Chapter Seventy Six: So, Come Here Often?

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: Gotta Knock A Little Harder by The Seatbelts

Theme 60: Thirst

The sound of a glass being placed in front of him caused Hiruma to break his surveillance of the front door and divert his attention to the bartender in front of him. Sitting serenely on the counter was a drink he hadn't ordered. The bartender inclined his head down the way, "Compliments of the lady."

Following the other man's line of sight, his eyes landed on the lady in particular. Noticing she had gained his attention she shot him a smile and a wave.

It was unfortunate for her that he had no qualms about being rude when he wasn't interested. Without as much as a wave of acknowledgement he pushed the drink away. His attention returned to the front door. If it had been up to him that would have been the end of it. No discussion needed. However he had apparently piqued the interest of a confident forward woman.

"You know, when a lady buys you a drink it's customary to at least say thank you."

He looked over to find she had slipped onto the stool right beside him. While she stared at him expectantly, he slid the full glass to her. "I can pay for my own drinks."

"Oh I'm sure you could but then I wouldn't have a reason to come over and talk to you." She sipped her own drink. "So what's your name?"

He was being more of a dick than he had any right to be but he really didn't want to talk with her. So he didn't. Without an acknowledgement that she had even spoken he returned to original mission of watching the door and not paying her any mind.

"Don't be like that. I thought you were cute and wanted to talk with you. Is that too much to ask?" She was brazen. He'd give her that. Not too many people had the guts to slide close enough to rest a hand on his arm.

It was a shame she didn't know him better and therefore couldn't have predicted his harsh turn down. Turning he pinned her with his best fuck off before it's too late stare down. "Not. Interested."

She seemed to finally understand that she had picked the absolute worst possible choice for flirtatious advances. Quickly she grabbed her purse off the counter and scampered away.

Once again, he found himself completely alone.

Twenty minutes later a wind tousled Mamori stumbled through the front door. She paused in the threshold to scan the room. When she spotted his familiar broom head at the bar she smiled and started weaving past all the other patrons.

She hadn't even taken her seat when he chimed in with a: "You're late."

"No." She had a momentary battle getting out of her coat that she ultimately won. "I'm early and you're insanely early." She plopped down on the barstool next to him and gave him a pointed look. "As usual."

"What can I say?" He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "A gentleman never keeps a lady waiting."

She didn't bother to conceal her snort of laughter.

"Did you order yet?" Reaching over she picked up the small drink booklet and started filtering through possibilities.

He plucked his own drink menu from across the bar and chose not to comment as he watched her eyes wander over the small food selection that was provided. "Waiting on you."

"Always the gentleman." They sat in silence, not awkward but a comfortable one that came from having known each other for so long. However it wasn't long before Mamori couldn't take it anymore. She had to know. "What's put you in such a good mood?"

That caught him off-guard. "What makes you think I'm in a good mood?"

"Your face." She waved her hand over the general direction of said face. "It's doing that thing it does when you're happy about something."

His eyebrows raised in a way that she would have found extremely condescending back in their high school hay-day. But now, several years out of university, she understood it to actually mean he was split evenly between amusement and confusion. "My face does a thing?"

"Yeah. Your eyes kind of crinkle and there's this smugness that just seems to radiate off you and kind of makes me want to hit you with a broomstick handle." Here she paused and shook her head. "I'm not explaining it right. The point is it's doing the thing so something must have happened to make it that way. So, what is it?"

It was proof of how excited he actually was that she didn't have to drag it out of him like she normally had to do. "They said yes."

"That's great!" She continued her perusal of the drinks selection. "Who said yes to what?"

"The publishing company," All his teeth were showing with how wide he was grinning and he couldn't bring himself to care. "Got the call this morning. We're meeting next week to go over details."

By now she had completely forgotten about ordering anything and had focused all her attention on him. "You mean they're going to print it? Like with a cover and your name on the front and it'll be on the shelves for everyone to pick up."

His smile was so big that his eyes had all but disappeared. "That's exactly what it means."

The only person more excited about him getting his graphic novel published was Mamori. Without hesitation she flung herself at him. For a small lady she had a bone crushing quality about her. He could feel his ribcage start to protest her enthusiasm. But with as hard as she was hugging him, he was hugging just as hard right back. Out of everyone he knew she was the one who knew how hard he had worked for this. The late nights, the hours of inking, the months of research had paid off and she had always been more than happy to be his sounding board. Therefore it came as no surprise that she was the only person he had told, the first one he had thought of without contention.

She suddenly broke the embrace, absolutely flustered with happiness.

"This is big. This is huge! We need to celebrate." She waved enthusiastically for the bartender. "Drinks are on me tonight so don't you even think about taking out your wallet. What do you want?" He didn't even have a chance to answer before she was dismissing him. "Never mind, I know what you want."

He didn't bother arguing as she finally got the bartenders attention and began ordering their first round of drinks. It was a huge weight lifted to finally be able to tell someone. It left him feeling to light and carefree that he let her pay without so much as a weak protest.