This is for youu Mermaidtetty. I told you I'd get it out on your real birthday. And to those who read FMW, I now have no excuse for not updating. I fired her as my beta (and repeated it 21 times :D) so I suppose it's about time that I get back to it.
It was hot. Really hot. Like seriously, burning hot. It probably was probably why the only plants they saw for the last few days were just some scrawny, brown twigs and such. The dry desert air spelled havoc for their parched throats. Sena swore that he could feel the sweat evaporating off his back. Hiruma's gunshots were even more tiring to dodge, they could send up a small shower of rocks into the air. Sena idly wondered why Hiruma wasn't even tired at all, considering he was lugging heavy artillery and running along with them.
Sena grew dizzy from keeping track of the two rocks.
Clack. Oops, he chased after the rock that had gotten wayward as the other piece decided to follow its lead and abandon the poor running back. His eyes flashed back and forth between the rocks.
Clatter, clatter. It really was a pain to do the Death March. His muscles were aching. His body was telling him not to go on any farther. His brain was telling him 'It's too hard.' His heart told him to go forward. He regretted listening to it. Weren't you supposed to listen to your body? He vaguely remembered something about not over training in Health class.
Someone was shouting indistinctively in the background. Probably Hiruma. Some banging. Gunshots. Sena glanced at Yuki and Monta. Neither of them was to keen on being chased by Hiruma all around America.
There was the shouting again. It was more distinct this time.
"Stop making all that racket! Sena! You're going to be late!"
That didn't sound like something Hiruma would say. Sena snapped his eyes open to find himself home, his pillow near shambles, and what sounded like a tin pan banging on his door. He lost his balance as the scenery of flat mid-western lands changed so suddenly into the bland desk and the view of the neighbor's house through the window. Sena yawned before lazily crawling up again.
The pan banged some more, so much, in fact that Sena wasn't sure that the door could hold under the banging.
"I'm getting up, I'm getting up," Sena muttered. Some of the muscles in his body still ached when he moved.
Sena crawled out of his pajamas and changed into his shockingly green uniform. He adjusted his collar as he wondered how Hiruma had managed to get them to be able to skip school for a couple weeks. Strike that. He didn't want to know. It smelled far too much like a certain black book that Hiruma was currently in the possession of.
Sena and Monta were still studying the American Football Monthly magazine they had 'taken' from one of their classmates during lunch. Or at least, Monta was reading everything aloud, and Sena had to decipher the words through the large bites of banana. Not exactly the easiest thing in the world, especially when the reader was more fluent in monkey than in Japanese.
"Who's our first game against?" Sena asked again, peering over the top of the booklet. Monta 'conveniently' adjusted his hold on the magazine so that Sena couldn't see.
"Hm, the Tamagawa Blue Sharks," Monta said, studying the stats the magazine gave them. He munched on his banana, "They aren't very good. Their line and defense are 'D's' and their runs and passes are 'C's'."
"I suppose that's a good thing," Sena said. He breathed a sigh of relief. "It'd be nice to start out the season with a weaker team. It's better than starting off with a game against a team like the Wild Gunmen or White Knights."
"That would be scary to the MAX! Mukyaa!" Monta cried in protest at the book. "They gave us a C! In passing, they only gave us a C! They obviously haven't looked closely enough at my awesome super CATCH MAX's!"
Sena laughed at that. He paused for a second before asking, "What about for the runs?"
"Mukyaaaaa!" Monta cried again. "They gave you an A! How could they give you an A when I only get a C? Mukyaaagh."
"Well the only official game we won was against the Cupids, and they aren't very good," Sena shrugged. "And don't forget, we only scored in the last few minutes."
They arrived at the clubhouse. Sena slid open the door. Suzuna posed in her newly made Devilbats' cheerleading uniform. Sena quickly snapped it shut again. Monta and Sena stared at the blank door awkwardly. It forcefully banged opened again, and revealed a pissed off Suzuna.
"Why'd you close the door?!" Suzuna screeched angrily. Her expression changed as a new thought struck her. "Oooh! You must be embarrassed that such a cute girl is cheering for you, you shy young man. Right? "
She nudged his ribs with her elbow. Sena wobbled nervously at her expression. It scared him a bit.
"Suzuna, we are men," Monta declared proudly. He thumped his chest with his fist, and said, "We will not turn pervy just because the girls are cheering for –Mukyaa!"
Monta's eyes had, somehow, turned into hearts. Suzuna had pushed Mamori out from the changing rooms. She was also wearing the cheerleading uniform, but with a dark red blush to match.
"Hey, hey! I'm just the manager… besides I don't think this suits me…" Mamori blushed furiously self-consciously. She tugged at the hem of her skirt, wondering how Suzuna could stand to wear something like this.
"Recorded in threat book," Hiruma smirked as he videotaped Mamori and Monta.
"Not being honest at all, are you," Suzuna giggled at Monta, who was still gawking over Mamori.
Kurita said good-naturedly, "Well cheering is important. We need the fans on our side."
Hiruma snapped his threat book closed as he walked outside.
"Allright, fucking brats!" Hiruma said as everyone went outside. In his hands was a deck of cards. He released the spring holding them, and they fell onto the table, creating a colorful frenzy of what looked like trading cards. "Playbooks. Memorize them all before the tournament starts on Sunday."
"A-ha-ha! I can memorize them all in 5 minutes," Taki said. He flung his head back and did his Y-balance. The Huh-huh brothers growled and immediately dove into a stack, determined to beat Taki. Yukimitsu was sitting on the bench busy memorizing the cards.
"Hey Monta? I think these are more like playing cards to Hiruma then a playbook," Sena said, looking over the at Monta. He sweat dropped at the sight. Monta was staring at the cards like there was no tomorrow. Might as well start on it, Sena sighed.
It seemed like it just a few seconds had passed when Sena jolted from a large CRACK! Hiruma had shot his bazooka. He repeated it to make sure everyone was paying attention. Doburoku instructed the backs to line up for the 40-yard dash. He waved a hand at the closest, Yukimitsu, motioning him to go first. He took a swig of sake.
You can do this Yukimitsu! Sena thought. This was the last chance for Yukimitsu to be able to play. Yukimitsu walked hesitantly up to the bright orange cone Hiruma had set earlier.
"Ready, set, GO!" Hiruma yelled, grinning maniacally, with a bazooka on his shoulder. The bazooka set off, and Yukimitsu leapt up from his position and ran with all his strength.
"5.6," Doburoku read off the stopwatch. He made a note of it on his clipboard, which assessed all of the players, "Shaved off 0.5 seconds from his 40-yard. Good job."
Sena was next, he walked up nervously, but at the same time excited. He wanted to know how much the hard work of the Death March had paid off. Sena got ready. The bazooka fired. Sena ran as fast he could, as hard as he could. Once he was done, his legs nearly collapsed under him.
"Not bad, 4.3 without Cerberus chasing him," Doburoku muttered.
"But my legs still feel numb…" Sena said sheepishly, his legs obviously wobbling.
"Don't complain!" Monta cheered, slapping Sena's back.
Oof. Sena fell flat on his face will Monta inched sheepishly away. Mamori was there in a second, covering Sena with bandages successfully making him look like a mummy.
"Hey! Why didn't I get any stronger?!" Togano growled angrily as he was duking it out with Kuroki. Veins and muscles were bulging as they attempted to smash the other into the ground. Togano inched forward, effectively pushing Kuroki a bit back. Kuroki, in a fit of rage of maybe losing to his friend, pushed back, and so it continued for a few moments, pushing each other back and forth.
"Idiots, you guys increased at the same rate during the Death March," Doburoku said, taking a swig out of the sake bottle tied to his wrist.
Togano and Kuroki stopped their fight and looked at their hands for a second before a brilliant idea went off in their heads. They sprinted off in Sena and Monta's direction, yelling, "We just wanna see how much stronger we grew!"
Sena felt the same deadliness that radiated from Cerberus and managed to run at a rate of 4.2 seconds per 40-yards. Monta wasn't nearly as lucky.
"Fugo!" Komusubi said, raising a fist in the air, before jumping Kuroki. Juumonji attacked Komusubi back, and Togano decided to join them for the heck of it. It seemed like the rest of practice went through quickly. Even when it was already 9 o' clock, none of them were tired yet.
"It's because of the Death March. All of your staminas have increased after the March," Doburoku remarked to Juumonji, making a final mark on his clipboard.
"Ya-ha! The Fall Tournament regulars, are here," Hiruma said, as they finished up the practice. In his hand was the notebook that Duburoku previously was marking. "Assemble in the clubroom."
"I hope everyone passes," Sena said nervously with a glance at Taki and Yukimitsu.
"It's alright," Kurita said, "Taki-kun just started, but he can do stuff like blocking and catching. And Yuki-kun did the entire Death March with us!"
"Ever since Natsuhiko was in elementary school, he wanted to be good at sports. He said, 'Doesn't everybody see those that are good at sports as heroes?' That's why that idiot doesn't like to lose," Suzuna sighed. "Even though you can't find a bigger idiot than him. He applied to all the schools with American football clubs, but he failed all of them."
"Oh? Didn't Deimon accept all the applications because there weren't enough applicants this year?" Ishimaru asked.
"Whaa? Then why'd I celebrate getting accepted…?" Sena said sadly as they filed into the clubroom.
"Yeah, but when we got the acceptance letter, Baka-bro already left for America," Suzuna said, glaring at Taki, who was, as usual, completely clueless. Being clueless, he gave Suzuna a thumbs-up and a wink, as Suzuna was ready to bash his head.
"The names that I call right now are for both the offensive and defensive sides," Hiruma said, "I'll be the quarterback. Kicker- I'll do that too."
So Musashi-sempai really isn't…Sena thought sadly.
Monta seemed to be able to guess what Sena was thinking and said, "Musashi-sempai said that he'd be back when we became a strong team. We have to beat the Tamagawa Sharks! This time, we'll prove that we're strong!"
Sena nodded vigorously. Hiruma ignored them and continued with his list.
"Next, five linemen. Kurita, Komusubi, Juumonji, Togano, and Kuroki. Two running backs, Eyeshield 21, Ishimaru Tetsuo. Tight end…Taki."
"Yah! You did it!" Suzuna cheered, waving pom-poms in the air.
Kurita threw some streamers in the air as he happily announced, "Let's play football together!"
"Two receivers," Hiruma continued, not fazed by the celebration, "Raimon Tarou and …"
This is it. It's my last chance to play football with everyone…it's the last Autumn Tournament that I'll be able to play…I want to fight with them, Yukimitsu thought desperately. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself when he heard…
"…the basketball helpers…" Sena heard Hiruma say. He looked sadly at Yukimitsu, whose eyes were wide and fists slowly unclenching as if he couldn't believe it. Sena couldn't believe it. After all that Yukimitsu had done with the team, he even completed the trials at the beginning of the year that so many athletes even gave up. Even the basketball helpers themselves looked surprised at being chosen instead of Yukimitsu.
"Doburoku will read off the names for the defense," Hiruma said, tossing the black book to Doburoku. He stalked outside, where Mamori followed him. Sena and Monta followed them, knowing that Mamori would be asking the question that they wanted to ask.
"Why wasn't Yukimitsu chosen!? He did the Death March with us, and all the training," Mamori snarled. She balled her hand as she held back the urge to slap Hiruma.
"Don't be an idiot. You know it yourself. Do you think, that after 4 months of severe training, a guy who spent 17 years behind a desk can beat the basketball team? All the factors say that the basketball helpers are better," Hiruma said, seemingly without emotion. He knew how hard Yukimitsu trained. Fuck it all, he felt like Agon taking away Kurita spot for the Nagas.
Mamori paused
"I don't mean to be ironic, but…as your manager, I'm asking you," Mamori said, looking away, "is there anything more important than winning?"
"…No," Hiruma said. "There's no such thing. If we lose, it's all over. Same for the fucking baldy."
Hiruma took one final look back at Mamori's tearing eyes, and left. Mamori just stood there as Sena and Monta looked at each other sadly. They saw a figure on the darkening field. Yukimitsu.
"I guess it didn't work…" Sena heard in a small voice from the field. "I guess that my cram school teacher was right. Not everyone can be good at sports. It doesn't matter how much I practice, but I won't be good at it. But that's okay. I can work from the sidelines, working on the strategies."
He pulled out the paper that Hiruma had presented them with months ago, even before the Death March, the diagram of pass routes. He stared at it silently. "Heh. What a dreamer I was. But just once…I wanted to play with everyone…Why? If only I started practicing a year earlier…There's still time before the tournament ends. If I just practice more, I'll make it…"
His voice broke off and cracked. Sena could see the sparkles of tears that were streaming from Yukimitsu's face. He started to go comfort Yukimitsu, but felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
"Don't," Monta said quietly, "it'll just make him feel worse."
Sena hesitated before turning away from the field.
"Sena, the first game is against the Blue Sharks. If we win, we'll be able to stay in the tournament right?" Monta asked loudly. Sena started before playing along.
"That's right! We'll keep winning, until we can make it to the finals!" Sena said loudly, right back. "All the way to the day that we'll be able to play with a full Devilbat Team. All eleven of us, on the field."
They turned around, but not before Monta caught a small sad smile, that said no, he couldn't be on the field.
Constructive criticism very welcome. Probably need it a lot too ;-;