𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 [𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐲𝐚 𝐬.]

𝐭𝐰𝐨.

Katsumi woke up at 5 am to the sound of her alarm blaring and the icky feeling of Kuma and Soba licking her face. She groaned and blocked the dogs with her arm, reaching over them to smack the alarm clock on her bedside table. She was quick to brush her teeth and hair, pouting when attempt after attempt to braid her hair failed.

'Maybe I'll see Aniki before practice starts...' She huffed, leaving it down past her shoulders. She tugged her uniform on, frowning softly at her figure in the mirror. The uniform was a bit big on her; the sleeves of the undershirt covered her hands, but luckily the pants weren't too big and stretched across her thighs comfortably. 'I'll talk to Takashima about a new uniform...'

She took Soba and Kuma outside for a quick bathroom break in the surprisingly heavy morning fog, before taking them back inside and cramming a granola bar in her mouth before taking her prescription pills. Refilling the dogs' water and food bowls and giving them lots of pets, she left for the field.

As the yells from the field got louder, Katsumi's anxieties grew larger—but at the same time, she was determined to fight to show that she was an equal to the boys she would be practicing with. She took a deep breath as the field came into view, stopping in place. She cuffed her sleeves a bit, humming in satisfaction before going back to trying to braid her hair.

"Gah... dammit!" She cursed under her breath, her fingers fumbling blindly behind her head.

"Uh... do you need help?" She turned, eyes landing on a boy she recognized from dinner last night—the stubbled boy who was always glaring. "Katsumi, right?" Katsumi nodded bashfully and the boy walked over, roughly calloused hands surprisingly gentle as he took the hair tie from her.

"I have two older sisters who made me learn how to braid so they didn't have to do it themselves." He muttered, swiftly braiding Katsumi's hair.

"I make Anik- Aniki braid mine, t- too." Katsumi whispered, smiling faintly as the boy tied her hair off. The boy chuckled, stepping back from the girl and she turned to face him.

"Isashiki Jun, center field." He held his hand out and Katsumi shook it.

"I know who you are." She murmured softly and Jun smirked.

"Heh, Takashima told me about you." He suddenly jabbed a finger in her face. "I don't care that you're Miyuki's cute little sister! I'm not goin' easy on you, you'll have to fight me for the starting position!" With that, he turned and stomped away.

"O- oh..!" She murmured to herself. "Th- thank you, Senpai!" She called softly, bouncing on her toes and waving at his retreating figure. She walked towards the practice fields, where other players were beginning to gather. It was still foggy, so much so that Katsumi could only make out the silhouettes of the trees behind the field. She stepped onto the field, ignoring the stares from the boys around her.

"A girl?"

"Hey, is this even allowed?"

"She's Miyuki's sister, right?"

"She's so much tinier than everyone! How can she play?!"

"I won't complain about getting to see her during practices..."

'Boys are so primitive...' Katsumi sighed. She ignored their comments, going to stand in line with the other first years, holding her head up high.

She tensed up as a man walked onto the field, a large group of boys behind him that Katsumi knew were the second and third years from their heights. She looked over the crowd for her brother, frowning softly when he was nowhere to be found. She noticed Takashima standing off to the side, looking irritated as a tick mark popped up on her forehead.