Chapter 4

Short Summary
Kinosaki witnesses Kojima’s One Outs game against Tokuchi. Tokuchi throws several bad pitches and Kojima starts intentionally fouling.

Long Summary
Kinosaki is shocked to learn that Nakene told Kojima about their lost bet, and worries about causing Kojima stress. He goes out to look for him, and finds him about to play a One Outs match with Tokuchi. Big Mama tells Kinosaki that the new bet is $400,000 and warns him not to interfere.

Tokuchi’s first pitch hits the chain-link fence, way out of the strike zone. Kojima taunts him, pointing to the white square on the wall and asking Tokuchi if he's sure he knows where the strike zone is. Kinosaki is very surprised to see how different Tokuchi is from before, and supposes that even someone like Tokuchi can get nervous when confronted with a batting prodigy like Kojima.

Tokuchi’s second pitch again lands outside the strike zone. Kojima says his pitches are weak and suggests he practise first, but Tokuchi says he doesn’t need it.

Tokuchi’s third pitch is still way off the mark and Kojima thinks him pathetic. But Tokuchi plays it off cooly and says, ‘The real fight starts now, old man.’

Big Mama asks Kinosaki what he thinks of Tokuchi’s pitching, and he calls the game ‘as good as over.’ As Tokuchi pitches again, Kinosaki can see immediately that it will be too high, making the fourth ‘ball’ against Tokuchi and ending the game. But to his shock, Kojima hits the ball anyway, intentionally making it a foul. Kinosaki is dumbfounded, but Big Mama explains to him that Kojima did it because everyone here bet on Toua to win, which wounded his pride. He wants to prove his abilities rather than win by Tokuchi’s errors. She explains to Kinosaki that Tokuchi is using this pride to manipulate Kojima.

Kojima’s intentionally fouls again after the fifth pitch. Big Mama reveals to Kinosaki that Toua had pre-arranged with the spectators to bet on him. In exchange, he would split the $400,000 winnings with them. He correctly predicted that if everyone bet against Kojima, he would intentionally start fouling. Nonetheless, Kinosaki is still confident Kojima will win.

Kojima taunts Tokuchi again, telling him to ‘stop stalling.’ Big Mama claims the final pitch will be Tokuchi’s ‘best pitch.’