The Losing Bet

2nd Down: Love

It was the usual night at the bar where all the female ex-managers for their respective high school football team gathered weekly for a way to relax and hang out with the girls. Although they weren't high school managers anymore, they still frequently met up with each other to hang out. The only non-managers with them was the quarterback turned mangaka, Koizumi Karin and cheerleader, Taki Suzuna.

"Hey, let's have a bet!" Tsuyumine Megu, the ex-manager for Zokugaku Chameleons, slammed down her empty beer glass on the wooden table. Mamori laughed weakly, this always happened whenever Megu got tipsy.

"Sounds fun!" Sawai Juri, the ex-manager for the Bando Spiders, exclaimed happily; she had a few too many beers as well.

"Ya~! Who's in?" Suzuna asked with excitement evident in her voice.

"Of course, everyone's in!" Megu exclaimed. "The ones that back out have to run naked across the Saikyoudai college football field!"

"Megu!" Mamori was shocked at the boldness of Megu. She knew she should have stayed home today instead of hanging out with these girls, she turned and saw Karin and Wakana Koharu (Ojo White Knights) had turned beet red. There was no way those two shy girls will back down now since the punishment was this fierce.

"What kind of bet is this?" Himuro Maruko (Hakushu Dinosaurs) muttered with a sigh. "Fine, I'm in."

With the always serious Maruko accepting, no one dared to object since most of the time she refused. Mamori sighed, she just hoped it wasn't something stupid.

"Okay, everyone calls a guy and pretends to be drunk. We'll see which ones come here first! The last person has to kiss the guy on the lips the next day and have a picture as a proof!"

"No way!" Koharu exclaimed with her cheeks burning red.

"Does this mean you back down?" Megu swung an arm around Koharu and smirked.

"N-no." Koharu blushed.

So the girls whipped out their cellphones and began dialing, the limit was one football player per person and so they all decided to pick wisely. The second rule was they couldn't state that it was a bet. The third rule was their call had to be on speaker phone which Mamori cringed at. The fourth rule was the guys would pick them up at 11pm and they couldn't state an earlier time. The last person to leave would be noted by the boss of the bar who was familiar with their antics.

Koharu knew she wouldn't pick Shin hands down because he could care less about her being drunk and besides; he was most likely working out. Oh, that and he didn't have a cellphone since he's technologically challenged anyways. She considered Sakaraba, but that would just be asking for death. Sakuraba already had a billion fans stalking him and if they found him picking her up, she shuddered. It only left one option.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end picked up and she swallowed the lump on her throat.

"Hi…Takami-senpai." She said quietly like a mouse. Everyone looked at her cellphone.

"Oh, Koharu, what is it?" Takami asked as he sat up on his desk, surprised to hear from his super shy kouhai.

"Umm….I'm a little drunk right now and I was wondering if you could umm… come pick me up at 11?" Koharu barely eeked out that phrase and everyone surrounded the cell phone.

"Sure, I'll be there soon." And then Takami hung up.

"Wow, he's so nice." Juri commented.

It was now Juri's turn and she started sweating bullets. She knew calling both Akaba and Kotaro would be useless since one was busy with music and the other was a blockhead who only cared about his hair. She sighed, couldn't God have pity on her? She decided to call Kotaro anyways since he would most likely get huffy if she called Akaba and not him.

"Juri, what's up?" His voice echoed in the bar and she could hear music in the background.

"Come pick me up at 11, I feel drunk." She said.

"That's not smart, but I'm a little busy though." Juri wanted to choke him through the phone.

"Fine, I'll just call Akaba." She knew that little jab would reach his egotistical head which was filled with Akaba as his rival.

"What? You'd call him over me! That's not smart! I'll be there at 11 sharp!" He hung up.

"That baka!" Juri was so close to flinging the table, but Megu held her back.

Megu settled her call pretty quickly which was of no surprise to the girls.

"Yo, Rui. Pick me up at 11 or I'll kill you." She shouted onto her cellphone. Mamori could just picture Habashira's wince as the voice broke his ear drums.

"Okay! No need to scream!" He shouted back just as loudly and Megu hung up.

"That's Megu for ya." Suzuna commented.

Suzuna grabbed her cellphone, she didn't even need to consider her options because she already decided who to call.

"Senaaaa~~" She smiled as she heard the click which meant he picked up his phone.

"Suzuna, what are you still doing up?" His voice sounded sleepy which was not a surprise since he was always exhausted from practice.

"Ya Sena, I'm a little drunk, can you come pick me up at 11?" Suzuna asked. Everyone muttered a inward complaint, it was kind of unfair if the person she was calling was her boyfriend.

"D-drunk?! I'll run as fast as I can!" Mamori could already see Sena shooting straight up from his bed wide awake.

Maruko also didn't have to give it a second thought as to who to call; it was one of the perks of being in a relationship. "Maria, did you miss me? Is that why you're calling?" Maria was the nickname Marco gave Maruko which used to bother her, but now she just treats it like a pet name. Well, it was more like she gave up fighting her younger boyfriend and she knew he wasn't going to change any time soon.

"Marco, I'm drunk. Come by the bar to get me at 11."

"Anything for you, Maria."

Karin gulped, it was her turn. She wasn't sure if she should bother him…he did have football practice, but she didn't want to run naked on the field either. Knowing Megu, she was dead serious about people backing down. Her head was whirling with multiple thoughts. She flipped open her cellphone and dialed a number with hands shaking and her heart pounding.

"Karin, how are you?" A serious voice came through and everyone knew it could only be one person. Of course, Karin would pick him.

"Um…U-u-unsui-ssan." Karin blushed and everyone gave her the "Karin has a boyfriend" eyes. "C-can you come and pick me up at 11?"

"What's wrong, Karin? Are you alright?" Unsui sensed Karin was feeling a bit nervous since she seemed to stutter more than the usual amount, not that he had been counting, but he was a very observant quarterback.

"S-s-sorry, I'm a bit d-drunk." She turned a red despite Unsui not being there.

"Stay where you are! I'll be there, be safe, okay?" Unsui's concern just heightened even more when he heard she was intoxicated.

"O-okay, thank you." Karin breathed a sigh of relief when the call was over.

"Wow, he really cares about you, doesn't he?" Megu winked and Karin turned even redder as if that was even possible.

Mamori tried to sneak out, hoping that they wouldn't catch on, but of course, they all did. They just surrounded her in a giant circle with a big grin on their faces. She felt like she was going to get beat up in the crowd, especially with Megu as the leader. Suzuna's antennae hair strand was sticking up and whirling all around.

"Let me off!" Mamori begged, but everyone - even Karin - said no. If Karin and Koharu had to do it, so did she. Mamori sighed; she didn't want them to hear the conversations she usually had with Hiruma since they were mostly fights. She would have called Sena, but Suzuna had dibs on him already. Her only choice was Deimon High's old quarterback.

She held her breath as the phone rang a few times before someone actually picked up.

"What do you want, fucking manager?" The husky phone sounded through the phone.

"Stop calling me that!" Mamori protested. Once the fights started, it always seemed like the two were inside their own world, even if they couldn't see each other or weren't in the same place.

"Well, what do you want?" He asked in his usual rude fashion which Mamori was used to now, but she didn't want the other girls to hear it since it was a shock to them. Of course, they knew he was like that with the team players, but no one expected that to happen with a manager, especially a girl.

"I'm drunk…can you come pick me up?" Mamori asked, bracing for the impact of response.

"Drunk?" She heard his infamous cackle and had expected this much. "The ex-disciplinary member is actually drinking right now?! This is going in the black book."

Mamori felt a vein pop in her head as Hiruma started adding fire to the fuel. "H-hiruma-kun! If you don't want to pick me up, then fine! I'll just ask Juumonji-kun to do it then!" She bluffed. There was no way she could call him, especially with the deal being one call per person. Her face turned red at the thought of kissing Hiruma. He would probably ask for a copy of their kissing picture and add it to the threat book, no…he would take the picture himself.

"Fine, fucking manager, call the Ha-ha brothers!" He hung up, but not before cackling like a maniac. The whole girl group was silent and didn't know what to say. Mamori felt embarrassed and angry at the same time; no one made a movement. They felt she was going to explode sooner or later and inched away a little to brace for the destruction. Even Suzuna, who knew Mamori the best, realized there was nothing to say to alleviate that humiliation and the others knew that if Suzuna wasn't doing anything, then no one should.

Soon the guys had come to pick up the girls from the bar. The first one to come was Sena since he was so worried about Suzuna plus he was the fastest runner out of all of the guys. The second to come was Unsui with his promptness and gentlemanly behavior which made the girls envy Karin. The third was Marco, but he had a perfectly legit reason since he went out and bought a bouquet of roses before he came to pick up Maruko. The fourth to come was Habashira who feared the wrath of Megu and he came on his motorcycle, however, he was still punished by Megu for coming in fourth. He had to do the infamous punishment of carrying his bike while she sat on it. The fifth was Tamaki who had been busy fixing plays that he almost lost track of time, but Koharu, being very forgiving, didn't punish him like Megu did with Habashira. The sixth was Kotaro; Juri was just grateful she wasn't last. She already knew she wasn't going to be first anyways, but being last was on her mind which made her a nervous wreck since she had no desire to kiss her childhood best friend. Every time a guy showed up and it wasn't Hiruma, Mamori ended up drinking away her anger.

"Are you sure you'll be okay here? Why don't you come with us?" Juri suggested, but Mamori turned down her offer. She didn't feel exactly peachy and she wouldn't want to be a third wheel or anything of the sort. So instead she just lied to them about calling one of the old Deimon players.

"Stupid Youichi!" Mamori grumbled, not bothering with the honorifics or calling Hiruma "Hiruma-kun".

"What'd you say, fucking manager?" She heard a voice behind her and she looked up to see Hiruma towering over her. Mamori hiccupped and started glaring at Hiruma.

"I lost the bet!" She blurted out angry. "Now I have to be punished."

"I know." He swooped down and pressed his lips to her. Before she could even react and push him away, her body countered her brain and she closed her eyes. She tasted the mint from his sugarless gums and the light taste of sake. Sake? Didn't he come from football practice? Before she could ask, she heard the click of a camera and she was barely staying awake. After a few seconds, she slumped down, with her head rested on Hiruma's shoulder. The only way he knew she was asleep and not unconscious was the soft snores that came from her.

"Tch." Hiruma scoffed, but had a small smile on his face. Unbeknownst to Mamori, he had been there in the beginning since she told him that she was going out with the girls to their usual bar. He had sipped sake and grinned whenever Mamori talked as if her voice was the referee that shouted "touchdown". He knew of the bet all along and for once, he didn't mind losing.