Sena and Shin's rivalry comes to a head in the linebacker's final year (lovingly depicted in SaiRo, as always). Sena gets an email from Panther of all people, half in Japanese (he's taking classes, part-timing at the University of Notre Dame in between NFL games and practice), half in English. Sena reads it after Enma's victory against Ohjo in the semifinals of the spring college league tournament and not too long before they lose to Saikyo, again- it involves the usual niceties (great game, cool plays, you're still improving) and then the line that makes Sena's blood run cold.
「so the two of you gonna be ok after this? it's not worth letting this get between yknow... whatever you and shin have goin on」
Sena doesn't often acknowledge his own flashes of clarity, but his hands start moving in a procedure that has very much become routine. (It's Watt, he thinks, Jeremy Watt found it and sent it to Panther-kun, it can't be anyone else.) He barely even sees the words as they flash across the screen, only pausing to fix a typo or adjust the phrasing of a sentence.
(How do you tell someone that you're not actually dating the linebacker of a rival team without acknowledging that that's what he asked? He would correct it by saying he and Suzuna are- well, he's not even sure what they are, really, they just sort of coexist in the same space more often than not and things are pretty okay. Americans are so hard to understand.)
He types Panther a long page of carefully-worded explanations, and ends with「i'm sure shin-san isn't taking it personally... we'll fight each other again in the pros.」
「yo, i'll be there too. son you betta bring yo A game!」
Sena's English has improved since high school- mostly as a function of exchanging mail with Panther- but he still has to ask Unsui to translate the last bit and the other boy watches enough football in English and reads enough Sports Illustrated (and player interviews and game analyses) to know exactly what trash talk is, even though it's mild, at best. Sena laughs, then goes back to his dorm to pull up a dictionary and painstakingly type a message back.
"You ever wonder," Kotaro says as he flicks a bottle cap up with the front edge of his polished black shoe, then kicks it into the closest trash bin, "where we're gonna go from here?"
Unsui pauses in the middle of rolling up the sleeve of his stiff white dress shirt, finishes the task and then loosens his tie, checking his reflection in a store window to make sure he appears relaxed but professional, rather than sloppy. "Aa. All the time."
"So where're we gonna go from here?"
"I always imagined you'd go pro," is the reply, and Unsui is nothing if not sincere about these things, so Kotaro nods, taking the lead as they turn the corner.
"That would be pretty smart, yeah. I'd go for that. What about you?"
Unsui could have graduated in two and a half years with a finance degree and an English minor, but he'd elected to stick it out for all four, emerging with an additional law degree under his belt (no one is under the delusion that he'd done it for any reason other than to keep playing football with the Fires, and he had still managed to end up on top of most of his classes). He says easily, "Find a job. Law school, if I get in."
"Man, my interview was brutal. Even worse than the application." Kotaro stretches, arms in the air, then leans back as if talking to someone and arguing a short, mock case had been physically strenuous. "If I don't have to do this policy stuff, that's okay with me, you know. I bet you did great."
"Maybe you'd have more fun as a defense attorney," Unsui offers, but moves on when he only receives a dismissive wave in return. "Or at the very least, a semi-pro kicker."
Kotaro has known Unsui for a little more that three years and his understanding of the quarterback is only at about 20 percent (35 if he wanted to be generous). All he's managed to learn is that there are certain topics he tends to avoid and turn back on the questioner (many of them involving his parents, and his post-college plans, and his relationship with Agon, and questions about the plays he calls- basically, just about everything).
So Kotaro doesn't bother asking Unsui why he isn't playing football after college; he'd posed an open invitation to talk about it a while back, and his teammate had bypassed it neatly. "What about your brother, huh? Are you guys still gonna live together after we all graduate?"
"I don't know," he says frankly, "maybe if we end up in the same place." Unsui fishes his wallet out of the inner pocket of the dark gray blazer he has slung over an arm, swipes it over the scanner and leads the way onto the train platform, standing precisely in front the space he knows the doors open.
Kotaro sighs, shoves his hands into his pockets and yawns, shifting his messenger bag's strap on his shoulder. "You ever get tired of him? I mean I'm with Akaba for like, an hour and I'm already done. That guy's not smart at all."
Unsui's features soften into an indulgent kind of neutrality as the train pulls up, tactfully avoiding mention of the fact that Kotaro hangs out with Akaba every other day, he's not fooling anybody. He waits for the doors to swish open, and steps on board before he answers, "He's my brother."
"Yeah, yeah. You know for a smart guy, you can be pretty dumb, Unsui. "
Kurita's trying to make him eat a cream puff, which Unsui's fairly certain doesn't actually have restorative properties, as far as food goes. But it is delicious, so he takes a bite, carefully angling the puff so the custard inside doesn't spill all over his hand and seep into the spaces between the keys of his laptop while they're in the middle of their International Policy and Ethics class.
"Shouldn't you be resting, Unsui?"
Saikyo's on the opposite side of the bracket for this fall tournament, so they'll either meet in the finals or not at all. Unsui takes it as a sign; Enma's fought Saikyo in every tournament in the last three years so he's been intensively reviewing game video for the next few weeks (it's not that he's ignoring the other teams, it's just that he only has eyes for Agon and the Wizards). For now, he has the video player up on one side of the screen and a word document open on the other so he can take notes.
Unsui pretty obviously has his headphones on, a light plastic SONY pair, one side in his ear and the other hooked to his collar and the professor would have called him into the office for it because his grades have been slipping, but then again, slipping for Kongo Unsui is straight A+s to the occasional A and it's been that way since high school. He'd made it clear from the beginning that football's his priority.
"I'll sleep when I'm dead," he mutters because he likes the sound of it, the conviction behind that line, but amends, "If we want to have a chance against the Wizards, no."
Kurita doesn't thirst for victory as loudly as the rest of the Fires do, and he says things to convince himself that all he wants is to keep playing with the team for as long as possible. But Unsui knows the sound of lying to oneself, probably better than anyone else does, and he can feel itin his football-loving bones that Kurita's burning up the same as the rest of them.
The lineman reaches into his bag, extracts a thermos and unscrews the top. "Have some tea."
Kotaro's sleeping with his head on Kurita's shoulder but he wakes up to the sound of crinkling paper as Kurita unwraps another creampuff. He mumbles, "You're gonna share that, right?"
The tournament goes by in a blur. Zokuto is the first challenging team the Fires face- Habashira Rui's still the best player but this time he's brought a bunch of motivated ex-delinquents to the table. They can't stand up to Enma, but after the match, Rui claps Unsui on the shoulder, puts his other hand on top of his head to rub his palm over the stubble (for luck) and very loudly tells him to kick Agon's ass in the finals.
Unsui has to physically drag his twin away from a remorseless and only partially mauled Habashira afterwards (some gestures are only reserved for twins, and trash better fucking remember that).
The semifinals game against Ohjo is in the air until the last few seconds. Unsui lets Sena call the plays for most of it (after all, no one knows Shin better, though he does have the final say) and Kurita's (marginally) improved his speed enough to effectively hold Otarawa down. Sakuraba and Shin's combo is still the biggest threat, and Shin improves as rapidly as Sena does.
Unsui likes his sure-fire plays, but he's come to love gambling, too- it's hard not to, with Enma. Sena loses in confrontations against Shin almost as often as he wins- 55-45 are pretty bad odds, as far as Unsui's concerned, but he leaves it to Sena anyway. He's never had reason to regret it.
When the Ohjo game update goes up, Unsui savors it, rereads it, and texts Karin to compliment her on that two-page spread of Sena and Shin's collision in the final quarter.
Hiruma's taken to texting Unsui in English, when they actually have important things to discuss. Unsui assumes he doesn't want the rest of the Fires to know exactly what kinds of things they talk about when they manage to get their hands on his phone- and after having tried to tutor a good chunk of the team in English, he can see exactly why. The night before the college tournament finals, about an hour before Unsui's usually due to turn in, he receives a message.
「feeling lucky, punk?」
He's been watching a lot of movies in an American Media class, lately. Hiruma's fluent enough to make vague pop culture references to Dirty Harry and Unsui can get them, but he isn't so confident that he'd go and make many of his own.
「not lucky. confident.」
「if enma wins, i'll treat all you bastards to yakiniku. my slave owns the place. /em」
「if the wizards win, i'll treat your starters.」
「do you understand what you're saying, fucking monk? well... the bank of hiruma's always open for a loan」
「is this an offer i can't refuse?」
(The Godfather Trilogy, though, is a classic.)
「you can take the cannoli, i'll have the gun」
It's halftime; Enma's behind, but not by much and Unsui's got a towel slung over his shoulder, elbows on his knees and head lowered while he sits on the bench and waits for time to wind down to the third quarter. Sena taps him on the shoulder sometime around minute fifteen, gesturing discreetly across the field, to where Agon has set himself on a beeline to the Fires bench and the rest of the team is backing slowly away.
Unsui stands up, cants his head toward a neutral sideline and picks his way over, meeting his brother at the halfway point.
Agon has his helmet under one arm, a water bottle in his hand and he says, "Guess this is all your trash team can do, aah?"
Unsui decides not to remind him that they can catch up in three touchdowns (the odds are slim but not improbable; they can turn this into a north-south game if it wouldn't take so long, and the Enma Fires have some of the best offensive powerhouses in the league.)
He does, however, elect to remind Agon that he's been grinning through this entire game, because the Fires haven't been able to score much, but they've come perilously close several times already before being stopped and Agon hates a challenge (but he loves crushing worthwhile ones). "You say that," Unsui says mildly, gauging his twin's reaction, "but you're having fun."
"Aah?! During this tedious fucking game?"
(Dealing with Agon 101: he never says what he actually means.)
Unsui smiles. It's small, but bright, and the shine of obsession that had faded sometime in middle school is back with a vengeance, which only deepens his brother's frown and he says, "Go back to your bench, Agon. Enma won't rest in the second half."
Agon snorts, pushes his palm against Unsui's forehead and turns on his heels, dreads whipping in his wake as he walks away.
In the bleachers, Sanzo leans over when the exchange ends, excitedly squeezing Karin's elbow. "What do you think they said?"
"I have video, but no sound."
Sanzo tuts under his breath and checks his phone. "I'll ask Hiruma-kun after the game."
Karin already has her sketchbook open in her lap and she's roughly blocking out the panels, messy figures inhabiting the frames. She doesn't even need to know what they're saying to plan out the composition of each panel, anymore- the twins' expressions are clear enough from the video.
Halftime ends and both teams huddle up; Karin sets her pencil down and adjusts the focus on her camera.
The forums explode that night, after Enma wins the fall college tournament to move onto the Rice Bowl.
Hiruma's still sore from the loss so monitoring the comments is irritating at best and excruciating at worst, but there's a part of him that's happy for the Fires- Kurita and Sena and Monta especially. The rest of him wonders if Unsui had saved a trick play up for four years only to pull it out in the final 20 seconds of his game against the Wizards, to use when the Fires are at their strongest.
The other quarterback had never relied on trick plays, not even once- it had been beyond the scope of Hiruma's calculations that he'd use one for the most crucial offense of his football career. (He's not sure whyit had come as such a huge surprise; Unsui is after all Agon's brother and while the younger twin likes his instant, vicious gratification, Unsui's brutality is the stealthy, patient kind, and he'd known this about the two of them since middle school.)
Hiruma knows the Fires are out celebrating, but out of habit, Unsui never loses track of his phone so he texts him anyway.
「you magnificent fucking bastard.」
It's high praise from Hiruma Yoichi and Unsui smiles mildly around a mouthful of rice to text him back.
「the whole play relied on deimon's aces, you should be proud.」
「for five years, you cut down your options just for me?」
「i started planning for this our second year of high school.」
Five years of not playing a single hand that could even hint at a less-than-completely-straightforward offense- Hiruma wouldn't have had the patience for that (the Wizards are the last team in the world to need trick plays, but Hiruma calls them every once in a while anyway; he needs to get rid of these Urges somehow).
Everyone had been under the impression that Unsui just never kicked his Shinryuuji habit of pressing forward only on the strength and skill of the players with properly by-the-books strategy, shaping each attack to maximize their success, which worked well with the burning, hyper-offensive Fires.
But as a ploy to make Hiruma believe that there was no way he would rely on something as risky as a fake handoff, staying carefully behind Kurita and Mizumachi to throw off Agon's Godspeed Impulse while Monta set up for a long pass, guarded by Sena and Riku, just as time ran out- he had to build that, slowly, because Hiruma's database is about as comprehensive as any on earth when it comes to analyzing the college and X-leagues.
This kind of waiting goes beyond the realm of patience and common sense and Hiruma's loudest thought is, Exactly how many games did that fucking monk let slip away for the sake of getting to this Rice Bowl?
It was essentially a simple play. Enough to tie the game but Kotaro's kicks had only improved since high school and he scored the winning point with no time left on the clock. Classic Unsui insurance; he learned (painfully) a long time ago not to leave an opponent even a few seconds of slack. It's rare that a maneuver in American football goes off without a single hitch and Hiruma's nearly convinced that the one-point difference at the end was intentional too. Just to rub it in.
「do you dream about this, you fucking monk」
「every night.」
「well now your fucking twin only wants to do the dragonfly with me to take you down」
「honestly, i'm a little jealous but winning against the wizards was fine too.」
Hiruma's never considered himself petty, but he'll take what he can get. Besides, Unsui's in high spirits and probably at least a little tipsy if Mizumachi and Kotaro have anything to say about their celebration- he doesn't usually play along with the texts.
「change your mind about going pro? i'll make beating you down there feel good, promise」
(Unsui thinks vaguely that Agon's started to rub off on Hiruma too, if he's started calling people masochists.)
「no, this was my last game against you. it's not you, it's me?」
「you're a cruel bastard」
「yeah, it's selfish.」
「i'm gonna tell koizumi you dream about me」
「go ahead. i'll tell her you propositioned me.」
"Nha, Unsui!" Mizumachi stacks a small tower of meat onto his plate, tops off his glass and then jabs him lightly in the ribs, trying to look over his shoulder, "You should be smiling! It was a great game! Drink up! Ace quarterback of the Enma Fires, come on!"
Unsui quickly dims the screen and hides his phone under the table, imagining Hiruma cackling on the other end. "No, well..."
Monta grins around a glass of water and points at his phone. "It's Hiruma-senpai, isn't it? You only get that look on your face when it's him." A beat, then, "Was there an update?"
Sena looks up at the same time Kurita does, but it's Kurita who asks, "Is he okay?"
"Just telling me to congratulate you all. And that he'll cover dinner."
Kotaro abruptly stops eating. "Hey now Unsui, are you sure that's smart? I bet it's poisoned now."
"There's nothing to worry about," Riku says, a fellow rock in this sea of chaos as he reaches for another piece of meat, "Hiruma-san isn't a sore loser."
"Riku, don't you get it?" Kotaro asks, "He's not playing college football anymore once he graduates, so if he poisons us seniors, then it's not really sore losing. He wouldn't ruin yourchances like that. You gotta be smart about these things!"
"You-nii's a demon but he isn't a monster, you still have to play Musashan," Suzuna interjects, "right? Besides Kotarin's only ever right about kicks and even then..."
「come out for yakiniku, you know where we are. it's your treat anyway.」
「i'll bring the team. your fucking twin's already on his way」
「justw alked in ill talk ot you later」
Hiruma doesn't bother responding- that last rushed text signaling Agon's arrival means Unsui's going to be Really Preoccupied trying to control his twin and make sure his team actually gets food. Agon ran the gamut of emotions from neutrality to seething rage in the course of two hours, so it's bound to be a trying experience. Hiruma calls the rest of his team and forwards the conversation to Karin instead.
The Wizards arrive (Sanzo and Karin in tow) to the sight of Unsui in a merciless headlock and loud proclamations of If you let that gorilla trash smash you, I'll fucking kill you and That better not be the extent of your shitty plays, Unko-chan and You and your trash team better not fuck this up, as if Agon can't decide whether he wants to be proud of his brother or pissed off at him so he's just decided to be both.
The rest of the Fires, who all look as if they want to step in on their captain's behalf but don't want to cross into Agon's range (and who're taking this time to stock up on meat that Agon would have otherwise claimed), let out a cheer when Hiruma steps into the restaurant- a bunch of them were former Devilbats, after all.
Sanzo has Karin's arm in a deathgrip, and he leans over as they sit down to whisper in her ear, "We're really going to owe Hiruma-kun for this."
Hours later, when most of both teams have trickled out and the only ones left are Ikkyu, Agon, Sanzo and Unsui (the rest of the SaiRo trio plus Mamori are still at another table), Ikkyu breaks the silence with, "Wow, the four of us... it's the Nagas back together again! Oni brings back memories, doesn't it?"
"Aa, too bad only two of us are on a team worth anything," Agon drawls, as if the Wizards hadn't justlost the second-most important football match of the season.
Unsui's pretty sure he's drunk; the room seems to be listing to one side and his movements feel slow. It was just that even after Kotaro and Mizumachi had left, Agon had started topping his glass off and he's not nearly as easy to refuse as any of the Fires. But Unsui's not blaming the alcohol for his sudden flash of bravado (he'll blame the high from winning) when he quips, "Right, the Painters and Fires arepretty great."
Sanzo swells with pride at the mention (though Enma had been the one to beat his team down in the preliminaries, he's not going to hold winning against Unsui-kun, that would just be petty.)
"AAH?! Where's my spoon? I need to throw it at your face, Unko."
"Agon-san, do you really have to provoke him? Unsui-san is oni mean today for some reason."
"Ah, sorry," Unsui replies, reaching over the table to ruffle Ikkyu's hair, "it was just a joke."
"Good, Unsui-san, because we definitely beat you the other three years running." Ikkyu beams back, kicks his feet and then leans forward with his arms on the table. "Monta's gotten better too, I don't know why you don't rely on him more."
"That monkey trash wouldn't be able to compete if he had to run against you the whole game," and this time it's Agon who cuts in, turning a sneer in Unsui's direction, then elbowing Ikkyu hard in the side. "But wanting to crush him properly isn't so bad for you, either."
"Too many confrontations against the best cornerback in Japan wouldn't have turned out well for us," Unsui confirms, and if Ikkyu didn't know the other boy so well (wait, they're old enough to drink now so that makes them men, right? It's hard to believe), he would've pinned that tone somewhere between cheeky and admiring, but this is Unsui-san so cheekiness is impossible. "Sorry, Ikkyu, I know you wanted to fight him more."
Agon leans back, arms tossed over the back of his bench, relaxing the way a sated lion does when it watches an antelope graze (so, brain or heart for dinner?). "Hohh, when did Unko get to be such a sweet talker?"
"Careful, Unsui-san, I think you're making Agon-san jealous-" Ikkyu cuts off abruptly to escape a chop to the side of his head, ducking into the aisle between tables and grinning at Unsui. "Say something oni nice about him too!"
Sanzo buries his face in Unsui's shoulder and tries to stifle his laughter. Then he looks up, across the dining area to catch Suzuna's eye from where she's sitting with Karin and Mamori.
Suzuna mimes a cheer, then flashes him two thumbs up. And a kissy face. And then she points at Unsui.
"Kid is a great quarterback, so I'll be depending on the rest of you for this game," Unsui says in their pre-game huddle. "I'll leave Gaoh to Kurita; Mizumachi-"
"Yeah, yeah, I got Onihei. No problem."
Chuboh's hand shoots into the air. "I'd like to try taking on Kuroki-senpai and Togano-senpai, please! And if it's possible, I want to fight Gaoh-senpai, too."
"That's fine." Unsui nods in his direction and adds, "Hold them off for as long as you can. We'll switch up our defense in the second half, so you'll get your chance." A deep breath, then, "This is the game we've all been waiting for. Whether we win or lose- it's thanks to everyone on this team that we made it this far. I'm going to make some calls you won't like, but-"
Sena, uncharacteristically, interrupts with a confident, "We trust you, Unsui-san."
"Champions MAX!"
Riku slaps him lightly on the shoulder with one gloved hand, then turns a stern look on the rest of the team. "It's too soon to start thinking about losing, Unsui-san. Whatever the play, we'll run it."
"Hey, Unsui, we've got us some pretty smart juniors, huh?"
Kurita's eyes begin to well up and he manages a choked, "Everyone... you all-" before Mizumachi cuts in with, "The clock's about to start! Hurry it up, Unsui!"
"Our first offense is the Dragon Fly." Unsui extends his hand first, expression serious as the rest of the team covers it with theirs. "Three," he says, looking around the circle, meeting everyone's eyes, "two..."
The weight of Kotaro's hand presses down as he yells, "This is the last time for us seniors, so you better scream your lungs out or it's just not smart, okay?! ONE!"
"WE'LL BURN 'EM TO ASHES!"
'Discussion Games Rice Bowl [Fires v. Babels]'
OKA「i thought 02 was going to kill someone when the wizards lost last time but did anyone see his face throughout this game?」
dragonfly「he's obviously happy for his oniichan... did you see him jump onto the field at the end?! though i'm sad for 11...」
CheerStar2012「2012 hug! 3312 too... nagas are the cutest after all... o(≧∇≦)o ah, but 21's combo play with 80 for the last touchdown was also great!」
sPaDe「I'm a Wizards fan but I'm glad Enma won anyway... 77's the only one of the trio who hasn't won a RB.」
DONNIE 「There better not be any sappy shit in this update. I don't mind it normally but the games would be better if they were just sports.」
Joe 「i like the games too but it's really not up to us... whatever the author decides is okay with me! (｀_´)ゞ」
DONNIE 「Shut up and stop kissing her ass already. That first play better not get skipped, either. The DRAGON FLY? On the first offense? Has 12 even run this with 21 before or has he just lost his mind.」
OKA 「whoa boys, calm down. we're supposed to be a community. now is it just me or has sairo been turning into Everyone Has A Crush On Unsuikun lately? is this supposed to be a reflection of rl? it's hard to tell sometimes」
dragonfly「i don't know about you guys, but i've had a crush on unsuikun since that postgame interview last year. he was so proud of agonkun but suffering in silence is my weakness too...!」
OKA「i still like agonkun best... but since he likes unsuikun so much, i do too.」
Two victory parties in a row is excessive, in Unsui's opinion, but he has no intention of getting in the way of his team's celebration (in fact, he's decided to stay mostly clear of it- the first hangover was bad enough).
Both a good chunk of Wizards and most of the Babels show up sometime in the evening, no doubt called out by Kurita, so Unsui waits for Agon on a bench outside the restaurant as the party winds down. He bows out not long after Hiruma, Musashi and Kurita leave together, taking some time to try and digest before he reaches the point where he has to run an extra hour the morning after to make up for all the food they managed to scarf down.
"Yo."
"Are you feeling okay?"
"No, I'm so drunk I need you to fucking carry me home. C'mon, be a good big brother."
Unsui stands up, dusts off the seat of his jeans and hooks his thumbs into his belt loops, cocking his head to the side in the direction of their apartment. "Going out?"
Agon gives him a long, considering look, pulls his phone out of his pocket, checks the time and his messages, then snorts. "No fucking point."
"What, you're already tired of karaoke?"
Agon pops the collar on his jacket, adjusts it on his shoulders and then crams his hands into his pockets. "Where's the fun in karaoke with that sausagefest, idiot?"
"I don't know, but I did get a recording of Hiruma singing Queen. It might come in handy."
"Looks like I'm not the only one that trash has rubbed off on," he says with a smirk
"I think you have it worse than I do." His occasional lapses in diplomacy are reserved only for his twin and Unsui mutters under his breath (though loudly enough for Agon to hear), "So I should probably just be glad you haven't started bringing home guns."
"Don't need guns to take out the trash."
"You never take out the trash."
"I take out the only trash worth taking out, Unko."
"Just not the trash we actually needtaken out."
Dismissive, because Agon can afford to be about things like this: "Last one to make it to the pros gets to take out the boring trash for the rest of his life then, aah. C'mon, egghead, unless you're scared."
"Aah, that doesn't work for me, idiot." It sounds like an offhand comment but Unsui's been reinforcing these walls since middle school, when he started this game. Laying down bricks of 'I'll enjoy it while it lasts' and 'I'll have to grow up eventually' and 'I have five more years' (now four, now three, now one, two months, a week, one more match) in even, solid rows, steadfastly building a dam for the day he finally says, "My football career ends here."
Agon would be lying if he said he didn't see this coming; Kongo Agon is a genius, and he knows his brother, but something about the last couple years, about playing football with Unsui in high school and against him in college, about finally sharing a hobby with his twin instead of claiming it from him, had convinced him things might happen differently from the trajectory he'd predicted. He stares for a long second at Unsui's squared back, the fists clenched at his sides and he drawls, "Aah? Unko doesn't want to play football anymore?"
"No," Unsui says in a rush, voice uneven, as if he's trying to choke the words back but can't quite manage it, never really could around Agon, "I want to play football more than anything."
"So play," Agon says, as if it's really that easy (for him, it is), as if it's his godgiven right to beat his brother down on the field as many times as he needs to to drive home the fact that he's the best, that he's invincible. "You can't just beat me once and then peace out, that's not how it fucking works. You don't win if you give up."
"Sorry."
"Bzzt, hey, Unko-chan." He can't even hide the irritation in his voice anymore, not that he's ever tried to. "The right answer was 'Okay, I'll stop being a fucking coward, you're right as always, Agon'."
"It's nothing like that," comes the reply, in that tired tone Unsui uses when he thinks Agon's taking things personally for no reason, like he thinks his twin can't see the way he pulls his hands in front of him and folds his arms over his chest in some lame attempt to ease the tension in his shoulders, "I know my chances. This isn't about you."
He has a few job offers lined up already. The corrupt, greedy finance sector is in dire need of more lawyers and they're not above polishing a recent grad for an eventual position- Unsui has always gravitated to empty spaces waiting to be filled. There are professors pushing him to get a masters and maybe a teaching certification for the meantime; the football team had held onto consistently high grades for a reason, and the reason goes by Kongo Unsui. His future looks bright but things like football have to move aside for reality. It's not as if he'd made a big secret of interviews and applications in front of Agon.
There's a long silence, which never means much, and Unsui assumes his brother's already turned around and walked away so he says out of habit, "I'll see you at home," without looking over his shoulder.
"You idiot," a breath with Agon's voice murmurs so close to his ear Unsui almost jumps out of his own skin, and he probably would have if a pair of arms didn't wrap themselves over his shoulders and pin his back against a solid chest, "how did I end up with such a fucking masochist for a brother."
"Agon." There are cracks in his wall, jagged edges from one corner to another, laughing in the face of his composure, and how Agon managed to put them there so quickly would be a surprise to Unsui if he weren't so used to it. Even in his rare acts of kindness, his brother only knows how to be cruel and Unsui's known that since forever. "Let me go."
"If you were more like that trash," Agon says, but he never finishes the sentence, never specifies which player he's talking about (though Unsui can take a few educated guesses).
"Agon, please."
Agon's stronger, always has been, and he doesn't let go. He's never liked to see Unsui break, but he's not compassionate enough to let his walls stay standing, either (they're annoying). He knows the sound of Unsui losing his last shred of defiance, the look of his carefully-constructed barriers crumbling under a torrent of unstoppable force. "Always making everything so goddamn hard for yourself, you fucking M."
The So shut upis only implied.
Their breaths synchronize automatically, because Agon's grip leaves no slack. Unsui exhales on his inhale, effortlessly matching their rhythms, adapting to his brother as always. "I wanted to keep playing with you," he says after a long, painful silence (Agon pretends that he doesn't feel the splashes of warmth on his forearm), "and against you, and I wanted to keep standing on the field with you."
Agon's breath is hot where it washes over the back of his neck, above the collar of his jacket. "What's stopping you, idiot?"
A long exhale, decisive and final, as if Unsui's expelling his resignation and casting around for something else to hold onto (which is still annoying but not nearly as fucking irritating as pretending he's alright). Unsui ducks the question the best way he knows, tone dry. "Your character's slipping, Agon. Keep this up and I'll have to start finding an anniversary present for you and Hiruma."
It's only fair, that Unsui occasionally gets to toss a SaiRo reference at Agon instead of being on the receiving end all the time, but Agon doesn't have to fucking like it. He does, however, have an absolute lack of personal boundaries so his hand descends to Unsui's belt loop and he pulls him flush against his own body, voice back to its usual mocking, sarcastic drawl. "It's out of character for me to comfort my onii-chan? Answer the fucking question, Unko."
"It's- I mean- first of all, yes. Stop messing around." Unsui shifts uncomfortably, tries unsuccessfully to turn his head and then sighs. He keeps his voice carefully neutral when he says, "It's... been fun- you know. But we're graduating. It's about time for me to wake up."
"You're saying I'm in your dreams, aah?" Agon's expression is a warped mirror of the crumbling half-smile on Unsui's face, a wry scowl buried in his brother's shoulder as he mutters, "That's gross, Unko."
"You're one to talk," Unsui snaps back, ducking out of Agon's grip and wiping his face before hooking his thumbs in his belt loops and turning to look at him, dry-eyed, "you get to call me gross when you stop leaving your sweaty jerseys on my bed, idiot."
"How else am I supposed to get them clean, egghead?" He punctuates the question with a hand to the top of Unsui's head, grinding his palm against the stubble.
"Why don't you ask the scouts? They're still calling."
"Yeah, the X-League's got it real bad for me. Smalltime trash."
Unsui starts walking, but he looks over his shoulder and then straight ahead, down the sidewalk, shaking his head. "You're aiming for the NFL and you call mea masochist."
Agon snorts, scuffs his sneakers on the concrete and then plows hard into Unsui's back, throwing one arm over his neck and grinding the knuckles of his other hand into his scalp, hauling him bodily down the street. "Hey, you'rethe one who's gonna be taking out the trash forever, Unko."
From around the corner, Sanzo stifles a pained whimper into his shirt, where he's pulled the collar up over his nose and mouth, clenched in his fists. "Unsui-kun... even his crying face is perfect... the twins practically write themselves..."
"Shh, San-chan!" Suzuna tugs on Sanzo's sleeve, then looks imploringly at Mamori, who only offers a small smile. "If they hear us, we're really gonna be in trouble."
"This wasn't something we should have seen," Karin says, but then adds with a sheepish smile, "Sorry, I just always wanted to say that. I think Agon-san would actually murder us if we put this online, though."
"Uu-nii would be really upset too. He's usually nice about SaiRo..."
"I can't believe he's done with football," Mamori says, "Hiruma-kun sounded like he was exaggerating."
Suzuna elbows Sanzo hard on the arm and then points down the street. "San-chan, now's your chance to go comfort him!"
Sanzo sighs, hands on his chin and murmurs, "This is more of an A-Un moment, isn't it? I shouldn't interrupt. After all, you never know what Agon-kun would do to comfort his onii-chan, ah..."
SaiRo ends when Hiruma and Agon graduate; it survives things like a server crash and a hacker attack and it changes and evolves with both its writers and subjects. Karin uses its archives to (successfully) apply for apprenticeship with one of her favorite artists and Sanzo uses it to (also successfully) apply for a masters writing program at his university. Dedication and consistency over two and a half years is a trait employers and schools really like to see, as it turns out. The subject matter is secondary to the quality and quantity of the writing and art.
They've carefully avoided making any mention of the college league players' plans for after they've graduated- though a bunch of them are headed for a fairly public lifestyle in the pros anyway. The news media has stayed mostly ignorant of SaiRo (Riko likes to keep her hobbies to herself, though she does use her SR connections to report on actual stories.)
Riku takes over as captain of the Fires. The hand-off was Enma's farewell to Saikyo Romance, a touching moment between quarterback and safety where Unsui asked him to take good care of the team, and Yamato becomes captain for the Wizards, another calculated move on Hiruma's part.
There are collections, there's plenty of fanmade merchandise, prints and posters and booklets. SaiRo is popular and Eyeshield even moreso. Karin throws herself into her work and Sanzo has to focus on school now, but a few days after the semester begins, when the monotony of life starts getting to her, Karin checks her phone and dives for her sketchbook and pencil.
「ace attorney kongo unsui? (｡･｀ω´･｡)」