When you're watching TV,
make sure you sit far away from the TV,
in a well lit room!
Yo.
Hey.
Did you remember your club enrollment form?
Yeah.
You have to join for real this time, okay?
As long as somebody doesn't beat up the upperclassmen out of the blue.
We will now begin the entrance ceremony.
As our principal is currently hospitalized,
delivering the keynote address will be the Princi—
My apologies.
The Acting Principal will be delivering the speech instead.
Welcome, new students.
Some of you have come up from our middle school division,
while others have transferred from other schools.
Nevertheless, I am assuming that you are all looking forward to a fresh start.
Starting today, I hope that you all embrace your new lives as high school students,
and excel in whatever you do, be it academics or sports.
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
Baseball transfer students?
Yeah.
They built a dorm close to the school just to accommodate them,
and they even brought in a coach who won the Koshien a few years ago.
Did you know about this, Aoba?
I heard the rumors.
They must be serious about getting into Koshien.
Did the old coach get fired, then?
No, but it seems like they've managed to isolate him.
Isolate him?
They made all the non-transfer students take a selection test,
and divided the baseball team into two squads.
Only five members from the old team, including new students,
made the first-string team.
And only one was a new student.
Only one?
Who was it?
Polish these balls for us, Maki.
What did you say?
Do you have a problem?
Polishing balls and doing laundry are tasks for the Prefab squad.
Your grade has no say in this.
And don't you ever step onto the practice field without my permission.
You got that?
Does that mean that the guy who played catcher for us didn't make it either?
The old captain, I mean.
Nope.
I don't think he ever planned on taking the selection test.
At least Akaishi didn't.
Those punks.
Polish these balls, newbie.
The first-stringers are ordering you to do it.
Are you sure they weren't ordering you guys to do it?
What?
You got a problem?
I'm a newbie too, you know.
Why don't I do it, then.
Who are you supposed to be?
I'm Okubo, a newbie;
I'm the manager for the Prefab squad.
Please, go on with your practice.
You idiot!
We can't even play stickball in a small space like this.
They're apparently going to give you another chance before the Summer Koshien Tournament.
Whoever stands out in the scrimmage game against the first-stringers
will join the team of elites.
The Koshien is closer than you think.
Just shut it already, you old fart.
Even the selection test was a bunch of crap.
There is no way in hell that the five guys who got chosen
are any better than us.
That's right.
You were probably disqualified, not because of skill,
but because of your personality.
What did you say, punk?
I wouldn't do that if I were you.
Even I won't be able to help you if he gets mad.
To hell with this shitty team.
I don't think so.
I said it before, you guys have skill.
And we need that skill in the upcoming scrimmage.
Like I care!
I'll keep you here by force if I have to.
O-Old man, do something!
This is getting interesting, so I think I'll let it play out.
And that's it for today's practice.
Seventh graders, make sure to bring in the equipment before heading home.
Thank you for your hard work!
Great job, Aoba.
You want to go take a peek now that practice is over?
At the elite members of the high school team, that is.
Hey, Manager.
Patch this up for me, will ya?
What's with that attitude?
Ah, Papa.
Ah, Papa?
Principal.
Acting.
I'm the Acting Principal.
But for how long?
You know I can't answer that.
The Principal intends to return, after all.
Not without a release from the hospital in sight, he won't.
Papa.
Come on now.
Didn't I tell you not to call me "Papa" on school grounds?
How do you like being the manager, Risa?
It's kind of boring.
But I'll put up with it if I can go to the Koshien.
Babe managers apparently don't go unnoticed around here.
Rest assured, Miss.
I promise I will take you there within the next three years.
I'm counting on you, Coach.
The good old days where students would just simply flock to any school have passed.
A renowned high school that every soul in Japan would know about;
that's the kind of school I want to become a principal of.
I understand.
Don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything to make that happen.
We'll need two more pitching machines for now.
And I would also like to request a fully-stocked training gym for the players.
All right, I'll get it done.
He looks like a good pitcher.
That's Kamikawa, our top pitcher.
He has a sharp fastball and an arsenal of change-ups up his sleeve;
he can hold a game to two or three runs.
Miki, our center fielder,
and Kishibe, our shortstop,
were both top pitchers for their respective middle schools.
They'll make solid second or third pitchers.
And then...
Clean-up hitter and first baseman, Yuhei Azuma.
He's the jewel of this team, without a doubt.
How is he, Aoba?
He's pretty good as a pitcher.
But he doesn't get me excited.
Hey, isn't that...
Take this!
Didn't I tell you not to swing so hard?
There's not a lot of room here, you know.
Hey, Chubby!
Bring over the balls, will ya?
Sure!
This sure is a small area.
They really are being isolated.
I'm leaving the middle school team to you, Miss New Captain.
Are you going to take the first-string selection test?
Nope.
Unfortunately, I plan on having a stomach ache that day.
I'm not going to stay a second-stringer forever, though.
We have a secret weapon up our sleeve, after all.
A secret weapon?
Our next stop will be Mifujidai.
Please be careful of the closing doors.
Woah!
So you're the one who hit me with the bag!
That's not a very nice way to talk to someone who just kindly woke you up.
A "thank you" would have been nice.
You idiot!
Do you still not understand what the word "kindly" means,
even after making it all the way to the ninth grade?
Look!
I'm getting a nose bleed now.
It's not like it's going to kill you.
Missing the stop wouldn't have killed me, either!
Could you keep a little bit of distance?
I don't want my friends making false assumptions seeing us walk together like this.
Why did you join the baseball team?
Did you say something?
I said, why did you join the baseball team?
Because I want to play baseball, of course.
Oh?
It always seemed to me like you were just being forced to play.
You're right.
At first, Nakanishi did drag me into playing with him.
But this one time,
we played against this one pitcher who had amazing talent.
Her pitching form was really cool.
I can't say much about her personality, though.
She doesn't even know what "kindly" means, you know!
I thought to myself that it'd be so awesome if I could pitch like that, too.
At least I did back then.
If only I'd known, right?
If you don't like our batting center,
there's another one about an hour away from the station by bus,
Senpai.
Get out of bed already, Ko!
You have school, remember?
Why the heck did both of them die at the same time?
You're not going to make it unless you start running, man.
Our school's pretty strict on tardies, you know.
Crossplay.
I just barely made it.
And today we'll be talking about—
Fool.
That's not even close.
You there, what's your name?
Yuhei Azuma, #2 on the attendance list.
Azuma?
Well then, let's get on to today's subject.
Whoa, man.
This style of vernacular writing can be employed where—
Anyway, this style of vernacular writing can be employed where...
So Ko joined the baseball team, huh?
That's what Aoba said.
That's exciting news.
I mean he was the record holder at our batting center for quite some time.
But things aren't going so easy for him, apparently.
He got put into some weird squad or something.
A weird squad?
What was it called again?
It was like "the dropout squad" or something...
Hey, Prefabber.
Who are you talking to?
You, of course.
The coach wants you guys to prep the field for the first-string during lunch.
Everyday starting today, that is.
You should at least prep your own training field.
I wouldn't disobey orders if I were you.
Otherwise, they might even tear down that Prefab "farm" of yours.
Our coach is really strict on guys with no talent, you know.
Right, Azuma?
Who are you?
I'm Senda; we're in the first-string squad together!
I don't remember your face.
You got it, Prefabber?
I've done my part in delivering the coach's message.
You should at least try to remember his face.
So you're on the baseball team, huh?
I'm sure you don't remember me since I'm not first-string.
You were running along the road this morning.
So you do remember.
What an honor.
And I remember seeing you back at the batting center last year.
You should go prep the practice field when you're done eating.
Prefabber.
Don't slack off now.
The Principal is watching.
Apparently, he gets upset if you don't call him the Acting Principal.
I haven't heard too many good rumors about that guy.
Rumors in this school usually tend to be true.
Time's up.
Switch me in.
Come on, man, just a little more.
I'm finally starting to get into it.
Don't waste my time.
And go even out the dirt in the batter's box, will you?
But you're left-handed!
So what?
Azuma.
Kubo's on our list as a potential clean-up hitter.
Don't be so hard to him.
Kubo?
The guy who was batting ahead of you.
Which one is he again?
Come on, now.
I hope you don't have your hopes set on that guy.
I haven't been able to remember faces of people who aren't good for anything ever since I was little.
How many faces do you actually remember from this team?
Three, no...
four, I think.
That's not enough.
I'll need you to remember at least eight by the time summer comes around.
She's so cute.
Damn, she's cute!
She's the Acting Principal's daughter and she used to live abroad.
She's in a totally different league than our manager.
You've got that right.
Oh, our eyes met.
I'm liking that look.
It's just like the face my mom makes when she sees a cockroach.
Who are you calling a cockroach?
How do you like it?
I bet you've never seen anyone with such a strong throwing arm.
But...
I bet he'd be a good match against Akaishi.
Yeah.
Akaishi?
Yes.
He's a tenth grader who plays catcher for the Prefab squad.
For the Prefab squad?
I don't remember seeing anyone like that taking the selection test...
He didn't take the test.
There are two more tenth graders who didn't take the test, right?
Yeah, they all had stomach aches or something.
Where is everyone?
Oh hello, Senpai.
Hey Chubby, where is everyone?
They're at the middle school training field.
The middle school field?
Yes.
Apparently, the seventh and eighth graders
can't make practice today because of some school event.
So the middle school captain asked if we wanted to use the field together
so that it doesn't go to waste.
I missed playing in a roomy place like this.
I expected nothing less.
She's individually adjusting her pitch to where they can easily hit the ball.
Take a good look at it, Ko.
The way Tsukishima's using her wrists and elbows...
that's how you should be doing it.
Yeah, I know.
Move over!
What's this, a girl is pitching?
No wonder a crappy batter like you has been getting hits.
You better put a little spirit into it when you're pitching to us!
Or we might just slug it all the way out into space.
That pitcher's actually pretty cute if you look closely.
Wait, that's...
the face my mom usually makes when she's killing a cockroach.
Let's go, Ko.
Let's get you warmed up.
Throw lightly.
Okay.
That sounds a bit different.
It sounds a bit different from when you two were practicing secretly behind the school.
I don't know if it's because of my age,
but I haven't been dreaming much lately.
Just one pitch will do.
No one will notice.
Everyone else is too busy practicing to notice,
because they haven't set foot on a proper training field in a while.
Ko!
Azuma!
He saw us!
Who the heck put the chalk liner here?
Nice one, Nakanishi.
We have a secret weapon, after all.
Looks like I'll be having a good dream tonight.
Why are you pitching in the first-stringers' practice session, Aoba?
She's the perfect disposable pitcher for batting practice.
Disposable?
How can you call someone "disposable"?
Could I get a different catcher, please?
Aoba!
So the talent that can't play in official games is going to show her mettle, huh?
Don't listen to what he's saying.
Next time, on Cross Game Episode Seven:
I'm a sucker for looks.
I want to pitch for her and hit him as hard as I can.