I just want to clarify, the events the whole last chapter of ES21 is to be disregarded. THANK YOU!


Jumonji wasn't an idiot.

He may have been an ex-delinquent, he may have hung out with the likes of Kuroki and Togano and he may have done a few reckless things, but truthfully, he was a smart guy.

It wasn't like he tried to hide this, it was just people didn't tend to notice, especially with Kuroki and Togano around. Most didn't even acknowledge him as an individual, he was always just a Ha-Ha brother.

It also didn't help that everyone would judge them collectively. So being the lone person of three who wasn't an idiot, his other two mentally challenged friends couldn't help but promote the idea he was one. Even within the Devil Bats his grades were pretty much right after Hiruma, Mamori and Yukimitsu. It was odd how completely overlooked this fact was.

For most of his teen years he had never gotten much praise for good grades or a surprising intellect. His dad would never specifically say well done on a good test, instead his ways of 'praise' came in the forms of lectures about how important it was to not fall into the wrong crowds and not to waste his life and to get into a good university. As much as it came across as scolding, Jumonji knew this was simply his father's way of acknowledging his academic performance. His father knew Jumonji had the brain for a good future, but advising him to keep on the right track was something he felt obliged to drill into his son.

Teachers were a little better at least. Once, right at the beginning of his first year, Jumonji had even been called to the maths teacher's office and offered a place on the maths team to take part in a regional maths challenge. For a moment Jumonji thought about it. He liked maths, he thought it was easy. He was almost about to take up the offer before he found himself laughing. It came out of him like a sudden eruption and he couldn't stop.

"Is something funny?" The teacher's expression held a hint of irritation.

Jumonji composed himself enough before answering, "Like hell I'd waste my time on that." He almost regretted his decision to join, but immediately thanked the heavens he had found a sport called American Football. It was a heck of a lot cooler than a maths team.

American Football was unlike anything he had tried before. It was a mix of everything he loved in life. It was brutal, vicious and violent, but at the same time, it was smart and filled with maths, science and tactics. He was good at all of it, although it was his violent nature which got him his place on the team (as well as Hiruma's blackmail) which at times he was a little ashamed of.

He hadn't really thought much about others refusing to acknowledge his intellect. So he was perfectly fine with people assuming he was an idiot and letting him get on with his business of tackling others. But it was one day in particular when he had chanced upon Mamori, Hiruma and Doboroku that his interest in the tactical side of football truly sparked.

All he wanted was to get his bag, but he ended up eavesdropping on the entire thing.

Mamori had been explaining one of the plays and Jumonji nodded silently to himself as he completely understood where she was going. The plan was pretty daring, but as Mamori usually did, she took into account everything from the weather that day, the player's physical capabilities and of course the player's mental capability to actually understand the play as it unfolded. Tactics couldn't always be taught and repeated, sometimes, quick improvisation was needed and Jumonji rolled his eyes as he imagined the countless times Kuroki, Togano and the rest completely missed the mark.

By this point she was naming possible candidates to start the play, and the usual Sena and Hiruma were the options.

"How about fucking scar-face?" Hiruma mused as he popped a bubble. Jumonji's eyes widened.

"Hmm, I've never thought of that. He's always been needed in the line so I never deemed it necessary. I guess the opponents wouldn't expect it." Mamori contemplated before a grunt came from Doboroku.

"Can he really start the play? Is he really..." Doboroku hesitated.

"Smart enough?" Hiruma finished whilst baring his teeth in a grin. "Fucking scar-face got the highest Maths and Science results for his year." Once again Jumonji's eyes widened. He didn't even know that yet since the results for the first year tests weren't revealed until next month.

"He did? Damn... I always thought he was an idiot. His friends don't help. They're all muscle and no brain." Doboroku admit before taking a swig of his sake.

Hiruma shrugged, bringing the topic back to the play. Jumonji found his breath a little haggard as he realised he had been holding it for the past minute or so.

In the end the play didn't involve him as he was too important to the line. For the first time in his life he regretted becoming so good at being a linesman. He wanted to be in there, working out tactics because it sounded pretty damn fun.

He also wanted to be in there giving that old Doboroku a slap. No one insulted his friends.


It was late. Jumonji knew how late it was but he couldn't stop what he was doing. He had been stuck on this certain math problem for a while and when he finally solved it, it was already 7. The library was empty, even the librarian had headed home. He shivered lightly as he silently agreed the library was creepy at night.

"Fucking scar-face, you got a minute?" A voice called out sharply in the silence. Jumonji grimaced as he came face to face with Hiruma.

"What is it?" Jumonji put his pen down shakily before looking Hiruma square in the eye, something he found a little easier when they weren't surrounded by football equipment.

Hiruma paused for a moment, his eyes boring into Jumonji's own. Suddenly Hiruma's eyes flickered down to the papers Jumonji was studying and he noticed the jumble of equations, letters and graphs. Advanced maths. Interesting. A grin spread across his face as Jumonji's eyes narrowed slightly.

Hiruma leant down and grabbed a plain piece of paper and pen before rapidly scribbling something down. Jumonji's eyes trailed down before Hiruma snatched the paper from his view and held it up, faced down.

"3 minutes to solve the problem." Hiruma flipped the paper around and revealed a single question.

Jumonji looked bewildered at first. He hated surprise tests, but what made this worse was that it was Hiruma providing the question. If he got it wrong he had a feeling he'd get more than just a bad grade.

He let his eyes quickly glance over the question, soaking in the information as he read before the paper was jerked away suddenly and lit on fire.

"2 minutes and a half fucking scar-face." Hiruma smirked. Jumonji didn't even hear him.

'A football is kicked at a 50 degree angle to the horizontal , travels a horizontal distance of 20m before hitting the ground. What is the initial speed?' Jumonji repeated in his head. His eyes seemed to stay focused on the wall just past Hiruma. After what seemed like a minute, he automatically grabbed his notebook and jotted down a scramble of equations.

"Done." Jumonji breathed a sigh of relief. He had to admit, being put on the spot like that was almost as exhilarating as being out on the field. But this time his body wasn't hurting, his brain was.

Hiruma's grin widened, "51 seconds to spare." He took the paper and gave it a quick scan. It was almost as if he barely read it before Hiruma locked eyes once more with Jumonji.

"Well done. But on the field you don't have three minutes, it's more like three seconds. And with that there is the pressure of the match, the audience and your team. Do you think you could figure out something like that in those sitatuations?"

Jumonji didn't know what to say. He was already trying to look for the meaning underneath this demon's words, but he couldn't seem to pinpoint it. What is Hiruma getting it?

"I could. For the sake of winning, if I had to, I would." He answered sternly.

A low chuckle escaped Hiruma's lips. "So then," Hiruma popped a piece of gum into his mouth before proceeding, "How would you like to become the new Deimon Devil Bats captain?"


dun Dun DUN!

Okay. So how was it? A boring first chapter, but I need to set the scene, get all the yada yada bits out the way.

Oh God... this story is gonna be really boring. D: It feels like it. I just love Jumonji too much that I write about him and get confused and filled with too many words.