You're seeing correctly... A new chapter. With all the free time I have left before school resumes, I'm trying to update this as much as I can. No worries to the story's plot thought cause even if I seem like I'm rushing things, I've already drafted the flow of the story which makes it easier for me to write even with the little time I have. I'll have one last chapter finished before Jan. 5 then I won't be able to update anytime soon anymore.

Well then, thank you so far and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Revelation

The sight of Rina eating breakfast together with the first year trio was not unfamiliar. But there was definitely something different to the atmosphere around them and at an enough distance people had been keenly observing them.

"Were they this close?" Kuramochi wondered.

"Huh? They always eat together, those three. What's wrong Kuramochi?" Jun retorted.

"You're just probably tired. Will you be alright in today's game?" Miyuki taunted the shortstop.

"Actually, Kuramochi's right. Something's different." Ryousuke pointed out.

"Ryo-san…" A smirk made its way to Ryousuke's face.

"Well, we have two practice games today so I guess we'll just have leave things for later. I'll ask Haruichi what's going on later tonight." The pink-haired third year stated as a devious aura started emitting from him.

_._._._._

It was now the game between Seido and Shuhoku and Tanba is at-bat. Rina's eyes sparkled as she watched by the sides.

"This team really is awesome!" she thought to herself. The hard work and effort they put into their training was inspiring that she wholeheartedly wants to support them in whatever way she can. Not with just her duties as the manager, as it is given that their job is to help the team. But she wanted to do a little more extra.

Gripping the fence harder than ever, Rina focused on the battle between Tanba and Shuhoku's pitcher. Little did she know the tragic incident about to happen…

_._._._._

And there it was. Tanba was on the ground. The ball had hit his face. Rina went pale. As if all the energy she had in her disappeared, her hand that was on the fence fell down to her side.

"…" she struggled to find her voice. Even if she had wanted to scream, the horror of what just happened rendered her speechless. Rina went back to her room trembling. Although she was well aware that accidents like this are unavoidable in sports, she was always overwhelmed by fear especially when she had already experienced the same thing.

A meeting was held the following day. The whole team's spirit was down. Even if the ace number was given to the third year, with him not possibly making it to the summer tournament was undeniably disheartening.

Before the boys went back to class, Rei had approached the younger Kominato.

"Kominato-kun, how has Rina been doing?" She asked him this knowing that her niece had been spending a lot of time with him and the other two first years.

"She's as shocked as we are about Tanba-senpai." Rei sighed.

"She's probably better off back in America." the woman whispered. She let out a thank you before turning her back on Haruichi.

_._._._._

Later that evening, Rei visited Rina's room. She knocked thrice on the door. There was no reply. Rei sighed.

"Rina, you're in there aren't you? Open the door." Rei softly demanded but inside, Rina just clenched the pillow she had been embracing harder and buried her face deep in it. It was no use so Rei decided to tell her what she had to say behind the door.

"I think it's better if you went back to America. We initially brought you back here in Japan to let you have a break in order to relieve you of all the stress you've started to build up there… But because of yesterday's incident I don't know if Seido has the right environment you need anymore. Al least you can continue your rehabilitation when you go back." She tried coaxing her niece with the last statement but Rina just shook her head.

She didn't want to think about anything right now. Why did her aunt have to bring that up. She stayed silent refusing to reply. Rei tried to wait a few more minutes longer but soon gave up. She left Rina alone to give her some time to calm herself down.

Once she was sure Rei was no longer there, Rina slipped into her jogging attire and quietly sneaked out. She spent the night wandering around the school premises to make sure that no one will really find her out.

Eventually, dawn came and Rina didn't sleep a wink. As she went back to her room early in the morning Kuramochi came across her.

"Rina-chan, your attire…" Kuramochi narrowed his eyes on the girl and continued "Did you go for an early morning jog?"

"Yeah, something like that." Rina answered, looking away from Kuramochi then continued to walk towards her room though the moment she passed by the green—haired boy, she lost consciousness.

"Oi Rina-chan!" The shortstop successfully caught the brunette "Are you alright? Oi Rina-chan!?" He tried calling out to her many times but she didn't wake up. Kuramochi decided to bring Rina to her room and afterwards, he went to call for Rei and a few more others.

When Haruichi found out about what happened to Rina he immediately told Sawamura and Furuya. The three hurriedly went to the girl's room.

"Rina are you alright!" Sawamura shouted as he entered the room.

"Be quiet you idiot!" Kuramochi tackled him to the ground and locked him into one of his wrestling moves.

"Both of you keep quiet." A soft yet stern voice scolded them. It came from Chris.

"Is she alright?" Furuya asked showing his concern for the brunette who was lying on the bed.

"She just fell asleep." Ryousuke said as he looked over Rina. "But her knee is swelling."

The three boys were surprised. They took a good look at her and saw the clothes she was wearing.

"Don't tell me she…" Eijun who was immediately released by Kuramochi earlier trailed off with his words.

"You guys know something don't you?" Miyuki indicated.

"We don't know anything!" Eijun tried to stubbornly declare.

"Haruichi." Ryousuke called his brother's name in a serious tone in an attempt to make him tell.

"Aniki… we" He paused for a moment but continued "don't know anything."

"Haruichi, you suck at lying." Ryosuke pointed this out and Haruichi whined.

While the others tried to make the stubborn three talk, Rina finally woke up. She raised a hand to her forehead as she had a slight headache. She sat up and looked around her room to see that a lot of people where present.

"Rei-nee, everyone, what are you guys doing here?" Rina asked as she tried to get up from the bed. Sadly, the moment she took a step with her right foot, her knee gave in and she almost fell down if not only for Kuramochi who had swiftly caught her.

A light shade of pink painted the brunette's cheeks as she uttered a soft 'Thank you.' The second year helped her sit on the bed.

"Rina, you are so…" The continuation of Rei's scolding was cut-off when Rina tried to smile trying to show that she was alright.

"Sorry Rei-nee, everyone as well. I caused you trouble during such a period. Sunday's incident just shocked me so much I almost broke down." The girl gave out a weak laugh while she had an apologetic face.

"Takashima, your knee…" Jun tried to inquire on the condition of the girl's knee.

"Jun-senpai" Rina paused for a moment "Call me Rina!" she demanded.

"I want everyone to call me Rina. You can add '-chan', '-san', or if you don't have the balls to call me by my first name call me 'Empress.'"

"Empress?" Everyone present in Rina's room except for Rei, Haruichi, Sawamura, and Furuya all said in chorus.

"Yep, Empress." Rina had a smug expression on her face. "Well then, the one sitting over there..." She pointed a finger to Miyuki who was sitting on the chair of her study desk. "Can you pass me the spray on top of my desk?" Miyuki motioned to grab what Rina was asking for and handed it to her. It was a cooling spray that helped relieve the swelling in her knee.

"Now, that's better." Rina's face lit up now that the pain she was feeling earlier had started to dissipate. "On to the real topic… Rei-nee and I need to talk about something so can you guys leave us to ourselves for the moment?" Rina then looked at three certain people and nodded to them with a smile on her face.

"Haru-chan, Sacchan, and Ei-chan will tell you everything." She attempted to stand up again and this time she was successful. Rina bowed her head to Kuramochi, Miyuki, Chris, Jun, and Ryousuke. "I'm really sorry."

All the eight boys went to get some breakfast afterwards. There, the three first years will tell them what they found out three nights ago.