Chapter 6

Short Summary
Big Mama talks to Konisaki about Tokuchi, and tells him about the first time she met him.

Long Summary
Following his defeat to Tokuchi, Kojima hasn’t shown up to baseball practice. At Big Mama's bar, Kinosaki asks her if it’s true no one’s been able to get a hit off Tokuchi. She confirms it, describing it as ‘bizarre’ considering his lack of typical baseball skills.

She tells Konisaki about the first time she met Tokuchi, two years ago, while running a One Outs game. She didn’t pay him any attention until he started whispering to a batter what the next pitches would be. All his predictions were right, and the batter, Emerson, got a good hit to outfield. Despite this, Tokuchi described the hit as ‘pretty terrible,' angering him.

Big Mama told Tokuchi to ‘test his luck’ against the Emerson, but Tokuchi picked another random batter from the crowd and said he wanted to play him instead, in a ‘one-pitch game’. Big Mama tells Konisaki she was shocked because the batter Tokuchi had picked was the best of the whole crowd, having been invited to play in the major leagues, and that Tokuchi had managed to discern his ability just by looking at him.

Big Mama warned Tokuchi not to aim high, since an inside-high was this batter’s favourite pitch, but Tokuchi only turned and shouted this information at the batter, saying he'd 'keep that in mind.' Tokuchi pitched and the batter missed. Everyone was shocked to see the pitch was an inside-high, and only 100km/h. Big Mama explains to Konisaki that because Tokuchi knew the batter’s favourite pitch, the batter assumed Tokuchi would never throw there, and thus missed. She says she sometimes gets the feeling that Tokuchi can read minds, and his scariest quality is how well he can manipulate people.

To make her point, Big Mama tells Konisaki to count the ticking of a watch until he gets to 60, then bangs on the table halfway through to distract him. Konisaki loses count, and Big Mama explains how easy it is to distract someone from a simple task. She says that what a pitcher really needs to be great isn’t great breaking balls, but a tough spirit. She calls Tokuchi, ‘the best gambler there is.’

Characters

 * Big Mama
 * Kinosaki
 * Tokuchi Toua
 * Emerson