I Am A Shadow (DnA Fanfic)

11. Time for the Real Training!

It was lunch break at Seidou High. Esumi exited her classroom with a few of her female friends. Haruno was with her, of course. Following behind the two baseball girls were three other females. One with short black hair and bright green eyes. Another with long reddish-brown hair and gold eyes similar to Esumi's. The last girl had short blonde hair and blue eyes covered by black rimmed glasses.

"So Esu-chan, is it hard being that only girl on the baseball team?" The blonde girl questioned, glomping the younger girl from behind. The other laughed pleasantly. Esumi smiled a bit and steadied her balance. She looked back at the blonde girl that hugged her tightly.

"Not really, Kyomichii. I work just as hard as everyone else on the team. And it's cool because I'm treated as an equal." Esumi smiled brightly as she thought about her teammates. The blonde first year, Kiyomi, nodded in admiration.

"Wow, you're so lucky!" The girl with red tinted hair gleamed. The ravenette nodded, clutching her friend's hand.

"Yeah, Esu-chan is always surrounded by such good looking senpai!" The ravenette squealed. Haruno laughed shaking her head.

"Esumi-chan is also respected highly by them! It's really amazing." Haruno complimented. With the shake of her head, Esumi brushed off her friend's compliments.

"You guys are crazy, Yumichii. Kaorichiu." Esumi laughed, motioning to the brunette, then the ravenette. The four girls laughed.

"Esumi-chan is so modest!!" Esumi's four friends teased. The little group turned toward the stairs on their left, but Esumi stopped suddenly. The brunette with the red tint, Yumi, bumped face first into the baseball player's back.

"Oww. Oi, Esu-chan." Yumi whined. Her childhood friend, Kaori, laughed. Esumi turned to them, motioning the four cheerful girls to be quiet. She turned back to the stairs, silently listening to the conversation.

"Damn it. I don't like this." One boy said. Esumi was quick to notice that the boys speaking on the stairs below her were her teammates. She was about to speak up, but stopped herself.

"Oh, you too?" Another asked their friend. The first boy scowled.

"Damn right!" He growled, looking at his two friends that surrounded him. "I can understand Ryosuke's brother, but why the hell is Sawamura on the varsity team?" Esumi's fist clenched tightly in anger that people were talking badly about her twin brother. "During that practice match, if Chris wasn't there we would've been knocked all over the park. He doesn't even know how to pitch from the set position. There's no way you can use him in an official match like that. I don't understand why the Coach put him on the team and not the other upperclassmen. Even his sister is more qualified to be on the varsity team that Sawamura himself. I hate the Coach. He's such an ass. Tossing us aside like we're nothing."

This time, Esumi really was going to step in. But she was stopped when a hand was placed on her right shoulder. Esumi looked toward the person, to see three figures towering over her. One of them, the one that had their hand on her shoulder, was Zono. "Zono-senpai." Esumi and Haruno muttered. Their friends, observing the intense scene from behind. Zono shook his head, then turned to confront the ungrateful freshmen on the stairs.

"You retards!" Zono bellowed angrily, as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "We're part of a team that is always aiming for Koishien. It's nothing outrageous to have talented people that aren't ready for the stage this year on the bench so they can get a feel for what it's like." He continued, staring down harshly at the first years. Esumi stepped besides her upperclassman. The freshman tensed, seeing the dark expression on the female baseball player. The first year that was complaining chose to ignore the presence of Esumi.