Karin checked her phone again: Nothing. Fifteen minutes late and still no sign of Yamato Takeru. It wasn't that she was embarrassed to be sitting around in a cafeteria all alone, but it was unusual for Yamato to be anything other than straight on the second.

"Karin."

"Huh- Oh, Taka, uh, hey…" Karin stood up and turned around towards her stern-faced friend. "I wasn't expecting you. I thought Yamato was- uh, what's…That?"

"It's nonsense." Taka swished his hair over his shoulder and set down a portable projector screen. The black cord shook as it dangled, as if it were just as embarrassed to be there as the star cornerback.

Karin looked around in confusion, as Taka took a seat next to her and began reading again.

"Hey, hey- Karin! Oh, good, Taka found you okay!" The young man she had been waiting for bolted in, the double doors swinging behind him.

"Yamato- what's that? And what's the emergency?"

"There is no emergency," Taka muttered.

"Uh, yeah, about that- Karin, I need to talk to you about your comic,"Yamato said, heaving a projector, extension cord and all, onto the table. He started up his laptop with a buzz.

"Ah- hahah- what? Which one?" Karin asked blankly.

"Taka- Takaaaa, can you get the screen for me?" Yamato asked in what he clearly thought was a winsome voice.

"No."

"What comic?" Karin repeated, flustered.

"Ah-" Yamato reached inside his hoodie pocket and whipped out a furled-up comic book. "This."

"Oh NO!" Karin gasped, grabbing for it, but it was too late. "No, Yamato- I-"

"Your Amefuto Fan series," he continued.

Karin moaned, wishing that she could curl up into a ball, die, and then sink in the floor just for good measure. "No, please-"

"Yeah, it's pretty good! Love the art, we just found it in the adult section yesterday and me n' Taka read all of them together- right?"

Taka let out a noncommittal grunt, not even bothering to look up. "Karin… Apologies. I allowed him to have coffee…"

"No- Taka…" Karin whispered, slowly shrinking in on herself.

"Well… If you really want to know, I felt the ending of SAILOR PRINCE~mermaid love~ was too rushed… Kakei would never make such an important decision based on his emotions like that," Taka stated.

Karin died a little more on the inside.

"But yeah. Anyways, keep up the good work, Karin, you're such a talented artist!" Yamato gave her one of his dazzlingly white smiles. "But what I wanted to talk to you about, this comic." He put it on the table in front of her. "First of all, you got Shin down, spot-on. Like, seriously, you never met him before?"

"Get to your ridiculous point, Takeru," Taka snapped.

"Okay. So-" Yamato pulled down the screen and clicked to open his Powerpoint.

Karin stared at the title in incomprehension. "…Fourteen Reasons… Fourteen Reasons SenaxYamato trumps ShinSena?!"

Fifteen slides later, Yamato crossed his arms. "Now… Do you see what I mean?" he asked her, his eyes serious.

"….," said Karin.

Yamato stood, waiting for confirmation that he had made excellent, logical points as to why it should be him, not Shin, forcibly penetrating Sena.

Karin just stared at him.

Finally, Taka broke the silence. "Takeru, you are completely inane," he said coldly, putting down his book.

"Ah… Taka… He doesn't mean…"

"I already refuted each and every one of your points, Yamato Takeru… Perhaps we can agree to disagree, but I will not change my stance, Sena belongs with Shin, and if you cannot see that, I think you need to re-examine the very compelling evidence towards it."

Yamato put his hands on his hips, still grinning. "You still going to go off the 'romantic rivalry' thing? Well, we were both, for all intents and purposes, Eyeshield. Eyeshield 21. Sena and I, we know what it's like, to have to carry the mask- I think we have this really-" Yamato held up two fingers together. "Really, really intense emotional connection. You don't get closer than that."

"I beg to differ," Taka replied. "I definitely beg to differ…"

"What have I done…" Karin said weakly.