- Genre: Friendship, Crack
- Word Count: 890
- Pairing: Reader, Sakuraba
- World: Eyeshield 21
Haruto Sakuraba.
A pretty boy pop idol working for an advertising company and playing football for the Ojou White Knights.
Constantly being hunted down by reporters and rabid fangirls.
Bearing the weight of being Ojou’s Ace, when he clearly was not (despite having tried to keep up with that reputation only to be outdone by Shin every single time).
A teenage boy with no clue what direction he wanted to take. In his opinion, the football team would be better off without him. Seijurou Shin was the real ace of the team, after all, and Sakuraba just couldn’t compare no matter how hard he trained.
At his current level and emotional un-stability, you would have to agree. If he felt like he wasn’t good enough to be on the team, then he really wasn’t.
Sakuraba’s main problem was the fact that he stood at a forked road, with two different paths leading to two different futures. Road one was his career as a poster boy, clad with fame, fortune and screaming fans. Road two was his interest as a football player, which wouldn’t guarantee fame, fortune, and screaming fans, but did guarantee happiness at getting to play a sport that he genuinely enjoyed.
Since he strongly believed that the team did not need him and would be better off without him, he chose road one. That is until he remembered the promise he had made to Torakichi Nanpa – a little boy who was in the same hospital after being in a car accident and a fellow football player. After that, he returned to the field, reborn anew. He gave up his job at Jari Productions and put everything he had into playing football. Just because he couldn’t catch up to a natural born player like Shin did not mean he couldn’t play to the best of his ability.
Naturally, it was pretty unexpected for the pretty boy to cut his hair, but that just proved how serious he was and how much drive he really possessed. It was impressive to you and Takami, who understood the meaning behind it. Otawara found it extremely amusing. While Shin… well, Shin never even noticed. At least not until Takami pointed it out, then he just stared in disbelief… That boy really was hopeless.
It wasn’t unexpected that Sakuraba had lost his entire fanbase because he quit his job and cut his hair. His fangirls only liked him because of his looks and the fact that he was famous. They didn’t know anything about ‘em at all. They only wanted to get in his pants so they could say they slept with a pretty boy who happened to have fame and money.
You were honestly surprised at the unexpected turn of events at the White Knights versus Punks game. You had thought that all of his fans had been lost, but you had been mistaken. The original three girls that had found him when he first stopped by Deimon to do some scouting were still his fans. They were in shock at the fact that he quit his job and buzzed his hair, but they were still die-hard fans.
You had to give them credit. Maybe, just maybe, not all fangirls were psychotic morons who only wanted to get laid by someone hot or famous. Maybe… fangirls weren’t as bad as you originally thought.
Once the game ended, you approached the three in the stands, a grin on your face.
“I’m actually pretty impressed with you three.”
“Eh?” The three in question blinked in confusion, not understanding what you meant.
“Despite the changes Sakuraba has gone through, you three are still die-hard fans.” You gave them a thumbs up, closing your right eye. “Keep it up. He loves the support.”
The three stared at each other before stars appeared in their eyes. They rushed you, grabbing onto you and shouting various things, all of which were centered around Sakuraba.
“He loves us?!”
“He knows we’re the ones cheering him on right?!”
“Does this mean he knows we exist?!”
“Introduce us!” That one was chorused by all three.
You sweatdropped, slowly attempting to move back away from the horrifying girls.
Okay. You were wrong.
Fangirls are horrifying, merciless rabid monsters that need to be locked away in cages!
“Sakuraba!! Help me, damn it!”
Sakuraba blinked in surprise, looking up to the stands where his best friend was being hounded by three very obsessed fangirls. He sweatdropped in response, sending you an apologetic smile before dashing away. He finally managed to escape his fanbase; you had to be crazy to think he’d go back.
“Damn you Sakuraba! Just wait ’til I get my hands on you, bastard!”
“Don’t you dare hurt, Sakuraba-sama!” The girls glared at you, the stars turning to daggers.
You gulped, chuckling nervously before taking off, the rabid dogs following close behind with a murderous intent in their eyes.
“That was unexpected…” Shin muttered, watching as you were chased throughout the arena.
Takami, who figured he was using sarcasm (as most people would in this situation), chuckled in response, pushing his glasses up. “Well, it was pretty obvious that was how it would end.”
“Really?” Shin blinked at the bespectacled male in disbelief, though his face remained stoic.
“You-You were serious…?” Takami sweatdropped.
Shin simply nodded.
Oh lord… please help this hopeless team…
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