Two weeks have passed ever since the match against Eito Gakuen. The Raimon players got along very well. Tenma made friends with them and it was great.

Shindou's POV:

A week has passed since the match against Eito Academy. But, after that, I noticed that everyday Tenma would have some bruises and scratch marks but he healed pretty quickly. What bothers me is that he says it was rather an accident or he is just clumsy, but I had a feeling that something is wrong. I was walking my way to school when I met up with Kirino. We walked to school together and was about to go upstairs to go to our class when we heard Riku and his gang. We followed the noise and peaked from the corner. We were shocked when we saw Riku and his gang bullying two students. One of them has gray short hair with two red locks on the side and the other had short dark brownish-black hair. They were both on the ground. I was about to go out of the corner when someone went in front of the students and Riku and his friends. I was shocked to see Tenma.

"Riku, leave them alone!" Tenma said.

"Tenma what are you doing?" I said in my mind. I then remembered what he said during the soccer tryouts.

*Flashback*

"You can hurt me and say anything you want to me. As long you don't hurt anyone else other than me, " Tenma said.

*End of flashback*

I was shocked. Tenma is keeping his word, that's why. He doesn't want anyone to get hurt.

Tenma then looked at the two students. "You two run, " He said.

"What do you think you're doing? that's the alpha of the school, " the boy with dark brownish-hair said to Tenma.

"I know, don't worry I'll be alright, " Tenma replied to the boy with a smile.

"Alright, thank you, " the boy with gray hair said. Then the two boys got up and ran. Tenma then faced Riku.

"You know human, your starting to get on my nerves, " Riku said as he stepped forward, "you will pay."

I then saw Riku punch Tenma and his back hit the wall hard. Me and Kirino were shocked. Riku then pinned him to the wall. I was getting angry and was about to come out. Until the bell rang.

"Your lucky the bell rang before I could do worse, " Riku said and he threw Tenma to the ground. Riku and his friends then left and Tenma stood back up. He then sighed and he left. Me and Kirino were speechless.

"It all makes sense now, " I said in my thoughts, "the day me and Tsurugi found him unconscious in the restroom. And the scratch marks and bruises he had for the past weeks. Riku and his friends did this."

"Shindou, " Kirino called out to me. I looked at him.

"You think that, " he continued.

"I'm afraid yes. Riku has been beating up Tenma, " I said as I felt guilty for not noticing, "and he hid it from us."

"Yeah," Kirino replied.

"We should tell the others," I suggested.

Kirino nodded in response and we both went to our class.

(Time skip)

Kirino and I left our class and went to the soccer club. When we arrived everyone was there but Tenma. Kirino and I went to Aoi, Midori, and Shinsuke who were sitting next to each other, and Tsurugi who is leaning on one of the lockers.

"Hello Shindou-senpai, Kirino-senpai," Shinsuke said while smiling at us.

"Hey guys, " I replied, "where is Tenma?" I asked.

"He said forgot something in the class and he told us to go without him, " Aoi replied.

"Well we have something to tell you guys, " Kirino said.

"What is it Shindou, Kirino?" Midori asked with a confused look on her face.

"Do you guys notice Tenma had some scratch marks and bruises for the past week?" I asked.

"Yeah, he said it was just some accidents, but I'm not buying it, " Midori replied, "Why did you ask?"

I sighed and said, "the bruises and scratch marks aren't from accidents."

This caught Tsurugi's attention. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"The truth is.. Riku and his crew have been beating up Tenma for the past week, " I said looking down.

I saw the shocked faces of Midori, Aoi, and Shinsuke. Tsurugi's eyes widened.

"What?!" Midori shouted in frustration and disbelief. This caught everyone in the clubrooms' attention. (Keep in mind the coach Kudou and Otonashi sensei isn't in the clubroom yet.)

I slightly looked down and Kirino replied, "what Shindou said was true."

Kirino and I then explained what happened this morning.

After that, I looked at them and saw most of my teammate's shocked faces and I saw Aoi have some tears in her eyes. I felt bad for what has been happening to Tenma.

Third POV:

"That's so cruel, " Akane said.

"And Tenma never told us, " Shinsuke said as he looked down on the ground.

Kuramada gripped his hand into a fist and said, "how dare Riku and his friends."

"We should inform someone about it," Sangoku suggested.

"I agree but if we did Riku might do worse, " Kurama replied as he crossed his arms.

"What should we-" Amagi was about to ask until they heard the door open.

"Ohayo guzaimasu, " they heard a familiar voice.

They looked and it was Tenma.

"Ohayo Tenma, " Shindou said as he walked over to him and Aoi then stood up from her seat. Tenma saw his teammates worried faces.

"Is something wrong?" Tenma asked worried about his friends.

"Tenma can I ask you something?" Kirino said as she went to him.

This made Tenma confused and responded, "OK, what is it Kirino-senpai?"

"Where do you get those bruises and scratch marks?" Kirino asked.

"I already said, it was an accident-" Tenma was about to continue when Midori interrupted.

"No, it wasn't!" She shouted and this shocked most of the players.

"Midori, calm down, " Akane said to her. Midori then took some breathes and calmed down.

Shindou then sighed and said, "We already know what really happened."

Shindou saw Tenma's eyes widen in shock. Tenma then asked, "how do you know?"

Shindou shared a look with Kirino and then looked back at Tenma said, "on our way to our class, me and Kirino saw what happened with you, Riku and his friends."

Tenma then replied with a sad smile, "I'm fine don't worry."

Aoi and Shinsuke then went over to Tenma.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Shinsuke asked feeling concerned for his best friend.

Tenma looked down, he didn't respond.

He then said, "I... I didn't want you guys to worry about me too much. So I never told anyone."

"Why did you just allow them to beat you up like that?" Sangoku asked.

"I didn't want Riku and his friends to hurt you guys and anyone else," Tenma then looked at them and then continued, "I'll be alright," he said with a sad smile.

Aoi then all of a sudden, hugged Tenma. This surprised Tenma.

"Don't just say it's alright!" Aoi said with some tears forming in her eyes, "allowing them to hurt you so that anyone else wouldn't get hurt. That's not right."

Tenma was shocked by Aoi's words.

"You should've told us. We're your friends, we will be there if you need us," Shindou said with a smile.  Aoi then stopped hugging and step back a little bit as she wiped her tears.

Tenma looked at the others and saw that they smiled in agreement. Showing that he wasn't alone. Tenma looked back at Shindou, Kirino, Aoi, and Shinsuke. They had the same expression. This made Tenma smile.

"Min'na arigato!" Tenma said.

...

Meanwhile, outside the clubroom, coach Kudou and Otonashi Sensei heard everything, just as they were about to go in, they heard Midori shout and heard the rest. Otonashi had a warm smile while coach Kudou slightly smiled.

The two of them then went in and was greeted by the members.

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Hey guys! Sorry for making this short, this is just basically Tenma's friends knowing about what Tenma has been going through and them comforting and showing that he is not alone. I hope you guys enjoy this Chapter, have a good day/night and stay safe.