Strong Man
Disclaimer: Eyeshield 21 belongs to Inagaki Riichiro and Murata Yusuke, etc.
Notes: Since I got asked for it often, but always wimped out on writing it… I decided to attempt to write from Shin's POV this time… I think I failed…
--
Shin knew he was a strong person. Not as strong as he'd like to be since there was still a lot of room for improvement, but strong enough that he knew he unnerved people around him sometimes.
That was because his strength sometimes led to accidents. Shin sometimes broke things if he wasn't very careful with them like camcorders, laptops, and vending machines. He also sometimes broke things not entire on purpose but less by accident than electronics – like people's ribs when he tackled them.
People would get nervous around him sometimes. Like the way his teammates flinched when Shin touched electronics, and sometimes argued about who would be paired against him during practice games because his tackles hurt too much. Shin knew that but he never broke anything – or anyone on purpose.
So he was a little confused when he caught Kobayakawa Sena trying to do exactly that.
Kobayakawa Sena, also known as Eyeshield 21, was the little running back ace of Deimon High School. He was also currently the only person Shin had met so far who had surpassed his speed. The first time he did that, Shin hadn't expected it. It had been at the beginning of the year when the only three regulars of the Deimon Devil Bats were Hiruma Yoichi, Kurita Ryokan, and Kobayakawa Sena who had just been recruited as a first year. Since he had looked so small, weak, and most important, inexperienced, Shin hadn't expected him to be a threat. Kobayakawa Sena had proved Shin's careful analysis wrong for the very first time when he got up repeatedly and finally, got past Shin's defense though no one had ever gotten past Shin when he was on one-on-one defense.
It was understandable that Shin kept track of Kobayakawa Sena after that.
Of course they only saw each other occasionally outside of football matches and usually when they did see each other, one of them was in the audience watching the other play on the field.
So it was also understandable that Shin didn't know about Kobayakawa Sena's activites outside of football.
Still, seeing the boy who was already rather small for his age, on the street, punching a vending machine was a rather strange sight. It was even stranger when Kobayakawa Sena rubbed his fist, wincing, and then drew back his arm and punched it again.
Shin, who had been jogging down the street stopped like he usually did when he saw Kobayakawa Sena.
"Kobayakawa Sena," Shin spoke up finally when Kobayakawa Sena looked like he was going to punch it again.
Kobayakawa Sena whirled around, giving Shin a very embarrassed and very guilty look. "S-Shin-san!" He cringed.
"What…are you doing?" Shin asked.
Kobayakawa Sena looked down at his tennis shoes, laughing stiffly as he rubbed the back of his head. "U-Um, I was just um, trying to…get a drink?" he said.
"The vending machine isn't working," Shin said.
Kobayakawa Sena nodded quickly.
He had to had to pay 200,000 yen for the last vending machine he had broken and Shin had agreed not to touch any more vending machines, but this was Kobayakawa Sena. Shin walked forward anyways even though he wasn't quite sure what was wrong with it.
"Which one do you want?" Shin asked, looking at the selection of drinks.
"Um, Gatorade?" Kobayakawa Sena said.
Shin found the button and pushed.
The vending machine gave a loud creak as all the buttons began to flash and a load of drinks fell out. Gatorade was one of them so Shin took it out and gave it to Kobayakawa Sena who was staring at Shin with his mouth open.
"S-Shin-san? Th-The vending machine…" Kobayakawa Sena said.
"It is broken. Too many came out," Shin said, frowning too. No wonder Kobayakawa Sena had been having trouble with it.
"Uh, um, well, thanks…" Kobayakawa Sena said, looking rather nervous as he held his sports drink with both hands.
Shin nodded as he continued on his jog. He felt rather satisfied with himself. He had helped Kobayakawa Sena with a broken vending machine.
--
The next time he saw Kobayakawa Sena, Shin was going to the local sports shop by the riverbank to pick up some new gloves.
He was surprised to run into Kobayakawa Sena there with Monta, the small receiver of the Deimon team. Everyone called the receiver Monta so Shin assumed that was what his name was though he had never heard his full name.
"Hey, it's Shin-san!" Monta said.
Shin heard him and saw Monta and Kobayakawa Sena peeking at him from behind one of the shelves.
As soon as they saw Shin had spotted them, Kobayakawa Sena jumped, and the two of them shuffled out to greet him.
"S-Shin-san," Kobayakawa Sena said. "You're shopping?" he asked.
Shin nodded. "I'm picking up new gloves," he said.
"Hey, we're getting some shoulder pads!" Monta said, grinning. "I remember last time we came shopping here…you guys stopped the motorcycle and those robbers," he said.
Shin nodded.
"But in the end, we had to ask other people to call the police since the cell phone…"
"The cell phone broke," Shin said.
For some reason, Monta began to perspire as he laughed stiffly. "Er, yeah…" he said.
Kobayakawa Sena was turning quite red in the face too, and Shin realized it was because Kobayakawa Sena was holding something in his fist very tightly. Whatever it was, Kobayakawa Sena began to squeeze with both hands after a moment.
Loud beeping suddenly came from the thing in his hand and Kobayakawa Sena jumped as he flipped open the cell phone he had been holding.
"H-Hello?" Kobayakawa Sena asked. "Um, yeah, we're just about done," he said very quickly. "Okay, we'll be right back!" He hung up, a little red-faced as he looked up at Shin. "Um, um, Hiruma-senpai wants us to go back…i-it was nice seeing you!" he squeaked as he hurried out the door.
Monta gave Shin a quick wave too as he ran out after Kobayakawa Sena, the bell tinkling as the door swung shut behind them.
Shin didn't think much about it, though he did think it was a little strange when he walked out of the store a few minutes later with his gloves, and heard the two familiar voice of Kobayakawa Sena and Monta coming from behind a vending machine a little ways downt eh street.
When he got close enough, he realized the two of them were crouched down behind one side of it and Kobayakawwa Sena was squeezing his cell phone again, though they had said they were in a hurry to get back to Deimon.
"Um, maybe this isn't such a good idea, man…" Monta was saying.
"B-But last time you saw how he just broke it!" Kobayakawa Sena replied. "And you're the one who said I should get stronger…"
"Yeah, but Hiruma-senpai is going to be max mad if he can't contact you cause you broke your phone," Monta said. "Besides, we already left… save it for next time when we see him!"
Since it wasn't really his business, Shin continued on his way. Even if he did wonder a little, why Kobayakawa Sena was trying to break his own cell phone.
--
Shin decided that maybe Kobayakawa Sena actually liked trying to break things when he saw him again a few days later. This time it was at a Bando Spiders game – a game that Shin and several other Ojou members had gone to watch because Takami decided they ought to go after Koutaro Saski went all the way to Ojou to declare he was the best kicker. It seemed something similar had happened with Deimon – despite Bando having lost to both teams already – so Deimon was at the game too.
And since Ojou and Deimon knew each other fairly well, it wasn't that strange when Ootawara saw Kurita in the crowd and dragged all of Ojou over to sit with them.
"S-Shin-san!" Kobayakawa Sena said when he saw Shin.
Shin nodded as he, Sakuraba, and Takami sat down while Ootawara shouldered his way over to the Deimon side of the bench to grab one of the packets of snacks Kurita Ryokan had brought.
Kobayakawa Sena was sitting between the Deimon cheerleader captain and Monta though after some hushed whispering between the three of them, Kobayakawa Sena ended up exchanging seats with the cheerleader to sit between her and Shin.
Kobayakawa Sena was holding a camcorder and Shin remembered that Kobayakawa Sena also acted as a part-time manager for the Deimon Devil Bats.
"Um, h-how do you think this game will be?" Kobayakawa Sena said after a moment as he fiddled with the camcorder.
Shin considered the question. "The Bando Spiders consider themselves a kick team after last year," he answered. "Sasaki Koutaro is the heart of the kick team but Akaba Hayato is the one to watch out for," he said. "It is important to watch for new techniques they have developed after their last game against Deimon," he said.
"R-Right…" Kobayakawa Sena said and while Shin knew he wasn't exactly good with electronics, he was fairly sure that it wasn't necessary to grip a camcorder so tightly to record. Because Kobayakawa Sena was squeezing the camcorder somewhat like the way he had been squeezing the cell phone the other day, looking rather red in the face again.
Shin knew plenty of people who broke things, of course, some of them by accident like himself, and some not so much by accident. But while he didn't really care if someone like Kongo Agon liked to break people's bones even outside of football, Shin did think it wasn't good to break things if one could help it, and he didn't think Kobayakawa Sena should be picking up a bad habit like that.
"Kobayakawa Sena," Shin said when Kobayakawa Sena's knuckles started turning white from squeezing.
He jumped and turned to look at Shin.
"Are you trying to break that camcorder?" Shin asked. "It is not advisable to break team equipment," he said.
Kobayakawa Sena turned a shade of red Shin had so far never seen anyone turn before and stood, thrusting the camcorder into the Deimon cheerleader's hands before he pushed past Shin and ran, or at least, climbed very fast over people's knees until he got out of the stands.
Shin thought he saw Kobayakawa Sena wiping away tears but he wasn't sure why.
Confused, he decided to ask the Deimon cheerleader about it since she seemed to know Kobayakawa Sena quite well.
"Did I say something wrong?" Shin asked.
The Deimon cheerleader who still looked surprised, holding the camcorder, blinked at Shin and then sighed.
"Um, Shin-nii, you know Sena was trying to impress you," she said finally.
Shin frowned. "Impress me?"
The Deimon cheerleader exchanged looks with Monta who shrugged helplessly as the two engaged in some furious whispering.
"You're the one who gave him the idea, you explain!" the Deimon cheerleader hissed.
"No way! I know Sena can't break anything like that even if he used max force!" Monta whispered back. "You're the one who encouraged him! You explain!"
The Deimon cheerleader glared harder at Monta who crossed his arms and looked away.
She let out a louder sigh and turned back to Shin. "I mean, um, he's trying to be stronger," she said.
Shin didn't quite understand.
"Okay, okay, see, what do people do when they like someone and want to impress them?" the cheerleader asked.
Shin stared at her.
"…they do things they think the other person would um…be impressed with!" she said.
"Real smooth," Monta muttered next to her.
The cheerleader elbowed him hard.
"Well and in some people's cases, when they like someone who they also really admire, they try to be more like them," she continued.
Shin nodded. He could follow that.
"So…" The cheerleader trailed off before she whipped around to Monta again and they engaged in another fierce whispering war.
"She's saying Kobayakawa wants to impress you and he's trying to be like you," Takami spoke up, adjusting his glasses. He looked rather torn between being troubled and wanting to laugh.
Shin didn't understand. "Trying to be like me?"
"Er, Shin, you know how you always break things…by accident?" Sakuraba said. "I think Kobayakawa-kun is trying to um…break things…to prove he's strong… um…to your standards," Sakuraba said.
"Yeah, yeah! And you just broke his heart—" The Deimon cheerleader was cut off when Monta slapped his hand over her mouth.
Shin frowned. "Broke his heart?" he repeated.
Monta laughed, sweating. "Er, er, she's just saying Sena's a little, um…"
"Hurt," Takami supplied.
"Right, um, since you didn't notice," Monta finished. "Well, I guess Sena kind of failed…"
Shin sort of understood that. "He wants to prove he's strong to me," he said to be sure he got it right.
"Right! Just keep thinking along those lines, Shin-nii!" the cheerleader said.
Sakuraba let out a rather high-pitched squeal and Shin turned to see Hiruma Yoichi, the quarterback and captain of the Deimons pointing a pistol at the back of Sakuraba's head before he yanked Sakuraba and Takami back. The three of them proceeded to have a furious whispering conversation – at least, furious whispering between Takami and Hiruma Yoichi while Sakuraba let out the occasional yelp of fear.
After a few moments, Hiruma Yoichi walked away, balancing his gun on his shoulder, looking rather pleased with himself.
Sakuraba wobbled back into his seat next to Shin and turned to Shin.
"Um, after the game, I think we should have a talk, Shin," Sakuraba said weakly.
"All right," Shin agreed. He had no doubt this had something to do with the Deimon's quarterback though he wasn't sure about what exactly.
The game started then, though, and everyone turned to watch. But even as he watched, Shin found himself very much aware of the empty seat between himself and the Deimon cheerleader. He wondered if he had really made Kobayakawa Sena that upset and decided he didn't like it. Didn't like it at all.
--
After the game, Sakuraba and Takami insisted they go out to eat while Ootawara came along for the food.
"You're not going to eat?" Ootawara grinned as the four of them sat down at a table at a nearby ramen shop.
"I've already consumed the necessary amount of nutrients," Shin answered as the other three orders came. Ramen had too many carbohydrates and not enough other necessary nutrients.
While Ootawara and Takami dug right in though, Sakuraba picked at his ramen a little before turning to Takami. The two of them engaged in more whispering while Shin caught snatches of "But it's Shin" and "Then you answer to Hiruma" and "What about Kobayakawa" before Takami turned back to his ramen, and Sakuraba turned around to face Shin again.
Sakuraba poked at his ramen and coughed a little. "Er, Shin, what do you think of Kobayakawa Sena?" he asked after a few moments.
"He's a rival," Shin answered. They wanted to talk to him about Kobayakawa Sena?
"What he means is, is that all?" Takami asked, his glasses steamed up from the ramen.
Shin frowned, turning the question over in his mind. "Should there be something else?" he asked.
Sakuraba and Takami exchanged looks.
Ootawara ordered another beef bowl.
"Remember Akaba Hayato, the MVP last year?" Takami said. "Or Kongo Agon from the Shinryuuji Nagas – they're both good players, right?" he said.
Shin nodded.
"And you want to defeat them, right?" Takami asked.
Shin nodded again.
"But you don't pay as much attention to them as Kobayakawa Sena," Takami said.
Shin had to stop and consider that for a moment. He had never really thought about it that way, but yes, when it came to skill, there were lots of other good players. Kobayakawa Sena just caught his eye since he had been such an anomaly – despite being so inexperienced, Kobayakawa Sena was very skilled and he had incredible potential even now. But then, the same could be said for people like Kongo Agon too and still, Shin didn't see Kongo Agon in the same way as Kobayakawa Sena. There was something special about Kobayakawa Sena.
"Not just rivals," Shin said finally.
Takami looked like he was suppressing a sigh.
"But not just friends either, right?" Sakuraba suggested.
Shin frowned as he thought about that. He didn't think he and Kobayakawa Sena could really even be considered friends. They didn't see each other much and while he was very aware of Kobayakawa Sena's existence, he also didn't think friends was the proper way to describe it.
"Um, we're friends, right?" Sakuraba said after a moment.
Shin nodded.
"That's not really the way you feel about Kobayakawa Sena though, right?" Sakuraba said as Takami began eating his ramen again.
Shin nodded again.
"Do you…" Here, Sakuraba swallowed hard. "Like Kobayakawa Sen as maybe more than a friend?" he asked.
Actually, Shin thought this conversation was just getting more and more confusing. He had never thought very deeply about his relationship with Kobayakawa Sena except that Kobayakawa Sena was an important person, Shin enjoyed his matches against Kobayakawa Sena, and he had to make sure Kobayakawa Sena continued to grow as a football player. He had never really thought about why he had those thoughts. It seemed like Takami and Sakuraba were trying to go somewhere with this but Shin wasn't sure what they were leading up to.
"He means, maybe you like Kobayakawa romantically," Takami said.
Shin stared blankly at him.
"You pay a lot of attention to him – more than anyone else," Sakuraba said quickly. "You talk about him a lot, you think about him a lot too, right?" he asked.
Shin had to agree.
"Er, and you want to do your best for him and get better for him – normally people only do that for people they really like," Sakuraba said. "I-It's like how Kobayakawa-kun was trying to um, impress you today…" he said.
"Although why he thought breaking things was a good idea…" Takami murmured.
"You're saying I like Kobayakawa Sena romantically," Shin said.
Sakuraba winced.
Takami sighed. "How would you feel if Kobayakawa started seeing someone else as his most important rival?" he asked.
Shin thought he wouldn't like that much. But that was because it would mean Shin had really gotten weak if he couldn't keep up with Kobayakawa Sena's improvement.
"What if he got a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend? And started paying all his attention towards them?" Takami asked.
Somewhat to his own surprise, Shin thought he really did not like that idea at all. He wasn't sure about the girlfriend or boyfriend thing, but he did not like the thought of Kobayakawa Sena paying so much attention to other people. And that meant Shin did care a lot about what Kobayakawa Sena thought of him and maybe what he felt about Shin too. Which, according to Sakuraba and Takami meant…
"I understand," Shin said, somewhat dazed at his own realization.
Sakuraba slumped in his seat.
Takami sighed, taking off his glasses to begin polishing them with a napkin.
"Understand what?" Ootawara looked up, grinning blankly. "Hey, another miso ramen here!"
--
The next time Shin saw Kobayakawa Sena was about a week later when he walked into the supermarket just as Kobayakawa Sena was about to walk out with a bag of groceries.
They saw each other at the same time and Kobayakawa Sena let out a yelp before scurrying for cover behind a cardboard cutout of a smiling model advertising diet pills.
"Kobayakawa Sena," Shin said.
The plastic grocery bag had been dropped on the ground and Shin saw a small hand reach out to tug it behind the cardboard cutout. The bag knocked against the cardboard, though, and the cutout slowly wobbled and toppled over, revealing a crouched Sena who was giving Shin a deer-caught-in-headlights look, holding the plastic grocery bag.
"Uh, um, h-hi Shin-san…" Kobayakawa Sena said as he slowly straightened up, rubbing the back of his head. "I, uh, didn't see you there…" he mumbled followed by some very stiff laughter.
Shin remembered what Takami and Sakuraba had instructed him to say the next time he saw Kobayakawa Sena.
"I like you," Shin said.
Kobayakawa Sena froze in place, hand behind his head, sheepish-face and everything.
Shin wasn't sure if that was a normal reaction though from what Takami and Sakuraba had said, it didn't seem like it. So he said it again.
"Kobayakawa Sena, I like you," Shin repeated, adding his name so Kobayakawa Sena would know for sure Shin was talking to him.
When he still didn't move, Shin opened his mouth to say it again – only to have Kobayakawa Sena suddenly jumping up to press his hands against Shin's mouth.
"Uh, um, we'll go somewhere to t-talk, y-yeah…" Kobayakawa Sena said, grabbing Shin by the hand, and began to pull him off down the street, past a bunch of passerbys who were looking at them.
Shin wondered why. It wasn't like they were playing football or anything.
They ended up in a park, Kobayakawa Sena perched on a swing while Shin stood by the slides next to him.
Kobayakawa Sena took a deep breath. "Um…you said…"
"I like you," Shin said. "Romantically," he added in case Kobayakawa Sena didn't get it.
Kobayakawa Sena blushed. "B-But…" Kobayakawa Sena stopped and took a deep, even shakier breath. "Um, me too," he said.
Shin wasn't stupid. He knew what to do then as he strode forward and bent down, pressing his lips against Kobayakawa Sena's.
Kobayakawa Sena let out a muffled squeak, but he didn't move away. After a moment, he began kissing back, so Shin figured that meant Kobayakawa Sena really did like him too. Which was actually more of a relief than Shin had thought. And it made him a lot happier than Shin had expected too.
"Kobayakawa Sena," he said after he drew back because even if Shin did like him, he still thought Kobayakawa Sena should know. "You should not break things on purpose," Shin told him. Because even though Sakuraba and Takami had assured him Kobayakawa Sena was only doing it to try and impress him – and consequently pissing Hiruma Yoichi off because their equipment kept disappearing though none of it had actually broken yet – Shin thought he should say something just in case Kobayakawa Sena still thought it was a good idea.
He watched as Kobayakawa Sena blushed up to his ears, mumbling something incoherent.
A beeping interrupted Kobayakawa Sena as he pulled out his cell phone a moment later. "H-Hello? E-Eh? Sakuraba-san? Yes, um, Shin-san's here…" Kobayakawa Sena held out his cell phone for Shin.
Shin took it and held it up to his ear. "Sakuraba," he said.
"Shin! It worked?" Sakuraba asked.
Shin didn't have to wonder too long how Sakuraba knew he was with Kobayakawa Sena because he heard a loud, cackling laughter in the background that he recognized belonged to Hiruma Yoichi.
"Yes," Shin said.
"Oh, good! Congratulations then," Sakuraba said. "I'll uh, we'll leave you guys alone then!" he said.
Shin nodded before he realized Sakuraba couldn't see him but Sakuraba had already hung up.
He pressed the end call button…and Kobayakawa Sena's cell phone let out a loud crack. When Shin turned it over to look more closely at it, multi-colored wires popped out of it and the screen went black.
Well, the call had ended so this was probably normal.
Shin shrugged and handed it back to Kobayakawa Sena who took it, slack-jawed.
"Shin-san…you're really strong…" Kobayakawa Sena said after a moment – and then slipped his hand into Shin's smiling shyly up at him. His small hand was sweaty and clammy but he didn't flinch away.
And Shin found a smile tugging at his own mouth as he folded his fingers carefully over Kobayakawa Sena's.
--
end. Please review!
Haha, the entire time I wrote this, all I could think about is "omggg why are they so awkward??" ……they are so awkward. Sorry!! Also, it's a pain to type out full names of everyone… but Shin really does call Sena his full name now, right? Well…at least it's an improvement to calling him Eyeshield 21 all the time… sort of…