Chapter 5: Why They Live Together
"Fuck!" Hiruma cursed when he received the mail. He screeched the car to a halt, almost throwing Agon off. They were supposed to be on their way back to Saikyoudai.
"What the fuck?!" Agon complained. He understood when he received the email as well. He watched as Hiruma brought out his guns and filled it with bullets.
"Were going somewhere." Hiruma mentally prayed she didn't switch off her phone's location. He was so glad he had sneaked a tracking program into Mamori's phone. He was relieved when he was able to locate her easily. She's in her apartment. Or rather, the thugs are in her apartment. Which meant they had planned this in advance.
The quarterback had already opened his laptop and was checking CCTV footage of Mamori's apartment. He played it back. There were 10 men in total. They looked like they were all in their twenty's. Some looked like students. Two stayed to guard at the entrance, the others went into the room beside Mamori's. One went to 'fetch' her.
Hiruma prayed that Cerberus was with her and would do his job. He had made Cerberus stay at Mamori's place to protect her when he wasn't around. But he knew that even his dog wouldn't be able to take on ten armed men at once. He watched as one of the thugs knocked at her door. She opened up after 20 seconds (way longer than usual, perhaps she had sensed that something was up), Cerberus was beside her and was snarling at the uninvited guest. The thug looked like he was telling her something and ushered that she follow him. She looked hesitant but followed the guy to into the room next to hers. He checked the time. That was 15 minutes ago. 'Fuck!' A gazillion things could have happened in 15 minutes and the possibilities popped up in his mind like knives at his throat.
The guy told her that his girlfriend was sick with a fever and he didn't know how to take care of her so Mamori had followed inside. She didn't know why but she had a bad feeling about it. She couldn't ignore someone sick though. She was wide-eyed when she saw eight other men inside and they were grinning at her eerily.
The instant the guy who led Mamori into the room tried to grab her, Cerberus sank his fangs on his leg. Someone took the opportunity and was about to hit Cerberus with a baseball bat but Mamori shielded their beloved pet (/team mate) so the guy was taken aback.
"Woman, tell your damned dog to stop or we will be violent to the both of you!" The leader of the gang had said. Their friend had yelped in pain as Cerberus further deepened his fangs till blood stained the guy's leg. The guy had rummaged his pocket and brought out a knife ready. Their companions brought about their bats; ready to hit the poor dog.
Mamori panicked. They were serious about being violent. The guy looked like he would stab Cerberus. "Stop! I'll do as you say. Don't hurt him." She calmed Cerberus and made him let go. The guy who was bitten left to get it treated. Meanwhile, they made Mamori put Cerberus into a cage.
"Can we talk to her? We want to make sure she's fine," Yamato asked the gang representative. Surely Hiruma is already looking for a way out of this. They have to back him up. The gang called their boss and he seemed to have agreed.
"Fine. Use this. Make it quick," he set his phone to loudspeaker before handing it to Yamato. Yamato talked to the leader to buy as much time as he could before finally talking to their manager.
"Hello, Anezaki-san?"
"Yamato-kun! Is everyone alright?" She sounded worried. Yamato sweat-dropped. Why is she still worrying about them when she was the one in the most danger?
"Yeah. But most importantly, Anezaki-san are you unharmed?"
"I'm alright," she sounded hesitant.
"Did they do anything to you?" He didn't dare to specify anything. Surely the phone was on speaker.
"Uh, no. I'm fine. Is Hiruma-kun there?"
"Not yet. He and Agon are still on their way."
"Enough chitchat!" the gang leader bellowed on the other end. "You know now that she's safe and sound. Are you the one in charge? Call you're Captain right now. I'm tired of waiting. Who knows what will happen to this manager of yours?"
Yamato was getting irritated but he had no choice but to follow. Everyone was growing restless.
Akaba tried calming everyone with his guitar which only made them direct their frustration at him.
Yamato looked at Banba and he nodded so he dialled Hiruma's number. "Hiruma-san, their leader wants to talk to you."
"Sure. Set your phone in loud speaker."
"Hiruma Youichi right?" the leader of the gang mockingly said via his subordinate's phone. Yamato stopped himself from talking. They could have just directly dialled Hiruma's number from their end. It seems they intended to make everyone listen.
"What do you want?"
"Choose right now. Forfeit or get disqualified?" the leader said in an amused voice.
"Kekeke." Hiruma's eerie laughter resonated. "Fucking Manager why won't you tell them what you think I'd do." He was sure that she's listening.
"Ah, poor woman. He's making you choose. Onna (woman) which will it be?" the leader of the gang leered at her.
Mamori looked around. She knew Hiruma was up to something. Cerberus had bought them some time. The thugs had a hard time trying to get close to her because of him.
"Hiruma-kun and everyone else will not forfeit no matter what. This game is very important to us. Right, Hiruma-kun?" She knew Hiruma would never surrender without fighting first.
"Yeah," Hiruma replied.
"Oh is that so? Then you choose getting disqualified. Do you know what that means?" all the gang members looked at Mamori like she was naked. "It meant we can hurt this manager of yours," the gang leader laughed. "We will also make sure your first string players will get serious injury so you'll be out of this tournament."
"Why are you doing this?" she asked instead of answering. She knew she had to buy more time.
"I wouldn't let you get into my brother's dreams. You damned lucky powerhouse schools get all the glory. It's only right that you perform well since you have all the top class equipment and all the budget. My brother's team on the other hand survive on meagre budget and low class equipment." Mamori and the team listened as the gang leader ranted for several minutes about his brother's team (which will be their next opponent).
"Wouldn't you be undermining their efforts by doing something like this?" Mamori asked when the gang leader finally stopped.
"That's none of your business. You wouldn't understand," the gang leader said wistfully. "Send them those photos," he instructed one of his underlings.
Mamori was alarmed. "Hiruma-kun, minna (everyone), please stay calm whatever you see," she said in determined voice. She had goose bumps as everyone in the team received and opened their email. She could almost feel their agitation rising. She took a deep breath, nervously waiting of that one person's reaction. Of all people, she didn't want him to see that.
A/N: Yeah, yeah I know. Some of you would react to that Hiruma prayed thingy. Lol. Being the devil incarnate of a captain doesn't mean he doesn't pray. He will when it comes to Mamori. That's what you call love. Lol. Most people don't even know that they pray for their loved ones' wellbeing but they do.