Smoky B.B. 9

(1)
Text: A successful execution of 9out to join the club!!

Title: Smokey B.B. // chapter 9 Admission into Benten // author: Komiyama Kenta // manga: Kawada Yuuya

(2)
(inner) Kitazato: Is this alright with you?
Kitazato: Yeah.

Kitazato: I have to take responsibility for my own actions. // I wouldn't want to regret anything later, right!?
Girl: I wonder who he's talking to!?

Tora: Well, this... // is our answer.

(3)
Tora: You can stop worrying now... // We'll look after you from here on.

Tora: Meaning that // from today on, you're also one of Benten!!

(4)
Enjiro: Ple... // Please take care of me.

Hayata: This is the first time I've seen you make a polite bow outside the grounds......
Enjiro: Shut up, Bakahayata!!

(5)
Coach: Hey, you!!!

Coach: What are you doing, wearing your game uniforms!! // The spring tournament is just around the corner!!

Tora: Why are we wearing these!?
Kitazato: Shut up, Bakatora! It was to fan his sense of isolation... a strategy to attack him mentally!

Today: That's right, Kuhou Komado. // I'd like to talk to you for a bit later!!

Komado: Yes.

(6)
Sakamaki: Benten will be closed!?

Tora: You're too loud, Tsutomu... (It's too salty.) // Like Kuhou said... they are several billion yen in debt... // The current first year student could be the last students of Benten...
Box: During a snack break

XXX: Hey, Haimura!!

Enjiro: Yes!!
Kitazato: Don't act like it's yours!!

(7)
XXX: Excuse me... in short it means we can save the school by getting publicity, right!?
Tora: Looks like it.
Ikki: That's great, huh?
Sakamaki: So, if we'd manage to do that, we'd be the Heroes of Benten, right? ♪

Tora: The next summer Koshien is a commemorative meeting. // Because it gets a lot of attention from the media, they'll probably make use of that... // Well, I know there are conventional steps of private school management, but...

Kitazato: Yeah, this year's tournament will full of talented people. // But still, is it even possible // to evaporate that huge debt // with just one Koshien!?

Hayata: (Yeah)

Hayata: That has also been bothering me.

(8)
Ikki: So, you're saying it won't become a homerun that turns things around!? // I wonder what the director is up to!?

Ikki: Didn't they tell you anything, En no ji!?
Enjiro: No... whenever I ask Komado about it, she keeps quiet and acts like a dummy.

[T/N: En no ji = character of smoke; it's a play on his name]

Enjiro: That reminds me, there are more schools. // She said something about other schools that use their money to persuade promising amateur baseball players to play for them... // It's really a method that exceeds all limits of tuition exemptions for honor scholarship students...

Kitazato: What!!
XXX: (Hey, we're starting!)

Tora: It's possible that there is some added value... // behind the Koshien this year.

(9)
All: A large // added value...

Tora: It will be fine... // if we figure something out during the spring tournament...

(10)
Text: Hotei campus--------

Woman: You became the No.1 pitcher amongst the middle school players. // Even though the spring tournament hasn't started yet, your classmates already started to call it the "Hidaka generation", right... // They say that you were persuaded by the director himself!?

Woman: Do you have a rival here at school!?
Hidaka: Wow, this woman smells nice! // Er...Err, I do~~

(11)
Woman: It is your teammate Mikami-san, right!? // If you don't go all out, you stand no chance against him, right?

Woman: As you'd expect from the boy who stands with Kanagawa behind him... the Monster, Mikami-kun, right?
Hidaka: B...but, I will also...

Hidaka: One day I'll be known as // the ace, who shoulders Kanagawa... no, Japan!

(12)
XXX: Hey, old man. // Let go!! Right now I'm trying the results of speed running.

Old man: Hello, welcome to Japan. // What business do you have here!?

Man: Aah, I caused some trouble at a high school over there. // Due to that, the 1st draft of the majors also ended in failure... // However, god exists... Here in Japan, that is...

[T/N: majors = Major League Baseball (MLB), it is a professional baseball league featuring teams that play in the American League and the National League; 1st draft (Dora1) = The first-round selection through a draft system]

Old man: Well... so what business do you have in Japan...

(13)
Man: B.B.

[T/N: B.B = Baseball Business]

Man: I'm here to beat up Japan's weak amateur baseball players. // It's an easy job...

(14)
Box: One week later, April 13, Saturday. // Kanagawa, start of the spring tournament.

Kitazato: Let's go, Haimura. // We should properly loosen our bodies before the morning match.
Enjiro: Okay.

Paper: "Kanagawa district spring tournament" // ~First round~ // First match (9:30~) // Benten VS Tsuchidakita High // Second match (12:30~) // Ichirizuka High VS Akitatou High // Furthermore, we will not be liable in any way for accidents involving flying balls, etc.

Enjiro: By the way, who is Kanagawa's top favorite at this moment!?
Kitazato: Huh!?

(15)
Kitazato: Hotei and Daikokuten are the two greatest authorities!! // There are guys who get on the point of tears, just by looking in their enamel bag. // It's frustrating, but the history of Kanagawa is the history of those two. // You could say they are the absolute symbols of Kanagawa...

Kitazato: The Monster who crushed my dreams // is from Hotei!! // Mikami!! // Our power is still...

Enjiro: But this time... // I'm here too---

(16)
Kitazato: He's so conceited!! // Listen, Haimura. I let you use my mound, // because I'll be able to drive you into a corner again, if you make even one waggish pitch.
Enjiro: I knew it, boy high school students are trash!! (That's my bible.)

Kitazato: (Tch.) You really don't get it, do you...

Kitazato: I am telling you

(17)
Kitazato: I'm counting on you to be the ace.
Boy [L-up]: Huh!? Is Kitazato hurt!?
Boy [R-down]: The ace is a first year!?

Boy: This match is already ours.
Boy: Yeah.

(18)
Boy: Wha...

Boy: Wha

Boy: Wha...

Boy: What is he, that first year!?

Text: First round // Benten VS Tsuchidakita // 8-0

(19)
Boy: Even so, that Kitazato handed over his own position at the ace... // But maybe it's possible that. // In the second round.
Coach: Yeah... I made my decision!!

Coach: In our next match, that boy

Coach: will absolutely not play!!
Text: Kanagawa district spring tournament second round // Benten VS Hotei
Text: Despite his excellent performance!? // Smokey B.B. // Chapter / End