Previously:

Meanwhile, Sebastian was walking while holding a picnic basket. Someone stepped out to meet him.

"Mister Tanaka!?" Sebastian said, surprised. He was just going to see the others.

"Hoh! Hoh! Hoh! Well, well, Housemaster Michaelis," 'real' Tanaka said with a smile, tipping his hat.

"What splendid timing. Please have this for your lunch," Sebastian said, handing over the basket.

"Ohh, thank you. Beef mince pie, eh?" Tanaka said, checking the contents. "But… just one thing, if I may."

"?" Sebastian said.

"Surely, partaking of this will not give me an upset stomach?" Tanaka asked with a wink.

"Pfft!" Sebastian laughed. "Certainly not,"

"I am looking forward to… a second 'miracle of sapphires,'" Tanaka said as he turned to leave, giving Sebastian a thumbs up. He intended to give Chêne the biggest slice of the meat pie.

"Yes, sir," Sebastian said as he bowed.


That Butler, Giving A Concert


"Mmm, delicious! You never let me down, Bard!" Lizzie said, smiling as she ate the meat pie they served her for lunch. She, McMillan, Soma, Lau, and Ran-Mao had joined the servants for lunch and were sitting on the picnic blanket with a nice spread of meat pie, tea, sandwiches, and scones, which Lacey and Chêne had also made.

"Aww, I'm not that great!" Bard said humbly, pleased with the praise. "But I feel like that pie is different from the one I made?"

'That's because it is...' Chêne and Lacey thought. They had both seen Tanaka disappear with one basket and reappear with another that was almost identical. Chêne sweat-dropped while she sipped her tea and pretended to know nothing, while Lacey reached for another sandwich.

"Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!" Tanaka said.

"Aw well! Who cares!" Bard said, happy that he had been praised.

"I wonder where Mister Bard's pie went?" Finni whispered to Mei-Rin, worried someone was suffering somewhere.

"I'm not sure, but we were saved from imminent danger, we were!" Mei-Rin whispered, also worried about the whereabouts of the other pie. But at this point she was just glad that they had all been spared.

"So, tell me, Missus Maid… who is this person?" Lau asked Chêne, looking at Lacey.

"This is my friend, Lacey Lawless," Chêne replied. "The young master recently hired her."

"I'm currently working as a maid, but I'll be in charge of childcare once the babies are born," Lacey added.

"I seee~!" Lau said. "I thought there was a glow about you, Missus Maid. So you're with child. Congratulations~!"

"Congratulations," Ran-Mao said.

"Thank you," Chêne said, smiling.

"And who are you two?" Lacey asked Lau, looking at both him and Ran-Mao.

"My, how blunt you are," Lau said lightly. "I'm Lau, a humble branch manager of a trading company. And this is Ran-Mao, my sister, though we are not related by blood."

"I see. Nice to meet you both," Lacey said.

"By the way, how is your stomach faring, Prince Soma?" Lau asked.

"Nn?" Soma said.

"It seems the stomach aches of the Red House eleven were caused by their teatime repast!" McMillan said, concerned.

'I'm sure that wasn't an accident...' Chêne thought, pitying the poor boy who had been humiliated.

"I'm dandy. I have the divine protection of Shiva, god of good health!" Soma said proudly. "Eh-hehn!!"

"Ohhh? How convenient," Lau said. "Maybe I should convert to hinduism toooooo?"

Sebastian watched them from the balcony of the Blue House Cricket pavilion.

"I had heard people from India have strong stomachs… but I did not think they were this tough," Sebastian said, holding his chin. He heard cheering and looked in its direction to the other cricket field. "It appears that match over there is livening up as well."

—^—^—^—

The people watching the match between Purple House and Green House cheered. Cheslock prepared to bowl while a member of the Green House prepared to play the striker position.

"Go, Green House!!" their supporters shouted.

"Crush them, Purple House!!" their supporters yelled. Gregory ignored the cheers and began scraping the ground with his foot.

"Dull bowls are just not my style," Cheslock said. "Here I go!" He flung his arm back and adjusted his stance. 'Rushing violet vapor, purple burnout!!' he thought, imagining a vortex of purple flames forming as he threw the ball, which flew low, hit the ground, bounced up, and flew low again at an accelerated pace to knock down the wickets while the batsman swung helplessly, missing the ball completely.

"Bowled!!" the umpire said.

"What's the story with that low bowling form… and the sudden acceleration!?" said boys cheering for Green House.

"Say, Violet," Cheslock said proudly, turning to face the prefect, "what did you think of my—you weren't even watching!!?" he finished incredulously, shocked when he saw Gregory had his back to him and was fiddling with the grass. "Would you at least try to be involved here!?" Cheslock scolded Gregory.

"?" Gregory said. Edward was watching them.

'The 'purple burnout' is… a ball with a powerful topspin,' Edward thought, having seen and analyzed the technique before. 'When it bounces, a topspinning ball… kicks forward off the ground… with a much lower trajectory!' He watched another Green House batsman fall victim to Cheslock's special bowling technique. 'It's extremely difficult to put a topspin on a ball with one's fingers. That ball was born from Cheslock's magic fingertips, which can master any instrument instantly.'

"Bowled again!" the boys supporting Green House groaned. "Is Green House helpless against him!?"

"Hmph," Edward said, furrowing his brow. Herman stepped up to bat as striker, and he smashed the ball out of bounds even with Cheslock's special bowling.

"Whoooooooooa!!" the Green House supporters cheered. "A six! That's Greenhill for you! The man known as the best cricketer in the history of this school!"

"Kuh! Dash you, boss monkey!" Cheslock said, gritting his teeth.

"There's no such thing as a ball I can't hit!" Herman declared strongly.

"Amaziiiing! Greenhill is unstoppable!!" Green House supporters cheered, watching him score six after six. "When'll he quit hitting the ball!?"

—^—^—^—

In the end, the final score was 213 for Green House and 120 for Purple House.

"The victory goes to… the Green Lions!" the umpire announced to tumultuous cheers from Green House.

"That was practically a whitewash!" Edward said excitedly to Herman. A whitewash was when one team swept all the matches in a series.

"Of course. Nn?" Herman said, noticing that Gregory was still off by himself. "Now that the match is over, it's time to shake hands."

"I'm done," Gregory said. "Don't step on it, all right?" he added, pointing to the ground.

"Wha—!?" Herman exclaimed, shocked to realize that Violet had scraped the grass down to make a huge rendition of the Violet Wolf crest. It was impressive, but to do such a thing to a cricket field... "Look here, yooou! Take this more seriously!!"

"So the final is to be Green House against Blue House, eh? It's the same as when the 'miracle of sapphires' occurred. It makes my heart dance, Francis!" Alexi said, getting excited.

"… Yes… Doesn't it just…?" Francis said, hiding her face behind her fan as a bead of sweat slid down her face with her brow furrowed slightly. She had a feeling it wasn't a coincidence.

=†=†=†=†=†=

In the Blue House cricket pavilion, there was a sense of gloom despite their earlier 'victory'.

"Our opponent in the final is Green House, the absolute champions," Clayton said. "Can we really win?"

"Let's win this!" Ciel said, determined. "Not just for us, but also for Red House, who were regretfully eliminated!"

"Phantomhive..." Lawrence said. He stood up and led the others out of the pavilion. "Yes! For Red House too!" They went out onto the field and lined up facing the Green House team.

"The final match—the Sapphire Owls vs. The Green Lions—will now begin!" the umpire announced.

"It's as if men are playing against boys," a man cheering on Green House said, dissing the Blue House team. The lady with him smirked behind her fan.

"Will it even be a game worth watching?" she asked.

"Grr!" Lizzie said, glaring at them. "Cieeel, do your bessst!!" she cheered with all her might.

"Ngah! Lizzie!!" Edward cried, flinching as he paled, shocked that his sister wasn't cheering for him.

"That attitude is unbecoming, Midford," Herman said.

"… Ngh! We'll give you a thorough thrashing?" Edward threatened Ciel darkly with tears in his eyes, gritting his teeth.

"… Do go easy on us," Ciel said.

"We'll come at you with everything we've got," Herman said to Lawrence.

"We are honored," Lawrence said.

"Blue House bats first!" the umpire announced after they flipped the coin. Everyone got into position, with Clayton and another boy as batsmen for Blue House. The other boy was the striker. "Play!"

"Now then, time to put my back into cheering for my team as their coach," Sebastian said. He turned to face the band they had put together with musical members of Blue House. "Now everyone, together, if you please."

"They're playing music to cheer on their team!? How coarse!" the Green House housemaster said, watching from the other side of the field.

"I see that Green House cannot even afford to enjoy a little music," Sebastian said, tapping the music stand with his conducting baton. "First piece. 'Radetzky March.'" The Blue Hose band began playing the famous patriotic march that had been composed by Austrian classical composer Johann Strauss I in 1848. The upbeat music echoed across the field.

"Here we go!!" the Green House bowler said, hurling a fast ball at the striker.

"Eek…!" the batsman said, paling. He squeezed his eyes shut and swung his bat, hitting the ball squarely. The bowler was startled when the ball wooshed past the side of his head. It bounced and went over the boundary.

"H-He hit the ball—!? They got four runs in just like that!!" a boy exclaimed as he and the rest of the Blue House supporters cheered.

"That was pure luck! Pull yourself together!" Herman told the bowler.

"Right!" the bowler said. He hurled another fast ball at the striker, but he squeezed his eyes shut and managed to hit the ball again.

"Hmm!?" Herman said, surprised.

"What—!?" Edward exclaimed, taken aback.

"Three runs!" the umpire said.

'He was swinging in such a weak form, but he managed to hit Heinz's explosive fastball. How could he do that!?' Edward wondered, uneasy. Clayton stepped up to bat as the striker. "Wha—!?" Edward exclaimed when he saw him. Clayton had his eyes squeezed shut. "His eyes are… they're closed—!?" 'What's going on!? How can he manage to hit a ball like that!?"

««« Flashback «««

{One week ago…}

"Today, I have a proposition for all of you," Ciel said at the team's meeting to discuss strategy for the cricket tournament.

"What is it, Phantomhive?" Lawrence asked.

"I will speak frankly," Ciel said bluntly. "Physical strength and athletic ability… I believe it is impossible for us, who monopolize the lowest ranks in both to keep up with the explosive fastballs of Green House." There was a clamor at these words.

"!?" the others gasped. "Watch what you say!"

"So this is what I have devised," Ciel said, walking over to the chalkboard. He picked up a piece of chalk and crossed out a picture someone had drawn of an eye. "We don't look at the ball. The object of cricket is to take a wicket, so the ball is very likely to pass through a field of 28 inches high x 9 inches wide. Then if we swing our bats within this field when a ball passes through it, the bat should hit the ball in theory."

"We won't know when to swing our bats when we're not even looking at the ball," one of his teammates objected.

"Yes, we will," Ciel said, clapping his hands. "We just need to listen. We'll give the batsman a cue. The batsman must simply synchronize his swing with that cue."

"Is such a thing truly possible?" a teammate asked.

"Yes," Ciel said. "I've already..."

"No," Lawerence said firmly. "A bowler and a batsman not facing each other seriously. 'It's not cricket'!" It was unfair, unbefitting of the spirit of cricket that put a high value on fair play. Ciel regarded him coolly for a moment.

"Really?" Ciel said, closing his eye.

"What?" Lawrence said. "We'll risk our pride to fight against the other houses. And to do it fairly, Blue House should use all we have for courtesy's sake."

"Blue House has 'intelligences and tactics'!" Ciel said. "Would it not be more ungentlemanly for the Blue House of 'tactics' to fight against Green House of 'power' with simple brute force? Blue House is weak!" he said passionately. "So we should devise schemes to win within the borderline limits of the rules… and have everybody do all they can to challenge our opponents!!"

"..." Lawrence closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. After a moment he opened his eyes again. "I understand. Well? What will that cue be?"

»»» End Flashback »»»

The bowler hurled the ball. Sebastian flicked his conducting baton. The cymbalist in the band crashed the cymbals together. The batsman squeezed his eyes shut and swung his bat, hitting the ball. Sebastian continued to cue the batsmen to swing as the bowler bowled.

'Their swings are a mess, but their timing is spot-on...' Herman thought.

'Just what sort of trick are they using…?' Edward wondered. Then he heard the cymbals. He whipped his head around to look at the band. "Now I get it..."

"So you picked up on it too?" Herman said. "They… worked really hard!"

"It's true. I can't condone their using music, but—eeh!?" Edward said, shocked that Herman had come to the conclusion that he had. It was totally obvious what sort of trick Blue House was using once you paid attention!

"Nn?" Herman said, wonder why Edward was making such and odd expression.

'Th-This man trusts people too much. That's even more reason why I don't want him to know about this trick,' Edward thought, feeling bad. "Greenhill. Will you let me bowl next?"

"We scored forty runs! And we're still batting!" Clayton said, amazed the strategy had worked so well.

"Let's score more runs while we still can," Ciel said. "Nn?" Edward stepped up to bowl. 'Here comes Edward!' he thought, furrowing his brow.

"You've resorted to dirty tricks no gentleman should stoop to—I will not tolerate it!!" Edward said, preparing to bowl.

"Wh-What is that!?" some boys in the stands asked as Edward took up a familiar bowling form.

'Rushing violet vapor, purple burnout!!' Edward thought, using Cheslock's technique. The ball bounced then shot low, taking out the wickets as the batsman missed it because it flew under his swinging range. Ciel, Clayton, and Sebastian were shocked.

"Bowled!!" the umpire said as the crowd cheered. "Out!!" Lizzie and Paula were amazed.

"That's a wicked throw he has there," Lacey said, smirking. "I wonder how Ciel's going to counter that?" She seemed amused.

"You do remember that we're cheering for Ciel to win, right?" Chêne asked, sweat-dropping.

"That's the ball Cheslock of Purple House bowled!!" some boys in the stands said. "How can a Green House player bowl it!?"

"That louse, when did he…?" Cheslock said, stunned.

"Pheeew..." Edward said, looking up into the blue sky. 'I'm… ordinary. When I was ten… I was beaten black-and-blue by my kid sister… who'd just begun to learn to fence. I would be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated. But I didn't lose hope. A true genius was before my eyes. My genius little sister was the best example for her ordinary elder brother. This school is the same. Talents in all fields gather here and work hard. That's why I can do my best too… so that I can come a little closer to the geniuses I admire.' He bowled again and took another wicket.

'Ordinary… That's what he must be thinking,' Herman thought watching Edward. 'He genuinely respects the talents of others without envy… and dedicates himself so his strengths can approach those of the geniuses. Singleminded respect. That's your talent.' Edward took up Cheslock's throwing stance again, looking just like him. 'You're… a genius.' Edward bowled the wickets over again.

"Out!" the umpire said.

'The speed and height of this ball changes dramatically after it bounces… It'll be impossible to hit it with the cue that's given before the ball hits the ground. I've smashed up the orchestra batting trick!' Edward thought.

'I did not think he would see through the trick this fast. Well done,' Sebastian thought. 'Then let us switch to our next scheme.'

"Hey, look over there…!" A boy said, pointing toward the school. "It's the headmaster!" Sebastian's eyes widened slightly and his pupils turned to slits as he whipped his head over to look. It was hard to see for human eyes at that distance, but Sebastian saw it clearly. Sitting on a balcony among Agares and other familiar faculty faces was a gentleman in a top hat whose face was obscured.

'So that… is the headmaster!' Sebastian thought. He quickly looked at Ciel. Ciel nodded. Sebastian took that as permission to pursue.

"McMillan," Sebastian said, since the boy had conveniently come over to see the band. "You take care of the rest." Sebastian tossed his glasses and the conducting baton to McMillan.

"Eh!?" McMillan said, dumbfounded. Sebastian ran before he could object. "Eeeh!? Wait! Mister Michaeliiiis!?" McMillan called, beginning to panic.

'You've finally made your appearance, Headmaster! Capturing you will solve everything,' Ciel thought, smirking as a bead of sweat slid down his face. 'Go get him! Sebastian!' The demon butler removed his housemaster disguise, revealing his butler uniform underneath. The game was afoot.