What am I doing here?

Rin sighed quietly and dropped her head to her propped hands.

The bell just rang and everyone was already packing up. All her classmates were chatting with friends about where to hang out, or what extra-curricular activities they were heading to. Meanwhile, Rin was still in her seat, staring at the clock like she has been doing during the entire day.

It's been a few months since her first day of high school, and honestly, she found it wasn't so different from junior high or elementary. Now she's wondering why people made such a big deal about it.

Maybe it's the fact that she still hasn't chosen a club, which she is constantly reminded of by her friends and family. But she can't deny that they were right. Even she knows she can't go through all three years of school without participating in anything; it would look bad when she starts applying for college.

"Seriously, what the hell am I doing?" Rin muttered, but then a hand on her shoulder brought her back from her glaring contest with the clock.

"Um, Rin-chan? We're the only ones left…" Haruno gave her friend a gentle smile, which was returned with a spaced out expression. "And you were talking to yourself again," she added with a giggle.

Rin gave her a fake pout before glancing around the room to confirm everyone was indeed gone. "I was having a nice conversation with myself too before you interrupted," she stuck her tongue out childishly while entering the near empty hallway beside Haruno.

Even though Rin didn't participate in any school related, she was still able to make some friends and got along with the people she met. Haruno once mentioned it was her "natural ability to attract people", while Rin stared at her like she grown another head.

"If I didn't stop you, you would've burned a hole in that poor clock and then no one will ever know the time in class," Haruno teased.

Rin only gave her a deadpan look in return, "Hah, you're funny. Aren't you going to be late for… whatever it is you do afterschool?"

"Rin-chan," Haruno stressed the syllables in her name for extra emphasis. "I've told you a million times what I do. Baseball! I'm in the baseball club!"

"Oh? They have baseball for girls now? I thought there was only softball…"

"Rin!"

"I'm messing with you, manager-chan" Rin said to prove she didn't really forget, and laughed at Haruno's pouting face, glad that she could bring out a different side of her friend.

"You're lucky I'm used to you…" Haruno muttered before smiling again. "I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come watch practice. The team's working really hard to get to nationals this year!"

Rin tapped her chin in thought, "Baseball… Hm, I haven't watched a game since middle school. I guess it couldn't hurt. Are they good?"

"Rin-chan, Seido is known for its baseball team!" Haruno could only gape at her friend. How could she attend Seido High and not know?

"Heh heh, sorry Haruno. I don't pay attention to these things."

"Did you even do your research when you were choosing a high school?"

"Nope, I just picked the one closest to my home," Rin grinned while giving the peace sign with her hand. "So how are you doing as a manager?"

Haruno looked away bashfully with a light pink grazing over her cheeks. "I still mess up sometimes… and my senpai scolds me for that often… b-but I'm still working hard towards my goal!" She exclaimed.

Rin didn't say anything. Instead, she gave her an encouraging smile and a nudge on her side, which is all her friend needed. Haruno grinned back before they continued walking and chatting.

When they finally arrived to the baseball field, Haruno mumbled something about being late and scampered off in the direction of the other managers, which left Rin by herself. It seems practice had already started as she watched the boys run through the field. "She wasn't kidding about this school being known for its baseball team," she sighed, looking around. There were many of people standing around the fence like she was. Most of them were students of the school, and the rest were former players on the team, reporters, or scouts. Since there were so many people, the noise level was quite high. Not only were the players loud, but the onlookers were cheering for encouragement as well.

As loud as they were, there was one distinct voice she could hear above the rest. "Oh? It's that Sawamura guy from class. I can recognize his voice from anywhere." Rin started following the sound of his voice, curious what he could be yelling about this time, though she wouldn't be surprised if he was yelling about nothing at all. After sitting next to him for the past couple of months, she has gotten used to his behavior.

"Ah, found him."

She watched as he ran around the second field with a tire tied around his waist, and chasing after Furuya who was also running with a tire. Though Furuya was ahead of Sawamura, and that's what's causing the shorter boy's outburst.

"Furuya, don't run in front of me!"

Furuya ignored him and it fueled his outrage even more, which only entertained Rin, so she decided to watch a little longer.

"Are you interested?" A soothing voice spoke up behind her, catching her off guard.

"They amuse me," she answered and turned around to glance at the owner of the voice.

He was much taller and the sun was in a perfect position to blind her, so she had to take a step back to see him face. When her eyes finally met his, she had to blink and look again to make sure she wasn't imagining him.

"Chris-senpai?! What are you doing here?!" she exclaimed. Her flabbergasted expression only made him chuckle.

"I'm participating in my afterschool activity. I think the real question is: What are you doing here? Did you decide to follow me to Seido?" Chris mussed Rin's hair, to which she grumbled at.

"I didn't even know you attended this school," she knocked his hand away before fixing her hair. "If I had known, I would've come to watch practice a long time ago. Are you still a catcher? You better be a regular!"

Chris smiled down at the younger female who was still rambling. Before he could respond to any of it, Sawamura spotted him and rushed towards him, tire still attached.

"Chris-senpai! Please catch my pitch!" He screamed and bowed before noticing his classmate was there too. "Hm? Rin-san? What are you doing here?" Then he looked back and forth between the two. "You know each other?"

"We're acquaintances," Rin responded.

"That's all we are? I'm kind of offended," Chris said teasingly which earned him a glare. "She was the manager of the baseball team back in our junior high, though we only worked together for one year since I graduated afterwards."

"So does that mean you're going to be a manager for our team now?" Sawamura curiously asked.

Rin quickly shook her head and held up her hands as her classmate leaned in closer, "No, I only came to watch today because Haruno invited me. I didn't know Chris-senpai was on the team or even attended this school."

The boy only tilts his head in confusion, "Why not?"

"W-Well, you already have four managers. Plus, I became manager by accident back then-"

"Yet, I heard you stayed manager for the team even after your first year." Chris smirked at Rin's excuses while she gave him a glare.

Rin glanced at Chris up and down, "Hey, why aren't you in the baseball uniform?"

It was obvious the two males stiffened up and she narrowed her eyes, silently demanding an answer.

Sawamura had left to go back to practice (and chase down Furuya), and Chris led Rin to the dugout to explain his situation while completing his duties at the same time.

"So you're not going to play even though it's your third year?" Rin asked quietly, swinging her legs back and forth while sipping on her drink. Her eyes unconsciously traveled to his shoulder where he had the injury she just learned about.

"I'm more than satisfied with helping the team from here," he replied, waving his notebook to show his point. "Though I will admit you were much better at this than I am," he gave her a knowing glance.

Rin scowled, "If you're trying to sweet talk me into being manager, it's not working."

He smiled. "I'm only being honest. Did you not have fun back then?"

She turned to look at the players while swinging her legs again. After a while of being in thought, the slightest smile graced her face, "Yeah, I did have fun. It was fun watching everyone improve while knowing I had a part in that, and it was even more fun when we won…" She trailed off as she remembered the past three years.

It was completely silent between them as they watched the first-string having a practice match with the second-string. Rin's eyes darted rapidly across the field, capturing each player's movement, and not missing a single step made by them. This didn't go unnoticed by Chris as he opened a blank page of his notebook and slid it over to her along with his pen, "For old times' sake?"

Rin sighed and set her drink on the small table in front of them, "Fine. Just this once, and then I'm completely done with anything baseball or manager related for the rest of my life."

Her hand immediately flew all over the page as all sorts of words, numbers, and pictures appeared. "I don't know all their names, so I'll just describe them and hopefully you know who I'm talking about," she mumbled.

Chris nodded his head in approval, but Rin was already too focused on her work to notice if he even agreed or not. Her eyes flitted back and forth between the players and her notes, while her hands never paused from writing to flipping pages around.

With a sigh, Rin closed the notebook and handed it back to its owner. "There! Now from this moment forward, I'm done with anything manager or sports related."

Practice had just ended which meant Rin's job was done too. As the team began running laps for their cool down, she had gathered her belongings and prepared to take her leave.

"Thorough as always," Chris stated as he skimmed through her notes. "You nearly took up half the notebook."

She only shrugged, "There was a lot to cover. Well, I'll be going now if you don't mind. The sun's setting and I'd rather not walk home in the dark."

As she was nearly out the gate, Chris stood up to call out to her, "You should come by again and help some time."

"Screw you; you're just trying to trick me into staying!" She yelled before sprinting off, though a smile was on her face. "It's how you tricked me into being manager in junior high too," she said to herself as she slowed down to walk the rest of the way home.

"Is Rin-san just now leaving?" Sawamura asked as he arrived at the dugout along with the rest of the team. They all looked at the gate where her small form was just almost out of sight.

"Hey Chris-senpai, what were you guys talking about?"

"First-string, let's gather in the meeting room tonight. I have some things to discuss with all of you." The team all gave each other questioning looks, but agreed anyways. He is their trusted manager and teammate after all.

After their evening routine of bathing the sweat and dirt away, and scarfing down their dinner, they all headed towards the meeting room.

"Ahh, I'm refreshed!" Sawamura shouted with a laugh as he stood in front of the door, swinging his left arm in circles. "I could go pitch some more after this!"

"Sawamura, you're in the way," and a swift chop was landed on his head, courtesy of his friend's brother.

"Get in there already hyahaha!" And there was the finishing kick from his roommate, sending him tumbling into the room.

After more goofing off and abusing of Sawamura, Chris finally had all members of the team in the room, including the coach and other advisors of the team. Clearing his throat, Kataoka caught everyone's attention, "What did you want to discuss?"

Chris began flipping open his notebook to the part where Rin began taking notes. "I have some information that will benefit the team for the upcoming games to Nationals."

"Is that what Mizushima Rin was doing during practice?" Rei asked with a knowing smirk and adjusted her glasses.

"Oh, you remember her?"

"How could I not?"

They exchanged looks that confused everyone even more.

"What is going on?" Jun exclaimed. "I'm so lost!"

And that started an outburst from the majority of the room.

"Ah! She's my classmate! You know her too?" Sawamura pointed at the team's scout who only continued smirking, as if knowing something that he doesn't.

Miyuki rubbed his chin in thought, "Mizushima Rin… Now why does that sound familiar?"

"Anyways, I'll start with Sawamura," Chris held up a hand to stop the commotion and began reading off the notes. "Your arm's not swinging down enough when you're releasing your pitch. Also you're, and I quote: 'Too loud for unnecessary reasons, and have a weird pitching form that you're not utilizing correctly, which leads to your terrible ball control'."

Chris looked up to see Sawamura with the most dejected look on his face. "Chris-senpai…" he whined. Everyone else in the room bursted into laughter or attempted to hold it in as Sawamura stomped over to the upperclassman.

"I'm just quoting what she said."

"Let me see that!" Sawamura's depression turned to anger as he snatched the notebook which Chris willingly offered to prove his innocence.

The laughter slowly died out as they watched the first-year read over the notes, waiting for his reaction so they can pick on him some more.

"What… What is this language?!"

"Are you so stupid you lost your capability to read?" Miyuki snickered, getting up from his seat to have a glance at the notes too.

"I really can't read this!" Sawamura waved the notebook in the catcher's face.

Miyuki peered at it for a minute before sweatdropping, "What is this chicken scratch? Chris-senpai, can you actually read this?"

Kuramochi cackled, "Maybe he can't read it either and just made up the part about Sawamura sucking because that's what he really thinks!"

After many jeers and taunts, Kataoka silence the room just by taking the notebook and skimming over it. "How much do you trust the notes taken by this girl?"

"She has been the best manager I ever had in junior high and I trust in her ability one hundred percent. I think she'll be the perfect addition to the team and would like to recruit her."

Many members stared at him dumbfounded, whether it was the news that she was his manager at his previous school, or that he just stated he personally wanted to recruit someone, or maybe even both.

"I second that decision," Rei raised her hand. All eyes turned to her as she cleared her throat, "I've seen the way she interacted and contribute to her team a few years back, and I think her insight will benefit the team considerably."

"Ah!" Miyuki suddenly shouted. "She's that manager from junior high!"

"I'm surprised you forgot… With the way you guys went at it at every game…" Chris sighed, feeling a headache coming on just thinking about it.

After some thinking, Kataoka nodded his head in approval, "Have her meet me in the dugout the minute practice starts tomorrow, and I'll decide if she's capable." He rose an eyebrow when Chris didn't immediately respond.

"There's a slight problem though," Chris' gave the coach a sheepish smile as he searched for the right words. "I still have to… negotiate with her about her enrollment in the team…"

For the lack of better words, Chris needs to find a way to convince someone who doesn't want to be the team's manager, to be the team's manager.

Whoo! Congrats! You've reached the end of the first chapter I've got some big plans for this story so we'll see how long this will take ;P

I hope nothing was too confusing and there weren't any typos. I've looked over it so many times but I could have missed something so let me know

Thanks for reading :)

Reviews/constructive criticism are appreciated!