Shinryuuji breezes through the Fall Tournament in Kanagawa. Taiyo's line gives them hell but runs up against the Naga's incredible defense. The Sphinxes score one painstaking touchdown in the first few minutes, but then Coach adjusts the defense and they never score again.
Agon and Unsui debut against Ojo's Shin Seijuro in the final five minutes during the last game of the Kantou Tournament, and it's one of the few times Unsui's ever seen Agon buckle down and focus. A few linemen are out with injuries so Shin attacks from the sides more often than Kurita and Yamabushi can stop him. Agon gets hit with Shin's Spear Tackle only once and never makes that mistake again, in the three touchdowns and field goal it takes for them to outscore the White Knights and win.
Unsui's already back at the bench, handing out water bottles and towels to the line and backs before taking one for himself. Agon hasn't moved from the field, still as a statue, eyes locked on the opposite bench where Shin is shrugging out of his jersey and shoulderpads, inspecting his hand where the younger twin had shook it after the game (fully intent on breaking it).
"Christmas Bowl," Kurita says, still panting and bruised from a series of brutal confrontations against Otawara, "we're going to the Christmas Bowl!"
Hiruma, who had played offense through the game (except for that break in the fourth quarter when the twins had thrown the White Knights defense into chaos), is exhausted but ecstatic. The line was overwhelmingly powerful, and Shin is like Agon- the kind of player who can smash the odds to pieces. He's sure that he's got a few fractured ribs; the Spear Tackle takes on a whole new meaning when he's on the business end of it, but it doesn't matter. They won.
He's standing with Musashi on the edge of the field, still taking in the cheers when a shadow falls over both of them and Kurita dumps a pile of towels on their sweat-damp heads, then a few water bottles. "Hiruma! Musashi!"
"Fucking fatty," Hiruma yells, turning on Kurita, "watch where you drop that!"
Musashi calmly catches one of the bottles and takes a long drink, unscrews the cap and dumps the rest of it over his head.
"Christmas Bowl," Kurita says again, happy tears already collecting in his eyes as he lunges forward to sweep Musashi and Hiruma into a hug, "we're going to the Christmas Bowl!"
They both dodge, so Kurita ends up with an armful of Ikkyu, who's equally cheerful. He struggles a little, grinning but apprehensive at the sheer strength and girth of the lineman's arms. "We couldn't have done it without you and Yamabushi-senpai, Kurita-san!" He finally manages to squirm out of Kurita's grasp and adds, "The line was oni strong as usual!"
Unsui lowers his head so his chin touches the water, inhales and then dunks it under, drowning out the sound of the nearby waterfall, crickets and birds. The school wakes with the sun, so he schedules his runs to finish about half an hour before dawn, enough time to soak in Shinryuuji's hot springs before the first students crawl up and it gets crowded. It's not as if he needs that much sleep- the school goes dark at exactly 10 PM when curfew kicks in, forested mountains all around the perimeter blocking out the city lights.
When he surfaces, he keeps his eyes closed, drags a hand down his face to wick off the water and braces his arms over the edge of the spring's stone basin, head falling back onto the warm rock. There's a presence behind him, but Unsui ignores it, expecting that when it wants to make itself known, it'll speak up.
"So this is where you are every morning, fucking monk."
"Hiruma," Unsui says, turning look over his shoulder at Hiruma's skinny legs, "what are you doing here?"
"Why the fuck else would I be here?" he asks, stepping into the springs and sinking easily into the water. "We just gave away our hidden cards for the Christmas Bowl."
"Couldn't be helped," Unsui replies easily, pulling his arms in and properly sitting on the ledge under the water, uncomfortably thrown out of his usual routine. He regards Hiruma carefully, not quite able to suppress a wry smile at the sight of a bruise the exact size and dimension of Shin's hand across his ribs, perfectly matching the one on his own. Agon and Ikkyu each have at least one. High school football is a lot of pressure; so is winning against the Golden Generation with five minutes to spare.
Hiruma doesn't think it's that interesting though, and splashes water at Unsui until he manages to school his expression back into its usual serious set. "What's so funny, fucking monk?"
"I didn't expect," Unsui murmurs, "to see monsters like that in high school football."
Hiruma snorts, turns to sit sideways and crosses his arms over the edge of the spring, letting his chin drop to rest on them. "What do you know about Teikoku?"
"That they'll probably try to scout Agon and Ikkyu after that show yesterday."
"I mean seriously, fucking monk!" And then Unsui's shielding his face from another torrent of hot water as Hiruma adds, "That Tenma guy, he's there."
"Last year's ace runner."
"I'll be honest with you," Hiruma says and Unsui raises an eyebrow because since when is Hiruma ever actually sincere about anything? But he patiently holds his gaze until he continues, "it's not the bastards who work hard or geniuses like your fucking twin that I hate dealing with."
Unsui's thinking about how much Hiruma seems to enjoy provoking Agon and decides that maybe he is being sincere.
"It's the hardworking geniuses at Teikoku that are fucking terrifying."
"I know what you mean," Unsui says weakly, "but coming from someone like you, that isn't very reassuring."
Teikoku's offensive backs tower over Agon, but the freshman linebacker bares his teeth and charges on in, because he's Kongo Agon and even a team of well-balanced trash is still trash. He won't admit to anyone that he's already acknowledged Teikoku's strength, and despite the fact that Shinryuuji is woefully behind by halftime, Unsui and Hiruma are both bent over a whiteboard with their coach, listening intently to his instructions. When he walks away, they're going at it with markers in hand.
The chances aren't zero.
It's Hiruma's mantra, and Agon hates his fucking guts, but as long as the team doesn't hold him back, they can still win. He has his eye on one depressed-looking piece of trash who's talking shit about how they have no chance against the best players in Japan. Agon puts up with it until they've used up four downs with exactly zero gains in their first offense and he's muttering about how they won't win, they can't.
Agon confronts him and he nearly shits his pants, but he talks back which Agon can't fucking stand either. Unsui and Musashi are already dashing from the bench, but they don't make it in time to stop a brutal right hook to the fucker's jaw.
Unsui's about twenty times more focused than Agon is purely because he knows he's fighting a monster and all Agon can see is boring old Unko who punches surprisingly hard and fast. Godspeed impulse, lightning-quick reflexes and Unsui knows it, knows the extent of Agon's abilities, so he's up close with one fist closed on Agon's shirt, while his other swings in from the side. When Agon blocks that, he sees Unsui's forehead rush in toward his face, and he jerks back quickly enough to avoid a broken nose but his vision goes white for a second and his twin just fucking headbutted him in the face, the fucker.
"I don't need any trash on the team that thinks we're going to lose," Agon snarls, fingers digging into Unsui's wrist, teeth bared against the itch of blood trickling over his upper lip.
The older twin has a bloody nose, which Agon has now to match, a split lip and blood on his teeth. "You broke his jaw," Unsui rasps, voice watery, Agon assumes, because blood is still pouring down his throat, "you almost got expelled, you almost got the team suspended, have you ever thought about anyone but yourself?"
They don't fight very often; Unsui always loses. But he's been simmering all day, smarting from the loss against Teikoku- which he still thinks the Nagas could have won. If Agon were playing, if the team had stayed together even after Agon had stormed off the field, if they hadn't sighed and sat back and let the Alexanders steamroll over them. Even Hiruma's threats, Kurita's power and Ikkyu's focus couldn't bring back the morale of a team that had already lost its will to fight.
"Why the fuck should I think about trash like any bastard who gives up before the game ends?" Agon asks, eyes wide, as if he's truly curious for the answer, and Unsui's vision goes red.
Kurita grabs Agon by the elbow and forcefully breaks them up, five minutes later when he's finally heading in to change from the field, and Agon has an ugly bruise on the left side of his mouth and a few bruises on his ribs and shins, to boot. Musashi has Unsui by the arms and the older twin is unsteady on his feet, a cut over his brow, his right eye nearly swollen shut, favoring his right arm and still struggling to take another swing at Agon.
Kurita's nearly worked himself into a frenzy by the time Hiruma arrives, and Hiruma only drags him out of the locker room, out of their way. Musashi lets Unsui down easily, once he's given up on getting out of his grip. Unsui twists a sheet of tissue, stuffs it up his nostril and sits heavily on the bench, his back to Agon while he catches his breath.
Agon sits, finally, his back to Unsui's and he wipes his face with a sleeve, snorting when it comes away stained with sticky, half-dried blood. "God fucking damnit, Unko."
"Next time," Unsui says, voice back to its usual calm, "I'll handle discipline on the field."
"I can make it look like a fucking accident," Agon says, and Unsui knows he can.
"Don't waste your energy on guys like him."
"He's off the team anyway," Hiruma cuts in as he finally rejoins them, flashing his threat notebook. "Our line is better off without cowards," he finishes, though he really means 'our line is better off not pissing Agon off in the middle of the fucking match, what a moron.'
"You look like a mess," Musashi says helpfully, addressing both of them. True to form, he doesn't say anything else, striding past them while he shrugs out of his jersey and shoulder pads. When he disappears into the showers, there's the cheerful sound of running water.
"Are you two okay?" Kurita asks, "We can go to the hospital or the school nurse or-"
"We're fine," Unsui says at the same time Agon growls, "Shut up."
"Next year," Hiruma says as he and Kurita duck into the showers to clean up, "we'd better fucking win that Christmas Bowl."