Chapter Four:
An Offer From The "Devil" And The Final Trick
"So," Keelin spoke in a leisurely, cool tone, which clearly announced her unhappiness of her current situation, "let me get this straight. You want me to join the Deimon High American Football Team, so you can have a better chance at making it to the Christmas Bowl this year, which just so happens to be the last year you can be on the team and the last chance for you to actually make it to the Bowl, right?" She finished with a cocked eyebrow and narrowed eyes.
The spiky blonde male that sat across from her, just gave her a knowing glare; knowing full well that she was just trying to annoy him enough, so he would leave her alone. But unfortunately for her, his stubbornness outranked hers by a decent margin, although she was in no way a lightweight when it came to being stubborn and getting her way. He was just naturally much more bullheaded and devious than her.
"That's right, damn Yankee." Hiruma confirmed using Keelin's given nickname from him, much to her displeasure after taking a sip from his streaming cup of coffee. Keelin's nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell of the sugarless dark brown liquid, which she knew from experience was sugar and cream-less. Hiruma had always disliked sugary sweet things so it was no surprise that he drank straight black coffee.
Keelin nailed the blonde haired male with a dark look for using her unwanted nickname, before asking the aspirant Quarterback more important questions. Keelin couldn't help her curiosity, sure Hiruma had pretty much always wanted to go to the Christmas Bowl, but for him to come and ask her to join the new team was a serious matter. He must think that he has a really good team for him to come and bother her, or he was just desperate for some good players, "How many players do you have on your new team?"
"Counting you, that currently makes four." Hiruma responded in a leisurely tone, immediately dismissing the "what-the-hell" and the "are-you-freaking-kidding-me" looks that the American girl sent him. If Hiruma didn't think that the blonde American wasn't needed on his team, he wouldn't have been sitting in the diner arguing with the intolerant woman. But, he knew her strengths on a Football field, so he was determined to have her on his team, again; even if it meant using a backhanded bribe to do it.
"Three?" Keelin asked in clear disbelief. Did he really think that she would join a team of three? He had clearly lost his mind if he thought that, besides she hadn't even said that she would join, so he was getting way ahead of himself in assuming that she would be the fourth player, again.
"Did Musashi come back?" The blonde haired girl questioned, wondering if her old friend had finally decided that he wanted to play again, or if Hiruma had volunteered the short, brunette haired boy from the tram station to be the third member of his Football Team. Knowing Hiruma like she did, Keelin didn't need three guess to know who had recently joined the Deimon Devil Bats and it probably hadn't been of his own free will either.
"No, the Fucking Old Man hasn't come back yet. We have a potential Ace Running back now, Eyeshield 21. Then there's the fucking Fatty, me and now you." Hiruma stated, putting a strong emphasis on Keelin being the fourth member of his team.
"Well, it seems to me like you're missing several key players. You can't win any Football game with just one Lineman, a Quarterback, a Running back and a Linebacker. It's just impossible, no matter how good they are. And even if you get more team members, they have to be decently good. Otherwise even with the four Aces you won't stand a snowball's chance in Hell of winning, especially since you lack a key member of the team, the Kicker." Keelin strongly emphasized on Hiruma's plan and its mistakes; hoping that he would just give up on her returning and find someone else. To Keelin, going back to playing Football meant that she would have to face everything that had happened and everything that she had once and still felt for the blonde demonic-pixy looking teen. But she should have realized a long time ago that there were some arguments that can never be won when you're dealing with Hiruma Yoichi.
Hiruma just scowled, knowing all too well that the blonde haired girl had a valid point, about his lack of players. The damn Yankee hadn't change a bit; she still managed to irk him to no end. But, she was a pretty damn decent Linebacker, with her Running back speed and Lineman-like tackles. But, a good thing about the damn Yankee was that she was flexible in football positions. She could easily slip into being an Offensive tackler as well. Her true strength however, lay in playing on Special Teams, where she was a perfect fit for the Gunner.
It was in those few short moments of brooding angry silence that Keelin noticed that something was off about the diner. It was quiet, too quiet; almost ominously silent. Taking a quick glance from her peripheral vision she saw that besides Hiruma, herself and the middle aged woman who had taken her order were the only occupants of the small eatery. Glancing down at her iPod she saw that the diner had officially closed almost twenty minutes ago. The graying brunette haired woman however, hadn't even attempted to tell them to leave, yet it didn't look like the woman was scared of Hiruma like most people were. Instead the woman acted like a pair arguing teenagers were a very common occurrence in her diner, and who knew maybe it was, Keelin mused to herself with a small smirk.
"Well, Hiruma as much as it pains me to say goodbye so soon to an old "friend". I'm afraid that a hot shower and my full size bed are calling to me and I just can't drop their call, so later." Keelin waved halfheartedly at the Quarterback, before she stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder, before she walked over to the door and opened it.
She didn't walk out of the door immediately, instead she turned her head back to the elder woman behind the bar and said, "Thanks for not kicking us out Ma'am." Before she finally made her exit, the soft chime of the small door bell was the only sound left in her wake.
Minutes later the blonde Quarterback, leisurely followed after the enigmatic American girl, who had just casually brushed him off. His emerald green cat-like eyes were narrowed into small, angry slits, yet strangely enough the trigger-happy teen hadn't pulled out any firearms from his vast collection. To say that Hiruma was angry was an understatement; a better statement of the truth would be stating that he was pissed. But threats, even from he, the infamous "Devil" of Deimon High, Hiruma Yoichi, rolled off her like water off a ducks back.
That woman was completely insufferable! He couldn't threaten or use any of his dirty tricks on her like he did to everyone else. They would only serve to further annoy her and it would get him absolutely now where. There were only two choices that would work, now that his "ask her nicely" plan had failed. And he'd be damned if he begged her to join the team, so that only left one more, one final trick, the grand finale, it would either make or break his team. He would just have to play his cards very carefully with this plan; otherwise he'd never have another chance at getting her on his team.
With a stern set face, the blonde male who, not so subtly resembled a demon, leisurely made his way towards the American girl's home. Time was of no importance. If Hiruma knew the blonde haired girl and he did, then he knew exactly how long he had to play his hand. Besides, the female American rebel would probably be in the shower for almost an hour, give or take a few minutes for her to get dressed and that would give him enough time to get to her place and it would be enough time for her to calm down and think that he had just given up on her joining the team. Luring her into a false state of security was step number one and it was already in progress.