Risa the Spy

As the Nishiura ouendan geared up to cheer as loud as they could, Risa moved to sit somewhere less noisy. She sat in an empty section, but after a while she found herself surrounded by the Bijou team.

What was even worse was her older brother, Riku, was on the team.

“Hey, oni-chan,” he called. “You here for Nishiura?”

Risa bristled at the insult. He always called her “demon” when their parents weren’t around. Of course, he never admitted it. He claimed it was just poor pronunciation on his part and he meant nothing by it. Risa knew better, but for today, she would play nice.

“Oh, no, dear brother. I was here to support Bijou. Too bad you didn’t get to play today.” Risa did not see the game, but she saw the box scores. She smiled sarcastically at the tall thin boy.

“Yeah, well, it’s the last summer for the seniors. I’ll get my due soon enough.” Riku shrugged off his sister’s attempt to annoy him. He was used to it. It would take a lot more for her to get to him.

Since Bijou was an all boys school, any passably pretty girl was immediately the center of attention. The other Bijou players crowded around them. “Hey, Riku, who’s that babe? Your girlfriend?” asked several of his teammates.

That got to Riku. He gagged involuntarily. “No way in hell! That’s sick! What’s wrong with you guys? Don’t you notice the family resemblance? Oh, wait. My oni-chan has horns and I don’t.” Riku laughed hysterically while Risa looked like a overheated pressure cooker about to explode.

“That’s terrible thing to say about your sister, especially one so pretty.” A big guy with glasses bowed to Risa respectfully. “I apologize for these guys. Let me introduce myself. I’m Makoto Wada, captain of these idiots.”

“Don’t be so nice to her. She’s probably spying for our next opponents. She goes to Nishiura,” Riku warned.

“Spy? Me? Like I know anything about baseball.” Risa laughed a silly empty headed laugh and tossed her hair. “I was just here to support my big brother. Go Bijou!”

When it comes to a pretty girl, most guys are pretty stupid, so they believed her rather than their own teammate.

“Hi, I’m Shou. Do you know Sakaeguchi? He’s my friend from middle school. He’s Nishiura’s second baseman,” said a small numberless first year.

“Mmm…Sorry. He’s not in my class, so I’m afraid I don’t know who he is. I think there are a couple of guys in my class who are on the team, but I don’t remember.” Risa lied easily. She had always been good at that.

The first years on the Bijou team started talking about how the Nishiura team was all composed of first years and how if they had gone there they could have started.

“Makoto! Take care of those rowdy freshman! And you juniors and seniors, pay attention. We’ll be playing the winner of this game!” ordered a young man with his hair gathered in a silly little ponytail.

Risa looked behind her. Sitting at the top bench was the Bijou coach, the guy who just shouted at his players, and another guy. The other guy looked big and mean, but he wasn’t wearing a collared shirt like everyone else on the team. She wondered if he was a coach or just a fan. She turned her attention back to the boys around her as the Bijou team settled down to watch and analyze the Nishiura game against Kounan. Risa listened closely as they discussed the Nishiura players.

“So what are you still doing here?” her brother asked. “If you don’t care about baseball, or the Nishiura team, and your dear brother’s team is done for today, why don’t you just leave.”

“Oh, I want to keep you company for a while, dear brother. I don’t get to see you very often anymore. You’re always away at practice or training camp. Don’t you know how much I miss you?” Risa said innocently.

Of course, Riku knew his sister better than that - her sweet behavior was just an act, but before he could order her out, his captain put his arm around him. “Aww, what a sweet sister you have. You should be nicer to her, Riku. Let her stay. There’s no girls at Bijou. We can use a fan.”

“She’s not a f...”

“Thank you so much, Captain! I’ll do my best to root for you guys in the next round!” Risa said enthusiastically. “By the way, who’s that back there with your coach?”

“That’s Nakazawa Roku, our assistant coach. He’s friends with Coach Takii back from when they went to Tosei. He’s really tough, but he really knows his stuff. He’s been a great help.” But Makoto secretly disapproved of the recent decision to use Takeshi instead of Naomasa as the regular catcher. He didn’t understand the decision. Naomasa was the better catcher and hitter and he knew the pitchers better. He had a feeling Roku was responsible for the coach’s decision and there was a surreptitious reason for it.

Risa caught the slight tension in his voice when he spoke of Roku. She suspected he didn’t like him much. No, it was more than that. It wasn’t just personal. It had to do with the team. She made a mental note to question her brother more fully.

************

Meanwhile, Nishiura scored a run in the first inning, and two more in the fourth. As Abe rounded the bases in the fourth inning, he happened to see where the Bijou team was sitting. There they were – having changed from their uniforms to their collared shirts. Abe’s sharp eyes instinctively zoomed in on the girl. The reporter - what was she doing there? She was sitting with them, talking to them! Consorting with the enemy! Was she giving away Nishiura’s secrets? She was a spy after all!

Abe was so distracted, Kounan came back with three in the fifth. During the ground maintenance, Abe was in a foul mood. He had been hoping for another called game, but he had underestimated their opponents. No, he was distracted by the thought of that reporter talking to the Bijou team. What did she know? Momoe had warned the team about talking to her, but Tajima had a big mouth and Mihashi could be tricked or bullied into revealing information. He would have to have a talk with that girl. But first…

“Hey, Mihashi!”

Mihashi jumped like a squirrel reacting to a barking dog. He turned shakily to his catcher. ‘Abe’s mad because I got hit and let up runs and now we’re tied…’

“You been talking to that reporter?’

“Re…reporter?” Mihashi thought hard. Someone had mentioned that reporters might be coming around once they advanced in the tournament. They assumed Momoe would be the one they’d interview. Was a reporter interested in talking to him? The mere thought of such a possibility almost caused him to faint.

“Hey, you okay? Drink some more water. You looked flushed,” Abe said, forgetting his anger for the moment.

Mihashi moved to obey him, but he clung desperately to the water cooler. His headed twitched back and forth, looking for the imaginary report.

‘Geez…he’s so weird. It’s impossible to talk to him.’ Abe tuned his attention to Tajima instead. “Hey, Tajima. You been talking to that reporter?”

“Who? Risa? Sure.”

“I saw her talking to the Bijou team. She know anything she shouldn’t?”

“You mean have I leaked any strategic stuff to her? I don’t think so. We don’t talk about baseball.”

“Good. Keep it that way,” he warned. But then he thought, ‘Don’t talk about baseball? What else is there? What could he possibly have to say to that hack?’Still, his suspicion wouldn’t go away. It nagged at him through the rest of the game, through changing to his regular clothes, through leaving the stadium.

As they waited for the car, Hanai received a call. There was a hitch with the car and they would have to bring the equipment to the parking lot. Most of the team members carried what equipment they could to the parking lot while Mihashi, at Abe’s order, was left behind to watch the remaining bags. Abe walked with Tajima at first, but then out of the corner of his eye, he saw something behind him.

“You go ahead with the others. There’s something I have to take care of first,” Abe said as he walked back. Tajima shrugged and ran ahead. Abe was walking too slow anyway.

Abe had seen Risa walking with one of the Bijou guys. He was not one of the regulars, but Abe even recognized the guys on the bench. She was definitely too chummy with him. She was definitely a spy, or at least a double agent.

He walked up to the two and said, “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“Is this guy your…” Riku began to say.

“No.” Risa said to Riku, then she turned to Abe. “What do you want?” said Risa warily.

“I’ve got a scoop for you.” Abe decided offering a carrot was the best way to get her alone.

“A scoop?” Risa perked up. “Right. Sorry, Riku, see you later.”

“Have fun oni-chan.” Riku waved and walked away, leaving his little sister in the hands of a guy who looked like he wanted to kill her, but that was her problem. He could understand the feeling. He was sure Risa had done something offensive.

“Oni?” Abe repeated. That was a good nickname for her.

“Nothing. So what do you have for me?”

To her surprise, Abe grabbed her shoulders, hard, and shook her. “What have you been telling them?” he demanded.

A sudden fear gripped her. It was happening again. She was being bullied, but she wasn't the same girl she was in middle school. “What? What are you talking about?” Risa tried to pull to away but Abe’s strong fingers dug deeper in to her.

“You know. Our opponents. Bijou. You were talking to them throughout the game. And now with that guy…”

“You think I’ve been telling them your secrets? Guess what – I was trying to do you guys a favor, but forget it!” Risa twisted under his grip.

Abe finally released her. “Sorry, I got carried away,” he muttered, rather insincerely.

Risa rubbed her shoulders and glared at him. Before she left, she issued a warning. “You know what, here’s a tip, they’re big and mean and you’re going to get crushed!”

Author's Notes: Next up, the romance starts, sort of...