FASH: Well, tomorrow is Friday the Thirteenth... Yay... Time to go to bed.
""-speech
''-thoughts
That night Sena stared up at his ceiling, unable to sleep.
Akaba was back at Bando, apparently he had decided to come back not even two days after being part of Teikoku, as soon as he saw that most of the Bando players had transferred as well he decided to reverse his decision out of loyalty to his teammates, it had taken him a while to get everything in order to transfer back, but the main thing was that he was back.
Even if he wouldn't be able to play for six months due to his school's transfer policy.
'That means that the Tokyo Fall Tournament will be almost over by the time he can play again. I hope Kotarou-san manages to lead the team to victory in their first games.' But that should be easy for him right, because as long as the kicking team knew that Akaba was back, they'd try a bit harder, right?
He rolled onto his side, no longer interested in staring at the ceiling. 'The Teikoku Alexanders, the team that's won every Christmas Bowl since it's founding, and another team with an Eyeshield 21, possibly the original one.' He sighed and clenched his eyes shut, wishing sleep would take over.
'The original Eyeshield 21...'
He woke up in an oddly sour mood that morning due to his lack of a good night's sleep and his crankiness extended well into the afternoon, only brightening up when he realized that soon enough he'd be able to loose himself in practice.
'I can't keep worrying about the other Eyeshields, I already told Hiruma-san that I'm going to make his lie a reality, so all I need to worry about is practice.' He nodded to himself as he made his way to the clubhouse after school. 'All I have to worry about is becoming the best.'
The threw himself into his training with more vigor than usual, running all out while dragging several tires behind him.
"Oi, everyone listen up!" Hiruma commanded as he flipped one of his cell phones shut from the sidelines.
"Tomorrow morning we're going to start some basic training, I've just taken care of all the preparations we need."
Immediately several people groaned. "Why do we have to do morning practice too?"
"Shut up you damn whiners! I want you all here at five sharp, so we're cutting afternoon practice short today. Get pack up, get home and get some rest because I assure you you're going to need all the rest you can get."
Sena perked up, even though he had been so into his training just moments ago, the lack of sleep seemed to be giving him mood swings. 'Maybe that means by the time I'll get to Seibu Riku will still be around.' He wasn't sure how long the other team practiced for, but he assumed that they'd still keep practicing a couple hours after school even after the spring tournament to get more prepared for the fall tournament just like all the other teams.
So, with a strange sense of anticipation Sena changed out of his football uniform and took his time getting to the other school.
When he did arrive at Seibu he took a cautious step onto the property that seemed pretty much deserted. 'Maybe their afternoon practices are done now? But Riku still had to run extra laps after practice the last time he was late, so he might still be around.' He snuck around to the back of the school, keeping a constant look out for anyone who was still around and would know he probably wasn't exactly allowed on school grounds.
He let out a sigh of relief when he caught sight of Riku in his football uniform standing near the field alone, everyone else apparently having gone home for that night.
"Riku!" He called out as he walked forward and the fair haired boy turned to look at him in apparent shock.
"Sena, what are you doing all the way over here?" "Well, you said you wanted to hang out sometime right? Or is now not a good time?" Sena threw a quick look in both direction, just to make sure there were no other Seibu players still practicing.
"Now's fine, I just finished up my punishment laps..." Riku stared down at his feet, oddly introverted compared to his usual self.
"Did you go and see the game?" "Yeah, I thought it was kind of strange that you weren't there, since you had seemed so eager to let me see how much your running's improved. Why are you always so late?"
"Sometimes before games I'll gather up all the information and video recordings I can on the opposing team and the night before I'll memorize it all so that the knowledge doesn't have time to fade." He awkwardly lifted his eyes up to meet Sena's. "Sometimes I can get up on time, sometimes I can't. I've never had it happen to me two games in a row though, the coach got pretty angry with me. He said we could have won if I had been there." His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"What do you think Sena? If I had been there, would I have been able to get past Shin?"
Sena bit his lip nervously before cautiously answering. "Maybe." "Maybe?" "Well, I still haven't seen how much your running has improved."
Riku smirked lightly. "Let me show you then." But instead of moving into a solid starting stance he turned around.
"But first I'll change out of this uniform, then we can have a race and see if you've improved too." Sena smiled widely. "Want to check out how your pupil's been doing?" "Of course." Riku replied calmly before striding away.
'I think you'll find I've improved more than you expected.'
Ten minutes later found them just outside the front gates of Seibu, ready to race around the block.
"Are you sure I won't have an unfair advantage? You were running laps until just a while ago." Sena asked teasingly and Riku cocked an eyebrow at him.
"I highly doubt that little workout would effect my running ability." "Well, we'll see about that won't we?"
They shifted their feet apart. "Ready... Go!"
They started off, neither bothering to go full speed at the very beginning in order to make sure they could keep track of the other runner from the corner of their eyes, but slowly Riku began picking up the pace, Sena's speed changing to match his without having to think about it until they were both going all out.
They had almost reached their pre-determined finish line when Riku asked if he'd like to go around one more time.
Who was Sena to refuse him?
It was oddly invigorating, going up against the person who had taught him how to run and matching his pace for the most part, Riku was beginning to inch ahead of him, reaching the school gate a fraction of a second before him before slowing down his pace.
'Riku's gotten even more amazing.' Because despite what Riku had said about his laps not hindering his running he had been doing training since right after school while Sena had a bit of time to recover after his own practice.
"Seibu, if you were there, they would have won." Sena admitted, although saying it out loud made him just a little horrible. "Your speed is amazing Riku."
"You weren't too bad yourself. Maybe instead of being a manager you should become a player?" "Who me? No, I really wasn't built for that type of thing."
"Oh? Then I suppose that means I wasn't built for it either?" Riku crossed his arms, frowning playfully.
"You know I didn't mean it like that Riku, I'm just, you know, to weak for it." Sena explained, eyes averted.
"That doesn't matter if you're fast enough to keep from getting tackled. You should play the game a little, you'd make a good running back."
The brunette smiled widely. 'At least Riku doesn't seem like he'd be overly concerned if he found out I was playing.' "I think I just might do that."
The walked together for a little longer, avoiding any further conversations about football until Sena, with a despairing sigh, informed Riku he'd have to getting home soon.
They said their goodbyes and Sena went straight home, quickly eater his supper before leaping into bed, sleeping coming much easier than the previous night. And the next morning he made it to school right on time, something he was personally quite proud of since he'd never dragged himself out of bed so early before.
But now was no time to be feeling proud of himself just because he'd managed to get to practice on time, because, considering the construction that was currently going on beside their clubhouse, he had the feeling he should be more concerned about what this basic training was going to consist of.
"What do you think's going on with this?" Monta asked from beside him, but Sena didn't have the time to answer before Hiruma popped up beside them.
"It's getting a bit crowded in there now that we've got more people, so I'm extending the locker room. The principal promised us 'one extension per victory'. This is for beating Zokugaku."
'I wonder how he got the principal to agree to that.'
"And now that you're here, all hands on deck. Get to work!"
"WHAT?" The team asked incredulously in unison.
"Construction work will be perfect for drills! It's basic strength training!" Hiruma explained as he tossed everyone a pair of work clothes. "Now hurry up and change."