I really have to say that you people reading this fic are amazing! I'm seriously so honoured to have so many of you being so supportive and understanding! I'm sure you've all been through a lot of hardships as well, and I'm proud of you for taking some time to read my fic and leaving me such encouraging comments despite how long it took for me to update this. So thank you once again!

Now about this chapter! We've moved on to the second arc of this story which will include a bit more football. Initially I wanted to write lengthy descriptions on the games, but thought it wasn't a good idea seeing as I'm no expert on Football so I'd just be really wordy, and besides I know most of you are really here for some HiruMamo goodness. But do bear with me as regardless, Football plays a vital role in the development of both Hiruma and Mamori in this story, so I'll do my best to keep the description of Football light and simple and focus on developing the characters as well as I can!

Thank you again for the amazing support!

Anezaki Mami woke up extra early this morning at 5.30am, aware that today was a big day for her daughter. Classes had finally started for Mamori, and to top it off, the Rice Bowl season, in which her team was competing to be qualified for the Koshien Bowl this December, began today. After which if they become champions, they would need to compete with those from the Kansai region and then compete against the X-League champion for the Rice Bowl.

Mami had always been proud of her daughter and her endeavours, and was especially happy that her daughter shared every detail of the games and strategies with her, despite Mami not understanding most of her daughter's explanations.

Even so, it's a mother's job to support her children as best as possible. Which was why Mami frowned the moment she left her room to be greeted by the scent of fried eggs wafting from the kitchen downstairs.

"Mamori?" Mami called out as she descended down the stairs.

"Hmm? Oh, good morning Mama!" greeted Mamori, smiling at her mother as she placed the fried rolled eggs unto a plate. "You're up really early though? I'll make you some breakfast really quick."

"Don't be silly, Mamori, I woke up early to make you breakfast and bentou! You should be getting more rest..." Mami's words trailed off as she watched her daughter cut the rolled eggs carefully, only to realise she had cooked a lot of rolled eggs already. "You're making bentou for the whole team?"

Mamori nodded. "It's a big day, I want to make sure everyone is properly fed."

"Didn't you mention that your club has enough funds to cater for food?"

"Yes, well..." Mamori placed the cut rolled eggs into a rather large bentou box by the stove which already held a large number of octopus sausages, steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes and potato salad which Mami remembered Mamori making the night before. "I wanted to ensure the team have a balanced meal, so I requested for the funds to buy the ingredients and I'd cook for them myself."

Mami didn't have the heart to scold her daughter for pushing herself so hard like this. As someone who loved cooking and seeing people enjoy her food, she knew Mamori wanted the same too. Even so... "You cooked the rice already?"

Mamori nodded as she pointed to the rice cooker at the corner of the kitchen. "Good," said Mami. "I'll make the onigiri."

"Oh, mama, it's okay! I'll do it myself!"

"Don't be silly, Mamori, I'm here and I want to help. You're doing so much already, at least let me help you with this."

Mamori stared at Mami for a moment as she proceeded to open the rice cooker and began to fluff up the rice with the rice paddle, but Mamori soon smiled and said, "Thank you."

As Mami began to form the onigiri at the dining table, her mind wandered back to the day Mamori returned from her trip to look for the missing team Quarterback. Mami had already been worried when her daughter was away, and it didn't make matters any better when Mamori returned looking disheveled and exhausted. Her daughter seemed to be holding back tears the moment she saw Mami, but she smiled and asked if she could have a hug.

"What's wrong?" Mami had asked as Mamori held her mother tightly, sensing her daughter's restraint sobs.

"It's nothing," Mamori's voice was calm. "I love you, Mama."

Mamori then told the story of Hiruma Youichi's father, how he was ill and the drama of wanting to see his wife again. She offhandedly mentioned that the fact that Hiruma's father was dying made her miss her parents even more.

It eased her worries a little, but Mami knew there had to be more to this as Mamori came home every day worn out and often quite lost in her thoughts. There has to be something bigger going on.

"I'm done!" Mamori announced proudly as she completed the bentou. "I've got the lemon and honey in the fridge, so now it's just the onigiri and breakfast."

"I'll handle those, Mamori," said Mami. "Why don't you go up and rest for a while?"

"Oh, there's no way I can rest on a day like this, Mama!" Mamori walked over to her mother and sat next to her at the dining table. "It's the big day! We're on our way to win the Rice Bowl! Once we qualify for the Koshien Bowl and become champions of that of course."

Mami laughed softly at her daughter's enthusiasm, glad to see her eyes light up in that way. "I know, and that's exactly why you need all the rest you can get. Now go up! You know it's Mama's kitchen when I'm here and I make the orders."

Mamori pouted. "Mama, really?"

"Upstairs. Now."

Mamori sighed in defeat. "Okay. I guess I can catch an hour's worth of sleep."

Mami nodded. "Good. Breakfast should be done by then and I'll be going to the market later to prepare for a baking class later today."

"Okay," Mamori replied as she went up the stairs slowly.

"Oh, Mamori?"

Mamori stopped at her tracks to look at her mother. "Yes, Mama?"

"Do your best today, and make sure your team wins!"

Mamori couldn't resist a grin. "Definitely!"

oOo

The first game was set at the familiar stadiums Mamori had been to in the past with the Devil Bats, and yet the chaos of preparing for a game never got easier for Mamori, regardless of the many times she'd been through it, or the strategies she had planned, or even with Hashimoto helping at the changing room to set up the gears or ensure they were wearing the right jerseys. Mamori still had the struggle of dealing with the schedule and which members of her team should be ready first for a quick breakdown of the upcoming game. And as always, everyone was taking their time.

"Anezaki! The food was delicious!" one of the Saikyoudai members said to her as they rushed out of the locker rooms.

Mamori's nerves calmed down. Ah well, she thought to herself, it's all worth it in the end.

Youichi had just left the locker rooms, having been scouting the challengers they were going to be facing in the upcoming game earlier, thus his delay. "The Hosei Tomohawks have a pretty strong defense," said Youichi, as Mamori sorted out the data she had on the team on her clipboard. "Our offence should be strong enough to break through, but my main concern is that fucking lineman."

"Ameda Yuuhi," Mamori pointed out the player on her clipboard to Youichi. "His strategies often involve targeting the runningbacks."

"What's his speed like?"

"Last information I got was that he could run at 4.9 seconds at a 100 metre run."

"Keh. He's still slower compared to our runningbacks, and ours have some power to fight him off too."

"That would be fine if it's only him, you have to watch out for the rest of the Tomohawks team as they will block most possible routes and open one that is in Ameda's range, forcing Yamato or Agon to run straight towards him. Past teams facing the Tomohawks have lost due to that."

"When that happens, it's a matter of wit and brawn then," Youichi grinned as he popped a sugarless gum into his mouth. "This game is going to be good. Ready to win this, Fucking Manager?"

"Kill them all, Captain!" Mamori giggled, who was now used to saying that after joining the Wizards.

The rest of the team were called out as the game was about to begin, an exciting moment as this truly was the beginning of a long battle ahead. It's been getting colder these days as fall settled in, but it didn't deter the crowd from cheering in excitement. Mamori couldn't resist beaming at her team as they ran to the field, waving at the crowd during their introduction as she sat on the bench by herself.

Mamori had specifically requested to Youichi not to introduce her anymore, especially since the team is a lot bigger and it wouldn't be fair to announce her role. Youichi had insisted she was vital in their gameplays, but she insisted in keeping a low profile.

She heard another cheer in the distance, marking the end of one of the first games that was held earlier today. Mamori checked her phone instantly, waiting for a text message from the spies that were sent to see who had won.

It barely took two seconds. It was the Mendou Frontiers.

Mamori took a deep breath as she looked at Youichi, who also received the text. He passed the phone to Mamori for her to keep. "We'll need to check the tapes later."

Mamori nodded, aware that the spies were sent to study and record the game between the Mendou Frontiers and the Kajima Deers. If Mamori recalled correctly, the Kajima Deers were a strong team, so for Mendou Frontiers, a relatively new team, to beat such a strong opponent meant they were something the Wizards had to look out for.

And the worse part was realising they had little to no information on this team. Youichi's prediction had been that they would lose.

There was no use worrying about that now. Hashimoto took his seat beside Mamori, as she held on to a brand new camera provided by the University as Hashimoto kept track by writing down the data Mamori collected.

The crowd was massive as cheers resounded through the stadium as both the Saikyoudai Wizards and the Hosei Tomohawks got into position. The Wizards lost the coin toss and to their surprise, the Tomohawks chose for offense.

"What do you think that means?" Hashimoto asked Mamori.

"It could mean that they want to score a few goals first before they roll into defence, which is their preferred strategy… or they know how strong our offence team can be and want to delay facing that," replied Mamori as the defence team went into their first formation.

This was it. The first game of the season.

The game kicks off, and Mamori is watching the team carefully through camera lens as the Seagulls played their offense with an initial kick. So far everyone was playing it safe so the game goes on for 10 minutes, without any touchdown scored, which meant Mamori's second prediction could be right. Sadly, the Tomohawks succeed in advancing a yard, which meant that despite their defence team was the one to look out for, the Tomohawk's offence was nothing to doubt about.

Mamori zoomed out to have a clearer view of the players on the field, noting that Youichi was at the other side of the field and was observing one of the team members offence strategies, particularly the linebacker. He was sending her signals to ask for more information about that last play, and that was when she noticed a group of players in their blue and yellow jerseys, watching the game with interest just above him at the stands.

She recognised them instantly. The Mendou Frontiers.

One of them in particular, with slick hair and thick glasses, was watching Mamori with interest. Mamori initially thought he was just checking her out, so she ignored him.

Mamori signalled back quickly about the linebacker's last speed and what his strategy may be, when she realised through the camera that the player with the slick hair and thick glasses was doing hand signals too.

Mamori was confused at first, wondering if he was just copying her. She ignored him again, as she gave Youichi a little more details and focused on the view from her camera screen.

But at the corner of her eye, she recognised the hand signals that player was giving. Her heart sank. She zoomed in at him.

"I know."

That was all he signalled. Over and over again. Mamori gasped.

"What's wrong?" Hashimoto asked, snapping Mamori out of her shock and drawing her camera back to focusing on the field.

She shook her head. "It's nothing," she said as she steeled her resolve to focus on the game. But she knew she couldn't concentrate as well as her instincts told her that something about the Mendou Fighters spelled trouble, and may be a bigger threat than she realised.

She cringed at the sight of some Wizards defence players being tackled to the ground, creating an opening for the Tomohawks. She cried out with the rest of the team for someone to stop the Tomohawk's Runningback.

But the Tomohawks scored their first touchdown.

oOo

In a game that tested the Wizards' patience, the team finally broke through the Hosei Tomohawk''s fatal flaws and won with a score of 38-12 thanks to the brilliant offence team lead by Youichi. The team was cheering and celebrating from their win, but Mamori kept to herself for a moment as she realised the Mendou Frontiers had left the stadium.

"Hashimoto-kun, could you pass me that green folder?" said Mamori.

Despite loudly cheering as well, Hashimoto scurried back to the bench to get her the said folder when he heard her, and bowed his head as he passed it to her. "Anezaki-senpai, the folder you requested!"

Mamori took the folder immediately, flipping through the pages and stopping at whatever little information she had on the Mendou Frontiers. She went through the profiles and pictures of the players she had, and stopped at the one she instantly recognised.

"Kurosaki Eric," Mamori whispered. "Quarterback."

"Oi," Youichi's voice called out to her as he approached the bench. Hashimoto got up and bowed but Youichi ignored him. "What the heck was wrong with you today? I had to tell you what to do most of the time, you were so fucking distracted."

Mamori pressed her lips together, then pulled Youichi away from the bench, away from Hashimoto's ears and towards one of the corners within the stadium, hoping to avoid the team as they head towards the lockers. "Youichi, you're not going to believe this," said Mamori, her voice trembling ever so slightly. "But I think someone learnt our hand signals."

"What?!" cried Youichi.

Mamori shushed him. "Listen, I know it's too soon to be sure but it's really starting to look like we need to watch out for the Mendou Frontiers. If what I think is true, we will need to come up with a new hand signal if we want to make sure they don't read through all our strategies in any of the upcoming games."

Youichi frowned. "No."

"Eh?"

"No. Let's not use new signals for now. Let's lull them into believing we'll always use those signals, and then come up with new signals once we have to face them."

"But they could spread our strategies to other teams!"

"Let them, we'll just come up with better ones."

"What about the team? Wouldn't it be hard to train them new strategies to avoid being defeated at this stage?"

Youichi cackled. "Fucking Manager," he said with a grin. "We can prepare all we want but shit like this is exactly what makes American Football fun. The team will catch up, they're fucking smart, that's why we picked them."

Mamori sighed, "Fine. You are the Captain after all but in the meantime I'll look into a possible alternative to the hand signals..." Mamori felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out, wondering if there was more information being sent to her from the spies. There were a number of messages, which included some possible strategies from possible winners of the X-League who were currently training. But the one that caught her attention the most made her eyes widen.

She opened that message and couldn't restrain a loud gasp from escaping her.

Youichi stared at her. "What the fuck?"

"Youichi," Mamori began, and he knew this was something serious. The team was calling for them. This had to be quick

"Kaede is coming to Tokyo. Tomorrow."

One of my biggest regrets with this fic is not properly describing how the Rice Bowl works, so I hope the explanation in the beginning makes sense? It's kind of how the Christmas Bowl works in the original manga, except rather than it being about high schools competing against each other, the Rice Bowl has one Company Club Football Team (Which is the winning X-League team) compete against a University that has won the Koshien/Kansai Bowl. The Koshien Bowl is held in December and is the one the Saikyoudai Wizards have to win to make themselves eligible for the Rice Bowl.

So this is just the preliminary rounds for a selected number of teams to be eligible to compete in the Koshien Bowl. And this will play an important role in the upcoming chapters, which I'll do my best to set up as well as possible! Thanks again for reading my explanation, and I'll try my best to complete the next chapter soon. :)