H2
	 Volume 26
	  Chapter 9 (257)
	   That's Still a Long Ways Off

 - Page 149 -

(Ch. 9) That's Still a Long Ways Off

[The year ends...]

Sign: Principal

Phone: (ding)

[And a phone call is made...]

Principal: Hello,
	Senkawa High School, Principal Yanagi speaking.

 - Pages 150 & 151 -

(Ch. 9) That's Still a Long Ways Off

 - Page 152 -

 - Page 153 -

Popper: Bang!

First Invitational Appearance, Senkawa High

 - Page 154 -

Paper: Spring Koshien
	Teams announced
	[Power north and south]

Paper: No Tachibana Hideo to be seen
	Summer champions Meiwa Ichi not included

Caption: Tachibana Hideo (Meiwa Ichi)

Ishimoto: I'm sorry.
	You wasted it all for me...

Coach: Don't be stupid.
	Or too full of yourself.
	It wasn't for you,
	it was for Meiwa Ichi.

 - Page 155 -

Coach: You can return the favor this summer,
	with plenty of interest.

Ishimoto: Yes sir.
	I will.

 - Page 156 -

Hideo: {Don't lose,
	Hiro...}

 - Page 157 -

Players: One, two
	One, two
	One, two

 - Page 158 -

[And as the blessed new year continues...]
[April comes, making them third-years...]
[If memory serves correctly,]
[that is the last year of high school.]
[But looking back on it...]
[It seems to have gone by so quickly...]

Volume 27 on sale 9/18

 - Page 159 -

[Thanks for wasting so much time]
[with me.]

 - Page 160 -

Hikari: Hi there.

 - Page 161 -

Takaaki: That's Mori.

Hikari: Huh?

Takaaki: Oh,
	a Chiba Rose pitcher who retired two years ago.

Hikari: Mori?

Takaaki: Don't recognize the name...?
	They made a big deal when he joined the team.

People: (kyaaa)(Haraguchi-saaan)

Takaaki: He was a first-round draft pick the same year as Haraguchi.

Hikari: Wow.

 - Page 162 -

Takaaki: Oh well,
	this WAS ten years ago.
	They'd been rivals since high school, and had the same killer pitch.
	It was the opinion of the scouts at the time that their skills and potential were nearly equal.
	It was one ball's width.
	There really was no difference,
	in the speed and bite of their payoff pitches.
	But Haraguchi could throw his a ball's width closer to the batter's stomach.
	That was all.

 - Page 163 -

Takaaki: Now one is the best pitcher in the league, and the other is...

Mori: Amamiya-san, right?
	Thank you for your wonderful article years ago.

Takaaki: Incredible.
	He even remembered my name, when I was just a rookie sportswriter covering him for a single interview when he signed with the team...

 - Page 164 -

Hikari: Writers are the same.
	If you can throw your pitch a ball's width closer to the reader,
	it can change the tone of the article entirely.
	Which means it's hard to be any kind of pro?

Takaaki: ...sure.
	I'm looking forward to it.
	Can't wait to see what you'll write about those two heroes once they're on professional teams.

Hikari: That's still a long ways off.

Takaaki: Oh no,
	it'll happen before you know it.

 - Page 165 -

Takaaki: Well, for now it's Hiro-kun.
	He needs to play as well as Tachibana-kun would,
	because a paper can live or die by the results of the players it hypes.

Hikari: I wouldn't expect too much
	from Hiro in the spring.

Takaaki: Spring, summer, both the same.
	No baseball player wouldn't be fired up by the Koshien.

Hiro: Achoo!

 - Page 166 -

Hiro: (sniff)

Players: It's snowing!
	Wow!
	Snow, snow!

 - Page 167 -

[On the other side of the falling snow...]
[Spring waits for its turn...]
[And behind that,]
[the drama of the summer...]

 - Page 168 -

 - Chapter 9 End -