FASH: Alright, chapter 50! This chapter is a bit longer than usual because once I go back to school I won't be able to update as often so I've got to get into the habit of writing longer chapters. It's only about a thousand words more than usual, but that's still a couple pages more.

""-speech

''-thoughts

After school the following day Sena slowly made his way to his own house before his journey to Oujou, he had no intention to arrive at the school before their practice ended.

And their practices tended to go on for a long while.

He wasn't even sure what he was going to say when he got there but he was fairly certain it would come to him, it wasn't like he'd become paralyzed with fear, he wouldn't speak with the entire team, although some of them might listen in depending on if any of them stuck around after practice to hang out.

He sighed wearily as he entered his front door before moving up to his room so he could get a start on his homework.

'Telling them they played a good game really won't do anything. I could take a page from their coach's book and tell them that in the world of competition only those who are defeated can become stronger, but they've probably already heard that by now.'

He slumped into his seat, head slowly coming to rest on his desk.

'Well, I've got a couple things to say to Sakuraba-san at least, along the lines of: why the hell were you playing in the game if you haven't technically been discharged from the hospital yet? Or I'll ask that if he's there anyways, maybe they'll discharge him since he was well enough to sneak out.'

He lazily dug a hand into his school bag and pulled out his textbooks, flipping through his English book to the current chapter they were working on idly.

'And then tomorrow instead of joining in on after school practice I'm being sent on some sort of mission again.'

And he was fairly certain that whatever Hiruma had in store for him would also involve Agon escorting him around, which might turn out to be even more awkward than it would have been considering what had went on the last time they had been alone together.

Of course there was a near microscopically small chance that Hiruma's plan wouldn't involve him dressing up to go spy on other teams, but Sena highly doubted it.

'Just as long as I don't have to miss my last period class again to get to wherever I'm going I'll be fine.'

He spent a solid two hours working on his homework before figuring he could start getting ready to go. He changed out of his Deimon uniform into a pair of more casual clothes, not wanting any of the first years on the team who weren't familiar with him to cause a raucous when they found out he didn't go to their school.

The trip to Oujou was long, quiet and ultimately uneventful and by the time he reached the school he was fairly certain practice would be wrapping up momentarily so he waited patiently by one of the entrances of the field for several minutes before, like he predicted, Oujou players began streaming out.

A couple of the older players nodded at him in recognition and one of the first years, a huge, malicious looking boy gave him a hard glare as he passed by.

Takami, as usual, was one of the last people to walk out and Sena was mildly surprised to see that neither Sakuraba nor Shin were with him.

The older boy saw him and approached him with a wan smile, making Sena wonder if it was still too soon for him to try and get his spirits up.

'Well, there's no time like the present.'

"Hey Takami-niichan, how's it going?" He asked rather lamely and Takami shrugged.

"I suppose it's going good enough, but once the Oujou University Silver Knights catch wind of our loss I'd imagine they'll have something to say about it. Nothing we can't handle though."

"I see." Sena shuddered a bit, Oujou's Golden Generation were terrifying enough when they were being normal, he never wanted to see what they were like when they were angry.

"So, where's Shin-san and Sakuraba-san? Or is Sakuraba-san still in the hospital?"

Takami's smile brightened considerably. "Sakuraba was officially released the day after the game. Shin's staying behind to train some more and Sakuraba has decided to try and keep up with Shin's training regimen."

"Really? Isn't that a bit reckless though? I mean, he just got out of the hospital."

"He'll be fine, he knows not to put himself under too much pressure after being confined to a bed for so long. It's nice to see him so pumped up about practice though. Apparently the boy who dragged him to the game is a big fan of his, saw him catch a really high pass during a game last year and started idolizing him for it and he still thinks he's great even after Sakuraba showed him his stats from past games."

Takami paused and adjusted his glasses, the lenses flashing almost eerily as they reflected light. "I think having someone who understands the game thinking of him as a hero is good for his self-esteem."

"Yeah, maybe now having all those girls think of him as an ace won't effect him as much." Sena nodded with a smile before remembered that Sakuraba's health hadn't been the only thing he wanted to talk about while he was here.

He opened his mouth to speak but Takami held up a hand to silence him.

"You don't have to say anything Sena. I know you well enough to know why you're here." His smile once again grew a little brighter. "Oujou will be stronger by the fall." He stated confidently. "I guarantee it."

"Oujou isn't the only one who'll become stronger, Deimon will give you a run for your money." Sena said good-naturedly.

"Of course, I heard about your tie with Taiyo, that's a rather significant feat for a team who lost in their second game of the season. Deimon seems to be growing at a fairly rapid rate."

Sena beamed proudly at the admission. "And Shin-san and Eyeshield promised that they'd meet at the finals, so there's no way we'll loose in the earlier rounds."

"We won't loose either."

They stood outside the entrance to the field for a while, speaking of things not directly related to football until they both decided it was time for them to head home.

'It's too bad Shin-san was busy practicing, I would have liked to talk to him for a bit, but I suppose he's recovering from the loss by improving himself. I wonder if Shin-san's parents ever worry about his borderline obsessive training habits?'

For some reason it was strangely hard trying to imagine what Shin's parents were like, maybe because Shin seemed so independent, or maybe because it was hard to imagine Shin taking after anyone.

'In any case, I think it's safe to say that the White Knights will restore their honor by the fall and then they'll become even harder to play against.'

When Sena arrived at home he was quickly ushered into the kitchen by his mother who sat him down at the table, flexing her fingers against his shoulders experimentally.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Agon-kun called me up and asked me to check out if one of your shoulders was still bothering you." Her fingers flexed and gripped a little harder than the first time before she let her hands fall away.

"It appears that you're all healed up, but really Sena, the next time you get hurt you should let someone take a look at it otherwise people will get worried." She chided him lightly before seating herself next to him.

"So, how did your little chat with Takami-kun go?"

"Pretty good I guess, he's not the type to let a losing game bother him for too long."

His mother nodded along in understanding. "He always did seem mature for his age, I suppose that aspect of his personality wouldn't change in the amount of time I haven't seen him." Mihae pouted slightly.

"Hey, Sena."

"Yeah mom?"

"Why don't you invite all of your friends over sometime? You never bring anyone over, the closest I've gotten to meeting your new friends is when that boy brought you home the other night, and he was hardly even here for a minute and he didn't even introduce himself."

"Juumonji-kun was the one who brought me home, and why are you so eager to meet my friends?" He asked, although he was fairly certain she just wanted to meet them in order to assure herself that he had them.

"It worries me that the only time you seem to spend with them is during practice or games. I know that sometimes after school when you don't have practice you'll go visit Takami-kun or Juri-chan, but do you ever hang out with your new friends after school?"

"Well... No, not really." Sena admitted and his mother sighed.

"Honestly Sena, this can't be good for your budding social life. Please bring a couple of your friends over. Please?" She clasped her hands together and Sena pursed his lips.

"But mom, we're going to have a big game coming up sometime soon."

"So? Just round up a bunch of them up after practice and drag them over here. Or I'll go over to Deimon and drag them over here after practice, you know I will if I have to." She said without a hint of remorse. "It would be like setting up a giant play date except with people you already know and I go directly to them instead of their mothers."

That was actually a kind of terrifying thought, his mother might end up scaring his friends away if she did something like that.

"Alright, I'll invite a couple people over when I have time." He relented and his mother smiled brightly.

'What have I just gotten myself into?'

"Now that we've had this talk I'm going to start supper, so you can go do whatever it is boys your age do these days."

"Um, alright." Sena stood up and exited the kitchen, moving to go up the stairs but pausing when he saw Pitt lazing about in the living room.

He stealthily snuck forward but Pitt heard him advance anyways and slowly turned to look at him before stretching out.

"Come here Pitt." He called softly, holding out a hand and wiggling his fingers.

Pitt's ears twitched, but she made no move to go towards him.

"Playing hard to get are you? I suppose I'll just have to put some actual effort into this then." He moved closer and scooped her up into his arms, stroking at her fur gently as she relaxed into his embrace and began to purr.

He wasn't exactly sure if this was what 'boys his age did these days' but this was probably more his style than whatever his mother, bless her strange but caring heart, thought he'd be up to.

The next day during morning practice Hiruma was in an awfully good mood and when Sena mustered up the courage to ask him about it he discovered that the completed video had been delivered to the Aliens' coach and viewed world-wide over the internet.

"Kekeke, they'll be coming over in a month, so I've got plenty of time to whip you all into shape."

"That's... Nice." Sena somehow managed to reply and Hiruma's current grin widened.

"I know, now get back to practice!"

By the end of practice Hiruma hadn't given him a letter to give to his history teach or ordered him to get to the clubhouse early, which ultimately meant that whatever Sena was going to do today, at least he wouldn't have to go too far away.

It was only during class that a rather unsettling thought struck him.

'If I have to dress up for this plan and I don't get out early to prepare for it, does that mean everyone's going to find out about this?'

Or maybe Hiruma would be kind enough to let him take the clothes and change once he got close to wherever he was being sent?

By the time he made his way to the clubhouse after school he had come to the horrifying conclusion that there was no way Hiurma would be that considerate, not when he knew Sena had already told two other members of the team about it.

But it seemed like Hiruma wasn't in a hurry to send him off on his mission, in fact, the first thing he did when everyone got in the clubhouse was force them to sit down, shut up and watch the finished version of the movie he had made.

'No wonder the coach changed his mind and decided to play against us, anyone with pride wouldn't turn down a challenge issued like this.'

And Apollo wasn't the only one who's pride was wounded by the contents of the video.

"Muka! Why did they give me a monkey's body?!" Monta whispered angrily from his spot beside him and Sena shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, at least you didn't get a chicken's body." He whispered back before turning his attention back on Hiruma.

"Alright, we've got one month to get ready to face this team, so the training from hell is going to begin now. Oh, and since coach Apollo went out of his way to bet that if he didn't win by ten points he'd never step on American soil again, I decided to do something similar." He pulled out a box labeled 'Passports'.

"If we don't beat the Americans by ten points, we all have to leave Japan. You have one month to prepare for the game that will determine your fate, so you'd better practice with all you got! Now go get suited up." He ordered and as the others slowly made their way to the change room Sena went towards Hiruma, nervously twiddling his thumbs.

"Hiruma-san-"

"I'll send you off in a couple minutes, fucking dreads needs to get here before you can go, remember? For now just get into your track pants and do whatever until he comes to pick you up."

The two of them entered the change room to find that no changing was gong on due to Mamori's presence in the room.

Juumonji, Kuroki and Toganou seemed to be gawking at the fact that they each now had their very own locker, but most eyes in the room were riveted on Mamori and the object she was holding.

"Put that back fucking manager." Hiruma barked immediately once he saw the place kicking tee in her hands and Mamori's cheeks puffed out in anger.

"What's with that attitude? And I don't see where you get off with calling me that, I have a name you know."

"That tee belongs to Musashi." He responded and Mamori's demeanor immediately changed.

"I see." She carefully set it back down in the otherwise empty locker.

"Woah, that was an amazing kick!" Was shouted from somewhere outside the clubhouse and Kurita looked at the tee like it was some sort of sign.

"Musashi?" He mumbled under his breath before dashing outside, Monta and Sena close behind him.

'I really don't think Musashi-san would randomly start kicking balls around though.' Sena thoughts as he squeezed through the crowd, ignoring when one of the people from the soccer team tried to trip him.

When he finally got to the front of the group his eyes widened at what he saw.

'Did he just run here all the way from Bando?' He listened in for the sound of an electric guitar which he had no doubt he would hear if Akaba had, for some unfathomable reason, decided to follow Kotarou to Deimon.

The lack of musical notes floating through the air lead Sena to believe that Akaba wasn't on the premises, which was probably a good thing since he really didn't feel like trying to keep Kotarou from spitting all over the place.

After another perfect kick Kotarou turned around and, after running his comb through his hair several times, he looked up and pointed his comb at the crowd.

"You see that? Pretty smart huh?"

"You're not Musashi." Kurita said sadly and Kotarou cocked an eyebrow at him as Hiruma flipped through one of his many Devil's Handbooks.

"You're Kotarou Sasaki, the Bando Spiders' kicker right?" He asked and Kotarou didn't look too shocked about Hiruma knowing the information.

"His extra point conversion rate is... One hundred percent."

"My whole life I've never missed a kick, pretty smart right?" His gazed moved from Hiruma back towards the crowd and his eyes locked with Sena's.

"Hey Sena, the last time I asked you if you knew of a 'Sixty Yard Magnum' on your team you said you didn't know about it, but this time I've got a name to go with the nickname, Musashi." He said rather proudly. "So how about you bring him out and we'll see who the number one kicker really is?!" He demanded as he kicked another ball right down the center.

"Kotarou-san-" Sena began but Hiruma cut him off.

"If you're looking for Musashi, he already quit."

Kotarou whipped around. "What? Not smart!"

"Don't worry fucking sideburns, for now you're still number one." Hiruma said as he began walking away and Kotarou sputtered indignantly.

"Sena, he's not lying is he? You're not just hiding him from me are you?"

"Sorry Kotarou-san, but he's telling the truth." He responded as Mamori came up beside him.

"Sena, is this the Kotarou-kun that Juri-chan is friends with?" She asked lightly and Sena nodded, watching with interest as Mamori approached the boy who was currently combing through his hair furiously.

"Oi, fucking shrimp, your escort is here so hurry it up." Hiruma called from the clubhouse and Sena hurried over to him.

'Well, at least now I'll finally find out everything about what I'm going to do today.'

Or, to be more precise, he'd find out which team Hiruma was going to send him to spy on.