Diamond no Ace: Laugh, Love and Live

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At three in the afternoon at the A Ground, the whole team was gathered by Rei under Coach Kataoka's order. They fell in line, with the first string players occupying the first and second line then followed by the second string and the rest of the members.

The managers, composed of Fujiwara Takakako, Umemoto Sachiko, Natsukawa Yui and Yoshikawa Haruno, were busily preparing the necessary things for the players such as refreshments, balls and others. However, the eldest among the four girls appeared slightly worried. She looked in the direction of the dorms, as if hoping that a certain female brunette would come running any second now.

She have already handed the uniform to Megumi, like what Rei had asked her to do. Training is about to start in a few more minutes, but the said girl is still nowhere to be found. Hopefully, the head coach won't scold her, or worse get mad at her for being tardy. She knew that he disliked tardiness.

"We'll be having a new manager and member starting today. She'll be helping us out a lot so make sure to get along with her well." Coach Kataoka simply said, which the team returned with a lively, positive response. His eyebrows furrowed slightly when he realized that Megumi was running late. He would have to remind his niece later, after training.

~~~

Megumi was running late and she doesn't know how she'll be able to show her face because of that. Her uncle disliked tardiness, but perhaps he would let it slide this one time. The girl has a plausible reason for that. She was in the dorm fixing her belongings, which only arrived earlier from her uncle's home and she just rushed to change into her training uniform, without unpacking the rest of her stuff.

The brunette ran towards the direction of the field which was quite far. Somehow, this seemed to be the best warm-up for her. At least, she won't be scolded any further than this, is what she hoped. Although knowing her uncle, he would most likely talk to her after training finished – alone, she might add.

When she arrived, the girl composed herself first and looked down at herself to check if her clothes were alright. She took a deep breath after dusting off the lint off of her new blue and white uniform which matched the players of the team. She felt proud that she get to wear this, even though she knew that there is a low probability that she will be able to play.

'Maybe I should probably try out for the track and field club instead.'

The girl sarcastically thought to herself as she descended down the steps and head straight to the dugout where everyone was already gathered. Her uncle noticed her and nodded his head, motioning her to hurry and stand beside him. She sped up her pace and finally stood next to Coach Kataoka, a serious expression on her face.

The baseball club members stared hard at her form, probably wondering why a girl was wearing a jersey like them. Megumi suddenly felt nervous with the way they were scrutinizing her closely and she felt her heart beat faster than usual. This was worse when she gets nervous before a game back then.

'If I was a burger patty being grilled, I would probably be charred by now...'

"I'm sorry for being late, sir." Megumi bowed at her uncle, after a few moments. She didn't want to disrespect him in any way. It was only an appropriate course of action to do. She stood up straight once more, staring up at the head coach who didn't say anything.

"That's fine. Moreover, you should introduce yourself now."

"Eh? Who is she? Why is she excused for being late?" Sawamura blabbered, as he bombarded his seniors and teammates with questions which earned him a harsh whisper of 'shut up!' from Kuramochi, who glared back at him from the front lines.