Sorry this one took a while. I swear the manager in charge of making our work schedule has way too much fun with it ._. Crazy managers, crazy hours, crazy customers, crazy coworkers, crazy everything lol
Second Week of June- First Day of Training Camp
"More like first day of hell," Rin snorted while shrugging off her uniform for her t-shirt and shorts.
"Let's have fun together, Rin-chan!" Haruno grinned from beside her.
While Haruno was ecstatic her friend was going to be in the same afterschool activity as her, Rin was still sour that she had given in so easily, yet she showed up to practice the next day just like she promised.
"You know we won't be around each other much since I'll be with Chris-senpai and the coach, right?"
Haruno nodded, "But it's still nice to be here together." Her cheerful smile made Rin sigh; she just couldn't stay grumpy with Haruno's innocent face beaming at her.
"Let's go before we're late," Rin mumbled, ushering her overly happy friend out the locker room. They went their separate ways as Haruno went to help her upperclassmen prepare everything, and Rin went to look for Chris in the fields.
As she arrived, the first-string players were already practicing with the help of the rest of the team. One section of the field was set up with cages and nets for batting practice, and another was bordered by fences for catching. "I'm expecting more than this if they're going to call this a training camp," Rin mumbled to herself. "It looks like regular practice to me." After looking around a bit more, she finally found Chris who was with the four pitchers. He smiled in greeting when he saw her approaching.
"The coach is busy with practice, but I told him and the team everything," Chris informed her. "Just stay with me today and help me with the pitchers." He nodded towards Furuya who just missed an easy catch and was getting yelled at by Maezono.
"Oh boy…" Rin deadpanned at the scene. "Can I do things my way or do I have to run everything by you?"
"Let me know. You're my responsibility until you prove to everyone you're capable and knowledgeable."
"Maybe they should've done their research on me before making me join first. You know, just saying…" Rin rolled her eyes.
Chris peered down at her, "Watch your mouth. I'm still your senpai."
"Sometimes I want to strangle you."
"You first-years are such a handful," Chris sighed and rubbed his forehead, making Rin grin in satisfaction before turning back to Sawamura and Furuya who were getting an endless scolding from Maezono.
She examined the way they scampered around the field, obviously clueless about their task. Sawamura's head spun left and right, trying to figure out what he's supposed to be doing, while Furuya had the slowest reaction to the ball ever.
"Please tell me those two didn't make the team by just pitching alone," Rin's stared incredulously. Chris' silence confirmed her suspicions and she couldn't help but to smack herself in the face.
As the first-year pitchers continued scurrying about, Maezono took a break and jogged over to Chris and Rin. "Those two haven't improved one bit," he sighed.
Chris agreed. "They won't get any better when they have to think about it."
Rin scoffed, "Forget that. They're moving around like they've never even played the game before." Her statement immediately earned her glares from the two pitchers who somehow heard her from across the field.
After glancing at Chris for approval, he nodded which Rin took as her queue and waved for the two to come over. As soon as they were within distance, she reached up to smack both of them on the head.
Furuya clutched his soon-to-be bruise while Sawamura did the same with a shout of: "What gives?!"
"Sawamura…" Rin said his name calmly, yet with the most deadly venom laced to it.
He quickly silenced himself as she gripped his shirt and pulled him to her level. "You did not try to make me join the team these past couple of days, just to show me this performance."
The poor boy stumbled over his words as Rin pulled Furuya down too, and continued her lecture about everything that was wrong with them. Tanba, Kawakami, Chris, and Maezono could only watch amused, as the smallest person on the field began damaging the egos of the most uncontrollable pitchers ever.
Tanba leaned over Chris to whisper, "Was she always this blunt?"
"Pretty much… Tanba, Kawakami, go in the bullpen first."
At the mention of the bullpen, Furuya and Sawamura instantly turned to Chris, pointing to themselves. "Wait, what about us?"
"You two are going to do this until you perfect it."
Their reactions made Rin snicker and she released the boys.
"After this, you're going to catch outfield fly balls," Chris continued. "Then you have to throw back to the plate afterwards. Got it?"
As Chris began explaining the importance of their training menu, Rin couldn't help but doze off and flipped open her notebook instead, writing down notes for the pitchers so far. Next thing she knew, she heard Sawamura yelp as he jumped to catch a ball… and completely missed.
"What the hell are you doing, Sawamura? You better not do that in a game!" Maezono yelled louder than ever.
It was like a never-ending cycle.
"We've got a lot to work on…" Rin stated. Her upperclassmen beside her sighed in agreement.
As the sun started to set, Haruno and the other three managers brought out food, signaling a break before evening practice. It was also the time that Kataoka made Rin stand at the front and formally introduce herself, to which everyone shouted back a greeting and continued devouring the food.
While the players relaxed before their next training regimen, Kataoka looked over the notes and potential practice menus Rin wrote and grunted in approval. "I'm expecting a lot, from what Chris has told me."
"Ugh, way to raise the bar for me," Rin groaned silently, glaring at Chris who was looking over her notes with Rei and Oota.
"Well Chris, you are in charge of all the managers," Oota started. "Where would you like to put her?"
Chris smiled, having already thought everything out. "She'll work with the entire team overall, but I'd like to have her focus more on the first year pitchers."
"Wait a minute," Rin interrupted. "Why the pitchers? You know my specialty's batting."
"Our batting line-up is strong this year and consists of mainly third-years who have experience." Chris explained. "Tanba and Kawakami are doing alright, but Sawamura and Furuya need all the help they can get." He looked to the adults who also agreed that it was the best decision. "Plus… I'd rather you yell at people in your own grade rather than offend your upperclassmen."
"Tch…" Rin crossed her arms. "I don't offend anyone."
Chris gave her an unconvinced look. "Right… of course… Also, working with the pitchers means working with the catchers, too..."
It took a moment for it to register in her mind. Once it did, she completely flipped, causing the adults to quickly make their exit, telling Chris they'll leave everything in his hands.
"Why? Of all people!"
"Just try to get along with him."
"I'm beginning to think joining the team has more cons than pros."
Chris mussed her hair, "We made a deal. Mine was a long-term investment while yours was not."
The field lights have replaced the sun long ago, yet the team had just barely finished the first day of their training camp. Everyone was panting heavily as they stepped off the field, even the experienced second and third years, but of course, the first years were the most worn-out.
The other four managers had left after feeding the team and Chris left before them for his daily training with his father. Meanwhile, Rin had just finished recording the times of each player's run during the drills, and followed the rest of the team out.
"You could've gone home before evening practice with the other managers."
"Ah the one person I want to see the least," Rin muttered, looking up from her notebook to see Miyuki leaning on the fence wearing his signature smirk. "My work requires more time and I'd rather not do a half-assed job," she simply replied and continued walking past him.
Miyuki snickered and pushed himself off the fence, "That's exactly what I thought you'd say."
"What?"
"Let's go," he fell into step beside her as they neared the school gates.
"Go?" Rin questioned. "Um, your dorms are that way, you dork." She pointed behind her.
"I know," he simply stated, taking her by the wrist and increasing their pace. "That's why you should hurry up so I can return as soon as I can. Which direction do you live in?" he asked as they step into the empty street.
Rin stumbled out a response while she continued letting him lead her through the dimly lit road, not that she had a choice. Her home was usually a twenty minute walk from school, but being pulled into his pace, it seemed she'll be getting there sooner tonight.
"You don't have to walk me home, you know," Rin muttered.
"…I can't let you walk alone at this time of night…" Miyuki spoke up. "It's not safe."
Rin's eyes widened at his statement. "Did he really just say that?" She could only stare at his back dumfounded. "Well, I guess even someone like him can have a few positive attributes. It somewhat makes up for his twisted personality."
Her shocked expression continued burning into him, until he tilted his head back, still keeping his pace while his eyes met hers.
His gentle appearance suddenly changed to his usual grin, "After all, Chris-senpai asked me to walk you home and I'd rather not get in trouble with him. Heh heh…"
Rin rolled her eyes. "Just being around you annoys me."
"Why, thank you!"
"Why did I even expect anything out of this guy?"
"Your foot's not high enough… That wasn't even close to the strike zone… You're throwing too high… You just walked the batter… Are you even trying?" Rin pointed out after each pitch.
"GAHHHHH!" With a loud roar, Sawamura threw his next ball as hard as he can at the net.
"Stop!" Rin called out and he paused right before he was about to grab another ball.
Calmly walking over to Sawamura, Rin raised her notebook and gave him a good whack to the head, sending him to a sitting position on the ground. "Calm down," Rin sighed as the boy gave her a pitiful expression. "Your ball control is bad enough and it's even worse when you're frustrated."
"Ah! I'm still tired from yesterday!"
"Stop yelling and starting throwing like you mean it!"
Sawamura stood up while Rin plopped back on the ground and continued observing his pitching form. Chris had said she would be working with the first year pitchers, but to her, it felt more like he dumped his babysitting job for Sawamura on her.
It was only the second day of the training camp, yet Chris had her following and taking notes on Sawamura during most of it. The only time she wasn't with him was when they had group practice like fielding or running.
Rin sighed as Sawamura threw another ball completely out of the imaginary strike zone in the net, "If that's your best pitch at the beginning of this training camp, I don't want to imagine what it'll look like at the end of it when the exhaustion catches up to you."
Cue another shout.
"So, what do you think?" Chris approached and stood beside Rin.
"His power's decent, but I can't say the same for his control. Here." Rin held her notebook open above her head for him to look at; revealing many pictures of Sawamura's pitching form clipped to the pages. "The differences are hard to catch, but if you look closely, you'll see his form is different every time before he throws the ball."
Chris hummed in thought as he flipped through the many pages filled with just pictures of Sawamura and a small note next to each one. "So how do you want to fix this?"
"I think having him throw continuously into the net is helping a bit. He's still off but it's definitely better than when he first started," Rin grunted has she struggled to keep her arms up for Chris to continue swiping through the pages. "I honestly can't tell if he's thinking too hard about it, or if he's not thinking at all. The important thing is to have him pitch naturally, so having his body become familiar with the movement is all we can do for now…"
"I agree…" Chris nodded and began pointing to each picture he couldn't see the difference in. "What's wrong with the top left picture on the second page?"
Without even bringing the notebook down to look at it, Rin quickly answered, "His foot was raised three centimeters higher than when he threw his perfect pitch."
"I see… What about this one? Middle right picture on page ten?"
"He pulled his arm back for half a second longer and it ruined his timing."
"…Ah… and the bottom right one on page six?"
"He stood two centimeters farther than usual."
At this point, Chris deemed she was definitely too observant when it comes to baseball. Not that it was a bad thing, but it certainly creates a problem conveying her notes to an idiot like Sawamura.
"Are you done? My arms are getting tired," Rin complained, bringing him out of his thoughts. He lifted his hand off the notebook to signal he was done as she brought her shaking arms down.
"Oh, I just remembered!" Rin exclaimed, jabbing her finger as close to Chris' face as she can while sitting down. "Don't you ever make Miyuki walk me home again!"
He sighed. "I'm not going to let you walk alone in the middle of the night."
"Anyone but him then."
"I've already asked him to do it for the remainder of the week."
"Why would you do something like that?!"
A small smirk made its way onto Chris' face, which went by unknown to Rin, who had started yelling while pacing back and forth.
Chris admits she's definitely observant and good at making use of information, but for him, she was too easy to predict and manipulate, as proven when he convinced her to be a manager twice already.
"Chris-senpai, I'm done." A panting Sawamura approached him, pointing at his empty bin which was once filled with baseballs. "Um, is Rin-san okay?"
They both looked at the small girl who was still ranting to herself about a certain "useless catcher" while waving her arms around occasionally.
"She does this a lot. Just let her cool off and she'll be fine," Chris chuckled, but Sawamura looked unconvinced. "Just be glad you haven't seen her completely lose it…" he trailed off as he finally went to calm her down.
"Rin," he called out to the girl, placing hand on her shoulder. "I have an offer for you then, since you don't want Miyuki walking you home."
She eyed him suspiciously, hands still hanging midair from her outburst, "…What is it…?"
Chris almost wanted to smirk. Almost.
"Stay in the dorms for the remainder of the training camp."
If I had a penny everytime I called Sawamura an idiot in this story and then deleted it cause I realized I typed it too much... oh god lol
But yeah, I freakin love Chris. Such a good-natured guy... that's why I had to make a character he can pick on xD
Thanks for reading! :)