Summary
The chapter opens with the LINE message history between Sawamura and Amahisa:
Amahisa: Looks like you guys won. Did you pitch today?
Sawamura: Nope. Furuya pitched the entire game so I had no turn.
Amahisa: I see. Well, at least you got some rest.
Sawamura: What about yourself? Tomorrow’s your match with Yakushi. How are you feeling?
Amahisa: Not bad actually. And I also got a hint for a new pitch after seeing your cutter.
Sawamura: Oh? What kind of pitch is it? Tell me more.
Just then, Okumura and Taku walks up to him. Okumura noticed that Sawamura uses LINE, so Sawamura explains that he uses it sometimes to talk about baseball techniques and exchange opinions about things - to which Okumura asks, “with whom?”. Sawamura gets a little flustered as he explains that it is with Sankou’s Amahisa-san whom he is chatting with as fellow pitchers and not that he’s trying to be friendly with a rival team or anything.
Meanwhile, at Sankou’s dorms, Amahisa responds with: “I’ll give you a little hint. It’s a slider that does not break, with a gyro-spin.” Just then, Hoshida reminds him that they are in the middle of the meeting, while his other teammates comment that he must be texting his girlfriend.
Back to the meeting, we hear a report of the notable pitchers in Yakushi: Tomobe Sakito, the newly added tall southpaw, the 3 second-years who can pitch if necessary - Akiba, Todoroki and Mishima, and finally, their ace Sanada Shunpei, who has a cutter, shuuto, two-seamer that’s almost sinker, and his peculiar way of using the plate. Sanada has experienced growth as a pitcher after representing West Tokyo at Koshien, but he has not been pitching in the matches lately so it is possible that Yakushi has been saving him for tomorrow’s match. And since this is Yakushi we’re talking about, they can expect the lineup get shuffled up in some unexpected way. So instead of worrying about that, they just have to play their own baseball here.
Amahisa looks at the batters and comment that since they swing their bats so much, he’s sure they can get at least 4-5 runs in. He is greeted with a looming moment of pause before they erupt with indignation at him for stopping at 5 instead of suggesting they win with a called game. Meanwhile, the first years are questioning if the third years are really friendly with each other or not…
Just then, the coach interjects that their batters are “no problem”, and he knows that they will do well as always. So he poses the question to Amahisa instead: “How many runs do you think you can you hold Yakushi to?”. Amahisa responds candidly that if he did not have to consider the semi-finals on the 22nd, then it would be “zero?”. He immediately follows up with the batters to expect a run or two because he may be overestimating himself there.
The coach continues that while they may have lost to Yakushi twice due to various circumstances, a third time will be “impossible” and that this summer they will dominate the nationals. And so, the first step to restore their status as champions is to go all out in tomorrow’s match in a “powerful” way [PS: his words, not mine]. The team rallies in response.
It’s now Saturday, July 19th. At Fuchuu stadium, we see Inajitsu. At Akishima stadium, we see Seikou. At Tachikawa, we see Sensen. And finally, at Hachiouji, the first match of the day is Ichidai-san vs Yakushi. The stands are completely packed with audiences, and we see Takashima, Nabe and Okumura among them. From the Yakushi dugout, we hear Raichi’s trademark laugh.
The chapter ends as the referee calls for the players to line up to pay their respects.
Originally serialized in Shuukan Shounen Magazine Issue #29, 2019.
All images are copyrighted by Terajima Yuuji / Kodansha.
Thoughts
It has finally begun! The match between Yakushi and Sankou. I’m sort of happy that we managed to have a look inside the preparations on Sankou’s side. It’s almost unfair how Yakushi players usually gets the spotlight lately.
I’m still undecided who I should root for…