That Manager - Kuroko no Basuke (Book 3)

第64Q

It had been a few months since Yasu became the assistant manager of the basketball club, though her role was more of an assistant coach. The boys' first impression on her was, "She's a devil! A cute one, though."

After meeting the head coach and getting his approval on the training regime she came up with, Yasu's first day started with her gathering the first-stringers' physical data after they had lined up in a single row, allowing her to easily look at what the players needed to do to make up for the lacking numbers. She then revealed the intense training regime and initially proposed it to be carried out double times. Upon her suggestion to triple the menu when she heard the disapproval grunts, the boys said nothing and went off to run five laps around the field. Needless to say, she became Momoi's idol, besides a figure to be feared by the basketball players, and it was the first time Akashi wondered whether he had made the right decision.

Despite that, he came to realise that his respect for Yasu grew with each passing day. She was awe-inspiring, intelligent, had a sharp mind, and not to mention, cute. He knew she was special when Kuroko revealed about her teaching him basketball all this while, and had to recruit her as a manager, though she became Momoi's assistant, as requested by her. She went beyond his expectations when the two played shogi in their empty classroom, and he was amazed by how she was able to counter his plans, forcing him to think long and hard, something he hadn't experienced while playing shogi in a long time. Because of that, he would often invite her to play shogi with him during lunch breaks inside the backroom of the gym, and they would often end the game with her resigning because she was able to predict the results. It didn't take him long enough to realise his feelings towards the assistant manager, and he find it very amusing.

Though Yasu seemed merciless and strict, the third-stringers viewed her differently. She went all out to prepare a proper training regimes for them because most of the coaches attention was focused on either the first- or second-stringer, especially the former. She even made sure they had enough water to drink, clean towels to wipe away their sweat, and reminded them to have sufficient rest. Other than supervising their training and pointing out the mistakes in their basics, she would occasionally bring home-cooked food like sandwiches or onigiri for them to eat, ensuring that they had proper meals to eat. The third-stringers respect for the assistant manager grew with each passing day, and looked at her as a motherly figure in the club. Even the first- and second-stringers were jealous of them having someone to look after them.

But it wasn't just the third-stringers who thought that way. Kuroko had never been more glad to have Yasu joining the club, though he was worried about her going back and forth from the basketball club to the shogi club. Nevertheless, he was happy that she was still humble, kind and caring like she usually was even though she had been appointed as the assistant manager who was highly respected by everyone in the club, including the coaches and upperclassmen. She would still drop by the first gym and check on his progress, and threatened anyone who dared to pick on him. It was quite an amusing sight to see the first-stringers cowering under her steely glare while Kuroko blinked owlishly at the scene. And whenever they walked back from practice, they would drop by Maji Burger to have dinner. To him, she was more than a coach and an assistant manager of the club. She was a friend that he cared about and would want to protect forever.

Time passed, and Yasu was a second-year student who was still in the same class as Akashi. Even so, she dropped by Murasakibara's classroom, and handed him another bag of cookies. "Here you go!" she said while placing the brown paper bag on his table while he munched on a chocolate-coated biscuit stick. "I made some butter cookies last night."

Murasakibara reached into the bag and pulled out one, chuckling at the basketball cookie in his hand. After finishing the biscuit stick in his mouth, he opened the plastic wrap and devoured the cookie, enjoying the flavour of rich butter complimenting the orange and chocolate topping. He raised his other hand and gently patted the girl's head. "Thank you, Ya-chin." he said lazily.