A/N: This chapter was requested by guest reviewer. I came to the realization that I really missed Hina and Sakura, and that my requests line up perfectly! I can't believe no one has complained about the lack of Kiyotaka yet, but I have no problems with that.
Pretty much every high school with a population over twenty had a sports team or ten. Sports are a massive part of the high school experience. You could almost say that athletics are underrepresented at Hope's Peak. However, amazing athletes were difficult to find at the high school level. This means that in order to get accepted, an athlete would have to be the best of the best. It's been established that Leon is a baseball god, but the 78th class had another athlete, Aoi Asahina. The difference between the two of them is pretty clear. Leon was lazy and specialized in baseball. Hina was motivated and excelled in all athletics. To say the two were polar opposites would be a pretty accurate description. Even so, having two athletes in the same year was beneficial to the school, providing useful data and comparisons. The two of them were also enrolled at the perfect time to get an experience that was unique and would be extremely helpful- but also torturous. Before class started for the day, Hina had announcement to make to Leon that would begin to set him off the stupid road of becoming a musician for a girl.
"Hey, Leon."
"Hey Hina. 'Sup?"
"Coach said he wanted to talk with you after class today."
"Who're you talking about? I'm not on a team right now."
"Wait, you seriously don't know? What kinda athlete are you? I'm talking about the Ultimate Team Manager. He's gonna be in charge of us for the year. He wanted to give us some time to adapt, but training starts next week!"
"Whoa, what? Training? I don't wanna do any training! I've never had to bother in my life, and I'm sure as hell not gonna start now, especially because I don't even want to be an athlete anymore! I wanna be a musician, remember?" It was pretty much common knowledge at this point, thanks to a certain idol spreading it around.
Hina looked a little annoyed. "Yeah, yeah, I know, whatever. But unlike you, some of us actually have to try, and Coach needs to evaluate you."
"But I already said-"
"I know you don't wanna be an athlete anymore, geez! Quit saying it over and over. But in case you forgot, you were enrolled in this school as the Ultimate Baseball Player, and the board would be really angry if you never used your talent."
"What're they gonna do, expel me? They can't kick me out if they don't even have a team to put me on!" It was at this point that the truth was made clear. For a ladies' man, Leon sure was bad with women.
Hina just sighs. "Let's try a different approach. Coach is graduating this year, and the school really wants him to work on their athletes. Between his upperclassman, yearmates, and underclassman, he's had a total of three athletes from Hope's Peak to train. Two more would be huge for him! Where's your compassion?"
Now noticeably uncomfortable, Leon had a choice to make. He made the obvious decision. "Dude, I can't handle that much work right now! I gotta work on my music career!"
"Oh come on, all you have to do is show up and do some exercises so he can evaluate you! That's all I'm asking right now."
"Fine, whatever. I'll do that." He runs his hand through his hair. "I don't wanna be trained though. I had this awesome trainer back in middle school, and I don't think anyone could compare to how great he was."
Hina beams. "Great! I'll run and tell him right now! He was really eager to meet you, for some reason."
"Well yeah, why wouldn't he?" He asks in a teasing tone.
She glares at him. "Killed the mood. Well anyway, see ya!" The last part is said as she runs out the door to tell the coach the good news. Meanwhile, Leon was miffed that she had pressured him into this.
The day goes as usual, and as he meets the Ultimate Team Manager, he just kind of stares. Turns out, he had coached Leon in the past! While the coincidence was pretty crazy, it was even more crazy that Leon had accepted the idea of training with him. Turns out, the Ultimate Team Manager was just that good.
A/N: So you may or may not have noticed that I'm avoiding using sdr2 characters by name, and that is completely intentional. Also, the chapter arose because it was highly implied that Nekomaru had coached Leon before, and may even be part of the reason for his success. And I guess that chapter was less about the two of them, and more about making Leon less stupid.