Come on, Aoba,
your bunk's on top, remember?
Why are you always sleeping in my bed in the morning?
It's probably because I'm too lazy
to go back up after I pee at night.
And I like sleeping next to you because it makes me feel all nice and warm.
You're silly, Aoba...
Mitsuru Adachi
（Serialized in Shogakukan's 「Weekly Shonen Sunday」）
Created by
Toshihiro Nakazawa
Nobumasa Sawabe
Planning
Masato Hayashi
Shin'ichirou Tsuzuki
Planning Assistance
Toshisato Okuno Shin Omura Takenori Ichihara
Masato Hayashi
Supervisors
Original Planning Assistance
Michihiro Tsuchiya
Series Composition
Yuji Kondo
Main Character Design
Maho Takahashi
Tomoyuki Matsumoto
Koichi Imano
Art Design
Subcharacter Design
Prop Design
Kayoko Ono
Miki Tsubouchi
Hiromi Komine
Yutaka Kuramoto
Art Director
Color Design
Photography Director
Editing
Nobuhide Tanaka Toshiyuki Kuroiwa
Kotaro Nakagawa
Takeshi Takadera
HALF H・P STUDIO
Music Producer
Music
Sound Director
Sound Production
「Summer Rain」
Lyrics／Composition: Kentaro Kobuchi
Arrangement: Kobukuro
Kobukuro
（Warner Music Japan）
Opening Theme
Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment
TV-TOKYO Music
Warner Music Japan
Music Assistance
Ryosuke Sakurai
Animation Producer
Animation Production
Shunji Aoki Naohiko Furuchi
Producers
Osamu Sekita
Director
Shogakukan Shueisha Production
Production Studio
SUBTITLED BY ANBU
The train's here, Aoba.
Come on, hurry!
What's the big rush?
Let's get in the front car.
W-Wait!
Aoba!
Anyway I liked that cake so much that I ordered two pieces!
Your appetite sure is scary, Aki.
Look at that.
That house still has its wind chime out.
You're right.
I wish they'd be a little bit more consistent with the seasons.
Did you see that?
Huh?
See what?
Couldn't you see inside that house through the gap in curtains for a split second?
I don't think normal people could.
Not in that split second.
Right?
Hang on a minute, Aoba!
Where are you going?
Hey, Tsukishima.
Tsukishima?
I'm sure I saw it.
There was a robbery taking place!
The corner house on the second floor,
with the wind chime still hanging outside...
That one!
But how can I...
Him ?
Police, open up!
Aoba!
Where'd you go, Tsukishima?
Thank you so much!
You saved my life!
How could I ever repay you?
Thank you so much!
It's Senda!
You're right!
We saw the article in the newspaper!
You were so cool!
Thanks.
That's awesome, Kei'ichiro!
You're our school's—
No, you're the entire town's hero!
It wasn't that big of a deal.
Stop being modest!
You stopped a robber armed with a knife!
That's pretty damn awesome!
But how did you know that there was a robbery going on?
Well, you see...
You saw it from the train, didn't you?
Through the small opening in the curtains.
Yup, that's it exactly. Through the opening in the curtains.
No way!
You actually saw that from a speeding train?
In a split second?
It shouldn't be too difficult for an athlete with excellent vision like you, right?
Yeah, it was real easy.
You here, Senda?
Yes.
The husband of the woman you saved is here to personally thank you
for saving his wife while he was out at work.
Give it up for our hero!
Hip hip hooray!
Hooray!
An athlete with excellent vision, huh...
So fluffy!
They look delicious.
Did you get that for stopping the robbery?
W-What if I did?
This'll take care of me.
Come on, that's the one I wanted.
Well I'll leave you to enjoy the rest.
Give it back!
I really wanted that fluffy one, you know!
Senda.
Just as I thought.
What's that supposed to mean?
I'm going to go give these cakes to Tsukishima for you.
Tsukishima!
Take this home with you.
What is it?
Your reward for stopping the robbery.
I just got it from Senda.
T-Thanks.
I'm actually surprised you had this with you.
An earlier visitor was carrying this with him, actually.
An earlier visitor?
Aoba!
Why was he carrying a ball with him?
Was it Kitamura?
That means he noticed the robbery, too, doesn't it?
In that split second, through the window of a moving train...
I see.
I tried on that costume we saw last time,
but it didn't look good on me at all!
What did I tell you?
You okay?
That scared me!
Oh geez.
Sky blue.
One, two, three, four...
Time for din din, Nomo!
five, six, seven, eight.
Two, two, three, four...
five, six...
You should clean your own desk once in a while, too,
instead of just cleaning Wakaba's all the time.
Whatever.
My bad!
My hand slipped.
Senda?
Yes, what is it?
Ow!
Don't slack off with the cleaning, okay?
Okay.
That punk!
That's quite some control he's got.
That was a fluke.
You want me to let Kitamura join the baseball team?
Yeah.
He's taken a detour because of what I did,
but I'm sure he'll make a great addition.
We ninth graders are retiring soon, you know.
It wouldn't hurt to let him train with you guys a little, right?
It hurts me to think he's going to waste the time until high school, man.
This guy's no joke, Akaishi.
He's the real deal—
Too late.
No, it's not!
He might not have joined the team,
but he's been training on his own every day—
I'm saying, you recognized his skills way too late.
All right.
You can trust me with Kitamura.
But in return, there's a condition I want you to follow.
A condition?
Don't tell anyone that he's playing baseball until we get to high school, all right?
And one more thing.
I want you to come back to the team as well.
You quit the team,
but you've also been training on your own to make up for it, right?
Makihara and the others will be on the high school team as twelfth graders, you know.
Are you trying to repeat what happened two years ago?
Don't worry.
I won't fall behind this time around.
I'll be the one acting first.
Looks like the road to making the high school team will be a rocky one.
Yeah.
You probably don't even know the half of it.
Great.
Another hole in my home run prize socks.
You'd think they'd at least give out some decent socks, geez.
Oh well.
I guess I'll go win some more.
Does he ever miss?
Here's your home run prize.
I don't need it.
Why don't I take it, then—
Ow!
Can you have the machine pitch faster instead?
This isn't helping me practice.
I'm sorry.
Our goal at the Tsukishima Batting Center is to provide an enjoyable playing field for both children and adults alike.
Please feel free to visit a different batting center if you feel so inclined.
Are there any other batting centers nearby?
There sure are.
There's one an hour away, if you take the bus from the train station.
Aren't you a grouchy one.
Right?
Who was that?
Hell if I know.
That guy slugged quite a few home runs just now, huh?
He completely smashed your home run record.
All right, next.
Fight!
Hey.
Fight!
I don't mind,
but why do we have to practice in secret like this?
I don't get why I have to pretend like I'm boxing.
You're our secret weapon, that's why.
Until we're on the high school team, anyway.
You need to learn at least one or two offspeed pitches in the meantime.
A hard ball?
Did you expect any less?
Now, come on!
Can you take over the café counter for a bit, Aoba?
Okay.
Boy am I starving.
I'll take a Napolitan and a cup of coffee.
Coming right up.
Where's Ichiyo?
She's taking a break, I'm afraid.
I'll... just take a coffee then.
Exactly what are you after?
Oh, nothing...
Hey, Tsukishima.
Wow.
I didn't know you helped out at the café, too.
Welcome. What would you like?
Let's see.
A Napolitan and a cup of coffee.
I didn't say anything.
I wonder if he's thinking of taking up boxing.
Who are you talking about?
Who else could it be but Kitamura?
Didn't you know about this?
Why should I care what some guy who lives close to me wants to do?
Right, right.
I forgot that you hate that guy.
Here's your Napolitan.
This is a Napolitan?
Is there something wrong with it?
I guess looks don't really matter as long as it tastes all right...
Here it comes.
Now's your last chance to fold.
And this is the Baseball Team's clubhouse.
That's enough.
Please close the door before the stink spreads any further.
What?
Could you at least clean it up a little?
Of course we can, yes.
Who the hell were they?
Like I care.
What is it?
Oh, nothing.
I just thought you looked happy for some reason.
I thought Tsukishima would be happy if she saw this.
Did Aoba tell you something?
No.
Wakaba did.
Apparently she had a dream once.
Where I was the catcher and you were pitching
at a jam-packed Koshien.
One more out!
She never told me about that.
She couldn't, even if she wanted to.
She dreamt it on that day.
I was sweeping the front of the store that day
when Tsukishima stopped in front me, smiling,
and told me about her dream on her way to camp.
Of course I knew that I wasn't the star in her dream.
But I was satisfied just knowing that I had appeared in her dreams.
I'm serious!
You were totally cool!
You looked awesome as a catcher.
She repeated it over and over as she was leaving.
Don't tell me that's why you became a catcher in middle school.
You got a problem with that?
Nope.
All right, come on, Kitamura!
"Ko" will be fine.
All right then, Ko me on, Kitamura!
You got it all wrong.
Hello, everyone.
Why are you here on New Year's Eve?
Yay, Ko's here! Make me some porridge.
I'll make your porridge.
No, I want Ko to make me some.
Oh, I see.
Have it your way, then.
Oh no.
Momiji's got a high fever.
Get me some ice, and a change of clothes for her.
I'm just not cut out to be a good sister like Waka was.
I don't think that's true.
Next time, on Cross Game Episode Five:
Could I Borrow Your Pot?
What kind of a title is that?