Hana skipped through the halls of the school. Her eyes focused purely on counting the money she accumulated in an envelope throughout the day. Nothing could deter her from the good mood she was in.
"Oi brat, what are you doing in the third-year hallway?"
Hana paused and peered into the open door of a classroom. Jun was staring at her as well as Ryosuke, Yuki, and Masuko. The quartet had previously been chatting idly with one another before class until the vice-captain caught sight of a certain first-year that stuck out like a sore thumb.
"Just doing some routine business. A few favors for people here and there. It's always a good idea to get someone to owe you something," Hana shrugged as she walked inside the classroom. She had no inhibitions about making herself right at home among all the older kids. A difference in age held no intimidation for her.
Jun crossed his arms and leaned his back against the window, "Uh-huh. That doesn't sound suspicious coming out of your mouth at all."
"Don't be jealous just because I have spending money, Senpai." She waved the envelope mockingly in front of him, "I can lend you some to buy more shoujo manga if you'd like."
The center-fielder perked up, "Real—"
"That is, of course, if you can afford the interest rate that comes with it."
Jun became crestfallen as Hana grinned at him, "Y-you demon."
Joy sparkled in her eyes as the third-year began to lecture her about respect for her elders as well as the duties of being a good underclassman. However, Hana had quips of her own ready to fire back for each "logical" point that the male made.
The three outsiders who couldn't quite step into the conversation gave curious looks at the two, 'They sure got close in a short amount of time.'
Outside the classroom, a trio of idiots slouched against the wall. Students that spotted them instantly went out of their way to avoid the three males, refusing to even make eye contact with their grim faces. The three's gazes were zeroed in on Hana who said something to her four upperclassmen and smirked. She got a head chop from Ryosuke in return.
The leader of the trio finally broke the silence. His pompadour hairstyle jiggled as he spoke, "So that's the rumored first-year, huh?"
"She's a twig! Ain't no way she'll be takin' over the school while yer around Boss!" the second boy of the trio, who had a bleached mullet hidden underneath a beanie, spit out indignantly.
The third scoffed from beneath the face mask he wore, "You can take her, Aniki. All she's doin' is whorein' around with 'em baseball boys." He adjusted his backward cap to let strands of black bangs fall onto his face.
"As I thought. The new recruits were just tryna get under my skin. After we take care of this punk, we'll go after the rest of 'em. Need to put all those pussies in their places."
Hayabusa Akihito, the leader of the gaggle of delinquents, kicked himself off the wall. He was followed by Tachihara Yusuke, who wore a beanie and had a wooden kendo sword strewn across his shoulder, on his right. Yonoga Rintarou flanked his left.
The three swaggered into the classroom as if they were the kings of the jungle that owned the place. Too bad for them, they were soon to be hunted by the apex predator.
Feeling a figure behind her as well as seeing the worried expressions of her baseball senpai, Hana turned around. She cocked an eyebrow at the trio of males that looked like some bad rendition of a 90's anime delinquent group, "Can I help you?"
"Ya Tokuchi?" Hanabusa looked down at her, being about the same height as Yuki.
"No. That's this guy here," Hana lazily pointed a finger towards Jun who let out a nervous O-oi.
"DON'T PLAY SMART WITH ME YA BITCH!" The current Banchou of Seidou grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Hana was forced on her tiptoes to compensate for the height difference and avoid getting choked.
Both Jun and Yuki start towards them as Ryosuke's bangs hid his expression. Masuko, by far, looked the most nervous aside from the other third-year onlookers who had fled the classroom at the sight of the school's infamous delinquents.
Hana held up a hand to signal to her senpais that she's got the situation covered. They needed to stand down before they did something stupid and got all of them in trouble.
Hana pulled out a piece of paper from who-knows-where and showed it to Hanabusa. His eyes flitted over the paper and gradually widened in shock with the more of it he read. The brown-haired third-year quickly let go of her as realization struck him.
She smirked, "Oops."
Hana let the paper slip from her grip and "accidentally" dropped it. The Banchou sank down to his knees to cover the paper with his hands from the view of the other people. The first-year clicked her tongue at the pathetic sight and bent down to whisper something for his ears alone. His body shook in terror and shame as he begged for forgiveness on his knees in dogeza.
Without a trace of mercy, Hana twirled on her toes as if she was performing a graceful dance and jumped up to sit on the edge of Jun's desk. She crossed her legs and looked down at Hanabusa from the bridge of her nose.
"ANIKI!" Tachihara stomped over to stand in front of Hana. Just as he's about to land a punch, the sound of a dial tone made him pause in his step.
Hana rested an elbow on her thigh and leaned her cheek onto her palm as a voice from the speaker of the phone called out, "Hello?"
"Good morning, Tachihara-san."
"Oh Hana-chan, hi! I thought I told you to call me Auntie dearie. Have you met my son yet?"
"Sorry Auntie, it slipped my mind. I'm doing very well, thank you for asking. And about your son..."
The boy slid over to her so quickly that his beanie had fallen off. He sat on his knees, silently begging her to not say anything. With a flash of pointed teeth, she held out her left foot in front of his face. Understanding just what he had to do, Tachihara flushed in hot humiliation as he timidly took hold of her shoe and brought his lips down to kiss the top of it. The ultimate show of submission.
"Yusuke-senpai is taking very good care of me. I really appreciated him going out of his way to come find me and show me the ins and outs of how the school works," Hana reported.
The insinuation of her words flew over the woman from the other side of the phone's head. "That's great! Can you tell him I"ll be late tonight so he's on his own for dinner?"
"Of course, Auntie."
"Thanks Hana-chan! You're a lifesaver. Well, I'm off to work now so bye-bye!"
There was a click that indicated the call had been dropped. Hana placed the phone down beside her and then sharply brought her stare to the remaining delinquent who dared to remain standing in her presence. She raised a brow and he instantly joined his friends on the floor. The three of them kneeled down in a line like scolded children in front of the first-year girl.
She grinned devilishly at the three groveling males below her, "Have you learned your place in the food chain now, ya stupid worms?"
They nod vehemently, tears from fear of the girl in their eyes.
"Then scram."
That's all they needed to hear. The three third-years bolted out of the room with their tails tucked between their legs.
After they left, Hana hopped off the desk and patted down her uniform skirt to remove any dust or wrinkles that had accumulated. Clasping her hands behind her back, she casually turned back around to return to chatting with her upperclassmen.
"What?" she tilted her head at Jun and Masuko's astonished faces (Well, it was really all four upperclassmen's astonished faces—some just hid it better than others).
"You scare me on so many different levels," Jun gulped at the devil that stood before him.
"Good. I should," Hana laughed. "Plus it's better than having someone on the baseball team get cited for violence right? We can't afford to be missing a single person with the tournament right around the corner," she shrugged and waved to them as she left the classroom.
The captain crossed his arms as they watched the girl leave. His golden eyes filled with fury as his fighting aura burned bright, "I don't like the fact that there are people willing to attack a member of our team."
Ryosuke's smirk darkened, "Well, we'll only get in trouble if we get caught and dead men tell no tales."
Since then, if one of those idiots is caught in the eyes of Yuki, Jun, or Masuko, they freeze—minds racing with the memories of what happened during a certain delinquent hunt event. But more importantly, if there is even a flash of pink that the idiots catch in their vision, they scurry away as fast the wind can carry them just like the rats they are because pink is the color of hell.
"So your shoulder wasn't fully healed yet, huh?" Tanba kept his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the hallway wall next to Chris
The catcher held his right shoulder with a smile on his face, "Yeah, I think it'll take some time until it is. But I don't regret anything. I'm grateful to the coach that used me as a player and to Tokuchi who trusted in my calls on the field."
Tanba held his tongue as there was nothing he could really say to his friend at this point. Chris simply smiled at him and walked away, leaving only one last piece of encouragement for the pitcher, "Now, it's your turn. It's up to you to make our summer long. I'll support the team from behind the scenes."
The tall third-year grit his teeth in frustration. Jealousy at the first-year pitcher who got the chance that he didn't coursed through his veins. With a click of his tongue, Tanba turned to walk the opposite way from the brown-haired catcher only to find Hana directly in front of him.
He jumped, clearly startled at the girl's appearance from seemingly out of nowhere.
"Yo! Have I got a deal for you senpai," she grinned at him.
Tanba blinked in confusion, "What?"
"I have a recording of Zombie-senpai's whole three innings from the last scrimmage. You can own a copy of it too for the low price of 500 yen," Hana advertised like a professional soliciting businesswoman.
"You recorded Chris' game?"
"Up close and personal and from multiple angles. You can see your beloved catcher's final official game as many times as you want on a professional quality recording."
"Deal," Tanba immediately handed her 500 yen which she put in the envelope she had been carrying around.
In exchange, Hana handed him a DVD that was tucked safely away in a protective case. Tanba carefully put the precious cargo in his bag. When he looked up to thank the girl, she was already gone.
In class 2-B, Miyuki sat at his desk (which clearly showed that he was the main protagonist of an anime since he got the one at the back by the window) and completely focused on the book in front of him.
Kuramochi approached him with a grin on his face, "Miyuki! What are you looking at so seriously?" The shortstop leaned over to get a look at the book as well and laughed, "The scorebook record of that Kokudokan game? Is reading that actually your favorite pastime?"
The catcher didn't even look up as he responded, "Well, it's part of my job."
The greenish brown-haired male took a seat at the desk in front of him, "Honestly, I didn't expect Sawamura to get so good in such a short time. Though I'm sure it's all thanks to Chris-senpai and Hana." Kuramochi laughed before trailing off in thought about his younger roommate, "I'm more worried that he won't recover from the damage. He was still crying all night last night after Hana dropped him off. He's the type that throws well when he feels well. I just hope it doesn't affect how he plays."
"He'll have to recover," Kuramochi made a noise of confusion and looked at Miyuki, "I'm the catcher." The four-eyed second year gave a smug grin and pointed to himself.
The shortstop gained an irk mark and yelled, "You're so cocky! That's what I can't stand about you!"
"Haha thanks."
"It wasn't a compliment! You have such a terrible personality!"
"Damn right he does," Hana popped up from beside the two.
They whirled around in shock, "Where did you even come from?!"
"The door?" she rolled her eyes at the dumb question. "Anyways," she addressed Kuramochi, "Wouldn't you like to see this Clark Kent knockoff stupefied for once?"
Hana flicked out her hand and displayed a photo between her two fingers. It was a photo of Miyuki's reaction to Sawamura's pitch that she had taken the previous day.
Seeing that she got both the second-year's attention she smirked, "I also have a recording of the momentous occasion as well." Hana held up a DVD in her other hand.
Kuramochi narrowed his eyes, "How much you want for it?"
"200 yen for the photo, 500 for the recording. Or if you get both, I'll only charge 625 yen total."
"Hya-ha sold! Give me both."
He slammed the coins onto the table as Hana slid him both the photo and the DVD. They shook hands with a serious expression.
Miyuki sweatdropped, "Hey! Don't I get a cut here? That's my face you're using."
"A cut of what?" Hana tilted her head as she asked the catcher.
"What do you mean a cut of what? You're selling my picture!" Miyuki scoffed in disbelief.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't sell anything right, Senpai?" She shrugged with a shake of her head and turned to Kuramochi for confirmation.
"Yeah. Hya-ha you must be hallucinating Miyuki."
"I hate you both."
The two devilishly smirk at him and fist bump each other.
"I CAN'T LOSE! NOT TO MYSELF! AND NOT TO BASEBALL!" Eijun yelled as he bulldozed ahead of the rest of the first-string who had yet to complete their running menu. His tire bouncing behind him from the rough treatment.
Furuya and Haruichi observed the loudmouth from afar, keeping pace with each other.
Haruichi chuckled, "Eijun-kun's so motivated. Once he sets his mind to something, he goes through with it. That's what I admire about him."
Feeling the words stoke his flame of rivalry, the black-haired pitcher sped up in order to catch up to Sawamura. Haruichi smirked to himself when noticed the change in speed. He also ran faster in order to not be left behind by his fellow first-year first-string members.
However, moments of confidence are the best time for the demons of the night to strike. The moment when you think you are above harm and finally let your guard down, the monsters hidden in the shadows will reveal themselves and pounce.
Alfred casually passed them, leaving them all—quite literally—in his dust. Behind him trailed the tire that Hana sat on all leaned back and once again writing in another notebook.
She made eye contact with the three of them, "What's wrong? Tired already?"
The ichinen trio then looked at Alfred who had turned his head back to fact them. He gave them an almost smug look (if alligators could look smug) as if taunting them to get on his level.
Sawamura, Furuya, and Haruichi get even more fired up and once again pick up the pace. They know a challenge when they see one and this one that they refuse to lose.
Hana's sharp gaze caught sight of Eijun's labored breathing. The sight of it caused suspicion to shoot through her as this was a normal routine for the pitcher. The other two, it wouldn't surprise her to see them exhausted after pushing themselves so hard. But her mutt? No, something was wrong.
'He should have better stamina than that. What has he been up to?'
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Chris waving at her. Hana hopped off the tire and made her way over to him. Because of the loss of weight, Alfred was able to speed up much to the dismay of the first-years who chased after him.
"Looks like you were worried for nothing. Sawamura's even more motivated than usual," Miyuki laughed as he and Kuramochi watched the first-year while he ran.
All the shortstop could do was click his tongue in exasperation.
"It'd be a problem if he weren't," the duo perked up as Chris walked over to them, Hana at his side. "Always having a positive attitude. That's his strongest quality."
"Chris-senpai. Hana-chan." Miyuki greeted them with a smile.
The third-year put a hand on his hip as he observed his former battery partner, "But he's going a bit overboard. There are still a plethora of things he still needs to learn. We have to keep him on a tight leash, or he'll push himself until he breaks."
Miyuki laughed, "Absolutely. He's too stupid to know when to hold back."
"Yeah. He's an idiot that can't hold back," Chris agreed with the assessment.
"Hya-ha is that supposed to be a compliment?" Kuramochi barked out.
"And the perfect person to make sure the dog doesn't go wild is right here," Miyuki swung his arm around Hana's shoulders she continued writing in her notebook.
"Hell no. Do it yourselves," she rolled her eyes and pointed at Chris and Miyuki, "You're the ones who are his wives. The wife is in charge of the husband."
Miyuki pinched her cheek in response as Kuramochi bent over in laughter.
Chris just shook his head as he peered over her shoulder to see what else she had written down in that journal of her's, "How many more of these do you still need to make? You've been working on them this whole time."
"I'm about halfway done, but then I'll have to update them as the camp goes on. I'm not letting all this damn work go to waste because of old data," Hana frowned at the thought, not looking up from what she was doing.
Miyuki and Chris exchanged glances and sighed, 'Looks like Sawamura isn't the only first-year we have to worry about.'
Early the next morning, the pitter-patter of rain woke the first-year pitcher. He silently got dressed as he prepared to go out and do his normal routine."
"You running today too?" Sawamura paused as Kuramochi's sleep-ladened voice called down from the top bunk, "Don't. It's raining outside. You've been overworking yourself lately. The camp starts tomorrow so you gotta know when to rest."
Kuramochi kept his eyes closed while Masuko slightly kept one open. Both of them hoped that the first-year would heed the advice of his upperclassman and just go back to bed. But who were they kidding? This was Sawamura: Seidou's number one knucklehead.
"I'll be back."
"Hey! Did you hear what I just said!?" Kuramochi sat up in his bed.
Eijun grinned assuredly as he opened the door, "Don't worry. The rain can't beat me down."
"Stupid! That's not what I'm—" the second-year was cut off as the door closed shut. Kuramochi clicked his tongue, "It's exactly as Chris-senpai said. Shoot. He's really going overboard."
A few minutes later, a knock interrupted Kuramochi and Masuko's quiet conversation. The second-year got down from his bed to open the door as his roommate finally sat up.
"Is the mutt here?" Hana quickly asked him when he opened the door.
"Uh no..." Kuramochi rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as if he couldn't believe the girl was there. Standing in front of him. In her pajamas and a single umbrella. In the morning. Unprompted. "You're up suprisingly early," he remarked.
She clicked her tongue at the unasked question, "I was sleeping just fine until some damn goosebumps woke me up. And I just knew that bastard was doing something moronic. I could feel it in my fucking bones."
'Does she have some kind of Sawamura sense?' Kuramochi and Masuko sweatdropped.
Hana huffed and rubbed her forehead, "That dumbass went out on a run, didn't he?"
"Yeah."
"Damn it! I knew something was up. You know he was actually awake in class yesterday? I bet he was so busy thinking about his shitty man-crush on Zombie-senpai that he couldn't even fall asleep."
Hana was about to go and chase after him when Kuramochi interrupted her, "Wait. Let someone else handle him. As you said yesterday, he needs to work things out with his wife."
She narrowed her eyes as if to challenge him, but eventually nodded in agreement. It wasn't her duty to be a 24/7 pet-sitter after all.
Kuramochi let out a yawn and stretched out his back, "Since we're up anyway, let's go get ready and meet him with the others. It'll be a light teaching session according to Miyuki."
She sighed after a brief pause to contemplate her choices, "...I'll go get my stuff."
Kuramochi had a quizzical look as he watched her walk away. There was something about the way she moved that didn't look normal. After staring for a few seconds longer, he waved it off as him having a foggy head from just waking up since he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was weird about it.
He and Masuko got to her room and noticed she still wasn't out yet. Kuramochi knocked on her door, "Hana, you ready yet?" he called out softly, not wanting to wake up anyone else this early in the morning.
There was a faint sound of something slamming shut that the two could hear before she finally opened the door.
"...yeah," she blinked lethargically, all her energy seemingly having been used up in the rant from earlier.
They finally made it to the bathrooms and the two boys waited patiently for her to go about her business.
"What do you think is up with her?" Kuramochi whispered to Masuko.
"Might be too early for her. Ugaah." the third-year whispered back.
"Hya-ha! Let's just be glad that she isn't in her demon lord mode right now."
The three began walking over to the indoor training field, but the longer the journey took, the more Hana seemed to trail behind. The more she trailed behind, the more the two players would slow down their pace so that she could catch up. The more they slowed down, the longer it took. A truly vicious cycle.
'This is taking forever.' Kuramochi clicked his tongue, "Oi."
Hana raised an eyebrow as she watched the shortstop squat down in front of her and the third baseman took her bag and slid it onto his own shoulder.
"Get on. You're too slow."
Without even waiting for a reply (since he knew she would raise hell regardless), Kuramochi wrapped an arm around each of her legs and stood up. Reflexively, Hana gripped onto his shoulders as he adjusted her in his piggyback carry. He expected some form of protest, but none came as the girl simply slumped against him. If he didn't know any better, Kuramochi would say that he even heard her sigh in relief.
Kuramochi and Masuko exchanged glances while they walked, 'She must be more tired than we thought.'
"Damn you're light. You sure you been eating?" the shortstop angled his head to address the girl on his back.
Hana rolled her eyes, "Not all of us are fatasses, Senpai."
"Why you—" he lightly jostled her in retaliation. Kuramochi laughed brightly when he felt her immediately stiffen and dig her nails into his shoulder, thinking that he had actually caught the girl off guard and given her a good fright.
At the indoor training field, Sawamura and Furuya faced Chris who was giving them a lecture on needing to be more familiar with baseball than anyone else on the team.
Miyuki laughed at the panicked reactions of the two pitchers, "Relax. That's why we're here. You can't practice team plays by yourself."
On cue, Maezono and Haruichi walked in, having come due to the invite from Chris. Both first-year pitchers' eyes widened when they realized what it meant to be on a team with people that were all serious about baseball. Everyone was willing to help out so that the team will get better.
"Sawamura, I told you before didn't I?" the brown-haired pitcher's attention was brought back to his respected senpai as he spoke, "You have to learn how to rest. Do you want to end up like me?"
Chris' golden eyes burned bright as he stared at the boys in front of him, completely serious. Eijun gasped as he remembered everything that Chris had gone through and how the catcher was trying to stop him from falling down the same perilous hole.
There was a nod from the first-year that brought a smile onto Chris' face, "It's not bad to have the responsibility of a first-string player. However, you don't need to shoulder everything by yourself. So do a light workout today. Okay?"
With those words, tears pooled into the puppy-like first-year's eyes. He finally felt forgiven for taking the spot that could have Chris' and there was nothing for him to prove. They all knew he had loads that he lacked, but his team was willing to work on it with him regardless. The flood gates continued to pour as the boy cried his heart out in relief and delight.
"You crying again, Sawamura? Man, you're so hard to work with!" Kuramochi's voice had them all turning to the door where the shortstop stood with Hana on his back and Masuko beside him, "Fine, we'll help you out too!"
The bulky third-year nodded with a smile, "Mm. For five cups of pudding that is."
There was a pause as everyone stared at the person sliding off Kuramochi's back in anticipation. She cooly stared back at them and crossed her arms, "I'm only here because I was brought here."
The players sweatdropped. There went the encouragement train. Of course, it was Hana that ruined it. They expected nothing less of the grouchy student coach.
"Kuramochi-senpai! Masuko-senpai! Hana!" Sawamura cried even harder as he saw the three other people that were there to support him.
He leaped at the blonde, who gave him a startled look at the movement. Eijun wrapped his arms around her and basically picked her up as he rubbed his cheek against her much like a pet looking for attention from its owner. Hana seemed disgusted by the tears and snot and physical affection that she was suddenly given and practically shoved the boy off her with a frown.
Kuramochi laughed at the girl's distress and got closer to the two, "All right! Let's start with pick-offs. You gotta get the slide stepping down."
"Sawamura, don't get the wrong idea," the still crying boy who was trying to cling onto Hana while she vehemently tried to shove him off turned his snot-filled gaze to Chris, "Training you two to be full-fledged pitchers is something I'm doing for the team. I haven't given up on being a baseball player."
The third-year smirked as he held up a notebook that he had just recently received. It read "Rise of the Living Dead".
Sawamura gaped and pointed between Hana and Chris multiple times, "CHRIS-SENPAI! YOU'VE BEEN COLLUDING WITH THE SHE-DEMON BEHIND MY BACK?!!"
The pitcher began to blubber out random comments on how he couldn't believe he had been deceived and that the world was out to get him. Hana and Chris sighed at the rambunctious male.
"Don't you want your catcher to be in his best shape when he catches for you after high school?" the student coach rolled her eyes at the male, hoping to pacify him.
Sawamura's amber eyes lit up as his sparkling gaze moved from the girl to his mentor. Hana averted her sight to the wall opposite of Chris so as not to make eye contact with him as he looked at her in betrayal.
"You just promised me to him...did you just force me into an arranged marriage just so that you wouldn't have to deal with him whining?" Chris deadpanned as the girl still refused to acknowledge his existence. He sighed and shook his head, 'I sold my soul to the devil when I asked for this notebook.'
Hana lethargically leaned against a wall with her arms crossed as she watched all the players interact. Furuya had finally joined in on practice with a push from Miyuki and the student coach finally got a good understanding of where both pitchers' are in terms of regular skill level. From time to time she would call out advice hidden behind insults, but for the most part, she just silently observed from the sidelines.
Noticing the odd behavior of the girl, Haruichi approached her, "Are you alright, Hana-chan? You look a little tired."
Her eyes slid over to him but she made no attempt to straighten up, "Worry about yourself Peony. You've been looking down in the dumps even though you made the first-string. What's up with ya?"
"Ah-it's just-" Haruichi blushed and stammered trying to explain himself. Hana merely kept watching the others practice, not interrupting him and waiting for him to gather his thoughts. "I feel like I have a long way to go before I ever catch up to my brother."
"And here I thought you were the smart one. I can't believe you've been a dumbass all along," Hana sighed. "Of course, your brother is going to be ahead of you. He's had a whole two years to build up his body. You just started focusing on developing your muscles and getting used to the pace of high school baseball. Just keep working hard and results will come in due time. Idiot."
Hana flicked him on the forehead much to his surprise. He stayed there, stunned, simply gazing at the girl in front of him. The girl who, even though she was slouching, still had the presence of an empress. Each word she spoke had no reason to be false and she, herself, had full confidence in them. For that reason alone, Haruichi believed in what she had told him.
His lips pulled up as his cheeks became rosy. He quietly thanked her before jogging back to go back to working with Furuya and Kuramochi.
The practice is suddenly interrupted by loud yell of YA-HA as two pairs of feet step into the indoor training ground.
"Finally found you, ya shitty cousin," Hiruma grinned with Kurita at his side, eyes completely focused on the blonde against the wall.
The baseball team blinked. Who was this exactly? He looked like a genderbent version of their student coach with his pointed ears, blond hair, sharp eyes, and the smile—that devilish smile—there was no mistaking it.
"Hana-chan!" the tall, lanky blond is knocked aside as Kurita ran over to Hana with his arms outstretched. The players could feel the ground shake as the 6'4" giant of a linebacker barreled over to the girl and picked her up, swinging her around like a ragdoll in his hug.
"HE'S HUGE!" Sawamura could be heard yelling as the Seidou kids felt their souls leave their bodies at the rough treatment.
Chris was about to go intervene, worried for the safety of his underclassman when they all looked up in shock at hearing the peal of laughter that spilled from her lips.
"You're as happy-go-lucky as ever Kurikuri," Hana wrapped her arms around his face and returned the hug, a large smile on her face.
'Who are you supposed to be?' the baseball team's jaws dropped as they witness a side to their student coach that they had never seen before (aside from Haruichi). They pictured the normal Hana who usually looks like she has black feathers floating around her and then compared her to the current Hana whose head seems to be filled with nothing but flowers.
"WHAT?! WHY DID YOU HUG HIM BACK WHILE I GET SHOVED TO THE GROUND?!" Eijun barked his head off at the girl who completely ignored him in favor of showering the second-year with affection.
Kurita held Hana with one arm much like one would a toddler as the two chatted in their own little world.
'H-he's not human,' they all thought as the large brown-haird male didn't seem to struggle at all with having an almost fully grown woman sitting on his arm. What monstrous strength.
Kurita talked Hana's ears off about the newest shenanigans their team had been up to since she last saw them at the barbeque. This included the battle against the Tayou Sphinx and how amazing all their new teammates are.
"Sounds like you've been up to something interesting, Yo-chan," Hana grinned down at her cousin who rolled his eyes at the stupid nickname that she refused to drop.
Hiruma strided over to the two, ignoring the looks of confusion that the other males in the room gave him, "Let her down Fatty."
"Awww, but Yo-chan I'm comfy up here," she curled up against Kurita's shoulder to prove her point. Chris imagined her with cat ears, seeing similarities between her and felines.
Hiruma landed a kick on Kurita's butt to speed up the process, "Like I'd let you fucking look down on me like that. Put her down you fatass."
"Tokuchi, do you mind introducing us?" Chris intruded on the moment between the two cousins as the spokesperson of the Seidou team.
Hana was finally placed on the ground and gestured to the taller blond next to her, "This is my cousin, Hiruma Youichi. Second-year at Deimon High School as well as quarterback and captain of the American football team there." She then turned to gesture to the large male who smiled warmly at the team, "And this is Kurita Ryokan, also a second-year and linebacker for the team."
"Ya-ha! These the brats you've been babysitting?" Hiruma showed off his pointed teeth as his blue eyes raked over their forms. They shivered in their places, something about this man unnerved them and they were none too keen to find out what someone related to Tokuchi Hana was capable of.
"Ya-ha...?" Miyuki and Sawamura mumble underneath their breaths.
"Is it just me or does he remind you of someone?" Eijun whispered to Masuko and Miyuki as they stared at the intruder who continued to talk to his cousin.
There's a pause as they look between the quarterback and their shortstop.
"Oi Sawamura, what are ya staring at?" Kuramochi frowned at the odd behavior and crossed his arms.
Looked like a delinquent. Had a scary face. Aptitude for violence. A second-year named Youichi. And even similar laughs with one being "Ya-ha" and the other being "Hya-ha".
...
Oh.
That was why the male already felt familiar to them, besides having an appearance that resembled Hana.
...
Miyuki's the first to burst into laughter, "H-holy shit. I can't breathe."
"Wahaha Kuramochi-senpai! We have found your long-lost twin!"
"The world is a mysterious place," Haruichi sweatdropped as Maezono nodded from beside him.
Hana rolled her eyes at the sea of stupidity she was faced with. Turning to her cousin, she decided to ask him, "So Yo-chan, what are you doing here? Did you miss your darling cousin so much that you had to come visit me? Two weeks without seeing each other is just so lonely." Hana cupped her cheeks and batted her eyelashes innocently at her cousin, the gleam betraying the mirth in her expression.
Hiruma slapped her upside the head and scoffed, "As if bitch."
He tossed a folder at her and it smacked her in the face. The three first-years in the background huddle together, fearing their student coach's reaction. But unexpectedly, she removed the object and uncovered her face, revealing a bright smile. The baseball players couldn't help their squawks of surprise that escaped. Where was her normal fury? Nice Hana is a scary Hana.
"I need the physical stats of the players from this team," Hiruma demanded.
Hana skimmed over the contents of the folder and hummed, "Oh, you're playing a team from America."
"Yeah. Even made a bet with 'em."
"Oh~ Do tell."
Hana and Youichi began to whisper to each other, identical devil horns and tails protruding from them. Sawamura and Furuya placed their hands up in prayer for whoever it was they were talking about.
As the cousins were busy, Kurita went over to the group of baseball boys and leaned down to tell them, "Thank you for taking care of Hana-chan. She looks like she's having a lot of fun here."
"Sir Giant, are you certain you are referring to this humble team's Demon Lord?" Sawamura loudly whispered back to him.
Kurita fondly looked back at his two friends, "Well Hana-chan is here with you when she could be lazing around in her room. If she finds you interesting enough to spend time with, that means she likes you."
'What kind of logic is that?' the baseball players deadpan as they look up at the giant linebacker incredulously.
Suddenly Hiruma's raspy tone cuts into the "secret" conversation they were having, "Oi Fatso! Let's go! We have a team to beat."
All attention moves from Kurita to the two cousins who stood by the door, mirroring each other's pose with a hand on the hip. If someone didn't know better, they would probably call Hiruma and Hana twins.
Kurita bowed politely at the Seidou team before returning to the side of his quarterback and oldest friend.
Hana smiles at the two, "See ya Yo-chan. I'll email you the data by tomorrow night."
Hiruma nodded and then tossed her a small white container, "Here. It's raining today and I don't need that monster coming after me because you didn't take care of yourself."
"Yo-chan~ You care so much! I'm touched," she held the gift close to her chest, sparkles floating all around her in faux gratitude.
Youichi rolled his eyes at his dear cousin. He stuck his middle finger up as he turned his back and walked out the door. Kurita gives a shy little wave goodbye to all the baseball players and Hana before rushing to follow after the demonic blond.
Hana turned around to see the team gaping at her. She arched a brow, normal blunt attitude back, "What? Ya got something to say to me?"
The ichinen trio quickly shake their heads in disagreement. They were smart. They were not going to bring up anything that just happened. That was a fever dream. They would like to survive, thank you very much.
"You have a...very interesting family Hana-chan," Haruichi scratched his cheek nervously while Furuya nodded from beside him, picturing her pro baseball player older brother.
Miyuki and Kuramochi burst out in laughter. They leaned on each other as they fought to catch their breaths.
"Oh Kurikuri~ Dearest Yo-chan~" the catcher mockingly repeated, clasping his hands together in the most feminine way possible.
The shortstop wheezed as he crossed his arm and pretended to glower at his fellow second-year, "Hya-ha! What is it ya airhead?!"
These two—you see—were not so smart. They chose to bask in the glory of what they had witnessed. And with that, they had chosen death.
"Zombie-senpai, Ugaah-guy, can I interest you in some entertaining photos I have of two fools?"
The two instantly straighten their backs and shut their mouths, sending pleading looks at the girl who ignored their existence entirely and focused on the third-years. Masuko nervously laughed while Chris just shook his head in exasperation.
A screech left Sawamura's mouth as he hid behind Chris and wildly pointed at Hana, "AAAHHH SHE'S RETURNED!! THE WICKED WITCH IS BACK!!!"
Without missing a beat, she rolled her eyes and looked into his terrified brown ones, "Shut up Mutt. Go do something productive like actually getting good at baseball."
Sawamura went cat-eyed and huffed, whining about how she was so mean to him.
Maezono could only stare in horror at the chaos. Did he really want to make first-string if THIS is what he was going to have to deal with?
The next day, summer brought with it the training from hell for the Seidou baseball team. The first-string members were putting their all into brushing up on their skills while the various other players helped them with their practice.
Yuki was in the batting cage with the third-year, Makihara as his practice pitcher. Hana stood off to the side observing him for some time while writing notes in her journal.
She finally addressed him, "You know, Captain-senpai, you're actually kind of weak at inside hits. At least in terms of reaction time."
Yuki and Makihara temporarily stopped the practice as they quizzically brought their attention to the girl.
"Is that so?" the golden-eyed male held his bat by his side.
"You still have good stats regardless, but since most batters spend so much time running away from you, you only deal with pitches to the outside. Whenever you do get a pitch to the inside, most of the time the pitcher subconsciously shies away from a head-on battle which means you very rarely get a full-speed pitch in those troublesome zones."
Hana turned her notebook around to show a crudely drawn comic of what she was explaining that neither of the two boys could actually understand.
"I see," Yuki said (like a liar) and nodded. He turned to face the other third-year that gulped at the aura the captain exuded, "Makihara."
"Y-yes!"
"Give me more pitches to the inside," his battle aura flared up even more as his eyes glinted with determination.
Once again, their practice continued. Hana made comments every now and then, but could not find much to critique after that as Yuki's batting was overall just breathtaking to watch. Almost sheer perfection that was carved from his hard work.
She was taken out of her thoughts with a call of her name.
"Hana."
She turned around to see the managers approaching her as a group.
Takako smiled gently at her, "Can you give us a hand with preparing the food?"
The older managers sweatdropped as they saw the horror that briefly flashed across the blonde's face. If that was her reaction, it's no wonder that Haruno had pleaded with them to help teach Hana how to cook before she failed her home economics final.
Hana swallowed thickly, cold sweat dripping down her neck as she replied, "No. I have something else I need to do."
Takako's smile turned a little more forceful as she continued in her soft-spoken tone, "I think Yuki-kun and Makihara-kun can survive without your supervision for a little bit."
She turned her dark red eyes towards the captain and tried to signal the oblivious Yuki to say something that would get her out of the future shit show with her imaginary psychic beam.
As if finally sensing her stare, Yuki briefly paused his practice to interject, "I don't mind. I have a good visualization of what I'm lacking now thanks to you." He sent her a confident smile and a thumbs up before returning to swinging his bat.
...
The managers giggled at Hana's blank stare and look of disappointment as if life itself had given up on her.
"Come on, Hana. We're making riceballs. It won't be that hard! Plus it'll be easier than what we did in home ec!" Haruno (the evil mastermind behind all this) cheerfully interlocked their arms and kidnapped Hana against her will as they followed their senpais to the kitchen.
Soon, evening arrived and Coach Kataoka called for a break from practice. The managers smiled at the hard-working players as they roll out carts of food and snacks for them.
"Wow, food! Did you make all of this? Awesome!" the four managers blushed at Sawamura's loud praises.
Hana trailed behind her female team members looking extremely haggard. Her wavy hair stuck up in every direction and her headband was slipping down her head. But she kept her back straight, a halo of confidence surrounding her.
"Oi, do you all see those riceballs at the end? There's some kind of aura coming out of them!" Jun paled and pointed at one of the carts.
The players—and adults—stared at the precarious line of riceballs sitting on the edge of the tray on the far right. They were strangely shiny and not at all triangular. And did their eyes deceive them or were the angels of death shining down their halos on those specific food items?
"I don't think you can even call these riceballs. They're as hard as a baseball," Tanba tossed one of them up and down his hand, testing the weight of it like he was about to pitch.
"Is this a prank?" Miyauchi huffed while staring at its hard surface.
Haruno walked around with a tray and passed out food to the players. Noticing that the oddly shaped ones on the end had hardly been touched, she loaded them up on her tray.
Kuramochi and Sawamura sat together as the latter brought up his current thoughts, "This training camp doesn't feel that much different from normal practice."
The shortstop shrugged while snacking on a banana, "The only difference is that people who commute also stay in the dorms. But the practice amount more than doubles since we use two fields for only twenty people. You better thank everyone for helping us out!"
"Yes, sir!"
Kuramochi gave a kind close-eyed smile to his younger roommate, "Also, don't hold back on eating. We have practice even after the sun sets."
"Really?! Awesome!" Sawamura looked around for more food to grab at his upperclassman's advice, for which he was very thankful.
Haruno, seeing her chance to start handing out more of the weird rice balls, brought her tray over to the first-year, "Oh, then here. We made plenty so eat up!"
"Ohh! Thank you!" he opened his eyes at the feel of the food that was placed in his hand, "Wait, who made this one? It looks funny." Sawamura held up the perfect sphere that had a purplish aura oozing out of it.
"These were made by Hana. Aren't they cute?" Haruno gestured to the tray she was carrying with an innocent smile, unaware of the mental plight that just struck the team.
The players freeze and their faces quickly begin to pale, it seems everyone had been listening in on the answer to the first-year's question and now they all know who the mother of those monstrosities was. They've been insulting THAT person's cooking without even knowing it. They shivered before robotically turning their heads to look at Hana who had appeared next to Tanba and Jun like something out of a horror movie. The two third-years had tears in their eyes as they realized they were in her range of attack.
Hana stood with a frown on her face, glaring at the tray that held her cooking. The tray that was still relatively full.
The boys were caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, they were afraid of what would happen if they tried to eat those—could you even call them riceballs?—on the other hand, if they don't eat them they can kiss their lives bye-bye at the hands of the student coach.
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't," Jun shed manly tears as he resigned himself to his fate. He hesitantly reached for one of Hana's creations.
The spitz of Seidou gulped, eyeing the item warily before biting into it. Everyone watched with bated breaths as whatever the hell he just put into his mouth made crunching sounds like he was chewing on metal.
Jun harshly swallowed and mumbled, "The taste isn't half-bad."
After hearing the report, the other team members nodded and decided to take their chances with the food rather than the tall girl's wrath.
Hana nodded to herself and gave a small fist pump in victory after seeing half of the riceballs she made get eaten. The two second-year managers giggled as they passed by her with water. Yui lightly patted her on the head while Sachiko bumped her with her hip.
Seeing his chance, Miyuki sidled up next to Hana with a shit-eating grin, "So there is something that the great Tokuchi Hana-sama can't do huh?"
"Shut the fuck up," Hana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
With an arm thrown over her shoulder, he points to himself, "You know, I'm very good at cooking. Call it my special skill. If you want, I, as your amazing senpai, out of the kindness of my heart can teach you if you just ask nicely."
The team sweatdropped at the sight of Miyuki laughing and gloating over his skills while Hana pointedly ignored him.
Hana - 5, Miyuki - 3
"WAHAHA! THANKS TO THIS, I CAN GO ALL NIGHT LONG!"
Hana noticed Sawamura piling tons of food into his mouth. Kuramochi, ever the responsible one, encouraged him with a cheerful grin. She clicked her tongue and was about to head over to her idiot when Masuko stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder. He gave her a look that basically said "don't interfere". All Hana could do was sigh and remain with the other third-years (who had stopped eating to digest their food a long time ago), watching with something akin to pity in her gaze knowing that he was going to throw up at some point during practice.
"Jun-san made me eat until I died last year. The training camp of hell has only just begun. Hyahahaha!" Kuramochi cackled behind Sawamura's back.
'I'm so glad he's not older than me,' Miyuki sweatdropped while watching the fiasco.
'Wow. He's almost like a watered-down copy of Yo-chan,' Hana silently observed the demonic shortstop.
As the team got called to return to practice, Sawamura began to freak out because he still had half of one of Hana's riceballs left. He was about to shove the whole thing in his mouth when Hana plucked it from his grasp and takes a bite out of it.
Jun and Kuramochi's jaws drop in shock at what they had just witnessed.
"Oh! Thanks, Hana. I didn't want to waste any food, especially if it's your cooking," Sawamura rubbed the back of his head and remembered what his roommate had told him, "The taste was pretty good so thank you for making it!" He beamed at her before running off.
"To.Ku.CHI!" Jun stomped over to her, "HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM SHOUJO MANGA??!" He gripped her shoulders and shook her back and forth.
Kuramochi popped up on his left side and nodded in agreement while the outfielder continued to bark, "That was an indirect kiss! An IN.DI.RECT. KISS! That's a big deal! How could you just accept an indirect kiss like that?!"
Hana had bored look on her face as she took the remaining riceball in her hand and shoved it into Jun's mouth to shut him up, "If you wanted one so bad you coulda just asked Senpai. No need to get jealous."
"J-JEALOUS! Y-Y-Y-YOU ALSDKFJAGHHAL" Jun combusted, his face turned completely red as steam blew out of his ears. He quickly finished off the last of the riceball before storming off to join the team.
She cocked an eyebrow seeing that Kuramochi still remained, "Ya want one too now?" He scurried off quickly behind Jun as Hana grinned in satisfaction of ridding herself of pests.