Chapter 136

Short Summary
Tokuchi reveals in a press conference he can lip read.

Long Summary
Ideguchi asks to know what Tokuchi’s plan is to beat the Mariners, but Tokuchi just tells him not to worry and the preparations are going nicely. Ideguchi demands he explain what these preparations are for the sake of the team’s morale, but Tokuchi glares and tells him to get a grip. As the captain he needs to make the team feel like winning, even if he has to lie.

A newspaper editor gets contacted by the Lycaons PR to be told that from now on, Tokuchi is going to hold a press conference before and after every game. The journalists get excited as Tokuchi is famous for refusing interviews.

At the first press conference Tokuchi explains that as the owner of the team, his position on media coverage has had to change. A reporter asks how he thinks their game against the Blue Mars will go and Tokuchi says the Lycaons will win completely. His prediction proves correct and they win 9-4. In the press conference following the game, a reporter states the Lycaons’ improvement has been largely due to him, but Tokuchi disagrees and says it’s been entirely down to the work of the individual members; if he’s contributed anything at all though, it was to ‘teach them how to play’. He claims the Japanese baseball players in the Pro pennant race are ‘lower than third-rate gamblers.’ The only reason he’s been able to progress so far with 3rd rate baseball skills is because he’s a 1st rate gambler. The crowd ask what the techniques of a gambler are and Tokuchi reveals he can lip read, which he calls a common skill in gambling. The crowd test him and he correctly tells them what they’ve said. Lip reading the other team’s strategies used to be a common tactic in baseball but it’s very rare now which is why he can get away with it. Tokuchi says while watching a tape of the Mariners’ game, he saw Brooklyn say, ‘The Lycaons are nothing.’

Brooklyns words make headlines the next day. Tokuchi reads the article and laughs, saying ‘they wrote it just as I thought.’ He finds Ideguchi and asks how the team’s doing. He says with Brooklyn's overconfident declaration they’re deeply depressed.

At the team meeting before their first Mariner’s match, the team sit in silence looking hopeless. Tokuchi reveals to them his strategy for the game and tells them to ‘go and lose in tatters.’

Characters

 * Tokuchi Toua
 * Ideguchi