After probably its weakest episode, Mix returns to form quite nicely this week.  #07 was effectively a transition episode, which has never been Adachi’s strong suit, bridging us from the prologue to the main story.  Now that the brothers are in high school, Haruka has arrived in town and they have a coach who actually wants to succeed rather than placate his best friend, all systems are go and all lights are green for Adachi to work his magic.  And while it may not be flashy Vegas-style pyrotechnics, it’s magic all the same.

If you like this sort of thing, anyway.

This being an Adachi baseball series, a variety of different rivals from other schools are a staple part of the diet.  We’ve already met Nishimura of course (and been re-introduced to his dad) and now another important one joins the fray.  Mita Hiroki (Endou Daichi) has been alluded to already – by his adoring younger sister, who brags on him every chance she gets.  A freak rainstorm (similar to one in Kyuushu on a certain night, apparently) finds Sou and his entourage in the same family restaurant as the Mita siblings, and so a thread begins to unspool.

No question Mita-kun makes a good first impression – despite the fact that as we meet him, he’s being interviewed by a couple of magazine columnists.  It’s hard for Americans to imagine a high school baseball player being a big-time celebrity, but in Japan Koushien is the single most popular sporting event there is.  Baseball tensai like Mita truly are famous – but he seems quite grounded.  While Arisa’s plan is to have Sou be humbled before him, Hiroki actually knows the Tachibros from their no-hitter in the junior high Tokyo qualifiers, and (much to her displeasure) he treats Sou quite respectfully.  He also gives Sou some very true, very relevant and very un-Japanese advice – when you’re on the field, grade doesn’t matter.  So just go play, and screw anyone who says otherwise.

The upshot of this chance meeting is a practice match between Meisei and Mita’s Toushu High, which was a quarter-finalist at Koushien with him as a 2nd-year ace.  It’s a perfect chance to get Arisa to actually watch Hiroki play (finally), and score some bragging rights.  But as competition, it’s not a game Toushu should take especially seriously.  Yes they start most of their regulars, including Mita, while Ooyama-san elects to have a pitching rotation with two third-years taking one turn through the order each, with Touma taking the third.

Given that those third-years are not especially good pitchers, two trips through the order only gets us to the top of the third down 5-0 – and the bases loaded, no one out (one wonders if Ooyama-san was deceptively clever here in choosing to have Touma go third).  It’s the worst possible situation for any pitcher to enter a game, and Touma’s nerves (and other things) tighten up to the point where his first pitch is a meatball.  Fortunately for him an enormous (and Adachi-like) stroke of luck turns it into a triple play and gets him out of the inning with one pitch.

The rest of this follows a very familiar Adachi pattern, with Touma settling into a groove and setting down the Toshu starting nine in routine fashion – much to the irritation of their coach.  Touma also works a long and tough AB against Mita, who’s in the midst of a perfect game, and is called out on what should have been ball four.  The umpire knows he screws up, and the Tachibanas being as smart and skilled as they are hammer that same spot over and over, getting the same call from the ump.  Mita stays in the game longer than planned, “out of respect” for Touma’s pitching – and it’s pretty easy to see the seeds of an Adachi rivalry being planted big-time.