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Further Down The Road > 2 <

Monday after Neil's class he met with the Foxes at the court. Andrew pulled into the parking lot and the engine hummed to a halt.

As they stepped into the lounge, the Foxes were already waiting for them. Everything was back to normal except for the energy.

Coach Wymack stepped into the room after they all took their usual seats. 

Wymack clapped his hands together to get the attention of the players "Before we start practice I want to know if you all heard the news about Riko and Tetsuji Moriyama"

"Of course we do, it was all over the news, how could we not?", Dan answered for the sake of the team. 

It had been a while since Riko last crossed the striker's mind. A shiver went down his spine as he thought of the lack of information he gave his teammates. He considered speaking up, but his train of thought and action were interrupted.

"He shot himself, although I doubt highly. He wouldn't shoot himself" Allison stated not at all taken aback of the accusation

"No, Ichirou did", Neil told them. "I witnessed it", he confessed.

The players seemed not too surprised by that. "I knew it!", Nicky shouted out triumphantly.

"Tetsuji failed as a trainer so Ichirou made him retreat. The consequences that Riko failed  made him shoot him in the head."

The coach blinked a few times, sorting his thoughts aside. "Okay then, good for us and now get your stinking asses to laps on the field"

The Foxes went for the laps after changing. Afterwards they tried perfecting their techniques and other drills.

Neil felt the grip on his racquet in his hands. He liked the feeling too much. He swung it this way and that, rebounding on the same spot, just as he practiced. He liked giving his best on the court, even during practices. He liked having things under control, he liked just existing, not having to be anyone.

After practice the Foxes waited up in the lounge.
Renee seemed to be uncomfortable, but curious either way.

As he walked into the room, heads turned on him, giving him their attention. They had similar expressions on their faces, they were curious.
But about what?

"There he is" Nicky said gleefully and expectant. "Sit down boy, we need to talk with you. You've been killing us since day one,  so please, we want to close our bets, they've been going on for decades"

"Yeah, do us a favor, answer this one question" Allison continued. She pointed to the seat next to Kevin and Andrew on the couch, the goalkeeper seemed not amused by confrontation. 

"Andrew is so going to kill us" Nicky murmured from behind her. Andrew seemed to decide which Fox he would kill first, but decided to not do anything until the question was asked, until then his expression remained still or bored. 

Neil felt confused, but somewhat knew what they were going to ask next. He weighted his options. It was easiest to just walk away from it since he didn't know the answer to any questions including Andrew and him. Andrew was most likely to put a knife to the throat of the person who asks.

He didn't remember sitting down, but felt the tension in the room. The question everybody wanted the answer to.

"We all know you two have something... special" Nicky searched for the right words as he continued, wiggling his fingers at Andrew and Neil as he did so. "Tell me- I mean us -- are you dating or...?"

Neil saw the fury in Andrew's eyes as he made the attempt to stand up and lung for the backliner. But suddenly he stopped. His anger blew away so suddenly Neil wanted search for the source, but he soon realized he was it.