Volume 11, Chapter 19 - Important

(Non-volume Chapter 39)

The Sakitama guys catch the subway train - Nishiura guys are on the same train! The Captains stare at each other awkwardly. Tai-san then asks for a practice game. Hanai looks around for Shinooka for their scedhule. (They don’t know if Shinooka is there or in the car with Momoe.) Abe butts in and says they’ll do it and they should keep in touch. Tai-san gives them the coach's cell number.

Daichi sees Tajima nd Mihashi reading a magazine they got from the luggage rack. He goes over to Mihashi and says he wants to face him at his best. Mihashi cowers and says he can’t. The Sakitama firstbaseman (ugly guy with pug nose) pulls Daichi away.

Abe says they should go all out on the practice match, but won’t show their hand, but they'll see everything the other team has. Mihashi notes Abe is in a good mood. Abe asks if Mihashi thinks he walked Daichi because he’s no good. Mihashi nods. Abe asks who was scarier, Tosei or Sakura. Mihahsi says both. Abe points out he didn’t walk any of Tosei batters and he’s mixing up the called game with the intentional walk. Even for an incredibly fast pitcher he still would call for an intentional walk. Mihashi finally realizes the called game was for his sake and he’s being treated well. Abe tells Mihashi no pitching tomorrow because soon there’ll be a lot of games. Abe reiterates it, knowing he’s nagging.

Abe talks more about the walk. Mihashi asks if Haruna would have done it. Abe says he's the type who hates to go all out during a match. Mihashi asks about Tosei. Abe says there’s probably no way a pitcher from Tosei would give in and walk Sakitama. Mihashi thanks Abe and thinks how Abe was testing him in the final at bat with Daichi. Abe was actually hoping to build confidence in Mihashi. Abe thinks Sakura was a guy playing only with his natural talents and thinks about all the baseball freaks that they'll face in the future that both train hard and possess talent - will Mihashi be able to avoid them on his own. Mihashi thinks how he learned about lots of different stuff when he talks to Abe and as long as Abe is with him, he’ll be all right.

Hamada thinks about going to the stadium. His friends are on the cellphone sports news. Mihashi's mom texts Hamada to let him know the game is over and Nishiura won.

The cheer girls also learn about the win and will appear in the next game in their outfits. Ochi-senpai walks in on them in the club room and sees their cheap outfits. She criticizes them and then suggest they were ankle socks. Ochi talks about how Hamada lives alone and there was a layoff so everyone in his family except him went to Kyushu to his dad’s family. Hamada had to work to pay tuition and stuff (but it’s a public school!) He missed a lot of classes so he got held back. She says she always felt he wasn’t serious enough, and never really liked him, so she doesn’t approve of them associating with him. Then the club president Yuuri walks in.

The next day, Mihashi sees Oki practice pitching. Tajima does an impersonation of Momoe with two watermelons. Shiga-sensei looks at Mihashi’s arm. They reserved the tennis court at 4pm and tells him to go hit a rally with Tajima for half an hour for light exercise. Tajima will be fully recovered by the next game

Round four is Kounan High School from the weakest division in the tournament. Momoe expects them to be a smaller problem than Sakitama. She decides to use the same lineup against Tosei because cleanup hitter Hanai can still be a drawback. She thinks how if going by percentages, Abe could also be considered, but he has his handsful with pictcher.

Oki was practicing the curveball. Tajkima says if he were lefthanded he might have been a pitcher. Mihashi says if Tajima were serious there’s no way he could beat him. Takima asks what if Hanai or Oki were serious. Mihashi mutters somethinga about Abe being there always. Mihashi starts to worry about Abe leaving

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Bijou team
Roka sees Takii running running with the team. Roka's making dinner - spicy miso ramen with lots of toppings. At dinner, Roka talks about Number five Kuwashima, but Tajii almost falls asleep into his bowl of ramen. Luckily, Roka knocks him over. Tajii has a little ponytail that Roka tells him to cut off since it looks so dumb. They exchange insults. Then guy comes up and says how his shoulder just needs to be iced and stretched. Roka thinks he won’t be coach next year.

Flashback to Takii asking Roka to help out. Roka thinks what he owed Takii will soon be repaid.

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Back to Nishiura

Abe asks Mihashi for his weight - 53kg. Abe says since Tajima's okay, they have regular practice, and now Mihashi has to catch and stretch with Abe. Abe nags Mihashi about stuff like not eating dangerous things or sleeping by the air conditioner, etc. The sports festival activities were decided during their days off. Abe tells him no relays and lose right away in the horseback fight.

Izumi thinks Abe is so damn bossy and Sakaeguchi thinks theres’no way he'd be a pitcher. Mihashi thanks Abe then asks if he's going to quit being a catcher. Abe yells at him and Mihashi cowers in the corner. Abe calls him back out. Mihashi thinks how he's the Ace and Abe will be catching.

Notes: Is Tomoyoshi, Takii's last name?