Chapter 59. Summary. No, not scans. SPOILER! Yes, go away. LEVI WHERE ARE THOUUU??!! ;O;
So after reading THIS spoiler yesterday, I HAD to get the new afternoon asap. Today. After half a night being totally worked up about this piece of information.
Actually I'm not really a shipper when it comes to Oofuri.
I like Abe. I like Chiyo.
But something just felt off for me. Discussing everything both showed/said so far aside, it just felt like the wrong time and the wrong characters to me.
Abe has more than enough to deal with currently - Mihashi and his general lack of friends and - not to forget - BASEBALL! I was not sure if he needed a love interest on top of that.
Also - why introducing Mizutani's crush on Chiyo not so long ago? THAT would have been GREAT for a nice little background story and character development!
Alas, love strikes when you don't expect it. That's life.
And even if it hurts sometimes, Oofuri depicts life oh so well.
For me personally, reading the chapter hurt. And made me actually root for AbeChiyo.
Absolutely the same situation like at the end of the Bijou game occured - Higuchi-sensei throws a really hard pitch (pun semi-intended) at fandom and makes you hit it nevertheless.
Okay, but going part by part (well, I understand very little Japanese, but I think I understood the general meaning - meaning I could have, erm, overinterpretated? read between the lines? sometimes?)
1. Mihashi and Abe go to the doctor.
Well, Abe sits on his pretty bicycle, while Mihashi has to push it. Most of the way. Uphill. Upmountain.
I didn't understand what the doctor told Abe medically, but Mihashi got a special training menue in the while - running. Dashing. Up the stairs. Of a mountain.
He looks kind of funny (more than usual) afterwards, when the doctor tells Abe and Mihashi that apparently he knows Momokan from some years ago, when she visited him with a player(?).
2. Back at training camp. (For some strange reason, Mihashi has to push Abe uphill even on the way back.) Shigapo talks about food.
Shigapo talks about how they all are going to become manly and sturdy players like Bijou's Wada and Tosei's Kawai with his master plan. There's a lot of Amino and Protein and Vitamin afterwards, A LOT OF TEXT and Mihashi sits there with a 8<> face and 肉? Exactly my thought at this point.
Well, 6 meals per day and 4500-5000 kalories...
3. ...which brings Abe into trouble. At training he sits solemnly by himself and admits (at least I read it so) THAT HE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING AND HOW IS HE SUPPOSED TO MAKE A PLAN FOR BREAKFAST NOW?! (remember? One of their "battery-duties") Ahahaha. And no, he is NOT consulting Mihashi on their supposed-to-be-teamwork-breakfastplan.
Momokan aks how he's doing, gives him one of Shigapo's books and - Abe admits defeat.
Momokan agrees to let Shinooka help them (for three days?) but - as Mihashi is right up to escape dart for practise, stresses to Shinooka that she is only there to ASSIST and not to intrude into her battery's supposed-to-be-teamwork. Ahahahah, Momokan the Yaoi enabler, out in full force.
4. Well, Shinooka really relaxes the tension between the two. She actually tries - contrary to a certain catcher - to include Mihashi into the conversation/planning and asks him for his thoughts/wishes. Well, with major help from Chiyo-chan they finally manage to make a plan and Mihashi happily runs off for pitching practise, prompting a "he really likes this so much, doesn't he?" from Shinooka. Abe and Shinooka chat a bit lightly afterwards. Shinooka was all smiles and easy-going during the whole conversation, if I didn't know of the spoiler beforehand, I might have been totally caught off-guard by the following scene.
Well Shinooka leaves and ... breaks down. Only shortly and not crying or anything, because this is Shinooka, a very strong and composed girl.
She also has a conversation with herself, how absolutely impossible her feelings are at the moment, and that she will try very very hard to not let them show, because troubling the club with them at this time - well, she is very mature.
She stands up, straightens and goes to work. (by the way, she's happy that at least Mihashi is there with them in the mornings)
I mean I liked her beforehand, but I was really impressed with her after this scene. I'm curious - perhaps it was not stated or I just didn't understand it - if Shinooka was already in love with Abe for a long time or if it developed recently.
5. There's a short depiction what the rest of Nishiura does all day long. Training, eating, strategy meetings aside, they also do skateboarding in the evenings.
Then we see Abe and Mihashi very tired, meeting a cheerful Shinooka in the kitchen in the very early morning. Abe comments on somehow Shinooka looks like a manman(?) in her apron, while Mihashi... well, Mihashi has interesting thoughts.
We haven't seen much interesting so far from Mihashi in this chapter (he's working hard, EXTREMELY hard, pushing Abe around on his bicycle, and doesn't think much - at least not coherently). In the scene where they worked on the breakfast plan he was mostly just funny faces and no thoughts and "Ummm...yes" and looked like the goofy son to Abe-papa and Shinooka-mama. Really, the happy family atmosphere these three omitted was scary XDDDD~
But back to Mihashi's thoughts. He sees Abe next to Shinooka and notices how tall Abe has grown and how small Chiyo is.
This part had a kind of - weird atmosphere to me. You get to know what Mihashi thinks and still don't know what he actually thinks. Perhaps he just noticed and doesn't give it much further thought. It was just such an ... eery scene, I don't know.
Mihashi is stupid, but he has a very surprising intuition. I would count on him to be the first to notice that something is off. Although he might also be the person who can't count one and one together and thus remains obvious.
Gnargh, perhaps I'm reading too much into a very simple scene.
Well, making breakfast means, Abe and Shinooka do the work and Mihashi stands around. Shinooka actually encourages him and shows him how to wash the rice and things like that, but only accomblishing that Abe goes nuts about MIHASHI, KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE and don't touch that knife!!" Shinooka makes a funny face and Mihashi - well, Mihashi goes straight for the carrot and the BIG KNIFE, saying quitely that if he takes care it will be alright to cut it, won't it?
Well, Abe agrees and Shinooka exchanges that knife with a harmless peeler.
The chapter ends with Abe still looming over Mihashi cutting carrots, Shinooka laughing, everybody enjoying the meal AND...
Kusakabe vs. Musashino game about to start.
OWARI~
(well, I'd love to upload at least some panels, BUT no way. The bed is calling. Very loudly. And my stomach, too.
I swear, it's not a special pleasure for me to stab into open wounds, but although Abe might not have shown special interest in Chiyo so far, he's certainly acting quite relaxed and comfortable around her in this chapter :/
I missed Tajima quality time. Especially with all those weird emotions floating around.