Diamond no Ace: Laugh, Love and Live

Troublesome Greenhorn

"First base!" A shout from fielder in the A Grounds could be heard as Megumi stretched her body like how Chris told her to. It was the official start of their one-on-one training with their designated catchers, after all. Except, she would be going along with Sawamura and Chris unlike Furuya who is paired up with Miyuki.

Well, it doesn't really matter to her anyway. She still deemed Chris as better than Miyuki by, maybe a level or two? He is someone she admires in terms of high school baseball even if he had barely played during the past three years for Seidou. Which is the reason why, she had asked him yesterday if she could also be under his guidance.

The said brown-haired senior was currently helping Sawamura to stretch, probably trying to figure out his strengths and weaknesses as a pitcher since she had gone through that observation too earlier. She was glad about the positive feedback he got from him earlier.

"Senpai, I'll be warming up first since I'm done stretching." Megumi smiled at Chris who just silently nodded before continuing what he was doing with Sawamura. The first year was quiet for a while although his face says otherwise. It just literally screamed 'jealous'. The two of them were facing the players participating in fielding practice, which are the first-stringers including Furuya. The person Sawamura labeled as his rival.

"Your face says you envy him," Chris quietly commented as he raised Sawamura's left arm over his head and the other arm crossed over his body. "You want to be there with them soon, don't you?"

"HOW LONG ARE YOU GONNA WASTE TIME ON STRETCHING?! IT'S BEEN OVER 30 MINUTES! HEY, IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I'VE PITCHED! LET ME PITCH SOME BALLS!" The rowdy freshman obnoxiously yelled without any slight hint of respect or something. Chris just ignored him and wrote something in his small notebook. His expression didn't change even if he was just ordered by a mere boy who is younger than him by two years.

A sigh could only escape Megumi's lips after watching Sawamura's never-ending idiotic antics from afar, as she finally started running around the field. She took off in a light jog after wearing the weights weighing around 5kg that she wrapped around her ankles over her socks. Of course, she asked permission from Chris if she could wear those sand-filled weights during training. Luckily, he agreed and even got praised a bit for trying to think on her own on how to improve her lower body. Megumi was pretty psyched up after that.

~~~

"Damn it! What the hell?!" Sawamura cursed loudly as he ran around the field with a rope tied around his waist and on the end, following him closely was a vehicle tire. He was shouting scandalously about how Chris went back first and how he obviously did not want to catch his pitches at all.

'How dense could this boy be?'

Megumi thought as she slowed down from her run. She had politely bid farewell earlier to Chris before he completely left after catching a few pitches from Sawamura. She actually wanted to do that too but she'll have her chance soon enough–is what she thought. He would probably ask her to pitch a few to him in a week or two.

Her eyes found a group of team members composed of second years, gathered as they talked while watching Sawamura. She quietly approached them and listened in on the conversation, pretending to rest after her self-training. She wiped the sweat away from her face.

"Did he have a falling-out with Chris-senpai already?" One of the boys asked his companions. Her ears immediately perked up at the subject–or rather, subjects of their topic.

"It kinda sucks to be paired up with senpai," Megumi clenched her fists at that comment, before wiping her sweat off from her forehead with the front of her uniform again. She made sure to keep her calm and shut up for a while, as long as they do not overstep their boundaries on talking shit behind others' backs.