There’s a long-standing tradition in this mythology (well, there are tons of them – it’s Adachi).  Nishimuras tend to be bridesmaids.  It was the fate of Isami in Touch, whose stature in the story never quite reached the level of his own perception of it.  And that’s become something of a running gag (well, there are tons of those – it’s Adachi) with Takumi in Mix.  He never gets the recognition that’s frankly deserved based on his performance.  Including, it seems, from his own father – rather obsessed with Meisei and their ace right up to the end.

As such, even though I looked at this game as something of an uncertainty, it would be quite a break with tradition if Seinan were to win it.  Especially with the way Dad reacted to Touma’s warm-up tosses (which was pretty tone-deaf in the moment, if you ask me).  Touma tells his brother after striking out the side in the first inning that everything felt about the same, and Souichirou  – mindful as ever of anything going to Touma’s head – allows only that his spin rate might have ticked up a little.  But it’s obvious that Isami’s powers of observation were on-target.

Of course, this is all a blaze of red in the eyes of the bullish Takumi.  He comes out in the bottom of the first pumping 150 KMH gas himself.which belies his image as a breaking ball specialist.  He’s got that working too, and matches Touma dagger for dagger.  Neither guy allows a baserunner through five innings, and it’s only when Takumi falls victim to a dropped third strike that his perfect game drops away.  He’s pissed that he’s fallen behind Touma in strikeouts (14-12 through six innings), and he loses another one in turning an attempted sacrifice bunt into a double play.

Not to be forgotten is the matter of Eisuke’s phone, which almost has to prove significant at this point.  Mayumi calls Otomi looking for him, and there’s that seemingly extraneous cut to the ambulance to consider.  Adachi has some manufactured drama up his sleeve here, seemingly.  As for Harada, he’s gotten the gist of it from Ishida Akira at last, it seems – his name is Harada Shouuhei, and he’s forty-eight years old.  He also has issues with Pocari all of a sudden, but all this doesn’t seem to have triggered a flood of memories.  At least not yet.

More and more this has the feel of a fait accompli, with Seinan falling by the wayside and Meisei moving on to face Sumi Tech Kenjou.  The question is how will it happen – will one of the Tachibros finally break through against Takumi, or will fortune smile on Meisei the way it cursed them the year before?  I find myself rather rooting for Takumi here, just for the raw deal he’s gotten in the story.  Not against Meisei, but I do rather hope Takuma at least gets the chance to go out with his head held high.