Summary: Mamori doesn't understand why Sena has to take part in the team practices. There can only be one explanation... and she plans to confront him.

Mamori scrubbed hard. The table still had bits of cake and cream, now hardened tough and crusty, evidence that Hiruma had once again sent the reversible table flying, regardless of the delectable desserts on it. The rest of the team seemed to have gotten over this absolutely wasteful act of flamboyancy pretty fast, but Mamori couldn't stand it! That someone could toss a perfectly good, expensive, untouched Kariya's cream puff on the floor just did not sit well with her. The first time Hiruma had done it, Mamori had tears in her eyes, and had to forcibly keep her voice from turning shrill when she told him off for his selfishness.

She frowned as she squirted more soap onto the table. Speaking of selfishness, why was Sena training with the other footballers. Jogging with the team was fine, it served as healthy and safe means of regular exercise. However, the harsher exercises coupled with Sena's work as secretary was just unnecessary and dangerous! As manager she knew how much work there was to do. How could Hiruma ask Sena to be subject to his Spartan training, act as secretary, and cope with the workload increase that came with the transition into high school? It made no sense. Did Hiruma need someone as a worst case scenario sub-in that badly? She knew Sena, and he just was not made for athletics, particularly the cutthroat, in-your-face, testosterone clogged kind. It was a selfish request on Hiruma's part, and he had to acknowledge that. Even if Sena had said he was fine with how things were, she didn't believe for a second that he had voluntarily signed up for all this. Heck, even she was feeling the pressure of working as manager, fulfilling her duty as a prominent member of the disciplinary club and keeping her honors student status. However...

Giving the now squeaky clean table one final wipe with a dry towel, Mamori succumbed to the little voice in her head, nagging about her unfair one-sided mental rant. She did however, understand that Hiruma was doing all the information gathering for the team, a job supposed to be done by the secretary. It was admirable how much passion Hiruma showed toward American football, working tirelessly on and more surprisingly off the field. She always knew he was more than your average thug (more like a conniving Mafia boss/dictator), but she was somewhat shocked at how much work Hiruma put into the logistical side the football team. With the amount of time he worked on his laptop, it was almost like he was acting as secretary! Hiruma worked the hardest for the team so maybe that was why he expected the same from everyone else, but it just wasn't realistic, especially for poor, easily manipulated Sena. Sena was just too kind. And Hiruma was just too bossy (and evil, and manipulative, and cocky, and blond...)

That was why she was doing chores so late into the afternoon. She had finally resolved to have a serious talk with Hiruma and try to see reason with him. The team may think her actions annoying, maybe even coddling, but she knew Sena hadn't told his parents about even joining the club, or at least the specifics. She really was fond of Sena, he was sweet, gentle mannered, and kind to a fault, all the perfect characteristic for an adorable younger brother. And so therefore, as his older sister, a dedicated member of the disciplinary committee, and as a moral human being, she concluded, for the 6th time today (she really was stuck on repeat) that she had to confront Hiruma about this.

Hiruma sighed as he stepped into the main area of the club room, hair still damp from the shower he had just taken. As was his signature, Hiruma was dressed in dark shaded clothing, wearing a navy shirt paired with black jeans. He spotted Anezaki sitting at the table, the cause of his earlier exhale of dread, casually sipping a steaming hot cup of tea. She had changed from her gym clothes back into her school uniform, sans the teal blazer, unlike him. Hiruma had plans to meet with some out of school slaves after practice today. Well, now they'll have to wait a while, he thought irritably, probably a long while, judging by the almost formal way she had approached him regarding Sena's 'situation'.

He popped his gum in agitation. Lying to her was getting to him. At first it had been too easy to just boss Sena around as eyeshield and ignore Anezaki's fuss. Actually he knew he sometimes did it on purpose just to get a cruel kick out of seeing her act like a hypocrite, and then later to get a rise out of her. However that reasoning didn't last long at all. After he saw the effort the damn manager was putting into the team, he had started feeling a little guilty. But from looking at the chibi he could guess that Sena had made a resolution to get stronger before telling Mamori. All the good for the team! He finally had some dedicated players. But know he was stuck waiting for when the chibi felt he was capable enough to tell the damn manager. Che, these stupid chibis, definitely going to have to drill them to death next practice. (At that very moment Sena received a text from Suzuna telling him his horoscope said to expect the worst luck tomorrow..;)

At first he had laughed out loud at Anezaki's frequent worrying, but now he couldn't even look her in the eye. During the school festival his keen ears had heard her distress about Sena being hand cuffed. But when he chanced a look, he saw something in her face that spelled trouble. She had realized...something. All the evidence that Sena was eyeshield was laid out right before her eyes, day in and day out, but it was like she purposely closed her eyes to the obvious. In all honesty, Hiruma had thought the damn manager would figure out who eyeshield 21 was long ago, before any explanations were needed. But she hadn't, and it was pissing him off.

He did not regret not telling her about Sena's identity on the team. If she knew, she would have taken him off the team regardless of whatever blackmail he could try to threaten her with. She was loyal to Sena, a character he admired. She was also many other things, an up righteous goody goody, a cream puff otaku, a C cup, decently smart (that was all he was giving her. No way did she score higher than him on the English midterm. Like WTF? He was captain of the American football team for Christ's sake...)

However, she was being uncharacteristically stupid with all things related to the shrimp. Coupled with her natural stubbornness, her relentless and daily accusation of cruelty were annoying as hell. He had no misunderstandings about how he looked like to the school, in fact he reveled in it. Things like demon, evil incarnate, a person to be avoided at all costs were synonymous to his name. It made school exciting.

But even he wanted to be seen for what he was. Anezaki was someone he was, somehow or another, spending increasingly more periods of time with. It was unfortunate that she wasn't intimidated enough to listen docilely to him, and she was constantly berating him something insignificant (who cares about the stupid cream puffs on the floor?), not to mention her computer illiteracy, but she was someone who treated him as a normal person. They had arguments so often it was now normal. Even people outside of the club had become desensitized to the sight of them together. Hell, she knew his sporadic volatile actions well enough to even have the days appropriate cleaning supplies on stand by! She ... she accepted him, or at least he thought she did until she started to scream about Sena. Whenever she glared at him about Sena, he always found that he questioned himself. Is that how she sees me? Some asshole who abuses her poor childhood friend because that's just how his character inherently is? Does she really think I'm putting him through these practices for the hell of it? Am I some sort of evil, idiotic coach who can't see reason? It was a like a festering wound, ignorable but always present, itching at the back of his mind even when they were having a civilized conversation. Their situation was a strange one, and with this coming confrontation it was sure as hell going to take a nose dive for the worst. He might have even bet on it.

So, not in the best of moods, he kicked out the chair opposite of her, and seated himself, long legs stretched wide and raised an eyebrow at her. He blew a bubble as he watched Mamori cover her frown in what she seemed to think was a pleasant smile.

"Your smile looks fake as hell," he told her, his way of initiating the conversation she supposed.

"We need to talk about Sena's position on this team", she said, ignoring his previous comment. Any pretense, even false, that could get them to have a civil conversation was one she willing to use. She was keeping the smile no matter what.

"But why the fake smile" he repeated, "It makes me want to puke."

Mamori had to restrain her eyes from rolling. It looked like he wasn't going to make this easy.

"I want to talk like adults.", she said in way of answer.

He was silent so she continued "Whenever we talk about Sena its always 'Fucking shrimp do what I say' then I come in and say 'Stop Hiruma, Sena shouldn't have to do something that dangerous' you say 'take your feelings and shove it damn manager, this is practice' and it all goes to hell from there."

Now Hiruma was staring at her. She had just cussed completely straight faced, without a trace of a blush. Where the hell was his disciplinary committee poster child?

"Look," he had to reply "it's Sena's decision to stay on the team or not. He can quit whenever he wants, hell you can quit whenever you want. If your not satisfied then just leave already." Hiruma's hands unclenched carefully at that last statement.

"You know that he has a relationship with the team now, he would never leave! It's you who needs to change your way of including him unnecessarily in your practices", she said, again ignoring what he had said to her. But Hiruma was not perturbed.

"I don't think its me who needs an attitude adjustment right now. The shrimp is manning up to the practices just fine. But you, fuckin manager always seems to think that he needs someone to baby him every freaking step of the way. Seriously get off you damn high horse and see that he doesn't need your obsessed mothering", Hiruma added, finishing with bared his teeth.

"Wha?- Obses- m-MY high horse!" she started, stuttering in her rage, but forcefully finding composure, Mamori tersely started again. "That's like the pot calling the kettle black you ingrate. And this is not about my relationship with Sena, this meeting is about you! Why do you keep accusing me, really-" he cut her off.

"Stop taking, damn manager"

Mamori shot him a dirty look but stopped nonetheless. She was startled however, when she way the serious look on Hiruma's face. It was surprisingly intense.

"Don't you think your be being a little condescending toward the shrimp?", Hiruma voiced quietly.

Mamori could feel herself physically deflate. This just was not fair, Mamori internally complained. She had come in expecting to be the adult in this conversation, but he had one upped her, as always. Somehow he continuously brought out the worst in her. Somehow she was the one who was yelling, and it was him calmly striking back at where she was most vulnerable. Was she the one who was in the wrong? Were her actions toward Sena... unnecessary? Condescending as he put it...? It was hard to admit, but recently, she was starting to feel like there was some truth in what he said. Even today during the culture show, she had briefly seen a change in the Sena she had knew. He had been... aggressive, a development that had made her swallow the rest of her words of worry. But still! Sena training along with the others was unnecessary stress, and it was all Hiruma's fault. Hiruma's fault...

Mamori continued to glare at Hiruma, even if she was internally in a state of confusion. Hiruma saw the rage in her eyes dissipate, and when she closed her eyes, he knew this conversation was over. It had only been a short conversation, but he was tired of this lie. Both simultaneously got up, but neither deemed it necessary to look at the other. Mamori quickly got her bag, already packed to go, and hurriedly escaped the stiflingly heavy atmosphere of the club house. It was cool outside, and the sun was half hidden by the horizon. She had given her blazer to Sena who had forgotten his at home, but she was grateful for the drop in temperature. The chill discomfort it brought helped distract her from her spinning, endless thoughts on Sena, Hiruma and herself.

"Anezaki", she heard distantly, too deep in her musing that she almost missed the strange yet familiar call of her name. Then something hit her head.

"Anezaki", he repeated, and it now Mamori stilled, frozen in both body and mind holding what she now recognized as his uniform blazer. The voice belonged to Hiruma. He never called her by her family name. It was always fucking manager. Always.

"You're smart Anezaki. It's just-" there was a slight pause.

"You're not letting yourself see the truth."

Mamori couldn't look back at him, but heard the open and close of a door to guess that he had gone into the club house. She walked home, still deep in her thoughts. Once home she unpacked, did her homework, showered, and got ready for bed, book in hand. But not even "Cream Puffs: A History" was enough to distract her from the raspy, masculine, all to familiar voice in her head.

A voice that wasn't hers. A voice that seemed to suggest something more.