Diamond no Ace: Laugh, Love and Live

Tension

It was the night after the game. And to be honest, Megumi was thrilled to see it up close although she was a bit disappointed at some aspects. Especially so, when the supposed ace, Tanba, walked off the mound with unsatisfactory performance which hadn't met her uncle's expectations.

The girl could understand though. Her uncle was a pitcher himself back when he was still a student at Seidou and he was also the one who brought the team to the Nationals once. Unfortunately, they were eliminated at the quarter-finals according, to him. It was a story that Megumi had repeatedly heard from him since she was a young girl.

But it was okay. He still has room for improvements. Everybody has room for improvements. If not, then everyone would be called perfect, don't they? It was a sign of being able to surpass one's self from yesterday.

Megumi, on the other hand, was inspired when she had seen an article of Yoshida Eri on a morning newspaper. She aspires to be a pitcher like her, who was the first woman to be drafted in Japan's All-Male Baseball League at the early age of sixteen. And she was reminded that she still has a chance to be able to play baseball, despite her gender. She had the need to work harder, all of a sudden.

A chance had already presented itself to her. All she needs now is a game plan on how to achieve the results she wanted and what she should do in case there will be some drawbacks to her plan. Time is short. A year and a half could pass by quickly without her being able to do something.

~~~

Megumi headed outside the dorms and into the pathway. She was wearing a pair of black batting gloves and her metal bat is placed in between her torso and arm. She was fixing the fitting of the glove on her right hand, when someone called out for her.

"Ah, Fujimoto-san..."

The girl immediately smiled at her fellow teammate upon seeing him. It was one of the third-years, Kusunoki Fumiya, who was currently smiling amiably at her. She bowed out of respect and he simply laughed it off.

"Excuse me, I'd like to swing my bat too."

"Go ahead."

The girl went to an empty corner, just enough for her to practice her swing after she had excused herself. She stretched a bit first, to avoid any complications and started swinging her bat. Her regular menu is five hundred, although depending on her condition, she may lessen it or do more than that.

"Out to practice, huh?"

A deep voice suddenly spoke behind her back, making her turn around to confirm who the person was. Indeed, it was also one of the third years, who she looked up to when it comes to batting: Yuki Tetsuya, Seidou's captain and clean-up batter.

"Good evening, senpai."

Megumi bowed politely, smiling a bit. Yuki nodded at her before proceeding to practice beside her. The girl could not believe her eyes. Before her is one of the people she admires. She could vaguely remember her uncle telling her something about how the current third years were entirely different, back from when they were still in their first year of high school.

Megumi remembered watching them back when she was still in junior high school. She was visiting her uncle just to check out the team that he had built. And in one of the games, Yuki was batting and had hit a magnificent home-run. That was the time when she had looked up to him when it comes to batting.

Yuki is calm and always poised. He lets the tricky pitches go but definitely hits the easy, out-of-the-course pitches, beautifully. He is someone who truly deserves the position of clean-up and captain. He simply leads the team with his encouraging plays.