• Summary version 1 by Hitoshi Doi, 1991.08.05
  The Slow Step OVA volume 4 was parts of volume 5, 6, and 7 of the manga.

After the first round was over, Minatsu could not stand watching it any longer and left the gym. Ayako came up to her and told her that she will regret it later if she does not watch this match. Then Minatsu tells Ayako that she is not strong like Ayako and cannot watch. But Ayako talks Minatsu into going back to the gym.

Shuu was fighting a good match. Shuu noticed that Naoto was throwing wild punches in order to try to knock him out. So Shuu landed some of his punches. Yamazakura yelled at Shuu to not get in a close punching match with Naoto. But Shuu stayed within Naoto's range because he was landing his punches. Then Naoto came back with a strong punch to Shuu's face. It was all a trap. Naoto was making it seem like he was punching wildly to lure Shuu. After taking Naoto's punch, Shuu fell to the floor. The referee started the count.

Shuu was down and was thinking about the promise that he had make with Naoto before the match. If Naoto knocks out Shuu, Shuu will give up on Minatsu. If it isn't a knockout, then Naoto will give up on Minatsu. Shuu jumps up at the count of eight, as he realized that he might lose Minatsu.

Shuu gets up to fight again, but he was again cornered by Naoto. As Naoto was closing in for the kill, the second round bell saves Shuu. Minatsu was still feeling uneasy watching the match.

During the third and last round, Naoto was landing more punches. But Shuu was still holding on. Then Naoto landed a strong punch into Shuu's stomach. Shuu's teeth guard popped out of his mouth. Both Shuu and Naoto thought that it was the end. But as Naoto stepped in to throw the last punch, he stepped on Shuu's teeth guard and lost his balance. Shuu's blindly thrown punch landed on Naoto's face and knocked him out.

Nobody can believe that Shuu had knocked Naoto out.

After the match, Naoto goes to Shuu to tell him that he will give up on Minatsu per their agreement. But after looking more closely at the agreement, he notices that they did not actually specify what would happen if Naoto loses in a knock out. So he says that nothing has changed and that the agreement is void. Then Minatsu, who had been listening outside, comes in and takes a look at the agreement. She gets mad because she was the prize of their fight. Minatsu rips up the agreement and stomps out of the room.

Minatsu was taking a couple days off from school after the incident. During softball practice, Yamazakura was wondering what had happened to Minatsu. Ayako suggests that Yamazakura visit Minatsu's house.

Yamazakura goes over to Minatsu's house. Minatsu was home by herself. While Minatsu was trying to make some tea for Yamazakura, he asked her for an ash tray. Then he noticed the clothes that were still outside hanging to dry. Minatsu goes to take in the clothes. When she was taking in the clothes, she saw Ayako on the street below. Yamazakura still didn't get his tea yet and mentions to Minatsu that she still needs a lot of work to be a good wife.

Just when Minatsu finally gave Yamazakura some tea, the door bell rang. Minatsu's father came home. Then Yamazakura and Minatsu's father drink some beers and talk about boxing for a while. When Yamazakura was leaving, he tells Minatsu to forgive Shuu and Naoto. He also says that it is all because Minatsu is such an attractive girl, and that it is not just Shuu and Naoto that is attracted to her.

The next day Minatsu decides to go to school. In the elevator, Minatsu runs into Naoto. When Naoto hesitated getting into the elevator, she tells Naoto that she's not mad any more.

Later during class, Minatsu sees that Shuu was feeling uneasy. Then Minatsu tells Shuu that she will forgive him if he will take her to the new pizza store that just opened. Shuu was so happy that he shouted out loud during class.

On the way home, Yamazakura almost runs over Ayako in his car. After Yamazakura yelled at her for getting in the way, Ayako said, "Tomorrow is Sunday, and it is almost the end of the month." Then Ayako showed him the piece of paper which had the agreement that they made about Yamazakura taking Ayako on a date once a month.

Minatsu invited Shuu and Naoto for a date on Sunday.

Yamazakura and Ayako went to Shibuya on their date. Yamazakura asked Ayako if she wanted to go see a movie or go into a coffee store, but Ayako just wanted to walk around.

Minatsu said, "I'm Nakazato Minatsu and I'm Sudou Maria," and told Shuu and Naoto that they will start building their relationship from scratch. She said that she doesn't know how long they will like her or who she will like in the future. Then Shuu said that he will always like her just like he has always liked her since they were kids. Naoto said that he will have to go to America after he graduates, and that he wants to take Minatsu with him.

When it was getting a little dark out, Ayako bought a couple beers from a vending machine to drink with Yamazakura. Then she asked him to go to the park with her. It was already dark when Yamazakura and Ayako were walking through the park. There were a lot of other couples in the park hugging and kissing each other.

Ayako and Yamazakura stopped by a fence. Yamazakura said that he wanted to leave, but Ayako said, "You must know how I feel. Hold me." Then she went to lean against Yamazakura. She said, "I love you."
When Yamazakura pulled her away, Ayako said, "Do you hate me? If you don't like me, I want you to tell me."

When Yamazakura told Ayako that he doesn't want her, Ayako ripped up the piece of paper with the agreement on it, said "good bye", and ran away.

At the entrance to the park, Ayako ran into Minatsu, Shuu, and Naoto who were just walking by. Ayako just ran off. Then Yamazakura, who was running after Ayako, ran into Minatsu, Shuu, and Naoto. Shuu asked Yamazakura what he had been doing, but Yamazakura said that he didn't do anything.

When Yamazakura got home, Chika told him that he should marry Ayako. Then Yamazakura got mad and told her to not worry about such things.

Asaoka High School made it to the finals of the regional girls softball tournament because of Minatsu and Ayako. In previous years Asaoka had always lost in the first round. In the final match, Minatsu was pitching well and the score was 0-0 going into the last inning.

In the top of the last inning, Minatsu walked the lead off batter on a questionable ball. After two bunts the situation was two outs and a runner on third base. Ayako went up to Minatsu to tell her to keep throwing as hard as she had been throwing and not to worry about the runner on third base.

Minatsu threw a fastball for strike one. The batter swung at and missed the second pitch for strike two. Minatsu's third pitch was a high, hard slider that got away from Ayako to be a wild pitch. The runner scored from third base and Asaoka was behind 1-0 going into the bottom of the last inning.

When Yamazakura said that it was too bad that Ayako couldn't stop that pitch, Ayako said that she probably could have gotten it if the situation were different.

With two outs and runners on first and second, Minatsu came up to bat in the bottom of the last inning. Minatsu singled, but the runner had to be held up at third base. So the bases were loaded with two outs when Ayako came up to bat.

Ayako just looked at the first two strikes down the middle. Yamazakura called time out and went to talk to Ayako. When Yamazakura asked what was wrong, Ayako said, "This is getting stupid. Even if we win, only you and Minatsu will be happy. If you want to win, you better use a pinch hitter." But Yamazakura just let Ayako bat, even when she said that she won't hit. Ayako swung at the next pitch, which was a high ball, and struck out.

The softball team had a team meeting after their loss. Ayako walked out in the middle. When some of the girls got mad at Ayako, she told them that the loss was the responsibility of the coach because she had already told him that she wouldn't hit. Then Ayako handed them her resignation note.

Ayako and Minatsu had a short conversation before Ayako left. Ayako said that Minatsu should find another catcher that can catch her fastball. Ayako also told Minatsu that Yamazakura likes her too.

A new teacher came to Asaoka High School driving a shiny new sports car. He was Somei Yoshio, a young, single, handsome teacher. A lot of the girls took a liking to him right away.

The principal of the school called Yamazakura and Somei for a meeting. He wanted Somei to be the softball coach, and Yamazakura to be the boxing team coach. Somei had been a softball player on the national softball team. Yamazakura said that he didn't want to. He also said that the team wouldn't want it either. Then the principal said that the softball team members will vote to see who becomes the coach.

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