Chapter 4: Joining the Baseball Idiots

Aoki Sora stood in front of her mirror in her new room in their new home, a neat little house in Tokyo and checked her appearance. She had done a great job with her disguise as a boy. She was wearing the boy's uniform with a leger confidence. It was one size bigger than necessary, the first two buttons of her shirt were being left open on purpose, the tie was only loosely wrapped around her neck and she had decided to wear small silver studs in both of her ears. Only because she was acting as a boy didn't mean she had to be unstylish. Two big silver rings on each hand and a black belt with a silver buckle made her outfit complete.

Sora's usually long sky blue hair was well hidden under a wig with the same color, but the hairstyle was medium length for a guy and fluffy with many strands sticking out spikily in any possible direction. Didn't even need to gel it up that way, very convenient. She flashed her reflection a bright smile and nodded her head in satisfaction. The minimizer and the tight bandages did an amazing job surprisingly and even if she left her jacket open, there wasn't anything shining through the shirt. The blue haired girl looked successfully like a blue haired boy. And a quite handsome one. A real Ikemen.

Coming down the stairs, her parents and her older brother Ten were already waiting for her because they were so curious. Her family had been very positive about her transfer to Seidou and they had been overjoyed and proud of the facts that she had an academical scholarship and that she also had been scouted into a male baseball team which was considered one of the strong powerhouses that aimed for nationals. Everyone had agreed on Sora's argument that not every girl would get such an invitation and that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her she should definitely and without any doubt take.

The young girl had settled into her new dorm room the evening before with a little help from Takashima and Sawamura and had now finally spent her last night at her family's home. She was a little anxious. Sora hated being alone and she had never been away from home and from her family, especially from Ten for a longer time than maybe a school trip. Now that her first day as a guy at Seidou High School had come, she felt a bit lost and didn't quite know what to expect or how to behave.

"Whooo, lookin' good, lil' bro", Ten exclaimed and Sora frowned at him.

"Yeah, let me have a closer look at my second son. I think he has his good looks from his father", her dad joked and her mom nodded her head with a smirk.

"My little boy is growing up and leaving the nest. I'm so proud"

Sora deadpanned.

"Guys, did you actually practice this…?"

They all started laughing together and her brother ruffled her artificial hairpiece.

"Hey, you gotta sound like a boy now. Adjust your language a bit and try to keep your voice in a deeper tone if you can manage"

"No shit Sherlock. You don't need to tell me how I should do my acting, Ten-nii!" the blue haired girl gave back with an annoyed roll of her bright blue eyes.

"Now, look who's getting sassy already… And that after breaking your promise to start practicing with me… again!"

"Oh, for the ever-loving hell, shut up!"

Ten had teased her with that matter to no ends the last few days after she had come home from her conversation at Seidou, only because he knew very well that she was in fact feeling guilty about it.

"I do have a younger brother, now I'm sure…" he continued his teasing with an evil grin, but Sora only scoffed and let her family members standing in the corridor to go and enjoy her last breakfast at home.

After their meal and after lots of teary, heartbreaking, cheesy goodbyes as if Sora would never be able to come back home again and after being crushed with hugs and kisses, the blue haired girl managed to grab her black backpack and hopped into her father's car.

This time she didn't get greeted by a sunny brunette the moment she got dropped off at the Seidou compounds and this time the whole school yard didn't look completely abandoned either. On the contrary it was quite lively and Sora gulped her nervousness back down as she took her first steps into the giant building.

The first thing the young girl could see when she finally had reached the level for the second years, was a huge crowd of cheering and squealing girls surrounding a very good looking brown haired guy with glasses who looked kind of troubled. Or rather his expression resembled a mixture of indifference and annoyance. Clearly, he wasn't very pleased or enjoying this. Sora suppressed a giggle. Which guy on earth wouldn't be happy to have lots of fawning fangirls nearly jumping on him?! That alone made him an interesting character and additionally she felt some sympathy.

As she came closer to the mob in the middle of the hallway, his face seemed more and more familiar and it took a while for Sora to recognize the genius catcher of the Seidou baseball team. Miyuki Kazuya. Well, Sawamura had warned her that this guy had quite the twisted and complicated personality, so maybe his behavior wasn't that unusual after all. Sora sighed. Since he was actually the current captain, maybe it wasn't a bad idea leaving a positive first impression?

Switching on her showtime-mode with an endearing smile on her face and her hands put into her pockets to look like the personified coolness of all times, the blue haired girl approached the group of nearly fainting girls.

"Please, please, my ladies", she started scolding very softly in a low tone of voice which she felt like it could be considered sexy for a guy and that she had used during her butler café week. "Seeing all your beautiful selves getting so worked up that early in the morning surely makes my heart flutter, but a princess gotta remember her proper manners, no? Crowding the school's corridor like that wouldn't be very flattering if anyone caught you like I just did, would it? And just think about a teacher might get angry at you, what a shame that would be!"

The attention of the female group shifted to Sora which caused most of the girls to blush heavily as they checked her male appearance out from head to toe. The squealing got worse and one of the girls, apparently the leader or maybe the most courageous of them who still could talk without stammering, took a step forward.

"U-uhm… excuse me, but I- I don't think we've seen you around here before. Who are you? A-Are you by any chance in Miyuki-sama's baseball team as well?"

Miyuki-sama?! The hell? The blue haired girl suppressed a gagging sound. What were they? His fan club?! But instead of showing her annoyance openly, her captivating smile widened a bit and an aura of glittering stars seemed to surround them quite out of the blue. Sora took the hand of the black haired girl and hinted a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Well, yes. That would be correct. I feel honored to have caught your interest in such a short amount of time for you to ask me about my humble self. But I hate to admit that I will have to ask a favor of you now", the young girl went on with her gentlemanly acting making the girls behind their leader gasp for air. "Would you mind heading to your classrooms in order not to be late for your lessons? I really couldn't stand the thought of my dear kittens being scolded. And please, give our captain a little bit of personal space. He's not exactly a morning person"

"K-K-Kyaaaa!" the mob screamed and their dark haired leader exploded in a very beautiful dark red color, holding her hand that Sora hadn't really kissed pressed to her chest.

"B-B-But yes… Of course…" she breathed out meekly and gestured for the other fangirls to get going. "C-Come on, girls. He's right, we shouldn't be late for homeroom"

Like walking on clouds the whole group nearly floated down the hallway in the direction of the stairs and Sora could still hear their giggling. She exhaled a heavy sigh and shook her head in exasperation.

"Man, what a pain in the ass! Girls sure are scary sometimes!" she grumbled more to herself while watching the last of the fangirl brigade disappear behind a corner when she heard several male voices laughing right behind her.

When the blue haired girl turned around again with her hands back in her pockets, the brown haired captain was holding his stomach while laughing his ass off and Sawamura was standing beside him, wiping some tears of laughter as well, whereas a guy with punky olive green hair whistled impressed through his teeth and nodded in Sora's direction as if to pay some respect. Wait, where did they suddenly come from?!

"That was kinda smooth, bro"

The young girl blinked in confusion, but decided to just shrug it off.

"Thanks. Guess workin' in a butler café pays off at least in some situations. Helps with the ladies as you can see. Gotta practice my acting skills to survive Seidou it seems"

"Hyaha! Should learn some from ya then. Could need some luck with the chics too", the other boy responded with his weird laughter and a wide grin.

"Oh, you're very welcome to ask for my advice, no promises though. I ain't Tinder, ya know"

The green haired dude spluttered with laughter and also the captain wasn't able to calm down.

"M-My stomach hurts!" he complained, still snickering.

"Think I was worried for nothin' huh? Nice start at Seidou, Sora! Besides, you look great. Almost didn't recognize you", Sawamura chimed in, offering a fist to the blue haired girl.

"Ossu, Eijun", she simply answered and bumped her own fist against his. "Thanks for helpin' me move in yesterday"

"Nah, don't mention it"

The brunette grinned his characteristic wide grin with too many teeth showing and waved her gratitude aside.

"Oi, Sawamura. What's goin' on? You two seem awfully chum with each other already! What's that about helping him move in?!" the green haired dude questioned as he kicked Sawamura at the same time.

"Curious much?!" Sora smirked before the brown haired pitcher could respond. "Someone's jealous here or what?"

"Haha, ow! Goddammit, would you cut it out already or do you wanna kill me right then and there?!" the baseball captain panted and pointed his finger accusingly at the blue haired girl.

"I'm sorry, captain, but I don't seem to recall having done anything to threaten your life"

"Hyaha!"

"Pffft! Sora, you're savage!"

"Thanks, Eijun"

"Uhm… Everyone, why are you standing here in the corridor? And Sawamura, what are you doing here? You know that this is the second-year level, right?" another rather short and thin boy with brown hair asked when he spotted the group around Sora.

"Oh, Nori-senpai, good morning!" Sawamura said and nodded his head with the other calm and cute boy returning the gesture. "I just visited Chris-senpai and wanted to go down when I ran into Kuramochi-senpai and remembered that Sora here has his first day at Seidou today, so I decided to come and check on him. I'm actually on my way back to my own classroom"

"Someone new this late in the year? Are you a transfer student?"

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry, I didn't have the chance to introduce myself properly yet. I'm Aoki Sora, second year and I just moved to Tokyo with my family, so I'll be attending Seidou from today on. Nice to meet all of you"

She bowed slightly and the other boys answered with their own introductions. However, Kuramochi didn't seem to be satisfied with that little of information.

"You still haven't told us why you're so friendly with this guy already, Bakamura!"

"Oi! Don't call me that!"

"Then, spill it already. Respect your senpais, how often do I have to remind ya?!"

The young southpaw received another kick from the green haired hot head and Sora got the feeling of watching two brothers bickering with each other.

"He was present when Takashima-sensei scouted me for Seidou the other day and we played some catch ball and he also joined the first conversation I had with coach Kataoka and the rest of the baseball team's staff before I made my decision to transfer. When I confirmed that I would take the invitation, Eijun offered helping me to move into my dorm room and yesterday evening he kept that promise. Now, satisfied?"

Sora rolled her blue eyes at the nosy Kuramochi, but the guys, except for Sawamura, gaped at her in surprise. What now?!

"So, apparently it wasn't just for show when you said you were in my baseball team earlier. Interesting", the captain concluded. "Ah, right. Thanks for your help by the way. And you were right, I'm most certainly not a morning person"

"Duh!"

"But isn't it quite rare that a transfer student and a second year is drafted when our scouts are actually looking for new first years to join the team for the next season? I've never heard of something like that before", Kawakami wondered and the other boys looked at him seriously. "Also I would've thought that our sports scholarships can't be offered in the middle or rather almost at the end of the schoolyear"

"Oh, yeah that's true. I have an academical scholarship to be precise", Sora confirmed leisurely. "And technically I'd be a first year by now, if that helps. I'm same age as Eijun, but I skipped a grade in Grade School which still makes you guys my senpais"

"Eh?!"

Kawakami blinked, taken aback, Miyuki only raised his eyebrows, Sawamura cackled cockily and Kuramochi glared at his roommate.

"And you lil' bastard didn't tell us anything! Shut up! Stop laughing!"

"'Cause I didn't know if he'd take the offer until after the talk with the boss! And that isn't so long ago!" the brown haired pitcher defended, causing Kuramochi to kick him again.

Sawamura actually continued to call the coach boss… Sora sighed and watched the two roommates argue.

"Which position do you play?" Miyuki asked the blue haired girl, ignoring the two loud mouths completely.

Sora squirmed a little, not exactly comfortable with his question.

"Uhm, anything infield would be fine. I'm used to practicing track and field with my brother. He's three years older and a college student, so I'm quite confident in my speed and agility. My batting isn't extraordinary, but above average and rather strategical than strong, meaning that I'm good at anticipating which kind of balls are coming my way and adjusting my play accordingly. Homeruns are rare for me though, but that's fine, I don't really aim for them unless I'm certain I can hit one"

She shot Sawamura a quick glance, but he was still busy bickering with the green head, so they both didn't pay any attention to her conversation with Miyuki. Only Kawakami was still standing with them, giving the blue haired girl a reassuring smile. He seemed to be the nice, calm and reasonable one. Also kind of rare for a pitcher. They usually had more of an arrogant attitude.

"Heh… I see…" the captain drawled. "Didn't expect that. You're gonna have it tough. At the moment we have many good players competing for the infield and outfield positions. We need some strong, solid batters and we need our runners to get on base and score. Well, I wish you good luck…"

"Eh… thanks, captain…"

Didn't expect? What was that supposed to mean? But before she was able to ask, Kawakami chimed in.

"Guys, shouldn't we get going?"

"Ah, right… Hey, Eijun, can you tell me where my classroom is? I'm still kinda lost to be honest", the young girl shouted right in between the wrestling fight of the two roommates that had escalated pretty fast.

Both of them froze and looked up at her as if they had already forgotten that also other people were being present in the hallway. Kuramochi released his chokehold, jumped to his feet and snatched her class schedule out of her hands before she could protest.

"Hyaha! You're very lucky, Aoki. You're with us!"

"Whoa, what are the odds!" Sawamura added, getting up from the floor and dusting off his school uniform.

"You can call me Sora, by the way. I'm still younger and teammates can call me first name anyway"

"Sora it is then", Kuramochi agreed, giving back her schedule with Miyuki and Kawakami just nodding along.

Together the four second years waved Sawamura goodbye who headed down the stairs to go to his own classroom and they made their way through the school's hallways to finally attend homeroom classes right on time.

During lunch break Sora spent her time with the brown haired captain and Kuramochi in their classroom while Kawakami headed out to the cafeteria to meet up with some of their baseball teammates. Her mother had prepared a bento for her one last time, which she was very grateful for.

"And you were really able to play catch with that Bakamura properly? That's a surprise. Even Furuya called his balls disgusting. I mean, I know he has gotten better recently, but…" Kuramochi suddenly broke the silence between the three students.

Sora tilted her head and thought for a moment.

"Because of his moving fastball that breaks at random? I thought it's quite an interesting and effective weapon. Him being unable to control it completely is actually even more dangerous. I was more amazed than disgusted to be honest. Eijun's special. In more than just one way. He has the heart of a true ace"

Both boys blinked at her in astonishment and Miyuki narrowed his caramel eyes at the blue haired girl suspiciously.

"And you talk like a pitcher", the captain remarked matter-of-factly, observing her every reaction.

"Hyaha, true. I'll give you that"

Luckily Sora's acting skills were quite superb, so she didn't even flinch at his words, just her bright blue eyes clouded over with something darker for a split second. But also her new acquaintances were sharp and observant. More than other guys their age, so it was enough for them to notice that something was up.

"A pitcher whose pitches can't be caught is quite useless. Wouldn't you agree, captain?"

Miyuki's eyes widened. Sora's tone had changed and he and Kuramochi had recognized a hidden meaning in that, although they both didn't know what it stood for. The captain was cautious. This new guy certainly was more than met the eye. Interesting and entertaining, but at the same time also troublesome because he couldn't read the blue head and that was rare. Unheard of, actually.

"Mhh… Well, yeah. I guess so. Either that or the catcher is useless. Depends on the situation and the people involved, I'd say", he finally answered calmly. "If there really was a pitcher whose balls couldn't be caught by anyone, he might be useless on his own. But if he would be able to find a proper battery partner, they could be a pretty badass team. Considering the fact that his pitches would have to be a very high-class level of difficulty or completely uncontrollable"

"Lemme guess, you'd take the challenge, huh Miyuki?" Kuramochi teased. "No matter how outrageous, you'd want to catch for that guy"

The brown haired grinned, an excited glint in his beautiful eyes that even his glasses couldn't hide.

"Sure. I'd at least try. Where would be the fun if I didn't? Couldn't call myself a decent catcher, right?!"

Sora stared at them absentmindedly. The captain's words should've made her happy, but instead she had to suppress a snort. The catchers she knew had always been eager and full of confidence. They had wanted to catch for her to show off that they could be the one finally being able to receive the uncatchable pitch, but as soon as they had realized they couldn't, every single one of them had turned their backs on her. Always the same procedure, she was just easily abandoned by people she had once trusted.

"Ah and Sora", Miyuki interrupted her train of thoughts again and her head perked up.

"S'up, captain?"

"Yeah, that", he deadpanned. "As much as I appreciate the respect, which believe me I truly do, off ground you don't have to call me captain all the time"

"Alright, Miyuki-senpai"

The captain sweat dropped and Kuramochi almost fell from his seat, laughing his weird hyena laughter.

"Why senpai?"

"…? 'Cause you're older, obviously…?!"

"We're classmates"

"Yeah, so?"

"Hyaha!"

"So, cut the crap and stop being a weirdo. Just our names are fine! And don't even try to start using honorifics next"

"If you say so, pretty boy"

"Huh?!"

Kuramochi broke out in howling laughter, holding his stomach.

"Hell, Sora! Kill me!" he cried, tears already flowing down his cheeks.

"You're really the last one I want to hear that from! I mean, you do have a mirror, right? And just to remind you, you were the one playing prince charming this morning!" Miyuki argued and shook his head in exasperation, much to Kuramochi's joy.

Unfortunately the ringing bell interrupted their little banter and the three students had to take their seats once again to endure the rest of their school lessons.

Later that day in the afternoon, Sora was officially introduced to the baseball team and assigned to the second string to practice with them, so that the head coach would be able to test her abilities. The blue haired girl would have to start with being an infielder, like she had requested, but Takashima told her in private that the coach wanted to team her up with Miyuki as a catcher once the brown haired captain would've recovered from his injury. That would be no later than the winter camp, so the information from the doctor and Sora didn't quite know how to feel about that.

Coach Kataoka decided to make it a joint fielding practice of first and second string so that they could compete with each other and so that he could see Sora's potential for himself before letting her practice with the second string on a daily basis until she might or might not be able to be promoted to the first string. However, the head coach wasn't really prepared for the result. Neither were his three staff members.

After the first few minutes it was already quite obvious that Sora's skills were on par with those of Kuramochi and the Kominato brothers, if not a little better. The whole team was in awe and gaping at the newbie with open mouths, except for Sawamura who cheered for his new blue haired friend and high fived her even though he was on the first string team and Sora on the second.

Kuramochi whistled lowly and nudged his captain with his elbow.

"Pitcher, huh? Still positive 'bout that?!"

An evil smirk crept up Miyuki's face, but he didn't respond and the green haired shortstop shuddered. That was never good news! Never!

When practice was finally over for the day and Sora had eaten her dinner together with Sawamura, Kawakami, Kuramochi and Miyuki, the blue haired girl decided to join the young southpaw pitcher with his late practice, which was running laps with a tire tied to his hips, because he couldn't go into the bullpen to practice with the still injured Miyuki.

While most of the other guys had their showers and also prepared for bedtime or for their own individual training, Sora and Sawamura were running together until Kuramochi came back and scolded them for overdoing it, especially since it was Sora's first day at Seidou.

"You playin' videogames?" the green haired boy asked and Sora's bright blue eyes began to sparkle, much to his surprise.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Call me game master and be prepared to fall into despair, loser! I'm gonna crush you into the concrete!"

"Hyaha! Alright, Sora, you're on! Challenge accepted!"

The blue haired girl had Sawamura guard the bathroom for her as planned and took a quick shower before the brown haired boy did the same. After they had made sure that nobody would see them hanging around the showers together, they began making their way to Kuramochi's and Sawamura's room that currently lacked the third roommate because of the already retired third years who didn't live with their former team members anymore.

During their game tournament, Sora was able to get to know some other players of the first string she already had seen while eating dinner with her friends. Besides Kuramochi, Miyuki, Kawakami and Sawamura, there were also some other second years present who were attending the class next door to Sora's. Their names were Shirasu Kenjirou, Watanabe Hisashi and Maezono Kenta and apparently Watanabe was the team's info-scout.

Additionally also some of Sawamura's fellow first years were hanging around, both classmates of the brunette and some from other classes as well. Like his rival for the ace position Furuya Satoru, his pink haired best friend Kominato Haruichi, who was a true game freak as much as Sora and the two friends Kanemaru Shinji and Toujou Hideaki.

The blue haired girl was pretty surprised how well the team treated and welcomed her despite being a late transfer student and a second string member and she enjoyed her time with all the new people she only knew from TV genuinely.

They all decided to divide into two teams to challenge each other, with Kuramochi on one team and Sora on the other team, both quite eager to fight wholeheartedly. The students took turns playing the game and went through several rounds until Sora's team finally managed to get two wins ahead and since it was already fairly late, the group agreed to call it a night.

"You're my new gaming buddy!" the green haired shortstop declared with total conviction before Sora could get out of the door and even pointed a finger at her. "No excuses!"

"U-Uhm… 'kay…?!"

"Mh, acknowledged by Kuramochi. Isn't that great, Sora?" Miyuki teased sarcastically.

"Shut it, Miyuki, you're only jealous 'cause you suck at playin' videogames!" Kuramochi shot back and the brown haired captain rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Of course… I'm highly offended…"

The blue haired girl chuckled slightly and shook her head about those two who sounded like an old married couple.

"Jerk!"

"Thank you"

"That ain't a compliment…!"

"Do you guys need some time alone? I mean Eijun could sleep over in my room since I don't have any roommates…" Sora offered and Sawamura couldn't hold back his laughter anymore.

"Shut up, Sora!" they both gave back unisono, making the young girl and the brown haired southpaw laugh even more.