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Taking the Next Step
By Renegade Raine

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Mamori knew that it was important for the Devilbats to practice before going to the Christmas Bowl in about a month, she still kind of felt like she was getting gypped somehow. Sure, she was there by her own choice, as she knew if she hadn’t come, Hiruma would have surely overworked Sena, and the other new recruits to the team to death.

Neither Hiruma nor Mamori were supposed to even have anything to do with the team, as they were both third years, and the Deimon rule forbid third years to have anything to do with clubs. However, Hiruma had successfully blackmailed the principal with some damning evidence of the older man renting “Best of Tentacle Rape, Volume 15” from a nearby video renting store, and had convinced him to become the new coach of the Devilbats, as Doburoku was currently in jail for several counts of fraud.

Mamori knew that if she didn’t somehow sneak her way back into the team, Hiruma would just make Sena pick up her manager duties, in addition to being the running back to the team. Even if she was aware of the fact that Sena was fully capable of taking care of himself, she still didn’t like to see her childhood friend being taken advantage of. So to be able to control Hiruma’s outbursts, she simply went to the clubhouse one day, and declared that she would continue her managerial duties for the team.

At first, a few faculty members of the school questioned why she was hanging around the clubhouse so often, when it was against the school policy to have any business with clubs, but Mamori only told them that she was visiting for old time’s sake and did her studying in the clubhouse anyways. Mamori thought it was a little strange that they seemingly accepted the answer every time and then left, but she figured it was probably because of her good reputation through the school and left it at that.

She was happy that she was not completely forgotten though, as Sena and Monta had presented her with a hundred dollar gift certificate to Kariya’s bakery earlier in the day. Suzuna also wished her a happy birthday and asked if Mamori had plans for the day, but she simply told her that it was more important that she went over tapes of the opposing team which the Devilbats would meet in the Christmas Bowl and plan out strategies for the team. The petite blue-haired girl had then shrugged her shoulders and walked off to go talk to Sena.

Hiruma had entered the clubhouse a couple of minutes later, with the usual scowl upon his face, as he scanned the faces in the room.

“Fucking shrimps! Why aren’t you outside practicing?!” Hiruma growled, as he pulled out two AK-47s and shot near everyone’s feet, causing the team to scurry outside to practice. Hiruma then let out a sigh and turned to Mamori with the same expression he held earlier. “Have you gone through the tapes, fucking manager?”

Mamori gave him an annoyed look, as she figured that after a year, he would come up with a different name for her, but apparently he lacked in originality, as far as names go. But the thing that irritated her the most at that moment was that she had thought that maybe even Hiruma would care, even a little, that she was putting forth so much work on her birthday, but then she supposed that she should have known better.

“Yes, here’s my written analysis and possible strategies here.” Mamori said, handing him a packet of paper. Hiruma snatched the document, leafed through it quickly, and promptly burned it with a lighter. Normally, Mamori would have yelled at anyone else for destroying something she had worked so hard on, but the man had a super abnormal ability to quickly read through something and immediately understand everything written down.

“I see.” Hiruma commented impassively and turned to go outside. “I better get out there before the fucking pipsqueaks break something by their brainless actions!”

He then opened the door, but just stood there as he surveyed the scene outside. Within an instant, Mamori listened as Hiruma ran outside and screamed at the people outside. Knowing that she was the only one who could deal with his temper, she followed him outside, but paused as she took in the scenery for herself.

The field was covered almost completely by people. Some were people she knew from Deimon, but most of the people were players from other teams. Already, Mamori was a little weirded out, but then the fact that balloons and confetti were flying everywhere, topped off with a huge banner that said “Happy birthday, Mamori!” caused her to look in wonder.

“You dumb shits!” Hiruma bellowed, causing everyone to stop dead in their tracks. To everyone’s surprise though, he sighed and turned around. “Oh well, I guess all the confetti on the field will make it impossible to practice today. But you fucking shrimps had better have it cleaned by tomorrow!”

After Hiruma walked away from the scene, the crowd of people stared for a couple of seconds before shrugging and crowding around Mamori. She felt a bit uncomfortable at first, as she didn’t know most of the people around her too well, but after a while, she became flattered that so many people came to celebrate her party and relaxed a little. So relaxed, that she didn’t even notice Suzuna slowly move away from the crowd to sneak to the side of the clubhouse, where Hiruma leaned against the wall.

“I hope you didn’t forget the deal we made, You-nii.” Suzuna said with an all too cheerful smile.

“Che.” Hiruma sneered as he handed the petite girl a wad of cash. He had been the mastermind behind the surprise birthday celebration, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to risk his pride to go around asking a bunch of people to come to a birthday party, which is why he planned it with Suzuna, so that she instead could recruit people for the party. Unfortunately for him though, since Suzuna had learned that she had to stand up to Hiruma, if she ever wanted any time with Sena, that she would have to learn to cover up her tracks, so she would never have any material for Hiruma to blackmail her with. Even worse, she figured out how to cover Sena’s tracks as well, so if Hiruma ever wanted a favor out of her, he would have to pay a pretty penny to get her cooperation.

“With this kind of money, I think I’ll get myself a new pair of rollerblades!” Suzuna beamed after she counted the money. Her smile faded though as she looked over at Mamori and then back over at the grumpy expression of Hiruma’s face. “But you’re really not going to join the party?”

“And join the fuckin’ idiots? No thanks.” Hiruma said with a roll of his eyes. “Besides, parties really aren’t my kind of thing.”

“Okay…” Suzuna said dubiously, and then took off in a dash to rejoin the party. Glancing to the side one last time, Hiruma looked over at Mamori, His face was emotionless, but as he watched Mamori smile and talk with other people, his expression softened momentarily before he went into the clubhouse to hideout for the rest of the night.

Mamori enjoyed herself through the night, but during pauses in conversations, she would look through the crowd and search for the head of blonde, spiky hair that she was all too familiar with. However, despite her hardest efforts, she could not spot him at all during the night.  She thought about going to look for him, but before she could even take a step, somebody else would stop her. Knowing it would be rude to excuse herself on her birthday, when everyone came to see her, she instead waited out the night, until everyone either left for home or passed out drunk from the alcohol that suspiciously made it’s way through the party after students from Zokugaku started to arrive.

Once the party died down, she walked to the clubhouse door and hesitated, before finally walking in. As she suspected, Hiruma was inside, typing away on his laptop. The bluish light emanating from the computer illuminated his face as he briefly looked up from his work, before he put his head back down to type more.

“Party over, fucking manager?” Hiruma asked.

“Yeah…it was fun.” Mamori answered. “You should have joined…why didn’t you?”

“You should know me better by now. There’s a fucking game in a month, and the shrimps aren’t anywhere near ready yet. So naturally, if you’re out there partying, I have to pick up your slack!” Hiruma explained. Mamori almost accepted his answer, but knew that Hiruma had a tendency to only tell half of the truth. She sighed before walking behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s always a guessing game with you, isn’t it?” Mamori said with a slight smile. Hiruma chose not to reply as he continued to type. “Let’s see…well, it’s certainly not because you’re shy. If my hunch is correct, I get the feeling that it was you who set the party up, so it must have something to do with that.”

Hiruma stopped typing momentarily. It almost seemed like he was easy to read, but he knew that Mamori was just that good, when it came to understanding him. Intrigued by the girl’s power of deduction, he continued to type in silence.

“Apparently I’m onto something.” Mamori said, noticing the pause of his movements. “Alright, this is only a guess, but as silly as it sounds, I’m going to go with that you thought you had no place in my party.”

Hiruma paused again, but this time the light faded away from his face as he turned his laptop off and stood up. Knowing she hit the nail in the head, Mamori looked down at the ground with a wistful smile on her face.

“You’re the one I wanted there most, silly.” She said softly. Hiruma stood speechless for a few seconds, but then placed one hand on her waist and brought the other up to gently raise her head. Mamori knew that Hiruma was not the type of person to verbally apologize, but any discontent in her heart was immediately wiped away as she looked into his eyes. Moments later, Hiruma watched his manager flutter her eyes shut as he brought his face down to capture her lips in a surprisingly soft kiss.

If that was her first kiss, Mamori was sure that she would feel very confused as she did so long ago. However the two knew each other’s mouths well, as it had been nearly a year since Hiruma first kissed her in the locker room after the Devilbats had won the Christmas Bowl. Back then, the kiss had been awkward as the normally overly confident Hiruma was suddenly taken down a notch as he had stopped Mamori from leaving the room by stepping in front of her during whatever argument they were having at the time and put his hand out to trap her between him and the wall.

There were a few moments of hesitation as Hiruma looked down at the smaller woman, wondering if he really wanted to deal with pursuing a relationship. However, he knew that he already went too far to turn back now and closed the distance between them, meeting her lips in a nervous kiss. When Mamori didn’t respond, Hiruma pulled away and tried to turn around. However, Mamori quickly recovered from the shock of the situation, grabbed his hand, and gently pulled him back towards her.

Their lips met again, but this time Mamori responded as Hiruma kissed her again. Feeling a little weak in the knees, Mamori leaned against the wall and put her hands against Hiruma’s chest as the two finally released the long growing tension between them.  Both were lightheaded as Hiruma took the kiss to the next step, running his tongue across Mamori’s lips until she parted her teeth, allowing him more access. With lust guiding his actions, he placed a hand on her back and glided it down until he felt the curve of her rear. Mamori’s hands were just as adventurous as they gripped Hiruma’s jersey, feeling the lean muscles underneath. Before either could go any further though, the noise of the other teammates resounded through the halls, causing the time around them to move again, as both moved away from each other to prevent any awkward situations.

Since then, the two continued their romance behind the scenes, never officially announcing their relationship to anyone else, and as far as they knew, no one had found out about it either. Mamori didn’t know exactly why Hiruma wanted to keep their relationship under wraps, but she figured it either had to do with the possible negative reaction of the Devilbats team (especially Monta), Hiruma’s sense of pride, or the fact that it would give his enemies an edge they could use, thus placing Mamori in a lot of potential danger.

“I suppose that all the fuckin’ brats went home, didn’t they?” Hiruma scoffed, snapping Mamori’s thoughts back to reality.

“Most did, but a few passed out drunk on the field.” Mamori said with a nervous smile. Mamori thought he would be agitated, but instead she watched as the devilish grin she knew too well form on his face.

“Kekekeke…the fucking shrimps make it all too easy for me.” Hiruma said gleefully as he took out his digital camera and strutted outside to take blackmail photos. Mamori only sighed, knowing that she should have saw it coming, but she made no attempt to try to stop him, because it was all students from other schools and she thought that they brought the problem on themselves anyway. A few minutes later, she heard the recognizable sound of rapid fire, which would alarm her if it was anyone else, but she knew Hiruma well enough to know that he would only use his guns as a scare tactic to get the drunken delinquents off the field. After the gunfire and screaming died down, the door to the clubhouse was kicked open, announcing the return of Hiruma.

“Keh…I suppose that since no one else can, I’ll have to walk you home, won’t I?” Hiruma sneered, but the overly dramatic way he said it made it obvious that he really wasn’t that upset about it at all. He then turned around with one hand holding his laptop case and the other in his pocket. “C’mon, fucking manager, we don’t want to be here when the cops bust the brats for underage drinking.”

“What?!” Mamori exclaimed, rushing to catch up to the blonde haired man in front of her. “You’re the last person who should be calling the cops!”

“You don’t think that there’s a single cop in the force who doesn’t have blackmail material on them? Think again!” Hiruma said with a chuckle. Mamori only shook her head with the feeling that he was probably right.

Walking out of the Deimon school grounds, street lamps and the occasional lights from a passing car illuminated the sidewalks for the two as they made their way toward Mamori’s house. Neither had spoken a word since they had made their way past the school, which made Mamori feel just a little awkward.

“So…where do you live?” Mamori suddenly spoke, breaking the silence between them.

“I don’t have a specific place, but why the hell does it matter anyways?” Hiruma answered.

“It’s almost been a year, you know, but I feel like I really don’t know anything about you.” Mamori said, not wanting to directly refer to them as ‘going out’. “I think you know pretty much everything about me, you’ve seen my room a few times, and you even spoke to my mother. However, I don’t even know where you live.”

“You don’t need to know, fucking manager.” Hiruma muttered.

“But I WANT to know.” Mamori exasperated. “Not just that, I want to know about your past, why you live alone, why you seem to hate your father…everything.”

Although he didn’t respond, a pair of feral eyes cast their gaze down, as Hiruma took in what was being said while he walked along side the street.

“I think you know me well enough to know that I’ll never tell anyone else.” Mamori continued. “So even if you never tell anybody else, you can tell me. I don’t plan on leaving you anytime too soon, so I…I want to be there for you.”

This time, Hiruma stopped dead in his tracks and allowed an unseen, melancholic smile to form on his face before he turned around to flash Mamori his trademark toothy grin.

“Alright, fucking manager, I guess we’re taking a detour.” He said, turning to walk in another direction. “But if you get tired, I’m not going to carry you there.”

“I can handle myself, thank you very much.” Mamori pouted. “And you’re the one more likely to break your arm carrying me anyways.”

“Kekekeke…touché, fucking manager.” Hiruma cackled.

“And I think you’ve known me long enough to refer to me by my last name, at least.” Mamori huffed. “It’s not like I’ve ever called you ‘damned quarterback’ or ‘damned psycho’, so the least you can do is-”

“Fucking manager.” Hiruma spoke, before Mamori could finish her statement, irritating her even more. Even if they had been romantically involved for a year, it still amused him to watch her reactions as he picked on her.

“Damn psycho.” Mamori retaliated, which only caused Hiruma to cackle even more. The two continued to go back and forth, calling each other names until they reached the front of an elegantly designed hotel. Mamori looked up at the building, her mouth open in awe.

“Y-you mean you own this entire building?!” Mamori exclaimed.

“Of course not, I just blackmailed the fucking oldie, who runs this place, to let me stay for free.” He responded.

“I should’ve known.” Mamori sighed, not noticing that her company had walked up to the entrance of the hotel until he turned his head with an annoyed look.

“Fucking manager! Are you coming or not?!” he grumbled.

“I’m coming! You don’t have to be so rude, you know!” Mamori huffed, hurrying up to catch up to him. Walking into the hotel, the reactions of both her and Hiruma were drastically different. Mamori got distracted easily, looking at the intricate design of the carpet below her feet and then marveled at the chic design of the marble floor around the front desk. Hiruma, however, ignored everything around him and went straight to the older man at the desk.

“Ah, Hiruma-san!” The man greeted and handed the taller man his room key, but then lowered his voice and raised his hand to cover his mouth as he whispered. “It’s about time you brought a woman with you, I’ll make sure that no one disturbs you.”

“Go to hell, fucking pervert.” Hiruma muttered before turning back to Mamori, making a gesture with his head to signify which direction to walk in. They then walked down the quiet halls of the hotel, until they reached the nearest elevator. Hiruma pressed the up button and stood quietly before glancing over at the shorter female beside him.

“I didn’t get you anything for your birthday.” Hiruma said in a tone that would seem nonchalant to the average person, but the truth was that he really didn’t know what to get her, aside from a fucking gift certificate to Kariya’s bakery, which would have been entirely too predictable of a present or a new mop, which was an even worse idea, as he could imagine her preaching about women’s rights or using the damned thing to hit him over the head again if he pushed Sena too hard.

The elevator then arrived at their floor and opened to allow Hiruma and Mamori to walk through. Mamori watched Hiruma as he pressed the button to the twentieth floor before glancing up to his face to warmly smile at him.

“I don’t need anything. You set up the birthday party for my sake, and that’s enough for me.” She said. “Even if you weren’t there, I’m just happy that you thought of me.”

Hiruma glanced over at Mamori again and wondered how a guy with an infamous reputation as himself could get with a girl like her who was smart, strong-willed, selfless, caring, and beautiful. He knew about the masses of admirers she had at Deimon, but even if most of those admirers were egocentric assholes, it still mystified him as to why Mamori chose him over every one else. But as he looked over at Mamori’s patient face, he disregarded the philosophical battle in his head to nonchalantly put an arm around her shoulders. He normally avoided public displays of affection, but he didn’t have to fear on the elevator, as he stole the security camera in there for his own personal use a long time ago and the maintenance people stopped bothering with it, as Hiruma would only continue to steal each camera.

Finally, the elevator doors opened and Hiruma walked ahead to the door of the sole hotel room on the floor. He slid the card key through the slot of the security device and held the door open for Mamori, who was again entranced by the luxury of his room, even if the boxes of cellphones, camera parts, and guns took the elegance away from the place.

“I didn’t think your tastes would be this expensive.” Mamori commented, turning to look at Hiruma placing his laptop case on a large desk covered by a few other computer screens.

“It’s not the spendy side I’m interested, fucking manager, it’s the space.” Hiruma said. “You wanted to see where I lived, so go give yourself the tour. I don’t have all night, so make it quick. I still have to walk you home, you know.”

“I don’t want to go home.” Mamori said quietly.

“Eh?” Hiruma questioned with a raised brow. “You get in a fight with your mom or what?”

“No, we still get along fine.” Mamori said as she shook her head and then blushed a little. “I’m not saying that we should do anything, but we’ve never spent a night together.”

“I’m not big into sleepovers, fucking manager.” Hiruma responded.

“You can do whatever you do, I just want to sleep next to you. I can just watch TV or something.”  Mamori shrugged. Hiruma glared at her a little longer before he walked over to his door and flipped the deadbolt on it. When he turned around though, he was surprised to see Mamori so close to him. However, as she stood on her tiptoes, all signs of his initial shock were gone as his lips met hers, his tongue quickly slipping into her mouth to slowly taste her. Mamori gave a moan in the back of her throat before moving a hand up his shirt with one hand and wrapping her arm around his neck with the other. Hiruma glided his own hand down her skirt and under her rear, pushing her closer to him.

Without the usual fear of someone bursting into the room, Hiruma had no need to be cautious, however, he pulled away only a minute later, sensing that if the kiss lasted any longer, it would lead to something else entirely. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take the next step, he just didn’t know if Mamori wanted to yet, and he didn’t want to lose her. She technically wasn’t his first girlfriend, as he had played the charade of being a boyfriend to a couple of girls in middle school to secure blackmail material on either someone they knew or the girl herself. However, Mamori was the first girl that he actually had feelings for. And even if she swore earlier that she wouldn’t abandon him, he wasn’t the type to just arrogantly ignore the possibility.

“The bed and the TV are in the next room over, so you can go do whatever you want to do.” Hiruma finally spoke.

“What are you going to do?” Mamori asked, still disappointed that he had pulled away.

“I’ve gotta take a piss.”  He responded in a near deadpan tone and walked to the bathroom. Mamori only sighed and shook her head before she walked over to the bedroom.

Hiruma emerged out of the room a couple of minutes later and found it strange that he couldn’t hear the murmur of the television, so he walked to the next room to see if she had fallen asleep yet. However, what he found instead was Mamori lying on top of his sheets…in her underwear. Hiruma didn’t even get time to be surprised about the fact that her bra and panties were black, instead of white cotton, like he had originally thought, because he felt a slight blush creep upon his cheeks, and he wasn’t supposed to blush ever, god dammit!

“What the hell are you doing, fucking manager?!” Hiruma stammered, barely managing to not stutter in nervousness.

“Well, judging from the impression left on your sheets, I figured you slept over them.” Mamori tried to say innocently, but instead sounded nervous. “And I always sleep in my underwear.”

Hiruma wanted to yell at her more, but as he looked down at her well-accentuated body and the blush that adorned her face, he felt his resolve slipping away. Almost as if he were in a trance, he slipped his shoes off and walked over to the bed. When he reached the edge of it, he kept his gaze locked on Mamori’s as he slowly crawled over her body until his head was directly over hers.

“Fucking manager…” he said huskily before bringing his head down to again capture her lips in a lustful kiss. This time though, with more skin granted to him, his hands skimmed all over her body, reveling in the smooth surface below them. Eventually, he felt Mamori’s hands slide under his shirt, tracing patterns around his abdomen. Hiruma broke away from the kiss briefly, so that he could pull his shirt off and toss it on the floor. But once the garment was on the floor, his lips were back on her again, traveling down to her neck while his hands slid under her bra Mamori gasped at the touch of Hiruma’s cold, long hands against her skin, but she didn’t mind the sensation, as she threw her head back against the bed, allowing a sigh to escape from her lips.

It wasn’t the first time that Hiruma had his hands there, as he tentatively slipped his hands past her shirt during a make out session in Mamori’s room one time, but when he heard the sound of the front door of the house open, followed by the voice of Mamori’s mother, both had immediately snapped out of what they were doing, as they both wanted to avoid a potentially awkward situation. However, he now had all the time in the world to do all the things he wanted to do to her now.

Moving his lips down to her collarbone as his hands went in front of Mamori’s bra, Hiruma unhooked the latch, and gently pushed the silky material away. He then looked up to Mamori’s gaze again before closing his eyes and kissed the area between her breasts before hovering his mouth above one, breathing over it, before running his tongue across it. Mamori moaned again, but this time raised her hand to grip onto Hiruma’s wild, bleached hair.

Encouraged by her reaction, Hiruma placed his mouth over her other breast and suckled it, and felt her fingers grip his head even firmer than before, but he didn’t give it any mind until he felt her other hand slip down his waist, past the waistband of his trousers and rested over his groin. She then hesitated for a moment before moving her hand against the bulge in his pants. Mamori watched Hiruma’s face as he inhaled sharply and creased his eyebrows. Shyly, she then used both hands to unzip his pants and pushed it down enough for her hands to slip past the waistband of his trousers and lightly touch his erect member.

Mamori again looked up to Hiruma’s face, to gauge his reaction, and was entranced by look of awe on his face. Even if she was unsure of exactly what she was doing, she circled a hand around Hiruma’s cock and started to stroke him. Hiruma groaned in reaction and Mamori sped her pace, as she started to get the hang of it. She again looked up at his eyes, which were now half-lidded in pleasure. She sped her pace even more and soon found him moving his hips against her movements.

“Oh fuck, Mamori…” he breathed and reached down to slip his hand past Mamori’s silk panties and first rubbed against the wet folds of her womanhood before slipping two of his long, thin fingers into her entrance. Mamori hissed at the foreign sensation at first, but soon gritted her teeth, trying to stifle the cries of ecstasy that threatened to escape her throat.

Even if Hiruma’s fingers felt really good inside her, she knew it still wasn’t enough. Removing her hand from the inside of his boxers, she placed both hands against his ass and pushed down until he removed his hands from her panties and moved his hips down until their groins touched each other. Making the first move, Hiruma pressed his erection against Mamori’s core and grinded against her. Mamori moaned in response and steadied her hand on Hiruma’s hip before moving against his rhythm.

The two continued to grind against each other until Mamori decided that it still wasn’t enough and was ready to take the next step. Snaking her hand against his back, she grabbed the waistband to Hiruma’s boxers and pushed it down,

“Yoichi…” she breathed and looked up at his face with pleading eyes. Hiruma stopped moving against her and looked at her with a rare, serious expression on her face.

“Are you sure that’s what you really want?” he asked. With her flushed face, Mamori nodded her consent. Hiruma glanced at her for another moment before reaching his arm to the drawer in his nightstand and pulling out a single condom package, which he stole from one of the hotel’s vending machines, because he wouldn’t be caught dead buying a package from any average convenience store.

Even if he heard rumors that sex wasn’t as pleasurable with a condom, he was damned sure that he didn’t want any brats of his own running around. At least not yet. And even if Mamori was definitely a maternal type of person, he was pretty sure that she wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility either.

Opening the condom package, he took out the contents and fitted around his member before glancing over at Mamori with a slight bit of nervousness. Even if she wasn’t his first girlfriend, she would be the first that he had slept with. In an effort to hide his unease from the woman below him, he brought his face up to Mamori’s and kissed her as he positioned himself with his hand and quickly thrusted into her and immediately groaned from the heat that he immediately felt. However, he heard Mamori grunt in pain and immediately stopped what he was doing.

“It’s fine.” Mamori assured him, seeing the concern in her partner’s eyes. “It hurt a little at first, but it’s fine now.”

Hiruma looked up at her eyes for a moment to make sure she really was okay, then reached his hand down to grab onto hers before he made the next thrust. Mamori tightened her grip around his hand and attempted to match his rhythm. After a few thrusts, the two were finally perfectly synchronized in a fast pace and filled the room with their grunts of pleasure. Sensing his climax was near, Hiruma thrusted harder.

“Mamori…” he moaned before moving in her one last time, releasing himself only a few seconds after she reached her orgasm. Panting heavily, Hiruma took a few moments to collect himself before moving out of her and moving his body from his bed to dispose his used condom. He then returned to the bed and slipped under his black sheets with Mamori.

Both lied speechless on the bed for a couple of minutes, until Hiruma rose an arm behind him to rest his head on. A moment later, Mamori laid her head on Hiruma’s chest. Hiruma glanced down at her, knowing that his reputation would be ruined if anyone ever found him lying like this after sex, but without the fear of anyone ever finding out, he put his free arm around Mamori’s back.

“There’s football practice tomorrow, right?” Mamori finally spoke. “Do you want me to leave early, so no one suspects anything between us?”

Hiruma lied back thoughtfully for a moment before a smirk formed across his face.

“Nah, I wanna see if everyone’s reaction is as predictable as I imagine it will be.” Hiruma finally said. “The fucking brothers’ reaction is so easy to predict that I won’t even bother to say it, the fucking monkey will probably go apeshit and say something about not forgiving me, and your fucking shrimp friend will probably not believe it at first and then have that dumb look on his face when he figures it out.”

“And Suzuna-chan will probably gloat about it to Sena, as she was probably the only one in the group that had any clue of what was going on.” Mamori added with a smile.

“Kekekeke…I can see the dumbfounded looks on their faces already!” Hiruma grinned. “If I get any of their reactions wrong, I’ll personally burn my Devil’s Handbook on the spot!”

“You’re that confident?” Mamori asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Trust me, these fucking brats are just that predictable.” Hiruma responded with a sigh.

“I’ll hold you to that bet then.” Mamori said with a smile creeping on her lips.

“Oh, I know you will, fucking manager.” Hiruma cackled. “That’s what makes it interesting.”

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The next day, the members of the Deimon Devilbats waited on the field and wondered why Hiruma, and especially Mamori, who was always early to practices, had not showed up yet, twenty minutes after the designated time for practice. However, once the two finally arrived on the scene, walking side by side, everyone was immediately suspicious. Monta blinked a couple of times before pointing at the two with an accusatory glare.

“You two were up to something, I know it!” Monta exclaimed before turning to Mamori with a pitiful look on his face. “Oh, Mamori-chan, how could you fall for the devil himself?”

“So what if we were up to something?” Hiruma scowled. “It’s none of your business, fucking monkey.”

“WHAAAT?! So you two are…?”  Sena questioned and then turned to his longtime friend with a silly expression on his face. “He’s just kidding, right, Mamori-neechan?”

“Erm…well…” Mamori said nervously, but she had no need to say anymore, as her nervousness gave her away.

“Huh?”

“Huuh?!”

“HUUUUH?!” Kuroki spoke, ending the usual chorus for the three.

Sena, in the meantime, was still standing speechless, as he never guessed that Hiruma and Mamori would ever see each other in a different light. Suzuna looked over at him with a triumphant smile.

“I told you!” Suzuna said enthusiastically. “I KNEW something was going on between those two!”

Standing with his arms crossed, Hiruma watched the chain reaction of what he predicted, almost as if they fell into place like a set of dominos. Mamori, however, had her hand out, expecting the notebook, as Monta had not freaked out about the news. Hiruma did not make a move though, and instead held up a hand to count down from three. As if on cue, Monta gritted his teeth and pointed at Hiruma.

“MUKYAAA! I”LL NEVER FORGIVE YOUUUUUUU!” Monta shrieked, but immediately backed down when Hiruma opened fire at his feet.

“What the hell are you all doing?!” Hiruma barked. “Get your asses on the field and practice now, fucking shrimps!”

Hiruma fired another round of bullets at everyone’s feet; causing the entire Devilbats team to immediately rush to the field. Triumphantly, Hiruma flashed Mamori a grin and pocketed his Devil’s Handbook before walking to the field to supervise the training. Sighing, Mamori noted that everyone truly was as predictable as Hiruma said.

When she stared at the field though and watched Hiruma bark his orders at everyone else, she gave a small smile. If there was anyone that was unpredictable, it was him, and that was why she had fallen for him, when she could have had her pick of nearly any other guy in Deimon. Hiruma turned to look at her, so she kept the smile on his face. However, Hiruma’s face soon turned into annoyance.

“Fucking manager! Don’t just stand there! I still need you to analyze the plays I had videotaped last month, and these fucking brats around going to do it!” Hiruma yelled, causing Mamori’s face to go sour before she turned to go walk inside the clubhouse to do her assigned project, grumbling all the way.

Even if she was in love with Yoichi Hiruma, it was times like these when she really wanted to whack him over the head with her mop.