Interrogation

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine; we all know that. Heh.

Hiruma sat with his legs up on the table and his laptop balanced on his knees, typing away furiously. On the other side of the table sat Musashi, his feet also on the table and hands behind his head, listening to Kurita happily talk about their last game.

The door swung open and Anezaki Mamori walked in.

"Mamori-san! Ohayo!" called Kurita, waving a hand to the team manager.

Musashi nodded and smiled at her. Only Hiruma seemed to have no reaction; he merely glanced up for half a second then his eyes returned to his computer. Musashi noticed it – Hiruma was the only one in the team who barely seemed to notice the manager at times. But the girl had obviously learnt his ways, since she didn't seem to expect anything from him and offered a cheerful smile to Musashi and Kurita, saying, "Ohayo! I thought you might be hungry so I brought some cakes and cream puffs –"

"Can't stay away from the cream puffs, can you, stupid manager?"

An irritated look creased her face. She opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Hiruma – again – who flung a stopwatch at her and told her to go and check on "those damned shrimp" and the "Huh-huh brothers" in the field.

Musashi half-expected Mamori to dodge the stopwatch or to be hit by the flying timepiece, but instead she caught it deftly before it reached her. Her expression had smoothed, but annoyance was still evident in her voice as she snapped, "You could be a bit nicer about it." She turned on her heel and started out.

Kurita got up and said, "I'll go check on the juniors too. Komusubi-kun and Juumonji-kun and the others might need help."

"Ever the good senpai, eh, Kurita?" said Musashi, grinning.

"Aa… Hahahah…" Kurita laughed, slightly embarrassed by Musashi's words. "I try my best."

The grin remained on Musashi's face as he watched Kurita run after Mamori. As his gaze moved from the huge lineman to the slender manager, the grin faded and he turned to Hiruma.

"Oi."

"What?"

"What's up with you and Anezaki?"

"What're you babbling about, old man?"

"Anezaki Mamori."

"I know her name, stupid old man. I know everyone's name."

Musashi brought his legs down from the table and returned his chair to a more stable position. "You're nicer to her than I thought you'd be."

Hiruma ignored the statement and continued typing.

"I didn't expect you to actually hire a manager. Nor one like Anezaki."

"So what if I did?" The pink bubble of gum he'd been inflating popped and he continued chewing the gum.

"Why did you let her take the position?"

"Better her than Eyeshield 21. And anyway, she wouldn't have let the shrimp alone otherwise."

"Oh?"

The typing never stopped. Musashi wondered vaguely what sort of dark information his friend was dredging up. Hiruma's information network and resources were incredible – and scary. Woe betide anyone who got on the devilish quarterback's wrong side. He folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. "What were the other reasons?"

"Do I need any other reasons?"

"No, but you have them. I've known you long enough, Hiruma. Those aren't the only reasons you let her take the post. The others don't know you that well and it probably wouldn't ever cross Kurita's mind, but I know and it has crossed my mind that you treat Anezaki rather better than most girls."

"Tch. She's just useful," said Hiruma, blowing another bubble of gum.

"Hmm. Really? Is that all?"

Seconds passed. Musashi let the silence hang in the air. He knew something was going on; he just wasn't quite sure what. It wasn't that Hiruma was mean to all girls, but rather that he ignored them on the whole. That he even deigned to speak to Suzuna was something of a small miracle, but then the hyperactive girl seemed to be able to squeeze herself into the team as the unofficial head cheerleader and certainly had her uses when it came to restraining her idiot brother.

But Anezaki Mamori was another thing altogether. Hiruma actually talked to her. True, he talked in his usual coarse and crisp fashion, but still he talked to her. They'd even managed to work out some sort of sign language that only the both of them understood so she could signal him from the sidelines during a game. When Musashi had found out, he'd marvelled at the girl. Already the fact that she seemed to be quite unafraid of Hiruma was amazing. That she managed to communicate with him on a level beyond the most basic of conversations was even more astonishing.

"You like her, don't you?" Musashi said at last.

No answer from Hiruma again. He seemed to not hear the question. But Musashi knew he'd heard it. For a moment there, the constant tapping of the keyboard had stopped. The sturdily-built kicker smirked.

"No?" he asked, a hint of slyness in his tone.

The blond boy made an irritated noise and glanced up at Musashi. "What is this – an interrogation?"

"Just asking," said Musashi, spreading his hands noncommittally.

Hiruma glared and muttered something under his breath that Musashi was fairly sure he didn't want to hear anyway. He looked at the team captain, who seemed to be absorbed in his laptop again. The smirk returned to his face. This could be interesting…

Musashi got up from his seat and said, "I'm going."

When the door shut behind him, Hiruma looked up from his laptop and stared long and hard at the door. Then he turned back to the screen and murmured, "Damn old man."

Author's note: How was it? My first Eyeshield 21 fic and second upload to 