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Synopsis

Daigo, raised under the shadow of his celebrated father Gorou Shigeno, believes he must become a standout player to honor the family name. Eager to follow in Gorou’s footsteps, he joins the Mifune Dolphins little league team in fourth grade but quickly discovers his abilities and instincts for the sport are limited. Crushed by the gap between expectation and reality and unable to cope with the burden of comparison to a prodigious parent, Daigo leaves the team within a year. Two years later, now in sixth grade, a transfer student named Hikaru arrives in Daigo’s class. Hikaru is the son of Toshiya Satou, Gorou’s longtime friend and fellow baseball star. A phone call from the Dolphins prompts Daigo’s mother to insist he attend a game, where he unexpectedly encounters Hikaru—who, despite his father’s legacy, has never played baseball until now. In contrast to Daigo’s struggles, Hikaru quickly takes to the sport and displays remarkable aptitude from the start. Their opposing abilities and temperaments create friction, but that tension also draws both boys into the sport their fathers value. Through rivalry and companionship, they are pulled deeper into the world of baseball, confronting personal expectations and discovering what the game means to each of them.