Sora's nerves had been worn to a frazzle since Takashima had invited her to Seidou. Sawamura had been overjoyed and very supportive, but her own mind had been blank ever since. She also had talked things over with her family and their reactions had been nothing but positive as well.

Ten had been reluctant about the fact that it was Seidou's baseball team she had been invited to after the recent events, but nevertheless her elder brother still acknowledged that Sora loved that sport even now and thus should go and give it a try if she really wanted to. Besides she didn't really know why Takashima wanted her to talk to the coach of the baseball team. Sure, she had seen her play with Sawamura and she was a scout, but could she as a girl be scouted in a baseball powerhouse consisting of boys? Maybe they wanted her for the softball team? Did Seidou even have a female softball team?! Or they wanted to use her for training the boys or as a manager position?

Well, even if it wasn't for baseball or softball, fact was her family was going to move to Tokyo, so Seidou High School was as good an opportunity as any other High School in the same area would be. At least she already knew someone there. Sora was glad that she had made friends with Sawamura. He was a lovely little dork and his energy was contagious. Not to mention, the brown haired southpaw reminded her much of her older brother. Or rather his attitude. They both were equally hot-headed, protective and in a good way sometimes also idiotic. But the young pitcher was definitely louder. Much louder!

Sora sighed, getting off of her father's car. Her parents were in Tokyo the whole weekend because of the wellness center and their moving plans, so they had taken Sora with them. It was Friday and they had allowed her to skip school for the purpose of visiting Seidou. Ten had gone back to his college to make his own arrangements. He too would transfer, because he didn't want to live in the dorms and he wanted to start working part-time in the family business under their father's supervision besides his college lessons. That would only be possible if he studied near their new home.

Everything about Seidou screamed elite school for rich and prestigious kids. It was huge, it was clean, classy and definitely professional in more ways than just baseball. Sora didn't want to admit it, but she was impressed. Only the huge front gate alone left a permanent impression behind. The blue haired girl gulped audibly. Was it really okay for a country pumpkin like her to be around? She felt uneasy as if she was truly offending someone just with her presence.

Luckily for the young girl, she got picked up by her new friend. She could see Sawamura running towards her, waving one of his arms and grinning from ear to ear. Just as she remembered him.

"Sora!" he shouted gleefully over the whole school yard that was thankfully empty right now because it was still during teaching time.

"Hey Eijun. Thanks for coming" She offered a high-five and the brown haired boy accepted happily, nodding his head.

"Sure!"

The pitcher started walking, stretching his body and crossing his arms behind his head lightheartedly. Sora followed behind, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Just being with her new found buddy and seeing him again lightened up her mood quite effectively. As they walked over the large compound together, Sawamura tried to explain the locations a little bit to the blue haired girl, but she couldn't follow up everything he said.

"The bosse's office is this way. C'mon, follow me"

Sora spluttered before being able to cover her mouth and to contain herself.

"You call your coach boss?!"

What kind of authoritarian military hierarchy did the Seidou team have?! But Sawamura scratched the back of his head sheepishly, giving her an apologetic look.

"Nah, I do. Sometimes I also call him shogun"

"...But why...?!"

The brown haired teen only shrugged it off and brought her to a certain door he knocked on before entering.

"Boss, Sawamura Eijun reporting for duty! I've brought Aoki Sora as per request!"

"Eijun!" Sora facepalmed embarrassedly and hissed at her friend. "Can you please not!"

"Ah, yes. Thank you Sawamura-kun", Takashima said, completely ignoring her pitcher's antics as she and the coach were already used to them. "Aoki-san, it is nice to see you again. Please come on in and have a seat. I'm glad that you considered following my invitation"

Sora hurried to bow her head deeply at the four adults sitting on the large sofas in this room.

"Hello, my name is Aoki Sora. It is nice to meet you. Thank you very much for your invitation. Please take good care of me today"

Takashima nodded her head, seeming pleased. The good thing with most of the girls was that they were more well behaved than the boys. Well, some of the boys.

"Let me introduce you to our staff", she offered, pushing her glasses and gesturing towards the three men. "Our head coach Kataoka Tesshin, then we have the mentor and club president Oota Kazuyoshi and here is our assistant coach Ochiai Hiromitsu"

The three other adults nodded politely when their names were mentioned and the coach tipped his baseball cap. Sora was again ordered to sit and she complied with Sawamura following suit and plopping down right at her side. Suddenly she felt weird in her school uniform wearing it inside another High School, but she had wanted to look formal and professional.

Takashima began their conversation with narrating some facts from Sora's school records and former softball and baseball clubs to show her what they already knew about her and what they considered important. As she reached the more critical details like the beginning complications with her teams and the fallouts, she pointed out that this was the knowledge she gained only by asking the coaches of Sora's former teams, so the point of view was one-sided.

"Aoki", the coach finally spoke up with his deep voice and she shuddered slightly. "May I ask you what has happened with both of your teams back then?"

"Yes, of course..." she replied despite squirming inwardly.

Sora still wasn't exactly comfortable with this topic and she tried to choose her following words very carefully. She wanted to be honest, but at the same time didn't want to sound immature while blaming everything on her former teammates. The blue haired girl explained her Junior High and first year High School experiences to the Seidou staff of their baseball team as neutrally as possible.

However, Sawamura besides her was chiming in with his own very personal opinion. Again, he was throwing a huge fit, screaming profanities and at the end, coach Kataoka was so annoyed that he had to shut his pitcher up with the threat to throw him out of the room for the rest of the conversation.

"Tch!" The brown haired southpaw clicked his tongue utterly pissed, but kept his loud mouth shut at least.

"Dude, you really need to do somethin' about that protective instinct of yours. You react like my older brother Ten", Sora commented matter-of-factly earning a silent glare from Sawamura for it.

As the coach cleared his throat and Takashima tried to suppress her small smile after the young girl's remark, the two teenagers shifted their attention back to Kataoka.

"Why do you think your catchers weren't able to receive your pitches anymore?" the head coach asked calmly and his gaze was fixated on the blue haired girl.

"Because I'm not able to form a proper battery with a catcher", Sora responded without hesitation. "Since my balls lack speed and force because of my physical disadvantage compared with the boys, I had to be creative and use technique and strategy instead, so I learned to control my pitches perfectly. However, in baseball it is actually the catcher who makes the calls and gives instructions as a playmaker to his pitcher and to his team in general. So, when they tried to give me their signs and I was noticing that our plays weren't working, I also used my head and thought about possible solutions which led to misunderstandings and our catchers thought I was ignoring their leads on purpose when I just wanted to adjust to the situation we were facing. I have to admit that I have problems with catcher's authority, especially when I'm realizing that the leads and strategies used aren't working and yes, I do tend to come up with something myself rather than trusting my partner whenever I have the feeling that my catcher isn't capable of using my abilities to their fullest. But it's also the catchers who won't trust me enough to call for more extreme pitches than they're used to because they underestimate me. Of course not everyone would believe me when I told them that I can pinpoint my pitches quite recklessly. And then there's also the problem of the catchers actually not being able to receive my special throws properly because they break rather sharply. I think the biggest issue would be trust on both sides. I'd need someone who would come up with some bold plays and use me mercilessly, believing in me enough to fulfill those expectations and whose strategies I could relate and agree to in order to play them out. A catcher who believes in my pitches and in return I can have absolute faith in his leads to succeed if I comply with them. And of course, he would have to be able to catch the balls he's calling for, too. Honestly speaking, I don't really know if someone like that exists..."

"But didn't Sawamura-kun catch for you the day we met?" Takashima asked throwing said boy a pointed glance to keep quiet when he opened his mouth instead of the blue haired girl.

"Well, yes, but that was a different matter", Sora answered uncomfortably and fidgeted in her seat. "It is true that Eijun is the only one up until now to be able to catch my pitches, but that is because he's not a catcher. I gave him instructions how to position himself and merely used him as a human target. But a decent catcher isn't just a target, I couldn't use them like that. That would be a cruel thing to do. Telling a catcher to stay still and don't move and don't think for himself would cause a lot of damage to his catcher pride. Eijun simply didn't have a problem with listening to me and keeping still no matter which ball came flying towards him. He didn't even flinch when a fastball almost hit his face, so of course he was able to catch them. He acted as my bull's-eye. In other words he might've trusted me a little bit too much back then"

"Because you're a deadly sniper!" Sawamura pointed out with a smug grin on his face as if bragging about his own ability.

"I've been more of a shortstop in my baseball and softball career before I got kicked out to be honest", she gave back and Takashima nodded, flipping a page on her clipboard with the information about the blue haired girl. "My fielding has always been pretty decent since I used to practice track and field with my elder brother who is a college student"

"Mhhh... Another human cheetah... That could be a problem for Kuramochi-senpai..." the young pitcher at her side mused, much to Sora's confusion.

Cheetah? Kuramochi-senpai? Wasn't that Seidou's current shortstop from the fall tournament?

Coach Kataoka suddenly stood from his seat, nodding his head curtly. Sora had to suppress a short scare and held her breath.

"Thank you, Aoki. That would be all for now"

"Would you please excuse us for a moment and wait outside?", Takashima asked, making the blue haired girl get up immediately.

"Yes, of course"

The female scout opened the door for her and the young teenage girl slipped through it to stand and wait outside in the school's corridor. Sawamura didn't follow her though which confused her a little.

Sora didn't really know how long she was standing in the hallway, but for the blue haired girl it felt like ages. Her knees began trembling and her heart raced uncontrollably. Was she nervous? But why? Nothing had happened for her to be so on edge. When the door finally opened again and Takashima called her in, the young girl almost jumped at the sound of the female scout's voice.

As she resumed her seat on the sofa next to Sawamura, the brown haired pitcher gave her a reassuring smile and a thumb up as if something good had happened during her absence. Sora exhaled and felt a bit of relief. If her buddy was still positive then there was nothing to be afraid of, right? Besides she hadn't heard him yelling in protest, which was also a good sign, she assumed.

"Aoki-san, we have discussed your transfer to our school and we came to a certain conclusion which we would like you to take into consideration when you think about your future from now on", Takashima stated. "In case you would be willing to accept, we would like you to join our baseball team. However, there are some conditions to make that possible and you would have to agree on them first"

Sora's brain couldn't process what the female scout had just told her. She blinked in confusion, so taken aback that she wasn't even able to answer properly. Seidou wanted her to join the baseball team? And by join... did they mean the manager position after all?! What about the conditions then? Her mind was spinning like crazy. Seeking for some help, she glanced at Sawamura, but the brown haired was only wearing a jolly smile on his face that didn't tell her much.

"Aoki", the mentor and club president Oota Kazuyoshi, how he had been introduced earlier spoke up for the first time in this conversation. "Do you think you could enter our team as a boy? In disguise of course"

"...?!"

Sora stared, mouth wide agape.

"Of course, she can!" the southpaw beside her replied instead and this time Sora was very grateful for it since she couldn't even breathe. "She's a great actor. In Grade School she was in the drama club and she's used to wearing costumes and her anime cosplays because she worked in a maid café. I bet pretending to be a guy would be a piece of cake for our grade skipping genius here! Right, Sora?! You're gonna join us, right?"

"A-Ah... U-Uhmmm... Sorry, I... I think I don't quite understand yet... Join the baseball team as a boy?" she stuttered a little helplessly.

"Indeed. We would very much like to test your abilities as a player", Oota affirmed again. "But since we would recommend you to move into our dorm system, you would have to live your everyday life here at Seidou as a boy from the moment on you enroll. For your own safety, for the reputation of our school and to protect certain rules and guidelines, not only of our High School, but also of the baseball sport. In order to let you live with the team or also to be able to let you participate in official matches, for example"

Takashima nodded her head seriously.

"I have to add, we can't offer you a sports scholarship because you are a transfer student and we are in the middle of the year. Your skills and your worth for our team will have to be tested first", she explained and pushed up her glasses with a sly grin. "However, regarding your high IQ and your magnificent grades up until now we can make up for it by letting you have an academical scholarship instead, so you wouldn't have to worry about your school fees"

"We will also come up with a separate schedule for you to use the bathroom, so nobody will walk in on you and it goes without saying that you will have a room for yourself", assistant coach Ochiai continued with the explanation, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "And you would have to make sure not to undress in front of your team members, but I guess that's just common sense. No changing in the boy's locker room"

"Sawamura", coach Kataoka addressed his pitcher who sat up straight at the deep, demanding voice.

"Yes, boss!"

"Since you are the only one in the team who knows about Aoki's secret, you will be in charge to make sure nobody finds out", the head coach ordered sternly. "Be her guardian and help her out in precarious situations. It might be for the best if you wait in front of the bathroom door when she uses it to make sure no one else enters. To prevent your teammates from seeing what shouldn't be seen or recognized in any other way, that will be your duty. If Aoki herself should agree on entering Seidou, that is. Do you think you can handle such an important task?"

The eyes of the young pitcher were shining with excitement and his cheeks were rosy as he stood to respond, one hand on his chest directly above his heart.

"Yes, boss! I, Sawamura Eijun humbly accept and shall live up to fulfill all your expectations. I will be Sora's protector with my very life!"

"Ugh, please don't!" Sora finally managed to press through her teeth.

Regaining her consciousness and being able to think and to talk straight again had been a big challenge.

"I'm gonna protect ya, no worries!" her friend insisted, pointing at himself with his thumb and grinning sheepishly. "You can rest assured with your great guardian at your side!"

Sora suppressed a desperate sigh and shook her head instead. Maybe she really shouldn't attend Seidou in future. Just to avoid Sawamura's stupidity rubbing off on her.

"Okay, so I will need some minimizer bras and a good type of bandage to wrap up my chest. Also I'm gonna need a wig, because I really don't want to cut my hair so short that it'll look like a boy's hair style. I think I still have a wig in my own hair color lying around somewhere from that time our maid café had ladies week. Our complete staff was crossdressing as male butlers, so I already have some experience acting as a guy. And just to be sure, I'll wear my clothes one or two sizes bigger. A leger and wide style, baggy pants, stuff like that. Would it be possible to order my school uniform and the baseball uniforms a size bigger as well?"

"Yes, of course. That won't be a problem", Takashima confirmed with a smile.

"Does that mean you'll come to Seidou?", Sawamura questioned and looked much like a gleeful puppy staring at its owner with his large and glittering hazel eyes full of hope and anticipation.

Sora resisted the urge to pet him on the head because he was being so damn cute and sighed again.

"Well, it'd be completely stupid to ignore such a great offer. It's a chance once in a lifetime. So, of course I'm gonna accept. I'll have to discuss this with my parents, though"

While the brown haired southpaw was celebrating and putting his arm around her shoulders, the coach nodded his head in understanding.

"Of course. If they have any doubts or questions or should they request a meeting with our staff first, please let us know immediately"

"Yes, sir. Thank you very much for your invitation"

Leaving the compounds of Seidou High School after her conversation with the baseball team's staff, Sora was in a daze like waking up from a dream. What in the ever-loving hell just had happened...?!