It was the 22nd December and the Sunday before the one week of hellish winter training camp would start and Sora was sitting down with the three female managers of the team and also the only already retired girl manager who was the only third year. With them in their discussion and planning on a phone call was Tomo-chan, Sora's boss and manager of the cosplay café the blue haired girl was working in. They were making plans together for Christmas since the young girl had noticed that it would fall into the week of training camp and because she was too stubborn to accept the fact that there wouldn't be a Christmas party for the baseball team. There had to be at least some kind of small event! The guys were always working so hard, they just deserved to have a nice Christmas. And also the coach, Takashima-sensei and the rest of the staff and of course all the third years would be invited as well since they had promised to come and help out with practice.
"So, we will hold it on the evening of the 25th?" Umemoto Sachiko, an energetic girl in second year with brown haired pigtails asked and looked at her notes on her clipboard while her best friend Natsukawa Yui, a cute and short haired fellow second year nodded along eagerly.
"Yes, we will have the cakes, the chocolates, the cookies, the decorations and the tree ready by then, I hope", the clumsy but loveable first year manager Yoshikawa Haruno answered, plugging a strand of her reddish brown hair behind her ear.
"And I will be sure to bring all the retired third years along as well", Fujiwara Takako, the beautiful dark haired third year senpai assured her kouhais with a captivating smile.
"Great, then we will help out with the catering. I'm really sorry that we don't have more time and staff available to make a big and fancy Christmas cake for you guys. I'll leave the cakes to the manager girlies, so you can count on us with the cookies and the chocolates for the whole lot of your team. You just gotta pick 'em up, we can't deliver to Seidou unfortunately. Sora-cha... er- uhm... I mean -kun, you're gonna drop by and lend us a hand, right?" Tomoko chirped through the phone.
"Yes, of course. I'll just have to get up very early for baking, but I guess that one day won't be much of a problem even if it's training camp. I think I won't be able to feel my body anyway in that one week, so no harm done", the blue haired girl half-joked and made a face. "And I'm gonna ask Takashima-sensei and President Oota because of the tree. We can't possibly organize that on our own, no matter how hard we try. Besides, we'll need permission for using the cafeteria anyway and I'll have to inform them that I will be gone so early in the morning to help in the café. Can't do that in secret again or else coach's gonna fry me this time. And Kaz and Mochi too"
The managers and Tomoko started chuckling and agreed on Sora's suggestions.
"Will you bring Eijun-kun along to help you with the wagon?" the café manager asked and Sora hummed thoughtfully.
"I'd rather make it a surprise for him too, but I'm gonna need a second pair of hands to pull that thing if we want to put all the sweets for the whole team in there, I guess"
Everybody nodded in affirmation, the female managers secretly glad that the blue head was reacting rationally for once.
"Hey, how about I organize a karaoke machine for the evening? I know someone who could lend it to us for one night only", Umemoto suggested and of course they all agreed instantly, so it was added to the to-do list.
"Then I'm gonna be in charge for the drinks again like last time", Natsukawa added. "Haruno, help me carrying?"
"Sure!" Yoshikawa nodded her head and pumped her fists excitedly.
"Alright, so me and Sora will go and buy the ingredients for the cakes and we managers will meet up on the 24th to prepare them for the next day while Sora has training camp with the other guys and will go to help Tomoko-san and his colleagues at the café early in the morning of the 25th. The party will be held in the evening on the same day, so we will have to make sure to have everything ready by then. Also the managers will be in charge for decorating and preparing the cafeteria for the party without anyone noticing in advance", Fujiwara concluded with a satisfied smile.
"Yes, Takako-senpai!" the other three managers replied obediently.
"Girls, I'm sorry to cause you so much trouble. It really is so much extra work although you're already working so hard every day. I wish I could've made it a special beautiful Christmas surprise for you as well", Sora apologized genuinely making the female managers blush.
"I'm certainly glad that you asked for help this time, Sora. We may have not so much contact, but also we managers have been worried about you when we heard that you had collapsed during practice because of a fever", Fujiwara said looking at the other three girls who suddenly made serious faces as well.
Sora fidgeted on her seat uncomfortably.
"Agh, right. I'm very sorry for that as well..."
"Great, then let's go and convince coach and the staff members", Umemoto grinned widely while standing up from her chair and raising her fist into the air.
The others followed suit, raised their fists, bumped them together and let out something similar to a battle call.
"Seidou, go fight!" Sora yelled.
"Fight!" the girls shouted as an answer and then started giggling together.
"Ah, I'm so jealous! I want to be on the team too!" Tomoko complained on the phone, causing the others to laugh even more.
"Oh, no worries, you already are, Tomo-chan. Thank you again for helping us out. I know your Christmas and new year schedule is very tight even without our request", the blue haired girl stated. "Well then, see you on the 25th. And thanks again for postponing my shifts as long as I'm having training camp"
"Sure, sure! Come back healthy and full of energy! Have fun you guys and see you soon, Sora-kun! Bye-bye!"
"Bye-bye!" the girls echoed before ending the call with the café manager.
"You really have a nice boss", Yoshikawa commented while they were all leaving the classroom to make their way to Takashima's office.
"I know, right. Tomo-chan's an angel! I'm very lucky to work for her. Otherwise I couldn't keep up with the school and the baseball schedule plus the curfew"
"But I honestly gotta say I'm positively surprised about your attitude towards girls, Sora", Natsukawa remarked with a little impish smile and nudged the blue head with her elbow. "You're always such a gentleman. That's completely unusual for guys our age. And especially those baseball dorks. Only matches on their mind the whole year, Gee!"
"Aw, c'mon don't be so strict with 'em. They're all good guys at heart!" Sora responded, grinning back at the girls, but Fujiwara nodded seriously with a slight blush covering her cheeks.
"Yes, I agree on that"
Luckily for the little group, Takashima and coach Kataoka granted them permission for their plans and the female scout agreed on organizing a Christmas tree with Oota for the evening of the 25th. With a car it would be easier for the two adults to get the big conifer into Seidou's cafeteria.
The next two days however, Sora experienced the true hell on planet earth. Well, technically the unofficial name for the winter training camp was also the hell camp, as well as the Seidou summer camp and the blue haired girl had known that from the beginning, but comically enough she still wouldn't have expected it to be that bad. The blue haired girl was used to training very hard. She had trained with two teams and with her brother and still had done additional pitcher practice after all. Maybe that was the only reason Sora actually survived those two days. Suddenly she really wanted her fever back... Her whole body was aching and she could feel muscles and parts of her body she didn't even know she had them before.
Of course she didn't show it. While her other teammates were whining and cursing during dinner time, Sora was splendidly acting and pretending as if nothing was bothering her, much to everybody's astonishment. Concentrating on her acting skills was actually helping to distract herself from the physical pain she was feeling as well, so the blue haired girl was quite satisfied with herself. Especially when she was seeing Miyuki's and Kuramochi's dumbfounded faces after she had claimed she was doing perfectly fine and she couldn't understand why they were worn out so much.
"Whoa Sora, you're so badass!" Sawamura exclaimed enthusiastically and the young girl threw him a crooked grin.
"Thanks, Eijun"
"Honestly, dude... Just how much did you practice before you came to Seidou?!" Kuramochi grumbled displeased and made a face that showed sufficiently that even speaking was too exhausting for the green haired shortstop.
"Wanna know, huh Mochi?!" the blue head teased back, finished her meal and forced herself to stand up normally and to carry away her tray as if walking on a catwalk for models.
The other guys of the Seidou team followed her every movement with their eyes, impressed and disbelieving. Miyuki gaped at her as she walked out of the cafeteria and completely forgot about his dinner for a few moments until he received a kick under the table from Kuramochi who seemed equally awestruck, but also envious.
Very, very early in the morning of the 25th December, Sora had to get up to help her colleagues at the cosplay café making the cookies and chocolates for the baseball team. She had set up her alarm half an hour earlier than needed just because she had difficulties to move her body at will. Her limbs were protesting and trembling and her head felt heavy, but she managed somehow to get dressed and to walk all the way to her workplace where Tomoko and the other staff members greeted her eagerly.
After moving around for a bit, her body felt better and a little lighter at least, but Sora still never wanted to work as a baker or pastry chef. The working hours were just inhuman...
While her coworkers were producing the sweets for the staff members, the managers and the second-string and non-string players, Sora insisted on making those for her first-string friends herself and especially she had to be careful with the ones for Miyuki because she was very well aware that the brown haired catcher didn't really fancy sweets, although he never said anything about it. Thus, she used very dark chocolate, coffee flavor and dough with less sugar or brown sugar instead.
Exactly forty minutes before morning practice would start, the blue haired girl and Tomoko had finished packing the small wagon with the little transparent present bags with Christmas motifs and golden and red ribbons, except for Miyuki's which was marked with silver and green instead to be able to recognize it better.
Sawamura was already waiting for his friend in front of the café and one of the waiters had brought him a hot chocolate. Sora was beat when she finally came out and let the brown haired boy help her with pulling the cart.
"Oh, they look great! We gotta make sure nobody notices us!"
The blue head yawned and nodded as an answer. Sure as hell she was going to regret the lack of sleep.
"Haruno's gonna cover for us. I told her when we would arrive at the front gate, so she will take over the wagon for us and bring it to the kitchen until this evening after practice"
Sawamura's hazel eyes began sparkling gleefully.
"Can't believe we're gonna have a real Christmas party and everything thanks to you, Sora! You're so awesome, as always! Thank you!"
"S-Shut up!" she stuttered awkwardly and avoided the southpaw's gaze while her cheeks started heating up and turning pink, much to Sawamura's amusement.
Back at Seidou the two teenagers rushed to hand over the cart to the cute manager and made sure no one was around to catch them during their little secret operation.
"What did you tell Mochi?" Sora asked while sprinting back to the dorms.
"Huh? What'cha mean? Kuramochi-senpai was still asleep when I left..."
The blue haired girl braked sharply, coming to a sudden halt and deadpanned at the clueless pitcher.
"So, you didn't tell him anything? Really? No explanation whatsoever as to why you won't be in the room in the morning?!"
"Agh...!"
"Oh Eijun... You big oaf! Seriously...!"
"Ah Sora, we have to hurry and change. Practice's gonna start!"
They both ran to their respective rooms to change into their baseball uniforms for practice and met outside again just five minutes before morning practice. They literally dashed the rest of the way to the training grounds.
"Leave the explaining to me. Just nod to everything I say!" the blue haired girl hissed out of breath when they finally arrived at the field.
"'Kay"
Sora and Sawamura were both panting heavily when they walked up to the others as if nothing irregular had happened.
"Bakamu-...!!!" Kuramochi wanted to start yelling when he saw his roommate, but stopped upon spotting Sora by his side. "And where the bloody hell have you been?!"
"In my bed, duh!" Sora gave back matter-of-factly causing Sawamura beside her to snicker. "And before you ask Eijun, he's gonna give you the exact same answer, so don't even try to waste your precious time and effort"
"Huh?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" the green shortstop complained, crossing his arms over his chest. "He wasn't in his bed this morning! He wasn't even in the room!"
"Yeah, see... That happens if you don't listen to people properly, Mochi..." the blue haired girl teased and grinned mischievously. "I said the exact same answer, hence not his bed, but mine! Got the difference?"
Kuramochi's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. What...?!
"Y-Your... bed? W-W-With you?!"
Sora raised her eyebrows at the green haired teen and his face flushed red instantly. She sighed... Boys and their pervy minds... Not that the shortstop was the one to complain here! He had done the damn same thing and nothing had happened at all... Well, not nothing entirely, but nothing serious at least.
"Yeah, we were having a sleepover after I had called him to my room. We were having a video call with my family and Ten-nii had wanted Eijun to be present, so I told him to crash in my room instead of going back to yours and waking you up. Nice, ain't we?"
Sora started walking again to group with the other first-string players because Miyuki was already eyeing them suspiciously and Sawamura, just as told nodded along and followed after his blue haired friend like a little duckling.
"B-But why the hell did he have to sleep in your bed? There are two other free beds in your room, right?" the shortstop still protested and the young girl had to hold back her laughter at his obvious jealousy.
"Because we were chatting for too long and we just conked out completely. I still had my phone in my hand when we woke up this morning. That's also why we're late. I'm glad I actually did wake up without an alarm"
They could both hear Kuramochi exhale a heavy and beyond relieved sigh behind their backs as they continued their walk to the dugout. But before they could react, the green head jogged past them, kicking them both for being late and laughed his hyena laughter. Sora shook her head in exasperation. Way too easy to rile up and to deceive that guy...!
Finally they were able to gather around their captain and Miyuki just shot the three a displeased glance with his caramel eyes. The sarcasm was even visible in his expressions sometimes and Sora really wanted to murder him for that. The catcher didn't even have to talk to her to say something.
"Hey, Sora..." Sawamura started thoughtfully and glanced between Kuramochi and the blue haired girl, ignoring his captain completely.
"Hm?"
"Kuramochi-senpai has also slept with you in your bed, right? So, why is it so bad when I do the same?!"
Sora froze on her spot.
Kuramochi blushed even more and gawked at his roommate as if he had grown a third arm spontaneously.
And Miyuki almost choked on his water...
Time for acting skills again! Showtime!
"Oh Eijun, don't even start!"
"Eh?! But why?! I don't get it...!"
"Yeah, that's why I already told you last time, I won't comment on that matter until you're older..."
"Ah, for God's sake, Sora! Not that again! We are fucking same age, so that's not an excuse!"
"Eijun, I swear... When you start splashing me with cold water again this time, I'm gonna fucking murder you!"
"Then just give me an answer..." the young pitcher whined.
"No. Period!"
"Wait a sec... That was the reason behind the whole thing when I walked into your water chaos the other day?!" Miyuki chimed in, still suppressing his coughing.
"Yeah, because I couldn't be there for Sora when he had a panic attack, but Kuramochi-senpai could, so I apologized. But that evil guy is always teasing me, telling me that this wasn't his point when talking to me, so I asked what the point really was, but he wouldn't tell me. And my age can't be the reason, Sora's just being a dick here!" Sawamura ranted in utter annoyance.
Sora facepalmed.
Wonderful, Eijun, thank you!
"Whoa, what? Panic attack?!" Miyuki wondered, eyes growing larger every second.
"Yeah, because of the thunderstorm that night-..."
Luckily Sawamura was cut off by the coach who started to bark instructions to finally begin with morning practice. Never before had five minutes been so long in Sora's life...
During lunch break and the beginning of afternoon practice, the blue haired girl successfully avoided Miyuki, Kuramochi and Sawamura because she didn't need another headache and also partly because she had promised Maezono, Shirasu and Kanemaru to be their practice pitcher. Luckily Ono was doing the catching part, so the young girl was safe. Of course she couldn't throw the killer pitches, but for practice that was fine, she was merely following Ono's instructions and aiming at his mitt without fail.
In one of their short breaks, Shirasu, the saint and gentleman, was actually nice enough to bring her a coffee from the vending machine and sat beside her in the dugout. The blue haired girl plopped her head down on his shoulder and yawned. It was her seventh coffee now and it literally didn't help!
Maezono who had breakfast with Watanabe, Shirasu, Kawakami and Sora occasionally, was already used to seeing Sora resting on one of the other boy's shoulders, so it didn't bother him anymore, but Kanemaru furrowed his brows a bit at his blue haired teammate. Those who usually came later to eat in the morning before classes like him or also Kuramochi, Miyuki and a few others hadn't seen the tired, touchy-feely and coffee-longing Sora yet. Well, Sawamura also knew her attitude since he had been the one hugging her and holding her hand in the washroom... Before he had tried to torture her with a beaker...
"What the hell is that guy doing?!" Kuramochi grumbled under his breath.
Usually Miyuki would've been the one to snicker at something like that, but the young captain kept quiet and also narrowed his eyes at the scene.
"Ah, he's touchy-feely again", Sawamura stated deadly serious. "Maybe I should go and offer a hug. Last time that seemed to help..."
"Huh?!" Miyuki and Kuramochi both blurted out, much to the poor confused pitcher's surprise.
"Sora just is like that sometimes..." he shrugged since he also just had found out very recently.
"And then you guys hug?! Seriously, what kind of relationship is that between you two, Sawamura?" Miyuki questioned with a glaring green haired shortstop by his side who looked ready to wrestle his roommate down any second.
"I mean... He kinda asked for it, so... yeah? I also offered to hold his hand if he feels like it. Is that also a bad thing to do? 'Cause honestly, you seem to get pissed at me a lot today... Did I do something, Cap?! I really don't get any of you guys..." poor, oblivious Sawamura pouted, causing the other two boys to exchange a knowing glance with each other and to just leave it at that since they were very well aware that the young southpaw wouldn't be of any help anyway.
Back in the dugout Sora had closed her eyes and was still resting on Shirasu's shoulder. That guy really was nice. He brought her coffee and let her relax for a few minutes, unlike the other bunch of chaos dudes who could only cause trouble. She sighed relieved and felt Shirasu chuckle as his shoulder moved beneath her cheek.
"Tired? Still need more coffee?" he asked.
"Nah, I should probably stop with the coffee any time soon. This is already my seventh, but it doesn't seem to work. But thank you, Shira, I really appreciate it"
"Hm... I thought you might need one after I saw you leave the campus so very early in the morning today. Actually, I just wanted to go to the restroom..."
Sora didn't even tense anymore. What else should go wrong today, huh?
"Yeah, I helped at the café since Tomo-chan's short on staff members. This time I asked for permission, though. No need to interrogate me. Coach and Takashima-sensei are properly filled in"
"And Sawamura went to pick you up as always", Shirasu added. "But you keep it a secret from the team. Why?"
"Because those idiots always throw a fit. I can't do more than three steps without one of them wanting to stick to me. It's exhausting. And you can't imagine the lectures I had to endure. From the captain. From Mochi. Even from coach and Takashima-sensei... I mean, I appreciate the feelings and good thoughts behind all that, but at the same time it's kinda stressing me out! Eijun is the only one I can rely on when it comes to things like that. He never scolds me and he always covers up for me. He's literally the only one here not treating me like I could break at any moment or like I'm not able to handle myself"
"Yes, I can see that", Shirasu replied, much to her surprise. "That's why I wanted to ask you in private first. Don't worry. Now that I got an honest explanation, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. I get your point, Sora. I already thought this might happen any time soon"
"Huh, what do you mean?" Sora sat up straight, looking at Shirasu in confusion.
He sighed.
"I also noticed that some of the guys, especially Kuramochi and Miyuki are very overprotective when it comes to you, which is really unusual for them. Sawamura seems to be overprotective too, but in another way and you appear to appreciate that way more, so I tried to figure out the difference", the calm and composed teenager explained patiently. "Apparently Sawamura supports you and teams up with you while still trying to protect you from any harm, while the other two want to control every step you take so that you won't be able to do anything stupid or reckless anymore. They are worried after the incident with your fever, but of course it is more than understandable that their behavior would stress you. No one wants to be constantly watched"
Sora's bright cerulean eyes widened at Shirasu's words. She didn't know that someone from the team might've noticed.
"But it's also understandable that we as your teammates would be worried about a troublemaker like you", he couldn't hold back to tease and the blue haired girl snorted.
"Yeah, I deserved that one", she admitted without hesitation.
"Glad we agree"
"Thank you, Shira"
The calm boy nodded.
"Don't mention it"
"And sorry for making you worry. I promise I'm trying my best not to in future"
Shirasu threw her a genuine smile, stood up and offered a hand to the young girl which she gladly accepted. Her teammate pulled her up on her feet and together with Maezono and Kanemaru they went back to their batting cages for practice, completely oblivious of the glares they got.
Little did they know that Miyuki's and Kuramochi's overprotectiveness just had another reason than anticipated...