Episode 2

## I Hate You!

* Title Screen
* Screenshot

Part Two - Present Day

* 01 ○ 02 ○ 03

## Episode Guide

**I Hate You!**is the second episode of the *Cross Game* anime.

Four years have passed since that fateful summer. Kou Kitamura, Aoba Tsukishima and their friends are now attending Seishu Academy Middle School, Kou in his third and last year and Aoba in her second year. A new character by the name of Keiichirou Senda is introduced. He's the ace pitcher of the Seishu Academy Middle School baseball team, even though he's a lousy pitcher.

## Plot

Kou is once again having trouble waking up. While at the train station, Kou is approached by Senda, the ace pitcher and clean up hitter of the Seishu Academy Middle School baseball club. He points out Kou's bed hair and says to fix it or the girls won't like him, to which Kou responds with 'leave me alone.' Senda then spots Aoba who is nearby talking to her friends and runs over to her, while Kou looks on.

At school, Kou is watching the baseball club practice.Senda approaches him and offers to introduce him to one of his fans. Kou isn't interested and walks way, Senda yells after him saying Kou will piss off his fans if he isn't nice to him. Daiki Nakanishi appears and says that if Senda pisses off Kou, he will be antagonizing him. Senda runs off. Kou points out that Senda is their ace pitcher, and Nakanishi says he might be a good pitcher but he's not taking at that level yet. They see Aoba pitching. Nakanishi says that Aoba is the real thing. Senda tries to coach Aoba on her form but Osamu Akaishi says her form is fine. He instructs her to take the first years out for roadwork and then tells Senda to pitch to him.

Later that day, Kou is walking home. He sees a hat floating in a river. Someone calls out to him, and the voice sounds like Wakaba who Kou thinks of, but it turns out the voice belongs to Momiji Tsukishima. She was on her way home from swimming class. Kou asks her if she got better. She says she has and even got 1st place in the 4th grade 50m freestyle inter-school swimming competition. Aoba arrives at Clover Café, saying she's hungry, asking her sister Ichiyou Tsukishima for something to eat. Ichiyou says Kou was just there before Aoba arrived home. Aoba asks where he was sitting. "Where you are now." Aoba quickly switches seats, then cries again about being hungry. Ichiyou says "He is the guy she liked" to which Aoba says "That's why...."

Flashback to four years earlier, Wakaba Tsukishima is making her birthday list to give to Kou. Aoba takes the list and reads the items. After age 18, she asks how long the list goes on for. She then sees the gift Wakaba wants for her 20th birthday. An engagement ring. Aoba loses it, asking if Wakaba was serious about marrying a 'guy like that'. Wakaba tells her to calm down and that her marrying Kou is far in the future. She then asks Aoba what kind of guys she likes. Aoba say that a guy who can throw a 160kmph fastball.

Back to present day, on his way to the bookstore, Kou passes by the train station and sees Senda, who somehow has it in his head that he's going on a date with Aoba. Kou arrives at the Tsukishima Batting Center. Aoba is there, reading a book while her father stepped out. Kou asks her to sign for the delivery, then stands there waiting. She asks him what does he want, he says her father usually gives him free tokens for the batting cages when he delivers supplies. He gets his free tokens from a visibly annoyed Aoba, then sets about getting a lot of home runs, annoying Aoba who can hear the home run buzzer going off. Kou arrives back to where Aoba is and asks for his first place prize, Aoba refuses saying he got free tokens so no prize for him. Kou then buys some tokens, gets home runs again, and then once again asks for his first place prize, Aoba gives him his prize, a pair of socks. Before leaving, Kou asks her if there was something she was supposed to be doing, to which Aoba, still annoyed, says of course not. After Kou leaves, Aoba is then seen in the batting cages, trying to get some home runs, to no avail, frustrating her even more. Her dad comes back and asks why no one is at the front counter, Aoba says she'll be right there. Seiji instead sends her over to the Kitamura's house.

Senda runs into the Clover Café, looking for Aoba. Ichiyou asks him if everything is okay. Senda introduces himself and asks where Aoba is. Suddenly Nomo shows up, scaring Senda, then Momiji appears behind Senda who gets scared by her as well. She responds by calling him uncool. Senda says he likes the name 'clover' because it feels full of happiness. Ichiyou says their deceased mother, Youko named it after her four daughters because of their leaf themed names. Senda is confused because he only saw three sisters without a mention of a fourth. Seiji comes back and reveals that Aoba is over at Kou's house. Senda introduces himself to Aoba's father, then goes to Kou's house.

At Kou's house, Kou asks a still annoyed Aoba how the baseball club is doing. Aoba seemed none to pleased with that question. Kimie Kitamura comes into the living room with homemade croquettes. Aoba perks up, excitingly mentioning how it's been a long time since she's had Kimie's homemade treats. Once Kimie leaves, Kou, once again asks about the baseball club. Aoba tells him to shut up and mind his own business. Kou, in a comically sarcastic way, with his hand over his eyes like a visor and looks around, asks where the friendly girl from a few minutes ago went. Aoba then drops sauce onto her shirt. Kou offers her a clean shirt. Senda shows up and sees Aoba putting on the shirt and asks Kou what the relationship is between him and Kou. Kou, puts his arm around Aoba and tries to pass them off as a couple but gets elbowed in the face and then almost kicked in the face, had it not been for Kou's reflexes in protecting his face. Aoba then says she hates him and leaves. Senda says to Kou that Aoba said she hates him, to which Kou says 'that's nothing new.'

Another flashback. Wakaba says she came to the baseball field to cheer her sister on. Aoba is pitching and Kou is advertising his store and gets kicked in the back of the head. The game begins. Kou bats 3rd. First hit was a foul, second pitch was a 'hit by pitch'. By the 3rd inning, neither team has scored. Aoba asks Kou if it's fun for him to pitch the way he does. Kou says he doesn't even know what's so fun about baseball, leaving Aoba confused. Wakaba cheers for both Kou and Aoba. Kou tells her to go to the other dugout if she's going to cheer for her sister. Wakaba says she cheers for him when he's pitches and doesn't want to walk back and forth between dugouts. Aoba is now at bat, Wakaba cheers for Kou, which momentarily distracts Aoba. Kou pitches and Aoba bunts the ball. Kou is until to recover the ball, allowing the runner on 3rd to make it to home plate and for Aoba to make it to 1st, barely making it. Later at the battling cages, Wakaba tells Aoba that Kou is disappointed that he lost to Aoba. Aoba mocks him by saying he can't even play catch. Wakaba says to not underestimate him or it will end up burning her in the end. Wakaba then says Kou might even someday be able to throw a 160kmph fastball, and asks Aoba to not take him away if that were to happen. Wakaba's prophets always come true, according to her at least.

Back in the present day, Aoba is still walking home, and says Wakaba's prophet did not come true. Kou training in his room. Kensaku walks by and says since he's not in any clubs, what is he training for. Kou says it's just a daily routine that he adapted by following a schedule Wakaba gave him of Aoba's daily training schedule. Wakaba says that Kou lost to Aoba because she trains every day so Kou started training every day as well, a routine that he still carried on to that day.

## Characters

### Order of appearance

* Kou Kitamura
* Aoba Tsukishima
* Aoba's friends (debut)
* Keiichirou Senda (debut)
* Daiki Nakanishi
* Osamu Akaishi
* Momiji Tsukishima
* Ichiyou Tsukishima
* Wakaba Tsukishima (flashback)
* Kensaku Kitamura
* Nomo
* Youko Tsukishima (mentioned)
* Seiji Tsukishima
* Kimie Kitamura

## Trivia

* **Title drop/reference**: "I Hate Him" is Aoba's catchphrase when referring to Kou
* From this episode on, Wakaba's clover leaf in the opening theme is faded out, signaling her death in the previous episode and the characters not yet coming to terms with her death.
* In this episode, it's revealed that the Tsukishima's deceased mother, Youko, named the Clover Café after her four daughters

### Anime/Manga differences

##### Changes

* In the manga, Seiji greets Senda at the batting center. In the anime, it was Ichiyou greets Senda at the batting center
* In the manga, Aoba is shown taking her shirt off to change after spilling sauce on it. In the anime, she is simply shown pulling her new shirt down
* In the manga, Ichiyou asks Aoba to watch the front desk, in the anime, it is Seiji who asks Aoba to watch the front desk

##### Omissions from anime

* Kou and his father talking about missing magazines
* Kou looking up a girl's skirt and almost tripping on the escalator at the train station
* A poster of Senda is shown outside Kitamura Sports
* Senda calls Aoba on the phone