Sena expects that Toda will come for a payback, but contrary to Sena's expectation, Toda actually avoids her at school. Sobering up after his uncharacteristic rage, he realized how stupid his actions are. Toda might be a bully but he is not a delinquent, he is not strong enough that he can pick on anyone, instead he picks on those who are way weaker than him. He is a bully yet he never uses violence, he always holds himself back not for the sake of his victim, but for his own. As long as there's no violence involved, the teachers can shrug it off as childs playing around with his friend. So set a rule for himself, which is no violence. For the long time he's been a bully he never broke that rule until last week.

He doesn't know why he broke that rule last week, it might be caused by his lustful desire towards Karin, it might be caused by his anger towards Sena or it might be both. The cause doesn't really matter for Toda right now, what's done is done and he can't change what's already happened. Fortunately for Toda none of his strikes or tackle ever landed on Sena, it angered Toda that he couldn't hit her at the time, but he's glad none of his punches hit her. That way there's no evidence he can use against him.

While there's no evidence of his deed, he's still on alert since there's a witness on the scene which is Sena and Karin. He already makes sure to tell his goons not to say a word cause it will affect them too.

Toda is torn between the option of telling Sena to shut her mouth or just avoiding her altogether. If he threatens Sena not to speak a word he's afraid she'll do the opposite, he took the rebel acts from last time in consideration for what her reaction would be if he threatened her. Apologizing to her is also out of question, his pride won't let her say sorry for those who he deemed are lesser than him. So out of all options he decided to avoid them altogether to make the heat die down naturally.

For the most part it works, Sena is too timid to tell on others so does Karin. All they wanted was for Toda not to bother them anymore. If things work out as he wants it to be, all of them will forget each other and go their own way. But like all things in life if you expect things to go the way you want it to be, they won't.

After mamori discovered the bruises on Sena's body, she immediately told Sena's parents about it too. Enraged by the state of their daughter's body, they threaten the school that they'll involve law enforcement if they take no action. Usually school doesn't take bullying matter seriously even if you threaten to press charges since the law more often than not favors the school,but it's different if you have solid evidence on your hand. In Sena's parent case, Sena's bruises is solid enough evidence to shake up the school into taking action.

Sena tried to convince her parents not to make a bigger fuss, since most of the bruises aren't from bullying. But she can't tell them they were caused by her training, if she did they would definitely forbid her training. She doesn't want her parents to do a witch hunt for her, but she also doesn't want them to ban her from training. Sena already tried to convince them that they don't have to worry and her bruise is not from violence but from tripping, yet they rather believe in mamori's rhetoric instead of Sena.

Finding someone to blame isn't hard since Toda has always been the usual suspect when it comes to bullying Sena which is Toda. Whether it is bad luck or karma, both school and Sena's parents blame Toda for inflicting those bruises on Sena. Toda expect the worst case scenario where Sena snitch on him and how to deal with it, all he need to do is play it cool, as long as there's no evidence he still got 80% chance of survival. Yet he never expect Sena to have bruises all over her body, his chance goes from 80% to 20%.

'Goddamnit that bitch how come she has bruises all over her body, i don't even touch her back then'

Toda frustration make make sense since he's sure none of his punch hit her, he's assuming that Sena is fabricating those bruises to trap Toda

'Fucking bitch she's acting all timid all these years it turns out she's a fucking snake!'

Even all of his friends washes their hands by cooperatively selling him out as the offender. That's what Toda's got for having a friendship based on convenience rather than trust. He's not even surprised by his friend's betrayal, he's more surprised by Sena's ingenuity to trap him.

Being cornered with his back against the wall he's not planning to go down without a fight. At first he wanted to admit that he's indeed trying to attack Sena back then, but none of his attacks landed on Sena. After thinking long and thoroughly he decided not to do it, by saying that he attacked Sena it's the same with admitting he's guilty, and in this case they'll believe Sena more than him. In the end the plan he goes with is just denying the accusation while acting ignorance to Sena's bruises.

'It's not like i'm the one who did it'

The plan doesn't increase his chance of proving his innocence, but at least it will not dig a deeper grave to his circumstance. After all they wouldn't be able to prove if those bruises were inflicted by Toda, cause they weren't.

He already told his parents that he is innocent, and all of this is a set up, But his parents don't care and told him to deal with it himself. With no support to back him up, he's fighting one against many kinds of battle. He knew that the school will punish him, so he'll put his effort to at least decrease the punishm he'll be receiving.

'Damn it why does it have to happen on my 3rd year'

Toda's grades are above average so he can attend any high school he wanted to attend as long as he took the entrance exam, but he's afraid this incident might make it hard for him to get a better overall evaluation.

Today the Principal summoned him. In the room he can see Sena, her parents, Principal and Counselor. He's not yet ready to face all of them, but he has no choice so all he can do is stick to his plan. He keeps on denying the accusation that he's the one who's inflicted the bruises on Sena, he takes one step further by daring Sena to prove it that the bruises are from him.

Sena keeps her silent. caused by both her guilt and her timidness she can't say a word against Toda. She can't prove that her bruises were inflicted by Toda, because they were inflicted by herself. And she can't speak up against Toda because it's not in her nature to raise her voice against him. Karin's case is an oddity since she's not even brave enough to tell someone who sits on her class seat to move.

The situation inside the Principal office is chaotic with Sena's parents yelling at Toda, Toda's outright denying any accusation they made and the both Counselor and Principal trying to defuse the situation. Sena being quiet doesn't help to defuse the situation either, Toda assumed she keeps her silence because she can't deny whatever Toda is saying, her parents thought it was just Sena being Sena. With how it goes Toda will get punished by the school system, but with nothing to prove that he's the one who inflict the bruises on Sena nothing permanent will stay on his record.

"See…. the reason she keeps on being quiet because she can't prove i'm the one who did it to her" Toda adding more reason for his rhetoric

"YOU DARE SAYING THAT AFTER HARMING MY DAUGHTER!" enraged by Toda's attitude mihae kobayakawa yells at Toda

"Well all i'm saying is you need to have prove that i'm the one who did it"

'Great if it goes on like this, i'll get away with a slap on the wrist'

Contrary to Toda's expectation he forgot there's another critical variable which can diminish his 20% chance of survival to 0%. A blonde girl walks into the room after being summoned by the Principal.

After Sena told Karin on how Sena's parents misinterpreted the cause of the bruises, Karin mustered all of her courage to ask the Principal to act as a witness. While stuttering with her words she conveys that she's there at the time when Sena is being persecuted by Toda. Of course it's a lie, but it's not far from the truth, the fact still remains Toda and his goons tried to attack Sena.

Surprised by the unexpected variable Toda almost lost his cool, he keeps on pleading his innocence knowing that Karin doesn't have any proof of being a witness.

Not only he denied ever trying to attack Sena, he also denied ever seeing Karin before. He thought that she can't prove her credibility as a witness, yet his assumption is wrong.

"I don't even know who she is! I told you this is all a set up!" Toda is trying to gain an upper hand on his argument by using Karin lack of evidence.

'This ends up better than i expected, i might be able to get away scot-free if it goes on like this' being confident that he has the upperhand he adds more reasoning to his argument

"I mean why are you even there in the first place? It's apparent that you're lying!" without Toda realized this question that he raised would be his doom

"Uhm…. i-i was there to compensate for Toda's phone i accidentally damage"

'OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT!' Toda realized he make a grave mistake when he dares Karin on why she was there

"I-if you d-don't believe me you can check Toda's phone"

After Karin said her proof is Toda's phone, the Counselor immediately asks Toda to show them his phone. Taken aback by the sudden turn of events, Toda is reluctant to bring out his phone.

Coincidentally his phone is in his shirt pocket, which makes the Counselor grab it without waiting for Toda's approval. And as Karin said, the phone has minor crack on the keyboard and the screen. Toda can easily bullshit his way by saying the damage on his phone is done a long time ago, but his reluctance to show his phone is what convinces the Principal that Karin is telling the truth.

Knowing that he doesn't have any way out or any way for him to lessen his punishment, he resigned to his fate. Once one of his lies is proven to be a lie, they won't believe any word coming out of his mouth. Even though he's not the one who inflicted those bruises on Sena, it's too late for him to say anything to make them believe him.

Looking at the past where the Principal ignored Sena's parent's plea for them to take an action toward their daughter's bullying case, they need to give Toda a harsh punishment that will satisfy Sena's parents if not they are most likely gonna blow up the story ending up harming the school reputation. With Sena's parent enmity in mind the Principal almost decided to expelled Toda from the school, but thanks to Sena's plea toward his parent and the school board not to give Toda a harsh punishment, the Principal ends up giving Toda a one week suspension and a condition not to get anywhere near Sena. The condition means that he also can't go to the same highschool Sena's attending in the future. Toda agreed to the condition since he's not even planning to attend deimon, and the suspension is a much better alternative to with Toda out of the picture, it signifies the start of Sena peaceful life as a middle schooler.

3 days have passed since the event that took place in the Principal office, not much has changed since then for Sena. She still trains as usual but she avoids drilling and training risky techniques that might add more bruises on her body, she doesn't want any misunderstanding to happen ever again. Sena's parents and mamori worry about her like they always do, but now mamori always checks on her body to make sure there are no wounds or bruises on Sena's body.

Sena's school life has been peaceful, since there is no one to bother her and the school staff are more vigilant towards anyone who might bully her. Toda and his goons certainly won't ever bother her again, they have enough heat on them and their circle splits apart after they snitch on Toda. On the downside every students are wary of her too, they don't want any trouble especially in their last year so they increase their distance from Sena, but on the other hand it's not like Sena interact with any of them aside from formalities in the first place and the shy Sena probably won't be able to befriend any of them in less than 3 months after all. Sena doesn't have to make more friends since she already has one.

Sena and Karin might not have noticed it, but something changed between the two of them. Most of their interactions no longer feel awkward, even the silence they had is not awkward silent but the comfortable one. It might be caused by Karin's display of bravery back in the Principal office, with her shaking voice and her eyes almost leaking a tear, she managed to utter her courage for Sena's sake. After witnessing it unconsciously Sena lower her guard around Karin, she no longer questions Karin's motives to hang around her and just let herself enjoy her company. Responding to Sena's unconscious gesture Karin also went along and dropped all of her guard arounds Sena. Just like now Sena actually doesn't hesitate to ask Karin to help Sena's on her training.

After saving most of her allowance, Sena is finally able to buy a proper gridiron football, now she can practice on how to handle the ball and how to receive one. To get a ball a runner needs to have a quarterback passing a ball to them, that's why Sena ask Karin to help her pass a ball to her while she's running. The task Sena asks Karin is just a simple hand-off not a throw, Sena will run to Karin then Karin going to hand over the ball to Sena, it might be hard to do but not as hard as throwing a ball.

Karin removes the glasses from her face before she takes the ball, the glasses on her face aren't prescription glasses after all, they're only there to help her avoid any eye contact. Sena knew about it of course, Karin's already told her about it after all. Sena already told her she can take it off whenever she's around Sena, Sena thought it's a shame since Karin has a pretty face and her glasses are made so you can't clearly see her eyes. Karin doesn't really need to wear her glasses around Sena anymore, but she always forgot to take it off because it's a habit for Karin to wear her glasses wherever she goes. She needs more time to get used to not wearing her glasses.

With her glasses no longer on her face, the ball on her hands, she signals Sena by ending the hut calls. With her back facing toward Sena, she needs to turn her body to the side just in time to hand over the ball to Sena. Sena's position is around 4-5 yard away from Karin, so Karin needs to turn her body in less than a second considering Sena's speed. At first Sena told Karin to pass the ball the easy way without needing her to act like a quarterback, but Karin wanted to help Sena properly, hence why her back is facing toward Sena.

Hearing the end signal for her to run, she dashed like a bullet. In less than a second she managed to position herself beside Karin, and Karin responds by handing over the ball to Sena while she runs. The wind Karin's felt after Sena ran ahead of her is enough to flutter her braided hair. Her hands brushed against Sena's arm slightly, in the millisecond of time her hands touching Sena's arm she can feel the impact from Sena's speed.

With Karin successfully handing over the ball to Sena while she runs, thus indicating their first successful handoff. Both girls are currently thinking about the same thing, they thought it would be harder to execute the handoff, yet they manage to nail their first handoff. Karin has done her own research on how to do a handoff since she wanted to be of help on Sena's training, but she never done it before, she expects herself to make a mistake or two before she finally does a successful handoff. Sena already resigned herself to the anomaly on why it feels natural for her to take the ball from Karin, but the way Karin handoff the ball is also smooth enough that Sena doesn't need to decrease or adjust her speed to do it.

"Uhm Sena let's do it again" Karin said to Sena without using a formal suffix to address her. It was Sena's idea to drop the suffix, and Karin doesn't have any problem dropping the suffix, in fact she's happy about it because it's been so long since she has a friend who're close enough with her where she doesn't have to use a formal suffix to address them.

'It must be a fluke' there is still doubt within her questioning how smooth the handoff is

Agreeing with Karin, Sena positions herself again getting ready to dash once Karin gives her the signal to run.

"Hut hut hut!"

Instantly after Karin finished her calls, Sena dash without hesitation. Answering to dena dash, Karin hands over the ball to Sena when Sena reaches her. Once again they manage to execute a successful handoff. After that they tried again and again with no failure on their handoff, then Karin realized her first attempt to do a handoff wasn't a fluke. She has no doubt that Sena would be able to take the ball, but Karin never expected she would be able to synchronize her body to Sena's speed.

After several successful handoffs, Karin asks Sena that she also wanted to help her train on how to catch the ball. While Sena wanted to be a runner, she also needed to learn how to receive a simple throw for the sake of increasing the amount of possible plays for her future team. Karin doesn't know how to throw a ball, even after watching dozens of throws she knew that throwing a ball requires thousands of hours of practice to nail it, nonetheless she wanted to try doing it and there's no harm in trying.

Standing 20 yards away from Karin Sena positioned her hand in order to catch the ball. After measuring the distance, Karin threw the ball to Sena. The ball flew and landed perfectly on Sena, Sena didn't have to extend his arm since the ball landed smoothly on her chess. All she needed to do is press the ball to her chest with her arms to catch it.

'It was too smooth' Sena thought after receiving the ball from Karin

The elevation, the ball rotation, the speed, almost every aspect of the throw is way too smooth, it's so catchable a newbie would probably be able to catch Karin's throw with zero to no problem.

'Is it actually easier than i thought?' Karin also has the same doubt on how smooth the throw was

The curiosity makes Sena throw her ball toward Karin, as Sena expected the results are not as smooth as Karin's throw. Karin needs to adjust her position and her posture to catch Sena's throw, the speed and and the ball's angle is less than ideal for Karin to barely catch it without falling. Seeing Karin's falling figure Sena quickly came to Karin making sure she's okay.

"I'm sorry Karin…. Are you hurt anywhere?" Sena said, extending her hand, while inspecting Karin's body to make sure she's not hurt. Karin is wearing the same outfit as Sena, long sleeve jersey and a long jogger, because the outfit are the types that conceal the most part of their skin Sena finds it hard to discern any wound or bruises on Karin's body.

"I'm alright…. Though catching a ball is harder than it looks" Karin said, holding the hand extended to lift her up.

"It's not like my throw makes it any easier for you to catch it…. On the opposite you throw is…. How do I put it…. It's so catchable" Sena said while dusting the dirt on Karin's jersey

"Really? Do you want me to do it again?" Karin's doubts on her throwing capability almost vanished after Sena complimented her. Karin's desire to help Sena on her training is genuine, as long as she's not getting in the way of Sena's training, she doesn't mind helping Sena as much as she possibly could.

"Sure let's!" While running is her main weapon, she also wanted to hone her catching skills. she doesn't need to be the best at catching, she just doesn't want to mess up catching a simple throw.

So they continue the throwing and catching session. The session goes smoothly, with Sena catching Karin's ultra smooth throw. Every single one of Karin's passes always land perfectly on Sena, she doesn't have to put an effort to catch the ball since the throw is easy enough for her to catch it with one hand. After a dozen successful throws, Sena approaches Karin, with a troubled look on her face.

"Ano Karin…. No offense but I don't think doing this would improve my catching skill….."

"Yeah…. I guess so"

The problem with Karin's throws is it is way to catchable, even a toddler can catch them. Sena doesn't have to chase the ball or change her posture in order to catch Karin's throws, while it is good she's able to catch Karin's throws she barely put any work on catching it, there's not even a sweat on her. On the opposite the one doing most of the work is Karin, her shoulder is starting to hurt from throwing too much. Both Sena and Karin already noticed this problem, but it took Sena a dozen of throws later to tell Karin since she doesn't want to upset Karin.

'Even the handoff is harder to do than catching Karin's throw' Sena thought

"Well how about we mixed it up?"

"Mixed it up?"

"Yeah instead of you standing still, how about you catch the ball while you run, if it is still too easy let's have you run on a determined route while you catch it"

"Well that sounds quite difficult, let's do it!" After the mundane throw and catch session she has with Karin, she's more than motivated to finally do something that sounds like proper training.

Sena stands 4 yards beside Karin, waiting for Karin to give the signal on when she needs to run.

"I'll throw the ball to the same spot where you stand earlier"

"At my usual speed?"

"Yeah, we'll adjust if it doesn't work"

Sena quickly takes her usual running stance which she usually uses to dash at her top speed.

"Ready? Set hut hut!"

Running with all her might, while simultaneously glancing to her back is quite hard for Sena, since she doesn't want to add more bruises to her body she slowed down on purpose. Karin calculates Sena's speed and the ball speed to make sure the ball landed perfectly when Sena arrives at the spot, but due to Sena decrease of speed the ball arrives earlier than Sena. Sena adds more torque to her leg, so he can make it in time to catch the ball. Sena realized she won't be able to make it in time to position herself on the spot where the ball will land, so she jumps in order to catch it before it lands. Sena was barely able to catch the ball mid air, focusing her hands to catch the ball she forgot to adjust her for her landing. Sena realized way too late to adjust her leg position, she ended up falling to her side when she landed. Thankfully Sena already practiced how to roll with the fall (ukemi) in her bedroom, she decided to practice ukemi because of how much she ends up falling when she trains her footwork drill. While the landing is far from smooth, she's still able to spare herself from any injury. Sena immediately stands up while Karin approaches her.

"I'm sorry Sena, i guess i throw the ball too soon…." Karin said apologetically

"No, it's my fault for reducing my speed"

'Yeah it's totally my fault, if not for Karin easy to catch throw i probably won't be able to catch them mid air'

"It looks like i have to adjust my timing"

"No you don't have to, the timing is already perfect as is. I'm the one who need to adjust my run to the timing of your throw"

After all, if Karin makes it any easier for me I can't hardly call it a training. Yeah this feeling of struggling to accomplish one's goal, finally it feels like i'm training for real'

"So I just need to throw the ball just like that without any change?"

"Yes i would prefer if you don't make it any easier for me"

"Got it! Let's do it again" Karin said enthusiastically

"Let's!" Sena responded to Karin enthusiasm with her own

an:toda's part are supposed to be longer but i ended up skimming through it, i just want to get to the fun part as soon as possible.

mayachen : thx for the input. i think that karin is underutilized in the manga, there's no harm in including her as an important element in my fic. though there are chances of typo, it was most likely me being an esl and doesn't know how to wrote the word correctly lmao.