Episode 6

## Who Are You?

* Title Screen
* Screenshot

## Episode Guide

**Who Are You?** is the sixth episode of the *Cross Game* anime.

Kou Kitamura, Daiki Nakanishi, Osamu Akaishi and Keiichirou Senda start their first year at Seishu Academy High School. Kou, Nakanishi and Akaishi join the baseball team, but it's the portable team managed by the demoted coach, Sentarou Maeno, while Senda makes it onto the varsity team managed by new coach, Shuugo Daimon. Kou also officially meets Yuuhei Azuma, a talented lefty and powerful clean up hitter.

## Plot

Kou and Nakanishi are walking to school, their first day at Seishu Academy High School. Nakanishi asks Kou if he brought his sign up sheet for the baseball club to which Kou responds to with yes. Nakanishi tells Kou to actually turn the form in this time. Kou says he will, as long as a certain someone doesn't beat up the seniors. Principal Kato, the actual principal of the school, is in the hospital so the interim principal, Eitaro Shidou, is tasks with welcoming the incoming 1st years in the entrance exam. He congrats the students on entering high school and asks that every one of them work hard whether it be on their studies and on sports.

At Seishu Academy Middle School, Aoba's friends are talking about the high school baseball team recruits and how the school even built them their own dorms for the baseball players. They talk about new coach Shuugo Daimon, who got a lot of teams he coached to Koshien a few years back. They ask Aoba if she heard about it and Aoba says she heard rumors. They asked if the previous coach was fired. Maeno was not fired but he was placed in charge of the school's new prefab team. From all incoming students, only one baseball player was going to join the first string (or varsity) team.

Keiichirou asks Makihara to clean the baseballs. Just as Makihara is about to call Senda out on his request, Coach Daimon appears and tells Makihara that laundry and ball cleaning was the job of the prefab team and that Makihara's grade doesn't matter. He also warns Makihara not to step onto 'his' field again without permission. Aoba's friends ask Aoba if Akaishi failed the test that would have determined if he was placed on the varsity or prefab team, Aoba says no, Akaishi didn't bother even taking the test.

The prefab team is cleaning the field. Makihara, frustrated, throws the baseballs given to him earlier by Senda, onto the ground then tells Kou to clean them since he was a newcomer. Kou refused as Makihara was the one tasked with cleaning the baseballs. Nakanishi steps in front of Kou and says he's a newcomer too. Remembering what happened between them and Nakanishi in middle school, Makihara, Tsuneki and Sekiguchi don't say anything. The prefab team manager, Hiroko Oukubo tells the team to go ahead and start practicing. The problem is the space they are in isn't big enough. Maeno tells the seniors they get one more chance before the summer tournament.

They are going to play the varsity team in a practice game and if they catch Daimon's eye, he might let them join the varsity team. Makihara says the test they took wasn't a testament to their skill and that they are better than the five players who did pass. Akaishi tells them they probably didn't pass because of their personalities. Insulted, Makihara asks him what exactly he meant by that. Nakanishi tells him to be careful because Akaishi, when angered, is stronger than he is. Makihara wisely backs off then says he, Tsuneki and Sekiguchi are quitting. Akaishi says he prefers they stay because he knows how good they are and the team needs them for the upcoming game. Makihara again tries to leave but Nakanishi blocks him, telling him that they aren't letting them quit and they would get physical if they had to. Makihara asks Coach Maeno to do something but he doesn't, saying they look like they are having fun.

Aoba's friends invite Aoba to watch the game between the varsity and the prefab teams. Senda asks the varsity manager, Risa Shidou to treat an injury he got but she just slides the first aid kit towards him and continues reading her magazine. Senda calls her out on her unhelpful attitude as the manager. Shidou joins Coach Daimon on the baseball field and once again reminds Daimon to call him interim and says Principal Kato thinks he will be able to return to work soon. Risa tells her dad, who tells her not to call him dad on school grounds, that the manager's job is boring but if the team makes it to Koshien, she can deal with a bit longer. Shidou wants to be the principal of a school that everyone in Japan knows about. He then compliments on how good the pitcher is. Coach Daimon introduces the pitcher as Noboru Kamikawa, their ace pitcher whose specialty is fastballs and breaking balls. He also introduces two other players Tatsumasa Miki and Keisuke Kishibe, an ace pitcher and cleanup hitter in junior high, respectively. Coach Daimon says that Azuma is a top rate talent. Aoba is watching Kamikawa pitch and tells her friends that he's good but he doesn't excite her heart. The prefab team is struggling to practice in such a small area. Tsuneki tells Makihara not to hit the ball so hard. Makihara calls Hiroko over, calling her a fat girl instead of by her name and tells her to bring him another ball. Hiroko doesn't seem fazed by the insulting name. Aoba and her friends comment on the small area the prefab team is practicing in. Aoba sees Akaishi and remembers him putting her in charge of the middle school team and that he wasn't going to take the selection exam because he's going to have a stomachache that day.

That evening, Kou is sleeping on the train and almost misses his stop but Aoba wakes him up by hitting him the face with her schoolbag. Kou gets angry and tells her he's not going to die if he misses his stop. As they are walking home, Aoba tells Kou to stop walking so close to her, because someone might see them and get the wrong idea. She then asks, why he joined the baseball team since he looks like he was forced into doing so. Kou tells her that he was inspired by a pitcher whose pitching form was really good but she had a bad personality. He tells Aoba that it would be great if he could pitch like her. Azuma is outside of the Tsukishima Batting Center. Aoba walks by and repeats the lines she said when she first met him about there being another batting center an hour bus ride from the train station if he doesn't like this one.

The next morning, Kou is rushing to class and he runs by Azuma who doesn't seem to be in any kind of hurry. Kou warns him to hurry up because their school is strict on tardiness. Kou makes it just in time but Azuma is late. The teacher asks Azuma for his name then sees on the attendance roster that Azuma's name has a 'special' mark next to it. The teacher puts his book down and starts class without saying anything. Kou is confused but doesn't say anything. Over in class 1-B, Miki is sleeping and Yuuji Kubo is yawning loudly. Once again, the teacher does nothing as they too have a 'special' mark next to their name. The teacher's inaction confuses Akaishi and Nakanishi. At the café, Seiji is excited to learn that Kou joined the baseball team, but Ichiyou is concerned because it's just the prefab team. Senda, cocky because he made the varsity team, tells Kou that he has to do maintenance on the field during his lunch break, because it's the job of the prefab team. Kou says since the varsity team is using the field, they should maintain it themselves. Senda, still cocky tells Kou that he'd better listen because he wouldn't want to anger Coach Daimon, and Senda looks to Azuma for clarification on that to which Azuma responds with 'who are you?". Senda tells Azuma that he's a varsity player as well. tells him that he doesn't recognize his face. Senda reminds Kou of Coach Daimon's request, then leaves. Kou tells Azuma that he could at least try to remember Senda's name and Azuma says he doesn't bother to remember the faces of people he deems unimportant. He does remember Kou from the batting cages. Azuma then reminds Kou that the Coach wants the field maintained.

Kou, Akaishi and Nakanishi are doing the maintenance on the field and talking about Shidou and saying they didn't hear many great things about him. Akaishi says that at school, rumors tend to be true. The varsity team is practicing. Azuma asks Yuuji Kubo to clean up the batter's box. Coach Daimon tells Azuma that Kubo is a candidate for clean up hitter and to not be so mean to him. Azuma tells him that he doesn't know who Kubo is and that he doesn't remember his face. He only knows the faces of four other players on the varsity team. He sees Aoba walking towards where the prefab team is practicing. Some baseball players are admiring Kinji Takizawa, the varsity team catcher and point out that Akaishi is just as good. Coach Daimon asks about Akaishi and if he was at the selection exam. The baseball players tell him that Akaishi, and two other players, had a stomachache and missed the test. Coach Daimon was not happy to hear that. Makihara, Tsuneki and Sekiguchi arrive at the area where the prefab team has been practicing only to find just Hiroko there, who informs them that the team is at the junior high school. Aoba had asked the team to come practice with the junior high's third year players.

At the junior high, Makihara notices Aoba pitching and makes the mistake of underestimating her because she's a girl. When it's his turn to bat, Makihara tells her to give it everything she got which she does and the results are Makihara not getting any hits. Tsuneki says the way Aoba looks when she's pitching is the same way his mom looks when she crushes a cockroach. Akaishi and Kou practice pitching. Coach Maeno says the way they are practicing now is so different from their secret practices. Coach Maeno says it's been such a long time since he had a dream and that one pitch would be enough. Just as Kou sets up and pitches again, Azuma shows up at the baseball field. Akaishi is worried he saw their secret weapon, but thanks to Nakanishi 'accidentally' knocking the chalk liner over, and obscuring Azuma's view, he saw nothing. Aoba sees Kou pitches and recalls Akaishi telling her that the prefab team has a secret weapon. Coach Maeno walks away, saying he's going to have a good dream that night.

## Characters

### Order of appearance

* Kou Kitamura
* Daiki Nakanishi
* Yuuhei Azuma
* Eitaro Shidou
* Shuugo Daimon
* Aoba's friends
* Aoba Tsukishima
* Sentarou Maeno
* Keiichirou Senda
* Makihara
* Osamu Akaishi
* Tsuneki
* Sekiguchi
* Hiroko Oukubo (debut)
* Risa Shidou (debut)
* Noboru Kamikawa (debut)
* Tatsumasa Miki
* Keisuke Kishibe
* Yuuji Kubo
* Nomo
* Seiji Tsukishima
* Ichiyou Tsukishima
* Tanabe (debut)
* Kinji Takizawa (debut)
* Toshio Miya (debut)
* Tetsu Iwai (debut)

## Important Events

* Kou, Nakanishi, Senda and Akaishi start attending Seishu Academy High School
* Kou, Nakanishi, and Akaishi join the high school baseball team, albeit the prefab squad. Senda makes it onto the varsity squad team.

## Trivia

* **Title drop/reference:** "Who are You?" is a question that Azuma asks Senda
* This is the first episode in the anime to not feature Wakaba Tsukishima, in flashbacks or photos