Chapter 8

While things were getting tense back there at their table, Mamori was spending that whole time searching for an open comfort room. Apparently, all them were locked and under maintenance. She had to go all the way to the other building just to find an available one.

She knows that she will receive hell as soon as she gets back. She had him waiting for quite a while.

However when she gets back he is not there anymore. The table is a mess: the plates are unorganized, the seats are pulled away, and she can see a few pieces of burnt paper.

She is getting worried. Her motherly instincts are kicking in again. This looks like trouble. Hiruma might be rude in speech but he will never leave so suddenly. There has to be trouble. She can feel it.

She gets her phone and dials for Hiruma. It is ringing. She smiles and feels a little relief. Somehow there is still a way she can learn what really happened.

As for Hiruma, he is already in the van seated in the middle of two men in suits armed until the very end of their fingertips. Unlike what they expected he didn't resist as they went down, Hiruma did blow pepper on some waiter before they go but no one bothered to ask why the young man did such a thing.

The man he bargained with sat in front of him. They called him "The Don", that is his big shot name but Hiruma doesn't care whatever he is called. He can't really care about anyone else right now. All he is thinking about is Mamori. Any moment now she will come back to their seat only to find him missing. She will surely worry and he hates that. She will surely call... but what can he say to her? He cannot tell her the truth she will be nosy about it but he doesn't want to lie.

As if on cue, his phone rings. The men around Hiruma tense but The Don signals them to calm down. Both relax at The Don's signal. The Don then moves closer to Hiruma, slowly his lips pull into a smile.

"Sometimes to really protect someone you have to let them go" He says with a sneaky smile.

Hiruma lifts his eyebrow unshaken by the Don's creepiness. He pulls out his phone, flips it open and answers her.

"Hello."

Relief washes over her as soon as she hears his voice. He sounds well and that's what she really wants to know. A million words come into her head, a million questions she wants to ask but nothing seems right. She doesn't know where to start.

So Hiruma makes the first move.

"I realized something… while you were gone. I don't think I can do this anymore."

The million words, the million questions all flush down inside her head. She starts to worry again.

"Why?" Mamori asks.

"We have been having this conversation for a long time now. You know why. Sure it's fun now but what about the future? Where will we find ourselves five… ten years from now? Will you marry me? Will we have kids? Can you imagine me being a father? A husband?! So I guess before all our fun and games end I will have to stop this."

Mamori listens in. Closing her eyes with nothing but dead silence in her lips.

"You deserve better Mamori." Hiruma says on the other line.

Mamori breathes, clenches her fist and opens her eyes.

"I will wait for you." Mamori answers.

"What? Didn't hear what I said?!" Hiruma shouts on the phone.

"Whatever situation you are in right now… it's probably very dangerous. You can't even act like your normal self. It's amazing how far you can go without cursing… as much as I prefer that it still feels so odd. It's so very unlike you."

On the other line Hiruma smirks, I guess this woman knows him better than he expects.

"I will wait for you. I believe in you… you will sort this out and after you do please come back to me… I can imagine you being my husband… being a father… I really can."

Hiruma wants to blush but he still cannot let his guard down. They might not hear Mamori but they can observe his reaction. If he is an intelligent person he will not make any hasty moves…

However he isn't as intelligent as The Don believes him to be. He is a member of the Devil bats and most of them are known for being fucking idiots.

"YA-HA!" Hiruma shouts alerting everyone in the van.

"I'm glad you can imagine that because I fucking swear to you it will happen! In the future I will fucking marry you and that would be the best fucking victory in my whole damn life!"

The man in the right tries to restrain Hiruma as the man on the left pries the phone from his hands. Hiruma struggles but they are stronger than he anticipated. The man tries to handcuff him but Hiruma keeps sliding his hand away from the man's grip.

"Wait for me! I will get this fucking done. These idiots will wish they hadn't messed with us-!"

As soon as she hears something hitting him, his words are cut off with a loud groan. The line is also cut off with that only to be followed by a cold beeping sound.

Mamori tries to call him again but this time she cannot reach him. Her fingers are shaking as she redials but she isn't as lucky as the first.

Her eyes slowly blur with tears. Someone hurt him and because she did not go along some kind of plan he might not survive the night. She is trembling as the tears fall from her eyes. She cannot help but be weak. She is just so worried and she knows she can't do anything to help.

She needs to trust him… to believe him but believing him doesn't not necessarily mean not worrying about him.

Once more... Hiruma is gone missing.

xxx

The track was set. It was a two thousand km training from hell, a gruelling task that might cause any of them to retire from playing forever.

"You don't really have to come with us fucking manager!" Hiruma shouted.

"I don't see why Sena could stay while I go back to Japan?"

"We don't fucking need you here. We already have a fucking secretary why would we need a fucking manager too on this training?"

"It's exactly because I'm the manager! I will go wherever the team goes!"

It was true for him. If she stayed she would only get in the way of Sena's improvement and that would be detrimental for the team. He was really counting on her to go back to Japan and spend one of her girly summer vacations… but she didn't.

He told her that this was no vacation. That she would be staying with them in a very uncomfortable truck with sweaty stinking high school boys who would whine and suffer the whole time. She would not be treated like a princess during the training. She would be treated as any one of them and she might not like it.

But she didn't listen or rather she accepted all those things. In the end she stayed with them sitting beside Doburoku as the linemen pushed the truck. She would be managing the truck-pushing group while Hiruma managed the pass route group. Later in the day, Hiruma would contact her to set up the rendezvous point during the training.

Surprisingly it felt more efficient that he thought it would be. Mamori was not a burden at all… in fact she was a major asset during the training. Sure, Hiruma could always contact Doburoku but the coach was too busy being a coach that he might not be available the whole time.

"What the- stop. Wait a second." She urged him as he played with his knees, pulling away from her.

"If you don't stop right now you will be hurt more."

"Fuck that." Hiruma uttered but he did hold still.

Hiruma didn't know why Mamori went to him. Was he limping that much? Was it too obvious that she had noticed? He knew he was doing his best to hide the pain from all of them. He knew that no one would be able to see through him.

But here she is tending to his knees like a loving mother. She worked quietly after that, making sure that he would not be hurt as she bandaged him. Even as he typed on his laptop, he had been observing her every move.

"It's just like you said Hiruma-kun." Mamori said, finishing the bandage. "This is not a vacation."

"Kekekeke. Ready to go home now fucking manager? I knew you would whine sooner or later." Hiruma teases.

"No, it's not like that." Mamori corrected him, "I want to stay now more than ever. I want to help you all reach your dreams… the Christmas bowl. I want to see you guys get it."

Hiruma's smug smile vanished. He stared at the woman in front of him. With that determined look on her eyes and warm smile on her lips, she looked at him. Hiruma closes the laptop.

"Our dream." Hiruma says, "It is your dream now as well, isn't that right fucking manager?"

Mamori's eyes widened. She could not believe her ears. She nodded with a quick, "Un" escaping her throat.

Then she smiled.

It was a different smile. This was the first time Hiruma had seen a smile like this on her. It was not a motherly smile or a kind smile or even a perfect goody goody girl smile. He did not know back then what to call this smile but it made his chest feel tighter and his face warm.

It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

It got more interesting along the way. Sena met some weird people which turned out to be useful in the end. The Devil Bats were also not giving up. Some attempted to escape, some fell, but in the end they reached their goal together.

Las Vegas.

Mamori crept carefully inside the room, hushing Cerberus as the dog lifted his head up. Mamori gave the dog some meat and the dog backed down. She went towards the curtains gently pulling them to the side and letting the sun come in the room.

Hiruma stirred as soon as he felt the sun on his face. He then turned away.

It was Hiruma that told her that they would go out early today. They were to do something important regarding Doburoku's truck but somehow fatigue got the best out of their demon captain.

Mamori didn't know what to do. She wanted to leave him to sleep but she didn't really know what his next instructions will be. She looks around as to some clue of what he would do today but she found nothing. Helplessly, she went beside him as he lied on the bed. She carefully looked at him still in a dilemma about what to do.

He stirred again. "Fucking…manager…" He said, voice low, husky and tired.

"Good morning Hiruma-kun." Mamori greeted hoping he was already awake.

But he wasn't fully awake that time. Half-asleep he grabbed her arm pulling him to the bed with him as he rolls to his side. Mamori was too surprised to even pull back, the next thing she knew she was lying on the bed.

Her arms extended towards him as he still held on to her arm, his face only inches away from her. She can hear his soft quiet breathing from his slightly opened mouth.

She smiled, when sleeping he truly looks like a fairy rather than a demon.

Slowly his eyes open and the fairy was instantly consumed by darkness.

Mamori held her breath shocked that she had woke him up and he was not starting any fight. Silently she hoped that Hiruma might go back to sleep and forget about her. As she slowly breathed out… the thing she hoped for completely changed. She was silently hoping that he would not move, because somehow she was enjoying this feeling of just being absorbed in his eyes.

Hiruma opened his eyes and just stared at her. He was aware that she came in and had remembered why she was there. He knew that they still have things to do for today and that the sun was slowly rising further up in the sky. But at that moment lying on his side like this with her in front of him was all that mattered.

His chest ached and his heart drummed wildly. He could hear the pounding of his pulse in his ears. But why? He had been in closer proximity with this woman before and every time he does so something like this had happened. He had continuously ignored it, pushed it away in his thoughts to be analyzed some other time. 'Why?' Now wasn't really the time but somehow he was compelled to analyze it.

He could ask himself that question right now but he still would not be able to answer it. Because right now all he knew was that she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen the moment he woke up, her blue eyes, her hair, her lips, and her scent. All those things he took in, knowing that these might be the factors as to why he felt this way. She was a female and he was a male so that must be the reason why.

However, he had been this close with other females before. He had been staring at other girls before but none had given him even the slightest trouble in breathing as she did.

The annoying sound from his heart didn't vanish; instead it heightened as the seconds ticked away. He could feel himself aroused. This was a different rush compared to the games. He wanted to get closer, to touch her but his arms trembled and his fingers twitched. They dared not obey him.

Why?

There was something inside him that told him that if he moved, all this would be gone. That if he opened his mouth and speak, she would vanish in front of him… and how he did not want that moment to end.

But why? Why did he feel this way? Why was he intentionally pushing away the things he needed to do just so he could stay like this? Why couldn't his heart just shut up right now? Why was he feeling shitty and wonderful all at the same time? Why was she always be this beautiful? Why does she smell like sweet creampuffs? Why did he want…no not want… but need… to get closer to her? Why was she staring back at him?

An answer then appeared before him, something that was literally staring at him in the face.

She was looking back. She was looking at him. She did not turn or pulled away. She did not whine and cry or slap him or get angry. She was looking back at him with the same amount of intensity as how he looked at her.

He knew that it must be the first time in his life that someone would look at him the way he looked at her.

"So?" Hiruma finally broke the spell that surrounded the two.

"Are you ready to fucking crush that old fart's hopes and dreams? Kekekeke." He said, completely being himself again.

The day was a success, for Hiruma's standards. They got all the money they needed to get back to Japan and they also have the coach they needed to reach the Christmas Bowl. They also got a new member and even though he was an idiot, Hiruma didn't mind. There were already a lot of idiots in his team another one would not make any difference.

Hiruma was on his laptop again as they went back to Japan. Through the rowdy noise of his teammates he managed to get some job done. He was typing wildly on the keyboard when he noticed someone passing him a can of coffee. He lifted his eyes expecting to see the stewardess only to see that it was actually their manager.

"It's black. The bitterest one I could find." Mamori answered immediately.

Hiruma paused a bit but he still took the coffee from her. She smiled and left to hand out refreshments to their other teammates.

Hiruma opened the can and drank.

They had this saying 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' but he didn't give a shit about that. He could still remember the way Mamori looked that night in the casino. She was wonderfully beautiful and deliciously sexy in that dress. He knew he was not the only man that thought so and that fact sickens him. Even as he uses her beauty on the road he still could not deny that there was something inside him that was telling him that he did not like the fact that other people were looking at her.

"She's my fucking manager, assholes." He muttered silently repulsed by the idea that he can't keep her to himself.

He snorted. That was very childish of him and he could only blame her.

'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?' Hiruma thought darkly, 'Fuck that.'

Little did he know that this was the first time he realized that he was falling for this woman. That he was attracted to her in more ways than one and that was something that he could never bring himself to leave at Vegas. It was something that he would carry with him until now.

xxx

It has been two weeks since Hiruma was missing. Even as the people noticed it they celebrated only in silence. He was also gone during the first term but he came back again so who knows when he'll be back.

Rumors had begun spreading though. Some said that he was gone so that he could watch the students even more to purge everyone who disobeyed his will. According to that rumor, this was Hiruma's last deed as a student in Daemon. Some said that he was already a member of some underground organization and he was summoned every now and then so that he could prove himself worthy to be the head of that group. They were only waiting for him to graduate before he could take over. Some said that he was gone because he had been going back to hell. It was either he would go back in hell after high school or that he was extending his stay on earth.

In all these rumours there was one common factor though: Hiruma will be leaving Daemon. The next time the faculty and the students will see the cherry blossoms outside the school Hiruma will no longer be a part of their lives.

Mamori walks home. It was another tiresome day. Today she had stayed later than usual from watching the Devil Bats practice. She had been helping the Devil Bats with their practice recently. She doesn't really have to but she wanted to help. It is already dark when she finally got a chance to go home.

Aside from the things she is already handling in school, she is also constantly worrying about Hiruma. He had not contacted her for a long time. She can only assume that he's ok but she can't really trust that. Even if she trusts Hiruma somehow she fears for her own safety as well as the team. What if those people do something to their team? They are really close to the Christmas Bowl and at this point in time everyone is doing their best to make it.

She is not the only one Hiruma deeply cares about. He also wanted… more than anything else… to graduate seeing the Devil Bats dominate everyone else. Only then can he be at ease with leaving high school.

But what if someone decides to attack the team? To hurt them like what they did to Hiruma? To injure Sena's legs or Monta's arms or Jumonji's body? They can be anywhere anytime. They can lurk in the shadows and wait for the right time to strike.

Mamori's fears are becoming worse as each thought passed by. Good thing she is already home.

She goes inside her house and heads directly to her room. She opens the door and steps in. Her hand stretched to the wall on her side feeling for the switch in the dark. She then feels something on the way. She turns to it and saw a silhouette of a man. She inhales to scream but the man pulls her in, closes the door and clasps her mouth. The man then pins her towards the door, his rough hands on her face.

Mamori cannot believe it. Even inside her own room, she is not safe.