Here goes my "Let's Draw Nomo" Song!
Two balls came flying in.
Small balls came flying in, too.
But hold on, here's one more.
Just barely scrape the surface for a fine play.
Cross one, two, and three mountains.
The sign for "victory" is V! V! V!
Then we have ourselves another V! V! V!
And surprise! We're done!
That's game, set, and Nomo's done!
It was in a jam-packed Koshien;
Ko was the pitcher, and you were the catcher, Akaishi.
I'm not lying!
You really looked cool as a catcher, Akaishi!
What are you spacing out for?
Azuma.
That corner room on the third floor was my fifth grade classroom.
And two classes across from it was class 5-2.
The third row from the window.
That's where Wakaba Tsukishima used to sit.
A vase of flowers occupied her seat during the second semester of that year.
I wonder how Ko felt as he glanced at it each day.
Wouldn't you know?
Both of you lost the same thing, after all.
You both lost your precious first love.
Although the feelings were mutual for Ko but just a crush for you.
That's a pretty big difference, don't you think?
What's up, Dad?
Right now?
I'm in front of the elementary school.
Okay.
I'll buy some on my way back.
Bye.
Mitsuru Adachi
（Serialized in Shogakukan's 「Weekly Shonen Sunday」）
Created by
Toshihiro Nakazawa
Nobumasa Sawabe
Planning
Masato Hayashi
Rei Anami (TV TOKYO)
Shin'ichirou Tsuzuki
Planning Assistance
Toshisato Okuno Shin Omura Takenori Ichihara
Tetsuya Takeda
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
Shin'nosuke Wada (TV TOKYO) Naohiko Furuichi
Producers
Osamu Sekita
Director
Shogakukan Shueisha Production
Production Studio
SUBTITLED BY ANBU
Yeah!
Yeah?
I'd heard the rumors,
but I didn't think our ace could really pitch like that.
I guess I'll have to keep my mouth shut about wanting to become a pitcher
until he leaves the team in autumn.
Me too.
Ow...
Tardbuckets.
Do you really expect us to trust a bunch of backward-looking punks like you
with taking the all-important mound?
S-Sorry, Manager.
Where should we take this?
Ow...
Who're you calling Manager?
Aoba!
My upper body's not leaning in as much anymore, right?
Is this good now?
You're still spreading your feet apart too quickly when you step forward!
Got it.
Excuse me...
Yeah?
the girl with the crutches is in the 11th grade, right?
Yeah.
Why does she act as if she's so important?
Of course she's important; she's the teacher.
Huh?
I'm going to throw the curveball and the slider you taught me; take a look.
What do you think?
It's not bad.
All right.
Oh yeah,
you know how to throw cutters, too, right?
Teach me how to throw one later.
Could you stop stealing everything from me?
Don't be so stingy.
Just think of it as if you're pitching through me.
All right, ten more, Akaishi!
I see.
I guess I didn't see that one.
He has the ideal physical strength and shoulder power for a pitcher.
You're going to be able to step up through his body.
Up onto Koshien's mound, that is.
How was my form?
You're still opening up too fast.
Plus ten, Akaishi.
Oh yeah.
I heard your brother propose to Ichiyo.
He was probably thinking of doing it from the time he first saw her.
And what did she say?
She's put it on hold.
You think he has a chance?
I think he does.
She did bring up the subject happily, after all.
If they really do get married, that'd make us sibling-in-laws, wouldn't it?
Y-Yeah, I guess so.
Sibling-in-laws can get married to each other, right?
They can.
As can cousins.
Kitamura!
Could you come to the front of the clubroom when you're done with pitching practice?
We have a present for you.
This is the present?
Yes.
It's from the coach.
I see.
Nothing beats this for building stamina and lower body strength, right?
I still have to say, this is rather a simple creation.
Simple is best!
You're going to be riding with these things on?
Good luck, Ko!
We have one for you, too, Nakanishi.
To help you with your diet, that is.
So you first have Shotoku and Kicchouji as rivals;
and since they've made it this far, Kurokoma Vocational's probably in the limelight, as well.
They look especially threatening this year with their huge players.
What's more, they have three stable pitchers.
And last but not least, they have the Shugo Daimon as their head coach.
Boy, I'm scared.
And I guess that only leaves Seishu, huh?
Seishu...
I can't say I know too much about them.
I'm talking about the Seishu Academy you guys squared off against last summer.
Oh, right.
But then again they have that ace Mitamura pitching for—
It's Kitamura.
Their ace Kitamura and their cleanup hitter Azuma are definitely ones to look out for,
but they don't have enough depth on the team to win consecutive games.
That, and their coach doesn't have that great of a reputation as a leader.
Yeah, what was that geezer's name again?
Maeno.
Oh yeah, Coach Maeno.
Huh?
Oikawa and Mishima really are amazing.
Yeah.
They look hungry to win above everything else.
Did you say something about being hungry?
I didn't say anything.
I must be hearing things.
Never mind that,
this is pretty exhausting!
What'd you say about being hungry?
I said no such thing!
I must be hearing things...
Where are you going, Aoba?
I'm going to go running around the area.
Don't overexert yourself just yet.
I know the doctor said it's okay, but...
Just take it slow.
You're just going to—
Just going to what?
Oh, I'm in charge of making breakfast today;
would you rather have ham and eggs or bacon and eggs?
Both.
Thank you for your patronage.
Oh, you took off your cast, Ao.
Yup.
I guess you can resume your cleaning duties, then.
Oh, no.
I still need a little more time until I can start cleaning again.
Oh?
Going out?
Oh my.
You're cleaning our side of the street, as well?
Yeah, I figured I would since I was already cleaning.
Would you carry on that "figuring" spirit and clean our side of the street, too?
Dumbass, what kind of "figuring" is that?
You took your cast off, Ao?
That's great!
Oh yeah.
Notice faster!
Anyway, I need to hurry on ahead.
Please excuse me.
She's running properly.
I guess I won't have to worry for now.
What time does practice start today?
Noon.
Why?
Did the weather finally get to your head?
Dumbass!
Don't move.
You don't need him to take off his pants?
I'm fine.
That's too bad.
You idiot!
Well, take your time.
I'm going to stop by Tsukishima's, so I can take her stuff over.
I'm going on ahead.
Oh.
What?
Oh, nothing.
I guess the weather finally got to you.
What'd you say?
Don't move!
Okay.
Take good care of the store while I'm out, Mizuki.
Okay.
I'm heading out, Dad.
Have fun.
Sorry, Mizuki.
We'll find a new part-timer soon, I promise.
Oh, don't worry about it.
More importantly,
I wonder if those two will be tying the knot soon.
Yeah.
The store will be a little sad without her, Uncle.
Well, what can you do?
I've done nothing but cause her trouble over the years.
What the heck, I didn't hear about this.
Why did I come here to carry your bag for you when you took your cast off already?
You might as well, since you're here already.
Kitamura gets angry at me when I spoil you.
Oh just ignore anything that guy says.
I'm off to practice, Dad!
Is Momiji home, mister?
Your friend's here, Momiji.
Okay!
I'm going out for a bit.
I guess all three of them will one day be brides to someone.
Right, No...
mo?
In that case,
why don't I find myself a new bride, too, while I still can...
I'm just joking.
You want those three to be happy, too, don't you?
Happy enough to fill Wakaba's share, right, honey?
Hello.
You surprised me there.
Please don't be so surprised every time.
I'm sorry, it's hard to get used to.
What brings you here today?
I wanted to ask about the sign on the door.
Huh?
Boy, I'm starving.
I guess I should eat something before heading off to the batting cages.
Yeah.
Ichiyo is probably out,
so I'll do my best to serve you, Senpai.
Come on now,
are you trying to hospitalize Azuma for a second time?
What did you say?
Welcome back.
Why...
She said she wanted to work part-time for us,
so I asked her to start right away.
Woah, this is good!
Thank God.
Now I can order the Napolitan here even when Ichiyo isn't around.
There's a flea market going on tomorrow?
Yeah, it's at the town center at the next town over.
I heard they've got a lot of interesting things over there.
Now that I think about it, I think Nakanishi said he was going, too.
I wonder if they'll have any good art books there.
Why don't you go take a look if you're interested?
Ichiyo's going to be around tomorrow anyway.
I won't mind if you want to take off for an hour or two.
But I don't really know how to get there...
Why don't you ask Kitamura to take you, then?
Huh?
Practice starts in the afternoon,
and it's not like you have anything better to do, right, Kitamura-senpai?
Yeah, yeah.
I've got nothing better to do.
Then I guess I'll take you up on that.
Welcome!
So you bought that t-shirt for Aoba?
Yeah.
She's been teaching me how to throw changeups these past few weeks.
If I don't do anything to show my gratitude she'll give me an earful about it later, I'm sure.
I'm sure she'll be happy.
I'm pretty sure she won't.
Not even a "thanks", I bet.
More like, she'll probably be angry.
She totally wouldn't wear something like this.
Oh no, it's okay.
She'll wear it no matter how much it pisses her off.
It'll give her a reason to rag on about my poor sense of style, after all.
You don't have to do that on purpose...
Oh no, it's fine.
It's always been like that between us.
I don't know,
it's kind of strange, isn't it?
What's strange?
The fact we moved.
We weren't actually planning on moving in to your neighborhood at first.
Really?
We were just about to move into this other place before we moved to where we are now,
but the owner changed his mind right when we were about to wrap up the deal.
Oh, my.
The land on the property we were looking at after that one started sinking right before our eyes when we got there...
Oh wow.
And the property we were looking at after that was some excavation site.
I'm not making any of this up!
Right.
That means someone must been guiding us so that we'd move to where we're at now, right?
Oh, yeah.
Now that I think about it,
I think I heard Senda's cousin's going to be participating
at the National Womens Team's second round training camp.
Looks like it.
You could have been there, too, if it weren't for the injury.
Nah.
I was only trying out to see how good I am anyway.
More importantly, I'd rather focus on seeing Seishu make the Koshien for now.
Just think of it as if you're pitching through me.
Did you know?
He learned my cutter in just one week.
What's more, his cutter now cuts sharper than mine.
That kinda pisses me off.
You're just that good at teaching.
But even then...
maybe I've been underestimating him.
Did you say something?
Oh no, nothing at all.
Aoba, I bought you a t-shirt in return for teaching me how to throw a cutter.
You better be thankful, okay?
Thanks.
Did you bring an umbrella, Akane?
Huh?
What a nice day we're having.
You've got a call, Aoba.
Okay.
He says he's coach Takei from the Women's National Team.
Yes, this is Tsukishima.
It's been a while.
Are your injuries better now?
Yes, I can even run a bit now.
I see.
That's wonderful news!
Excuse me?
I'm actually trying to figure out a team to play in the World Cup over the summer,
but I don't have enough pitchers.
Especially those who can throw fastballs that could match the power of the foreign players.
And so, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor;
What is it?
I'd like to bring you in as a wild card addition for the Women's National Team's training camp.
The beautiful sisters, huh?
Do you have any objections to that?
Oh no, it just seemed for a moment as if Wakaba had actually come back to life.
Training for the sake of training is useless, dumbass!
Didn't your brother's catchphrase use to be "enjoy baseball," Azuma?
Apparently Ichiyo agreed to marry him if Seishu makes it to the Koshien.
Next time, on Cross Game Episode Forty:
Dumbass!
We're going to the Koshien!
Bring on the wedding reception!