The minute Edward stepped out of the locker room, Hiromu latched onto him. "That was amazing!"

The blond pushed the manga artist away from him." What are you doing?"

"Congratulating you, of course!" Hiromu relinquished his hold and bounced on the balls of his feet. "I gotta say, that was a really great win! You had almost double their score, and I loved all the tackling you did on that one player, Rui, I think. Oh, you have given me so many new ideas-"

Ed clamped a hand over the rambling mouth. "Let's go back to my apartment for this, shall we?" Hiromu nodded. The Elric shouldered his sports bag and let Hiromu trail after him towards his apartment. "You know, you shouldn't talk about the series around my friends. They might get ideas." Especially Hiruma, although one of the Hah brothers might find out something, the kid was always reading manga.

"But why?"

Ed wanted to facepalm. Were all manga artists this clueless? "What do you think would happen if people realized the protagonist in that series was real? That the whole thing was real?"

"Well, I imagine the fans would be very excited!"

"What about the world governments?"

Hiromu's eyes narrowed, then widened in horror as his face went pale. "You're right. We should definitely keep this under wraps. Speaking of which," he gestured towards Ed's arm, "how are you playing with that?"

Darn it, he'd just told the man no one could find out about him. "Hiruma had some protective foam sleeves made for me. Let's get back to my home." And before the man could say anything else, he pushed him in the direction of the school's exit.

The next day, Edward showed up to school early to help spruce up the clubhouse for the recruitment meeting. While Kurita commandeered Sena and Monta to pick up some cake, he and Mamori scrubbed the place down. She handed Edward a mop. "Here. You can clean the back while I get the front."

"Actually, I think I'll do the front." Ed took a step back with the business end of the mop in his grip, planted the pole end in the dirt, and vaulted up onto the ceiling of the building with the mop still in his hands. "This way I can clean Hiruma's sign too. I'll come down and get the walls later."

Mamori closed her mouth, shook herself, and smiled up at the brash boy. "Alright. I'll get the back. Do you want a bucket of water?"

"Sure." She got an extra bucket from the supply closet, filled it with soapy water, and put the handle on the end of her mop. "Here you go."

Ed reached over the top of the ridiculously ornate sign and snagged the handle. "Thanks." When the cream puff party showed up, all three jaws dropped open. Edward was hanging from the top of the ornate Devil Bat sign by his feet and was polishing one of the letters. He noticed them, unhooked his feet, and back flipped onto the ground. "Good. Hiruma's waiting inside for you." Then he walked around to the back and borrowed Mamori's mop for a moment to vault back up onto the roof and resumed cleaning the letters. He was still doing this at 3:25, when students started showing up.

He back flipped off the roof again, getting a round of applause from the students outside, and told Hiruma. "We've got a big crowd, so we should move the sweets and stuff outside so people can come in and get interviewed one at a time." He grabbed several plates with cream puffs and headed out the door with Sena, Monta, and Mamori following.

At about 4:55, they started sending kids in to be interviewed after Kurita woke up. Hiruma told them all what to look for. "We can start by asking each person what position they want to play, but we should be able to figure it out for ourselves."

"The first major distinction we should make," Kurita continued, "is are they more suited to offence or defense? Offensive players need to be able to think and execute plays like professionals, while defensive player rely more on instinct, like an animal."

"How do you tell the difference?" Sena asked.

"By the way they make their entrance. You're sitting straight, with your legs together. That's offense. Edward," Hiruma pointed at the seated teen, "Sprawls when he sits. That's defense, although it doesn't really work on him, since he's sort of our tight end."

"What's a tight end?" Monta asked.

"A tight end is a player who can take more than one position, like catching and blocking. Edward can run and block. We might need a tight end later who can catch, But right now we've got monkey for that."

Monta was kept from tackling the quarterback by the sound of the door opening up. "E-excuse me!"

Ed almost growled at the kid. Why did so many of their players have to be taller than him? He zipped around the room with straight lines and right angles before sitting ram rod straight in the chair. "Offence," Everyone but Mamori said in unison. Honestly, they wouldn't find a better example.

The kid started talking again. "My name is Manabu Yukimitsu, second year, homeroom four."

"Second year?" Hurima frowned.

Yukimitsu startled. "Is it really a problem that I'm a second year student?"

"There wouldn't be any good second years lef-"

"Don't worry about it!" Kurita quickly interrupted his demonic friend.

Ed leaned his elbows on the table. "So, Yukimitsu, why'd you decide to join the football team?"

He looked down at his knees. "Ever since first grade, all I've done is go to cram school. I was never allowed to do any activities." So he's got no athletic ability whatsoever, Ed groaned to himself. Still, that height could be an advantage. Sometimes that's all you need. "When I start third year, I'll have to take the exams. As it is, the end of high school life is too harsh. So for a final memory…"

"Did you say 'memory'? We're here to win, baldy!" My thoughts exactly, echoed Ed, although the hair insult was a little too far. That's like teasing me about…I WON'T SAY IT!

But the kid recovered quickly and jumped on the implications. "Of course, I intend to play to win! For whatever it's worth, I'll do the best I can!" Then he started gushing about Eyeshield 21 and Ed had to hold in his laughter at the expression on Sena's face. He might be used to hero worship, but the smaller boy clearly was not. After Yukimitsu left, he nervously grabbed a cream puff and started gnawing on it as Mamori called for the next person.

I didn't intend for the first part of this to get so long, but Ed really loves to use flashy moves while he's cleaning. I think Mamori wouldn't mind, she puts up with almost everything else.

I may cut off the end of this story at the Christmas Bowl and not go on to the international tournament. I have other ideas I want to work on, and this isn't getting a very good reception, despite my attempts to get it noticed. For all of you who did leave reviews, thank you, and know that I will answer any questions via PM.