ludic

Chapter Three

It was hours later now with the sun now setting, but the baseball areas were still bustling about with noise. Despite half the team deciding to take the day off like they were allowed, many stayed to witness Kataoka Izanami join in on the boy's practice. When their Coach saw his niece warming up with the rest of his team, he didn't even question it. Just gave her a look which she seemed to understand. She mostly assisted everyone with their own practices, surprising the baseball team when she managed to help out in some of the boy's individual practices. While helping through practice, she had even earned the 'right' to give some of the boys nicknames or even be able to call them by their first name. Most have given up as they were too shy to say otherwise, or genuinely didn't care as they wanted to make Izanami feel more comfortable around them.

"Nice pitch!" Izanami grinned as she caught one of Kawakami's fastballs, standing up and throwing the ball back, "You have good control Kami-kun. Let's do five more and I'll leave yo-"

"Kataoka Izanami," Rei clears her throat from outside the bullpen, making said girl freeze mid-squat. The buzz of the bullpen quiets down as Rei glares at her, a nervous grin on Izanami's face, "I know you aren't catching without any protective gear... right?"

"W-Well... I just wanted to help him warm up so I figured I could go without-"

"Would you like me to call your dad?"

At the threat, Izanami quickly stands up, bowing towards Kawakami in apology before booking it out of the bullpen, "Please for the love of God, don't call him. He'll book a flight right over just to scold me!" She whines, grabbing Rei by the forearms and shaking her dramatically. The shaking doesn't stop until Rei flicks her forehead causing the girl to pout. "I just wanted to help!"

"Then help correctly. Do you want to get hurt?"

"No..."

"Then put on some gear."

"But my gear isn't here!"

"If you came to me I could have found some extra gear for you to borrow in the meantime."

"But-"

"Want me to tell Coach?"

"No! Ah! Okay, you win!"

Rei smirks as she looks at the pouting girl, "Let's find you some gear then."

"No need Rei-chan," Miyuki walks over, "She can borrow mine if she's so insistent on wanting to help catch. She'd be a nice warmup for our pitchers, don't you think?"

Izanami looks over at Miyuki with a raised brow. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Rei though seems to catch what Miyuki means and the look Izanami gives, knowing she's more than ready to make Miyuki eat his words.

"I suppose," Rei hums, "You in Iza?"

Izanami only nods, making Miyuki grin as he goes to retrieve his catcher's gear on a bench. Once he walks back, he starts helping Izanami into the gear, being careful of not touching the girl's body too much, making the other roll her eyes. The rest of the gear was pretty snug except the chest protector which makes Nami walk over to Rei.

"Can you pull the straps tighter around the chest?" Without question, Rei does as asked, only asking if it was tight enough. Once Nami pats her chest to confirm, she nods with a grin on her face.

"What were you even using to catch before I got here?"

"Mochi gave me a spare glove he had laying around so I was just using that."

Rei sighs, shaking her head, "What am I going to do with you? What if you hurt your hand?"

"It was just warm up pitches Rei," Izanami pouts, "Just letting his shoulder warm up before letting one of the actual catchers come in."