Summary
It’s July 17th, at the Nettsutama Akishima stadium. The first match for the morning is Hachiya-ouji vs Seidou, followed by Norikane Gakuen vs Ichidai Gakuin. Audiences have begun to arrive and someone comments that it sure is hot considering that it’s only 9am-ish so it’s going to be brutal on those who have to play on the field, as well as those who will be watching the match.
The players are currently warming up on the field. The audiences have started speculating on Furuya’s condition and if he had sustained an injury - considering how famous he became after Senbatsu, he was not given the ace number for this season and was barely in the bullpen for their fourth match.
Now they are questioning if Sawamura deserves to be the ace because of his lackluster performance in that match. Someone commented that he was obviously all tensed up from the pressure. The conversation continues with one of them saying that Sawamura does deserve the ace number when he performs at his usual, and that’s assuming that he does so the next time. Meanwhile, Sawamura is sneezing really loudly (a Japanese “belief” that you sneeze when people bad-mouth you behind your back) and Okumura comments that even his sneezes are loud.
The side commentary continues that Hachiya-ouji, previously well-known for their defense is now stronger and aiming to challenge the strong teams, should be cautious with their initial game since Furuya is known to have a weak start.
In Hachiya-ouji’s bullpen, the coach Arai Kyoukei (荒井強啓) comments that they won’t have a chance to win this match if they are unable to score off Furuya, whom he considers as representative of a top pitcher in the Kantou area, pitching at 154km/h during Senbatsu even if he has been demoted from the ace position this time. His players seem a little crestfallen hearing that.
However, the captain, Kawabata, interjects that this might turn out to be a good thing because he would be perfect to illustrate if the reinforced offensive power of their team that they have been working on since last year is effective. The players looked re-energized and encouraged by his words and now seemed hyped to try hitting Furuya’s pitches and show Seidou their strength.
Arai comments to himself how much Kawabata has grown as a player, not just in his game play but in the amount of practice he has done, and as a captain who is able pull his team forward in all aspects, with his optimistic personality [lit. speech and conduct]. We see a flashback of Kawabata standing in the field, under the rain, shouting(?) at the sky, his fisted hand bleeding(?) as he held the bat.
Finally, the fourth match begins, with Hachiya-ouji on the offense. The match lineup is as follows:
Miyuki and Furuya are on the mount. Sawamura shouts from the bullpen to Furuya to not to botch his start by falling into the opponent’s plans, but to blast them away with his super-fast pitches. The rest of Seidou is also calling out encouragements to Furuya.
As Miyuki prepares to catch, he flashes back to the yesterday’s conversation at the bullpen, followed by the time when Furuya said about “obtaining a pitching that surpasses that day”, he thinks to himself that “[Furuya] does not seem unusual today … more like he is scarily too calm … the back injury, the jersey number change … he looks worked up but how he’s sorted his feelings … I guess it will become clear with today’s match … like that dense but straight-forward Sawamura, you better not do anything crazy today too…”.
The chapter ends with Furuya throwing his first pitch.
Originally serialized in Shuukan Shounen Magazine Issue #18, 2019.
All images are copyrighted by Terajima Yuuji / Kodansha.
Scoreboard
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 計 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 八弥王子 | 0 | |||||||||
| 青道 | 0 |
Thoughts
Color pages overload for this week! I totally love the cover with Sawamura saying he will not let anyone take the ace number from him.
Now about the actual chapter, I’m starting to be interested in Kawabata as a player. He seems to be a strong “lead by action” player like Tetsu-san was, and I’m weak when it comes to characters who influence their team positively in this manner. I’m really looking forward to his performance in this match.
Finally, we have the build up for Furuya’s start in this match. Miyuki has yet to know how Furuya will perform or what his mental state is. After all, Furuya has perfected the poker face. But for some reason, I have a strong conviction that Furuya is going to do very well, even though he is known for his weak start. The summer heat was brought up again so I’m hoping Furuya has adjusted to the weather in Tokyo now that he’s been living there for a year.
We’ll find out next week …