Stars Align (星合の空)

"Practice today mainly focused on how to cope with Misaki. The Kazumi/Ayumu pair likes to hit high, so that makes it hard to stop fast balls."

You had club activities on a Sunday? What was that about?

I already told you yesterday. We all went to a barbecue.

You did not.

And for starters, a barbecue has nothing to do with club.

Those boys are irresponsible.

I wouldn't say irresponsible...

Those boys on the soft tennis club are such a bad influence.

Besides, how could a barbecue be any fun when you can't drink alcohol?

In any case, you won't pass high school entrance exams

unless you spend your time studying.

It's only my second year.

It's already your second year!

Soft tennis is a waste of time and there's no point in it.

You should quit alre--

I don't want to quit!

If you recall, I went to one of your practice matches.

Not even your advisor took it seriously.

The boys kept losing match after match as fast as they started.

You couldn't even hold your own.

I've never been so embarrassed in my life.

But now... it's different...

So, what now? Can you win?

Now you can slack off at a barbecue?

"Practice today mainly focused on how to cope with Misaki." Now you can slack off at a barbecue?

"Practice today mainly focused on how to cope with Misaki." --That's... --Just do as I say!

--That's... --Just do as I say!

I'm telling you this for your own good!

I'm your mother, I'll have you know!

I never asked for that.

"Stars Align"

"Episode 8"

"Episode 8" Tsukinose's parents said that?

Mr. Sakurai, you must understand when there's claims like this,

it can be quite difficult to disprove them.

Unless we do something promptly, the situation may get out of hand.

Are we disciplining the club then?

I believe that's our best option for now, but...

Perhaps best for the school and parents.

But...

--After setting up the equation to solve for Y, move the X...

--What about for the kids themselves? --After setting up the equation to solve for Y, move the X...

Eh?! For a whole week?!

Huh?! Why at a time like this?!

Ah, I get it now.

Was it the witch?

She strikes again.

What do they mean?

Nao's mother. She complains to the school about everything.

She's what you'd call a helicopter parent.

I see... Must be tough, Nao.

I've got good news, too.

The bracket for the summer team tournament was decided.

It arrived in the mail just this morning.

Really?!

Let's see it then!

The hell, Tacky! Start with that first!

Who we got?! Who we got?!

--Oh, well hold on... --Yoink!

--Let's check this thing out! --Team tournament!

Who's first?

H-Hatanooka Middle School!

This Joy guy is a big hit on social media.

Oh, I know him. The handsome half, Joy Kusakabe.

"The importance of being true to yourself" "Loves all 'cool' things" "Even loves smoothies" Oh, I know him. The handsome half, Joy Kusakabe.

"The importance of being true to yourself" "Loves all 'cool' things" "Even loves smoothies" Incredible...

"The importance of being true to yourself" "Loves all 'cool' things" "Even loves smoothies" A height of 178cm... as a second year?!

He's physically a different beast. Should be against the rules.

A guy like him is a second year like us.

We don't know much at all about Hatanooka.

You want to gather data, right?

We can't practice for a week anyway,

so if we can form a plan to deal with him, it won't be a waste of time.

Um, hey.

I might have an idea.

For Yu to wear?

This might be cute. What do you think, Izumi?

Oh, that's nice. But what about this, Hikari?

--Um... --Hmm?

Keep this a secret from mom.

Of course.

This is our little secret.

Aren't you glad club is on break? You always get back too late to study.

I'll make sure you get time off.

Oh, I think we can get you into cram school.

They say it's a famous one. I brought a pamphlet home.

Oh, okay.

That's good.

Right? So I went ahead and signed you up for a trial session.

Great... When?

How's tomorrow?

I'll fill out the forms you'll need to enter.

It's good to see you so motivated, Nao.

Motivated...

Scouting?

Yup. At Hatanooka.

Thing is, outsiders that peep at the tennis courts get reported to the police!

Didn't they put a fence and shrubs in the way so you can't see the courts?

Shrubs to keep the perverts away.

But that doesn't stop the girls from peeping to catch a glimpse of Joy.

Peeping like that ain't cute at all.

They watch his every move and squeal like idiots. It's disgusting.

The teachers at Hatanooka started yelling at them to leave.

But they've given up altogether now. It's only girls peeping anyway.

We'll stand out like a sore thumb if we go.

Forget standing out! They'll report us!

But hey, can't we just march in there and say we came to watch?

That'd be ideal,

but if we go to watch as their first opponents, it's obvious we're scouting.

They'll be on guard.

That's right.

The one strength we have is that other schools don't know anything about us.

We have to keep them in the dark if we want them to underestimate us.

Yeah? Then let's lie about what school we're from!

Denied.

Yup, denied.

It's fine as long as we're not caught.

Um, guys? We have a girl that can go.

Huh? Me? No way.

I don't think it'll work well unless a club member goes.

We won't know their plays or how they practice.

The most I could tell you is that he's good and stuff.

We'll have to dress up as girls and go.

As girls?

Yeah. There's lots of girls watching Joy, so we can blend in with them.

Huh? Wearing girls' clothes?

Never saw that one coming.

Dude, that's hilarious! Who's doing it?

Wait a sec! Where will you get clothes and wigs?!

I can borrow clothes from my two older sisters.

I can sneak a video, but one of you should be there.

You? Well, it might work.

But who else here could pull it off?

Huh? What?

Oh? You can do makeup?

My sisters taught me how to do it.

I see.

Don't you think it's weird?

Not really.

Really? You really think that?

I think in general, people might think it weird,

but I think it can be hard for people to figure out for themselves who they are.

You're right.

I have no idea what I want to do or who I want to be.

There's this friend of my mom's.

You'd think you're looking at a man, but they're officially a woman.

Huh? Really?

I guess you could say he's FTM.

So you knew.

He actually told me in person.

I guess he was a college friend of my mom's.

He cared for me when I was little and even helped me study.

I really love him a lot.

My mom was busy all the time,

so when she couldn't take care of me, he stepped in.

I think of him as my family.

I see...

He said it didn't feel like his gender was right when he was young.

In middle school, he said wearing the girls' uniform was brutal for him,

but realized no one else felt like that.

Still, he was afraid of talking about it with his parents.

Thinking he was betraying their expectations...

Thinking it would make them sad...

It agonized him.

His own existence made him feel uneasy... and alone.

He said he was so scared of the future, he couldn't bear it.

But after graduating school and moving out on his own,

he started living life as a man.

And once he did, the unease he always felt vanished...

...and the pain in his heart became a lot more bearable.

Good for him.

Honestly, I just can't relate to how that must feel.

But I get times where I don't know the meaning of life, too.

Why am I even here on this earth? It makes you wonder.

Me, too. Sometimes I think the same.

"1 in 11 people are a sexual minority" "1) What is LGBTQIA(+)?" "2) What sort of problems do LGBTQIA(+) face?"

"1 in 11 people are a sexual minority" "1) What is LGBTQIA(+)?" "2) What sort of problems do LGBTQIA(+) face?" If I had to say, I think I'm non-binary.

If I had to say, I think I'm non-binary.

But it doesn't feel right to be categorized like that.

Still, the world always wants a decision one way or another.

Being unsure makes issues.

But what do I really want? What do I want to become?

You're not the only one. I'm the same way.

I feel so out of place just by living sometimes.

Out of place...

It's like something's wrong, but I don't know what.

I'm not even sure that something's wrong at all.

I think he probably felt that way, too.

Is it that important to decide between being a man or woman?

Or does it even matter?

Is it strange to worry about that sort of thing?

I mean, there's people out there who do.

You can't understand a pain of the heart you don't feel.

But I think you can imagine the pain at least.

I don't force myself to understand.

But I think it's good to put myself in their shoes.

What was the name of that person?

Shou. His name is Shou.

His actual name was Shouko.

He says with a name like Shouko, it confuses people when they see him.