AN: Yes, updates exist. Just very...rarely...

It comes as a bit of a surprise to Akaba when the person who meets him at the entrance of the stadium is not Sena, but his captain, Hiruma Yoichi.

Akaba raises an eyebrow as he straightens up from leaning against the gate post to confront the other.

"Yo, fucking red eyes." As usual, Hiruma's nicknames and greetings are crass and vulgar but Akaba does not let it disturb his rhythm.

"Deimon's captain. What can I do for you?" Akaba asks, his voice collected and his expression calm.

"You know the fucking shrimp." Hiruma stated.

"What of it?" Akaba wants to ask how Hiruma knew about him and Sena but he had a feeling he didn't actually want to know. That and Hiruma probably wouldn't give him a straight answer anyways.

"Kekeke, it's rather troublesome for one of our future opponents to already know about our ace. You catch my drift, fucking red eyes?"

"Fuu." Akaba adjusts his shades. "If you think I'm going to blab to everyone I see about Sena-kun, then you're mistaken. I wish to see Sena-kun reach his fullest potential, just as you do Hiruma. Eyeshield 21's secret identity is safe with me."

"Kekeke, good to know we're on the same page." Hiruma demonically grins then as a glint appears in his eyes. "But is that all of what you feel? Mr. Tokyo MVP?"

There is the smallest twitch of Akaba's fingers that no ordinary person would have seen but Hiruma, who wasn't all that ordinary, did see. His grin widens, showing off all of his teeth.

"Do you really just want to see the fucking shrimp reach his full potential? You sure you don't have an ulterior motive?" Hiruma is taunting him, goading him into a trap but Akaba is no stranger to taunts. Even though they are hitting dangerously close to home, Akaba does not let his calm facade slip.

"Is he really just your little brother, fucking red eyes?"

"That is none of your business," Akaba quickly answers, a bit too quickly and he doesn't answer the question. That's when Akaba knows he's fallen for Hiruma's taunt. The man is a frightening tactician, both on and off the battlefield and Akaba knows if he stays any longer with Hiruma, he will reveal things that he won't admit even to himself.

Hiruma seems to realize Akaba is ready to retreat then and backs off, postponing this battle for another day. As a commander, he knows when to time his attacks and when to back away. As interesting as it would be to get more dirt on Akaba, Hiruma can wait. He's already gotten Akaba's word that their ace's identity won't be in jeopardy for now which had been his goal. Finding out that Akaba wasn't all he seemed towards Sena was just another plus in his book.

"Whatever you say fucking red eyes." Hiruma turns on his heel. "Whatever you say."

Even though he doesn't hear it, Akaba feels like Hiruma is cackling as he walks away.

Once Hiruma disappears around the corner, Akaba leans back against the gateway and releases a deep breath.

'Hiruma Yoichi...he's a dangerous one...'

Several minutes later, Sena appears.

"Hayato-niisan!"

"Sena-kun, you got my text?"

"Yeah." Sena holds out his phone, showing the text Akaba had sent him when the game ended asking to go get dinner with him. "Where's Koutarou-san and Julie-san? I thought I saw them with you during the game."

"They had to go back right after the game," Akaba answers. "You did great today, Sena-kun."

Sena flushes from the praise, scratching the back of his head—a nervous habit he had that Akaba thought was endearing no matter how old Sena got. "No, well, I was only in the game for the last ten seconds..."

"And those ten seconds were the ones that decided the match," Akaba says, a small smile. "Every second matters in an American Football match, Sena-kun and you proved that in your game today."

Sena practically radiates happiness at Akaba's praise. But it's quickly replaced by gloom as he suddenly remembers Hiruma's casual announcement of their next opponent.

'The Oujou White Knights, one of the strongest teams in the tournament. Waahh, will be okay tomorrow?'

"Sena-kun?" Akaba bends down a little to try and meet Sena's gaze, something he often did to get Sena's attention when Sena starts to get lost in his own thoughts.

"Huh?" Sena blinks as he finds himself staring straight into Akaba's shades. "What is it Hayato-niisan?"

Akaba's lips quirk upwards. "You got lost in thought Sena-kun. Do you want to talk about it over dinner?"

"Ah." Sena scratches his chin with an embarrassed smile. "That's probably a good idea."

They're almost done eating their burgers at a local fast food joint when Akaba brings up the topic.

"Sena-kun, do you know who your opponents are for tomorrow's match?"

Sena puts down his drink. "The Oujou White Knights. Kurita-san said Deimon lost to them last year 99-0, although I'm hoping we'll do a little better now that the Golden Generation is gone, haha." Sena weakly chuckles, not even believing his own words.

Even if Oujou had gotten weaker, Deimon was still no match for them; Sena knew that. Deimon was a new team with only two main, veteran players while everyone else was all substitutes. And he, Sena, was a new member with zero game experience. Sure he may have been fast but Oujou had Shin, Kantou's strongest Linebacker.

Did they really stand a chance?

A loud guitar riff shakes Sena out of his thoughts and he realizes Akaba has brought out his guitar. People begin to stare but Akaba pays them no heed-he's used to the stares of people who don't understand the nature of his rhythm.

"What are you thinking so hard about Sena-kun?" There is a small smile on Akaba's face, one that Sena is very familiar with. It is the same smile Akaba always gives him when encouraging Sena; one that told Sena his big brother was with him. "All you have to do is run across that field, faster than anyone. You can do that, can't you?"

That's when Sena realizes he has been worrying for nothing. What did it matter who their opponents were? All he had to do was run, just like he always did.

Sena nods, a smile finding it's way on his face again. He suddenly feels really hungry and eagerly digs into his burger while Akaba chews on his own at a calmer pace.

"Thank you, Hayato-niisan," Sena says to Akaba at the end of the night when they are on the subway heading home.

Akaba raises an eyebrow at the words. "For what? All I did was tell you the truth."

Sena can't help but smile at this. "You really are amazing Hayato-niisan." Here, his smile broadens and brightens so much that the subway lights suddenly seemed to have dimmed in shame. "I'm glad you're my big brother."

Sena does not notice the way Akaba's fingers pause over his guitar strings nor notice the silence that stretches just a little bit longer than normal before Akaba replies. "Me too, Sena-kun."

The subway arrives at Akaba's stop and he gets up in one fluid motion, his guitar in it's case and the case already on his shoulder as he onto the platform, waving to Sena one last time before the doors close and the subway speeds off again. Akaba is grateful the subway had stopped when it had or Sena would have known he was lying when he said those words.

The Oujou vs. Deimon game goes mostly as expected. Akaba had already predicted Deimon would lose. They were simply too weak, lacking in both experience and manpower compared to the illustrious White Knights. But Deimon had bared their fangs and shown that they had potential, that if they were given the time and opportunity they could become just as fearsome and ferocious as the elite monsters that ruled the American Football world. Deimon has the chance to be strong.

Sena has the chance to be strong.

And Akaba...

Akaba feels torn.

He wants to feel proud at seeing Sena mature because as his big brother, that's what he should feel. Perhaps a faint feeling of nostalgia would linger inside him before fading away, like the echo of the final note of a song. Except he doesn't feel nostalgic and the proud feeling is an afterthought as jealousy rear it's head and clouds his thoughts when he sees Shin look at Sena.

Shin is beginning to see the potential in Sena. He is starting to see Sena and Akaba finds it as hard to stomach as an out-of-tune guitar. Akaba is not the only one looking at Sena anymore.