File Two: Curious and Curiouser
The Deimon Devil Bats were hard at work practicing for the big game.
"Hey, Hiruma!" Musashi called out.
The quarterback was in in the middle of throwing a long pass to Monta.
He glanced over his shoulder. "What is it, old man?"
Musashi's eyebrow twitched slightly. While he knew it was just a nickname, it did bother him just a little. He was a high school student… not an old man.
"What were you doing last night in that alleyway? I saw you on my way home. I thought you would have been home before then..."
Hiruma walked over to the side benches and picked up his water bottle. "Just makin' a phone call."
Musashi raised an eyebrow. "With the manager?"
"Look here, old man! Who I call or when I call is none of your business! Just get back to practice. We need to get a whole lot better before the game!"
Musashi shrugged. He was just curious and a little concerned. After all, he had been a little out of touch with Hiruma after leaving the team for a year. Maybe he shouldn't have asked about the phone call, but he couldn't help it. Hiruma had a strange expression on his face when he was making the call. It wasn't a normal expression that Hiruma he knew would have. Musashi shook his head. Maybe it was his imagination? Well, he had no time to dwell on that thought. Like Hiruma said, he needed to get back to practice.
After practice, Musashi decided to do something reckless (well, reckless for him…). He was going to stay at the clubhouse and spy on Hiruma. Deep down, he felt guilty about spying on his friend, but again, couldn't help it. He was concerned about his friend's odd behavior. There was no way that Hiruma would ever tell him, so it was up to him to find out himself.
"Hey, old man."
He nearly jumped when he heard Hiruma's voice coming out of the clubhouse. Did he already know that he was here?! (Then again… this was Hiruma he was trying to spy on.)
"I finished typing up a new list of plays. You better look over them and start doing your job."
Musashi sighed in relief. Hiruma was just talking with Doburoku -sensei. He hadn't been found out. Yet…
"Grrrrrrr."
Musashi tensed and glanced down at his feet, though he already knew what he would find.
Sure enough, Cerberus was growling up at him. He slowly squatted down beside the dog and spoke softly. "Hey there, Cerberus. Please be quiet for me..."
"Grrrrrrr." The ugly dog just growled louder.
Musashi sighed. This was going to be an interesting time.
"Whoa! Musashi, are you okay?"
"Dude! What happened to you?"
"Musashi-san! Are you all right?"
Musashi had heard those sorts of comments all day. He wasn't sure how he was going to face Hiruma after all this. Yesterday had been terrible (and that was an understatement). He had tried to follow Hiruma, but things went from bad to worse.
First, Cerberus had given him a good bite and had chased him around for a good bit. There was no running from that dog… He really understood why Sena wasn't too fond of training with Cerberus.
Second, he had finally managed to follow Hiruma again only to bump into the middle of a gang fight that he was dragged into. This was the sort of thing that should happen to the Ha-Ha brothers, not him!
Third, his truck broke down, and the man at the shop was drunk and gave him a few good punches before finally sobering up and fixing up the truck. That had been no fun.
Yeah, following Hiruma really hadn't been a good idea. In the back of Musashi's head, he knew Hiruma probably figured out that he had been trying to follow him. He sighed then winced. This was going to a very interesting day. Definitely more interesting than the day before… At least the teachers were nice enough not to make any comments.
"Hey, old man."
Musashi winced again when he heard Hiruma's voice. He knew he was in for it now. Although he had been good friends with Hiruma since middle school, he still was a little wary of Hiruma's temper.
"Hi..."
Musashi turned around, trying his best to keep his black eye out of Hiruma's view.
"I heard from Kurita that you got into a fight last night."
Musashi pursed his lips. "Yeah... something like that."
"Well, don't take it too hard on yourself. We wouldn't want you to injure yourself more and not be in the game."
Though, he could sense from Hiruma's voice that he already knew what had really happened, but at least the quarterback wasn't angry. That was one good thing.
Hiruma smirked, sending a slight shiver down Musashi's back. "You know, if you just give Cerberus some beef jerky he won't bother you."
With that said, he snapped a bubble with his teeth and sauntered off.
Musashi smiled slightly. You never really knew how Hiruma was going to react even if you knew him for a long time. He felt very relieved that Hiruma hadn't chewed him out, but then it kinda worried him. Normally, Hiruma would chew you out if you tried to spy on him. Maybe it was just him. After practice, he'd ask Kurita and Mamori if they noticed anything strange about Hiruma.