Kidou, who still had his head on his desk, didn't believe it one single bit.

"Why are you passing off as a boy when you are clearly the opposite gender?"

Mitsukai swallowed the last bit of her onigiri. Kidou had cornered her and literally dragged her to the rooftop. The red-eyed boy couldn't really shake this curiosity out of him, and he knew the only way to get rid of it was to know why.

"It would have been easier to fool you if you hadn't found me sneaking around," she mumbled under her breath and took another onigiri from Kidou's lunch box.

"I heard that! And stop eating my lunch!"

"Payment for dragging me here; you should've at least let me buy something from the cafeteria before doing that."

Kidou cursed under his breath. "Is this your way of avoiding my questions?"

"Yes," she replied with a grin.

Kidou sighed. He might as well do it properly. "Okay, I'm sorry for dragging you here without your consent and for the event that happened before school – I should've just ignored you. And since I wasn't able to introduce myself during our little meet, my name is Kidou Yuuto."

"I know,"

"Not surprising."

"Of course not,"

"Now will you provide me with the answers that I am seeking for?"

"Maybe,"

"You-"

"Mind your language please,"

"Urgh, I'm out of here. I'm getting nothing even if I ask properly." Kidou stood up with his lunch box. He wasn't going to waste anymore of his precious time with this… this… annoying brat. Ah, that sounded like a perfect description. She irritated him, and he knew she enjoyed it.

Mitsukai smiled mischievously. "Now, now, Kidou-kun. You're not supposed to be judging a book by its cover. I thought you knew better than that."

"The cover to your books says you're going to annoy me to no limit."

"Because my cover is about war when the content of my book is a romance novel?"

"You read my mind. Wait, what?"

"Hahaha!"

Kidou slammed his locker door shut. Everybody near him flinched at the force. They stared at him, wondering if he was okay.

No, he was not okay. He was not okay because Mitsukai was joining the soccer club. He had a mental fight with himself. One side said that Mitsukai pretended to be a boy so she could join the club as a player, not a manager. The other side said that that can't be it. She must have another reason. And Kidou silently agreed with both sides, because both sides might be true.

He reluctantly laced his shoelaces and stepped out of the clubhouse, where the others were already gathered. The managers were preparing the drinks for everyone. In the middle of the crowd on the field, was Mitsukai. She was wearing the temporary Raimon uniform and stretching her limbs.

'Weird… No chest…' Kidou thought unexpectedly and slapped his suddenly burning face. 'Of course, she must have used some sort of chest binder! She's a better cross-dresser than I thought.' He dropped his hand from his eyes – goggles – and saw Endou talking to her. He must be asking her some important questions like, 'What position do you play?' or something similar.

Kidou slowly approached her with his arms crossed. She noticed him coming and smiled. "Hey,"

"Hey…"

She stood up and clapped her hands together. "So, do you think I'll pass?"

Kidou was taken aback. He never thought that she would ask him. "If they found out your real gender, it's going to be a big fat no. But if you're capable of keeping this up until we graduate, then yes, you'll be playing in the official matches." He replied with what he thought.

Mitsukai suppressed a giggle. "That's what I thought,"

"Mitsukai! Hurry up!" Endou shouted from his position on the field - goalkeeper. Kidou was caught off guard. "You're playing forward?"

Mitsukai gave him an innocent smirk. "Make sure you watch me,"

Somebody kicked a soccer ball towards her – but it was a little too high up in the air. Before Kidou had the chance to say anything regarding her remark just now, the cross-dresser jumped into the air and grabbed the ball in between her feet.

Everybody there gasped.

"I clearly underestimated you yesterday," Kidou said casually, "Congratulations; you managed to become an official member of the soccer club." Mitsukai smiled and nodded her head. "Thanks,"

Kidou returned her smile. "You're welcome,"

Mitsukai took a glance at her wristwatch. It was getting late, and she needed to get home quick. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow Kidou!" The girl grabbed her school bag and broke into a sprint.

Kidou was stunned for a while, but slowly regained his composure. The teen smiled as he stared at the retreating figure of the new student.

Days turned into weeks; and Kidou and Mitsukai grew closer and closer to each other. They talked a lot and did a lot of stuff together. Having study sessions, eating together during lunch; it wasn't long before they became inseparable best buddies.

And nobody seemed to notice Mitsukai's real gender. Sure, there were a few slip-ups sometimes – but Kidou managed to cover it up with his genius lies.

"Hey, Kidou, you're daydreaming again." Gouenji tapped Kidou's forehead with his index finger, causing the other to drop the pen he was fiddling with.

"Huh? Oh, Gouenji." Kidou looked startled for a while before his face returned to that far away look. It was as if he was under a spell, a trance, a anything.

Gouenji furrowed his eyebrows. This strange attitude definitely baffled him. "Kidou, are you sick?"

The other shook his head slowly.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded and fiddled with his pen again, as if it was a magical wand and he was waiting for a mighty evil to come and attack his land and kill the villagers and then kidnap a human being who was coincidentally there and he was in love with the human so he tried to kill the evil being—okay this is getting a little out of hand.

Gouenji's head tilted to the side. Kidou was definitely not being himself today. Usually at times like these, he'd be wishing for some mindreading powers. But then again, when he caught Endou daydreaming, he didn't need any sort of power to figure out what the brunette was daydreaming about.

The flame striker stole another glance at Kidou and he noticed that the strategist was staring at something. Following the other's gaze, he finally realized what kept Kidou's mind occupied.

Mitsukai Haru's empty desk.

"You're worried about Mitsukai, aren't you?"

As startled as he was at this question, Kidou didn't dare to deny it. It has been two weeks since she last came to school, and the teacher didn't say anything about her disappearance. How long was she going to keep this up?

Four months.

Four months had passed since their first meeting.

Two months had passed since her disappearance.

And he was leaving.

He was leaving for the battle – he was leaving for Liocott Island.

About two weeks before, their homeroom teacher had announced that Mitsukai had transferred to another school. Everyone was surprised, but not as shaken as Kidou was.

The news had broken his heart.

Every day, he stood by his phone, hoping for her to call. In every match during the Asian Preliminaries, he hoped to see her in the crowd. And even now at the airport, he was hoping for her to show up – to send him off with words of encouragement.

But hoping was never enough.

He had tried to call her. But she didn't answer. He tried finding her house, but it was proven useless.

What if something bad happened to her? What if she died and her parents held a private funeral for family members only? Maybe she was kidnapped, and the police were looking into it secretly – without the public knowing?

Each negative thought managed to send a shiver down his spine. Grabbing hold of his water bottler, he gulped down the clear liquid down his dry throat.

Why was he feeling this way anyway? Why was he so worried about her? Why does his heart hurt so much, it felt like he had died multiple times?

Kidou checked the time for their trip to Liocott and noticed that he had at least one more hour. Yes, he was early. Very early, but it was casual. The soccer player stood up from his seat and told Haruna that he was going to take a walk around the airport – buy a book for the trip maybe.

His sister nodded and off he went.

He ventured into every store there was. He bought a chocolate bar for Haruna – just for kicks. He had somehow gotten himself a newspaper instead of a good book and was quite fascinated at the number of people entering and leaving the place. Just then, he passed by a flower shop. Something told him to go in – just like the time when he first saw Mitsukai sneaking around – and he did just so, out of curiosity.

There was a middle-aged woman sitting behind the counter. She was scribbling – or doodling – on a spiral notebook. Kidou took another step forward and the woman noticed his presence. She looked up and smiled warmly. "Hello young man, how may I help you?" the woman put down her pencil and stood up.

Kidou returned her smile and through her name tag, found out that her name was Ayumi. "Forgive me if I was disturbing you earlier," he slightly bowed.

"Oh, no matter. You weren't disturbing me at all." Ayumi took note of Kidou's tracks and her eyes shined. "I assume you are Kidou Yuuto, are you not?"

Kidou was taken aback at this, but he nodded nonetheless. "Yes, ma'am."

"My son's really fond of you, y'know. He's a huge soccer freak, and has a genius mind when it comes to strategy. He looks up to you like an idol, and watches all of your matches – even recording them for future reference."

Kidou had certainly did not expect this. He smiled again at the woman. "Your son sounds like a great boy,"

She nodded and held her spiral notebook. She smiled. "If you don't mind, would you give me your autograph? My son would be ecstatic to hear that I've met his idol! Oh, maybe even a picture too,"

Kidou nodded and placed his newspaper on the counter. "Of course, I don't mind at all." He smiled at her, glad to make a fan happy.

The two talked about the Football Frontier International, and about Kidou's school life. Somehow Mitsukai had came into topic. He didn't know how, but his mouth just talked and talked about her. He felt comfortable with the woman, as if he was in the presence of his own mother. And he felt that he could trust the florist. Before he knew it, he had told Ayumi all about Mitsukai Haru.

He even told her about his feelings, how she could make him happy just by being there with him. How beautiful she looked when she laughed, and how terribly painful it was for him ever since she

Kidou noticed he had only 15 minutes left before Inazuma Japan had to leave Japan for Liocott Island. He excused himself but before he had the chance to leave, Ayumi grabbed his hand and slipped something into his palm. She winked at him, "Give this to that lovely girl, and don't you dare try returning this flower back to me."

She let go of him.

Kidou blinked once and looked at his hand. Ayumi had given him an azalea flower. It was beautifully purple. Kidou had never seen an azalea this beautiful. He looked up, still wondering if he should accept the gift or not. "But, I'm not sure if she'll be here today…"

Ayumi nodded with a sweet smile. "Something tells me that you're wrong Kidou… Now, hurry back, you're going to miss your plane."

Kidou didn't move.

Ayumi sighed. "I've seen the way your eyes shone when you talked about the happy days you spent with her, Kidou. You talked about her as if she was very special and dear to you. And one can only imagine how you felt when she didn't even tell you she transferred."

The teenage boy still didn't understand what the woman meant and furrowed his eyebrows.

The woman giggled. "Can't you see it Kidou?"

"…See what?"

"That you're in love with her."

How did he become so blind? How had he not noticed his true feelings for her before?

They were more than just love for a friend – those feelings he had felt – it was real love.

The strategist mentally sighed. Why did it take him such a long time to realize his feelings? And why was Ayumi so sure that Mitsukai – no, Haru – would be showing up today?

It was a slim chance… but Kidou was willing to take it.

He walked back the way he came from. It took him a shorter time to reach the others than he had thought he would, and was quite shocked by this. Maybe the idea that Haru might be there waiting for him made his feet unconsciously move faster.

He spotted his teammates crowded in a circle and confusion hit him. He heard chatter and laughter coming from the crowd and walked closer. He found himself closest to Kazemaru and decided to ask him. Kidou tapped the defender's shoulder.

"What happened?"

Kazemaru turned around in surprise, but his expression quickly turned into a glad smile. "Kidou! We were wondering when you were going to come back!" Ignoring Kidou's question, Kazemaru turned back to the crowd and to Kidou's surprise, shouted, "Everyone! It's Kidou!"

Everybody turned around, all of them looked surprisingly happy – minus Gouenji who only smiled, and Tobitaka who was busy combing his hair. Fudou was no exception, the lad was still on the bench – ignoring all the commotion and trying hard not to scowl.

It was then did Kidou notice that the people who were gathered were from Raimon. The others were simply smiling or acting like Fudou and Tobitaka.

His red eyes shined with worry, as his friends greeted him all too happily. Nothing seemed to be in place. Everything just felt… strange.

That was, until he heard someone calling him.

"Yuu-, I mean, Kidou."

Endou, who was blocking Kidou's view range, moved out of the way. What Kidou saw next was something he wasn't prepared for.

Mitsukai Haru smiled at the strategist, a mischievous glint in her eyes. But Kidou wasn't all that surprised to see her, no. He was more surprised to see that she was wearing Raimon Jr. High's girls' uniform! But still, she looked beautiful – especially with that aster flower in her hair.

"Ha-Haru…" Kidou somehow blurted out and immediately covered his mouth. He somehow regretted that. Who was he to her? It definitely made him looked rude, calling her using her first name without permission. "A-Ah, so-sorry, Mitsukai,"

Kidou looked up and saw that Haru's face bright red. Was it from anger? She didn't look upset though… Wait, don't tell me she's… embarrassed?

Haru cleared her throat, coughing a little as her face returned to their original colour. "No, no. I'm the one who should say sorry to all of you. Especially to you, Kidou," she smiled. "I should have at least told you why I was skipping school and why I 'transferred'."

Kidou nodded, understanding. Suddenly, Coach Kudou's voice could be heard.

"Everyone, gather your bags. Our plane's here."

The other Inazuma Japan team members hurriedly grabbed their bags, not noticing that Kidou and Haru were rooted on their spot.

Kidou started to panic. He had just met Haru again after her disappearance for agonizing months and now he would be the one to leave her. Kidou noticed that Haru's eyes were troubled too. She looked depressed. Kidou smiled, trying to cheer her up. He motioned for her to come closer, and when she did, he grabbed her hand.

"I want you to have this…" he said, and placed the azalea in her hands. Haru blushed at the sudden touch but smiled either way, especially at the gift Kidou had given her. Kidou let go of her hands – even though he didn't want to – and Haru twirled the flower in her hands.

"Thank you… Yuuto."

Kidou gasped. Did his ears hear that correctly? Or was his mind playing a trick on him? Did she really just call him by his first name?

The still blushing girl fumbled with her fingers, before finally resting on her headpiece. The aster flower. "H-Here… I want you to have it," she took the flower off and took Kidou's hands, placing the beautiful flower in his.

Kidou smiled at this. He held the flower close to his chest.

"Kidou! Hurry up!" Endou shouted.

Grunting, he turned his head towards Endou and shouted back, "I'm coming!"

Haru looked at him, with tears in her eyes. "Good luck!" She smiled for him.

Kidou smiled back, his goggles were going to be slightly flooded with his little tears. He slowly turned around, grabbed his bag and walked towards the others. He raised his hand to bid farewell.

"Take care…"

"Fudou, over here!" Kidou called to the brunette. Fudou smirked evilly and passed the ball towards Kidou. Kidou was about to dribble towards the other goal, when Haruna shouted a little too cheerfully, "Everyone! Break time!"

Everybody immediately stopped whatever they were doing and went to the bench. Haruna gave Kidou his water bottle and drained it. He was just that tired and thirsty.

"Onii-chan, I heard the coach talk about a new manager!"

Kidou's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Who is she?" he turned to look at his sister's face.

Haruna's too happy smile was really making him wonder. "Aw, I'm not going to spoil all the fun!" and with that, she left her brother to tend to the other players while giggling non-stop. Even a few others glanced at the girl with worried looks.

Kidou was about to resume his train of thought, when a soccer ball flew past him – missing his face by an inch. Irritated, he scowled and turned towards the source of the ball.

He dropped his water bottle.

Haru stood there, smiling happily at Kidou's reactions. When neither Kidou nor the others who had been watching said anything, she decided to smirk. "Cat got your tongue, Yuuto?"

And as if by magic, Kidou was back on Earth. He blinked at Haru, before grinning. "It depends on which cat,"

Haru laughed and ran towards him, almost toppling him over when she hugged him. Kidou wrapped the other girl's body with his arms and spun them around. They were so happy to see each other again; that they had been laughing all the time Kidou spun Haru around.

Before they got really dizzy, the strategist placed her back on the ground – noticing the difference in their height. He was definitely taller than her.

"So I reckon you're our new manager?"

"You bet!"

Kidou smiled at her, before he leaned in a little bit closer – not even caring if the coach was watching them. "You know, there's something that I need to tell you…"

Haru blushed at the closure of distance between them but nodded. "Wh-what is it?"

The soccer player smirked and kissed her on the lips.

I love you, Haru.

Always have.

And always will.

How the flying Sid did this became so long

Kidou: … what is wrong with you?

I have no idea :D I'm just emotionally drained, so now I wish to physically drain my fingers :D And even so, I still feel like writing more for this one-shot.

Haru: … what the hell?

=w= Mitsukai Haru belongs to Haruka Nya! Sorry for the late prize! /slides down the slide of shame/ And for the really lame one-shot…