A/N:You don't really have to read this but thanks anyway. XD

Epilogue: Going Back to Square One

…

Whether or not they cared one horseshit about the scene they had arrived into wasn't made clear to me. All I knew was, these people were my soon-to-be teammates, apparently. At length, the only girl in the group trouped past Starrk and proceeded toward my study table, as if permission had been tendered upon her entrance. Taking a pen and a blank note off my desk, she strode into the middle of my room, her eyes on mine,

"So, I already have a line-up that includes the upper classmen. This also means you're gonna be first-string as soon as your name is added to the roster. I'm now the assistant manager of Keio, by the way."

The smile Lisa was wearing lent a disadvantageous aspect to her appearance. In spite of that, I could not help noticing how much fuller her figure had become. She was now more attractive than I remembered her. All eyes in the room followed her until she was done talking, but it was Ayasegawa, the fastest RB in the region, perhaps in the entire college league, who spoke next,

"Can't we, like, show some leniency here? Our chief QB has just touched down from a long flight and already you're bombarding him with football stuff?"

I stared at this Running Back, who had the athletic prowess of a monster, and wondered how, despite his immense talents, he kept losing to Hisagi. But alluding to that would be no different from rubbing salt on an open wound; instead my question went like,

"I would have thought you'd follow Madarame to Hitotsubashi. Now entering your sophomore year, you are the fastest Running Back that exists in the college league. Why choose Keio U?"

The smile that cracked his lips apart made it necessary for me to take matters with less seriousness. He then asked,

"Do you really wanna hear it? This is gonna be tedious."

"Try me."

"Well, the Dragons of Kyoushin were an ambitious lot. Asuka Katakura-sempai, Madarame-sempai and I had made a pact just before Katakura-sempai graduated. All three of us, believe it or not, once swore to give Coach Zaraki a championship ring. Suffice it to say the failure of the three mighty Dragons to fulfill their high school ambitions has opened a gaping rift between them. The three of us mutually decided to go our separate ways, to finally face each other as opponents in the college arena."

Engrossed, amused and on the whole excited, I held my palms together, poorly imitating the gestures of delighted women, and commented, "What a gut-wrenching narrative, Mr. Lightning. Might we slaughter Hisagi Shuhei together? After all, not an entity in this world is faster than light."

"Certainly. I, The Lightning, shall fry the Cheetah's ass this year, just as you will Kugo's and Katakura-sempai's. But allow me to go back to my original proposal, Grimmjow-san; let's get this party started."

"He's right. Training starts two weeks hence, so we might as well cut ourselves some slack." Kira Izuru offered, at the same time handing out cans of beer and soda to everyone, like some mayoral candidate giving away freebies. And what was this, some convention held in my cramped room? He then turned to me, "Let's bury the hatchet, shall we, Grimmjow-san?"

Whatever he wished to fulfill with the familiarity he was demonstrating was made clear instantly. Of course, he was going to be my teammate, for better or for worse. It should follow that the past feud between us ought to be settled, with or without my wishes taken into account. If it had been entirely up to me, I could've had some use in punching him in the nose just now. That would be a shabby vengeance for the arm he had ordered killed two years ago, right? Instead, a smirk issued from my lips, and before long I inquired, taking the beer he was offering me,

"So what are you gonna be, Izuru, now that I'm next in line for the first-string quarterback?"

"I'm playing as Tight End now. No worries there about the quarterback position. I couldn't really bottle a touchdown without Edrad ramming everyone ahead of me."

"Why go to this university?" I pressed.

"Well, it's the nearest campus to my apartment."

There was no reason to suppose he had a profound reason for choosing Keio, and yet I somehow felt he simply wished not to draw attention to his decision. For all we knew, he was burning with the same desire as I was; to conquer the monstrous Hitotsubashi. Because he had always been a scheming, ambitious bastard, who had had wild dreams, who would do the dirtiest things in order to win, my suspicion couldn't have been more accurate. For that I would be thankful to have him as a comrade. After all, winning is everything. Having deduced as much, or as little, I went on,

"Thanks to you, or should I say the dirty scheme ya orchestrated two years ago, I went on to become MVP."

"Rather, thanks to Edrad here." He corrected, nodding at the massive dude who was stationed outside my bedroom door.

My eyes finally fell on Edrad Liones, the elephant in the room, my former destroyer. Standing quite apart from the rest, he loomed like an oversized statue. If anything, he was like something that wasn't meant to be here. But the difference between him and his surroundings was chiefly superficial, because now the ferocious glare he had always worn in a game was nowhere to be found. And never again would I play against him. Side by side, we could become the strongest duo Japan had ever seen. I found myself approaching him, wary glances propelled at me as if something unlooked for was bound to happen. Were they thinking I meant to attack this dude? Indeed I was walking with the same gait as a man with an axe to grind. When not a foot of distance was left between us, my hand extended for him to take. He shook it, gently as what his natural strength permitted, whereby words escaped his throat, his gaze latched on the arm he had once destroyed,

"I won't break it this time."

The room exploded with laughter. Whether a pun had been intended or not wasn't clear to me, as his face remained straight even though I began to chuckle myself.

"And I can take your word for it, huh?"

"Not only that, Grimmjow; this time I will protect you at all cost, with every ounce of what strength is given me, just as I have protected Izuru and Hitsugaya on the field all these years."

"I'll count on it, then. So why go to Keio?"

He looked warily around, forced a smile, and proceeded,

"The men who taught me how to play football were Izuru and Hitsugaya. If it weren't for them, I would just be your run-of-the-mill juvenile thug. My place is here right beside them."

By and by, I came to realize this whole set-up was some sort of an acquaintance gathering. It was a shame that Hisagi and Omaeda had chosen to flock themselves with elites like Kugo and Tsukishima for the easy win. Perhaps winning effortlessly was what all their dreams amounted to. But no one, at least not I, could hold that against them, as everyone's goal was to make it on top through whatever means. At least Starrk, Shiba, Vega and Lisa were here. Remnants of the old Panthers.

I was shaken off my daydreaming when Hitsugaya sat on the floor beside me at the same instant Ichigo vacated my side to fetch booze and food from the fridge. I started to chatter,

"Did Starrk call you right after the high school league ended? I have actually been thinking of ways to lure you to this team. Turns out there's no need for that."

"Actually, I knocked on his door just this morning to personally tell him I was enrolling at Keio, and you know the rest. But he said I had to first attend some welcoming party with him tonight so here I am. Anyway, how was football in America, Grimmjow-san?"

Before I could answer, Gio Vega rushed to his side, his face connoting as much eagerness as some kid on a Christmas morning. They both looked like a pair of middle school students rather than high school team captains, much less college freshmen. In time, I spoke,

"Grand, but here we have the same strong guys. They're all hardworking but, over here, we also take our game seriously. Full of speed and power, but you and Ayasegawa would easily make a name for yourselves anywhere. Let me get this straight, you two; college football is serious business. If you want this sport you love so much to start making the slightest sense, you have to always come up on top. Always be at the top of your game. We will kill Japan's strongest, Hitotsubashi University. Just bear with me."

I knew it wasn't appropriate to impose this pressure on them or to present myself as some profound leader, but things had to start somewhere. I had to say stuff like this if I wanted to make things happen. However, the conviction with which they nodded made my statement beg for more formidability. I intended to daunt them, only to fall flat off the mark.

"This is really gonna be exciting. At least we have two high school MVPs on the team," Gio Vega blurted aloud, referring to me and Hitsugaya. He finished, referring to Hisagi Shuehei, "whereas Hitotsubashi only has one."

His excitement prompted me to contemplate his situation and to repeat the cycle of interrogating my soon-to-be teammates regarding their choices.

"And you, Vega? What makes you think this team is the best for you? With your throwing skills and hard work, you can get a first-string post on any team which may be running short on talent. As it is, with me as your fellow quarterback on the same team, you'll end up second-string at best." I inquired, thoroughly ignorant of the force of this question.

The hesitation that registered on his face, however, seemed to be endorsing a rather delicate answer. Soon enough, the reason for this bizarre conduct came to light, right when he spoke,

"Truth is, I want to win with you. During your last win in the high school league, that game against Toshiro's team, all the Panthers were kinda losing hope. I for one believed we were done for. But you came back, like some messiah. From that moment on, I realized what football was all about. I'm saying, it was a great privilege to have you as a captain."

If my imagination had been a little more colorful I'd have been liable to assume this kid was fucking in love with me. But I supposed the loyalty he was showing implied something other than admiration. Indeed, it wouldn't be going overboard to assume he chiefly sought familiarity. To him, most likely the preexisting condition of having Shiba, Starrk, and Lisa on the team made Keio University give off a sense of nostalgia. And then I was added to the equation. Five former Panthers in all. It wasn't so bad. I found myself grinning widely.

"How the hell did you know I was planning on entering Keio University, pray tell?"

"Upon the news of your return, I right away ended up asking Starrk-sempai, and he told me the chances of you entering the same university as his and Ulquiorra-sempai's was, like, 98%."

"That bastard sure is too full of himself."

In truth, Starrk's insights might've been spot-on. For what it was worth, I would even go as far as to assure Starrk I wasn't only faithful to him as a teammate, but likely to become more so in the future because he would be the commander this time around. This time, he would be the captain, the one who would sputter directives while I would be sitting back, listening and obeying. Nevertheless, I was the quarterback, the control tower overall. As in my high school days, I was again going to the team's chief engine.

I looked around me, at the people with whom I was to spend the rest of my college days. In the meantime, Ulquiorra and Starrk, who was now drunk as a bastard, could occupy my bed for all I fucking cared. That was to say, I could stand the groundbreaking snore Edrad was discharging with every inhale and exhale. Really, you'd think a dude of his size could handle a six-pack. Moving on, even the alcohol-empowered flirtation between Izuru and Lisa wasn't too disquieting to me. They too could get a room if they wanted. Shiba and Ayasegawa, on the other hand, were maybe one teaspoon of beer each from passing out. If they puked on my carpet I'd throw them out the fucking window.

Only Hitsugaya and Vega were reserved enough to refuse booze. But what neither of them cared to realize was, I was exactly the type of bastard who was very difficult to refuse. Thrusting full-glass beer shots into their chests, I maintained a stern conduct, like a boss. I should've known first-time drinkers weren't supposed to be given pint-size shots, because twenty minutes later Hitsugaya would have to be herded to the bathroom to throw his guts up. On the way out, he would run into Karin, with whom he would exchange cellphone numbers…this owed itself to the fact that he had not the sobriety to remember he was cool and had no business asking underage girls out. For that, Ichigo would chastise me, emphasizing that our sister was only fourteen. I informed him Hitsugaya had only just turned seventeen, which then made the age difference nil. Ichigo let the topic go. But then we started to notice that Gio Vega was taking too damned long to come back from the powder room downstairs. When Izuru went to check on him, he found Vega in the family hall in the process of demonstrating to Yuzu a few passes, using air for a ball and looking stupid.

"I see you're a quarterback too, like our eldest brother, huh?" Yuzu was asking, pretending to be impressed and interested. At that, Vega flushed with color which did not have anything to do with the amount of beer he had chugged down. Due to these overtures involving the twins, Ichigo took it upon himself to completely ban Hitsugaya and Vega from alcohol for tonight.

Spending time with them, on or off-field, would not necessarily translate to friendship, just as friendship, in turn, wasn't necessary to build a strong structure of trust. As long as Starrk and Ulquiorra stayed close to me, I would be fine in the university. And as long as I had this impressive array of talents around me, my team would come out on top to challenge the best and to dismantle the order of things. Indeed, we would slaughter Kugo, Hisagi, Madarame and the rest of this invincible army, and take the college league by storm. We would rock the football world; mark my words.

Finally, as long as Kurosaki Ichigo stayed by my side, on my bed, I would remain stable. For the meantime, I had to wait for these rowdy football dudes and the manager chick to get too drunk to notice me and my stepbro slipping into his bedroom for privacy, if you knew what that meant.

END