Hey everyone! As promised, here's "子供の子守唄: Kodomo no Komori-Uta", the sequel! Be warned, while it may start out a bit light, it will become darker soon. I hope you enjoy!
Note: I've made a few minor changes to Yumi, like she's instead from Vancouver instead of Edmonton, and her dad is a police officer instead of a mechanic.
Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.
Chapter 1- Basketball Game
"Why the hell are we having another sports match against the Six Horsemen?" Kanzaki demands. "It's not like we did anything worth getting expelled over."
"Well, it's actually just for fun," Kunieda explains. "They just wanted to have a friendly match for the school festival."
Oga, Kunieda, Furuichi, Kanzaki, Toujou, and Hecadoth are all changed into their green and white sleeveless jerseys and shorts, and Hecadoth has tied his hair into a side ponytail. Right then, we see a tall, handsome bishounen with long silver hair come out of the change rooms in a matching jersey and shorts. My jaw drops open at the sight.
"Who… Who are you?" I ask.
"Huh? Don't you know, Tanaka? It's me, Himekawa," the stranger responds.
It takes five seconds for me to process that. This is Himekawa?! He looks like a completely different person! "You look so different!" I exclaim, stunned.
Furuichi laughs. "Yeah, we've all had that reaction," he laughs.
"You know, this basketball sport is quite fun," Hecadoth comments. "I think this would make a good pastime in headquarters. I look forward to this match."
I nod, smiling. "Me too," I add. "I'm quite excited to see how this match will go."
It has been a while since the Kagirinai Kumori has been defeated. Right now, St. Ishiyama is having a cultural festival and Agiel and Hecadoth are participating in it. The Six Horsemen have challenged us to a basketball game for fun rather than to prevent an expulsion.
We've decided what roles we'll be taking for the game. Our team consists of Oga and Baby Beel (as one member), Kunieda, Kanzaki, Himekawa, Toujou, and Hecadoth. The Red Tails, and Agiel, are acting as cheerleaders, while Natsume and Shiroyama are timekeepers and scorers. As for myself, I have to give commentary alongside Furuna Taeko and Hatakeyama. As of now, the team is doing some warm ups and we're helping with setting the gym up for the tournament.
"Alright, everyone do some warm-ups!" Kunieda instructs.
As they start doing warm-ups, I suddenly see Nanami Shizuka walking up to me. "Yumi-chan, how come they assigned you as another commentator?" she asks me.
I shrug. "I honestly don't know," I confess, laughing slightly. "But it'll be fun."
"I look forward to playing against you guys," she adds.
"Oi, Tanaka!" I turn and see Kanzaki frowning at me. "Don't go being friendly with our opponents, dammit!" he scolds roughly.
"Hey, we're on good terms with each other, remember?" Shizuka scolds lightly. "And besides, she works in the same place as me, so might as well get to know each other more."
"Okay, enough talk! Back to practice!" Kunieda orders.
Eventually, it's time for the game to happen. By then, it's around mid-afternoon or so. The gym is full with eager students and teachers. I'm seated in the commentators' booth next to Furuna Taeko and Hatakeyama. "Alright, everyone!" Furuna announces. "Right now, the Six Horsemen have challenged Ishiyama to a friendly game of basketball just for the sake of having fun, so there is no expulsion or anything like that. So, to start off, let's call on the Six Horsemen!"
Everyone cheers as the Six Horsemen walk out onto the court in their black and white basketball jerseys and shorts. "Here are the Six Horsemen! Izuma Kaname, Nanami Shizuka, Sakaki Mitsuteru, Gou Hiromichi, Shinjou Ichirou, and Miki Hisaya!" Furuna announces.
As the crowd cheers, I grin. "Now, it's time to call on Team Ishiyama!" I announce. Again, there are cheers as Team Ishiyama walks onto the court. "Here are the players! Oga Tatsumi and Baby Beel, Furuichi Takayuki, Kunieda Aoi, Kanzaki Hajime, Toujou Hidetora, Himekawa Tatsuya, and Hecadoth!"
Much to my amusement, I hear squeals from several girls upon seeing this bishounen-like Himekawa (or 'Sexykawa' as Furuichi has nicknamed him). But then, we suddenly hear loud cheers and rough calls of approval. "Yeah, Hecadoth! You show 'em!" That sounds like Graphel.
"Hey look, it's Furuichi-kun!" That's definitely Quetzalcoatl.
"Furu-sama! Over here!" And that must be Elim.
We turn to the voices and much to our shock, we see the entire Pillar Squad among the students! Even Hecadoth, Agiel, and Furuichi are stunned at this, not to mention several students and teachers who happen to be near them.
"What the… who are they?!" Hatakeyama asks, stunned.
"Oh! Um… wow, would you look at that! Seems like the former classmates of Hecadoth and Agiel have come to cheer them on! Such loyalty!" I adlib, still sounding enthusiastic. I give Furuna a look that says 'just improvise'. She immediately gets the hint.
"Uh… yeah!" she adds. "Everyone, let's give a warm welcome to them!"
Everyone applaudes, despite their confusion. On the court, I see Hecadoth shaking his head in amusement, Agiel giggling, and Furuichi just grinning. Then, Oga and Izuma stand in the center of the court, ready to play.
Right then, the whistle blows and Izuma steals the ball first. He dribbles it before passing it to Sakaki, but Kunieda manages to intercept the ball. She dribbles it and passes it to Kanzaki who dribbles it up to the net and does a successful hook shot, managing to avoid Gou's unsuccessful block. The ball hits the backboard and falls through the net.
"And he scores!" Furuna announces over the cheers. "Kanzaki has managed to score the first point for Ishiyama!"
Now, Miki has gotten the ball and is dribbling it down the court. He passes it to Shizuka who dribbles it but Furuichi quickly steals it from her. "And Furuichi's cleverly stolen the ball from Shizuka!" I cheer.
"Yeah, you go, Furuichi!" Agiel cheers, shaking her pom-poms.
The Pillar Squad start clapping and cheering loudly. "As expected of the General!" Salamander cheers.
"Nice work, Furuichi-kun!" Tiriel whoops.
"Destroy 'em, kid! Show 'em no mercy!" Jabberwock shouts. Next to him, several students back away nervously. I laugh as a bead of sweat rolls down my forehead.
Furuichi dribbles the ball down the court and passes it to Hecadoth. "And Hecadoth has got the ball now!" I announce excitedly.
"Own 'em, Hecadoth!" Graphel shouts as Hecadoth dribbles the ball down the court. He swiftly avoids Shinjou and jumps up, doing a slam dunk and quickly grabbing onto the rim before letting go. At that, everyone cheers loudly.
"Wow! Amazing! Hecadoth has just slam-dunked the ball into the net, earning Team Ishiyama another point!" Furuna announces.
"Whoooo! Awesome!" I cheer excitedly, blushing when Hecadoth makes eye contact with me. I give him a thumbs up and he smiles in return.
"Nice work, Heca-chan!" Agiel cheers.
Furuichi grins. "That was awesome!" he praises, giving him a high-five.
The game continues on and by the time we get to halftime, Ishiyama is in the lead 30-28. During halftime, I go down and hang out with Hecadoth and the others. "Hey!" I call, getting his attention. "That was seriously cool!" I tell him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "You're like a pro basketball player!"
Hecadoth laughs. "Believe me, I had no intention of grabbing the rim," he admits, taking a sip of water. "You seem to be a very enthusiastic commentator."
"I can't help it! I'm so hyped!" I tell him.
"This 'basketball' sport is pretty exciting to watch," Graphel comments. "We came to watch after hearing how fun it is to watch and we wanted to see what a Human World sport is like."
A bead of sweat rolls down my head. "Yeah… you guys might want to tone it down," I remind them. "You're freaking out other students."
"Really?" Naga asks, surprised. "There was a boy and girl who seemed very excited to talk to us, especially the boy. He kept on gushing about how cool our ears and our uniforms looked, how cool our names were, and how we seemed so badass."
"Someone even asked us if we really were high school students," Graphel adds.
"Guys, halftime is nearly over," Kunieda tells us.
I go back to the commentator booth and sit back down next to Furuna. Soon, the game restarts again and Ishiyama is making great progress. When it comes to basketball, it seems like the delinquents suddenly become pros. Right now, Ishiyama is winning 64-60. Now, the game is slowly coming to an end, and now Oga has the ball.
"And there he is! The Child-Carrying Badass has just taken the ball from Izuma!" Furuna announces as Oga avoids Sakaki. "Now, he's gonna shoot!"
We all watch as Oga shoots the ball towards the net. However, Baby Beel suddenly jumps up and gives the ball a push towards the net, causing it to fall in. Right then, the buzzer goes off.
Immediately, everyone starts cheering in excitement. "And the ball is in!" Furuna announces. "Team Ishiyama has won the friendly basketball tournament!"
"Great job everyone!" I cheer into the mic. As everyone continues cheering, I run down to the court where everyone is cheering and celebrating. To my amusement, I see Furuichi being kissed by Agiel, Yuka glomping Kanzaki, and Nene hugging Kunieda.
"Nice game!" I praise Hecadoth, hugging him.
"Yeah. It was fun," he laughs, giving me a short kiss on my lips.
As I hug him, I sense that Hecadoth's distracted. "Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, turning around to the direction he's looking in.
I see Oga walking up to Furuichi and giving him a high-five. But much to my surprise, I see the smile on Furuichi's face drop slightly as he returns the high-five. And when Oga tries to talk to him, Furuichi just shakes his head and goes to the changerooms.
"Is it me, or is Furuichi suddenly starting to distance himself from Oga?" I wonder. "This is the first time I'm seeing something like this."
"They have been friends for the longest of times," Hecadoth comments. "But I guess even the strongest of friendships drift apart." I turn to look at him and I see a thoughtful expression on his face. "Trust is one of the strongest elements in a friendship. It is practically the one thing that holds it together. Without trust, any relationship, whether it's a friendship or a romantic relationship, is as good as gone."
I nod slowly. Something had happened between them, and whatever it is, Furuichi isn't talking to Oga now. Could it be that… he can't trust him anymore?