Disclaimer: Not mine.

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"Huh?" Sena looked up to Shin who had shoved the apple into his hand.

The linebacker nodded at him then continued jogging on.

Politeness spurring Sena on, he shouted after the taller high-schooler, "T-thanks!"

He looked at the apple then shrugged. He bit into it. That was weird.

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"Hey, um, Mamori-neechan?"

"Yeah, Sena-kun?" Mamori absent-mindedly straightened his uniform.

Sena chewed on his lip then asked, "What does it mean when someone gives you an apple?"

Mamori laughed then said, "Oh. Well, there's this thing in America where students give their favorite teachers an apple."

"Huh. Really?"

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"Um." Sena tried juggling the three heavy plastic bags stuffed with groceries to reach out for the apple being given to him by Shin.

After several minutes, Shin dropped the apple into one of the plastic bags. He nodded solemnly at his rival then jogged off.

"T-thanks!"

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"I'm pretty sure I didn't teach anything to Shin-san."

Monta paused his game of Psychonauts. "Maybe, since he sees you as his rival…err…since he trains his butt off competing with you…he considers you his mentor…?"

They both looked at each other then said in tandem, "Nah…"

"Sena-kun, Sena-kun, I've got it, I've got IT!" Suzuna hollered as she skated into the clubroom.

"Um, what?"

Suzuna rolled her eyes. "You know! The Apple Debacle! There's a saying, (back when I was in America, I heard it from this guy, weird guy, he wore a cowboy hat and a red scarf, can you believe it?), an apple a day keeps the doctor away!"

Sena shook his head. "But I haven't been to the doctor."

"Well, maybe, Shin wants to keep the doctors away from you. Like they're bad for you if you're a running-back. Like tics." She nodded knowingly.

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"Er." Sena looked a bit dumbstruck in an embarrassing shade of baby blue pajamas.

Shin gave him the apple then the tangle of wires and plastic that had previously been the doorbell button. Then acting as if this was an everyday occurrence for Shin, the tall football player turned around and then…jogged some more.

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"Well, an apple does symbolically mean perpetual concord." Yukimitsu pointed at the line of text in the book before him, showing Sena.

"Oh," then Sena flushed. "Does he mean that w-we're friends now?" He smiled a bit stupidly at that.

Yukimitsu paused. "Oh, wait. That's the flower. I don't think it means the same thing if it's the fruit."

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"Listen, Sena." Jyuumonji looked a bit grim. "Have you been eating those…apples?" He heaved the barbell on top of him a few inches higher.

They were alone in the training room.

Sena looked up from stretching on the floor. "Um. Yeah…? Why?"

"Well. (This is kinda dumb), but I remember this story when I was a kid. You know Snow White? And how her step-mom gave her poisoned apples? Maybe there are razors in those things that Oujo player keeps giving you or something. You know? To get you out of the next game."

Sena looked a bit pale now.

Then his face straightened out. "Shin-san's not that kind of person."

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"You fucking chibi. You're distracted. Here." Hiruma shoved a piece of paper at Sena.

"Sorry, sorry!" He looked down towards it.

It was Shin-san's class schedule.

"Huh?"

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Sena ran. He'd been surfing the web when something had caught his eye. Then he remembered what Hiruma gave him. Then he ran out of the house, even though it was already completely dark outside.

He saw another figure in the distance, running. He caught up with a burst of speed then slammed into Shin.

They collided to a stop.

Shin looked at him.

Sena looked at him.

Then Sena stood on his tiptoes, leaned on Shin's sweaty sweater, then softly kissed the side of the linebacker's lips. Then he kissed a spot behind Shin's right ear, right at the edge of his jaw. Then he kissed Shin's closed eye, the one on the right nearest the second kiss.

Sena rocked back to his heels.

Shin opened his eyes. He looked down on Sena watching him.

Then Shin leaned down and carefully, cautiously kissed the side of Sena's open lips. Then he kissed a small place behind Sena's left ear, right at the edge of his neck. Then he pressed his lips right against Sena's closed eye, the one on the left nearest the second kiss.

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"So, which one is it exactly?" Musashi looked through the bushes with Hiruma cackling quietly beside him. "The Adam and Eve story or the Golden Apple from Greek mythology?"

The blond was carrying a camcorder.

He sniggered. "Who knows? Oujo's Classical Studies cover both topics."

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An apple means temptation/the most beautiful.

The end.