Diamond no Ace: Laugh, Love and Live

Truce

The day before the match between Seidou and Ichidaisan, Megumi woke up earlier than usual and did her morning rituals, before dressing into the baseball team's training outfit. She looked at herself on the full-body mirror placed on a corner inside her room.

After dusting the lint off of it, the brunette smiled at her reflection, obviously contented at the sight of her looking presentable for the morning training. Megumi brought her bag of equipment with her, remembering that she had forgotten about it yesterday because she was rushing.

As the girl trudged to the direction of the field, the cold morning air hit her and made her shudder. It was still five in the morning but she could hear voices talking in low volumes and she deduced that most of the members of the team are probably up and are practicing their swings right now before morning practice officially starts.

On the way out of the dorms, she actually saw some guys using the weight room and batting to the net. The team's actions awed her because they're actually being so dedicated even if there's no reassurance of them making it as regulars. Megumi thought that it was really fascinating.

As she arrived at the field, she saw someone running around the area, pulling tires behind him. At that scene, the girl raised an eyebrow. However, she figured that it might be a physical training to increase that certain player's stamina.

'Ah, knowing uncle it must also be a mental training for him too... It's like killing two birds with one stone, then.'

The brunette smiled happily, as she walked towards the dugout and set her belongings down on the bench. She pulled out her pitching glove, holding it in between her arm and side.

It was almost time for training which is supposed to be five-thirty in the morning. Megumi got a box-like container of hard balls from the equipment shed and carried it in the bullpen before doing the warm-up exercise she made for herself.

~~~

Loud noise could now be heard from outside and Megumi knew that the team was going to have a meeting so she rushed out of where she was and fell in line beside an underclassman she did not know the name of. She wiped her face using the back of her hand because she was sweating quite a bit after warming up. Luckily, the meeting was just about to start.

"Tomorrow, the regulars will be having a match with Ichidaisan since it's still in the middle of the Spring Tournament. I hope everyone will work hard today too. We'll be cutting our training short in the afternoon so that everyone could rest early."

Her uncle, in Megumi's opinion, looked quite tense even though it's not noticeable in the others' eyes. But that's because they didn't know his uncle enough to realize this. He was obviously worrying about tomorrow's game and how tough it would be.

"Tee-batting in the cages. The rest will be in the afternoon, which is fielding practice." Coach Kataoka ordered as the whole team dispersed to practice swinging into the net, using the pitching machine and practice with real pitchers.

Megumi was about to head into the bullpen to get her glove because left it earlier. She was planning to volunteer herself to be the practice pitcher for the batters. A hand suddenly grabbing her arm took her by surprise, scaring the shit out of her.

The girl turned around to see who it was. Her eyes immediately narrowed into hostile slits, not welcoming the intruder who dared to come near her even if she had already clearly warned him not to.

"Let go," she spoke in dangerously low voice, but he ignored it. That irritated her more than it usually should. Megumi was certainly not the most patient person on the earth, but she can be sometimes. It's just because of him.