The Wannabes

Prologue

Nanairō

I ran after the neighborhood boys as they were taking off for the local recreational center where highschool kids from some school named Seidō were giving free baseball lessons. I easily caught up and I saw some of the boys tiring out from a sudden sprint. "Ninkoho-kun, don't get too tired!" His friends supported him. But we've only been running 5 minutes... A tall boy caught up to me. "A-ah, Naka-san I'm tired!" The boy whined. I hissed out a sigh and snaked my arm around his waist when he almost fell. "Sanada-kun you're heavy!" I whined back at him as I drug him forward with me. "Nuh, Nakatomi-san! You're just light." I sighed and just carried on forward.

We finally arrived, I ended up dragging Shunpeī the entire way. We all stood in front of the 9 baseball players. "Hey, I'm Zoko, he's Mankato..." I zoned as the boy identified each of the perfectly capable highschool boys, "-and we're going to help you all in each of your desired positions." I grinned as the boys asked each of the boys the position they wanted to learn. Then it was my turn.

"I'm Nakatomi Nanairō and I want to be a pitcher!" The boy, Zoko, was gaping at the mouth. "Hey you're a girl! You can't play Baseball!" I frowned. "I can too Azuma!" Shunpeī glanced at me with furrowed eyebrows as I glared at the older boy. "Nuh! You're just a little pipsqueak girl! hahaha-" His laughter was interrupted by the high schooler. "That's enough. Nanairo, sorry but could you leave? This was meant to be a serious meeting." I frowned and glared at the ground then at the high schooler as tears welled up and Shunpeī picked me up and carried me away from the rude boys and the high schooler. "Zoko-senpai..." The boy nodded with a smile. "She'll be the next generation of Seidō... And we're going to help."

"Sanada-kun I can walk." I pouted. He laughed and smiled brightly. "I know! But you'll just punch Azuma-kun and get grounded." I pouted at my best-friend's optimistic yet pessimistic response. "Touché." A wide grin stretched against his childish features. "Shun-kun you're so goofy sometimes." He laughed and dropped me once we stopped in front of my house. "Well I'll see you soon Nanai-san." I waved the boy off.

"I want to be a pitcher." I stared my parents down. My Dad smiled. "Ok we'll enroll you into a Softball League-" I shook my head sharply. "No! I want to play Baseball not Softball." I frowned. My Mom and Dad jumped in surprise. "Uh ok?" I smiled. "And I'll need to cut my hair short." My mother's eyes widened. "I won't give up my 5 year old girl so she can cut her hair and act like a b-" My mom looked at my father but he was smiling at her as if to say: 'Its her decision, let's give it a try.' My mom gave in immediately. "Ok, let's go cut your hair and buy you boy's clothes and baseball gear... We'll drop you off at Shunpeī's house so you can go to his baseball games with him until we get you signed up for his team meet your future teammates..." We did just that. She cut my hair short but long enough to be messy. We went and bought me boy clothes and baseball gear. Then she set up meetings between me and the guys from Seido on the way to Shunpeī's house.

We just arrived at Shunpeī's house and my mom took off after calling his mother and informing I would be there any minute. Truth of the matter was, that wasn't the first time my Mom had done that. I knocked on the door and Shunpeī answered it. "Hey Nan-" He stopped talking and the smile that was on his face disappeared. "Your hair... What happened... And your clothes, aren't those boy clothes...?" I nodded and grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in his house. "Hey I know this may seem weird now but I'll explain it."

"Huh so that's all? Ok. But what about your name? Shouldn't you change your name to a boy's name?" I smiled. "About that, would you help with that?" He nodded. "Ok... How about Satoshi?" I grinned at him. "Hey I'm Nakatomi Satoshi, nice to meet you." I gave an approving nod and we started to talk about other things as he got ready for his baseball game.

All of this happened while a certain Megane Catcher sealed his fate in highschool baseball.