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A/N: Yay. New chapter. But you know, after this chapter, it may be a while before I could update again. (sighs) Thank you very much for the reviews for the previous chapter! You're warming the cockles of my black heart… oops, wrong line. (This line is from Hiruma-sama, when Sena and Monta talked about getting Musashi-kun back to the team, and Hiruma blasted them with a bazooka from underground)
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Chapter 10
A Nosy Little Witch
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"A dozen please!" a cheerful voice sang her request. Her unusual bright smile was rather infectious and contagious as the both the clerk and cashier fell under her spell. They immediately picked the most wonderful and fully bloomed assortment of flowers for the little enchantress.
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BANG.
"WHO-"
BANG.
"-THE-"
BANG.
"-FUCKING-"
BANG.
"-ASSHAT-"
BANG.
"-SENT-"
BANG.
"-THESE-"
BANG.
"-FUCKING-"
CLICK. "Shit." Hiruma cursed for the billionth time as he crankily reloaded his .45 caliber pistol another magazine.
BANG.
"-ROSES!"
BANG.
Everyone within the 1-kilometer radius shuddered and paled in fear as the demon king roared his brains out in the public. Apparently, the action had pushed a button everyone never even dreamt (or had nightmares) about. It was enough that the fucking lashes, that bastard Maruko Ruuei, had made his clubhouse a fucking flower reeking heaven.
And now, roses?!
Someone was begging Hiruma to kill him!
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Upon receiving them, however, brought a disappointed frown on her young face. A second later, she hunched her shoulders and her eyes watered.
"Oh no… this… this… this isn't what I want…" she muttered quietly, her long obsidian locks falling gracefully before her face. The clerk and cashier turned their backs almost immediately.
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BANG!
His short patience for a speck of intelligent answer was wavering in a speed of life pace. All he needed was the single fucking name of the fucking asshat who sent him those fucking red rosebuds!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
WAS IT THAT FUCKING HARD TO DO?!
BANG!
He ungraciously threw away the pistol and replaced it immediately with an M-16A1, its bullets displayed, dangling on his broad shoulders. He seemed ready to fire it in fucking automatic. Just before he could pull the trigger, though, a broom pushed the weapon's nozzle facing the ground. Anezaki Mamori steadied the nozzle down as she put her foot on the broom, just in case he would force it up.
"You're so reckless, Hiruma-kun!" she glared at him, "Why do you keep on firing those things in public?"
"Shut up, fucking manager!" he growled back at her. However, this retort at her was not even a proper answer to her question, but the heck, who the fuck cares?!
"Stop acting like that!" she called out on him, one of her hands on her waist, "If you've got a problem, don't just blow out your guns at anyone!"
Hiruma glared at her for a bit and cursed. He did not like to admit it, but seeing her was enough to calm him down. Maybe she was the one who sent him those fucking rosebuds…?
"Fuck it." He muttered. The fucking manager was not that stupid to send roses. She knew he didn't like them. Now he had to think of some fucking way to get back on the person who sent them.
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"You idiot! You made a customer cry!" the clerk whispered harshly at the other.
"What should we do…?" said the cashier.
"Ask her what she wants!"
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"So that's why he was on rampage this morning? Because of roses?" Mamori raised a brow as Kurita told her about the mysterious dozen of rosebuds for the devil of a quarterback.
"Yeah. That idiot doesn't like any kind of flowers." Musashi simply replied, as he went on picking his ears.
"So what did Hiruma-san do with the roses?" asked Sena, as they ate their bentos inside the clubhouse. Monta nodded, "Well, Hiruma-senpai said that he threw them away. But more like burn MAX, if you ask me!"
"That's a shame, really." Mamori commented happily, "Roses are very romantic. That Hiruma-kun, what if a girl sent him those?"
"Che." They whipped their heads to the door. The demon had arrived. "Waste of space, those fucking rosebuds."
"Rosebuds?" Mamori said, "I thought it was fully bloomed roses…?"
"It's none of your fucking business, fucking manager." He replied harshly as he went to his usual spot in the clubhouse. He plopped on the chair, and typed anyway. Sensing that there were still people staring at him, he got out his Mossberg out of nowhere and spat, "What the fuck are you staring at?"
Everyone in the room then all averted their eyes from him. Well, except for the fucking manager alright.
"No need to pull out that." She calmly said, sighing.
In the screen of his computer, he typed.
'So, she likes fucking roses…?'
He pressed enter.
'Rosebuds…'
A wide demonic grin spread on his face, scaring the hell out of his teammates, "Kekekekeke." He slammed his laptop and jumped off from the chair. Everyone's eyes followed him as he kicked the door open.
"W-what d-do y-you th-think H-Hiruma-san i-is t-thinking?!" Sena muttered.
"I'd rather not know." Mamori shook her head, as she went on sweeping the floor with her trusty broom.
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"B-but when I look at her…" they both turned to peek at the little girl. A trickle of blood dripped from their noses. They turned their backs again. "Argh. This is not helping! Let's just find what she asks as soon as possible! If boss sees us…" They turned to face the little girl once more, "W-well, w-what would you like then, little miss?"
She broke into a wide bright smile – the cashier and clerk were flying to the sky with her seemingly innocent smile-, and in an instant she said, "Anou, well… do… do you have-"
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The rest of the week, Hiruma was almost nowhere. The only times people had seen him was during the American football team's practice, which made most people feel relieved. This however, worried Mamori. Sure thing, it meant that there would be less gunfire, but for Hiruma to be out… what was he thinking?
Mamori was now aware that her feelings for Hiruma would stay, no matter what happened, and the fact that someone had sent him flowers – roses, in fact – meant that somebody else liked him. Not that she was complaining or anything, it was just… it felt odd.
When she knew that Hiruma received roses and threw them away, she rejoiced. She did not want to make a girl cry or something, but… now that she thought about it, she's now ashamed of her happy tone.
Mamori entered the clubhouse, wondering if Hiruma was there. There were still a lot of things to talk about for their next match. To her dismay, he was nowhere in sight. However, a single rose lay forgotten on the table.
"Hm… maybe Hiruma-kun forgot to bring these…" she muttered, but then she realized something. It was not a rosebud, but rather a fully bloomed one. It was definitely not the rosebuds that Hiruma had gotten. She then saw the note beside it.
'To Anezaki Mamori' it said. There was nothing else but a small capital letter under it.
"Q…?" she raised a brow. What kind of message was "q"?!
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'So cute!' they swooned.
"-do you have… rose buds?" she quietly asked. They nodded, as if they were under her spell. "Red ones?"
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"U…?" she read, as she took the rose from her desk. Apparently, no one had seen anyone go near her chair, much less put a rose there.
It was the second rose that day.
"Hm. This is kind of annoying." She commented, as she walked to back to the clubhouse. She decided that she was just going to place the roses in the club, but she was not going to say that an anonymous person had decided he liked her.
"Q…" she muttered, as she took out a piece of paper. "… U…?"
"Qu…" she put them together.
Mamori felt her heart race… could it be that it was him?! Well, that meant she had to wait…
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They nodded again. They were too enchanted for them to refuse.
With another innocent smile, she titled her head, "I'll take a dozen please!"
In almost an instant, they handed her a bouquet of red rosebuds, and with their thumbs up, they exclaimed, "IT'S ON THE HOUSE!"
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Hiruma stayed on top of the roof for the meantime, as he sketched the next match's tactics. His mind has been flying out every once in a while, and it wasn't good. Their next opponent won't be easy to defeat- well, not that the others were – but still, he couldn't make a mistake, or Christmas Bowl will just be a hallucination that they won't be able to reach.
'Fuck. This is why I don't want to get involved with anyone.' He thought briskly as his eyes turned to the stack of roses beside him. He wondered when he would be able to give them to herwithout hiding…
"Shit." He cursed. He was getting too distracted to think.
His goal was the Christmas Bowl. Girls were distraction to his goal. But if he distanced his self from her, then she would definitely take notice and it might distract her from their goal.
'Shit. Shit. Shit.' His thoughts weren't helping him. At all.
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The girl gave a rather mischievous smile at first to herself; then she looked up at them, smiling her best "innocent" smile, "Oh, thank you very much!"
They melted and turned into a puddle of goo.
"KYOUSUKE!" she exclaimed. The shop's glass door slid open, and a boy with a mop of messy brown hair entered the flower shop.
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Mamori found herself wondering where she would see the next rose.
The next class came and she waited for any sign of the not-so-mysterious rose, and then the next, and then the next, even until their last class, Mamori still found herself waiting helplessly. There was not a single scent of rose filled the air, and somehow, it made her a disappointed.
She knew what those letters would be like when she placed them together. Well, at least she thought so.
She sighed in frustration when she pulled out her shoes from her locker. To tell the truth, she was expecting another rose, and another "clue" when she opened it.
'Maybe I'm expecting too much,' Mamori thought as she walked her way home. It was a rest day for everyone, and Sena said he was going to walk with Suzuna and Monta. With a sigh, she mentally kicked herself, 'You're an idiot, Mamori. Didn't you already swore that you won't get depressed if no further development? Christmas Bowl is just some doors away, we still have a long way to go!'
'Right. I'll deal with Hiruma-kun later, when everything's through.' She told herself as she reached her home. As she entered the house, she exclaimed, "I'm home!"
The scent of her mother's homemade delicacies made Mamori smile as she wondered what her mother cooked up for their supper. As she was the one who taught Mamori how to cook, Mamori was sure it was going to be delicious!
"Mmm! I wonder if Mom bought creampuffs for desert!" she mumbled as she went to her room.
Hiruma had to wait, food comes before boys after all!
In her hurry to taste those delicious chicken wings that her mother whipped up, Mamori did not notice the small rose, laying idly on her side table. Underneath it was a letter "K".
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"Hai, hai." He muttered, scratching the back of his head, "I was just outside, I could hear you without you shouting." His eyes averted to the puddle of goo, "Eh?! What happened to them?!"
"They melted." She answered plainly as she dumped the bouquet on his arms. She took a comb from her sling bag and combed her hair, she then began braiding a portion of her hair.
"You need help with that?" Minato asked. The girl shook her head, "No thanks. The last time you did so, I had to cut my hair."
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Hiruma twirled his shotgun on his hand, and randomly pulled the trigger every little while. One shot almost had that fucking monkey on the ass, another almost caught that fucking idiot between the legs, and the latest one almost had that fucking drunkard, if it wasn't for his goddamned sake.
He reloaded it once more, and now aimed it at one person.
"Don't you dare pull the trigger, Hiruma-kun!" Mamori glared at him, "And stop aiming that gun at me!" Hiruma laughed. Teasing the fucking manager was fun. "It's NOT funny!" she pouted as if reading his mind. She continued writing her notes.
And her notes? Definitely not American football related, as seen by Hiruma's amazingly accurate eyes.
"Oi, fucking manager!" Hiruma shouted, tossing a ball in front of Mamori.
"What?" she glared at him.
"Keep your fucking eyes on the fucking field and not some fucking love letters, dammit!" he growled. Mamori stared at him. There was a tinge of confusion in her face as she kept on staring at him.
This made Hiruma feel rather uncomfortable. This was not the usual glare-of-death that she usually makes when she was angry with him. This was more like 'what I don't understand' look.
Hiruma cringed, "At the fucking field, fucking manager! Don't you know the difference between the fucking field and me?!"
Mamori raised a brow, but shook her head anyways.
It was almost a routine for the both of them that it even scared Mamori. It also became a routine that every time he would wield out his "harmless instruments of destruction and terror", either she would bring out her broom, an extinguisher, or just anything that could ricochet his bullets.
Suddenly, Mamori had an idea.
"Actually, Hiruma-kun," she said, taking Hiruma's attention, "I don't see any difference."
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"…" he sighed as he looked at the fainted men, "You're such an actress, seriously. No wonder they thought you were some kind of cute little girl who just got lost… you should've been in the Theatre Arts Club instead, you know."
"Might get discovered by a television station. Being famous will make my life even more hectic than it already us." She happily replied as she tied the long braid with a pink band. She began doing the other side, "It took me more than ten minutes to get those for free-", she pointed at the flowers, "-if it was Ayashi, one look would've done it… Mmm… Let's get out of here." She had now finished tying her hair.
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"That's strange." She mused as she took a sip from her sweet apple juice.
Mamori stayed inside the clubhouse for a little while, as she watched the videos of their next opponents. She fiddled the papers with her fingers, "I thought it was him."
"Who's him?" Musashi's low voice surprised Mamori. It seemed like their practice was through, or maybe Musashi decided to skip…?
"Oh, nothing." She lied, as she went back to watching and taking notes of their next opponents' maneuvers and tactics.
Musashi, however, did not seem to heed what she said and took a piece of paper from the pile. Not the pile of paper for their team tactics, but from the pile that came with the roses. In an amused tone, Musashi said, "The person who gave these must be a guy who doesn't have enough balls to give them to you in person."
"You think so…?" Mamori said. "… do you really think so?" her voice seemed to plead that he should say otherwise.
"Yeah. I really think so." There was a strange tone in Musashi's voice that Mamori took notice. He seemed like he was teasing someone. He gave a suppressed grin as he said his next statement, "A person not worth a single look, if you ask me."
Mamori thought she heard someone say "that damned fucking old man", that, or she was just having hallucinations.
"Anezaki." Mamori looked up at him, "If you're really bothered by these flowers you can throw them away, you know."
"Well… it would be a shame to throw them away, you know. Even though it didn't come from… well, someone I know…"
"… you mean Hiruma?"
"Yea…" Mamori stopped and immediately changed her sentence, "…No. Of course not."
"Hm. You don't seem to be convinced yourself." Musashi opened the door, letting light pass through. Mamori could see his shadow from where she was sitting. "Do you think Hiruma could ever think of sending people flowers?"
'Of course.' Mamori thought, 'It must've been someone else.'
Hiruma was not romantic enough to give any girl even a single flower, unless of course he was going to give a girl a bouquet of funeral flowers, which would be rude. Although she was supposed to be saddened by this revelation that it wasn't Hiruma who sent her the flowers, something odd struck her.
With that Musashi closed the door. With that Mamori looked like she was struck by lightning.
Why would Musashi suddenly come inside the clubhouse, during a practice, and after that incident. Not to mention that the topic they conveniently talked about was the roses! That was convenient, too convenient enough to be suspicious!
Why did Musashi seemed too keen in insulting the person who sent the flowers? And why did he seem to be enjoying insulting the person?
Mamori suppressed a laugh.
There was only one person she knew that loved making skits to confuse people during matches.
Thinking normally, Hiruma would never send a girl flowers – much less roses – as he was known to be the demon, the devil, or [insert any other names synonymous to evil… but… since it was Hiruma they were talking about.
He would definitely use the other way around. (1)
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Minato raised a brow as they walked out of the flower shop, "Speaking of Natsume… why isn't she the one who did this?"
"Fu fu fu." She covered her lips with her hand.
"Oi." He demanded.
"Bunny suits, with Mikuru-chan." She replied with a smile, causing the boy to fringe. "Where's my glasses?"
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"YOU FUCKING OLD MAN!" Hiruma roared, while Kurita held him back from firing his beloved Mossberg, "I JUST FUCKING TOLD YOU TO GIVE HER A HINT! A HINT!"
"Hi-Hiruma, stop it… Musashi did his best…" Kurita said helplessly, keeping the demon from rampaging further. Musashi, however, seemed not to be surprised nor scared about it and picked his ear anyways.
"As long as she got it, it's fine." Musashi said.
"IT'S NOT FUCKING FINE, DAMMIT!" Hiruma shouted even more mercilessly. Fine, he was the one who sent those goddamned roses, but he WASN'T the one who put those fucking letters! As if he was going to let the fucking manager know it was him giving roses to her!
"A-anou…" a boy suddenly came.
He was wearing a delivery uniform.
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"Seriously, what kind of friend makes her friend wear bunny suits in public?" he complained as he grabbed a box from his pocket with his free hand, "And you wonder why Hiruma-san is like that?"
"Runs in the family, I guess. Fu fu fu." She laughed heartily as she snatched the box away.
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"Are you Hiruma-san?" the delivery boy said. Hiruma raised a brow, "Yeah. So?"
The boy shuddered, but took out a small note, "Anou… the person who sent the rosebuds days ago wanted to give this to you. It was a letter. "Uhm. Please sign…?" the boy said, passing the pen to Hiruma with shaking hands.
Hiruma snatched the pen and signed. With this, the boy scampered out of sight, and was likely never to be seen near Deimon High. So much for trauma just by seeing the devil, maybe. Hiruma opened the letter, the paper used was a pink stationery of all things, and it was scented with strawberry all over.
Hiruma's brows twitched as he read the letter:
"Dear Youichi-sama,
You know I love you very much, and I couldn't keep my hands off your business, please forgive me.
I sent those red rosebuds. They're really helpful, ne? I almost thought you burnt them, but I'm really impressed with your mind! You actually waited until they bloomed until you gave them to her, right? I'm so proud of you, Youichi-sama!
But why didn't you put your name on it, ne, Youichi-sama? I was worried that she wouldn't know it was you so I made the "letters". I hope you're not angry with me. Tee-hee."
"That goddamned nosy little witch!" Hiruma cursed as he threw the paper on the ground and blasted it burnt with his flamethrower. "Not angry my ass!"
In almost an instant, Mamori came with a fire extinguisher on hand and a small smile on her lips.
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Frowning, Minato replied, "That's not a laughing matter, Yueno."
"Hah. Like you're the one to speak, Kyousuke!" she laughed again. She knew he couldn't counter that one.
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A/N part 2: I KNOW! I KNOW! YOU'RE CONFUSED WITH THE LATTER PART! (Actually, I myself, is a little confused, so please bear with me…)
I got it from 253rd down, as said by Takami-kun.