Takako is not in a good mood today. Her expression was grim since morning practice. The most annoyance was not finding the reason why. She looked up to the sky as she leaned on the dug out's low fence. It was grey, signaling her that raining will pour heavily. Was the current state of the weather that affected her mood?
Takako shook her head; telling herself that is not true. She remembered reading a book that says that weather did not influence a person's mood. She frowns again.
She turned her attention to the boys playing on the field. The players from her year were the only one practicing. The second years were on the school field trip while the third years were preparing for the exams. She remembered the coach also told the first years to take a day off but as the baseball idiots they are, they didn't listened and when Takako arrived at the school, she found the boys were jogging on field. She let out a smile for a while before remembered that she was not happy and her expression became sullen again.
A Manager's Bad Day
Disclaimer : I do not own Ace of Diamond.
Rated : K+
Her phone rung and she took it out from her phone. 'Rei-san's name appeared on the screen along with a short message that says "I think the boys forgot their laundry in the washing machine, will you put it out and dry them? Thank you, Fujiwara-san."
Takako sent a glare to the players on the field, anyone (Chris swore that his back flinched for a while and it broke his concentration for a second). She then pats her clothes and head out the field, entering the dorm area. The first year manager of Seidou High School Baseball Team made her way to the laundry area, took the basket and filled it with clothes she pulled out from the washing machine.
She stopped her activities for a moment, wondering if the manager duty made her annoyed and affected her mood today. She then, again, shook it off. It was the thing she did almost every school day for almost a year and she had no problems doing so. Except the time when the players of her year accidentally made the washing machine broke because they inserted too many clothes at the same time. She remembered she was giving everyone a death smile the whole day.
Takako shook her head once again and lifted the basket up to the drying area, just outside the dorm. It took her 10 minutes to hang all of the clothes and head back to the dorm. She sat down on the bench and let out a sigh.
"What are you doing here?" a voice made Takako startled. She looked around before she found the person who spoke out the question. Standing outside the restroom across the dorm corridor was Yuuki Tetsuya, a tall and poker-faced also simple-minded (according to her) who was also the member of Seidou High School Baseball Team.
"I'm fine." Takako did not expect her voice would be so firm and sharp. She herself was surprised at the words that came out from her mouth. She then saw the look on the person who was asking the question and found him holding his breath with a shock look on his face. "Takashima-sensei told me that you boys forgot the laundry and it was inside the washing machine since morning, care to explain why?"
She could see Yuuki shivered from head to toe. She thought it must be a surprise to him that the quiet manager that used to tend them during night practice with onigiri on her tray and a warm smile suddenly turned into Takashima Rei second. Takako was about to go full-lecture mode before she heard thunder followed by rain that starts pouring down so suddenly.
The black-haired teenager stood up and ran towards the drying area, pulled the basket and starts pulling some clothes that were hanging on the clothesline pole, left to dry. She was still pulling some clothes when a player of her year, Koichiro Tanba, called her with a panic voice.
"MANAGER! PLEASE HELP! THERE'S A—"
The rain was pouring hard that Takako didn't caught what the young pitcher had said at the end of his sentences. She could see Tanba waved his hand at her frantically, as if telling her to hurry up because something's very emergency is currently happening somewhere.
Takako finished securing the clothes and entered the dorm area that has shelter. Just then, she noticed Tanba's face was white and pale as a sheet. Tanba's finger pointed out to the area where the dugout of the field was. Takako didn't waste any time and quickly dashed out, under the heavy rain, to the dugout.
There, she saw many of the players were blocking the entrance of the dugout and prefer to stand under the rain instead of taking a shelter under the said dugout. Takako pushed the players and made her way inside, only to find that the other players grabbed her shoulders and made her somewhat a human shield.
From a damn cockroach.
"MANAGER, PLEASE KILL THAT THING!"
"FUJIWARA-SAN, PLEASE KILL THAT—AAAA IT MOVED!"
"WE ARE TOO SCARED TO TAKE A SHELTER INSIDE THE DUG OUT BECAUSE OF IT!"
Takako reached out her hand to the boys, "Give me something to hit it with! A bat or anything! Hurry!"
Realizing that no one handed her anything, Takako turned her head around only to see the players began to hug their bats, shaking their heads furiously. Takako inhaled, trying to conceal her annoyance.
Skillfully, she lifted her right leg and stepped on the cockroach, killing the insect in an instant. Behind her, she could hear the players let out a gasp and shocked noises. She cleaned her shoes by tapping it to ground and turned her body around, where the boys suddenly made a path for her and let her exited the dugout. Takako quickly ran to the dorm while trying to shield her already drenched hair and jersey from the heavy rain.
Takako was very sick for the next couple of days. It looks like the incident of her running around without an umbrella backfires and now she was lying on her bed with a cooling pad and a mask covering her nose and mouth. She was going to sleep the umpteenth time today before she heard a knock on her door.
"Takako, a package came for you." Her mother said as she opened the door and approached her daughter. Takako sat up and accepted the box from her mother. It was quite a big box she might say. The teenager wondered who gave it since her birthday had passed long ago.
Takako ripped the wrapping paper and opened the lid. She found one pair of a new sport shoes inside it with her size, along with an envelope. Curious, Takako opened the envelope and found a lot of messy handwritings on the paper that was inside the envelope. Most of them wrote an apologies and get-well-soon messages. Also telling her to wear the new shoes that was inside the box the next time she go to school because it's still 'clean' unlike her previous ones.
She knew those messy handwritings and silly yet heartwarming messages belong to the first year players of the Seidou High School Baseball Club. Takako smiled at the paper and hugged it tightly. Being a manager is tough but the appreciation that Takako receives from the boys also made her happy. She reached out her phone and sent a text with an instant message application to all of the first years with a 'Thank you!' along with cute emojis.
Takako slept with a smile, forgetting the bad mood she experienced few days ago.
A/N : I FINALLY WRITE A STORY! A new story that is. The idea came in when I saw a screenshots of a drama about high school baseball whereas a scene where the players got scared shit when they saw a cockroach and called their manager to kill it for them. It inspires me to write about the Seidou 3rd years (now alumni I think cry) got scared at a cockroach and Takako had to step up.
Aka I abandoned my journal analysis, self-analysis and presentation to write this and my group plus lectures may or may not will kill me for this.