Devilish (Diamond no Ace)

Protective Instincts

Trigger Warning: Use of guns in this chapter because of the Eyeshield21 crossover. Although it is for comedic effect and no one actually dies or gets hurt, I'll make sure to mark the spot in case you'd like to skip over it.

True to his words, the next day Kuramochi was banging on Hana's door bright and early. Luckily for him, it was one of the days where the team didn't have morning practice so he could take his sweet time in hunting down his younger roommate.

He suddenly stopped when he felt a shiver run down his spine. The door slowly opened and Kuramochi could swear up and down that there was black fog rolling out from the inside of the room.

He gulped when rust-colored orbs peered out from within the darkness, "The hell do you want?"

"Is Sawamura still here?"

"He woke up early and was too damn rambunctious so I had Al-chan take him on a walk. He's not back yet."

"Oh...I see."

There was an awkward pause before Hana sluggishly made her way to her desk, leaving the door open for Kuramochi to come inside if he so wished. The 16-year-old's jaw dropped at the sight of the messy room. His image of girls having this neat and cutesy room completely shattered at that moment.

When he took a step inside, his foot landed on one of the many papers strewn about the floor. He bent down to pick it up, quickly skimming over the contents.

'A training menu...?'

His sharp eyes looked around at all the various papers and journals lying around, 'Are these all training menus?'

Kuramochi was jolted out of the midst of his inspection when Hana practically shoved a scroll into his chest., "Here. Tell the mutt to stop leaving his crap behind. I got enough shit in my room."

The wavy-haired blonde yawned and flopped down on the bottom bunk. Practically cocooning herself in the comforts of her blanket and pillow.

The second-year glanced at the clock and realized they were going to stop serving breakfast soon, "Oi, shouldn't you be getting ready for class? You're going to be late at this rate."

"I'm always late."

"Huh?"

Seeing that the girl had no intention of elaborating, Kuramochi crossed his arms and continued his interrogation, "Then what about breakfast?"

"Skipped."

"So you're only eating two meals a day and you're always late to class..."

The shortstop practically shivered when he thought of the silent fury of Kataoka and Takashima if they ever found out about what the student coach was up to.

"...get up."

"Hah?"

Kuramochi turned on the lights and yanked the blanket off, exposing Hana to the morning air, "Get up and go get dressed."

"I can't," She mumbled while squinting her eyes because of the light, "the school building isn't opened yet."

"What does that have to do with any—"

Kuramochi paused as he processed her words, 'Wait. She's staying in the boys' baseball dorms, but there's no way she's been using our communal bath. None of the girl sports teams have their own bathhouses like we do. So then how has she been doing morning hygiene?'

"Don't tell me..."

For the first time he looked at Hana, really looked at her, and saw her. Not as this witch who read people's minds. Not as the demon that terrorized the school. Not even as the student coach who had been writing all these training menus.