Chapter 131

Short Summary
The MVP tickets cause the Lycaons to be feel much more competitive with each other.

Long Summary
Tokuchi tells the team most of the MVP tickets will probably end up divided between Sugadaira and Kurumizawa; but they shouldn’t give up yet because the rest lie in scoring the winning point. Every member is determined to be the person who earns the winning run.

Nishimura goes up to bat, and the other members inwardly wish him to fail. He hits a slow grounder and they all shout out gleefully. Kojima says the bench’s atmosphere is horrible but Tokuchi disagrees and says in order to win the current state is perfect. He tells Mihara to put Kurai on as pitcher next, even though he’s already thrown 30 pitches. Nonetheless he strikes all the batters out. The others worry he’s standing out too much but hope scoring the decisive point will overshadow his performance. The team’s aggressive determination makes the other team feel intimidated. At the bottom of the ninth, Muruwaka ends up scoring the winning run and the others moan in disappointment.

Muruwaka comes first in today’s MVP ranking, followed by Kurumizawa, Sugadaira and Kurai. In the totals ranking, Imai has dropped all the way to the bottom and Tokuchi mockingly asks him how it feels. Imai storms out, followed by the rest of the team. Kojima is shocked, but Tokuchi tells him they’ll now all ‘change dramatically.’ When Kojima catches up to them later, he finds all the whole team doing research.

In the next game against the Bugaboos, the Lycaons fall behind by eight points due to poor pitching at the start. Even so, the Bugaboo players comment to each other that they feel a weird pressure. The catcher says even though they’re losing, the Lycaons look like they’re having fun.

Characters

 * Tokuchi Toua
 * Kojima
 * Ideguchi
 * Imai
 * Muruwaka
 * Kurai