Notes: *peeks in* Erm... yeah... I am sorry for taking forever to have this chapter ready. And yes, I have a million and one excuses for it. But who cares! This chapter is finally here! *cheers* You have no idea how long I wanted to work on this fic and I'm just so so happy to finally have this up and ready! There's so much more to look forward to but for now, do bear with my slow progress and work and real life issues continue to plague me. For now, please enjoy this!
Big thank you to my darling Elis once more for her help! And a big thank you to everyone for the amazing support, reviews and comments for this fic of mine!
The last week of term break for the year had finally arrived, and the air within the Saikyoudai sports field was filled with a form of tension that Mamori was all too familiar with. To a background chorus filled with the grunts and cries of the struggling Wizards players as they played against each other on the main field, Mamori handled the backup players on the track and field.
The Saikyoudai Wizards currently had close to a thousand players thanks to the many star players' influences in the team. Yamato was a big attraction when he joined Saikyoudai, having played in America and as a former player of Teikoku. Ikkyuu also had his brand of influence having been part of the famed Shinryuuji Naga, and his own catching skills were definitely something to talk about, much to his own embarrassment at times. But the biggest reason why the Wizards had more than enough players was because of Hiruma Youichi. Not because he forced so many of them to join, but because everyone remembered and were fascinated by the legendary Devil Bats.
With the influx of player's though, Mamori's work was beyond manageable at times. They not only needed to select the main team members, but the backup as well, while others would have to be content with watching at the side-lines and possibly be disappointed for it was the last year for some of the star players and they may never get the chance to play an actual match with them.
It was a tough task, but it had to be done if the Saikyoudai Wizards wanted to win. And Mamori was as determined as ever to ensure the victory of the Wizards this year.
Especially now that things have gotten more complicated.
Mamori placed the whistle between her lips and blew, the sharp sound drawing attention from those waiting 100 metres away at the track and field. "Next, number 285!" Mamori cried.
"All right!" the player cried, readying his stance to run.
"How was his last run during the week that I was away, Hashimoto-kun?" asked Mamori to a tall, skinny boy that was one year her junior. Hashimoto Atsushi had been standing behind her throughout her time at the track and field, and during her absence had replaced her as manager. He had always been eager to be of some form of help for the team, which reminded Mamori greatly of Sena, so she thought it was fine to take him under her wing.
But he was still too nervous to fully replace her, something she wished she could help him work on, but her hands were full as they were.
"Erm..." He flipped through the papers on his own clipboard, trembling a little. "Okay. Tadayoshi, 285, his last 100 metre run was 3 days ago at 5.2 seconds."
Mamori clucked her tongue. "Too slow..." she whispered. She brought the whistle close to her lips once more, stopwatch on the ready with her other hand... "On your mark! Get set!"
The sharp sound had Tadayoshi running towards her as fast as he could. The moment he ran past Mamori, she stopped the stopwatch and checked the time.
5.0 seconds.
Tadayoshi looked at Mamori expectantly, but she couldn't hide the disappointment on her face. "You've done your best..." she began to say, but Tadayoshi merely shrugged at her, not wanting to hear the rest, and headed towards the locker rooms.
Sighing, Mamori passed the stopwatch to Hashimoto. "I'm sorry, Hashimoto-kun, but could you handle the rest? I need to study the main team's play for a bit. We'll be getting our schedule for the Rice Bowl in a couple of minutes for sure and..."
"You'll need to discuss with the Captain." Hashimoto saluted Mamori comically, stopwatch still in hand. "Roger that, Anezaki-senpai! I'm on it!" He pulled out his own whistle and blew on it loudly. "Next, 382!" Hashimoto called out, looking at the rest of the players.
Certain that Hashimoto could handle this much, especially after receiving his orders, Mamori walked away from Track and Field and headed towards the familiar bench by the main field where her own clipboard filled with data lay waiting for her. She picked it up and went through her notes, glancing through the numbers and formations she and Youichi had worked on before coming here. It felt like a rushed job, but as she observed the main team for a moment, she suspected Youichi had been planning this the entire time he was stuck in the Kitae Ryokan.
She cringed as memories of their last moments in Igaho filled her.
Mamori and Youichi were called for a meeting with the Sato family before they all went their separate ways. They both knew that rushing to the Sato residence would be ridiculous at this point. The Sato family would surely not allow them to even set foot on their land that easily. And with the last week of term break and the upcoming Rice Bowl games to prepare for, they knew they had to return to Tokyo and deal with the team first.
The meeting with the Sato family was as cold as Mamori had expected it to be.
"Congratulations on the rather simple but adequate wedding," said Sato Kaede with a little chuckle. Taneda Saori and some other women sat behind her, their heads mostly bowed, though their eyes remained upon Mamori. "We, the Sato family, welcome you, Hiruma Mamori with as much acceptance as we can offer."
Mamori resisted the urge to frown, not wanting to let Kaede's words get to her when this was just the first step.
"While you are more than welcome to come to our residence in Akita, we understand that you and your husband have matters back in Tokyo that need to be settled," Kaede continued, grinning despite her cold stare. "It is probably just as well, as I'm afraid our residence isn't prepared for your presence yet. And as such, we will return to Akita for our own preparations. And when we are ready to welcome you, we will come and pick you up from your residence... with your husband, I am sure."
Without moving their heads, Mamori and Youichi shared a quick glance.
Taka had just intercepted a pass from the Wizard team currently playing offense, most of which Mamori was sure would be chosen as backup. Barely taking another step, Taka made a short pass to Akaba which none of the opposing team members were blocking, a mistake the recovering offense team had made simply because the main team had Yamato run throughout most of the games and in typical Hiruma Youichi style, he had switched it up and got Akaba to run instead.
Mamori watched as Banba, who had gotten even quicker now, rushed up to one player who had recovered and was trying to tackle Akaba. There was no saving that player as he was flattened by Banba, and Akaba took this opportunity to keep running.
More players were on their way to stop Akaba, and he was only on the 30 yard line towards the goal. He was bound to be tackled at this point, but Mamori merely looked down at the data on her clipboard.
"We're going to have to live together soon."
Mamori had been quiet during the trip back to Tokyo, as she realised they needed to play up the act of husband and wife even more when Sato Kaede came over, something Mamori wasn't sure she could do. Driving the tower car, the tower removed and replaced with a canvas roof, Youichi spoke with his eyes set on the road.
"Seeing as we don't know when they'll be coming over, you'll have to be over my place more often. We're going to need to rework my place too. That shithole definitely isn't an ideal place for the two of us to sleep in, let alone have those fucking Sato bitches over."
Mamori resisted the urge to laugh as she recalled the state of Youichi's apartment. Having been there a number of times herself, the place had a tendency of being incredibly messy despite Mamori's attempts to clean it up. Youichi's mind worked in a way where the clutter helped him think better, so Mamori often left it as it is.
"I suppose you'll be needing my services then," said Mamori, who may have resisted the urge to laugh, but couldn't stop herself from grinning in amusement. "It's going to be a full cleanup this time, and you're going to let me do as I please, right?"
"Kekeke, you're my wife now, I believe a husband's role is to just accept that my wife has full power over the house."
"Don't say that! We may be married but that doesn't mean I should be a controlling, nagging wife."
"You've always been controlling and nagging even before you became my wife," Youichi cackled some more.
"Hmph. And you're still as incorrigible as ever even before you became my husband." Mamori folded her arms, eyes also on the road. The solemn feeling she had felt earlier was slowly melting away now, as she found herself enjoying Youichi's company. Hope filled her.
This could work out after all.
"We're going to need another futon in your apartment," Mamori spoke up, her mind already planning on what to do. "I can bring the extra one from my place though I will need your help to bring it there. I think I'll buy an extra toothbrush, which would work better than for me to bring mine from home and possibly worry my parents. I'll come over this weekend to clean up your apartment, let's hope the Sato family don't visit us anytime soon."
"Highly doubt it, they know we'll be busy this week. We should worry about them coming next week once the term starts."
Mamori nodded. "Okay... until then..." She raised her left hand to look at the ring, drowning in the familiar rush of emotion that still felt alien to her. "I suppose we should keep this around as close as possible... just in case."
Hiruma tore his eyes away from the road for a moment to look at Mamori, then glance at his own ring which he hadn't removed himself. "You can take it off now if you want to."
Putting her hand back on her lap, Mamori shook her head. "No.
I'd like to wear it a little longer."
Without raising her head, Mamori knew who was going to take the ball from Akaba as he fell to the ground. The rejected players watched by the side-lines and gave a collective gasp and cheer.
"HIRUMAAAAAA!"
Youichi had intercepted the ball during the fumble, having sneaked up behind one of the other players without him noticing, his own long arms reaching forward. A similar trick to Hashibara Rui and his own long arms. The little trick had all the other players confused, thinking for a moment that a member of their team had gotten the ball. But Youichi was already within the 20 yard line by the time they noticed and as one player made a last ditch attempt to stop him, Juumonji took the hit and blocked for him, tackling the final player to the ground.
Youichi was home free.
"TOUCHDOOOOOWN!" the spectators screamed. Mamori felt her phone vibrate in her pocket at that moment. She quickly pulled out her phone, realised it was an email and upon seeing the sender and subject, knew what it was all about.
She grabbed her whistle and blew it twice, holding on to the second note a little longer. All eyes from the field were on her.
"The schedule for the Rice Bowl is here!" she cried out, her left hand, free of her wedding ring, waving at them.
Hiruma grinned, and with his own gloves already stuffed away at the side of his pants, he grabbed a gun with his left hand, also free of any ring, to shoot into the sky. "YA-HA! It's show time, Wizards!
We're going to decide who's in the main team!"
Mamori bit her lip nervously as everyone cheered, she still needed a little more data from Hashimoto, and she felt sure Youichi had already made up his mind on who was on the team.
Even so, as everyone headed towards the locker room, Youichi stopped before Mamori, taking off his helmet to reveal his blonde hair which had returned as promised the very next day after their wedding. "I need the data for the other players."
"It looks like you've made up your mind though."
"I have," he grinned. "But I need to crosscheck with you. While the others are changing and taking a shower, I need to go through the Rice Bowl schedule with you, and there's still the issue of the team's Runningback."
Mamori frowned, remembering the major issue that was bound to come up once they announced who they decided was going to be Runningback. "Is he even around today? I didn't see him at all at today's practice."
"Oh, he's around all right…" Youichi cackled. "And you can expect some form of chaos I suppose, but I get the feeling that fucker is up to something.
Mamori sighed as she looked down the data she had available of all the players. "When is he not up to something?"
Youichi fell silent for a moment, hovering over her with a seriousness that she was accustomed to. "Hey Mamori..."
"Yes?" she replied absently. But she realised instantly what he had done and clasped a hand over her mouth. She looked around; grateful none of the players noticed anything suspicious between them. "Don't call me that here!" she whispered through clenched teeth, her eyes glaring at him.
Youichi merely cackled, waving as he walked away from her. "Make sure Fucking Skinny Boy joins in on the party, Anezaki!"
"Ah, got it!" cried Mamori. Rushing through the crowd to look for Hashimoto, who was scribbling furiously on his clipboard, she felt a rush of embarrassment and amusement fill her. Keeping their wedding from everyone else may be a lot harder than Mamori anticipated, especially if Youichi was set on teasing her when he could, but she felt determined all the same.
With everything set in place, there was one last thing to do before they let all the players of Saikyoudai go.
It was time to announce who made it to the team.
oOo
The Saikyoudai Wizards clubhouse was as large as an auditorium. Actually, it was an unused auditorium until Youichi decided he liked it better than the puny clubhouse the University had initially provided. This made a better clubhouse for them, especially with the ever expanding list of members.
The clubhouse was divided well enough, with the former stage now closed up as a storage room for their equipment, most of which Mamori was sure were questionable yet she decided to remain oblivious to for obvious reasons. Half of the main hall was where they put up all the data and formations, scribbled and drawn onto large sheets of paper stuck on rolling whiteboards, with tables and chairs scattered all around.
The other half was made a casino. A habit Youichi found hard to let go of. Besides, the extra income came in useful especially when it came to their equipment. It was getting harder and harder to accommodate so many players, but barely a quarter of those who registered were here now. Most of them had already been told earlier on that they stood no chance of playing, a job Mamori was glad to get Hashimoto to do.
Most of the hall was cleared out now, only one wheeled whiteboard stood in the middle. Mamori drew a line right down the middle of the board with a marker, and wrote Defense on the left and Offense on the right.
There was excitement in the air now, everyone whispering their predictions as they waited for Youichi to make his appearance. Mamori began to suspect that many of them weren't expecting to be selected, but had made bets to see who would make it into the teams.
Youichi finally joined the group, fresh from a bath, together with the other regulars such as Ikkyuu, Yamato, Taka and the rest. Mamori nodded at Youichi, who grinned at her first before turning to the group of players.
"ARE YOU FUCKERS READY?" he cried, arms raised as a chorus of cheers rang out from the crowd.
"That's right you sweaty meatbags. The time is now!" The cries settled down as Youichi began to speak. "We've been training long and hard and the Rice Bowl is here once more. We've got many more rivals coming up, a lot of fucking new ones too. And while we have those to worry about, don't you dare forget the other usual teams such as that fucking Enma Fires! So what do you aim to do to them this year?!"
"FUCKING KILL THEM!" the players eagerly replied, and to Mamori's amusement, even Taka seemed to join in the excitement with the smile forming on his lips. She's told him so many times to loosen up and really join in the team emotionally, so she supposed this was as good as it gets for him.
"THAT'S RIGHT FUCKERS!" Youichi pulled out his heavy machine guns and began to riddle the ceiling with more holes as he began to shoot at it. "YA-HA!"
The excitement was going on for a bit too long. Mamori cleared her throat and tapped the board with the end of the marker, glaring at Youichi. He heard her, but his grin never faded even as he put the guns away. "All right, settle down! I'm about to announce those in the Defense team. Anezaki will write down the names on the board."
Youichi pulled out a book from his pockets, similar looking to his notorious black book. But this one was known for having information and tactics on their plays. This was why Mamori knew he had already made up his mind on who was playing.
He already had most of the strategies down pat.
"Let's start this off then!"
A lot of the names mentioned were new, much to their excitement. They knew they had no chance in playing offense, so defense was as good as it gets. Some of these players included Amori Gosei, a former Koigahama Cupids player, and Katagi Yasushi, a former Taiyou Sphinx player who Banba convinced to join Saikyoudai. He turned out to be a great player, and a great addition to the team.
Mamori wrote down all 11 names on the board. With the amount of players they had, they were able to have two different teams. One for defense, and the other for offense. There was no doubt that Youichi would be leading the offense team, and that all key players would be in there.
Mamori readied her marker under the word Offense. Youichi read the list out loud.
"For the Offense team. Quarterback, Hiruma Youichi."
Mamori wrote his name down as the players behind her cheered in excitement.
"Wide Receivers: Hosakawa Ikkyuu and Honjou Taka.
Tight End: Hayato Akaba.
Center: Banba Mamoru.
Guard: Oonishi Gorou and Yamashita Hiroki.
Tackle: Miyagi Daisuke and Juumonji Kazuki."
The players going ecstatic now. All of the best star players had been recruited into the offense team. Except...
"And lastly Runningback. Yamato Takeru...
And Kongo Agon."
It was then that the rest of the Wizards players fell silent as the star players applauded. Mamori looked behind her to see the crowd looking at Agon, who had mysteriously appeared and was now standing behind Yamato. Yamato, a little startled by this, took it all in good terms. He smiled and raised his hand towards Agon. "Let's keep doing our best, Agon."
Agon sneered, much to the other player's horror. But Agon took Yamato's hand, his sneer more maniacal than menacing. "You better not get in my fucking way, Yamato. We have to defeat those trashes and win."
Yamato smiled and nodded in return. "You can bet on it."
Youichi turned to Mamori, who shrugged though she couldn't hide her excitement. Agon had never been okay with working with Yamato before, their past attempts always failing so Youichi would switch Agon with Akaba. While Akaba was fast, they needed more speed especially with their current opponents. So this match would have to do.
"We'll announce the subs tomorrow before practice," said Youichi. "So you asswipes better not think it's the end for you. You may still get a chance to play in hell. YA-HA!"
"YA-HA!" the other players chorused.
With the announcements set and done, Juumonji approached Mamori as everyone else made their way back to their lockers. "Those of us in the Defense and Offense team are planning to have a big feast tonight in celebration of us being selected for the Rice Bowl. Would you and Hiruma-senpai like to come?"
Mamori always wondered why Juumonji remain respectful as he was when he first joined Saikyoudai, but it was a trait she admired all the same. "I would love to, but Yo-" Mamori bit her lips. Be careful! she scolded herself. "But Hiruma-kun and I have a bit more data to process through and..."
"We'll be there!" Youichi cried out to her, after receiving the invite upon talking to both Yamato and Agon. Mamori gave him a glare.
We don't have time for this.
Youichi merely grinned in return. Lighten up. We're back with the team, let's enjoy their company more.
Mamori sighed a little, then smiled as she turned to Juumonji. "Looks like the big boss has given his approval. I just need to clean up the hall a little and I'll be on my way."
"I'll help you, Anezaki-senpai," said Juumonji, but he said it a little too loudly because other players had overheard. And soon Mamori had a huge amount of help to clean up the clubhouse. She knew there was no stopping them, as during her first year the boys would insist by grabbing the tables or the cleaning utensils and demanding instructions for what to do with them. Smiling, she instructed them on what to do and when she was done, she and the main players set off to the restaurant.
The party went on as insanely as Mamori had expected. She apologised as much as she could to the restaurant owner, to which he merely bowed and shook his head. He was used to this madness, and could only hope they didn't create more damage than they did the last time the entire team ate here.
Youichi was not helping at all. As expected during this little downtime, curious players began to ask what happened to him and why he was away for so long. Every time someone asked that, he would shoot them, much to Mamori's horror. Rubber bullets or not, close range shots like that would hurt.
Even Banba and Yamato tried to ask Mamori what had happened. She shrugged, hoping that her explanation would be good enough as keeping quiet would make things worse. "It wasn't a big deal. Hiruma-kun was having a hard time with his father and needed me to convince him to take better care of himself." A half lie was as good as she could give, but it seemed to satisfy Banba and Yamato well enough as they left her mostly alone
By the time the restaurant had to close, almost everyone was drunk or had already gone home. Mamori scurried to make sure everyone either took a taxi home or had someone who wasn't as drunk to take them home. Mamori waved Banba and the others goodbye, feeling satisfied after she had arranged transportation for everyone.
But she forgot Youichi had stayed behind. "Come on, I'll send you home."
It felt like forever since they could at last be alone together, even though it had just been a day. But even then, Mamori felt too tired to look too deeply into it. She nodded, and as they walked towards his car, he said, "Keh. The team's as insane as ever."
"Just the way you like it," Mamori replied, beaming at him.
He grinned in response. You know me too well.
The drive back was quiet the entire way, both still feeling exhaustion from remnants of the wedding that was quickly feeling far behind. And despite their aim to focus on winning the Rice Bowl, they both knew there was no end to this, especially with what they had planned this weekend.
Upon arriving at her place, Mamori alighted from the car but Youichi called out to her. He looked at her with an almost stoic look, but Mamori could tell he seemed a little nervous too. A look she was now familiar with since the wedding. "I'll see you this Sunday at my place... all right?"
There was something in the way he asked that made Mamori giggle. She may be tired, but even with all the work before her, she couldn't deny she looked forward to it all. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Extra Notes: I cannot promise you when the next chapter will be out, but I can share with you what it will be about! We will be deviating for Mamori's point of view for a bit and we'll be seeing more of what's going on with the star players, which are mainly the characters that we're all familiar with. There are some unspoken thoughts and issues that I've yet to cover so you'll see that happen in the next chapter so do look out for it! If I can finish it soon enough.
I just hope the gameplay written here was okay. It's short, but do let me know if the writing style is weird or off as I'll be writing more of such scenes in the future. I hope you don't mind me making the defense players mostly anonymous as juggling too many characters at once is a bit too much for me. Other than that, thank you so much for the constant support of this fic! Your comments and even messages to me asking me when the next chapter is coming out has been insanely encouraging. I hope you can continue to be patient with me as I do my best to complete this fic. Thanks again!