Chapter Nineteen: Back in Session

Sayaka was inordinately excited about going back to school, obsessively crossing off the days on her calendar until the end of break. Each day, she would go over to the park and run laps before throwing softballs at the net set up in her backyard just for this purpose. She was working on perfecting her pitching techniques because she wanted to get on the softball team this time. She tried to get on the team before and was turned away, so now she was dead-set on improving herself so she could don the softball uniform. The efforts of her daily regimen were starting to show, too, in areas that had been affected by her affection for her mother's creations.

On the first morning of the new term, Sayaka expressed a desire to check the notice board first thing to see if there were any new announcements about the softball team, but Natsumi talked her out of it after pointing out the fact that there would be a mandatory "welcome back" assembly first thing and the punishments for missing it would be stricter than usual. Defeated, Sayaka sat through the entire welcome back assembly, her feet itching to rush to the notice board the moment she was released from welcome back hell.

When she was finally released, not a moment too soon, she hustled over to the notice board, and scanned it hastily. Amidst notices about a bevy of other clubs, there was a piece of paper asking for potential softball players to sign up for tryouts. Sayaka felt overjoyed as she reached for the attached pen, ready to write her name on the sheet, but another hand reached the pen first. Sayaka looked over and saw a tall blonde and tanned girl scribbling her name onto the top of the list—Eri Nakajima.

"Excuse me," Sayaka said faux-apologetically when Eri was done writing her name and the pen was free. She snatched it and hurriedly wrote her name underneath Eri's right as the bell rang. Gasping, Sayaka ran into the 3-B classroom, which was right next door, and lunged into her seat near the door. The teacher did not arrive right at the bell, however, because he was outside talking to Eri. When his conversation was finished, he plodded into the room and took a stand at his podium.

"Everyone, today a new person joins the 3-B family. Please give a friendly welcome to Eri Nakajima." The students greeted Eri, who bowed slightly before gathering herself and moving to the only open desk, which happened to be to the right of Sayaka's.

"Hey," Eri said casually as she sat down. "So, you wanna be on the softball team?"

"Yeah," Sayaka answered. "Your accent sounds new. Where are you from?"

"Osaka," Eri said proudly. "So, I'm sorry if I have an accent."

"Now, let's get started with English class," the teacher announced, which was followed by a cacophonous rustling as kids retrieved their supplies for English class from their bags or desks. Eri smiled kindly at Sayaka before whirling around to face the teacher so she could get started with the lesson.

The school day couldn't end fast enough for Sayaka, who was anxious to run out to the field and participate in the tryouts. She watched as the clock made its weary, slow journey to the final bell. When that moment finally arrived, she bolted from her desk like a bolt of lightning, stopping just long enough to change into her gym clothes before heading outside. There was a fairly large contingency of girls standing outside, either clustered in little groups or alone, some doing some warm-up stretches and some doing absolutely nothing to prepare. Sayaka decided to do stretches as well, so she put her bag down and stretched her hands well over her head. When Eri noticed Sayaka there, she smiled and walked over.

"Hey again," she said.

"Oi," Sayaka answered curtly as she did another stretch.

"You ready for the tryouts?" Eri asked, copying Sayaka's stretch.

"I've been ready for a long time," Sayaka replied. "I've been practicing daily."

"What position do you play?" Eri queried.

"Pitcher," Sayaka said proudly. "Coach says I have one of the best throwing hands she's ever seen."

"That's cool," Eri replied. "I'm a pitcher, too."

"Really? Did you play back in Osaka?"

"You bet. I was one of the best in the entire city!" Eri bragged right as a whistle blew and the coach appeared, wearing a ball cap to protect her eyes from the sun and chewing some gum.

"Good afternoon, ladies," she said, looking at her clipboard. "As you may or may not know, I'm the softball coach here at Juuban. My name is Takahashi-sensei. I'm also the homeroom teacher for 2-A. I see a few familiar faces in this crowd." She smiled. "Anyway, let's get on with this. If you know a position that you want to play, assemble into a group with like-minded ladies. Pitchers here, catchers here—we'll assign bases when the time comes—batters here. Okay?" There were a few nods and muffled 'okay's. "Good. All right, ladies, let's get into groups." Eri and Sayaka maneuvered themselves into the group of aspiring pitchers, which was fairly small; the aspiring batters group was much larger, though the pitchers all knew that the batters were nothing without a ball to hit.

When it came time for the pitchers to prove themselves, one of the girls was so racked by nervousness that she could barely throw at all. Another girl threw, but her pitch was lousy and the coach made sure that she knew it. The girl in front of Sayaka threw as well; however, she accidentally hit one of the prospective batters square in the forehead and was asked to leave. At last, Sayaka was up. She took the mitt in her left hand and the ball in her right and trudged up to the mound, staring intently at the catching net. It looked just like the one at her house, which comforted her in an uncomfortable moment. All eyes were on her, so she wound up tightly and threw a deftly tricky change-up that was followed by applause.

"Good job, Sakamoto," the coach said, giving a thumbs-up. "Okay, Nakajima, you're up." Eri sauntered up to the mound and got the mitt and ball from Sayaka with a self-satisfied smile pasted upon her face. Sayaka vacated the mound, which allowed Eri to wind up and throw a change-up as well, one that was just as good as Sayaka's—or perhaps better, Sayaka thought as her stomach sank. "Good job, Nakajima!" the coach exclaimed.

"One of the best in all of Osaka," Eri reminded Sayaka while she found a place to sit down.

"Whatever," Sayaka said dismissively, unsuccessfully trying to put that change-up out of her memory.

"Jealous much?" Eri asked, flipping her hair back and laughing a little lilting laugh.

"You wish," Sayaka replied, frowning before turning back to the coach, who was announcing which prospective batters would gain the ability to put on a real uniform. The ones who were not chosen were responding appropriately with tears and disappointment, while the chosen few were cheering and jumping around gleefully. The same scenario played out with prospective catchers, who were each assigned a base as well. Finally, the coach came up to the prospective pitchers. Sayaka calculated her chances in her head. Two girls threw terribly, one girl was asked to leave, and Eri threw, well, splendidly.

"Nakajima, Kawakami, and…Sakamoto, welcome to the team," the coach said affectionately. Kawakami was the girl who didn't throw well, but she wasn't the nervous girl. "Kawakami, your form needs a little help. After school tomorrow, could you come down here for a special training session before practice begins?" Kawakami nodded yes. "Great. Nakajima, you're going to be the starting pitcher. Sakamoto, you'll take over in the fourth inning. Kawakami can be the relief pitcher."

Sayaka felt both happy and sad—happy that she was on the team, but sad because there was a very large part of her that wanted to be the starting pitcher. Now, some new kid from Osaka stuck her nose into the situation and stole her thunder. Sayaka deduced that that action would not be easily forgiven and vowed to do her best during both practices and games so she could prove herself.