That's strange!
I'll definitely hit the next ball
Round 7 [Time to Quit]
15th Anniversary Project
﻿Takeda, what do you want to do?
﻿We're still in the planning stage.
﻿I'll finish it and submit it in the next few days.
﻿Please wait for it
﻿Oh, I see.
﻿Then, shall I start first?
This is the one.
﻿It's interesting.
﻿Yes, it is.
[WEEK ENDER] August 2021 Reader's Survey Results
REIKO MATSUOKA (1st)
TAKEDA NAOMI (3rd from bottom)
Matsuoka, you are in first place for this issue.
﻿Your article on farming equipment did very well because you connected with the owner of the farm.
This is the result of your hard work.
﻿Thank you.
﻿But I was inspired by Naomi-san for this project.
﻿Me?
Naomi-san, doesn't your family grow tomatoes at home?
﻿I thought of it after I heard about that.
﻿So that's what happened.
﻿That's why I did this project.
I worked with the soil.
Right, right.
We grew Okinawa pineapples
﻿I want to eat it!
Excuse me,
when you hold the bat, try to grip a little shorter.
Huh?
Previously, you were not able to hit the balls.
﻿I totally missed, right?
﻿I used to be able to hit the ball,
﻿I used to come to the batting center.
﻿My boyfriend at the time liked to play baseball.
﻿He would bring me here.
Is that so?
﻿Are you a student?
﻿Yes, I'm a sophomore in high school.
﻿I see.
﻿You're a little young.
﻿But it's okay.
﻿My name is Takeda.
﻿Do you work for a magazine?
﻿Yes, I am.
﻿What do high school girls do on their days off?
﻿It's summer vacation.
﻿I work part-time here.
﻿I see... Yes.
﻿Do you come here every week?
﻿No, basically every day of the week.
﻿Then what did you do before the summer vacation?
﻿Nothing special.
﻿Only club activities.
Sounds like a boring life for high school girls.
﻿I'm sorry.
Batting center?
﻿How about writing a special on the batting center?
Is that a good idea?
﻿Introducing the batting centers across the country.
describing the features here and there?
﻿And by the way, what are the characteristics of this place?
﻿Features
﻿A little bit of American style
﻿American style?
﻿Is there anything more attractive to readers
There's.....
A retired professional baseball player works here.
15 Years ago
﻿It's a great honor to get this award in the first year of publication.
﻿Of course, this is because our team is very good
﻿Especially this person next to me,
is not too much to be called the ace of our editorial team.
﻿Takeda, please say a few words.
﻿I'm Takeda.
﻿To be honest, I'm overjoyed.
﻿I don't know what to say.
﻿There's only one thing I can say.
Regarding the work that I do here,
﻿I am very proud of it.
﻿I want to spend my life as a member of the editorial team
﻿I want to run forward.
﻿Thank you all.
﻿What was the speed of the ball?
﻿Just now it was 80.
﻿80 km/h
﻿This is how the pitcher's throw is reproduced.
﻿The player's pitch and the machine's throw are the same.
﻿Yes, the ball is thrown the same way
EDITOR IN CHIEF
﻿Please come in.
﻿Excuse me.
﻿Thank you for your hard work.
﻿Please sit down.
If you'll excuse me
﻿You don't have to speak to me so formally.
﻿You're still my boss.
﻿Yes, I am.
﻿What do you want to see me about?
﻿Nothing, I just feel that we haven't spoken properly lately.
﻿Is it about the transfer?
﻿I see.
﻿I also think it's about time.
﻿Everyone recognizes the achievements you made in the past.
﻿So...
﻿You still have many abilities
﻿I hope you can support the training of young people next
﻿Thank you for considering so much for me.
﻿But
﻿I hope you can allow me to work for a while longer
﻿It's true that I haven't come up with a good project lately, I admit that.
﻿But would it be possible to give me a chance to hold on a little longer?
﻿I understand.
﻿Thank you.
﻿That woman has been here before, right?
﻿I think she works for a magazine.
﻿Is she crying?
﻿What?
﻿I don't think so.
﻿At least it seems to me that her heart is crying.
﻿What's with all this romantic talk?
﻿If you continue to keep swinging like that, you're not going to hit the ball
﻿What?
﻿The bat has deviated from the ball's trajectory.
﻿Of course I'm well aware of this.
﻿That's why I have to swing the bat along this path right?
﻿You used to be a professional baseball player, right?
﻿If so, how about giving me some pointers here?
﻿Sure.
﻿Do you want to hear my baseball theory?
﻿What?
﻿Life is a baseball.
﻿What is this?
I'm getting used to this situation.
﻿You've grown up.
﻿It's not exactly growth, is it?
Excuse me.
﻿What am I supposed to do here?
For now, you're now set up as a pitcher.
﻿A pitcher.
Let's do it
﻿Editor-in-chief?
﻿We're ahead, right?
﻿But we can't take our opponents lightly. They're an aggressive publisher.
Naomi-san, go for it!
﻿All right, let's defend.
I can't lose this momentum.
﻿Don't think that everything will go your way, young man.
Ready.
﻿I have experience.
﻿There are some opponents that only the experienced can handle.
﻿I don't want to lose yet.
﻿Don't worry, Naomi-san
﻿Let's hold the next batter down.
﻿Okay.
﻿We'll hold it well.
Just throw the ball.
﻿Thank you.
﻿I can't let you guys hit the ball so easily.
Nice play
﻿Thank you, Matsuoka.
﻿You saved it
﻿I'll hold the next ball too.
﻿Bad one
﻿Bad two
Naomi-san, nice ball!
It's alright, you can control the ball
﻿I believe you can do it.
Naomi-san, will she be fine?
She'll be alright
However,
anyone can see it.
﻿Then what should we do?
﻿Call out a baseball legend like you always do.
﻿It's not going to work on her, is it?
﻿What?
﻿I can't stand it anymore.
﻿Are you okay, Naomi?
﻿The ball is in a good position, so be confident.
Naomi, let's aim for two outs here.
﻿That way, we'll have a total of three outs at once.
﻿Okay.
She's reached her limit.
What do you think?
﻿Do you want to continue?
﻿What does everyone think?
﻿If Naomi wants to continue pitching, we won't object.
It's alright, I've done enough
﻿Sorry for holding you back.
I've been pretending for too long now.
As one would expect, ﻿I'm feeling really bad about myself.
Naomi-san.
﻿Who will pitch next?
﻿Our current ace pitcher is Matsuoka.
﻿Let Matsuoka pitch.
﻿Is that okay?
﻿Okay.
Pitcher change from Takeda to Matsuoka.
﻿Strike three batter out!
﻿Good job, amazing!
﻿Strike three batter out!
Nice pitch, Matsuoka-san!
Nice pitch, Matsuoka!
﻿We all have these moments.
Eh?
Ma....., Ma.......
It's Masa!!!
*Masahiro 'Masa' Yamamoto
Naomi is sitting next to Yamamoto Masa.
That's Yamamoto Masa!!
﻿He is a truly unique professional baseball pitcher
He was an active pitcher until the age of 50
﻿What she needs now is some words from Yamamoto Masa.
﻿You said that everyone has these moments.
﻿What do you mean?
Look around you and look at yourself.
﻿It's a time when you wonder if you have to make a change.
﻿You mean quit?
﻿Yes.
﻿Watching the growth of the next generation
﻿Then I look at myself from the outside and see how I am now.
﻿Sometimes I wonder if I can stay in this position anymore.
﻿Is it time for me to retire?
﻿That's what I think.
﻿I think I can still do this for a long time.
﻿But when I look at myself from a distance
﻿I felt I couldn't stay in this position anymore
﻿So I decided to quit.
﻿I've been working hard and focused on this job.
﻿You say everyone has these moments
﻿I could see it too.
﻿But I pretended not to see it.
Even if I am not at the center, I still feel I can do something
﻿For myself, for my teammates, for the company
﻿Just take the initiative to make changes
﻿That's what I thought.
Can I change?
﻿Because you have been focusing so desparately on certain things,
you can now focus on exploring other things, right?
﻿I think you can do it.
Masa-san is strong.
﻿I'm not strong.
﻿I will train the new people well.
﻿What?
﻿I've been thinking seriously about it.
﻿So please take care of me from now on.
﻿You've thought a lot about me.
﻿Thank you very much.
﻿I see.
Likewise, I look forward to working with you in future.
﻿And this is my final project as an editor.
﻿Please accept it
Thank you for your attention
November issue plan [Hit it on the weekend!] Batting Center special feature Editorial Department - Takeda Naomi
﻿You should try and hit a few balls too
A person who did their best to the end,
simply lets go and moves on to the next stage of life.
﻿That's cool, right?
﻿It's really cool.
That's because it's cool for someone to have done all their best.