Chapter Fifty Seven: Spit The Seed

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: What A Game! (from Ragtime)

Theme 59: Eat

It wasn't that never got time to herself any more, it was just that she never got time to run the errands necessary to having a home up to her expectant level of cleanliness and food stock. Hiruma didn't seem to understand that not having clean clothes or being forced to eat instant noodles was not an acceptable way to live for any sort of expanded period of time. Thus with classes ending, summer break starting, and training camp getting into full swing Mamori decided it was high time she said something. So she seized her opportunity.

"I'm not coming in on two a days this week." She was not asking a question, requesting permission, or making casual conversation. She was telling him flat out no exceptions she wasn't going to be there. Quite the feat for her, considering that meant she was going to be missing three- count them three- days of practice. It was unheard of for her to miss a single day unless she was off doing other errands for the team.

Hiruma shrugged, popping his gum. Scanning over a paper he placed it in a pile on the other side of the table before looking over another sheet. "Okay fine."

"For one thing, " The manager barreled forward. "I need to go grocery shopping. I also need to get a jump start on my summer reading if you're still planning the cross country training regiment you were talking about at the end of term."

He gave her one of his patronizing looks. "I already said fine."

"For another there isn't enough time for me to-" She startled from her speech. "Wait. What?"

"I said fine."

This had to be some kind of trick. "Are you sure?"

He gave her a look that said if she made him say it again it wasn't going to be fine after all.

"Well... okay then."

That had been much easier than she had thought it would be. With some disappointment at not being able to use the flow chart or graphs she had prepared for just this occasion, she began to mentally organize her week. Today was Sunday so chores tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday while Hiruma handled two a days. That meant going in to discuss summer training on Tuesday and Thursday before the schedule returned to normal.

In the end she was more efficient than she gave herself credit for. The first day had been busy: gathering trash, separating recyclables, sorting laundry and the like. She'd even gotten a start on her school work. Her laptop (an unexpected but practical gift from the quarterback as a welcome-back-now-get-to-work present) had several rough drafts and a good start on an essay.

Day two consisted of clearing out the fridge and re-stocking the cabinets. This was followed by more studying which was broken up by periods of re-organizing team paperwork. A quick dinner, a hot shower, and an early bedtime. Now here she was in the middle of day three, bored out of her mind.

She was even considering going into practice just to kill time when her phone rang.

Now this wasn't an unusual occurrence. Neither was the fact that it was Hiruma on the other end of the line. She was actually thinking that it was a little weird that he hadn't called earlier to pester her or give her gripe. What was strange was that he was asking her to eat watermelon with him.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

Still, a train ride and a quick jog to the school later she found herself sitting under an umbrella. The lawn chair she was sitting in caused the back of her legs to itch a bit but was easily ignored. It really was a beautiful day. Hiruma was even cooperating, insults were at a minimum as he fed their rinds to Cerberus. Even so she couldn't bring herself to fully enjoy the moment. Glancing about against the glare of there afternoon sun she said, "It's not that I'm not happy that you wanted to eat the first watermelon of summer with me but..."

"But what?" He spat out a black seed, hitting a passerby right in the back of the head with a force that looked like it hurt.

"Don't you think it's a little," She paused to find the right word: wiping a small dribble of juice off with a napkin. "I don't know, cruel for us to be eating it like we are?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't see what the problem was. "How do you mean?"

"I mean shouldn't we wait. Until the others are done before we help ourselves." She winced a little as Hiruma blew the whistle. The entire team dropped from their stationary jogging positions down to the ground for a quick push up. A few of them looked like they were going to be sick and the vast majority of them looked like they weren't going to be able to force themselves back up their feet. Surprisingly all of them accomplished the task.

He clearly did not agree with her assessment.

He waited another thirty seconds before blowing the whistle twice. The effect was immediate. Every single body collapsed in exhaustion, as if their legs couldn't hold them up anymore. "Enjoy it while you can! You have sixty seconds then you're doing suicides until your fucking legs fall off! If you're quick there might even be some left for you!"

There was a collective groan as they began to pull themselves back up: stretching, getting watching, trying to regain a normal not ragged breathing pattern.

The quarterback reclined back and gave her one of his looks. "What were you saying?"

"Nothing." She shook her head a little, wincing a little when a drop of watermelon juice slide right down into her bra when she bit into it a little too messily. "Just... nothing."

Then again, Mamori thought to herself as she took another generous bite of her slice, it was a really good watermelon.