• Summary version 1 by Hitoshi Doi, 1993.11.25

Then the boy kept fouling off the strikes until he had four balls. Haruka said, "Now it's him! The most dependable batter in the ninth inning, Kunimi-kun!"
Hikari said, "If only he didn't have a leg injury."

Haruka called out for Hiro to hit a homerun. But Noda commented that it would be difficult on this practice field because there were two baseball fields he had to cross.

On the first curve, Hiro swung and missed very badly. Kine said that Hiro's timing was way off. Noda commented that the Meiwa battery must have thought the same thing. Then Hiro got the identical pitch and swung very hard at it. He hit it deep down the left field line. But the ball landed a couple inches foul.

The Meiwa players who were watching from the dugout said that it was very close. But the Meiwa coach said, "That's a homerun. If it were a regular baseball field, with that distance, that would have been in the stands in fair territory."

Hiro was pissed off the the ball was foul, because he had been betting everything on that swing. But the Meiwa pitcher threw the same curve to Hiro again. Hiro stepped into it, but he felt a big pain in his leg. Hiro just managed to poke it out of the infield for a hit. The masked boy dove into third base, so there were runners on first and third.

Noda quickly sent a pinch runner for Hiro, and Kine got ready to bat. Kine took some practice swings, but he said that something was wrong. He couldn't figure out why his swing wasn't right. Then Hideo called out, "Hey, when you were with the Hakusan Angels, weren't you batting lefty?"

Kine then remembered that he used to bat lefty and started practicing his lefty swing. He was satisfied that he got his swing back, and went up to the batters' box.

Kine took a huge swing at the first pitch, and missed badly. Noda and Hiro yelled out to him to watch the ball carefully. Then the Meiwa pitcher threw the same pitch and Kine missed badly again. Kine thought that the pitcher would throw the same pitch again, but the pitcher threw a fastball. Kine paniced, but he still pulled the ball down the right field line for a double, scoring the masked man.

There were runners on second and third with Noda coming to the plate. Hideo thought, "First base is open." The Meiwa coach also looked at the next batter and said to himself that the game was over. But Noda hit the first pitch and pulled it down the third base line. Hideo dove to make a great play to get the ball. Noda was running as hard as he could to first base. But Hideo got up and fired the ball to first. The ball and Noda arrived at the base at the same time. The Meiwa and Senkawa principals both saw that the first baseman had his foot pulled off of the base. But the first base umpire called Noda out.

So the final score was.

Later in the toilet, some of the Meiwa players were talking about how close the play was at first. Then the boy who was the first base umpire came and said that the runner was out. The two other players said that they weren't questioning the judgement. But the other boy added, "If only the first baseman's foot was still on the base."

The two other players were surprised, but the umpire said that it was just a little home field advantage.

When the Senkawa principal got home, Yanagi welcomed him home. Yanagi's father immediately asked if his cold got fixed. Then the principal went to rest in his room. He said, "That was too bad, Kunimi-kun," and smiled.

At Hideo's room, Hiro was sitting on the floor with his injured leg extended. Noda and Haruka were there and said that he should go to the hospital. Hiro said that he would, since they had nothing to do from now on anyways. Then Hikari came and yelled at Hiro. "Why are you giving up so easily! You don't have to follow that stupid agreement!"
Hideo also came into the room and said, "That was too bad. If that ball would have gotten through the infield, you guys would have won for sure."
Noda grabbed Hideo by the collar and said, "I'm very moved by your sense of fair play."

Then Hideo asked Noda and Hiro to transfer to his school. He wanted to play baseball together again. But Hiro said, "It's too late. I already learned how fun it is to pitch against you." Hiro said that they should try to find some other way to make a baseball team at Senkawa.

Later Hiro called Yanagi over to Hideo's room. They all tried to come up with some way to convince Yanagi's father to let them play baseball. Hiro asked about the background of Yanagi's father. Noda was off by himself and made up his own plan. But nobody was listening to him. So he just called Yanagi's father on the phone and said, "Don't say anything and just listen. We have your cute son. If you want him to be returned safely, make a baseball team at Senkawa High School. Do you understand?"
The principal said, "I just have to make a baseball team? Ok. I'll do as you say."

Noda was very surprised and hung up. He told everyone, but nobody else could believe it either.

Hiro had a dream that he was pitching in the Koushien. Senkawa High School won the first game 7-6, and Hiro woke up. He said that if it was going to be a dream, it should be a better one. Then Hiro got up and took off his shirt. He opened his clothes locker and a lot of the porn magazines fell down from the top shelf. Hiro sat down to look at some of the magazines, when he noticed Haruka sitting in his room. Haruka said that she just waited for Hiro to wake up because he was sleeping so soundly.

When Hiro asked what Haruka wanted, she told him that she had come to make sure that Hiro went to the hospital to have his leg looked at. "We can't have anything happen to our ace. Since we had just become a baseball team." Then Hiro grabbed Haruka and hugged her. But he quickly let her go.

Hiro then wrote a sign, "Got for the Koushien. Kunimi Hiro," and put it up on his wall. He said that it had been his dream to put something like that up on the wall. Then they went in Haruka's car to the hospital.

Meanwhile at the Yanagi home, the principal was doing yard work. He stopped to relax his shoulders. Then Yanagi came out and asked his father, "Do you want me to massage your shoulders?"
But his father said, "Your kidnappers asked me to make a baseball team. They didn't ask me to let you play baseball. What are you going to do? Do you want to get kidnapped again?"
Yanagi said, "I'll ask myself. Please let me play baseball. I love baseball.. Probably as much as you."
Then the principal said, "There's one condition. Massage my shoulders."

At the hospital, the doctor told Hiro that his leg was just bruised, and that there was nothing wrong with the bone or muscles.

Later Hiro and Haruka walked along the beach. Haruka said that it was good that there wasn't anything seriously wrong with Hiro's leg. (The doctor had said that it would be fine in two or three days.) But Hiro said that there was no need to rush. They had several things to do in preparation for the baseball team, like finding a baseball field, finding a baseball coach, and finding replacement players for the third year students who would graduate.

Then Hiro came to the spot where he had slipped and fell when he was in grade school. He said that he had hit his head, and he had gotten bloody all over. But Hikari had carried him to their parents. Then Haruka asked, "Are you regretting it?"
Hiro didn't understand and asked, "What?"
Haruka said, "That you introduced Hikari to Tachibana-kun."
Hiro crouched down by the water and thought about it for a while. "If it was anybody else but Hideo, I would have regretted it."

When they were about to leave, Haruka slipped and was about to fall. But Hiro caught her in time. Haruka said, "Darn, I thought I could have had you carry me."

When Haruka and Hiro returned to the car, the driver was sitting with his leg sticking out of the window, listening to high school baseball on the radio. Hiro commented that the driver had a bad attitude (manners). While they were driving home, they listened to the baseball game. The driver kept yelling out when the baseball coach made "stupid" decisions. Then Haruka told her brother to keep his eye on the road while driving. Hiro was surprised that it was Haruka's brother.

That evening when Hiro was lying on his bed eating snacks and reading manga, Hideo came over. He handed two tickets to Hiro and told him to take Hikari to a concert the next day. Hideo had to go to a special baseball training camp with his team, so he couldn't go. Hiro didn't want to go, but Hideo told him that he had to protect Hikari from the crowd, which was famous for not being very nice.

Hiro and Hikari went to the outdoor concert, but it rained very much. After the concert, they couldn't go home right away because the trains had stopped due to the rain. So they went to a coffee shop to kill some time. There Hikari told Hiro about what Hideo and she always talked about on their dates. Hiro asked about Hideo's future dreams, and Hikari answered, "First, Koushien. Then professional baseball. Get the rookie of the year award, play in the all star game, get an individual title, and carry the team to the championships. Then retire after setting several records, become a baseball announcer, and finally become a coach. Also have a nice family with three kids."
Hiro added, "With you as the wife."
Hikari said, "He didn't say that."
Hiro said, "There's no need."
Hikari asked, "Hiro, do you want to play professional baseball too?"
Hiro said, "I don't know. It seems difficult to play for money. I'll probably play baseball until I can't move, but I don't care if it's just the amateur leagues."
Hikari said, "Yeah, I want you to enjoy your baseball forever."
Hiro said, "But I don't think the scouts would leave me alone. Ha, ha.. What's your dream?"
Hikari said, "I want to get married. But before that I want to find a job where I can have self confidence, and become a full working person with my own opinions."
Hiro said, "Oh, a career woman?"
Hikari said, "It's nothing that big, but I just don't want a life where I leave everything to my partner. So I don't care if my husband is a professional baseball player or the ace of the local team.." Then Hikari stopped and said that it was time for the trains to start running again.

When Hiro and Hikari were walking from the store to the train station, a guy who was running knocked Hiro down from behind. Then a woman came out of the coffee shop and yelled, "Thief!" Hiro immediately went to a guy who had just bought a can of drinks from a vending machine and took the can. Then Hiro threw the can and hit the thief in the back, knocking him out. The police immediately came and Hiro and Hikari went to the police station to tell the story. The policeman was a fan of high school baseball and talked to them for a while.

After that Hiro and Hikari rushed to get to the train station. Hikari commented that they would get home around midnight. But then they saw a car skid on the wet road and fall into a gutter. Hiro said that they should just leave them alone and kept going. But then they heard some voices say, "The baby's going to be born!" "Are you all right!?" "I'll take you to the hospital right away!" So Hiro and Hikari helped them out and missed the last train.

Hiro and Hikari didn't have enough money to pay for the taxi ride home. But they had enough for a cheap hotel (but not enough for two rooms). So they pretended to be older sister and younger brother and stayed in a cheap hotel. Then after the woman who showed them their room left, Hiro said, "It seems like she was doubting us, big sister."
Hikari said, "If it were three years ago, it would look that way. But now, it's pretty difficult to make it look like we are sister and brother."

When Hiro asked if Hikari had called home and explained the reason why they couldn't get home, Hikari said that she didn't. Hikari said that her mother wasn't worried at all because she was with Hiro. Then Hiro said, "Doesn't your mother understand what kind of person you are to boys of this age?"
Hikari asked, "What kind of person?"
Hiro said, "Um.. That is.. a girl who makes one's heart throb."
Hikari smiled and said, "That's the first time I was called that."
Hiro said, "What are you saying! You got lots of love letters like that ever since you were in junior high."
Hikari then added, "By you."
Hiro said, "Well, that's because we were too close, and I wasn't taking a good look at you. Recently I've started to understand why all of the boys are making such a fuss."
Hikari said, "I wasn't taking a good look either. Because you were too small." Hiro threw a pillow at Hikari.

Then Hiro went to take a bath, as his injured leg was starting to get swollen again. When Hiro went into the men's bath, he saw someone with long hair. He thought for a moment if the men's and women's sides were together. But the person turned out to be Kine. Kine told Hiro why he was there, and Hiro found out that Kine had gone to the same concert and couldn't get home either. Kine asked who Hiro had come with, and Hiro said that he came with Noda. Kine laughed because Hiro had come with a guy. He told Hiro that he had come with a girl. Kine also told Hiro not to tell anybody about it, because there would be many unhappy girls if they found out.

As Kine was leaving, he told Hiro not to come to his room. When Kine returned to his room, there was a guy (Kine's friend) there who asked for 100 yen so they can see an ecchi video.

When Hiro got back to his room he discovered that the two futons were placed very close to each other. Hiro asked Hikari if she wanted to place them further apart. But Hikari said that it didn't matter as she wouldn't be able to fight him off anyways.

Hiro couldn't fall asleep right away. He noticed Hikari sleeping next to him and thought, "She can sleep without any problems with me right next to her. Nothing has changed from three years ago."
Then he thought about Haruka and thought, "Let's go to the Koushien, manager."

Later on Hiro had fallen asleep. But Hikari wasn't in the futon next to him. She was sitting in a chair in the next room thinking, "Oh no.. I can't sleep, Hide-chan."

The Senkawa principal was in a family restaurant drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Haruka's brother was sitting at another table watching the Koushien on a portable TV. One team was getting pounded and Haruka's brother was yelling out very loudly. He yelled out, "Let me coach!"

Meanwhile the Meiwa baseball team was having a rigorous practice session in the hot summer sun.

Summer vacation ended and when school started, Noda put up a sign in school advertising their new official baseball team. Noda said that they had gathered enough people to make a team, and that the captain and Haruna were going to go talk to the principal about their baseball practice field. While Hiro and Noda were walking down the hall, they saw Haruna's brother. Noda commented that he didn't look anything like Haruna, and wondered what he was doing in school.

It was September and Meiwa started playing some baseball games with its new team [new, because all of the third year students had left]. As usual, Hideo pounded the ball and Meiwa had a very strong team.

Meanwhile the bulldozers were busy at work making the practice field for Senkawa's baseball team. So Senkawa's team just played catch and did some physical training until the field was ready. When Hiro asked the captain about getting a coach, the captain introduced Haruka's brother.

Hiro and Noda went to watch Meiwa's baseball game. They saw Hideo talking to and giving some money to a guy who looked like a punk. When Hiro got to Hideo, he asked, "Do you know that guy?"
Hideo said, "Yeah, he used to live near me when I was in grade school. But he moved away and he just came back after five years."
Hiro asked, "Were you good friends?"
Hideo said, "Yeah. We used to play together a lot."
Then Kine came by, and called out, "Hey rival! It seems like you are doing great. Well, you can act big for now, until our baseball team starts playing."
Noda said, "Our baseball team? Don't act so big. You haven't come to any of our practices."
Kine said, "Don't worry. When the practice field is completed, I'll participate in your practices too. Since I play soccer too, I'm very busy. I also have to find time for dating too." Then Kine put his hand on Hiro's shoulder and asked, "You didn't tell anyone about it did you?"
Hiro asked, "About what?"
Kine said, "After that outdoor concert, staying over night in that hotel."

When Kine laughed and said that Hiro and Noda had stayed together, Noda told him that he hadn't gone to that concert. Kine was surprised. Then Hideo added that Hiro had stayed that evening with a beautiful girl. Kine was shocked and yelled at Hiro for lying to him. Then Hideo left as it was time for him to get ready for his game. When Hiro was about to leave too, Kine grabbed him and asked if he had stayed with Haruna that evening. Hiro said, "No stupid! It was my older sister." Then Kine laughed.

When Hiro and Noda went to the stands to watch the Meiwa game, Noda pointed out to Hiro that his "sister" was already there. After they sat down together, Hiro said to Hikari that Hideo trusted her a lot. He added that he must be a very trustworthy person himself. Hiro thought that Hikari had told Hideo the true story about the night of the concert, but Hikari said that she didn't have the chance.

Then Hideo was up at the plate and pounded the ball for a homerun. Noda commented that Hideo was getting bigger and bigger. But after Hideo rounded the bases, the umpire called him out. Hideo had forgotten to step on one of the bases.

On another day on the way home from school, Hiro saw the punk that Hideo had been talking to earlier. The punk was beating up another high school student. Hiro told him to stop it, but the punk said that he didn't want to. When the punk was about to fight Hiro, Noda came holding his baseball bat. The punk told Hiro and Noda that Hideo's team would go to the Koushien and left.

At school during gym class, a lot of guys were looking at Haruka, saying that she was very cute. Then Kine came by with a flashy towel. He bragged and said that Haruka had given it to him. But when Haruka walked by and Kine thanked her for the towel, Haruka said that it was a girl named Mito who had given her the towel to give to him. Kine immediately got the image of the fat and ugly Mito and shoved the towel into his classmate's face (who was making fun of him).

The Senkawa baseball practice field was being built, so the baseball team just warmed up near the soccer field. Hiro asked Haruka about her brother, but Haruka said that she didn't know much about him as he was 12 years older than her.

At night Hikari went over to Hideo's room. She went in and thought that nobody was there. But then she heard the door close and the lock being locked. Hikari turned around to see the punk (Hideo's friend) with a cigarette in his mouth.

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