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

XXIX. Demon Child

A/N: I promise that next week we get to see Emi and Miyuki interaction again. I pinky-promise. Thank you all for your patience! Happy reading!

"This is Mr. Sakaki, who coached here before Coach Kataoka," director Oota introduced the newcomer to the two first-year managers, "you are the head coach as Hosei University, correct?" Director Oota asked Coach Sakaki.

"Oh, yes! We know about him," Haruno said.

"You guys take girls on the manager team now?" Sakaki asked, "That's nice."

"It's nice to meet you, Coach Sakaki," Emi greeted bowing slightly at the former Seido coach. Sakaki Eijiro-san, he was the coach that led Seido to the nationals in the past, not to mention, Kataoka-san's former coach.

"Nice to meet you too," Coach Sakaki said kindly, "Well, let's watch the game, sit down."

The four of them focused back their attention on the game. Furuya's pitching seemed to be getting even more aggressive now and Team B was having a hard time in making contact with the ball.

"Looks like he needs to improve his control, but it's hard to believe he's just a first year," Coach Sakaki said after seeing Furuya pitch.

Sawamura also put up a good fight against the first-string and it seemed to surprise coach Sakaki. "He doesn't have speed, but he pitches really well too."

"Our ace is Furuya, but Sawamura pitched all the nine innings last game," director Oota said.

"Oh?" Coach Sakaki said interested in that comment.

"He's a big reason we've made it so far," director Oota said. As soon as director Oota said that, Team B quickly got their three outs and it was now time for Team A to play defense.

"This game is very interesting," Coach Sakaki said, "the second-string team is putting up a great fight."

"Yes," director Oota answered, "The coach set up this game because the second-string wanted come actual game time."

"Being hungry is good," Coach Sakaki said approvingly, "you can't make a truly strong team without everyone having the same high motivation. Who knew the demon child would grow up to be such a great coach."

Both Haruno and Emi looked confused at each other as the same question went through their minds, demon child?

===

After the fifth inning, both Furuya and Sawamura stepped down from the mound and Kawakami came up to pitch for the first-string. Kaneda pitched for the second-string and later on, Kawashima followed to pitch for the second-string.

"Two different types of pitchers, I bet it's fun for Tesshin to train them," the former coach spoke up.

"We have a sidearm pitcher named Kawakami next, and he's great too," director Oota said, "he's my favorite."

"Oh? That'll be exciting," coach Sakaki said.

"Excuse me," Haruno suddenly spoke up, "Were you talking about Coach Kataoka when you said 'demon child'?" Haruno asked Sakaki calling Emi's attention.

"Yeah, that's right. He always looked mad and had no respect, when he finally enrolled in the school, he was an uncontrollable brat," Sakaki said remembering the first time he met Kataoka.

"To think he became one of the most respectable teachers in our school," Emi said quietly with a sweatdrop.

"How old was he?" Haruno asked also not believing that the current coach was a 'brat' during high school.

"He was fifteen," Sakaki answered, "I hit him in the head so much, I'd be in trouble with the PTA if I did it now. He'd glare at me every time too! What a brat! Hahaha!"

Young Kataoka-san reminds me of someone... Emi thought to herself as an image of a certain Aoba Johsai player who just came back to play with the team. That time, Kyotani-san was terrible with his seniors, she said remembering of the time she visited Aoba Johsai's practice match during her middle school years.

"That's not a laughing manner," Haruno said deadpanning at the former coach.

"The upperclassmen didn't like him either, so he was in trouble all the time," Coach Sakaki said.

They are definitely the same people, Emi thought to herself still comparing Kyotani and Kataoka.

"However, I'll say this in his defense, he hated losing more than anyone," Sakaki told the managers, "He ran more than any of my other students ever did. I grew fond of his unyielding spirit and gave him the ace number as a first year."

"Woah~" Haruno and Emi awed at the same time still trying to imagine a young coach Kataoka.

"He was neither mentally nor technically fit to be ace, so no one acknoledged him. But he took the criticisms head on. He changed his attitude and his actions," coach Sakaki paused remembering Kataoka with in his pitcher uniform and the ace number on his back, "maybe it wass the weight of the ace number, or his unparalleled, unyielding spirit but he turned into a monster. We only made it to the semifinals that fall, but he gained the team's trust with his energetic pitching. The next summer was his big moment, he took down all the strong schools, and went to Nationals. He was unstoppable and carried the team to the finals."

"Kataoka-san is amazing!" Emi awed as she listened to Sakaki tell them about coach Kataoka's past.

"I remember watching it on TV," director Oota said.

"After being runner-up at Nationals, he got to the quarterfinals in the spring invitational. In his final summer, he didn't make it to the Nationals, but he led the team well until the very end," coach Sakaki finished proudly.

"Excuse me, but did he really turn down offer to play professionally?" Haruno asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah. It's not as strict these days, but back then, pro players couldn't teach amateurs. He said, 'If I play professionally, it'll be difficult to come back to this school, I want to give back to the high school baseball that changed me for the better.' Can you believe he said that as a seventeen-year-old kid? He graduated from college, then spent eight years coaching under me, I decided to hand over the reins because I could trust him with the team," Coach Sakaki spoke finished as he focused his attention back to the game.

===

The intra-squad game ended with the first-string's victory with them having five runs ahead of the second-string. Miyuki led the first-string well as he encouraged Kawakami to continue to pitch his sinkers despite giving out a run. And, Emi was proud of Ono, for leading Team B as well despite losing. It was late afternoon and the game had just ended. All players stood by the main dugout excitedly talking about the intra-squad game and bonding over the game.

"The team seems to be bonding a lot after this game," Haruno told the managers as the girls were cleaning the balls.

"I think that was Kataoka-san's intentions every since the beginning," Emi spoke up with a soft smile.

"They look like they have all become closer to each other after this game," Sachiko said finishing up her notes.

"Right?" Yui said also proud of the players.

"We've come so far," Haruno said as she stood up after cleaning the last ball, "let's all cheer for all the hard work they have done up to now."

"Of course, that's what managers are for," Sachiko said cheekily giving Emi a smile while the other two managers also smiled at the comment.