Summary
Back at the dorm, Seki updates the tournament chart to mark the team’s progress. Currently, they are five matches away from Koshien, and their next opponent is Hachiya-ouji, a team that has recently been making rounds for their strong defense and offense. It also seems that Kawabata was from Ouji Senior which had really good facilities.
On the side, Sawamura is hogging the TV with re-runs of their recent match, with a “dead” expression on his face (someone called it ‘he lost his soul’ expression). Someone shouts that re-watching repeatedly won’t change the proceedings [lit. contents] of the match. Toujou and Kanemaru encourages him by saying that even though it wasn’t up to his usual pitching rhythm, he did pretty good overall by avoiding any runs except for that first inning.
Just then, he reacted to the part where he walked the batter due to consecutive balls. Sawamura’s trying his best to keep a straight face but Okumura says his emotions still shows through and that for a pitcher, he shows too much emotion on the mount. It seems like Okumura is coaching Sawamura to stop exhibiting his emotions when on the mount.
Miyuki chips in by saying that if it helps him in his next match, then Sawamura should watch the video as much as he wants since he was the one who was standing there for his debut match as the ace in the team’s first match of the season. So only he can make something out of that experience.
Sawamura replies by saying that the one thing he knows is that he was completely crushed after what happened in the first inning, though everyone thought he was being too critical about it. However, Kuramochi and Haruichi comments that at least Sawamura is back to his normal “stupid” self instead of spinning around endlessly. Maezono, on the other hand, is frustrated that he did nothing to help Sawamura during the match and apologizes to him though Sawamura is completely flustered at his actions. Just then, Sawamura gets called to the coaches’ office.
At the coaches’ office, Kataoka flashes back to his conversation with Sasaki. Sasaki said that Sawamura on the mount today reminded him of Kataoka during his debut match as the team’s ace. Kataoka did the same thing, lead by his emotions, he completely flustered on the mount, pitched wildly and ended up walking a batter. He played badly that day but his clumsy but infectious enthusiasm reached his team, and no one left him alone on the mount [to stew]. He ends by saying that “The team raises the ace. And the ace strengthens the team.” He walks away with the last words, “Make sure you raise your ace well.”
Just then, Sawamura enters the room, ready to take on the fire. However, Kataoka tells Sawamura that although Furuya will be pitching in the Hachiya-ouji match as planned, he expects Sawamura to be ready to be called to the mount if the situation arises. He continues that Sawamura will face harsher moments in the near future, compared to what happened at today’s match, so he should make something out of today’s experience. Sawamura takes his leave with a promise (on his ace number) that he will do so.
The scene cuts to different team members as they head back to their rooms for the evening, while Furuya is seen walking off outside by himself. Sawamura, as he leaves the coaches’ office, has regained his usual resolute expression.
Meanwhile, Okumura confronts Miyuki asking, “What did you say to Sawamura-senpai during today’s match? What could you have said to help Sawamura-senpai get him back in shape during the match?” Miyuki snapped back saying, “You’re asking me? It’s exactly that I couldn’t do that, that Sawamura was switched out…”
He continues that it was no surprise that Sawamura was switched out given the pitching that he did and Sawamura himself understands that best. He may be the ace, but they are aiming for the national championship where a delayed decision could be fatal, so with such a start in an important first match, it was inevitable that he would be switched out as there were others who were ready to play.
He continues, “Even so, as long as we continue to win, there will be the chance to do things over. Isn’t that the same for the battery? Like Sawamura, I’m equally frustrated that I was unable to pull out [our] true strength.”
The next day, on the 16th, at the Hachiouji stadium, round four matches have started with Ichidaisan vs Umegaya (梅ケ谷), followed by Yakushi vs Gomidaitsuki (五味大付). The audience is exclaiming at Amahisa’s performance as he has seven strikeouts into the third inning. It seems that no one is able to hit his pitches. The chapter ends with Raichi and Mishima doing their trademark laugh as they watch Ichidai’s game.
Originally serialized in Shuukan Shounen Magazine Issue #15, 2019.
All images are copyrighted by Terajima Yuuji / Kodansha.
Thoughts
I’m having mixed feelings with how this chapter panned out. Not sure what I was expecting, but certainly not this.
On the one hand, it’s very typical for the author to “leave it to team” to sort it out - i.e. do nothing, go with “the strength of feelings” instead of logical analysis and approach. To be fair, this defines Daiya no Ace as a series. But it still seems a very “let’s sink if we sink, we’ll deal with it as a team when it happens” approach.
On the other hand, I see a theme from the chapter where Sasaki said to Kataoka that it is the team that raises the ace, and the ace who strengthens the team. So what we’re seeing are the team members reaching out to help each other out to take a step forward. I’ve always like that the kids at Seidou are able to resolve their problems on their own. And perhaps that is what the author is striving for. That there are times when one is unable to deliver their best and the team helps each other to pull them out of things and in reciprocate, the ace is who the team draws their strength from in their matches.
Overall, there is a lot of character development and analysis that I enjoy from the chapter. For starters, I have to commend on Okumura for what he has contributed to the post-match analysis. He’s doing the right thing by talking to the pitcher and working things through just by plain talking about things out loud. This certainly helps Sawamura from endlessly spinning in his head trying to work things out. The fact that he is a kouhai didn’t deter him from speaking out his feelings, even with Miyuki.
There’s also Miyuki’s reaction where we finally understand why he was so “angry” during his homerun. It seems that he was frustrated at himself for his inability to do anything to help Sawamura overcome his situation on the mount. On the one hand, his strength is his ability to focus on what is needed to obtain the win and not be affected by emotions. But at the same time, his weakness is his inability to have the right words to pull Sawamura out of his head.
The author is taking a break next week so it’ll be another two weeks until the next one. This wait is starting to kill me…