Devilish (Diamond no Ace)

The One that Admires Her

'It's been a week since I started high school. I'm finally the manager I've always wanted to be, but I'm always getting yelled at by the senpai. And I'm too scared to talk to any of the players.'

Haruno sighed as flashbacks of the past week flew through her mind. From dropping buckets filled with balls to actively avoiding the boys on the team, nothing had been going right. 'I'm starting to think I'm not cut out for this. I'm only going to be a pain in the neck for everyone.'

"Hey! You again?!"

The auburn-haired manager was shocked out of her daydreaming state by the yell of her teacher, Yaga-sensei.

"Is my lecture really that boring?! Eh, Sawamura?!!" The stout man with a buzzcut stood over ace wannabe, aggressively shouting at him.

Sawamura lazily lifted his head off his desk, imprint and drool making it clear to anyone that was watching that the boy had just woken up from napping in class.

'Oh, hey... He's the guy that's always running around the field.' Haruno remembered seeing the brown-haired male during the previous week's practice.

The said-teen currently dropped his head back on the desk and promptly fell black asleep.

"H-hey! Stop sleeping when I'm standing right here! Wake up!"

"It's no use, sensei. He's apparently here on a baseball scholarship." The student seated behind Sawamura spoke up.

"What?" Yaga-sensei couldn't help but be surprised that the deadbeat was actually holding some big responsibility.

Sawamura's classmates ogled at the revelation.

"Really? That's amazing! Our baseball team is famous."

"I heard practice is really tough."

Yaga-sensei's eye twitched before shouting at the sleeping boy once more, "You moron! That's more reason I can't let this slide! Everyone's gonna know who you are, so you better act appropriately!" This was to no avail, however, since Sawamura remained fast asleep.

"Teacher, he's not on our team." Kanemaru calmly stated, taupe eyes boring holes into Sawamura's suddenly awake form.

"What? What do you mean?" Yaga-sensei stopped shouting.

"YEAH! What do you mean?!!" Sawamura sprang up from his seat, suddenly shouting.

"His entrance to the team hasn't been accepted yet, he's still in training. Don't compare him to us."

At blond's reply, the entirety of the class couldn't help but break out into laughter at the oddity of the situation. Sawamura flushed in embarrassment, the bright red rapidly spreading from the apples of his cheeks to the red of his ears.

"Don't look at me with pity like that!" Sawamura slammed his hands down on his desk, "No one's acknowledged me yet, but... One day I'll be the ace of the team! My name is Sawamura Eijun! You'd better remember it!"

There was a short silence before the class once again howled at the boy's expense.

"H-hot! So hot-headed!"

"Is he crazy? What's telling us gonna do?"

Even Yaga-sensei guffawed at Sawamura's proclamation.

"Old man stop laughing at me! My time is just beginni—"

The slamming of the sliding door interrupted the chaos of the class, all eyes turned to the culprit of the sound standing in the doorway. Hana, in all her glory, lazily stifled a yawn as she shuffled into the room. Whispers surrounded her as she made her way to her seat next to Haruno, who recognized her as the student coach.