Evening. Clover Café.
Koganezawa Midori, dressed in her school uniform, stepped into the café with her schoolbag in one hand and a baseball backpack slung over her shoulder. She paused at the entrance to look around before finally walking in.
"Welcome!" Wakaba greeted warmly as soon as she noticed the customer.
"Um... excuse me, is Tsukishima Aoba here?" Midori asked politely.
"You're one of Aoba's friends, right? She's not back yet. She said she'd be a little late because of club activities," Wakaba replied.
"I see..." Midori murmured, sounding disappointed.
At the Tsukishima Baseball Batting Center—
Whoosh!
Clang!
Ding ding ding!
Midori stood outside the net, watching Kou swing through round after round in the batter's box. He showed no sign of stopping, and just as he was about to insert another coin, she finally lost patience.
"Hey! Hold it!"
"Hm?" Kou turned his head, puzzled by the sudden interruption.
"How long are you planning to hog the cage? It's about time someone else got a turn!" Midori snapped.
Kou glanced at the batter's box next to him and found it completely empty. He even pointed at it silently.
"That one doesn't count if it's not the fastest pitch. I'm warming up before I face Tsukishima Aoba," Midori declared.
"I'm really sorry... Oh." Kou stepped out of the box to apologize, but then seemed to remember something. "Right."
"What is it?" Midori asked impatiently.
"If you take a car from the station for about an hour, there's another batting center with machines that throw over 130 kilometers per hour," Kou said helpfully.
"Why would I go all the way there just to hit faster pitches?!" Midori shouted.
"Didn't you say you wanted a showdown with Tsukishima Aoba?" Kou asked.
Midori froze.
"Oh... so that's why you've been waiting for her here. My apologies, then," Kou said. With that, he turned and left, leaving Midori standing there alone.
The moment he stepped out of the batting center, he saw Aoba returning.
Aoba glanced at him, ignored him completely, and started to walk past. Seeing that, Kou called out to her.
"There's a pretty intense girl waiting for you in there. She says she wants a showdown."
He pointed inside.
"Huh?" Aoba lowered her gaze to NOMO, who was happily eating cat food nearby, and muttered, "Guess I'll need to come up with another excuse."
"Who is she?" Kou asked.
"She just showed up out of nowhere and started saying she wanted to face me," Aoba replied, irritation obvious in her voice.
"A showdown?" Kou repeated, still confused.
"That has nothing to do with you. Instead of worrying about other people, maybe worry about yourself. The West Tokyo Summer Qualifiers are about to start," Aoba said coldly.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Midori suddenly appeared at the doorway, cutting into their conversation.
"Oh, ouch! What are you doing? Why did you suddenly bump into me, Kitamura-senpai?" Aoba cried out at once, clutching herself dramatically.
"Huh?" Kou pointed at himself, dumbfounded.
"Ow, ow, ow... ah, my hand... Looks like I won't be able to pitch for a while now. What a headache," Aoba groaned as she slipped away.
And just like that, Kou was left behind alone in front of Midori, whose blazing glare looked ready to tear him apart.
June 10th, early morning.
Aoba burst into Wakaba's room and shouted at the still half-asleep girl, "Happy Birthday, Wakaba!"
"That's right, today's June 10th!" Momiji said happily as she happened to pass by. "Alright, later let's go to Kou's house and eat cake! Aoba, you're coming too!"
She was immediately met with Aoba's murderous glare.
"Hah, I knew it." Momiji shrugged helplessly and walked away.
From elsewhere in the house came Ichiyo's voice:
"Wakaba, Aoba, I'm leaving the café and batting center counters to you two!"
"Okay!" they both answered at once.
Clover Café.
"Tsukishima, did you hear?" Senda said from the front of the counter.
"Aren't I listening to you right now? What do you want?" Aoba replied flatly.
"No, I mean about Kitamura. I just heard from Nakanishi that he helped the acting principal's daughter carry a ton of stuff and even went shopping with her in front of the station today. You know, the girl who's our school manager," Senda explained.
"Oh... that stuck-up girl," Aoba said in realization.
"Exactly. Just like you—"
Clang!
Before he could finish, Aoba smacked Senda on the head with a scoop.
"By the way, that girl Koganezawa Midori... she's Senda-senpai's cousin, right?" Aoba asked.
"Midori? What about her?" Senda looked confused.
"She's been waiting for me here over and over, saying things like, 'Just one at-bat,' and, 'Let's settle this,'" Aoba said, glaring at him.
"That idiot..." Senda sighed. "You'd better just ignore her."
"I have been ignoring her. There's no reason for me to have any kind of showdown with her," Aoba said.
"She's ridiculously persistent. Every holiday, she drags me out to practice with her. She doesn't even have much skill, yet she keeps boasting that she's going to join Japan's women's national baseball team," Senda said wearily.
"Japan's national team?"
Before they could continue, the bell at the entrance rang.
"Welco—"
Aoba's voice abruptly stopped.
Kou had entered the café carrying a mountain of shopping bags, followed by three girls.
"This place isn't exactly fashionable," said one of them—a girl with long golden hair and a pink top.
"Four iced coffees," Kou said to Aoba at the counter.
"Oh my, as expected of a young lady—you really are quick when it comes to shopping," Kou said ingratiatingly.
"Well, I just happen to have someone to carry everything for me," the golden-haired girl replied smugly.
"It's my honor to be of service," Kou said with an exaggeratedly respectful smile.
"What on earth is that guy doing...?" Aoba muttered, unable to take it anymore.
"I seriously misjudged him," Senda said with a sigh. "I thought he had some backbone. Turns out his personality is just a copy of mine."