Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter

Chapter 23: Fumino's Childhood and the Time Before the Exam

Before the summer vacation, Sendo spent the weekend fully indulging in the blissful idleness of lounging around.

He essentially stayed in bed for two whole days, cycling between sleeping, getting up, eating, and then retreating back to the covers to read light novels and manga.

This pattern repeated itself, albeit with some minor torment from his childhood friend at night.

"This is the life!"

With finals starting on Monday—tomorrow, in fact—Sendo felt like a pet dog, burrowing his head into his bedding with enthusiasm.

If you picture it, it's reminiscent of a pet dog playfully nuzzling its owner with its head.

However, it was just Sendo acting like a drill, burrowing randomly under the covers.

This was Sendo's little secret, known to no one—except a certain someone.

Unlike his usual demeanor around others, where he was calm, composed, decisive, gentle, and with a hint of slight mischief and mild tsundere tendencies, Sendo appeared childish at this time—yes, the behavior of a childlike kindergarten student.

There was a cute touch to it—a multifaceted personality that he had even in his past life. Even when he was over 25, some people called him cute, though they couldn't quite pinpoint why.

He was always calm and steady, seemingly unflappable about anything.

Strangers often remarked that he seemed aloof, while friends described him as having a mix of the aforementioned traits, with a bit of goofiness and a tendency to talk endlessly about topics that interested him.

"Ding!!!"

"Oh no, troublesome matters again!"

At this hour, nobody would message him on LINE except for Fumino, a liberal arts genius with math skills even worse than Sawamura's. Without Sendo's help, she might still be stuck with basic arithmetic, unable to escape.

After all, in elementary school, she once proudly showed off a two-digit addition and subtraction problem to him as if seeking praise. And she even got it wrong.

Sendo was flustered back then. However, his nature was such that he wouldn't criticize a little girl; he simply said, "Not bad!"

This brought a smile to the face of Fumino, who had been a bit downhearted.

Even in his previous life, before gaining his currently genius-level intellect, Sendo, who had not attended any extra classes, could mentally calculate any addition or subtraction without error shortly after learning it.

In hindsight, Sendo was glad he encouraged Fumino back then. His mischievous nature couldn't extend to children in such a way.

This display of pride happened to coincide with Fumino's mother passing away, a time when she wanted to show she could also learn math.

Prior to that, showing the same exercise book to her father had resulted in harsh treatment.

Afterward, Fumino had little interaction with her father.

Instead, she became more attached to Sendo. To the young Fumino, Sendo's presence seemed to serve as a fatherly role.

Therefore, when Sendo later moved away, no one was more heartbroken than Fumino.

However, they maintained almost all forms of contact with each other (most of them added by Fumino through Sendo's phone, like LINE and phonebook entries), creating a daily habit of staying in touch.

As for astronomy, after learning about future schooling processes, Fumino made up her mind, despite constant discouragement from the outside world. Her sole supporter was likely Sendo.

"Get up, I'm here to seek help."

"Training today was exhausting, keep it brief!"

"How could someone with your personality obediently train before exams? You probably told your teammates days ago to pause training for studying, didn't you? Now, get up!!"

"We have exams tomorrow, and you're still taking up my time. That's too much!"

"What nonsense are you spouting? Are you really the type to study before exams? You must be sleeping right now, or perhaps... (a mischievous grin), get up ∏_∏!"

"Alright, alright, I get it. Go ahead! Didn't I send you the notes for this year already?

"Why do you still have questions, geez?"

At this pause, Sendo immediately surrendered.

The reason Fumino knew about his quirk was mainly because they were so familiar with each other since childhood.

She would just enter Sendo's room unannounced and catch him in the act, lying on the bed like a little puppy.

The situation was quite awkward at that time, although Sendo managed to talk his way out of it with some smooth-talking.

"Any complaints? (smiles)"

"No!" Sendo typed, rolling his eyes as he replied.

"Then let's get started!…"

…

"Ah!!!" The next morning, Sendo woke up with a yawn. He had stayed up late because of Fumino's demands.

At the same time, he wondered how he could find something incriminating to use against her.

"Stop dawdling over there, we're going to be late!" his grandmother called out.

"Ah… alright!" Sendo forced himself to transform his yawn into an agreement as he heard his grandmother urging him on.

"How annoying—exams, something that can be done in fifteen minutes, and yet I have to get up so early for them!" he grumbled his way to the dining table.

"Stop complaining and just eat. Here's your bento for today. You're always complaining about hunger all day."

"What? What?" Sendo asked, looking at the oversized bento box in surprise.

"You're always so energetic when it comes to food. Fried shrimp and chicken—aren't you ever satisfied with that? How about eating some vegetables sometimes?"

"Humans are carnivores, and eating those things makes you hungry too easily!" Sendo said, devouring his breakfast quickly.

It's probably the side effect of having such a strong physique—an enormous energy consumption!

"I'm heading out!" Sendo said, swiftly finishing his breakfast and riding his bike out the door.

Even though it was close, he insisted on riding his bike there—truly a case of advanced laziness with no cure.

"Good morning!"

"Oh, good morning! By the way, Wakana, how's that idiot doing? Is he going to get another single-digit score?"

"Probably! That's just how Eijun is."

"Don't worry; our school doesn't organize makeup exams. Otherwise, he'd really be in trouble."

"Yeah, really!"

"Anyway, enough about that. So, did your mom agree to let you come to Tokyo with us?"

"Of course, my mom said she feels very assured if it's with you guys."

"Oh, that's great. But probably, there will be one more person coming along!"

"Hm?"

"That would be my childhood friend. I'm supposed to tutor her in math, so you don't have to feel awkward—or lonely! She's a bit of an airhead! A little better than that idiot, though sometimes she can be really spacey!" Noticing Wakana had no reaction, Sendo jumped past the awkward explanation and introduced her personality directly.

"Yeah, having another girl would be nice; that way, I'd have company!"

"Right, right, exactly!"

"Well, I'll head to my seat now!" Before they realized it, they had reached the classroom door and each went to their respective seats.

-----------

If you want to read 20 chapters advanced.

Visit my patreon: patreon.com/Shu_21