Okay, I managed to garnish some interest, now it's time to gain momentum, especially right now when it is finals' season, that last test of the semester, and you're at a university; it's crunch time! Right now, I'm plugged into some Korean hip hop (I just discovered Paloalto and Drunken Tiger) while writing the second chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21! All rights to copyrighted material are reserved to gensaku-sha, Riichiro Inagaki; manga artist, Yusuke Murata; Shonen Jump; Shueisha; and Viz Media.

The Boy with the Golden Legs and the Treasure Hunter

Hiruma watched Sena in such amazement, already comparing him to pro-style NFL Running Backs. Oh the Devil of Deimon was certainly having his field day with this. While those two punks were chasing down Sena, the glasses wearing hooligan tried to cut Sena off at the subway station entrance, ready to tackle him, but Sena spun around him, leave that ruffian absolutely bewildered, "What the-! I thought I had him." He chased Sena into the subway station, with the other two scoundrels not far behind in hot pursuit.

Although, Hiruma was certainly delighted, "Wow a Spin Move!"Sena flew down the flight of stairs as the bell rang. Time was running out as the subway car began to close the doors. Hiruma was now watching from on top of the fence with great anticipation and one hell of a fiendish glare, cheering Sena on, "Come on, you can make it, Damn Pipsqueak. With those legs, you can do it. FLY!"

And with one final push, at the very last second, Sena leaped in one from the bottom step, flew across the station platform, and managed to squeeze right through the doors of the train at the second; he was exhausted, timidly saying, "Excuse me."

The three thugs ran down steps of the station, but they were self-thwarted when the punk with the bat slipped on a step, crashing into the other two, and with that, all three tumbled down the flight of stairs missing their opportunity to thrash Sena. Casually, Hiruma casually strolled into the station and sat on the lead punk's head, celebrating "YAHA! TOUCHDOWN!"

Chapter 002 – Secret Weapons

That night with the trio of bullies ensnared, blindfolded, bound, and gagged, Hiruma held the three as hostages. Now, he was back in a now empty clubhouse, since Kurita went home for the day. Blowing a bubble from his gum, he was impatiently for someone. Then as daylight drew to a close, a beady, dim light began to roll up on to the school campus. As Hiruma saw the small light closely approached, he noticed a figure beginning to take shape.

That shape was of a boy on his bike as he was riding up to the clubhouse. The boy rolling up was short and skinny, had brown hair he wore a bowl cut, and brown eyes that were covered with a thick pair of glasses; he had on a black tee shirt with short red sleeves, a long pair of khaki shorts, and a pair of black sneakers. Hanging off his shoulder, he had a hefty leather satchel.

Hiruma had a tick mark in his vein, scowling at the boy, "You're late, Damn Shutterbug."

Immensely irked, the boy was brewing with as much bitterness as the strongest teas, "I'm sorry that you're so demanding at such inopportune times, Hiruma. Honestly, what's got you so worked up that you had to call me right before dinner? And tonight?! It's Okonomiyaki night at my house!"

"I could care less of what's on the menu, Damn Paparazzi! I've got an errand for you. Were you to refuse…?" Hiruma began to pull out a little black book labeled "THREATS".

The boy immediately complied without hesitation, "I know, I know! You know you don't have to tell me twice. Besides, I know what you're capable of. It's always best to side with you instead of opposing you. I may be a First-Year, but I know I'm not stupid enough to mess with you; that'd be suicide." The boy stationed his bike up against the side of the brick-layered shed known as the clubhouse, asking Hiruma, "What's the job?"

Hiruma smiled as he put away his black book, wondering, "Did you bring the camera like I requested?" Hiruma's grin grew feral as the photographer opened up the satchel, revealing his favorite camera. "Well, as you may know, Football Team has been having trouble finding and holding onto prospective team members."

The shutterbug interjecting with an agreeing statement, "I think I might have noticed that since Mao Junior High."

With one of his guns, Hiruma shot at the paparazzo for interrupting "Anyways, I found a great Running-Back with tremendous speed, but he has a couple of leeches that constantly keeps on draining him. That's where you come in, Damn Shutterbug." Hiruma kicked in the clubhouse door, revealing the punks that were bullying Sena earlier.

The photographer gawked at them, "So this prospect had these guys bully him? What do you want me to do with them?" Hiruma whispered something sinister into his ear; the shutterbug grinned, "That is so cruel, I'll do it. Depending on how many shots you want to take, I figure it'll take me up to a whole day to fully process the film. I'll even have a CD ready for you to use at your disposal if you want." Hiruma demonically cackled.

~xxx~

The next day after school, Hiruma and Kurita were walking to the clubhouse when Kurita informed Hiruma, "Hey! So we got a new recruit yesterday."

"Oh? Actually, I found someone too." Hiruma countered; he continued to brag, "A Running Back with golden legs, and he's real eager to join the team."

Kurita was ecstatic "Wow! What a find! That's great, Hiruma!"

Hiruma pulled out an automatic rifle out of his bag as he kicked in the clubhouse door, "I think he's probably already here." Kurita looked curiously as Sena was found inside, tied to one of the chairs and gagged. Hiruma shot at Sena with blanks while Sena cried in fear, "Here's your application form, Damn Pipsqueak, YA-HA-HA!"

~xxx~

Elsewhere, Ayumu was at the First-Years' shoe closet, going through what was becoming a daily routine of pouring thumbtacks out of his shoes. He slipped his now clean shoes on when he noticed that Sena wasn't around, thinking "Maybe Hiruma got to him already". Then Ayumu saw the three delinquents from yesterday. He asked them, "Looking for Sena?"

The leader of the three confirmed, "Yeah, you know where that little brat is?"

Ayumu smiled, "He's with the Football with Kurita-san and Hiruma-san." Then, Ayumu decided to warn the trio. "I'm just putting this out there, but I think you guys should lay off on Sena. Not to mention, if he's with Hiruma, it might be bad news for you guys; Hiruma is one guy not to be trifled with."

The trio looked at him. "Huh?", "What!?", "WHAT!?" fired in rapid succession. The leader asked Ayumu, "Why should we listen to a Yankii like you? This Hiruma guy is only one person; he can't be all that dangerous if all three of us rush him."

Ayumu joked, "I'm the Yankee, and yet two of you have blonde dyed hair." Then he got serious again, giving the trio a final warning, "Believe me you guys, Hiruma is the one guy who NOT to mess with; that guy has unlimited resources and countless victims at his disposal, not to mention the number of guns he has."

The three juvenile hooligans looked at each other when the leader of them, "Alright, we can back off…for now, as soon as we find a way to deal with Hiruma."

Ayumu saw the three leave, musing to himself, "Those three are going to try and get after Hiruma? Oh, Shinigami-san, I plead with thee; be nice and take them to a better place. I pray that Kami-sama may have mercy on their souls, for what they plan on doing is suicide." Ayumu then walked out of the school, heading in the direction of the hospital.

~xxx~

Mamori was at the upperclassmen's' shoe closet when she thought that maybe she could probably walk home with Sena. She popped by the First-Years' closet, only to see that his shoes were still in his locker, "He's still here?" As she left the school, she wondered, "Maybe he joined a club! That's great! Now that we're in high school, I guess that we're not going to walk home together every day, because, we're not little kids anymore, are we, Sena?"

~xxx~

Back in the clubhouse, Sena was clad in the Deimon Devil Bats uniform. The helmet was black with the red bat wings logo, outlined in white, styled similarly to the Philadelphia Eagles, and the facemask was white with a green-tinted eyeshield attached. His jersey was bright red, with white numbers on the front, back, and shoulders, a white collar trim, and black and white stripes at the end of the sleeves; his jersey number was 21. The pants were white with a black stripe that went down the side. The socks were white, knee-high, with the top half colored red. His cleats were red with black laces, and his gloves were black and red with the palms and fingers colored white. Underneath the uniform he had a foamy neckroll to pad the spine, shoulder pads, rib pads, a cup, thigh pads, and knee pads.

"#21, and the eyeshield looks good too," said Kurita.

Hiruma informed Sena, "We'll keep your identity a secret during games. Otherwise, all the other teams in our school will be after you, eh?

"Games? No, I'm Team Manager," Sena objected…initially; that's when he saw Hiruma cock a gun.

THUD! Hiruma thrust the butt of the gun onto the table, "During games, you aren't going to use your own name Kobayakawa Sena, got it? You codename will be Eyeshield 21!"

Sena cried in protest, "but I'm just the team manager!"

Hiruma cackled, "Okay athlete AND manager, you'll do both!"

~xxx~

Sena, Mamori and Ayumu were walking to school when Ayumu decided to bring up some news, "Hey Sena, I heard you joined the Football Team."

Mamori asked, "The Football Team?"

"Well…Kurita's a nice guy! But then Hiruma is the worst…" said Sena.

"Idiot, I could've told you that!" Ayumu shouted.

Mamori scolded Sena, "I told you to stay away from that guy!" And she was concerned for his safety, "And football is… It's too dangerous; don't do it!"

Ayumu agreed, "She's right, I'm from America and I've watched the pro games in the NFL; it's a rough sport, literally bone-crushing. One time I saw this replay of a 1985 NFL game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins where Giants' Linebackers, Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson tackled Redskins Quarterback, Joe Theismann so bad, that it snapped his leg in half."

Mamori yelled at Ayumu, "Don't scare Sena like that." She then turned to childhood friend, "Sena, you're delicate, you're frail, you're just weak!"

With a deadpanned look, Ayumu sarcastically vocalized what Sena was thinking, "Gee Mamori, that certainly was harsh. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a bully yourself."

Mamori shouted back at Ayumu "Hey! I'm on the Disciplinary Committee, you know!"

With a fake gasp, he retorted, "Good Cover." GLING! A ringtone chimed in and Ayumu pulled out his phone; he had gotten a message from a friend of his, "Hey, I have got to take this; Mamori, don't bully Sena while I'm gone.

Miffed at Ayumu's comments, Mamori turned to Sena, nervously laughing, "Let's not pay attention to him anymore," before changing her tone, "But seriously Sena, be sure to tell me if they make you do anything dangerous!"

"Geez Anezaki-san, why don't let him have some confidence in him, for once?" Ayumu jumped back into the conversation. "If Sena has to develop a backbone, I think it's best if he does so with Hiruma; who better to get stronger against than that devil himself?" He asked rhetorically, and then he continued ranting, "For all we know, being on the Football team, he could be a major star in the NFL in 10 years. Mamori, I know, to you, Sena will always be that fragile little kid that needs to be guarded all the freaking time, but sometimes we all have to grow up, and that can't happen if someone keeps hold our hands. Let him go and leave him to make his own decisions for once."

They both looked at Sena, and Sena looked back to Ayumu winking at, mouthing at him some words along the lines of "Play Along".

Nervously, Sena managed to play it off smoothly, "Hey, everything's cool Mamori-nee. I made sure that I'm not a player. I won't actually play football; I'm actually the team manager."

Mamori sighed in comfort, "Oh, what a relief."

Ayumu interjected, "Okay, a team manager, he'll be in charge of scouting, analyzing, and strategizing; if you can work on his leadership skills, give about 15 years, at either the college or NFL levels, he could be a great assistant coach by then, maybe at 30 years, a head coach even."

Mamori's perception started to change a bit, "Oh wow, really!? I didn't know that; that would be so cool, right Sena? Wait a minute, if you're not playing, then how come you're going to school early?

Sena straighten up his tie, "Administrative Staff Meeting." He then took a glance at his watch, "Uh-oh, I'm about to be late; I've got to go. See you guys later!" Sena ran off to meet with Hiruma and Kurita.

Wiping a fake tear from his eyes, Ayumu joked, "They grow up so fast."

Irritated, Mamori smacked him in the back of the head, "Shut it, will you?" Ayumu just stuck his tongue at her, until she smacked him again. "Hey, why are you even coming to school so early? Last time I checked you didn't belong to any clubs," She asked him.

"Oh, I'm not in any clubs or anything yet. I'm coming out to school early today to help out a friend in the Photography Club," answered Ayumu.

"Oh, so you haven't joined any clubs yet?" Mamori asked him

Ayumu simply said, "Nope, not one."

Mamori recited, "You know it's a rule that a student has to join at least one club for the entirety of school year, right?"

Uninterested, he responded, "Yeah, I know."

Again she asked, "Then how come you haven't joined yet?"

He replied, "Because I haven't found my niche yet,"

Then all she said was, "Oh." Then she lectured him, "Are you ever going to straighten out your uniform?"

He smiled, "Not a chance in hell."

~xxx~

Ayumu opened a classroom door to see if anyone was in; it was the same classroom used by the Photography Club, "Knock, Knock, anyone in today." In there, Ayumu saw only one boy in room who was going over some photos; he was short, rail thin, had brown hair that he wore a bowl cut, brown eyes that were covered with a thick pair of glasses, "Ah, hey Minoru, what's up, dude, you texted me about something?"

The photographer greeted Ayumu, "Hey just in time. I've got something to show you."

Ayumu was curious, "ooh, what's developing?" Minoru pulled out a tightly rolled-up poster which he began to unravel; the poster's design that was revealed to Ayumu, Ayumu just grinned at its contents, "Are these guys that trio of first year bullies?"

Minoru was surprised by the question, "Yeah, how did you know?"

Ayumu answered while trying to hold down his laughter from the poster's designs, "I saw them chasing after a year at the train station the other day." Failing to stifle he asked, "How many of these posters are there right now?"

Minoru grinned, "About a hundred, why?"

Ayumu couldn't hold it any longer, "I want to go around and post a bunch of these! Oh man, are these photos humiliating or what?!" Cackling, he fell to the floor, rolling around.

Minoru was feeling proud, "You like them huh? The photos were my handiwork; Hiruma had then commissioned by me. And since I took the pictures, Hiruma has the rest of the Photo Club go out this morning and place them all over the school while the Discipline Committee had their morning meeting."

Ayumu had an ear-to-ear grin, "The whole school is going to see this; I'll feel sorry for those poor knuckleheads, NOT!"

~xxx~

At the clubhouse, both Hiruma and Sena came in uniform (but not in full pads and nor a helmet). Hiruma had Sena wrapped up in a cord, pulling one end while tied to an equipment bag on the other end. Hiruma shouted, "Morning Practice!"

"No way, you keep lying to me!" Sena cried.

Kurita was already on the field practicing, tapping on a one-man padded sled.

"Wow, you're here early." Hiruma commented, dragging Sena along.

"Oh, good morning," Kurita greeted them. POP! He pried his helmet off, "Well, this is the first time we've had three players, right? I was so excited that I woke up early; I was so wound up that I've been here since 2 a.m."

Sena couldn't believe what he heard, "…since 2 a.m.?"

Hiruma chimed in, "He's a bit dim." He then noticed some with the pad sled; the pad man broke off from the sled and fell off. He yelled at Kurita, "Idiot! You busted it!"

"Kurita's so strong, it's scary," Sena thought.

"Damn, well, we'll have to trick the principal into buying us another one again," said Hiruma, kicking the pad sled aside.

Sena continued to watch, "…but this guy's even scarier."

"While we're at it, you want any other equipment?" Hiruma asked Kurita.

"Not really…" said Kurita.

Sena walked around the school field and perused the equipment, looking at the football launcher, "Wow, so much equipment. Wonder what this is for, a ladder?" Sena saw a rope ladder nearby.

Kurita was looking over Sena's shoulder, explaining it to him, "Oh that? That's for what we call Ladder Drills. It's used to develop your footwork and your agility. You do so by placing your feet into the spaces as you either crossover and shuffle your feet back and forth. It's a type of exercise in football that's fundamental for you to learn!"

Sena stepped into the spaces, moving his legs back and forth, "Step in the spaces, uh, like this?"

"Yeah, that's right, you get it!"

Sena stopped and gasped, saying to himself, "Whoa! I almost started practicing without even realizing it."

"Let's go from the ladder to do some more basics." Hiruma suggested. Dragging Sena along, "We've got to teach the rookie…"

"Wait, my neck is killing me," said Kurita, loosening up the bones in his spine, "I'm just going to do 40-Time, and then I think I'm done."

"It's been a while since we did a 40," Hiruma commented, and then he offered, "I'll time you. Show me the fruits of your morning practice!" Hiruma said to Kurita as he handed Sena a stopwatch.

"One practice isn't going to make me faster!" Kurita yelled back.

Sena asked, "Hey Hiruma, what's a 40-Time?"

"The 40-Time means the 40-Yard-Dash; it's a physical test to gage a player's speed in seconds by running 40 yards down the football field," Hiruma answered.

"I hope I can do this right," Sena thought as he looked at the stop watch. He then asked Hiruma again, "Um, how many second does it take to run 40 yards?"

Hiruma explained, "The average guy takes between 5 and 6 seconds; the 5 second wall is the line between a sprinter and an ordinary person. A high school kid who can do about 4.8 seconds would certifiably be an ace anywhere. The high school record is 4.4 seconds set by a guy named Shin, but he's a freak.

"Okay!" Kurita shouted from down the field.

"All right," Hiruma pointed to Sena to get ready with the stopwatch. While Sena was preparing to time Kurita with the stopwatch, Hiruma started the countdown, "Ready, Set…" He then pulled out a bazooka and, BOOM, launched a heavy bottle rocket into the sky. The bang was heavy enough to rattle the school.

And with that bang, Kurita was off, running as fast as he could. Lumbering along, he ran passed the two, Sena clocked him, Hiruma looked over at the stopwatch to see how fast Kurita ran; it was 6.5 seconds. Hiruma was livid, "GRRR! You Damn Fatty! That's slower than before; isn't it?! What were you doing all morning!?

"I can't help it; I'm tired!" Kurita whined.

Hiruma was next, he shouted, "Hey, watch this!" Hiruma started running his 40-time, and was timed at 5.1 seconds, "YA-HA! My best time ever!"

"Wow!" was all Sena could muster.

Hiruma then looked at Sena, "Now, last but not least…"

Sena timidly tried to decline, "No thanks. I don't need to…"

But Hiruma intimidated Sena into running, "What? Can't wait to do it?" Then, as Sena got ready to run, Hiruma commented to Kurita, grinning, "With those legs, I bet he could break the five second wall."

But Kurita was perplexed, "Really, Sena? You think he's that fast? Isn't it odd? If he's such a speedster, don't you think he'd have made a name for himself in Junior High?"

But Hiruma, rubbing his neck, didn't have a real definite answer, "Hmm, maybe…Time him and we'll see…" Sena was in position, and Hiruma started the countdown, "Ready, Set…," then fired with the bazooka, again rattling the school, and Sena gunned it.

Kurita timed Sena and was stunned, "Right at the 5-Second-Wall!"

Sena was surprised himself, "No way!"

Hiruma pulled out a laptop and started to type away pulling up a record, "Kobayakawa Sena's junior high school fitness tests, you were the most proficient in the school, but only at the side-step exercise." Sena was stunned that Hiruma could pull up his info so quickly. "You must have developed phenomenal burst speed being a gopher for bullies," Hiruma stated as he opened up a bag of dog treats, pulling one out, "but your speed eases up so you're not going to break any running records. This is so you won't slow down," Sena was puzzled as to why Hiruma slipped the dog treat in his collar. Then Hiruma whistled, calling forth, "Cerberus!"

Sena could hear a faintly gallop as it grew louder; it was coming closer. Before him, was a dog wearing a spike collar, one mean, mangy mutt; the beast growled and barked at Sena who was scared. As Sena turned and ran Cerberus saw the dog treat in Sena's collar and gave chase. WHOOSH! Sena ran 10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards, 40 yards, as Hiruma was timing him.

The devil timed it, "YA-HA! Look at that skill!" He showed it to Kurita as he continued cackling, "It's a new high school record!" Sena 40-yard-time was clocked at 4.2 seconds. "And that's top speed, even for the NFL! No one can stop you, man! You've got the golden legs!"

Sena was exhausted, nearly passed out as he laid flat on the ground as Cerberus gnawed at him, even after it got to the dog treat. Kurita was shaking him, "Hey Sena, you can't keep this ability hidden."

Hiruma just laughed, "The spring game is ours!"

That caught Kurita's attention, "Oh, that's right! The game is coming up!"

"We better gather up 'support' players," suggested Hiruma.

Sena thought about it, imagining of walking out into the field in his managerial suit as he stepped out with the teen. Then Kurita asked, "So when exactly is our next game?"

"Tomorrow," Hiruma said nonchalantly, blowing a bubble of gum.

Both Sena and Kurita were floored, "No way!"

~xxx~

As students were gathering into the school, murmurs and giggles grew at the sight of each poster on the walls of every corridor. Every poster was exactly the same, three help male victims naked, lying on their backs, with their arms tied behind their backs, their faces and genitalia cut out of the pictures, covered with devil bat logos, and most of all, an ominous message stating the following, "Leave him alone, at ALL times, or else I reveal your identities."

Instantly, everyone found this to be one of Hiruma's penalty games. Ayumu and Minoru were enjoying themselves; this was by far one of the cruelest pranks that either one of them had a hand in implementing. They just couldn't stop laughing; no one in that school was able to. As the Disciplinary Committee abruptly ended their meeting because of the stirring commotion, they opened the door to find the entire student body gathering around the posters, chortling with a mean-spirited amusement at the expense of the three in the posters, and not one member of the committee was pleased at the sight, none more so than Mamori.

In a scolding manner, she roared at the nearby masses, whilst tearing down a poster, "I think you all should be ashamed of yourself. This is by far the most appalling act ever committed at our school!"

At the other end of the hallway, Ayumu discreetly said to Minoru, "Well, I guess the fun is over, huh?" Then he saw the very trio of delinquents that were in photos. Ayumu shouted to the lead punk in American English, "Hey Scarface! I guess you like to take your bromances far, huh?"

The trio looked at him. "Huh?", "What!?", "WHAT!?" fired in rapid succession. The de-facto leader of the trio was irritated and said, "Can you say that in Japanese?"

Ayumu and Minoru grinned pointed at all the posters, saying in unison, "Take a look!"

The trio looked at him. "Huh?", "What!?", "WHAT!?" shouted in rapid succession as they saw all the posters of them naked and bound; a sense of dread and embarrassment befell upon the delinquent trio, as they were shrinking their necks turtle-style, hoping nobody finds out that they were the unfortunate victims of this low-brow, crass, insidious prank. Oh, did they want to murder Hiruma. The entire student body was thinking the same thing: that somewhere, bathing in a whirlpool of liquid flames, a local devil was cackling from the ninth level of Hell.

~xxx~

As they walked back from the school field, Sena, Hiruma, and Kurita heard the sounds of a frenzied laughter emanating from the school. Sena was the first to ask, "What's that sound? Is everyone in school laughing?"

Noticing it too, Hiruma grinned, "Sound like everyone has seen the posters."

Sena asked, "What posters?"

Hiruma waved it off, "Never mind that, get to the team clubhouse before I start using you two for target practice!" Sure enough, that was incentive to have scurry to the team's shed. After Hiruma made Sena feed Cerberus while Kurita managed to chain him, Hiruma announced, "We need eight more players by tomorrow's game. We'll split up and round some people up!"

Taking a sip of his tea, Kurita wondered aloud, "Eight?"

Sena continued that thought, "But I thought you need 11 players for football…"

Hiruma pointed to himself, "9," pointed to Kurita, "10", lastly pointing to Sena, "11."

Sena spitted out his tea when Hiruma suggesting about Sena playing, protesting, "But I'm just the team manager!"

Then Kurita spoke up, feeling a bit down that Sena didn't want play, "With those legs of yours, Sena, I want you to play in our games too." Then he smiled, trying to reassure him, "but if you don't want to, maybe while you are managing the team, you'll want to start playing, and then I'll be glad to have you on the team," then final thought, "So we've got to get together nine players."

At this time, Hiruma pulled out a dry-erase board, and hung in up, marking on it; it was an impromptu chart with their three names on the bottom TWACK! Hiruma slammed his hand to gain their attention, "Three each! Do whatever you have to! Just drag them from other sports teams! Do so by the end of the day!"

Sena and Kurita said in unison, "Th-three each by the end of today?!"

Hiruma devilishly smiled before threatening them, "But of course! Whoever brings in the least gets the penalty game."

Sena was shuddering at the thought of it, "P-p-p-penalty game!?" In his mind, he was imagining a number of torturous activities that Hiruma might have in store. And with their match tomorrow, he knew he better find some people to play in, and quick, or he would have to face the dreaded consequences.

Chapter Two – End

Okay, that's it for Chapter Two; I wanted to write more for this chapter, but I couldn't think of a viable stop. Not to mention, that I have the finals coming up, and my marketing class is a pain, but I'll have more chapters coming up this summer. R&R!

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, both school and work have been keeping me busy and I have been on a creative buzz with other projects. Stay tuned, Chapter Three is in progress and is expected to be released soon.