Kou Kitamura's Relationships

A list of relationships Kou  has established throughout the *Cross Game* series

## Family

### **Kimie** and **Kensaku Kitamura**

Kou's parents. He seems to have a loving relationship with both his mother and father . His father seems to have sensed his need to get out of the house after Wakaba's death. They are supportive of Kou playing baseball, and cheer him on when he's pitching.

## Tsukishima Family

### **Wakaba Tsukishima**

Wakaba had a crush on Kou when they were younger. They share a birthday (June 10th) Wakaba gave Kou a list of birthday presents she wants every year (something he kept up when she passed away) and gave him alarm clocks because he has a problem with waking up. It was stated that he did reciprocate her feelings, when asked by Yuuhei if he like her back and Kou responded with 'yeah'. Kou is determined to fulfill Wakaba's last dream of him pitching at Koshien.

### **Aoba Tsukishima**

Kou and Aoba have a complicated relationship. Aoba resents Kou from taking Wakaba away from her. Kou knows that Aoba hates him but in reality, it's pretty obvious they have feelings for each other, even though they both deny it. Even when Kou is dating Akane for a time, he was still very attentive towards Aoba and knows how she's feeling, and she the same to him. Aoba and Kou are very alike in many ways, including pitching styles (Kou adopts Aoba's pitching style and made it his own), the way they think and act. Although it might not seem like it, Kou and Aoba care deeply for each other and value each other's opinions and feelings above anyone else. When a newspaper reported on Kou's 156kmph pitch in one of the tournament games, he was very eager to show Aoba the article. Despite Kou being able to hide his feelings, he has shown to get somewhat jealous when other guys get too close to Aoba, as shown when he tore down and threw away a flyer that Mizuki had put up announcing he (Mizuki) and Aoba were dating. When other guys commented on Aoba being pretty, Kou had been shown looking at her very closely through the cafe windows. Kou is protective of Aoba and this protectiveness is shown when Kou tells Daiki that he would like to take Aoba's place and pummel Yuuhei (who was currently batting against a tiring Aoba) with a pitch and then later when he tells, not asks, Aoba to not do anything else that Daimon tells her to do saying he will ruin her; this shows that he has her best interest at heart. Kou stood up for Aoba when Risa verbally insulted her, even calling Aoba attractive, even though he was impersonating Senda at the time When Aoba broke her leg during practice, Kou went to the hospital and brought her a baseball and glove to use and even stayed by her side even though she was asleep when he visited. When Aoba was subbing on the Satomi team, Kou, along with Mizuki, Junpei, Ichiyou and Momiji, were at the game supporting her. Kou tells Aoba to not quit baseball  implying that he's cares about her playing baseball, and wants her to continue playing despite not being allowed to play in official games. Kou did get upset at Osamu for spreading false rumors about he (Kou) and Aoba dating, although Kou never made any attempt to dispel the rumors. Kou proclaims at the end of the series that he loves Aoba and hugs her (and gets slapped). At the end of the series, Kou doesn't pull his hand away from Aoba when she gives him an opening to do so.

### **Momiji Tsukishima**

Kou and Momiji share a brother/sister bond. They play catch often. Kou sees Momiji as a little sister and Momiji sees Kou as a big brother. Unlike Aoba, Momiji doesn't resent Kou for the time he spent with Wakaba. Kou took care of Momiji when she got sick and even made her food. Momiji likes Kou's cooking and she called him dependable.

### **Ichiyou Tsukishima**

Ichiyou treats Kou like a little brother. She was also aware of Wakaba's crush on Kou. Ichiyou trusts Kou enough to tell him she likes Junpei Azuma, before Junpei himself even knew, knowing Kou would keep it a secret.

### **Seiji Tsukishima**

Seiji treats Kou like a son and gives him free tokens when Kou comes by the batting cages. Seiji also, like Kensaku cheers Kou on when he's pitching.

## **Seishu Academy High School** Baseball Club

### **Daiki Nakanishi**

Kou and Daiki had known each other since before they were in the little league team, the Doors, together. They are best friends and continued to be best friends through middle and high school. Daiki knows Kou's potential as a pitcher and had wanted him to join the middle school baseball team with him.

### **Osamu Akaishi**

At first, Kou and Osamu were childhood enemies but had became best friends as the years go on, mainly due to Wakaba's passing and the dream she had about he and Kou being a battery at Koshien, a dream Osamu told Kou about. Osamu, like Wakaba believes Kou has the potential to be a great if not the best pitcher in Japan. He secretly starts training Kou in the early spring before they start high school knowing Kou's ability to make that dream happen.

### **Yuuhei Azuma**

Yuuhei usually forgets people's names, disregarding people who seem unworthy of his acknowledgment. Yet despite Yuuhei and Kou's few glances, he was able to remember and memorize how he exactly met him. Yuuhei never once underestimated Kou. Despite Kou being placed on the prefab team, Yuuhei is aware of Kou's potential as a player, He sees how much Kou trains and respected him for his efforts. When the scouted teams left Seishu, Yuuhei stayed. He said that it was because Kou was there. When Yuuhei was asked who he would date, he said it would be Aoba "potentially". In the end, Yuuhei gave-up as he saw the kind of friendship Kou and Aoba has. When Daiki said if he keeps prioritizing his male friends, there wouldn't be cute girls around him soon. He answered: "*It's fine, there aren't many of them. Important male friends, I mean*"--valuing his friendship with Kou more than his interest in Aoba.

### **Shuugo Daimon**

Kou didn't like Daimon very much, but Kou being Kou didn't show his dislike of Daimon. He addressed the rumors he heard about Daimon getting teams to Koshien and had devised a plan with Daiki and Osamu to get rid of him. Daimon understimated Kou's abilities as a pitcher and looked down upon him and the prefab team as a bunch of nobodies.

### **Risa Shidou**

Kou didn't really interact with Risa that often, due to him being on the prefab team and she the manager of the varsity team. The few times they did interact, he wasn't mean to her, although he did impersonate Senda to insult her after she insulted Aoba. He had helped her with her pitching in preparation for her audition for a tv pilot. Risa in turn didn't think much of Kou and had even manipulated him into accompanying her shopping in order for him to get a present that she had bought.

## Others

### **Akane Takigawa**

Akane resembles Wakaba so much that Kou mistook her for Wakaba, yet he knows very well that she is not her. She sometimes tries to act like Wakaba and say things about what Wakaba would say if she were here. This gives Kou a strong presence of Wakaba from her despite knowing reality. They went on at least one date.

## References

1. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 53 (pg. 17)
2. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 67 (pg. 15-16)
3. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 53 (pg. 9-10)
4. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 18 (pg. 4)
5. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 18 (pg. 14)
6. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 17 (pg. 17)
7. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 107 (pg. 4-8)
8. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 71 (pg. 18)
9. ↑ *Cross Game* manga: Chapter 109