Hello there! I know that it's been a long time and I'm very sad and disappointed about it. I really wanted to update more this year. But Coronavirus came and made things a little bit more complicated for me.
I truly hope everyone is doing as well as one can possibly be during this pandemic.
This chapter was a little hard for me to write but I assure from now on my favorite parts of the fics are coming! I just needed to set it up first. I also have a surprise for you guys ;)
As always I'm beyond thankful for your support. It makes me so happy every time I get a notification and it inspired me to move along.
I apologize for any grammar mistakes beforehand.
Disclaimer: I don't own Daiya No Ace, Yuji Terajima does. I only own my OC.
Enjoy and stay safe!
Chapter 9
Just as Azusa predicted, the match against Akikawa Preparatory School was not an easy one. She grew uneasy when her worst fears came true, and Furuya's high pitches were not working anymore. It was to the point that he had to be switched out for Sawamura. The southpaw did a phenomenal job since none of the Akikawa batters could figure out Sawamura's pitches and were swinging down aimlessly. Which means that both Miyuki and Chris will have something to say about today's pitching.
'I can already picture Sawamura complaining,' Azusa snickered to herself.
"Azusa-san, what are you laughing about?" Sachiko asked, narrowing her brown eyes at the blonde manager.
"N-nothing," she stuttered in embarrassment as the other managers looked at her with concerned expressions.
Haruno gasped with horror in her eyes. "Maybe the heat is making her act crazy."
"I'm not crazy!" Azusa exclaimed. "Now let's stop wasting time and prepare the drinks and bentos for the team," she huffed as she opened the big orange cooler that they brought back from the bus.
Sachiko, Yui, and Haruno burst out laughing. Not only because of Azusa's outburst but also because she usually was the one who needed to be told to hurry up.
Takako cleared her throat, interrupting her Kohai. "Azusa-san is correct," the oldest manager said. "The boys will be here soon," she added in the most stern tone she could muster.
"Hai!" the three managers said in unison as Azusa was preparing the drinks like a madwoman.
They all began helping her while the players began arriving one by one wearing their school uniforms.
"Congratulations!" Haruno said with a warm smile as she gave Nori a water bottle.
"T-thank you," the sidearm pitcher said with an awkward smile.
"Blondie-chan!" Sawamura exclaimed as he ran up to her and already changed in his school uniform.
Azusa grimaced at the nickname. "Could you not call me like that when we are out in public?" she asked with disgust as she handed him a water bottle.
Sawamura blinked. "Why not?" he asked innocently.
"Because it's embarrassing," she huffed with a small blush adorning her cheeks.
"But aren't you blonde?" Sawamura asked, perplexed.
"That's-"
"Maybe she dyes her hair," Furuya pointed out, coming out of nowhere, taking a swig out of his water bottle.
"That's not true! My hair color is natural!" Azusa cried out offended.
"Don't believe her guys," Miyuki cut in, interrupting them out of nowhere. "Her and Mei get together once a month to dye their hair together," he said with a teasing grin, making Azusa growl in anger.
"Really?" Furuya asked, perplexed.
"Don't believe him! He is a liar!" the manager exclaimed while pointing an accusing finger towards the catcher.
"That might explain why Narumiya's hair is so white!" Sawamura said while nodding his head in understanding, as if he cracked a code.
Azusa seethed in anger as her cerulean eyes zeroed in the catcher.
"Mi-yu-ki-sen-pai, why do you encourage their foolishness?" she asked in a low and menacing tone.
Miyuki just burst out laughing. "Why? Because it's funny seeing you all riled up like this."
"It won't be so funny when I don't give you your bento!" Azusa threatened with the bento box in her hands.
"Would it be a bento that you made?" Miyuki asked. "If so, then that's not a very menacing threat Azu-chan. It would actually be quite the opposite!"the catcher added with an obnoxious laugh.
"Why you?" the manager growled in anger.
"What?" Miyuki asked in an innocent tone.
"You promised!" Azusa exclaimed while pointing at him with an accusing finger. "You said you would eat something cooked by me."
The catcher just shot her a teasing grin. "Yes, but I didn't exactly say when, now did I?"
Checkmate.
Azusa couldn't do anything but to seethe in anger since he was right while he laughed at her.
"You don't play fair Miyuki Kazuya!"
"Now, now, you sound just like Sawamura,"he continued teasing her.
"How dare you say that I sound like him, Miyuki Kazuya!"
"Hahaha! You did it again!" Miyuki pointed out.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"the pitcher interrupts their bickering, feeling offended.
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After Takako broke up the bickering between Azusa and Miyuki, everyone ate their lunches and cooled down in relative peace. Azusa and the rest of the managers cleaned up and put away all of their supplies in the school bus. While the team took their seats to watch the next game between Ichidai Third High School and Yakushi High School.
The manager asked for permission to observe the game with the rest of the team since there was nothing else left to do. She also really wanted to watch Manaka from Ichidai play since they were the quarter finalists of the invitational. Azusa approached the last row of seats of the stadium where Miyuki was sitting with the Ichinen trio who were also accompanied by Chris.
"Yakushi has been gaining momentum, but Ichidai is a stronger team overall," the manager heard Chris say.
"How do you read that name?" Sawamura asked while pointing at the scoreboard. The southpaw was shirtless while wearing an ice shoulder pack.
"What, you can't read now Bakamura?" Azusa asked in a teasing tone as she leaned on the metal railing, hovering over Miyuki who was reading a sports magazine.
"What did you say?" Sawamura asked angrily.
"C'mon Eijun-kun, you really couldn't read Todoroki-kun's name," Kominato said, trying to keep the peace.
"Mishima, Todoroki, Akiba," Chris said in a surprised tone.
Azusa shot him a worried look, already forgetting about Sawamura. "What's wrong Chris-senpai?"
"The heart of the order is completely different," Chris explained.
"So they're changing their clean-up orders for different games as part of their strategies?" The manager mused out loud.
"They're all listed in the roster and they're all also first-years," Miyuki casually mentioned as he continued reading the magazine."Oh, the coach's name is also Todoroki."
"First years?" Sawamura exclaimed.
"If they're using a first-year as a clean-up then this Todoroki guy must be really good," Azusa concluded.
"Against Manaka? What kind of batter would he be?"Chris wondered out loud.
"I guess we'll see shortly," Miyuki said with an amused smirk.
'Typical Kazuya,' Azusa smiled to herself. He always liked a challenge.
The game began shortly, and the captain from Ichidai hit a three run homer right off the bat and lit up the entire stadium with excitement. It seemed as if that would set the tone for the entire game. But when it was the next player's turn to bat, Todoroki who was playing as third baseman caught the ball and threw it wide open. Ensuing not only surprised exclaims from the crowd but also insults being hurled at Todoroki by his own teammates from the dugout.
"Why does this scene look familiar?" she whispered in Miyuki's ear since she was still behind him.
"What do you think?" the catcher replied in a matter of fact tone and then narrowed his brown eyes at Sawamura which answered Azusa's question.
The southpaw started snickering. "Maybe he is a complete idiot."
"You can't be serious," Azusa muttered under her breath.
The game continued, and momentum was on Ichidai's side as they scored six runs and Manaka was pitching exceptionally well. After a while, it seemed as if they were watching only to see how strong Ichidai was.
'I thought Todoroki-kun and Yakushi would be more interesting since they were growing stronger,' the manager thought to herself.
As if Todoroki read her mind, with one powerful swing he hit a home-run off Manaka that silenced everyone in the stadium since no one was expecting it.
'Perhaps, I spoke too soon,'Azusa sheepishly thought.
She spoke way too soon. After Todoroki's home-run, Manaka lost his rhythm and other players scored home-runs off of him consecutively. Leading the Ichidai coach to put Manaka as a fielder instead of the pitcher. The game turned out to be an unexpected chain of events as the score was 11-8. Yakushi was slowly closing in on Ichidai.
"What's going on in Yakushi's dugout?" she heard murmurs from the crowd.
Azusa tilted her head to see what was the commotion about and gasped in surprise as she watched Todoroki grab his coach by the collar.
"Are they fighting?" she asked no one in particular.
"How dare he do that to their team's boss?" Sawamura exclaimed in anger while clenching his fists. "I'll teach him a thing or two about respect!"
"Like you're one to talk!" Kuramochi yelled from the bleachers below.
The manager rolled her eyes."Enough with the hypocrisy, Sawamura."
"What's that supposed to mean?" the pitcher asked confused.
"You don't know the meaning of the word 'hypocrisy?'"Azusa taunted with an evil grin. "I guess it's not surprising since you can't read either."
"I know what the word hypocrisy means! I'm not stupid!" the southpaw argued.
Azusa snorted. "Funny way of showing it."
"You're becoming too mean," Sawamura accused."That tanuki bastard is rubbing off on you."
Azusa rolled her blue eyes again.
"Why am I getting dragged into this?"Miyuki asked innocently while sparing at glance at both Sawamura and Azusa.
'Idiots. I'm really surrounded by idiots.'
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To everyone's surprise Yakushi won the game against Ichidai Third High. While Manaka recovered his rhythm during the seventh inning, things got sour when it was Todoroki's turn to bat. He hit what seemed a perfect pitch right back to Manaka which injured his arm. Manaka managed to get the out for the inning but it was already too late. Without their ace, Ichidai fought hard to keep their lead, but in the end Yakushi obtained momentum and closed in on them, ultimately leading to their surprising victory.
Azusa couldn't deny that she was feeling somewhat intimidated by Yakushi, especially Todoroki after seeing them play. They were such an unpredictable team and if Ichidai lost to them, then Seido couldn't afford to underestimate them at all. But on the other hand, she was feeling excited too. Encountering strong players when you least expect it, it's what makes baseball so knew that Miyuki in particular wouldn't disagree with her at all.
'Him and Chris-senpai are probably thinking of strategies against Todoroki,' Azusa thought in amusement as she walked alongside the Ichinen trio, coming out from the restrooms. 'We need to get back to the bus soon to talk to them.'
"Where is the bus?"Sawamura asked, looking in both directions.
"Ah! You don't know where the bus is?" the manager gasped in surprise."So we're lost?"
"Why are you asking me that? Aren't you supposed to know since you're a manager?"the pitcher shot back while pointing at her.
Azusa scoffed. "Just because I'm the manager, it doesn't mean that I have to know everything!"
"Of course you do!"
"Of course I don't!"
"Guys please stop fighting," Kominato pleaded.
"Yes, it's too hot," Furuya said in agreement.
"So where is the bus?" both Sawamura and Azusa asked at the same time.
"Over there," both Furuya and Kominato answered simultaneously while pointing in two totally different directions.
"So no one knows!" Sawamura groaned. "Left or right? Which way do we pick?"
"I say we go with Kominato so left!" Azusa decides while pointing to the left.
"Let's go left!" the southpaw exclaimed.
They all hastily walked trying to get to the bus as fast as possible.
"If we don't hurry then the bus will leave us, I know that the Boss is capable of doing that," Sawamura said.
"I think so too,"Azusa nodded in agreement in between ragged breaths since she was trying to keep up with them.
"It's best if you don't call him that Eijun-kun," Kominato said.
"Water," Furuya muttered under his breath. He was also having a hard time just like Azusa.
"Stop it Furuya, we're not in a dessert!" Sawamura scolded.
Azusa narrowed her blue eyes at the loudmouth pitcher. "Don't be mean, Sawamura."
"Who is being mean?"
"Guys look," Kominato interrupted them, making them slow down as two figures became more visible.
It was Todoroki practicing his batting as his coach was watching him sitting on the concrete ground.
The foursome stood back and decided to hide behind one of the walls as they watched Todoroki's batting.
"I can't believe he is already swinging his bat," Azusa whispered amazed.
"I want to play against every single pitcher in the world," Todoroki suddenly exclaimed. "I want to blow them all away!"
His statement only caused both Furuya and Sawamura to fire up.
"He surely talks big," Kominato noted.
"Definitely," the manager nodded.
"The only other pitcher who is worth your time in West Tokyo is Narumiya Mei from Inashiro," they heard the Yakushi coach say.
Azusa gasped at the mention of her brother's name.
'But we're their next opponent,' the manager thought in irritation. 'Does he know that we're here. and he is saying it on purpose? How cocky can you be?'
"I really can't think of anybody else," the coach continued. "If you beat Narumiya then you'll become a star overnight."
"Inashiro Narumiya!" Todoroki started yelling as he swung his bat in excitement.
Sawamura gritted his teeth. "They don't think that we're worth their time?" he said in anger.
'It seems like it,' the manager mentally replied.
"Sawamura," Azusa said in a surprising collected tone while she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let's not make a scene here," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Let's show them how wrong they were for underestimating us on the field," Azusa added with determination.
The southpaw was taken aback by her lack of outburst but quickly recovered and nodded in response.
"Hai!"
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'Yokatta. I'm glad that things didn't go too overboard,' Azusa thought in relief, running her hand through her long ponytail.
"Are you thinking too hard again?" Miyuki asked in a teasing tone.
The manager turned to her left to glare at the cheeky bastard who was now sporting his trademark. They were both walking towards her bus stop like they usually do after evening practice.
Why does she let him walk her to the bus stop if she has to put up with this behavior? Oh yes, because she likes that too-handsome-for-his-own-good-insufferable-bastard.
'What an idiot,' she thought to herself. 'Even when he wears that ridiculous baseball cap sideways and pink shirt that doesn't match his sweatpants, he manages to look good. I'm doomed.'
"I'm allowed to think, you jerk," she shot back trying to quiet her thoughts.
Her insult just amused him. "No one said that you weren't," he said with a smirk. "It's just that it worries me because you tend to overthink."
"No, I don't!"
"Yes, you do!"
"No, I don't!"
"Then prove it," the catcher challenged her. "What were you just thinking about?" he asked earnestly, gazing at her eyes.
"I…" she began, feeling a little flustered due to his intense gaze. "Well, I…" she continued, trying to steady her tone while Miyuki raised an eyebrow, almost as if he was mocking her which irritated her. "I was thinking about how motivated everyone was, especially Tanba-senpai," Azusa said. "Kominato-kun and I were initially worried about telling everyone what Todoroki-kun and the coach said back at the stadium because we didn't know how people would react. Since we all know how intense the senpai can be. But everything turned out to be okay," She explained and then she quickly mentally cursed at herself when she realized how she fell into Miyuki's trap.
The catcher shot her a cocky smirk. "See? So you were overthinking."
Azusa only narrowed her eyes at the catcher, huffing in annoyance.
Miyuki chuckled to himself. "I know you like the palm of my hand," he continued, feeling pleased with himself.
'Is that why you sister-zoned me the other night?' she mentally asked in sarcasm.
"But as you said everything turned out to be alright," Miyuki said with no traces of teasing in his tone. "More than alright. Everyone is fired up and motivated for the next game, so you two did right."
"Yes, but they were not really holding back today," she said with a small laugh. "Again," she added.
Miyuki laughed alongside her. "No, they didn't," he quipped. "The senpai can be like Sawamura and Furuya at times. Especially Tetsu-san and Jun-san."
Azusa grinned at him. "Don't let them hear you," she teased. "Especially Kominato-senpai."
Miyuki shivered in response. "He can be quite scary sometimes."
The manager nodded in agreement. "I learned my lesson really fast, so I have my mouth shut around him."
"Which is an amazing feat," the catcher chided.
"Look who's talking," she scoffed.
Miyuki rolled his eyes. "Oh shut up,"
Azusa smiled in amusement, knowing that she won this round. "Ne, Kazuya?" she asked in a more serious tone.
"Yes?" he asked without turning to her and instead just looked ahead.
"Is Tanba-senpai really not playing tomorrow?" she asked.
"Is this why you want me to walk you to the bus stop? To get the hot scoop from me?" he asked with a teasing smirk.
"Shut up!' she exclaimed, playfully hitting him on his shoulder. "You're the one who insists on walking me, remember? Or do you have dementia?"
"Fine, fine," he gave her a dismissive wave. "I was just teasing. Relax."
"Don't tell me to relax," she scoffed. "Now answer my question," the manager demanded. "Furuya and Sawamura told me that it was just going to be them and Nori-senpai playing. But that can't be right. Tanba-senpai has been practicing."
"Well, wanna know a little secret?"Miyuki asked.
"Duh, that's why I asked,"Azusa deadpanned.
"The coach told Furuya, Sawamura, and Nori that Tanba-san was not playing and then went to Tanba-san and told him to start warming up in the fifth inning," Miyuki revealed.
Azusa knitted her eyebrows in confusion. "But why would he do that?" she asked herself. "Unless," she began."He wanted to motivate them by telling them two complete different things."
The catcher smirked. "Exactly."
"Oh wow," Azusa chuckled. "It seems like the coach can be quite twisted sometimes."
"Right?" Miyuki asked. "And I'm the only one who gets a bad rep."
"Well, you deserve it," the manager deadpanned.
"Oi! That's very mean Azu-chan!" Miyuki exclaimed, feigning to be hurt.
Azusa rolled her blue eyes "Oh shut up."
"But Azu-chan!"
The manager just giggled while the catcher kept complaining, as they continued walking down under a starless night.
She was truly surrounded by idiots.
.