Kyojin no Hoshi: Episode 92

"**Uncompromised Contract**" is the ninety-second episode of the Kyojin no Hoshi anime.

## Plot (Brief Summary)

It's contract renewal season. Hyūma, who is conscious of Ozuma, demands a 100% increase in salary and refuses to give up, leaving the people around him appalled. Furthermore, he suddenly announces that he will hold a Christmas party. Ban is worried about Hyūma, who seems to be missing something...but...

## Full Summary

In a baseball match, Armstrong Ozuma faced off against Hyūma Hoshi with his strong unnerving spirit. After the deadly battle with Ozuma, Hyūma collapsed and was hospitalized. After meeting Ozuma, Hyūma began to wonder if he was a baseball robot just like Ozuma.

The day has finally come for Hyūma to be discharged from the hospital. He eventually has an intense nightmare in which he shatters a mirror that has his own reflection that became Ozuma. Once he wakes up from his nightmare, Chūta Ban visits Hyūma in his hospital room and playfully encourages him.

At that time, he finds an article in the newspaper about Shigeo Nagashima's contract renewal. Immediately after, Hyūma hears directly from Ban that Mitsuru Hanagata and Hōsaku Samon are still negotiating about their salaries and are going through a rough patch. Samon is withholding the renewal of his contract for his livelihood, and Hanagata is withholding his contract renewal for his pride as a player. And finally, the day of contract negotiations for Hyūma is about to begin.

Together, Ban and Hyūma arrive at the Giant's lodging. In the hallways, reporters bombard Hyūma with questions. Hyūma starts to feel embarrassed after being praised by a reporter to a revolting degree. Soon after, one reporter in paticular said to Hyūma,"As long as I play baseball, I don't need anything else, do I?" and then Hyūma's complexion quickly changed into a fierce expression. The reporter's physical appearance rapidly transformed into Armstrong Ozuma and Hyūma is now being tormented by his own delusions once again. Hyūma thinks to himself that he is a baseball robot and his delusion of Ozuma spoke to him,"That's right, Hyūma Hoshi, as long as we can play baseball, we don't need anything! Because we are robots!" and laughed menacingly. Ban suddenly places his hand on Hyūma's shoulder and asked him why he spaced out. Hyūma then snaps back into reality.

Ban and Hyūma are then told that the teams' representative is ready to see them, so they both make their way to the office room. The representative with a smile on his face then asked,"Even though the both of you are best friends, do you really want to do two contract renewals at once?" and Ban responds,"I thought we'd celebrate Hoshi's full recovery today once we're done with this." And the renewals first start of with Ban. The representative declares that although Ban hasn't played in any official matches, he did help Hyūma develop his Dai League Ball and indirectly contributed to the team's victory. The representative therefore asks if a 20% increase next season is okay with Ban and he happily agrees to signing the contract. Hyūma's renewal is up next. The representative states that Hyūma had a 10-2 record this season, and he also developed the perfect magic ball called the "Dai League Ball" which contributed greatly to the team's consecutive championships. The representative concludes a 60% increase for next season, and as Hyūma is about to sign the document, the representative mentions that Armstrong Ozuma wants to play professional baseball in Japan and that it seems that he wants to play in a Central League team other than the Giants. After hearing this, Hyūma jolted upwards out of his seat and his attitude drastically changed. Hyūma apologies to representative and then declares that he cannot sign the contract unless his salary is doubled. Ban and the representative are both confused by his words. Hyūma's emotions take over as he refuses to back down on his outrageous demand but after many attempts of negotiation, it eventually broke down. Reporters who heard about the story reported it in the newspaper.

Outside in the city, Hyūma stares at a Santa on a billboard, and suddenly an idea strikes him. Hyūma plans a Christmas party in a very carefree manner. In an effort to put baseball aside, Hyūma cleaned out the empty rooms of the Giants' dormitory to hold his Christmas party. He gets into the Christmas spirit, writing handmade invitation postcards, ordering a huge cake and presents. While he was preparing his party, his father, Ittetsu, and sister, Akiko, who were looking at the newspaper article, were shocked at Hyūma's straying. His best friend Ban finally loses his temper and he said to Hyūma,"Hey, Hoshi. I don't want to get involved in things like that, whether you're throwing an unconventional Christmas party or trying to get along with Hanagata or Samon. But ever since you demanded a doubling of your salary, you've gone off the rails! It's like you're running hard on a dangerous road... Hey Hoshi! Can you go back to being the Hoshi you used to be? That figure that rushed straight ahead aiming for the Giant's star! Where is your path without that figure!? Where is that spirit that could kill your opponent when you stand up to the competition!? I don't need anything other than baseball! Where did Hyūma Hoshi, who vowed to live as a baseball robot go...!??" Hyūma then yells at Ban to shut up and Ban then shouts,"What the hell is Christmas! Damn it!!" and decides to leave Hyūma after getting into an argument with him.

On the 24th at 6:00pm, Mitsuru Hanagata was already invited to another Christmas party. One of his friends asked if he was going to Hoshi's Christmas party but Mitsuru replied, "Hmph, why do I have to go to the damn Giant's dormitory just to eat cake, that's ridiculous. I'm not interested in Hoshi other than baseball and anyways, partying with that guy would make me sick."

Hōsaku Samon celebrates Christmas with his younger siblings. Samon's sibling mentions the invitation to Hyūma's party and wants to go there but Samon states that he has a better and more fun meeting with his siblings.

Hyūma's Christmas party is fully setup and he quietly awaits for his friends and sister to arrive. On the long table there is a huge cake, mutliple bottles of soda, turkey, empty glasses, silverware and plates, and four handwritten nametages for his guests (Akiko, Ban, Mitsuru, and Samon). It appears that he has been waiting quietly for 4 hours and the clock keeps ticking. Someone knocks at the door and Hyūma excitedly opens it, but to his surprise, it was one of his seniors from the Giant's dormitory and he delivered Hyūma two postcards. Hyūma reads the first postcard from Hōsaku Samon: "Hoshi, next year, Samon will put my life on the line to hit the Dai League Ball. It's not too late to have a party after that.." The second postcard from Mitsuru Hanagata reads:"'Merry Christmas. There is no need for such words. The only word exchanged between you and me is "Match." After reading the postcards he grabs the handwritten nametags with Hanagata's and Samon's name one after another and crumples them up. Someone knocks at the door again and Hyūma believes that it's his sister, but it's an old man with a telegram from Akiko Hoshi and his excitement quickly disappears. The telegram reads "ザンネンユケヌ　アキコ".

Hyūma Hoshi is completely alone on Christmas. His intense delusion of Armstrong Ozuma standing in the room appears and he says,"Hahahahaha. No one came. That's normal. Christmas is for people to celebrate with each other. You are waiting for me to prepare for this. No one is coming. That's because they know you are a baseball robot! Robots don't do Christmas! What's wrong, Hoshi? Robots are robots, and they're going to play with me. Merry Christmas! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Armstrong Ozuma's words and laughter basically resound throughout the entire room. As Hyūma is mocked and ridiculed by his delusion, his emotions take over and he has an extreme mental breakdown, he destroys his own party, and collapses onto the floor while crying and shouting,"DAMN...I'M HUMAN...I'M HUMAN...DAMN IT..."

From outside the broken window in which Hyūma threw the tree out of, Ban stood there in the cold and watched Hyūma from afar. Ban talks to himself, "The invincibility of the Dai League Ball makes me lose my passion for baseball, and I want money and I want to enjoy my spoiled youth. Hoshi, I know you are not like that. But something new is brewing in your heart. I don't know if you've been suffering alone. Tell me. I will carry even one-tenth of the ten millionth of what you are suffering..."

Ban was also shedding tears at not being able to share an ounce of Hyūma's suffering....

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Hyūma Hoshi
* Armstrong Ozuma
* Chūta Ban
* Ittetsu Hoshi
* Akiko Hoshi
* Mitsuru Hanagata
* Hōsaku Samon

## Anime Notes

* Interesting nightmare sequence happens during the beginning of the episode. Hyūma recalls facing Armstrong Ozuma on the baseball field and dreams about being trapped in a void of utter darkness with him. Armstrong holds up a mirror and forces Hyūma to look at his own reflection (that is now Armstrong Ozuma himself in it) so he yells,"No, that's not me!" multiple times and shatters the mirror with a baseball bat and wakes up from his nightmare.

## Differences from the Manga

* The entire Christmas party wasn't in the manga.

## Trivia

* The story depicts Hyūma's request to the Giants' representative to double his salary when his contract is up for renewal. This episode is based on "銭闘 / Sento," in which the players and the baseball team engage in heated annual salary negotiations.
* The Christmas part of the story has been a popular topic on numerous variety shows, including 『トリビアの泉 ～素晴らしきムダ知識～』.
* The Christmas party is most famously known as **Christmas Alone** (一人クリスマス). Hyūma's lonely party has been parodied and referenced countless times in various medias.
* This episode has nearly become a must-watch during the holiday season and in Japan, it constantly airs on Christmas every single year. In 2012, it was once broadcasted live on NicoNico just before Christmas but due to technical difficulties, the broadcasting was somewhat delayed and it upset many viewers. (*live.nicovideo.jp*)

## External Links

#### JPN Wiki

* https://w.atwiki.jp/aniwotawiki/pages/38597.html

### JPN Official Streaming sites:

* https://gyao.yahoo.co.jp/store/episode/A187053092999H01
* https://video.unext.jp/episode/SID0038651/ED00220149
* https://www.videomarket.jp/title/187053/A187053001999H01