Chapter Sixty: Sound Bytes of Affection

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Les Miserables on shuffle

Theme 26: Pickpocket

It was the first Tuesday of the month.

It was an unspoken understanding between Musashi and Hiruma that they would meet on this day whenever their schedules allowed, which was almost always as they both went out of their way not to plan anything. That's why the former kicker thought it was more than a little strange to hear a voice that wasn't his friend floating through the closed door. Though it was a voice he was very familiar with and therefore he didn't feel so bad interrupting whatever she was saying by knocking on the door. She'd understand.

Suddenly the voice cut out and was replaced by the growing sound of footsteps. Moments later the door opened and he was entering the rather claustrophobic dwelling of his former football captain. From his place in the entryway Musashi couldn't see most of the hovel that Hiruma call his home. He certainly didn't see anyone else. He also couldn't hear anything else but the steady typing of laptop keys as the blond returned to his work.

Leaving his shoes in their customary place by the door, he entered the main living space where the imposing figure of Hiruma was surrounded by laundry and stacks of books. Diligently he worked away on his computer, not tossing out so much as a casuel greeting. As Musashi looked around he found no sign of the voice he had heard just outside the front door. Finally curiosity got the better of him. He set his trusty toolkit on chair covered with take out menus and asked, "Where's Anezaki?"

"How the fuck should I know?" Was the blunt reply he got.

"Isn't she here?" The older looking young man craned his neck to try to peek through the stacked boxes that obscured his vision of the area that was supposed to be the kitchen. "I thought I heard her voice from outside."

For just a split second Musashi saw something pass across his friend's face that he had never seen before. It went too quickly for him to get an accurate read but it was something like a horrified embarrassed sickly expression. Then he had to blink and Hiruma was looking at him with his default face of serious with the edge of crazy. All his teeth were showing as he smirked in his condescending way of his. "Nobody here but me. Your hearing must be going so that it can finally match your face, fucking old man."

Having dealt with this kind of verbal abuse since middle school the gruff looking former kicker just let it roll off his shoulders. Instead he inspected the small apartment more closely. "Looks like you have a crack in the ceiling. Again. Is this a new one or the same one I fixed that last time I was over?"

"New one." Hiruma resumed his computer work. "There's a drip in the sink that's been driving me crazy, make sure that's fixed before you go."

Just another Tuesday.

But the weeks that followed were filled with little incidents that Musashi couldn't quite shake off. Suddenly he started noticing weird things about his friend concerning his electronics. He got an i-pod, for one thing. Completely out of the blue. Musashi wasn't aware his friend even liked music enough to buy a device created for the purpose of being able to listen to it anywhere. He had also gotten a lot more secretive about his computer projects. It seemed like he was constantly streaming something from his laptop to his music device. Finally he had gone over to Hiruma's house several times and each time he could swear he heard Anezaki but when he was inside couldn't find a trace of her anywhere. It was just him and his computer. Same as always.

Only something was most definitely up.

Finally, Musahi couldn't take it anymore. He had to know.

To be honest, Musashi expected a little more of a challenge when it came to swiping Hiruma's i-pod. Originally he had wanted to sneak a peek at whatever was on his friend's computer but it was next to impossible to get the two separated long enough to find out anything important. Besides, he had come to the conclusion that whatever was causing the weirdness in the blond was directly linked to his music player.

In the end he was more than a little disappointed when all it took was getting Hiruma to hold up the light fixture while he grabbed some screws. While the blond was occupied he just took it from the jacket pocket and tucked it away in his tool bag. Absurdly simple considering the jacket was slung over a chair and its owner had his back turned.

Really, he expected more out of his friend.

Still he had gotten what he had came for. Twenty minutes later he was saying his goodbyes and heading out the door. He waited until he was in the safety of his own home, in the confines of his own room before be pulled out the music storing device. Now was the time to put the end to this little mystery.

Turning it on, he was surprised to find that there wasn't much on it. Nothing but a handful of tracks that didn't have a genre, artist, or even a song title. They were just labeled by dates. Confused, he put on the headphones and picked one at random. He could feel his eyes widen as a female voice he knew very well met his ears. She didn't say much, something about getting his message and meeting him by the train station. The whole bit couldn't have lasted more than thirty seconds but it was enough to pique his curiosity.

Twenty minutes later he had gone through the entirety of Hiruma's i-pod contents. All of them had been Anezaki's voice. They never said anything very personal. Mostly they were reminders or confirmations. A couple of them had been questions about various football business. Only one had any trace of being more than their daily interaction and even that had just been a brief but friendly message about wishing him a happy birthday.

With great care he put the i-pod back into his toolkit, intent on making up come excuse to go back tomorrow. With any lucky it wouldn't be missed at all.

The whole experience was odd, very odd indeed.

Call him old fashioned but Musashi firmly believed that you should at least be dating the girl before you started converting voicemails she left into sound bytes that could be put on an i-pod. An i-pod that was bought with the intention of using it solely for listening to said girl's voice. Not only was it a time consuming project for someone who you weren't even sure liked you in that way but it was also creepy.

Like really creepy.

He was also sure it was unethical and violated more that a few social niceties.

Still, creepy unethical violations of social norms aside, Musashi had to admit that it was kind of sweet.

In that scary slightly menacing way that only Hiruma could pull off.