Devilish (Diamond no Ace)

How to Catch a Mouse

After the game, many of the spectators began to disperse. Conversations about how the game went and player performances were nonstop. Among this chaos, Hana left the field in search of two people that had slinked away earlier than expected.

"Hey! Senpais!"

Kawakami and Miyauchi both turned around from their post-game discussion only to see the girl, the threat, the menace, who had almost completely crushed their fighting spirits walking towards them.

Before she even made it close enough to start a conversation, Miyauchi patted Kawakami on the back and stomped away.

Kawakami, on the other hand, stuttered out "I umm I need to umm get some homework done. Yeah! Get some homework done," and then wasted no time in zooming away as though he was running bases on the field.

Hana stopped, her brows furrowed in irritation as she contemplated if it was worth chasing after them.

"Hana-chan!"

Haruno ran up beside the taller girl and beamed up at her, "What are you looking at?"

"Just a mouse that decided to scurry off before I could catch it."

"A mouse?" The auburn-haired girl shook her head before smiling again, "Anyways, I wanted to invite you to come hang out with us managers. We're going to stop by a boba place before we head home. You should come with us!"

Hana blinked down at Haruno before turning her head to look at the group of three girls who stood at a further distance.

"Fine. But you're paying."

"Yay!" Haruno looped her arm through Hana's and practically dragged her over to the entrance where the others were waiting.

The second-year managers, Umemoto Sachiko and Natsukawa Yui seemed a little wary of the blonde with the way a drop of cold sweat ran down their cheeks, but they welcomed her nonetheless. Takako giggled and smiled at the clear disparity between the cheerful auburn and expressionless blonde.

They went to a little shop down the road. It was a hole-in-the-wall type of place, but according to the older managers, it's been a tradition for the girls of the team to hang out there for years.

Once the girls had entered the cafe, Hana finally decided to speak up for the first time since leaving the school grounds, "I can order whatever right? Yoshi—"

"Stop!" Sachiko interrupted with her hand held out, "We do not use last names in this family!"

Takako giggled at the blank look on Hana's face, "Us girls have to stick together. Using surnames makes us feel distant."

"We're going to call you 'Hana' and you have to call us by our first names too!" Yui chimed in.

The two second-years then froze expecting the younger student coach to lash out. But, to their surprise, she just simply nodded and went back to scanning over the menu.

Eventually, they received their orders and sat down at a booth. The two first-years sat together while the upperclassmen were on the other side.

Hana had ordered a strawberry milk tea with lychees bears and baby boba. The upperclassmen sweatdropped at the appearance of the delinquent-like girl with multiple piercings and the cutesy, girly drink that she ordered.

The wavy-haired blonde put the straw to her lips and gained a flowery aura when the flavor hit her tongue. The normal sharp look in her eyes vanished and was replaced with an expression of pure bliss. Yui, Sachiko, and Takako could only stare at the unusually soft demeanor that Hana exhibited.