Episode 5

The fifth episode of the *Stars Align (Anime)* series. It premiered on November 7, 2019

## Plot

When the boys’ soft tennis club prepares for practice, Maki asks Toma to lend him a spare racket because he broke his. As the rest of the club practice in the tennis ground, Toma confronts Maki in the classroom about what happened to his racket. Maki tells Toma that his dad (Kenji Kyobate) broke the racket and also explains his dad's abusive behavior to Maki. Toma sympathizes to Maki condition and gives him a new racket.

Toma and Maki didn’t attend the club activity on that day. After the club activity finished, the team changed their clothes at the locker room. One of the track team enters the locker room and takes off his clothes there, showing off his biceps. Yuuta averts their eyes and gets teased by him. Shingo, Itsuki, and Tsubasa defend Yuuta and tell him to wear his clothes back.

Toma takes some money from his bank account before accompanying Maki to his apartment. Shortly after, Kenji arrives at the apartment and calls for Maki. Terrified, Maki just froze in fear and was unable to confront his dad. However, Toma steps forward and throws 50.000 Yen of money to Kenji. He explains that Maki is his precious partner and he will do anything to protect Maki, even if it means by killing him. Kenji laughed in a maniacal manner which further terrifies Maki. As he threatens to kill Toma, Maki steps forward and protects him from his dad. Kenji didn’t expect Maki’s behavior and left the apartment after collecting the money. Maki then thanks Toma for stepping on his behalf and confronting his dad.

The story then flashbacked a few days earlier on Kinuyo Kasuga house (Kasuga Estate). Kinuyo is having a lavish tea time with her grandmother as they talk about her experience in Shijo Minami Middle School. When her mother arrives in the room, Kinuyo’s grandmother leaves the room. It was later revealed that Kinuyo’s mother and grandmother had a heated argument when choosing Kinuyo’s birth name and her Junior High School.

The next day, Maki gets interrogated by Mitsue for not attending the soft tennis club activity and he becomes friendlier to Toma. During Murou-sensei math class, Rintaro is occupied with preparing the practice plans for the team. Murou-sensei notices that Rintaro didn’t pay attention to her lesson and asks him to come forward and solve the problem on the board. He managed to answer the problem correctly, leaving Murou-sensei speechless and unable to scold him.

During lunch break, Rintaro meets up with Toma to discuss the practice plan for the team. Just when Rintaro is about to pull out his notebook, Toma tells him that Maki already devised a plan for the team. Rintaro gets overwhelmed by sadness, looks away from Toma and tells him that he has not been useful at all as the vice president of the club. Toma tries to calm him down, only to learn that Rintaro is an adopted child. Rintaro then tells Toma about how his biological mother left him and put him up for adoption. As Rintaro repeatedly blames himself for being a failure and not grateful for his current condition, Toma yells at him. He tells Rintaro that he envies him for being loved by his parents and whoever gave birth to him doesn’t matter a bit. Rintaro then realized his selfishness and apologized to Toma. He then asks Rintaro to keep his inferiority issue a secret from Maki because Maki will be angry at him if he knows about it.

The team then conducts a practice match during the club activity session. After the practice, Sakurai-sensei briefs the team about their practice match with Misaki Academy tomorrow. The next morning, the team walks together to Misaki Academy. They didn’t expect to see Mitsue sitting in front of the Misaki Academy building. When they arrived at the tennis court next to the school's main building, they were discouraged by how large the tennis court was and the number of members joining the soft tennis club. Sakurai-sensei tries to reassure them while Toma asks them to fight to the death even though it is only a practice match. At the ending scene, Arashi Oji, the captain of Misaki Academy Boys’ soft tennis team, approaches and taunts the Shijo Minami team members.

## Matches

No scored matches occurred in this episode

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Toma Shinjo
* Maki Katsuragi
* Kenji Kyobate
* Tsubasa Soga
* Rintaro Futsu
* Nao Tsukinose
* Itsuki Ameno
* Kanako Mitsue
* Yuta Asuka
* Shingo Takenouchi
* Sakura Muroi
* Takayuki Sakurai
* Taiyo Ishigami
* Haruhi Kasuga
* Kinuyo Kasuga
* Ryouka Kasuga
* An Takenouchi
* Arashi Oji

## Quotes

* **Maki**: When I see him (*Kenji Kyobate*), I kinda freeze up, even now. I know it's pathetic.
**Toma**: That’s not true at all
* Maki is my precious doubles partner, don’t torment him anymore. If you keep on tormenting Maki, I…. I’ll kill you. – **Toma Shinjo**
* **Kenji**: What if before you kill me... I kill you first?
**Maki**: *(*protects Toma*)* If you do anything to Toma, I... I'll kill you!
* You're my partner right, of course I wanted to help you. That's what a partner does. – **Toma Shinjo**
* I'm the vice president of the soft tennis club by name only. I finally understood after Katsuragi joined. Our club was only that bad because I'm the vice president. If only I had realized it sooner. I'm done with being vice president. – **Rintaro Futsu**
* I'm a failure in everything that I do. I can't live up to my parents' expectations. I'm a failure. – **Rintaro Futsu**
* I wasn't born because they wanted me. I was just a burden. That's why I've tried to push myself harder than anyone, but... I'm still a failure. – **Rintaro Futsu**
* Who’s a burden? Who decided that? The mom and dad you have right now love you more than anything! Enough that I envy you! What part of that disappoints you?! Whoever the hell gave birth to you doesn’t matter one bit! – **Toma Shinjo**
* Listen up, guys! Tomorrow's the day we see the fruits of our labors! Believe in us! We can do it! – **Toma Shinjo**

## Trivia

* Itsuki names Maki as Makimaki
* The amount of cash throwed by Toma to Kenji is 50,000 Yen (around $450 at the time this article was written).
* An Takenouchi made her debut in this episode when she and Shingo are dancing together. This dance will later become the Boys’ soft tennis club victory dance.
* Misaki's academy tennis courts are located outside the school building. It is extraordinarily large as it consisted of four whole courts and they could see a lot of the boys’ soft tennis club members practicing. This implies that the school and alumni donate a lot for the Misaki Academy soft tennis club.
* In the end picture credit, Taiyo is startled due to Shingo loud sneezing.