Kenji laughed as he clicked away from his messages. It had been interesting to get back in touch with Haruka and see her again. She was, in one sentence, nothing like he had expected and at the same time, had that oddly endearing charm about her. She was taller too; and compared to the last time they met in person, her hair was much shorter. It suited her.

It was nice, Kenji had thought, to have at least one friend in Japan, a friend who wasn't super judgemental. 

But then again, it was not like he knew her at all. There were moments during that dinner when Haruka's eyes would drift off, darkening with an emotion all too familiar. Better than most people, she knew what it was like to...well...that.

He peered out the massive windows of his home. The sun was hanging low in the sky, its rays falling all over the glittering waters of the bay. Haruka Miura. Just who are you now? 

Before he could stop himself, Kenji opened the browser app on his phone and typed Haruka's name. Surprisingly, a bunch of results popped up. There were searches about 'sales of a painting from a young Japanese artist', 'Haruka Miura - winner of Parsons' graduate art exhibition', 'student's painting sells for $40,000' and a link to Haruka's socials. Just as he was about to press on the links, his eyes fell on a new article a few results below. 

It was dated a few years ago, right around the time Haruka and him had become distant. Warily, he clicked on it. 'Lawyer couple die in accident after stray -'

Kaiju Defense Force issued a statement this morning, after their battle against Gappa, the eagle-shaped kaiju, caused the death of prominent lawyer couple, Daisuke and Akane Miura. Sadly, the couple had been saved by Ultraman's actions, but a stray shot from a KDF drone caused their untimely passing. They leave behind a young daughter. 

A spokesperson for the KDF said that...

Kenji couldn't read through after that. No wonder Haruka had been so aloof back then. To lose both her parents in one fell swoop...yeah, he knew what that could be like. 

Shaking his head, he clicked away from the article and went to her socials. Her Instagram was full of pictures of her paintings, completed and half-done, her art supplies and of herself at art galleries and museums. And she even had a decent amount of followers at 20K. Though not as much as him. He pressed the follow button and liked her latest post before clicking off. He tossed his phone onto the table next to him and grabbed the skipping rope off it. 

Time to get in some training before that stupid press conference he was being forced to do. (Just like he was forced to take on that other, absolutely unnecessary...)

kensato started following you!

kensato liked your post!

When the notification popped up on her phone, Haruka couldn't help but laugh. She had been in her art studio, working on a commission for an anniversary present. Then by chance, her eyes had fallen on the screen and there it was, Kenji's Instagram user in all its glory.  Well, she did stop laughing when she realized Kenji followed only sixty people and she was the sixty first. And all of the people he actually followed were companies he had brand deals with, the teams he had played on, Dodgers and Giants, some famous baseball stars, and then her. Little old, artist her. Who was decidedly not famous. 

Haruka took a deep breath. This could be good...good advertising. Yes! Good advertising! More people for her gallery shows. More people buying her paintings. More reasons for her to make art. More money for her to buy art supplies. 

That last thing wasn't important, considering the amount of stuff she had scattered around the studio and the rest of her apartment. 

Besides, Kenji wouldn't just follow her for no reason, right? He must have a reason. 'Or maybe he followed you because you're friends,' the calmer part of her mind said to her. 'And it's not like you're following a lot of people either. And neither do you have a lot of friends.'

'Ouch.' Haruka said. Sometimes she hated how her mind worked. But all of this really was not a big deal. She was fine with it. 

She dipped her brush in the purple paint again, running over the empty spot on the curtain drawing with sharp strokes. There was a painting to finish. 

*

About two hours later, Haruka was done with the painting and all that was left to do was to wait for the paint to dry. And contrary to what people thought about artists, they did not all enjoy watching paint dry. (Though sometimes it was actually fun!)

She sat on the couch, putting her feet up as she turned on the TV. Kenji's press conference was supposed to begin any minute now and she had promised that she would watch it. From what she knew, Kenji rarely did these. So this one was pretty special, considering it would be his first as a player for the Giants. 

Haruka switched to a sports channel, just as the introduction began."For the last few weeks, one name has dominated the headlines, in what is sure to be a historic moment in baseball. In just three days, Giants fans will welcome a legend to the New Tokyo Dome as Ken Sato returns to the land of his birth. Now, please join me in welcoming him back to Japan, the newest member of our Giants family, Ken Sato!"

On-screen, Kenji appeared suave and sharp as he casually slung his jacket over the back of the chair waiting for him. Sitting down at the table, covered with mics, he looked ready to answer questions. "Thanks for waiting, folks. All right, who's first?"

Haruka felt nervous just thinking about it. Sitting in front of that many reporters, answering very inquisitive questions...she would just cry. How she made it through shows with those pretentious art collectors, with their too many questions was something to think about truly. She looked at Kenji answering the questions, that cool confidence seeping through. If there was one thing she could say, it was that Kenji truly loved talking about baseball. Although the amount of 'bros' was a little...(but she tended to say 'dude' a lot soo....)

Some questions were rather superficial, but some were deep and went in-depth into Kenji's baseball playing technique. Kenji's eyes seem to light up answering the latter. 

The next reporter stood up, poised with a notepad and a pen to ask a question. "Besides just playing incredible baseball, your fans are eager to know if you have picked up any new hobbies on returning to Japan."

Kenji paused for a moment, thinking. Then, staring right into the camera, he smirked. Haruka immediately tensed up. "Don't tell me he is..."

"Well, baseball is my life, so I don't have time to learn new stuff. But I did catch up with a very old, artist friend and managed to convince them to come to the game by bribing them with very good seats. So I guess that counts as doing something new?" 

Scattered laughs broke out amongst the reporters in the room and Haruka couldn't help covering her face with her hands. "Damn you, Kenji! Ahhh!" (But at least he didn't specify it was her...that would be something.)

She shook her head, slapping her cheeks to stop a second wave of embarrassment from descending on her. She turned her attention back to the screen, just as Kenji finished answering a question from an older reporter, with stark white hair. 

"Itow-san, right?" Kenji answered calmly. "Baseball is baseball, man. The Ken Sato show is the same. Here, the states, wherever."

Once Ken finished answering him, another reporter stood up. She was tall, wearing glasses, carried herself with confidence and looked determined as she asked, "Mr. Sato. Why did you come back to Japan?"

"Yeah Kenji, why did you?" Haruka murmured to herself.

"I...I'm sorry. What's your name?" Kenji asked, seemingly surprised by the question. 

"Ami Wakita," The reporter responded. 

"Hold up. Hold up," Kenji looked amused. "You're the Tigers fan, right?"

The room burst into light laughter and even Miss Wakita had the slightest of smiles on her face. "The question isn't who I root for, Mr. Sato. The question is why, on the verge of your first championship, you choose to walk away and start over. Some suggest it was emotional stress. Due to family..."

Before she could even finish her sentence, clamour filled the room, the other reporters whispering among themselves. Rude. 

Kenji seemed to think so too. "Guys! Play nice, okay? I'm happy to answer the question. Miss Wakita, please continue."

"Thank you," Miss Wakita responded. "Some speculate your departure was connected to the loss of your mother, that there was some sort of unfinished family business..."

Haruka immediately winced. Yeah, there was no way Kenji was going to answer that. And right she was. 

"Apologies, Miss Wakita," Kenji stood up. "Unfortunately, I have a fan event to attend. Uh...I look forward to seeing you all in a couple of days where I promise the Ken Sato show will be in full effect."

With that flimsy excuse and reporters shouting after him, Kenji left the room, throwing his jacket over his shoulder. 

Kenji grunted as he landed from the sky, transforming back to his normal self. The fight with Neronga had gone...okay, with maybe a little more destruction to Akihabara than he had intended. But then the KDF had swooped in and he had decided to leave. He was not coming in between their guns and an angry Kaiju, even if he was Ultraman.

"Oh, god," He groaned, rubbing a hand over his left shoulder. Stupid Neronga had fucked something up, and just days before his game. "Oh yeah, come to Japan, help your dad, save the world. It'll be great."

Thankfully, the alleyway where he had parked his bike earlier was empty and looked abandoned in the dark. He had chosen it completely randomly and had lucked out with the location. The street lighting was minimal, offering him the perfect spot to hide away as he switched back to his normal self. But the thing with such quiet alleys is that all sounds are amplified. 

So the moment he heard footsteps coming from behind him, Kenji cursed under his breath. "Damn it." He had to hurry towards his back and get out of there. 

But the footsteps only seemed to get louder and louder. He turned and every nerve in his body started firing at that exact moment. 

Because Haruka was standing behind him, in the middle of the alley. Her hands were clutched around a tote bag, her eyes wide like she had seen something shocking. 

'Oh, fuck,' Kenji thought immediately. Had she-?

"Kenji," Her voice was soft, careful, wary. She took a step back as she asked. "You're...you're...you're Ultraman? Wha-?"

She had. 

"How are you even here?" Kenji asked. He had to find a way to deflect, to distract her from this situation and make his escape. "It's late. You should be at home."

Haruka blinked, looking like she was still at a loss for words. "Uh...that's my apartment building," she pointed to a building on the opposite side of the road. She pointed to a parking space below the same building, where right outside, a Nissan Altima was parked, ready to be taken inside. "And that's my car. I was about to go home. But oh. My. God. What the fu-"

She gripped the tote bag tighter as she strode over to him, dropping her voice to a low whisper. "You're freaking Ultraman, Kenji! What the hell!"

"Listen, Haru-"

"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation to what I just saw, right? Right?!?! Especially when he was just fighting Neronga, who is literally still in Akihabara according to the news. And I am pretty sure Ultraman disappeared months ago, but I know you were in LA still. It doesn't make logical sense for you to be Ultraman. But I saw you. I saw you change back to yourself after dropping from the freaking sky. So who the hell was Ultraman before you? Because he has been around for a long time, and considering that you and I both were born around the same time...agghh my brain hurts. Seriously? How does this work? Is this why you came back to Japan? Because you had to be Ultraman. But why? There was an Ultraman before you? Did you know him? Was he related to you? Or you got dropped in some-"

Kenji stepped forward and covered her mouth with his hand. "You're rambling, Haru. Stop, okay? Just stop." He sighed. Haruka was inches away from discovering the truth and judging by how quickly she had figured out why he was actually back in Japan, she could also figure out from where he had gotten his powers. This was a fucking mess.  

He dropped his hand back to his side, ignoring the pain that just shot through his shoulder. Haruka suddenly looked alarmed. "Oh god, Kenji, I am so sorry. I didn't even know you were gonna be here...shit, me discovering the...that must put you in a spot. Again, I am so sorry. I know this information can be dangerous for other people to know, so I...I swear I won't say a thing. I am sorry!"

"Damn it, Haru, stop apologizing," Kenji ran a hand through his hair. "At least it was you, and not somebody else."

He kept his gaze fixed on Haruka, who was now frowning and looked contemplative at the same time. "Look we'll talk about this okay? I'll call you later tonight. But I have something else to do right now. I need to go."

"Right, yeah! You're Ken Sato, of course, you're busy," Haruka said. "Go. Do your thing. Whatever it is." She looked at him, eyes strangely calm, also slightly worried and he immediately hated it. 

After a moment, she said in a much softer tone, "Just don't flake on me, yeah? Not for this."

"I won't," Kenji said. And at that moment, something his mom had said to him, years ago, just came back to him, her voice so very clear in his mind. 

'Having a support system...having a good support system, that can be life-changing. Even if it is just one person...' 

maybe kenji subconsciously chose that specific alleyway because he knew haru lived there? and maybe he trusts haru, but he hasn't realized that yet?? who knows?? 😉😉

(me, after realizing how much off an effort it is to move)

i know this reveal is kinda basic, but honestly, i think with haruka and kenji's personalities, i feel like it suits them well. like eventually, kenji would tell her but she just found out earlier than that. 

but anyways, i hope you all enjoyed another long chapter! i am loving writing this fic and i cannot wait to write more! next chapter is gonna be entrance of someone very special (you know who it is 👀👀)

Comments and votes are always appreciated <33