Disclaimer: Any original characters are property of myself and myself only. Eyeshield 21 is a series created by Riichigo Inagaki and Yusuke Murata. All characters of Eyeshield 21 are property of the original creators, Shonen Jump and Viz Media. Any references to the NFL and its players are copyrighted by the NFL and credited to their respective teams.

Once everyone was getting ready to go home for the evening Suzuna set her spontaneous scheme into action. It seemed as though Shidao was giving Juri their mom's car for the night to return it home and was planning to walk home to her apartment with Monta. Unfortunately for the mint haired teen Suzuna had other plans and whisked over to invite her away under the guise of a girls night to come back to her own apartment for some fun before the game tomorrow.

"What do you say Shidao? Sleep over before the big game and let the boys stew?" asked the bubbly cheer captain with excitement.

Shidao was surprised by the sudden invitation and seemed without words for a moment before answering, "I uhm… th-thank you Suzuna but I don't know if I'm up for th-that tonight." The mint haired teen began to nervously stroke her hair hand over hand in front of her chest.

Suzuna's antenna tweaked anxiously. She was losing her! "Aw c'mon! It'll be fun. Take your mind off the kitchen fiasco today and just unwind." the azure angel said to try and convince the shy freshman.

Once again Shidao seemed reluctant to accept her invitation. The midori maiden continued to fumble with her hair and her words saying, "I… I dunno… I…" With all that had happened today between Kohando's random appearance to Monta's comforting words and actions, the poor introvert was really burnt out.

Nearby, Monta appeared to catch on to this. Being in the know certainly helped the normally dense ape to recognize his girlfriend's current mental static about it. He reached out and gently nudged her elbow with the fingers of his right hand and said, "Why not? Maybe it'll help get your mind off stuff. And if you need to go home just text me and I'll come walk you back. No matter what time it is ok?" The thoughtful simian gave her a reassuring smile. Suzuna was pretty good at cheering people up so maybe this would help her out.

The minty teen shifted her gaze to meet Monta's and she considered his words. If he thought it might help maybe it would be alright. And even if it didn't and she needed to leave he did offer to escort her back to her own place. With a soft sigh she stopped fidgeting with her honeydew colored hair and looked back at Suzuna. "Sure, maybe you two are right. I know I could certainly use a distraction…"

As the younger teen gave in, Suzuna found herself in an awkward scenario. She had initially invited the younger Sawai sister because she thought something had happened between her and Monta and wanted to dig in to find out what it was. But now it appeared that something else might have happened. Worse still, it seemed like it was something that really bothered the girl. With a concerned look towards Monta, Suzuna realized she might be needed as that shoulder to lean on rather than trying to be a nosey spy. When Monta nodded back at her in silent thanks he met her gaze the azure angel knew her priorities had shifted.

"No problem, happy to be of help…" Suzuna responded to Shidao in a more muted tone than earlier. With a few quick blinks however, the lithe cheerleader put on a more eager expression and chirped, "Now come on! Let's go get some snacks and then we can dish and have some fun tonight alright?"

That brought a sheepish smile to Shidao's weary face and she replied, "Alright, thanks Suzuna." Before she left however she slowly turned and wrapped her arms around Monta and buried her face in the crook of his neck. "Good night Monta… I'll see you tomorrow."

Monta's face turned a few shades darker and he returned the hug with both arms and nuzzled his cheek into the top of her minty colored cranium. "Night Shidao, it'll be alright. I'll see you tomorrow."

The midori maiden held that embrace for a few moments longer before turning away and moving to follow Suzuna. She turned once more towards Monta briefly before giving him a meager wave and a rouge tinted smile in farewell.

The simian receiver waved as the girls departed and gave out a low sigh as he watched them leave. He couldn't really begin to imagine what Shidao was going through. To have someone literally stalk you. A sudden series of shivers shuddered through his form and he quickly slapped the sides of his face with his open palms.

"You alright man?" came a familiar voice.

Monta turned to observe Sena waiting nearby. The apish wideout sighed again and gave a shrug, "I dunno man. I mean sure I guess so… personally anyway." He then placed a hand on the back of his neck and looked in the direction of the departing cheer captain and his sweetheart.

Sena nodded pensively and asked, "I take it something happened today with Shidao? Is she ok?"

His apish friend rotated his wrist side to side as his flat palm teetered up and down indicating he wasn't sure. "Hard to say." he started off with uncertainty before adding, "I'm sure she'll be ok but… we have a problem we need to talk about…"

The wild haired running back gave his friend a quizzical look before asking, "Oh? What's wrong?" He knew Suzuna had basically set him up to try and find some dirt on what happened today, but like his girlfriend earlier, he was quickly realizing something major must have actually happened.

Monta looked around nervously before stepping past Sena and waving his friend along to follow him. "Yeah so uh… let's uh walk and talk…" the simian receiver commented as he began walking away from the team meeting room building. Sena trotted after him and easily kept pace. After walking for a little while and once more peeking to make sure there weren't any prying eyes or ears, Monta continued, "So… apparently this Kohando Yokotowaru guy has a history with Shidao… she says he's been stalking her since highschool."

Sena turned on Monta with a shocked expression. "What?! R-really?!" he stammered in surprise. That was certainly not something he had expected to hear from the wide receiver. "Whoa whoa hold on… that's what this afternoon was all about wasn't it?"

"Yeah, he just suddenly appeared and tried out for our football team out of nowhere. You know he only just applied to the school after our game right? Seems a bit too lined up to be a mere coincidence. And the kicker… he apparently caught Shidao outside her house when she was packing up to move into her apartment here on campus and tried to get her to go out for coffee with him. Long story short she turned him down by saying she had a dinner date with me. Shidao says she must have used my name and thinks he looked me up through football monthly or something to find out where I played… and low and behold who was at our tryouts today." the beleaguered athlete transposed.

The normally sure-footed running back staggered a bit as they continued walking through the winding avenues leading in the general direction of their apartments. "Th-that's… wow… uh… shit man…" The brunette tailback was at a loss for words right now. He ran a hand through his wild and spikey locks and blew a raspberry before asking, "So why didn't you bring it up at the team meeting?"

Monta padded the air with his hands and answered, "Look I said the same thing to Shidao but she insisted that we give him a chance. Maybe he has some genuine interest in the team and the sport and it wasn't all about her." he sighed and shook his head before grumbling, "I don't buy that for a fucking second but…" he paused once more and gave an unsure shrug.

Sena frowned and scratched his head, thinking a moment before asking, "Do you think it's worth the risk? I m-mean I know Shidao is like a part time helper on our sidelines and stuff but… that's still pretty close to the situation if it turns out he is really here because he's stalking her… and like… I don't want to put you or her in that situation or anything either."

With a heavy sigh Monta craned his neck back and looked up towards the sky. "I know." He continued to stare outwardly and inwardly at the same time, lost in his thoughts for a moment before lowering his head and continuing, "It's a shitty situation for sure… because as much as I hate to admit it… I DO think he has what it takes to be a good receiver… maybe even a great one. But if I'm always looking over my shoulder because I can't trust him." he sighed again and shook his head. "I don't know man. If it was just me I'd say tell him to fuck off but… our team could really use a player like him. And…" he paused and shifted his shoulders up and down with a guilty conscience before adding, "Shidao is insisting we give him the chance to prove he's something other than a creep with the hots for her."

As they continued walking Monta suddenly stopped and held out a palm towards Sena suddenly remembering, "Hey uh… let's keep this between us for now. I don't think Shidao would appreciate the team knowing this, at least until we find out a bit more about the guy's real intentions."

Sena nodded and agreed, "S-sure. No problem…" He could certainly understand and respect the girl's concern regarding keeping this knowledge close to the vest right now. One it was probably embarrassing for her, and two, what if she was right? What if Kohando legitimately was trying out for the team and spreading this info to the team prematurely affected his transition? Sena knew the latter was unlikely, like Monta had said earlier, everything seemed to line up a bit too perfectly for it to be coincidental. It was far more likely he was just a creep. The brunette running back tried to imagine what he would do if Suzuna had told him something like that was happening to her. And he couldn't deny he did feel some uncharacteristic rage well up in his heart just thinking about it.

The brunette running back looked to his friend and frowned. He could only imagine how torn up he must feel about all this. He finally found a girl genuinely interested in him and their relationship seemed to be going good and growing. Then a phenomenal athlete tries out for the team and seems to be adept at catching the football, another plus for the apish wideout. And out of nowhere it turns out that this athlete in question is actually your new girlfriend's stalker? That was a lot to absorb, let alone process. The pair walked for a while in awkward silence, quietly contemplating their inner thoughts about the topic at hand.

Elsewhere another pair of friends were just entering into a certain cheer captain's apartment. Suzuna had led Shidao straight to her humble abode, even choosing to forego a snack run in favor of expediency. The azure angel ushered Shidao over to her comfortable couch and tossed a fluffy comforter at her to boot. The navy haired teen then rapidly zipped to her kitchen and put a kettle of water on to boil for tea. While waiting on the pot to heat up she plopped back onto the couch next to her friend.

"Ok girl, dish. What the hell happened today?" Suzuna asked bluntly. This was too serious not to get straight to the point. She had a feeling this was going to be a doozy based on their brief interaction after the meeting.

Shidao was already snuggling up with the comforter her friend had buried her with. It was incredibly fluffy and soft. She appreciated Suzuna's hospitality but was a bit surprised by the sudden abruptness of her question. The midori maiden blanched and buried half of her face with the wooly blanket and sighed. "That obvious huh…?" she murmured.

Suzuna reached out and placed a hand on the girl's lap in concern, "After leaving like you did and with how weird you and Monta were acting after the meeting? A little, yeah." The raven haired beauty frowned and then asked, "What happened Shidao? Is everything ok?"

The mint haired teen sighed and moved her face out from behind the comfortable covers. "No… not really." she responded despondently. Taking a deep breath she pulled her knees in against her breasts and folded her arms over top them. She rested her chin on her forearms and began, "One of the guys at the tryouts today was someone I went to highschool with. Kohando."

Suzuna donned a worried expression and asked, "Is he like… an ex or something?" While the details were still fuzzy, the fog was starting to clear a little bit for her.

The verdant vixen gave a disgusted chuff, "He wishes…" and shook her head denying it before adding, "No, we never dated. But not for lack of effort on his part. He started hitting on me really hard in freshman year… and I always turned him down. Something about him has always bothered me. All the other girls were gaga for him but not me." She shook her head with more determination this time, "He's an objectifying stalker is all he is. And he's been stalking me for years…" Shidao then went on to detail some of the different times when the creep would just randomly 'show up' at her home conveniently when she was going to do something, or how he'd catch her in between classes in the halls and corner her with propositions.

The navy haired cheer captain listened in shocked silence the entire time. With each new detail and each new revelation she felt more and more disgusted with this plastic pretty boy. But when Shidao began describing the most recent sequence of events which led to practice today she felt something else. A pit of fear welling in her stomach that made her feel uneasy and dirty. A sudden sheer whistle made her start suddenly and she clutched a hand over her heart in surprise. The water for the tea was done.

Suzuna excused herself saying, "I'm still listening go on.." and went back to her little kitchenette which was open and connected to the living room area of her apartment. Removing the kettle from the burner she poured the boiling water into two waiting mugs. She grabbed a couple of tea bags from a cupboard and some sugar as well. Placing all of them on a small serving tray she brought them back to the living room and set them on the small table next to her couch.

The azure angel put a couple of sugar cubes into her mug and let the tea bag steep while cradling the warm porcelain receptacle in her hands. Settling back into the couch she shuddered as Shidao finished describing how she believed Kohando found out where and how to apply to Enma's football team. It all felt increasingly unsafe and unsavory and the lithe cheer captain felt herself lost in a daze. Shidao seemed to mirror her feelings and was also just cradling a mug of hot tea in front of her, similarly staring into space.

"Sh-Shidao I… wow… I am so sorry… I just can't believe this…" the cheer captain finally managed to say in disbelief. She had been fortunate in her highschool years. She spent nearly all her time around the football team, and luckily they were a great group of guys that always had her back. Suzuna couldn't recall a time when she felt uneasy or unsafe like this around other guys her age. Maybe Agon. That guy definitely gave off bad vibes. But again the boys on the team were there to shield her from crooked creeps like him. For Shidao to have been living with this lurking shadow for so long like this. A series of unnerving shivers vibrated down her backbone just thinking about it.

Suzuna gingerly took a sip of her tea and pondered. How was this going to work? The team had already voted about Kohando's status with them and it seemed like he'd be made a full member as of next week. But with this sudden revelation from Shidao, she honestly couldn't support that decision any more.

A self deprecating laugh began to emanate from Shidao as the minty teen replied, "The worst part?" she shrugged and snickered at herself before continuing, "I did this all to myself."

The cheer captain spun on the green haired girl, "Shidao no! You can't blame yourself for this."

"I'm the one that used Monta to get out of it! I could have said literally anything else to throw him off but no I chose to rub Monta in his face and NOW! N-now-..." but she couldn't finish her tirade as the tears began to rack her form and rob her of her anger.

Suzuna roughly set her tea aside and pounced on her friend, grabbing her by the shoulders and sitting her up straight looking her right in the eye before scolding, "HEY! Now you listen to me Shidao! You NEVER blame yourself for what a terrible man like him does to you! This is all HIM being a monstrous creep! Not you for falling back on the man you love as a safety net! You are BIGGER than that!"

The intensity of Suzuna's bold decree shook the self loathing from Shidao and replaced it with shock. She was not used to receiving such strong one sided support from someone like this. Shakily the midori maiden moved the heel of her hand to wipe away some of the tears that had pooled in her yellow green eyes. Her voice quaked as she croaked, "Y-you're right. I-it's j-just so hard. I always feel like I do this to myself because I'm too scared to actually say anything to him. I don't know what to d-do." A huge sniffle sounded out from the girl's running nose and she wiped that aside as well.

"So tell him off then! Tear into his creepy ass face!" Suzuna blurted in a state of heightened annoyance. She hadn't even properly met the guy yet and already wanted to kick him in the dick.

Shidao sighed and shook her head, "No you don't get it. Kohando is sneaky about how he does things. He'll make it seem like he is completely innocent, or he'll bump into you at convenient coincidental times. It's like he knows which lines not to cross. I don't know how to explain it. If I hadn't told you or Monta about him and how long he's been doing it, I doubt any of you would even pick up on it… god knows no one else has." She paused briefly and moved a frantic stray bang behind her ear before adding, "It's gotten to the point where I doubt my own judgments about him." Letting out a shuddering sigh she finished, "All I know is that something about him makes my skin crawl."

Suzuna frowned at that. She supposed it made sense that a predator like that would be careful. Hell, maybe Shidao was right. If she hadn't told her about the guy would she have even noticed anything off about him? "So, what? Do we let everything just continue like this. Kohando makes the team, and continues stalking you, and you want us to pretend like nothing is going on? Because I'm sorry Shidao, that's not going to fly!"

"I know Suzuna!" came a sudden frustrated outburst from the usually meek teen. However, she quickly held up a hand apologetically and reiterated, "Sorry, I know. That's why I don't know what to do. Maybe I am seeing into things too much, maybe he is just interested in the team, maybe my brain is broken and I'm just a paranoid bitch that can't think straight."

"Stop that!" Suzuna warned the faltering freshman. "Obviously there's something to this if he in particular stands out. And even then with all you've described to me, he sounds like a textbook definition stalker." She paused a few moments and began to look around for something, "Where's my phone?" she grumbled to herself more than to Shidao.

"Wh-what are you going to do?" Shidao asked, suddenly nervous.

After shuffling around on the couch she found where her phone had fallen out of her pocket. Grabbing it up she answered, "Informing some of the big guns to make sure they put pretty boy through the ringer." Before Shidao could protest and tell Suzuna not to tell anyone else the lithe cheer captain interrupted, "Don't worry I'm not going to tell them what's going on. Just gonna tell them the new recruits deserve the full on Enma Liger treatment ala training camp hell." She had to lean away from Shidao's frantic batting to send her message but managed to get it off. "Relax! I told you I'm not telling them what's going on. I'm just making sure I remind Dante that our new recruits deserve the full experience of his training methods."

As the wheels of panic caused by fears of Suzuna telling the team what was happening began to halt, the mint haired teen recalled how the fiery foreigner behaved in practice. He was always tearing into the other players for mistakes and giving them a hell of a hard time. And that was to people who he knew could handle it. "You're suggesting Dante put him and the other new guy through hell to try and scare them off?"

Suzuna shrugged and said, "I guess we'll find out if he's actually serious about football or not that way. I know I wouldn't want to endure Dante's training method personally myself. Lets see how the plastic pretty boy fares with Dante's training gauntlet yeah?" The way the azure angel smiled at the end of that statement belied her heavenly appearance. No, that was a visage of a demon. And Shidao liked it.

Meanwhile at Dante's lofty tower, the fiery American was in his room sitting in a plush bean bag chair and watching some last minute game film on the Shuei Doctor Fish's last game. He was trying to gleam every last ounce of information out of it that he could before laying them to waste tomorrow. Across his shoulders the mahogany colored serpent twisted and wound her way about her master's wild mane of red hair.

Adjacent to him sat a similarly studious Suitokku in a gaming chair. The big ox had requested to be brought something to sit in besides another bean bag chair. His back hurt just thinking about how the bestial linebacker loafed around in one all the time. The massive mammoth of a lineman was turning idly from side to side on the swiveling chair when a sudden burst of noise summoned his attention.

Dantes cell phone was unceremoniously tossed to the ground between the two behemoths and was currently issuing a screeching guitar riff. Suitokku reached out with his toe and kicked it towards the linebacker. "Phone." he said plainly as he went back to watching the game film.

The ogre like linebacker put on an exaggerated frown and rolled to glare at the phone. "Who dares!" he beseeched before reaching out with a gnarled claw like hand, rasping the phone from the fluffy plush carpet. Calypso shifted slightly when her living perch lurched to grab the cellular device but seemed no worse for wear. She simply flickered that black forked tongue of hers and curled back around Dante's shoulders as he flipped open the message he received.

"Who is it?" Suitokku asked absently as he jotted down a note about the tackle he'd be facing in tomorrow's game.

Dante's eyes scanned the message from beneath his bramble like eyebrows and answered, "Squirt… she says we should give the new recruits the full Chewie Training Camp experience." He snorted and said with a devious grin, "Would I not have done that anyway?" It was no secret the brash foreigner was harsh during practice.

Suitokku however gave a sidelong glance at the American, thinking back to the day's events. Thinking back to Shidao and Monta stepping away and how fishy they were acting. He also remembered how Shidao had left with Suzuna earlier that evening. "Hmmmmm…" he murmured aloud in thought.

"What? You think I should take it easy on them or something?" Dante replied in a plaintive tone. The chiseled athlete was in the process of typing a response back to the navy haired teen.

"No… give em hell." The monolithic Okinowan replied as he reached a muscular pylon of an arm over to the desk nearby to grab his drink and take a swig. After swallowing the cold water he mentioned. "I don't know exactly what's going on, but I think something happened with Monta's girl today. And now Suzuna's texting you to break the new guys. Seems like odd timing." A quick crunch sounded from the bottle's cap as he twisted it tightly black in place before setting the beverage aside on the desk once more.

Dante narrowed his eyes under his pronounced bushy eyebrows and shifted his gaze to rest on his towering teammate. "Whaddya mean something happened? She said it was a dizzy spell." the suspicion in his voice was palpable.

Suitokku could offer only a shrug as he answered, "Sure it was." But the tone that came across was one that implied he didn't really believe that. The colossal blonde continued, "Or maybe one of those new guys said something and gave her a panic attack."

Slowly the furry foreigner shifted forward in his bean bag chair. The twisted expression of remembrance was contorting on his sharply angled features. He had been quite busy at the tryouts today and hadn't particularly caught any exchange between the mint haired teen and any of the new recruits. The brash American did however remember that she seemed to leave rather abruptly with Monta when the food came out.

While he shifted, the carpet python draped around his shoulders began to unwind her many coils and stretch out down to the floor. The purpley red and brown colored scales that made up her body shimmered under the incandescent lights. As the serpent moved to slither across the plush carpet in the direction of the TV, Dante asked, "What makes you think that?"

The attempt to probe more details from the giant was only moderately effective as Suitokku responded with a shrug, "Just a hunch. The timing of all of it seemed odd."

The suspicious American glowered at the non helpful response. "Maybe, but she also seems to struggle being around the lot of us when I think about it. You sure she didn't get overwhelmed with the 30 extra dudes around?"

Once more the maritime monster only offered a shrug and a sparse few words in reply, "Maybe. Maybe not." The big fellow was sure to give a cautious glance in the direction of Calypso as she slithered about, taking care to be ready to move if she changed direction towards him. Clearing his throat he added, "Either way, they gotta earn it right?" The massive lineman thought back to how hellish his first three days were under Dante's tutelage. He felt it was only fitting that the new recruits be put through the same triage he had experienced. And if Suzuna was suggesting to crank it up to eleven, then the colossal teen was all about it.