• Summary version 1 by Hitoshi Doi, 1993.05.31

Later Hiro and Noda were talking to Yanagi about why his father wouldn't let him play baseball any more. Yanagi said that there was a high school called Sousei that lost 30-0 in the Koushien ten years ago. It used to be a famous school for studying and they were proud of it. But because of the great defeat, people only talked about the loss and not about its great scholastic ability. Yanagi's father had graduated from Sousei. So it was taboo to talk about high school baseball in his house.

Then Yanagi asked about Hiro and Noda meeting his father. Yanagi's father was the principal of Senkawa High School.

Later during the baseball club's practice, Hiro and Noda were thinking about how to change Yanagi principal's mind. Then Haruka came and asked if she should ask her father for help. She said that her father was a friend of the PTA chairman. Hiro was against the idea at first, but since there was no other idea, he asked Haruka to do it.

In the regional tournament, Meiwa Daiichi High School was winning its way to the semi-finals. Hiro said that he would cheer them on this year.

The PTA chairman Takemura went to talk to Yanagi principal. After the meeting, Takemura came to the baseball field and said hi to Haruka. When Haruka asked about the result, Takemura laughed and said of course it was ok. The baseball club members were shocked. Hiro was surprised that it was so simple. But Takemura said that it wasn't simple. He said that the principal put one condition on it. The condition was that they had to defeat the runner up team of this year's regional tournament in a practice game. But if they lose, the baseball club will be disbanded.

The championship game of the regional tournament was between Meiwa and Shinkawa. Hiro and Haruka went to the stadium to watch the game. Hiro hoped that Meiwa would not get left behind, as they would have to play the loser.

In the top of the 2nd inning, the number four batter Hideo hit the ball into the center field scoreboard for a homerun.

While they were watching, Haruka said that Meiwa's lefty pitcher was the person who used to play center field the previous year. Hiro finally understood why he looked awkward on the mound. But Hiro said that it would be difficult to hit off of him.
Then Noda came and said, "Hiro, let's go behind the plate and look at the Shinkawa batters."
Hiro said, "It hasn't been decided yet that Shinkawa will be our opponents."
Noda said, "Don't say something so unlucky."

Until the 7th inning, Meiwa pounded out 9 hits. But the score was still 1-0 as Shinkawa's defense was making many great plays.
Hiro said, "It's starting to look bad."
Noda said, "Don't worry! There's no way they can get runs off of that Meiwa pitcher."
Hiro said, "I hope so."

In the bottom of the 9th inning, the score was still 1-0. Meiwa's pitcher had only given up 3 hits until then. But Hiro was still very worried because the pitcher was inexperienced.

When the game ended, Shinkawa had scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to win the game. Hiro and Noda were very disappointed.

That night, Hiro and Noda were in Hideo's room watching the video of the game. Hideo got mad at them, but Hiro yelled back, "We're the ones who are really depressed!"
Noda said, "Yeah!"
Hideo said, "Really. I didn't know you cheered for me that much."
Noda said, "I wanted to you go to the Koushien very much."
Hiro said, "I would understand it if Shinkawa was a very strong team. But that's a team that you can beat 7 out of 10 times. Stupid!"
Hideo said, "It can't be helped. There's only one chance."
Hiro said, "The line up is hitting well. That second year pitcher will become much better after this experience. It's going to be very hard to play."
Hideo asked, "Play? Who?"
Hiro answered, "Us."
Hideo was surprised. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

The next day at school, Hiro found Yanagi. Hiro said, "Hey! Did you hear? From your father."
Yanagi said, "It seems you got yourself into something big."
Hiro said, "The game is 10 days from now at Meiwa's field. Ok?"
Yanagi said, "What?"
Hiro said, "I'll leave second base open."
Then Yanagi started to say that he couldn't play. But Hiro told him that there are times when a child should go against their parents. Also that Yanagi was needed in order to play a good game.

Hideo told Hikari about the upcoming game. Hikari was upset at Senkawa's principal. She said that there was no way that Senkawa could win. But Hideo said that it was Hiro. Then Hikari asked Hideo to lose on purpose. But Hideo said that they couldn't do that. He added that it would be easier for them to go to the Koushien the next year if they win.

Hiro and Noda were trying to come up with a lineup in Hideo's room. But they were one decent person short.

The next day at practice, Haruka asked Hiro if he had some up with the starting lineup. Hiro said that they still need a center fielder, someone who was fast, had a strong arm, and knew baseball well. They both thought of a jerk who was very selfish and always wanted the spotlight.

When Hiro and Haruka asked Kine to play for them, Kine refused.
Hiro asked, "Why? You said that you would help us if we begged you."
Kine said, "Yeah! You should have bought it at that time. People's stock is something that can go up or down. If it's to help save the life of the baseball club, I can't sell myself very cheaply."
Hiro said, "How much did it go up?"
Kine said, "It's about.. A one day date with Koga-chan, that comes with a kiss."
Haruka slapped Kine and said, "No way!"
Hiro punched Kine and said, "Bye."

Hiro and Noda were in Hideo's room looking at the video tape of Meiwa's game. Noda was commenting that the Meiwa batters were very good. Then there was a phone call from Hikari. Hikari and Hideo were at the pool and asked Hiro and Noda to come. Hiro said that they were busy. But Hikari said that they should take some time off for a change of pace. But Hiro still said that they wouldn't go.

When Hiro was walking through a park on his way to the pool, Haruka called out for him. Haruka was with some guy who was holding onto her hand. Then Haruka broke free and went to Hiro. They guy was someone that Haruka had liked in junior high school, although Haruka denied writing a love letter to him.

The next day when Hiro was looking at some porn books in Amamiya book store, Hikari came and got upset that Hiro didn't show up at the pool. Hiro said that he never promised to go. Then Hiro ran off to baseball practice.

When Hiro got to the baseball field, Haruka had just spilled a bucket of baseballs. Hiro thanked Haruka for treating him some food the previous day. Haruka said that Hiro and arrived at a good time to get her free from her old boy friend. Then Haruka explained that junior high was a time when a lot of people started to look cool to her. Hiro recalled Hikari going after Hideo. Haruka said that all of the people that she picked out (thought were cool) turned out to be bad when she thought about it later. Then when Haruka was about to slip on a baseball, Hiro caught her and told her to fix that clumsy personality first.

Haruka said, "Kunimi-kun, did you get a good pick?"
Hiro said, "It was all sold out."
Haruka said, "What?"
Hiro said, "Next time, I'll show you pictures of myself when I was in junior high. You'll laugh. Until I was in second year, I was very short. Just when my height grew and I thought I would go looking for a girl friend, everyone was in the middle of their first love."
Haruka said, "Really?"
Hiro said, "I have nothing to gain by lying about this."
Haruka said, "But now, you can have a lot of girl friends. You're very cool when you're pitching."
Hiro said, "It's hard to be truly happy, when I'm praised by someone who hasn't been lucky so far."
Haruka said, "But it's true." Then Haruka ran into a can of baseballs.
Hiro said, "Don't get hit by a car before you hit on the right guy."

During practice, Kine came in and made a fancy catch in the outfield. Then he threw a strike back to home. Kine said, "How's that Kunimi-kun!? Now I'll sell my services for two kiss dates with Koga! The price is sure to go up! Now is the best time to buy!"

Hiro and Noda went to Hideo's room. They saw Hideo and asked why he was there. He answered, "This is my room!"
Hiro asked, "Is Meiwa's practice canceled today?"
Hideo said, "They're practicing. I have to go to the doctor now."
Hiro, looking like he was very happy, said, "Is there something wrong with your body!?"
Hideo, sticking out his tongue, said, "It's just a dentist." Then Hideo left.

Hiro spotted Hideo's practice uniform hanging to dry. Hiro said to Noda, "He had two sets of practice uniforms right?"
Noda said, "Yeah, here's another set."
Hiro said, "There are 80 people in Meiwa's baseball team.."

Hiro and Noda wore Hideo's uniforms and snuck into Meiwa's baseball practice to spy on them. They watched Meiwa's pitcher and Hiro asked Noda about him. But Noda said that he really couldn't tell unless he caught the pitches himself. Then Hiro made a false announcement to get the real catcher away from the field. Noda went to replace the catcher and caught some of the pitcher's pitches.

Meanwhile Hiro was by the batting practice and watched over the Meiwa batters. The Meiwa batters all hit well and Hiro knew that he was going to have a hard time preventing the ball from going into the outfield.

On the way home, Hiro and Noda talked about what they saw.
Noda said, "If that lefty pitcher come out our baseball club won't be able to do anything. The only thing to do is bunt and hope for them to make errors. If we try to hit homeruns, we'll get caught in their game. How about the batters?"
Hiro said, "Much better than I imagined. If they went to the Koushien, the newspapers would give them a rating of A."
Noda asked, "So what's the strategy?"
Hiro said, "We have to believe in our defense and go after them."
Noda said, "So we need Kine."
Hiro said, "But I can't accept his conditions. Before that we need Yanagi. Without him at second, there's no hope."

Meanwhile Hideo spotted Kine watching some kids playing baseball. Hideo started talking about the past. Hideo said, "At that time.. You told the coach that you would quit the Hakusan Angels if he let me bat 4th."
Kine said, "That coach was pretty blind. Of course because of you, a team that had been winning 2-1 or 3-1 became a team capable of scoring 5 runs. But also it became hard to calculate the number of runs given up. At that time, what the team needed wasn't you. It was me! It was me for sure!"
Hideo said, "It wasn't that the coach was blind. I chased you out. I turned you into a bad character. It was a good thing for me that there wasn't anyone on the team that was on your side."
Kine asked, "What do you mean?"
Hideo said, "I put the coach's wallet in your bag so he could find it. Twice. Well.. It's a thing of the past. Don't worry about it. Batting 4th on the Hakusan Angels, going smoothly into junior high and high school.. It made my baseball life go into the elite course. Of course it was because of my skill too. But the one miscalculation was that Hiro started baseball. Just when I though he went to a school without a baseball team."
Kine said, "That fake doctor that diagnosed his elbow.."
Hideo said, "Of course I introduced him. But, it's the baseball club that will be terminated next week. There's no doubt about that."
Kine was shocked and asked, "Weren't you guys friends?"
Hideo said, "We're friends. If we don't play baseball. I'll knock anyone who gets in my way into the soccer team. I don't care if the popularity of baseball declines or the level declines. I only care about my signing bonus going up. You were pretty smart for throwing away baseball so quickly. We can be good friends."
Then Hideo laughed and walked away. Kine got very mad and started running. Kine said, "I won't let you have it your way! Tachibana! You just watch!"

Later a very upset Hiro barged into Hideo's room, where Hideo and Hikari were looking at a magazine. After Hiro asked about the things that Hideo had said to Kine, Hikari said, "Stupid. How can you still call yourself a friend! You think Hide-chan would do that!?"
Hikari got very mad at Hiro.
Hideo asked, "So did Kine say that he would play?"
Noda said, "Yeah. He said that he wouldn't forgive you. He's really psyched up."

Then Hiro said that all they needed was Yanagi. Hideo was very surprised that Yanagi was in Hiro's school too. Then Hiro picked up the phone and said, "Oh yeah Hide. Why don't you become the villain again and call Yanagi. Tell them that you would bomb their house if he doesn't play in the game." Hideo yelled at Hiro.

The day of the game came. Before the game started, Hideo was walking around. When he spotted Kine, he said, "Hey, did you see my wallet around here?" Then Kine got very mad. Kine went to Hiro and told him not to let Hideo hit. He was very determined to win.

Then Haruka spotted a person with a mask over his face sitting in the dugout. Haruka asked, "Do you have a cold?"
Then Noda came running to Hiro. Noda said, "Hiro! Hasn't Yanagi come yet!?"
Hiro said, "It doesn't look like it."
Noda asked, "What are you going to do!? Who's going to play second!?"
Hiro said, "Shut up. I've been asking that myself over and over."
Noda said, "So he couldn't go against his father.. Who's left?"
Hiro said, "Sato, Tanaka, Sasaki, Nakamura, and the guy with the cold."

Then the two teams lined up for the start of the game. Noda noticed that Meiwa had brought in the second string. Hiro was happy, and said that the point of this game was to win, no matter how. Although the game was being played at the Meiwa field, Senkawa got to be the home team.

After taking his warmup pitches, Hiro threw the first pitch.

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