The afternoon before the game against Ryuō, Maeno dismisses practice early. In a bookstore, Mishima and Ryuō backup pitcher Oikawa talk about how unlikely it is they will get to play against Seishū. Midori visits the Tsukishima batting cages, where Aoba tells her Seishū might beat Ryuō. That evening, Akaishi reviews tapes of Ryuō's games one more time, particularly Shimano's batting, while the rest of the team prepares their equipment. The next morning, after a press conference for Idol Ace, former manager Risa tunes in to the start of the game. At the top of the first inning, Ryuō quickly retires all three Seishū batters, and in the bottom Kō strikes out the three batters with nine pitches. In the second inning, Azuma hits a home run on the first pitch but Ryuō retires the rest of the side, while Shimano manages to hit a single but is left on base. At the top of the fourth inning, Seishū still leading 1–0, Mishima asks to be sent out to the first base coach box during Ryuō's next at-bat.
