FASH: Heh heh heh... Some fun stuff is gonna happen next chapter, you'll see what I mean. (Grins.) It was sort of inspired by a review, because I thought it would be fun.

""-speech

''-thoughts

Over the last several days Sena had become painstakingly aware of his lack of strength and muscle mass, even Monta and Mamori were able to lift more weight then he was, but he tried not to let it get to him.

Hiruma had been in an awfully sour mood as of late too, which Sena rightfully assumed had been triggered by Agon's abrupt appearance at practice several days before. A normal Hiruma was hard enough to deal with, you already had to walk on eggshells around him to make sure he never felt like shooting at you.

If you managed to piss off a moody Hiruma, well, it was like playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun. No chances of survival.

Which was why everyone wisely decided to give the quarterback lots of room and follow his orders exactly, even Mamori wasn't picking any fights with him in order to stave off the imminent doom.

It was with a great sense of relief that he made his way to Bando after practice one night, it would be nice to spend some quality time with people when none of them felt like they'd be pumped full of lead if they talked to each other a little too long.

'I need some normal conversations. It's hard to talk about anything when Hiruma-san looms over you, practically breathing down your neck.'

Juri was, of course, more then happy to greet him and gave him a non-too gentle, but affectionate, pat on the back, which had been strained due to Sena's bad habit of not lifting with his knees.

Needless to say, the results were rather disastrous.

"Ow, ow, ow-" Sena chanted under his breath, rocking slightly as Juri stepped closer. "God Sena, are you alright?"

Kotarou, who had been standing near the sidelines in order to better ignore the wrap-up lecture Akaba seemed to be giving the rest of the team after practice, strode over in their direction as he flicked his comb through his hair.

"Julie, what did you do?" He asked suspiciously and Juri frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean? You know I'd never hit Sena hard enough to actually hurt, I just gave him a little love tap."

Sena straightened out and reached into his bag for the bottle of pain-killers he'd started to carry around on a daily basis.

Juri's eyes narrowed at the bottle and her lips pursed together as Sena calmly dry-swallowed a tablet.

"Sena, come with me. Kotarou, stay put." She ordered as she began walking away from the field.

Kotarou scoffed and ran his comb through his hair several more times. "As if I'd bother following you, che, not smart."

"Sena, you know you can tell me anything, right?" Juri asked lowly as the reached a 'safe' distance from everyone else and Sena, who had the feeling that he already knew where this was going, nodded.

"So you would tell me if Hiruma-kun was bullying you, right? I know you say you're fine, but I've heard stuff about him from Mamori-chan and none of it sounds very good, are you sure he isn't tormenting you but you're just too kind-hearted to realize it? Physically? Emotionally? Mentally? Sexually?"

"What?! No! I'm just a bit sore because I've been joining in on the basic training Hiruma-san's been putting the team through, he isn't tormenting me in any of the ways you mentioned." 'On purpose.' He mentally added, because he was pretty sure Hiruma didn't realize how terrifying it was to be around him when he was being moody.

"Why are you joining in on the training though? If you're not careful you'll get really hurt."

"Mamori-neechan was doing it too, and it's not like I'm even doing all that much." Sena explained but Juri stubbornly crossed her arms.

"You're not doing much, but you've taken to carrying around painkillers with you? Clearly it's too much for you, so, as you're second older sister figure I demand that you stop doing this 'basic training', it's not like you need it anyways." She very carefully wrapped an arm around him in a half hug and began leading him back to where Kotarou was standing, the look on her face told Sena that this conversation was clearly closed and he didn't have the heart to protest.

Akaba's 'lecture' had finished and the team was beginning to walk towards their clubroom as the redheaded boy moved to stand beside Kotarou, who did little to acknowledge his presence other then flick a rather tame glare in his direction.

"Hello Akaba-san, welcome back." Sena greeted politely.

"Fuu. Good evening Sena-kun, it's good to be back."Akaba replied with his usual grandeur, Sena was half-surprised that the older boy hadn't pulled his guitar out and started strumming yet.

'At least things are back to normal again at Bando, I hope Hiruma-san gets back to normal soon, I don't know how much longer any of us can handle his current mood.'

Thankfully Hiruma's mood seemed to have improved slightly the next day, if only because they were finally getting around to making the finishing touches on the clubhouse. Mamori had already begun to sort out the towels and stuff they were going to have stored in the locker room.

"Now that we have so much space we can get everything in order." She sighed happily at the thought of not having to search through piles of equipment and jerseys to find the binders of information on other teams. And speaking of those jerseys...

"Sena, if you're not busy with something else this afternoon could you help me do some laundry, these uniforms haven't been washed in only God knows how long." She hefted them up and set them down on a table when she spied a magazine underneath.

"Kurita-kun, this is the volume of Football Monthly that you've been looking for right?" She held it up and waved it around slightly before handing it to him. "No wonder you couldn't find it."

"Yeah, I haven't read this month's issue yet." Kurita said as he leafed through it, Komusubi staring at it from his place at Kurita's shoulder.

"The Football Monthly Bowl? Wow, someone's going to get to play against an American high school!" He exclaimed. "It's gonna happen in two weeks, right in the middle of the Kantou Tournament!"

"Someone who couldn't even make it to the finals, challenging an American team?" Monta muttered and Sena replied uneasily. "I'm sure no one's that crazy."

"I already sent in our application." Hiruma said as he calmly shrugged on his blazer, throwing them a look that dared them to say something about it.

No one did.

"Oh, and the fucking shrimp's not going to be able to help you with the laundry."

"Why not? He doesn't have anything else to do." Mamori stubbornly declared, standing her ground efficiently even as Hiruma's glare intensified.

"Who ever said he didn't have anything else to do? I've got something very important that I need him to check out for me."

"Are you making him go all alone?" She brought her hands up to rest on her hips.

"It's something that needs to be done alone, fucking manager." Hiruma responded hotly before turning to walk out of the clubhouse. "Follow me fucking shrimp, I'll tell you about it on your way to class."

"O-okay." Sena quickly, albeit reluctantly, followed Hiruma out the door, smiling a bit at Monta's hushed whisper of: "Secret mission max."

They had almost made it to the front doors of the school when Hiruma's pace slowed down dramatically and Sena changed his own pace to match.

"Hiruma-san, am I really going to check something out for you or is it just an excuse so that Mamori-neechan doesn't wonder where I am during practice?"

"I have something I need you to look into for me. I would go myself but I'm busy training you backfielders and my network in that area isn't as strong so I've only heard bits and pieces about what I'm sending you in to check."

"Am I going to be... Spying on a team?" Sena asked nervously and he stopped walking forward. "Because I'm pretty sure I'm not spy material."

"Then don't think of it as 'spying' think of it as 'observing in order to be better prepared' or something like that. In any case, apparently this team's got some impressive new recruits so I want to start gathering info on them before they realize they should be keeping their secret weapons under wraps. They've got a practice match today at their school, it's the perfect opportunity."

"I see." 'Although I still think this sort of thing is definitely not my cup of tea.' "Which team is it?"

"The Hakushu Dinosaurs."

"Really? I don't think I've heard of them..." Sena rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. 'Dinosaurs?'

"I didn't think you'd know them anyways, they're from the SIC District." Hiruma replied calmly and Sena blanched.

"They're not from Tokyo? Why am I going to spy on them then?"

"Idiot, we might end up facing them later on in the Kanto Tournament and it'll be easier for you to get information on them now when they don't know you're part of Deimon."

"But won't I stick out in my Deimon uniform?" Sena gestured to the green blazer. "Especially if you expect me to tape the game or take pictures, I don't want people to gang up on me because I'm spying."

"Don't worry, I've got that covered." Hiruma replied with a smirk before handing Sena an envelope.

"Inside here is a note that will 'excuse' you from your last period class of the day, a train ticket home and back and directions to the school from the station. You should be able to make it to Hakushu well before the game starts, but you might want to take some pictures of their warms ups too."

Sena looked at the envelope, slightly fearful. His last period class was history. 'Does this mean Hiruma-san has blackmail on my history teacher?'

"Once you get out of class head to the clubroom, I'll put a change of clothes and a camera in your locker."

"Change of clothes?! Don't tell me you actually took clothing from my room for today."

"Relax, I went out and got you something else that we can just burn afterwards to destroy the evidence. Cheap material, highly flammable." He remarked with a grin and Sena just nodded, wondering if he should be afraid.

"Well, I'll just get going to class then..."

The day passed by far too quickly for Sena's liking, who was sure that he was going to be found out no matter what and then the 'impressive new recruits' were going to murder him, because really, an outfit that Hiruma picked out for him? Wouldn't that only make him stand out more?

But Hiruma's mood had brightened a bit at the prospect at getting some new information and he definitely didn't want him to go back to his moodiness, so he dutifully excused himself from his last period class, ignoring the way his history teacher's face paled as he handed her the letter and the curious looks his classmates were giving him on the way out.

'Alright, it's now or never.' He thought as he stood in front of his locker in the clubroom, looking at duffle bag sitting at the bottom with no small amount of curiosity.

He slowly pulled it out and opened it up, carefully setting the digital camera to the side before pulling out the first piece of clothing.

"... You have got to be kidding me."