Number Five: It's Kind of Crazy, But It's Nice
"Damn…" Hiruma sighed, slamming his coke can onto the table. "Where is Moto!"
Hiruma, in his mind's eye, had known that this would happen. He had called Moto's bluff, and now all Moto could do was quit…
Actually, Kurita hadn't shown up, and Mamori was still at a meeting for the Disciplinary Committee. So Moto wasn't even that late. Sena was testing camera batteries with a plug-in charger by the west wall, making sure that they would be operational for the next game. Hiruma ignored him, choosing to mutter to himself.
Sena unlatched his fifteenth battery before frowning. "Do you think that… Mamori and Moto… are…? You would know, you know everything there is to know about everyone…"
Hiruma looked up, startled. He really hadn't expected that reaction from Sena. Earlier he was just pushing Sena's buttons for fun, but now it seemed that Sena was serious.
Hiruma unruffled the morning paper, beginning to read the Sports section. "Don't worry about it, Sena. I was just kidding earlier. Those two are NOT together, trust me."
Sena smiled, and went back to checking batteries. However, he seemed more enthusiastic than before. Hiruma glanced over the newspaper and briefly contemplated taking out his black book. He thought better of it and did nothing.
Mamori slammed the door open, followed by Kurita, and then Moto, who looked agitated.
"Someone stole a sink from the girl's bathroom!" Mamori yelled randomly. "I mean, seriously! Why would anyone WANT a sink!"
Hiruma grinned from behind the cover of his newspaper and propped his legs up against the table.
Kurita had brought boxes of donuts and placed them on the table. "I stopped by the donut shop on the way here…" He smiled as he opened up a package. "I didn't know what everyone liked, so I just got a box of everything…"
"I have to tell you guys something," Moto cried out amidst the noise that accompanied the frantic donut snatching. Everybody stopped what they were doing and froze. Hiruma blinked, and folded up the newspaper.
"Okay, what?" he asked point-blank.
"I'm gonna have to quit the football team," Moto announced, clenching his fists to try and dispel his sadness.
Kurita dropped his donuts on the floor and began to sob. "W-Why?"
"There's a medical reason…" Moto stammered out, looking away from everyone's knowing glances.
Mamori covered her mouth and her eyes widened. "It's not serious, is it?"
"If it wasn't serious, he wouldn't be quitting, dammit," Hiruma barked at Mamori before turning to the rest of them. "Severe neck injuries, actually. He told me yesterday."
"I lied about that," Moto admitted blankly. Hiruma's frown grew more pronounced, but Sena noticed a faint smile playing across his face.
"So what is it, then?" Hiruma asked. "That brace had to have been for something."
"It is," Moto nodded. "I –"
"Shoulders?" Hiruma offered.
"No…" Moto answered. "It's not really a brace, actually –"
Hiruma was clearly enjoying himself. Sena sighed. If Hiruma just let Moto spit it out, maybe they wouldn't have to deal with the suspense.
Kurita sniffled.
"Spine?"
"Will you let me finish? It's for -!"
"You're confusing," Hiruma told Moto. "Why aren't you telling me?"
"I'm trying!" Moto blurted out. His voice was growing higher. Mamori inhaled slowly.
"No…" she whispered before looking to the floor. "No, no, this can't be true…"
"Are you delusional?" Hiruma wondered aloud. "That would explain the pointless brace on your back…"
"It's not a brace, it isn't pointless, and I'm not delusional!" Moto yelled back at Hiruma. His voice was now bordering on girlishly high. Moto unbuttoned a few buttons on his shirt. Hiruma blinked. Now he was actually confused.
"Since you won't let me tell you, I guess I'll just have to show you…" Moto sighed, turning a shade of red. He unbuttoned one more button before pulling his shirt open to reveal a bra.
"I'M A WOMAN, YOU DAMN IDIOT!" she yelled in her normal voice.
Mamori stepped backward. "Kiyoko!"
"Kiyoko!" Sena repeated, looking at Mamori confusedly. Kurita looked away, embarrassed.
Hiruma blinked before he felt a drop of blood run down his nose.
"I'll be right back!" he yelled before running into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him. Actually, Hiruma's words were extremely slurred together and he looked shocked and flustered. (No one could blame him, for once.) Mamori watched the bathroom door slam before turning back to Kiyoko, who had turned to face the front door and appeared to be buttoning her shirt back up.
"I can't believe I just flashed you guys…" Kiyoko murmured in an airy, embarrassed tone before wheeling around on her heel. "Sorry about that. HE wasn't going to let me say a word…"
Kiyoko cleared her throat. Kurita turned around, looking at the ceiling. Sena was interested in what Kiyoko had to say. Mamori was going into calm, negotiator mode.
"Kiyoko," Mamori began, "why did you do this…?"
Kiyoko inhaled slowly. "I have to calm down…" Kiyoko collected herself, and Sena blinked. She had gone from hysterics to being her usual, calm self in no less than a few seconds. Kiyoko was still red from her little escapade, though.
It was probably a good thing that Mamori knew Kiyoko, otherwise Mamori would have gotten Kiyoko in serious trouble with the Disciplinary Committee for that, Sena reasoned.
"I have three older brothers," Kiyoko explained, showing the others three fingers on her right hand. "They all played football in high school… the oldest, Kage, played at Zokugaku. The middle brother, Enmaru, played at Zokugaku for a year before we moved and he ended up at Shinryugi. After he finished high school, we moved again and the youngest brother, Ako, played at Ojo. There's a four-year gap between him and me, so I was only in eighth grade when he finished school. Our family moved here when I was in ninth grade… we're army brats."
"Oh, okay," Kurita smiled. He had gotten over the shock of it all.
"But why did you disguise yourself as a guy to -?" Sena began to ask. He hadn't gotten over the shock of it all. And, judging by the running water from the faucet in the bathroom, Hiruma hadn't, either.
Or maybe Hiruma was just a pervert. Yeah, maybe…
"I'm getting there," Kiyoko assured him. "Don't worry. Since all my brothers played football, I wanted to play just like they did… but there's no girls' team. There probably won't be – ever. So I talked it over with my family, and we decided that this might be the best way… I realize now that it wasn't even worth it."
Kiyoko bowed to the three of them. "It was a really bad idea. I'm sorry… gomen nasai…"
Kiyoko looked up, and Sena saw that a tear was catching in her eyelashes. She whipped around quickly, rubbing it away from her eyes. Mamori walked over to Kiyoko and put a hand on her shoulder.
A thought struck Sena.
"So… what was that brace that Hiruma was talking about?" Sena asked. Kiyoko furrowed her brow before an angry scowl formed on her face. She waved Mamori's hand away as she spoke.
"I'll put it this way…" Kiyoko said, her voice shaking and her face turned a delicate shade of pink. "He either knew I was a girl the entire time or he's a complete idiot."
Sena didn't understand, but Mamori did. She shuttered before sighing.
"I think it was the latter," Mamori murmured before the bathroom door slammed open. Hiruma did NOT look happy, that was for sure.
"Alright," Hiruma yelled angrily, "what the hell was THAT for, you crazy bitch!"
Kiyoko took a deep breath again, recollecting her calm. "You, in your own deluded cockiness, wouldn't listen to a word I said, so I figured the only way to get you to realize it was to show you…" Kiyoko shot a withering glance at Hiruma. "I'm not happy about it either. Do I have to retell my entire story, or, as I suspect, were you listening in on the whole thing and just left the water running to fool me?"
Hiruma glared at Kiyoko. "You're pretty good for a snot-nosed freshman." Hiruma grabbed the paper off the table and opened it up again, reading. "And… by the way… it WAS the former, but I had to prove a point… I'm not happy about it either."
Kiyoko turned a furious shade of red and looked ready to explode before she bit her lip and regained her composure.
"I suppose this is goodbye…" Kiyoko said. "And I just want you guys to know that… well… I really did want to play. And I did enjoy it. But this was all a huge mistake…"
Kiyoko walked out of the team building and closed the door behind her. Mamori's shoulders sank downward, and she looked at the ground.
"Now we need a receiver again," Kurita frowned.
"Yes, since our original receiver was a psychotic cross-dresser," Hiruma blithely observed, flipping to another page of the paper. "Isn't she in Tea Ceremony, too…?"
Mamori narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to let you-!"
"Let me what?" Hiruma interrupted with a smile. "I was just asking. That explains why she was almost perpetually late. She had two clubs to attend to… and then there were the health exams…"
Kurita picked up a donut and began to eat it. "Hey, I think I've seen her brother play… at Ojo, I mean. Her family name is Yasukah, right? They're all pretty good at football."
"Kiyoko Yasukah, Homeroom 1-3, Tea Ceremony, Second Grand Mistress, usually reserved and calm, army brat, got suspended and nearly expelled in ninth grade for an outburst involving a flamethrower…" Hiruma read out of his black book. He began to scribble something in it. "Once disguised herself as a man to join the football team to continue family legacy…"
"You better not go after her!" Mamori cried. Sena blinked.
"Oh, Kiyoko," Sena remembered something. "Yeah, she almost destroyed the coke machine the other day. She was trying to get a soda out of it…"
Hiruma glimpsed at Sena with a knowing grin. Sena took a frightened step backward.
"Oh, I know all about that," Hiruma nodded cryptically, closing his black book.
A/N: Since nobody berated me about my whole Green Day bashing thing, I'm kind of relieved. People are more concerned with the story. That's good to know. I just really wanted to vent that on someone who hadn't heard it a billion times (sorry, Wanda, and I apologize for the Cribs incident as well…).
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Eyeshield 21. Woo.