Author's Note: Forgive me if it seems a little short, didn't want to get into too many details of the next chapter...don't kill me =p
Summary: High School life comes to a close for Sena and the others at Deimon High. College life loom on the horizon along with adventure, drama, deception and of course romance. Will the gang keep in touch or will the distance between them be too great. SenaxSuzuna , HirumaxMamori, MontaxOC.
Disclaimer : Eyeshied 21 belongs to Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata. The OC characters are mine though :P
Please Read and Review, constructive criticism welcomed.
Chapter 18: Bonds
"If you aren't on the bus in ten minutes consider yourself left and suspended for the next two games. I am not a man of tardiness and neither are those playing for my team. So get your gear and get on!" barked General Cross. Here it was another Saturday, which meant another glorious day of football.
"Our first away game for the season, wonder if this will matter in the rankings?" queried Shinji; unfortunately General Cross overheard this.
"Rankings are not important. What is important is that we make it to the stadium on time, get ourselves prepared and win this game. I could care less if we are ranked last in the nation as long as we are winning. Do I make myself clear gentleman?!"
"Yes SIR!" shouted the team in unison.
"The General seems more pumped up than usual don't you think?" said Sojiro as he made his way to the back of the bus.
"Yep, the vein on his neck is showing and you haven't even touched the ball yet Sojii." teased Locksley.
"Don't call me that!" he shouted in reply, but this of course caused everybody in the bus to shout out his acquaintance's pet name for him. Sojiro screamed and headed for his window seat causing everybody to break out into laughter. Sena had found himself sitting next to Kyo on the bus with Shinji and Jin seated behind him. Hiruma and Akaba were seated at the front along with General Cross going over last moment preparations.
"I hear we're going up against former teammates of yours Sena"
Sena turned his head to look at Jin to respond. "Yea, all of them are on the offensive line so you guys won't be dealing with them as much."
"Will they be a problem for Massa and the others?"
"Individually the only one that would stand out is Juumonji, but when they gel as a unit they can open up any hole. I can attest to that seeing as Juumonji was my lead blocker on many occasions."
There was a smile on Jin's face. "Looks like we may have a challenge on our hands this weekend."
Everybody nodded except Kyo who just yawned and proceeded to drop asleep before the bus even began to move. This caused everybody to blink in shock.
"This guy is our best receiver?" said Jin who ignored Sojiro's shouts.
"Once he is awake on the field I guess that's all that matters." stated Shinji.
Then suddenly the General stood up and began counting the heads of those in the bus. "We are all present and accounted for, head out driver." The team bus adorned in the school's colors of black and red with a face of an oni printed on the front roared it's engines and drove off. As the bus made it's way through the parking lot, students who came onto the campus cheered them on as it passed.
"How long is this drive?" asked Sena.
"About an hour barring traffic." replied Shinji.
After a few minutes passed those who weren't listening to music were chatting away idly, that was until they heard a car horn blare behind them. Everybody looked at each other to see if they had a clue about what was going on. That was everybody except Sojiro who was silently praying that it wasn't who he thought it was. Jin opened his window and looked outside to see what exactly was the matter, he pulled his head back in and had a wide grin on his face.
"Oh Sojii, I think your girlfriend is trying to get your attention."
By this time Sojiro was sinking into his chair and everybody else was looking out of their windows as well.
"I think you should slow down Sabina-san." pleaded Suzuna who was in the backseat.
"Slow down? I'm not driving fast."
"I think you're a little close to the speed limit..." chipped in Mamori
"You want to see speed limit huh?" Sabina put her glasses on her face and branded an evil smirk across her face. "You want speed, here it is!" Sabina pressed down on the gas and changed gears. She swung into the next lane and drove up besides the bus honking. Sena looked over to see Suzuna face mouthing the words "Save Me" . Sena only sweat-dropped and waved goodbye to her as Sabina accelerated once again.
"Wohoo!" screamed Hitomi who had insisted on riding shotgun, her reason now obviously clear. Mamori whispered to Suzuna. "I think we are in car with two crazy people.." Suzuna could only nod her head in agreement as Sabina pushed down on the gas pedal and swung back into the lane overtaking the bus. She pushed her head out of the window and shouted to the driver.
"You drive too slow old man!" and zoomed off into the horizon.
Everybody on the bus was still in shock and awe at what had just transpired. General Cross was the first to break the silence by saying "Nice selection there " causing the bus to erupt into laughter once again at the expense of Sojiro who was taking it pretty well.
"Laugh it up fellas laugh it up!"
About forty minutes later...
"Look alive men." ordered General Cross as they made their way through Daiymo University's gates. Everybody took in the campus as they navigated their way towards the football stadium. The buildings looked as if they came right out of ancient Japan but yet it maintained a modern flair. The closer the got to the stadium, the crowd of students heading towards the game grew thicker and thicker. The school colors of red and gold were prevalent along with marks of Daiymo Destroyers or DD for short painted on every poster board and sign. In a few minutes they arrived at the battle site, unlike Oniro's football stadium, Daiymo was a dome made to look like palaces and homes of royalty. As the bus passed through the parking lot it had to slow it's speed due to pedestrians of Daiymo not wanting the bus to pass despite the constant honking off the vehicle's horn.
"This is what you call loyal fans." stated Sojiro as fans of Daiymo made rude gestures towards the bus.
"I think they just don't like you that's all Sojii." Sojiro rolled his eyes at Locksley's remarks.
A few minutes later and the bus was parked at the visitors entrance and the home crowd were more than welcoming. A chorus of boos and jeers wailed as the athletes stepped out through the door. Everyone made their way to the visitor's entrance and to the visitors' locker room as quickly as possible ignoring the fans and their antics. Well all except for Sojiro and Locksley who decided to provoke those waiting by bowing and giving mock signs of appreciation. That was until they felt the glare of death from General Cross.
Everyone was in the locker room placing their gear on and becoming mentally prepared. At this point in time the General made his entrance and everyone ceased what they were doing.
"I'm not going to talk long because everything that was to be said was said in the team meetings. This is an opponent that should not be taken lightly. I will not say anything as foolish as not allowing them to score for they have the talent to do exactly that. Leave everything out on the field, there is no point in bringing it back in this locker room. Good luck on the field gentleman. Let's go." The General turned and made his way towards the tunnel, followed shortly by the team he coached. The look of focus and determination were branded on their faces. As the team ran out of the tunnels the expected boos and jeers were flung at them.
Sena stopped momentarily and looked around the stadium, for some reason his heart was racing as if this was his first game. The atmosphere was completely different, it was as if the sea of red and gold was meant to intimidate those who opposed them on the field and honestly it was a little bit overwhelming. Then Sena heard the chants of Oniro, they were not as loud as those of Daiymo but they were enough for him. He searched the stadium and saw that a small contingent of Oniro fans had made the journey along with them to support the team. He felt his heart start to beat normally and made his way across the field. As the teams began to warm up, Sena looked to see three figures making their way across mid-field. Taking up his helmet he began walking to greet them.
"Yo Sena" said Juumonji and similar greetings were made from Toganou and Kuroki.
"Juumonji, Toganou, Kuroki, it's going to be weird playing against you guys."
"Sure as hell will."
"That's for sure."
"Just do me one favor Sena." said Juumonji as he extended his hand towards Sena. "No holds barred" Sena grabbed his hand and shook it firmly nodding in agreement. Juumonji looked behind Sena . "The same goes for you Hiruma, but I shouldn't need to ask that."
Sena looked behind to see Hiruma standing there with his machine gun casually lying on his shoulder. Hiruma offered no response but gave his evil grin. The former teammates nodded at each other and headed to their respective teams. The bond they once shared as teammates was about to be broken and a new bond as rivals was about to be formed.
The two teams were huddled on opposite ends of the field, each surrounding one of the members of their teams. Hiruma stood in the middle of the Oni's who were their away uniform, predominantly black.
"What are we gonna do?!" shouted Hiruma.
"Kill Them!" the team responded.
"What ?!"
"Crush Them!"
"What?!?"
"Kill Them!"
"What?!?"
"Crush Them!!"
On the other side the opposing quarterback was pumping his team up for the battle ahead of them.
"Where are we?!?"
"Our House!"
"What are we going to do?!?"
"Protect it!"
"Do What?!"
"Protect it!!"
"Why?"
"Cuz This is our house!"
"What?!?!"
"Our Hose!"
"What?!!!"
"Our House!!
The volume coming from the teams chanting seemed to escalate and the crowd, they began to feel the energy coming from the two teams and the stadium erupted in a roar once again. Shouts of Daiymo and even Oniro began to echo throughout the building as the audience awaited the start of the game.
"Finally our seats" said Mamori with a sign of relief.
"If I had known it would be this much of a hassle to find our seats I would have driven faster." stated Sabina calmly. Suzuna and Mamori looked pale in the face when she said that.
"Drive faster...." The close calls they had on their drive to Daiymo University flashed in Suzuna's mind causing her to cringe at the thought of driving with Sabina once again.
"I thought you guys decided not to come." said a voice from behind the girls. Hitomi and Sabina had no clue who the person was but the face was recognizable by Mamori and Suzuna.
"How are you doing Katsuko Konjo." said Mamori, Suzuna offered a hug as a way of greeting her. Mamori turned around to introduce Sabina and Hitomi who greeted the tomboyishly dressed girlfriend of Juumonji. As they began to be seated and talk amongst themselves Suzuna proposed the question.
"How much do you think Oniro is going to win by today?"
"I don' t think by much, probably a field goal. I hear that Daiymo's defense is one to reckon with." replied Mamori
"Enough to stop Yo-nii on offense?" asked Suzuna.
"I never said that, but they might cause him some problems."
"It's not the defense alone that you should be worried about." chipped in Katsuko. This caused all of the girls to pay attention to what she had to say. She then pointed to a player still warming up on the sidelines. "See that man over there? That's the running back Gintama Nago, he is the complete opposite of Sena where as he uses raw power to break through tackles and he has been known to drag players along with him." She then motioned her hands to another individual, he was still sitting on the bench with his helmet to his side. "That's the quarterback, he doesn't have the intellect as Hiruma but his accuracy is far superior he simply doesn't make mistakes."
"Pfft, it doesn't matter anything that comes into the secondary will be stopped by Shinji" chimed Hitomi.
"Not if Juumonji is running up field to block him."
"Like I said, Shinji will stop it!" The two girls exchanged glares at each other, electricity forming due to the tension. Each girl trying to make the other one give in but being equally stubborn they both hmmphed and turned around.
Trying to break the tension, "It looks like Oniro's ball to start the game." said Suzuna.
On the field the teams were lined up to start the game off, the referee blew the whistle and the Daiymo's kicker sailed the ball high into the air.
Author's Note: Yep that was the latest installment of Bright Future. How will the match turn out? Stay tuned for the next chapter of Bright Future!!