Seido's Lovely Manager (Miyuki Kazuya x Female OC)

XIII. They Are Definitely Not Friends

"Did you have to say that in such a teasing voice," Emi scolded a certain boy who was swinging his bat as usual.

"I didn't know how else to tell him except my usual way," Miyuki told her as he hit the ball she threw him.

"But, I think it worked somehow, he seemed pissed when he pitched against the net," Emi shrugged throwing another ball to Miyuki. She went to check on Sawamura earlier before practicing with Miyuki only to find the boy glaring at the net as he pitched.

"Well, I did follow your suggestion and that guy might be talking to Sawamura this instant, I am sure of it," Miyuki spoke up as he hit the next one against the net.

"You look like you are doing well too with your batting, you have been hitting more lately," Emi pointed out as she watched Miyuki hit the ball once again, "But you still need to work more on it," she told him.

"You wound me. Shouldn't you be nicer to the captain?" Miyuki playfully asked hitting another ball.

"Are you nice to me?" Emi retorted raising an eyebrow even though Miyuki wasn't really looking at her.

"Touche," Miyuki said hitting the last ball. He huffed tiredly and went to sit down next to Emi to rest as she handed him bottle of water.

"Thanks," Miyuki said taking the battle and drinking up the water.

The two of them sat beside each other in a comfortable silence, none of them really had anything to say but they seemed to be happy just enjoying each other's company with no words exchanged between them. It wasn't long until one of them broke the silence.

"Did you play a sport during middle school?" Miyuki asked breaking their comfortable silence, suddenly curious about the girl's life before coming to Seido.

"I used to," Emi responded gently as her eyes softened, "not anymore."

"Which sport?" Miyuki asked curiously.

"Volleyball."

"Why did you stop?" The captain asked carefully.

"I suffered from a knee injury, twice," Emi said remembering how she suffered an ACL injury.

"How bad was it?" Miyuki asked knowing how bad an injury could affect someone. He knew from experience, remebering how Chris acted before with his shoulder injury.

"It was bad, I even had surgery twice," Emi confessed and lifted her pants up to her knee showing the boy her surgery scars, "The first ligament tear was during elementary, I suffered from an ACL injury after pivoting my foot the wrong way as I dug in for the ball, and was immediately taken to the hospital. After taking a good time recovering, I continued to play volleyball until my second year in middle school. It was during Spring Interhigh, and we were playing in the semifinals. We were ony one point away from match point, the setter decided to set the ball to me, and I knew I had to make the point as the ace of the team," Emi said softly and vaguely, remembering how bad it was.

"Hey," Miyuki told her softly noticing Emi's discomfort, "You don't need to finish it if you are not comfortable."

"No, it's alright," Emi said letting out a breathy laugh, "I can do it," she said taking a deep breath before continuing, "I jumped and hit the ball, made the point, but I landed awkwardly on the floor and a loud 'pop' was heard. I couldn't even stand and the pain was unbearable, so the coach quickly called a timeout and I was immediately taken to the hospital. As soon as I got there, I was taken to the surgery room and it took me nine months to recover once again."

"That's why you became a manager," Miyuki said quietly after processing her story.

"Yeah, I became the manager for the boy's volleyball team after surgery," Emi said softly, "I didn't want to go back to the girl's volleyball team because it made me guilty for not being able to take my team to the nationals as I promised even though the girls not blame it on me. But I just couldn't go back this soon. When I fully recovered, I did slowly start to play volleyball again, but it just wasn't the same anymore, I couldn't and can't bring myself to play it seriously. Besides, the doctor said that if I teared my ACL again, I would never be able to play ever again. Weak, aren't I?"