Chapter Seventy Nine: Life Full of Color

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh

Theme 41: Work

When he walked into his office late at night he expected solitude. What he got was Musashi drinking a bottle of beer in one of his chairs while he stared at the walls. He opened his mouth the greet him but the life-time construction worker beat him to the punch.

"You know," The former punting star opened another bottle and offered it to his friend. "Most people decorate their offices with diplomas. Photos. Awards. Works of art."

Hiruma accepted the bottle and took a seat behind his desk. "It's all art."

"Eh." Musashi took a deep swing of his drink. Then he pointed to a water color painting with an orange looking splat on a blue background. "That's debatable. What's this one supposed to be? A sun with sunglasses?"

"An octopus in the ocean."

"Uh-huh." He pointed to a different one on a small piece of printer paper and drawn with what he assumed was crayons. "And this one?"

"A football game."

"Right." Musashi allowed his eyes to roam a bit before they landed on a particularly interesting piece painted in very thick primary school colors. "How about this scary looking one? The one with all the yellow and red and that little bit of blue right there."

His grin was wicked as he continued with his drink. "That one's me."

Upon further inspection he could see it. For his mental health he probably shouldn't drink too much while staring at that one. "That actually makes it more terrifying."

He hadn't seen Hiruma look so proud of something in years. "It's one of my favorites."

"Of course it is, because you're a creepy son of a bitch." Musashi's eyes wandered over every piece of art on the wall. They were all obviously by the same person. Each was crudely drawn done on a cheap piece of paper but framed with great care. "So does Anezaki know that you've been collecting her attempts of art and hanging them up in your office for everyone to see?"

Hiruma stared at his collection and felt a great sense of satisfaction with himself, "Not a clue."

"You're crazy." Musashi had sort of figured their former manager didn't have a clue about what was going on. If she had she would have been mortified. She also would have made a big enough fuss about it that he would have known about it before tonight.

His friend gave a casual shrug of his shoulders. "Nothing new there."

For a long time the two of them just sat there in silence, admiring the artwork, and drinking their beers. Until Musashi broke it with the very blunt but equally truthful statement of: "Anezaki's going to kill you when she finds out."

"Yeah." The fondness in his voice was hard to miss.