FASH: Chapter twenty one! And Monta's finally going to pop up somewhere in this chapter. On a random side note: I just watched Iron Man today, it was so awesome!
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It was two minutes before the beginning of class when Juumonji, Kuroki and Toganou stumbled into their homeroom, all of them looking just a little worse for wear. Sena glanced at them out of the corner of his eye cautiously, he was fairly certain Juumonji wouldn't have told anyone for fear of Hiruma's wrath, but that didn't mean that the possibility he'd told Toganou and Kuroki didn't exist.
They passed him on their way to their seats in the back, Kuroki and Toganou not even bothering to spare a glance in his direction while Juumonji appeared to be sizing him up as he slowly walked by.
'I wonder if he's in denial that Eyeshield 21 is me? Or maybe he just doesn't want to believe that even someone like me has times when they look cool and excel at something, not that more then a handful of people know it was me anyways.'He glanced around the room, noticing subtle glances that girls would throw in Juumonji's direction and sighed.
'Even Juumonji-kun's type attracts more attention then me.' He tapped his fingers against the desk dully. 'Not that I really care, I just wish I was more interesting when I'm not on the field.' He slumped over his desk. 'Akaba-san is interesting and amazing even when he's not playing football, and I'm sure the real Eyeshield 21 is too.' He straightened up a bit when his homeroom teacher entered the class.
'What if every other Eyeshield 21 out there is really cool even when they're not playing?' He flipped through his text book to the page his teacher had written on the board, but he didn't bother listening along to the lesson.
'I've got to work hard so that if I ever am allowed to reveal my identity, although that's not likely considering Mamori-neechan and Takami-niichan, I won't make all the other Eyeshield 21's look bad.' Sena nodded to himself, looked out the window and sighed.
'But I've never really been a cool sort of person, I don't think I could be even if I tried.' He sighed and tried to force himself to pay attention, jotting down notes wearily as he tried to ignore the strange feeling that someone was staring at him intently.
The day passed slowly, Mamori had come over during lunch break to give him a bento, claiming that she'd made too much, and hand him an umbrella, claiming that it would be raining later and she wouldn't be able to walk home with him.
'If my life were a magical girl anime, Mamori-neechan would be the heroine and I would be the best friend who always gets captured by the bad guys, like Naru from Sailor Moon. Not that I watch magical girl anime or anything.'
Once class had finished for the day he carefully retrieved the pictures he'd stored away in his binder.
'The club house is being renovated and Hiruma-san didn't mention anything to me about practice after school, just that I would have to sort the pictures. And if he can't be inside the club house then it'll probably be faster for him to find me then for me to try and find him.' He stood up and began pacing around the room, trying to think of a good way to recruit people.
'Even if I'm just acting as the manager, I have to do a good job of it so that my secret won't be found out, and Julie-neechan gave me so much advice, she'll be crushed if she finds out I don't do a good job.' He leaned against the teacher's desk at the front of the room. 'But I just can't think of anything, and it doesn't really help that Hiruma-san scares most people away.' His eyes began to wander, landing on the television and pausing there when he saw writing scrawled on the side of it.
'Go for it! The Christmas Bowl. Kurita, Hiruma and Musashi? Who's that?' He rubbed at his temples, he'd seen Deimon's game against Oujou last year, but he didn't really remember anyone on the team except for Hiruma.
'I thought that Kurita-san and Hiruma-san were the only regular members on the team, does this mean that there's someone else who'll join the team again.' He traced the name with his finger curiously.
'Miyamoto Musashi was a famous swordsman who defeated Sasaki Kojiro with a bokken he carved from an oar. Hmmm, Kotarou-san's first name is Sasaki, I wonder if these two would end up being rivals on the field.' He chuckled a bit at the thought. 'But now that I think of it, didn't Kotarou-san ask me if I knew about a sixty yard magnum? Maybe this Musashi-san was a kicker?' He squinted at the name, but he couldn't remember seeing a kicker at the Oujou game the previous year.
"Ah, what does it matter anyways? Maybe he transferred to a different school or something, like Akaba-san."
He entertained the notion of asking Hiruma about him for all of five seconds before deciding against it.
"If Hiruma-san wants me to know, I'm sure he'd tell me."
"Tell you what?" "Kya! How long have you been there?" Sena asked as Hiruma entered the classroom, looking far too amused.
"I just got here, but really, you should stop talking out loud, people keep on commenting on it and it's annoying to try and defend your sanity." "Yo-you're defending my sanity? Really?" "Of course." Hiruma snorted. "Who would want to join a club where the manager is insane and babbles to himself all day."
Hiruma began setting up the VCR and Sena stuttered in embarrassment.
"I-I do not babble to myself all day! If I did you'd know about that one time, but since I don't you'll never know what I'm talking about." Sena crossed his arms and nodded to himself.
"Did you sort those pictures yet?" 'Why are you changing the subject?' "Yes, they're on my desk." He waved in it's general direction just as Kurita opened the door.
"Hi Kurita-san." Good afternoon Sena-kun, did you want some pocky?" The older boy asked kindly and Sena nodded, taking two pieces.
'Kurita-san is nice, maybe if I asked him he'd tell me about Musashi-san? Unless Hiruma-san already ordered him to keep quiet.'
"You can go home now fucking shrimp." "Why? Aren't you and Kurita-san staying to do something? Did you have someone tape the game yesterday? Are you going over strategies? I can stay and help out too you know." "That's not necessary, go home and do your homework, unless you want your grades to start slipping?" Hiruma cast him a wry glance and Kurita looked between the two of them worridly. "Imagine how crushed Takami-niichan and Mamori-neechan would be if they found out you were putting club activities before school work."
'He has a point.' "But, if I don't do a good job at pretending to be manager then people might question why you put up with me." "I'm beginning to suspect why I put up with you now, you talk back way too much." Hiruma turned and glared at him and Sena found himself unconsciously shrinking back. "Just go home, fucking shrimp."
"Fine, fine, I'll see you guys tomorrow." He went to his desk and began packing up.
"Sena-kun do you have an umbrella? It looks like it's really going to start pouring soon." Kurita asked and Sena smiled at the concern.
"Don't worry, Mamori-neechan gave me her extra during lunch." Hiruma snorted. "I'll be fine. And the photos are on my desk, have a nice night." He exited the classroom, a little depressed that he apparently wasn't needed.
'If I'm going to be involved in the American Football club I don't just want to play, I want to be useful other ways too. Maybe I'll try and recruit some people, or make up some awesome strategies, I have some notes for my book report on the Art of War, but then again, strategy isn't really my thing.' He opened up the umbrella and walked into the downpour.
'I guess that just leaves recruitment then, but who could I possibly recruit that Hiruma-san hasn't already?'
Because Hiruma had probably attempted to recruit the best and not so best players from the other sports clubs the first time around and Sena highly doubted he'd missed anyone with even a small amount of potential, and how likely was it that Sena would find someone with potential who wasn't already committed to a different sports team?
'It'll be hard finding someone who Hiruma hasn't already bullied or blackmailed into playing, but so far the only one I've managed to convince is Ishimaru-san, what kind of manager can only recruit one player? A bad one who doesn't do their job properly, that why Hiruma-san didn't need me to stay and watch what had been taped.' He sped up his pace a little, eyes narrowing in concentration.
'If I can prove myself to be a better manager, then Hiruma-san and Kurita-san can rely on me when I'm off the field too. At least one more player, I need to recruit at least one more good player.'
He hadn't expected the opportunity to come so quickly.
He was walking to school the next morning, clasping a football that he'd taken home a couple night ago to get the hang of, he still wasn't quite used to it and fumbled with it ever so often.
He was so focused on the football he didn't notice when a baseball landed right beside him.
"Hey you, can you pass the ball over here?" Sena looked up in confusion at the boy standing several meters away from him.
"The ball?" "Yeah, throw it here." "Okay." Sena tossed it, eyes widening a bit when the ball began going off course.
"It's a hanging fly!" And it was headed straight for the front window of an oncoming truck and Sena did not want to be responsible for a broken window.
Thankfully he didn't have to worry about it, because the boy he had attempted to throw the ball to leapt up, catching the ball in a way that was sheerly miraculous.
He landed and looked about ready to yell something, but Sena had other things in mind.
He raced forward, stopping only when he was nearly nose to nose with the other boy, who was a bit too shocked to move back, and looking him straight in the eyes he exclaimed. "Please join the American Football club!"
"American Football? Don't you realize I'm in a baseball uniform? If you have realized that in the first place then you would have you'd know that I meant for you to pass the ball that was beside you!" The boy took a small step back and pointed to the baseball angrily.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't really paying attention, but-" "But nothing! Isn't this team property anyways? Why do you have it?"
"Oh, well I need to get used to the ball, so I brought it home to practice." "What?" "Ah! I'm sorry." Sena took a nervous step back, afraid he had offended the person who he knew would make an awesome receiver.
"You're really devoted aren't you?" "Hmm?" "Even on your way to and from school, that's maximum effort! That must be what makes the difference, I ought to work that hard to." The boy was examining the football closely and Sena rubbed at the back of his head bashfully. "N-no, it's not big deal." "It is too, this ball looks like it'd be hard to hold unless you practice." He pursed his lips together and then proceeded to hold the ball, with one hand.
"That's amazing, you can hold it right in the middle." "Yeah, it's easier to hold on to where the laces are." He said, a bit of pride sneaking into his voice.
"That's awesome, you're awesome!" Sena exclaimed. 'He's the one! He'd be a perfect Wide Receiver!' "Please, please join the American Football club! We could really use talent like yours!"
The boy, who had been basking in the praise mere moments before, suddenly turned serious and Sena wondered if he'd said something wrong.
"Look, baseball is the sport I'm meant to play, I'm sorry but I can't just turn my back on it like that." He crossed his arms and nodded to himself.
"Hey, ball boy! What are you doing?!" "Gotta go! See ya later. Dash Max!" He sped away with a basket of baseballs and Sena watched him go with a wide smile.
'Somehow I'll persuade you to join our team, even if I have to follow you around all day or beg or promise you protect from Hiruma-san. I will make sure that you become our receiver... Damn, I should have asked for his name, that would make following him around easier.'
But he'd find him again, there was sure to be a baseball practice soon, if not today, and finding someone his height with spiky reddish brown hair was sure to be a cinch.
'And then once I've recruited him, I'll be one step closer to being a believable manager. I can hardly wait!'