Gale-Dragon: Whoohooo, Chapter 7 Thank you summer break

"Talking"

'Thinking'

(Author's comments)

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7th Down: Hell Tower and the Interviews

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Today was the day of the interviews for team recruits and everyone was excited, and the most thrilled was Kurita. Apparently, he didn't sleep at all last night because he was that excited about the interviews. The fliers were distributed and the Devilbats got 100 cream puffs from Kariya, yup, 100, Kurita's idea. They had everything set up and all that they had left to do was to wait for the clock to strike 3:30 PM (15:30). All were hoping that lots of students show up.

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Kurita fell asleep in his chair, head on the table. He was dreaming that tons of schoolmates wanted to join the Amefuto club and that Hiruma and Sena were a couple and inseparable. Raimon tried to wake Kurita up, but no avail. The giant remained asleep until Hiruma squirted wasabi paste into his nose, effectively waking Kurita up (Ouch. That's gotta hurt). Tossing the wasabi paste into a rubbish bin, the She-Devil said "F*ing fat-ass! How long are you gonna sleep for?" Both Raimon and Sena made a mental to never fall asleep in the devil's presence. Once Kurita was completely awake, he looked at the clock; it was 4:55 PM (16:55). Kurita was feeling disappointed until Hiruma kicked him and told him to get to work. At first, Kurita didn't understand what the She-Devil meant by that, but when he saw Sena and Raimon heading towards the door carrying trays of water cups, he had to look outside. The whole area outside the club shed was packed with students, all drinking tea and munching on the cream puffs. Kurita stated if he had known that all of these students would be here, he would have gotten 200 cream puffs. No one but Hiruma noticed that Mamori snuck a cream puff. Oh, the She-Devil was not going to let her forget that.

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It was time for the interviews. Because of the limited space in the shed, they had to interview one at a time. This was going to take a while, but it would be worth it if they were going to get new members. Mamori stated that she was going to let the first person in and told Sena to show off his skills as the team secretary.

Hiruma and Kurita explained that determining someone's position on the team requires the interviewer to ask what the person wants but the interviewer also needs to watch the person. Basically, someone fitted for offense professional type, someone that can conduct a mission with flair and accuracy, while someone fitted for defence is called a beast type, can catch their prey with a wild instinct. Sena had to ask "So… How do you tell which one's which?" With an evil grin, Hiruma said: "From have a sit." To put it simply, someone who sits with their back straight legs together hands in front of them (someone sitting properly) is considered an offence of type, while someone who's slouching and has their legs apart while they sit is considered a defensive type. Sena mumbled something about him being fit for offence and Raimon stated that he was for defence. Kurita commented that it was just a basis.

The first person came in, he was thin, was relatively average height, the semi-bald teen came in. He closed the door and set properly in front of the team. He introduced himself as Yukimitsu Manabu, second year, class four. Sena asked Yukimitsu why he wanted to join the Amefuto team. Yukimitsu stated softly "I've been… Attending cram schools since first grade. My parents had forbidden me to attend any sort of extracurricular activity… Third years have to prepare for the exams… It'd be such a pity to finish my time in high school like this. Therefore, I'd like to leave with some great memories…" The She-Devil now had an angry look on her face as she snapped "What F*ing Memories? We're Here to Win! F*ing Baldie!" (That's harsh). Raimon thought 'He said it!' While Kurita and Sena thought 'She said it!' Yukimitsu quickly added "I… I will, of course, try to help the team win! Even though I am pretty useless, I will work hard! Even though I'm short and weak… When I saw Eyeshield 21, who was just as short as I am, who has become the hero of the day University of Notre Dame… I felt really moved!" Sena started to sweat a bit. Yukimitsu continued "He is willing to face all sorts of difficulties… I'd like to be just like him…" Sena told Yukimitsu that he was giving Eyeshield 21 too much credit. Mamori immediately thought 'They really don't get along well!' (… How blind could someone be? … Um, don't answer that).

Yukimitsu finished his interview and left politely. It was time to let the next person in. That one smashed down the door. He was a shortly rounded student with spiky hair and a round reddish-brown nose. He landed on the floor with a flop. Kurita said "Wha! What the? Who's this?" Hiruma replied "Who knows! But, I'm sure of one thing. This guy is defence." The student suddenly sprang to life and said " The first year! Class one! Ko… Komusubi Daikichi!" He looked directly at Kurita and stated "App… Apprentice!" Sena and Raimon looked at each other in confusion. What was he talking about? Mamori asked if he wanted to become Kurita's apprentice as she was fixing the door. Komusubi nodded. "So that means… You'd like to be a lineman?" Komusubi nodded vigorously. Kurita smiled as he said "This is great! More helpers in the offence of and defensive line! Let us work hard together!" Komusubi was happy beyond belief. He rushed out of the shed, breaking the door down again as he raced away. Hiruma typed on her laptop as she said: "He's totally the lineman type." Kurita couldn't help but think of the Huh Huh Brothers and wondered why they weren't here yet, maybe they didn't know that there were interviews to join the Amefuto club today (Gotta love Kurita's innocents in this part).

It was decided that it was best to create a statistic list for the reason why the students wanted to join the Amefuto club. So far there was one person for both Faithful Fan of Eyeshield 21 and Loves the power of Lineman.

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After our a good few hours of interviews, the majority of the students applying for team membership were fans of Eyeshield 21. Raimon was rather upset by the fact that none of the applicants thought he was cool, he even tried to get someone to say that passes were great. It sort of worked, but the student actually stated that the guy who does the passes was even cooler. Poor Raimon

The next applicant was some jerk named Mitaku, a freshman in class 3, he claims to be "pretty good" but apparently didn't seem to have any loyalty to any of the other sports clubs, which meant he probably won't stay on the Amefuto team for long even if he became a member. He even made a snip on the fact that the Amefuto club didn't have a lot of members and stated that if they let him show up from time to time, he'll consider joining. How high does this guy think his skills are? Raimon didn't like him one bit. Mitaku also commented "Hiruma-senpai, I really respect you. You have both lots of funds and minions. I wish I could become like you." Sena didn't know why, but he hated this guy. Hiruma pretended to yawn.

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The sun was now just peeking over the horizon. Kurita was disappointed by the fact that the Huh Huh Brothers never showed up and figured that they got freaked during the match against Zokugaku. Hiruma commented while typing on her laptop "We don't need any wusses with any determination, if those sorts of people join in, they'd drop out real fast." As she was sweeping, Mamori said: "I wish all the people who came for the interviews would last until the very end." Kurita lowered his head and stated sadly "I don't want teammates leaving anymore…" Hiruma thought about all the people who came for the interviews. She closed her laptop and stated, "Looks like, it's time for an entrance trial." The rest of the team looked at the She-Devil with a surprised look on their face.

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The next day was a real scorcher and it was the day for all applicants for the Amefuto club to go through a practice exercise and a trial called Hell Tower. Sena and Raimon were currently handing out numbered pins for the applicants to wear. The students were wondering exactly what this "Hell Tower" was.

Yukimitsu looked around at all of the other participants. He couldn't help but think 'Everyone seems so full of energy… It's clear that they're different from me, who has always been doing cram school…' Yukimitsu sat down on a curb wall that guarded the bushes and mumbled to himself "I'm the only second-year student… I couldn't possibly pass the entrance trial, I should never have thought of joining the team…"

Sena was fanning himself with a piece of paper and stated that it was really hot today. Raimon pulled on the neck of his shirt and added: "It sure doesn't feel like May." Hiruma and Kurita arrived on the scene. The She-Devil said happily "What a lovely day, the hotter the better." The two freshmen teammates were confused by what the captain was saying.

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Inside the school, the Huh Huh Brother was looking down on the gathering of people for the Amefuto team, literally, they were looking down from a window on the third floor. Komusubi was running a little late and was rushing through the corridors. As the pint-sized powerhouse ran by the trio, he knocked Toganō's manga out of his hand. This, of course, caused Jūmonji to grab hold of Komusubi's shoulder in order to stop him. Komusubi didn't even stop, he simply drags the trio along with him. By the time the pint-sized powerhouse noticed that the three were on him, they are ready to let go and were face planted onto the floor. Komusubi gauges their strength to be very weak, while his mentor Kurita was really strong. When the trio looked up at Komusubi, they could see that he had a look at practically said You-Are-Not-a-Match-For-Me-So-Just-Stay-Where-You-Are. Komusubi then ran off to join the entrance exam participants. Toganō shouted "HUH?", Jūmonji shouted "HUUUH?", and Kuroki shouted "HUUUUUH?". The trio raced after the pint-sized powerhouse, completely forgetting that applicants for the Amefuto team were just outside. By the time they realized that Kurita already spotted them, and they ended up wearing the Devilbats jerseys numbers 52, 51, 53 respectively. The trio agreed to fail all the trial on purpose to ever get involved with the team ever again.

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Sena just realized that Mamori wasn't around, so he asked Hiruma was she was. The She-Devil stated that she was already at the trial centre. Looks like the school wasn't where the trails were taking place. Sooooo, where where are they taking place then?

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The Deimon Devilbats applicants had to take the bus system to wherever the trial centre was. Many of them were wondering if the trials were in a skyscraper or something along the lines of that. All but Kurita and Hiruma had a look on their face that practically screamed Oh-My-God-!-Is-This-Really-the-Building-That-We're-Going-to-Have-to-Climb?! The building that they were going to climb for their entrance trials was the Tokyo Tower. And apparently, Hiruma book the entire tower for the day. Sena couldn't help but think 'Her information network sure is scary…'

Mamori was standing in front of an ice machine and an entire vat full of ice. She told Hiruma that everything was ready. Hiruma flashed an evil grin then she started firing her AK-47 into the air, scaring all present, and then shouted "LISTEN UP! THE RULES ARE SIMPLE! THE GOAL IS THE SPECIAL OBSERVATORY (an altitude of 250 m)." Kurita quickly whispered to Sena "Try to be the first one to reach the top. If you are, Hiruma will give you a special prize." As Kurita walked away, Sena wondered what this prize was. Hiruma continued her explanation of the rules "THE F*ING FAT-ASS IS WAITING UP THERE FOR SOME ICE! YOU GUYS HAVE TO BRING THE ICE CUBES UP!" Kurita took the elevator up. "BRING AS MANY AS YOU LIKE. FEEL FREE TO COME BACK FOR MORE IF THEY MELT. YOU PASS EVEN IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE SPECK OF ICE LEFT WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE GOAL! THEN YOU'RE QUALIFIED FOR THE TEAM!" Sena picked up an ice cube and held it in his palm for a second. The ice cube started melting as soon as it touched his palm. Mamori explained that sugar has been added to make the ice melt faster.

A lot of the students were nervous about taking this entrance exam. Sena already got changed into his Eyeshield 21 persona. Both Eyeshield 21 and Raimon filled up their bags of ice. Eyeshield 21 wondered if they should add more to the bag and Raimon replied "Nah, it'll get too heavy. The less the better, whoever climbs the fastest wins." Then Raimon had an epiphany, if he's the first one to reach the top then maybe Mamori would fall in love with him. Raimon challenged Eyeshield 21 to a one-on-one match to see who gets the top first. A friendly rivalry match between the two friends sounded like a good idea, plus Sena wanted to win that special prize that Kurita mentioned. And the two were off.

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Komusubi and Yukimitsu were hauling up huge bags of ice. One was carrying it with ease, while the other was struggling. Not hard to figure out which one was which. The delinquent trio was hardly trying at the task.

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Sena and Raimon somehow managed to get past Cerberus, Hiruma's pet Hell hound, but some of the other recruits weren't so lucky. And now they have entered Hell, or at least the Grand Observatory of the Tokyo Tower with the heater turned up waaaaay passed max. You could easily see the heatwave lines in the air. All of the ice in both of their bags melted into water. This meant they had to climb back down to the ground level to get more ice. Hiruma reeeeeeeealy did her worst with this one. Sena could really understand why Kurita said she was not pleasant during her Time-of-the-Month; this Hell Tower was proof of that. This special prize must be really amazing, at least, that's what Sena was hoping.

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Toganō, Jūmonji, and Kuroki were going to pretend to climb one more time and then they were going to head home. At least that was the plan until Komusubi scooped up a humongous bag of ice over his shoulder. The pint-sized powerhouse looked at the trio's tiny little bags of ice and gave him a look that stated Is-That-All-You're-Going-to-Take-?-That's-Pathetic-and-You-Guys-Are-Pathetically-Weak. That ticked off the delinquent trio, and they filled up their bags to the max with ice in order to compete with Komusubi. The pint-sized powerhouse was determined to get to the top of the Tokyo Tower before the delinquent trio. The race was on.

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Unfortunately, Yukimitsu wasn't having as much good luck as the others.

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Hiruma took a Midol pill when she got to the top of the tower. That-Time-of-the-Month is never fun, but she felt a hell of a lot better torturing Mitaku and his buddies. Especially after what they did to Yukimitsu; although, the She-Devil wasn't particularly rooting for the baldy. But this test was to climb the tower by their own means. Hiruma was particularly happy when she shot their ice bags with the pills full of the dehydrates that they put in seaweed bottles, courtesy of the Zokugaku Chameleons. The combination of the dehydrates and the sugared water was a miniature explosion in a plastic bag. Oh yes, the She-Devil was having fun making them squirm.

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Sena/Eyeshield 21 and Raimon were neck and neck during their entire race. Raimon managed to pull ahead for a brief second, with one ice cube left in his bag. The receiver burst through the door, rolled on the ground, hitting the wall, jumping into the air, and landed in his signature pose and shouted "FIRST PLACE! ONE FINAL ICE CUBE LEFT!" "It just melted," Hiruma said with a look that stated you-are-really-pathetic. Sena won the race. Raimon's fantasy/dream was utterly crushed. The receiver raced out of the Special Observatory, shouting along the lines of "DAAMMMMIIITT!"

Once Raimon left Sena, still wearing the Eyeshield 21 persona, walked up to Hiruma and asked "Ano… Since I was the first one to reach the top… Can I have that special prize you promised?" Hiruma immediately stated "Huh? What the hell are you talking about f*ing chibi?" Before Sena could ask another question, Kurita accidentally bumped into Hiruma, while he was walking by to get more flavouring for the shaved ice, causing her to fall on top of Sena. Neither one of them fell to the ground, but they were practically nose to nose… Okay, actually they were lip to lip. It took a while for them to actually realize it, but THEY. WERE. KISSING! They quickly went away from one another, with both of their faces were as red as can be. Hiruma turned away from Sena and Sena turned away from Hiruma.

Raimon dated back to the Special Observatory with his bag completely full of ice. He made the team. The catcher realized that his best friend's face was red, so he asked: "Why's your face max red?" Sena nervously replied "I-it must be the heat. Yeah, the heat." The explanation seemed logical and believable, so Raimon believed it.

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After roughly 5 minutes or so, around 85% of the applicants quit. Including Mitaku. Mamori was a bit disappointed with all of them quit but knew that they needed to do this trial. She was hoping that at least a few would still press on.

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The group in the Special Observatory was eating the shaved ice, or at least Kurita, Sena, and Raimon. Hiruma was typing on her laptop. She was definitely trying her best to NOT look at Sena, and he was doing his best to NOT look at her. By this time, Sena already changed out of his Eyeshield 21 persona.

Komusubi burst through the closed door, rather dramatically and with his bag of ice still full. Kurita praised him, which made the pint-sized powerhouse grinned madly. Hiruma typed on her laptop and stated: "F*ing little fat-ass also passed." Toganō, Jūmonji, and Kuroki were panting as they entered the Special Observatory, all three with their ice bags full. Even Raimon was impressed by how well they did. It looked like there was an intense rivalry between the delinquent trio and the pint-sized powerhouse. Hiruma chuckled out "The f*ing bros passed as well." Jūmonji shouted at Hiruma "WE'RE NOT BROTHERS." Kuroki asked Toganō "Why the hell did we pass the trial anyway?" Kurita was as happy as can be.

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The sun has completely set. Everyone in the Special Observatory was just chilling until the trial was over. Mamori came up in the elevator and told Hiruma "There's no one left down there. Everyone seems to have gone back." The She-Devil stood up from her chair and said that the trial was over. Kurita asked her if they could wait a little longer. Raimon remark that you can definitely make it as long as you bring enough ice cubes. That was when Hiruma said "That was the only purpose of this trial… You will survive as long as you have determination."

Yukimitsu fell through the door and landed flat on his face. All present were surprised that he was even there. Mamori, Raimon, and Sena ran to Yukimitsu's aid, while Kurita poured Yukimitsu's bag into a bucket. It looks like the poor kid's bag only had water in it. Hiruma looked at the second-year student. She picked up one ice cube from the table and secretly tossed it into the bucket of water. Sena saw that from the corner of his eyes and quite frankly, he was surprised by that. It kind of made his heart flutter a bit. Did Hiruma actually have a heart or at least a VERY small piece of a heart? Pointing her gun at the bucket, Hiruma said in fake amazement "Oh! There's still one left! F*ing Baldie passed!" All but Sena bought that. Yukimitsu was the happiest person in the world.

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When Sena got home, all he could think about was THAT KISS, and his tomato red face showed it. It was nothing like what he thought his first kiss would be like. His first kiss should have been magical, it should have been the stuff of fairy tales, and it should have been pure love. Nope, Sena's first kiss was nothing like that at all. Sena sighed, what was he going to tell his parents about his first kiss being stolen by a she-devil? He touched his lips with his fingers. Hiruma's lips were surprisingly soft. Tears of despair streaked down his face. The She-Devil was going to kill him tomorrow, he just knew it, or just she would make his life completely miserable. Either or.

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Hiruma traced her lips with the back of her index finger. How could she be so careless as to let THAT happen? Especially, after the incident in the club shed after the game with the Chameleons? If she had a heart, it would have been fluttering fiercely. Her cheeks turned pink. She wasn't sure it was the hormones from her period or not, but she was feeling really weird. 'Still… That Kiss… did feel… kind of nice…' Hiruma thought warily. 'It has to be the PMS hormones. It's gotta be…' Hiruma reeeeeeeeealy hated having her period. But she couldn't deny that the kiss did feel nice.

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7th Down: Scored.

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Omake Moments:

Despite what people thought about Kurita, he was actually pretty smart. Despite being the strongest on the team, he managed to get a 3.9 for his grade point average in school, not that a lot of people knew about that though. Okay, true, he couldn't come up the kinds of battle strategies that Hiruma does, but he can certainly understand and memorize them just as well. Only a handful of people actually knew about the Devilbat giant's intelligent; his teachers (after being completely floored by his grades of course), his father, Hiruma, and Sena (Okay, Sena actually doesn't really know, but he has some suspicions that the big guy's smarter than he lets on).

Today, Kurita was very proud that his plan worked. The goofy grin on his face was proof. True, he was excited about getting four linemen on the team, but he was also excited that he got his two best friends to kiss. Yup, Kurita planned the whole thing.

From telling Sena about the "special prize" for being the first one to get to the top to "accidentally" bumping into Hiruma and making her fall on top of Sena for the kiss. He even planned for the "incident" in the club shed that Hiruma and Sena experienced. Yup, Kurita was the one who "left" that roulette ball on the floor. Correct, Kurita wasn't all muscle.

Kurita pulled his phone out and scrolled to the photo section. If his smile could get any bigger, it would split his head in two. On the screen of his phone was an image of the Lightning Running back and the Devilish Quarterback locking lips. Yup, Kurita managed to snap a picture of THAT KISS with his phone (Not like he could use a camera anyway… Wait… HE TOOK A PICTURE!). Kurita knew he couldn't keep that picture on his phone; Hiruma would defiantly kill him if she found out, but he already planned for that. He'll print out the picture and keep it in a small secret drawer in his room.

Kurita looked up at the darkened sky with the twinkling stars. He knew that one day; those two would admit their love for each other, once they realize it of course. Kurita would certainly be there for that.

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Gale-Dragon: Kurita's smart, huh, who knew. Anyway, in the next chapter, the Devilbats'll go over routes and watch the match between the White Knights and the Wild Gunmen. And maybe something else will happen.