Episode 2: The Destroyer

> *As trouble is brewing in Neo Tokyo, Haru and Taiga take to the diamond for a rule-learning practice match and find out just how good (and scary) Shun Kamiya really is.*
>
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"**The Destroyer**" (壊し屋, *Kowashiya*) is the second episode of the *TRIBE NINE* anime series. It aired on January 17th, 2022.

Haru and Taiga are enthralled by XB and decide to join the Minato Tribe. Vice-leader Saori Arisugawa teach the pair the rules of XB, but the thick-headed Taiga struggles to learn the rules. Witnessing their studies, Kamiya proposes a practice match, as "It's faster to learn by playing." Meanwhile, the King of Neo Tokyo, Tenshin Otori, has assigned a special order to the Chiyoda Tribe, led by his successor, Ojiro Otori.

## Summary

At the Royal Palace, Ojiro Otori presents himself before the King of Neo Tokyo, Lord Tenshin Otori, to accept his mission for his campaign across the country. Lord Tenshin reminisces about the time he chose Ojiro as his heir, praising his progress from being an unworthy "son" without talent to the man before him today. Lord Tenshin declares to him that he must win, as he will become the ruler of all the tribes, and Ojiro obliges, standing up to take up his bat. At a hangar below the Palace, Ojiro overlooks Neo Tokyo from above, exclaiming how insignificant it all looks, before boarding his helicopter.

Haru arrives in front of the Lovely Ocean, nervously practicing his greeting to the others at the front door. Taiga walks up from behind and kicks the door open, asking what Haru was doing before pushing him forward and enter the restaurant. As they walk inside, they hear Arisugawa yelling at Kamiya regarding some unbelievable news, but once Nekomaru the cat reacts, Arisugawa calms down and greets the pair. Haru nervously turns around and slams himself straight into Taiga, which makes Kamiya wonder if they were trying out some comedy skit together.

Sitting at the table drinking coffee, Arisugawa asks the newbies if they had heard any troubling XB rumors recently, but they both seemed to not have heard anything significant. Changing topics, she asked them if they had done their XB homework regarding the game's rules, and Haru presents a notebook with all his notes on Batting and Defense, which Arisugawa praises for containing all the rules to the game. Meanwhile, Taiga simply remarks that all it takes in XB is to hit, run, and beat up opponents, but angered by his response, Arisugawa aims and shoots her air-soft gun at him as punishment.

Arisugawa begins to promptly explain the rules to the pair —mostly Taiga. In XB, the batter hits the ball thrown by the pitcher, in which he runs to the next base. The Fielders must eliminate the Runners via Tag Out only, as in they must touch the runner directly with the ball. Force Outs (tagging the base before the runner arrives) and Fly Outs (catching the ball before it lands on the ground) do not count as Outs in XB. As such, the Fielder and Runner engage in brawls, where the Fielder must tag the Runner with the ball, while the Runner has to counterattack or avoid them to reach the Base. The gear used are the XB ball —the main component of the game—, standard bats —for hitting the ball as Batter—, gloves —to catch the ball when hit or tossed—, and spiked shoes —to help jump around and catch the balls—. Additionally, anything allowed by the Judge Robot can be used as gear. Arisugawa quizzes the pair on the Minato Tribe fielding: Home Plate is the Azabu Intersection, 1st Base is Shiba Temple, 2nd Base is Minato Tower, and 3rd Base is Roppongi Super Hills. She punishes Taiga for not answering the question properly, and Haru answers correctly under duress. She prompts Taiga to scan a QR code to read up on the layout of the Minato field.

Taiga asks why XB needs to have so many rules and regulations, but Manami states that XB would be lawless and not fun without them, and Mita remarks that people would attack and even kill each other in brawls before the XB Law was enacted. When Arisugawa states that he should leave if he doesn't want to follow XB Rules, Taiga barks back and declares he wants to beat Kamiya in XB, although Haru remarks that he should've joined a different team if he wanted to challenge Kamiya, which Taiga dismisses. Taiga challenges Kamiya to battle, only to notice that he's sleeping off another coffee hangover and promptly shakes him to stay awake —not helping with Kamiya's nausea. Arisugawa exclaims that she can't believe the Tribe is still standing with Kamiya as their leader, and when Haru asks what happens when a team loses an XB match, she responds that the loser must comply with whatever the winner decides. She states that at least with Kamiya they would be fine, but Kamiya —just returning from the bathroom— states that maybe he won't be around forever, joking that he could be abducted by aliens tonight. Taiga attempts to encourage Haru that he would still be there to help the team, but Mita and Manami make snide remarks at Taiga still not knowing the rules to XB. With that, Kamiya decides that the team should practice XB in order to teach Taiga the proper rules, which Taiga takes up as a challenge from Kamiya.

The team arrives at Home Plate and Kamiya prepares laying out the rules for this practice match: 1st Base is the nearby light pole at a jog distance, and touching 1st counts as a point, grazing the ball counts as a hit, and the teams are split between Kamiya (with Arisugawa as catcher) vs everyone. Taiga is shocked at hearing that Kamiya would play solo, but Mita and Manami praise his "Super Kamiya" mode, noting they haven't seen it in a while. Taiga declares he will bat first and stands in position. Kamiya calls out he's pitching down the middle, which Arisugawa explains to a befuddled Taiga that he's giving him a handicap. With a relaxed form, Kamiya pitches the ball at extremely fast speeds, slamming into the catcher glove before Taiga could even notice it, which Arisugawa states is 30% of his serious power. Kamiya calls out the same pitch, and Taiga swings the bat after the ball had already landed, which he declares must have been some magic or hypnotism trick, but Arisugawa assures him the pitch was normal. For the third pitch, Taiga attempts to swing upwards like in his previous match, but the ball was pitched at a lob, which Kamiya did not call out, and for which Taiga declares as a trick.

Haru is pulled to bat second, with Taiga declaring that he must avenge him. Kamiya calls out his first pitch as straight down the middle, and as Haru begins analyzing the possible trajectory, the ball is thrown, catching him off-guard as he closes his eyes and misses the swing. Taiga calls out to Haru from the bleachers, telling him to keep his eyes open. Haru misses the second pitch, but Arisugawa internally praises him for nailing down the timing for his swing. At the third pitch, Haru's eyes analyze the ball and he manages to hit it, albeit as a graze. Haru begins to run after being called out by Taiga, and as he approaches base, Kamiya already picked up the ball and is waiting defensively. Haru charges for an attack, but as Kamiya easily sidesteps him, Haru begins to fall forward before being caught and lifted up — and then tagged out. Kamiya declares that Haru still wins a point after grazing the balls.

Mita praises Haru for attempting to fight Kamiya head on, while Manami recounts to Taiga that Kamiya used to be called "The Destroyer." As Mita is about to reveal that he was known as a "destroyer of people," Arisugawa pulls on his head as punishment for trying to frighten Taiga. She further explains that Kamiya has calmed down since those days, when Tribes used to have terrible battles against each other. Manami states the Shinjuku and the Toshima Tribes used to be strong, while Mita and Arisugawa correct him that they're still considered strong alongside the Bunkyo Tribe.

Meanwhile, in Bunkyo City, the Tribe's base of operations at Bunkyo Hall is in flames. Ojiro and his Chiyoda Tribe conquered and destroyed the Tribe and the building. Ojiro holds the leader of the Bunkyo Tribe, Toru Akamon, by the head, as the latter refuses to bow down and attempts to counterattack with a wooden weapon. Ojiro blocks his weapon, breaking it upon contact, and states that Toru's pride could be fatal as he lifts his body up and slams him straight into the ground.

## Cast

### Voiced

* Haru Shirokane - Shun Horie
* Taiga - Chiharu Sawashiro
* Shun Kamiya - Akira Ishida
* Saori Arisugawa - Mai Fuchigami
* Manami Daimon - Fukushi Ochiai
* Santaro Mita - Mutsumi Tamura
* Ojiro Otori - Jun'ichi Suwabe
* Tenshin Otori - Hiroshi Naka
* Toru Akamon - Takahiro Sumi
* Quadruplets - Yuji Murai
* Nekomaru - Mai Fuchigami
* Chiyoda members - *Unknown*

### Unvoiced

* Bunkyo Tribe members
* Shinjuku Tribe members
* Four delinquents (flashback)
* Yasuhiro (flashback)

## Gallery

Saori ArisugawaTaiga and Haru attempting to learn XBMinato Tribe cheers them onTenshin Otori assigns a mission to Ojiro Otori
## Trivia

* The title of this episode is in reference to Shun Kamiya, who used to have the title of "The Destroyer" in the past. It's seemingly also an allusion to Ojiro Otori, who is seen destroying all the Tribes he has faced.
* When Saori Arisugawa shows the Extreme Baseball Rule home page on her phone, scanning the QR Code on the screen takes you to the Official TRIBE NINE Website.
* The Chiyoda Tribe members, the ones with the masks on, are uncredited in this episode, despite one of them having a single voiced line.