“It may not be the battery of our souls, but isn’t it a pretty good battery?”
Heesu, a pitcher girl crazy about baseball,
Meet the indifferent catcher Daeyoon

People around her call Heesu, a pitcher on a middle school baseball team, "the girl who's crazy about baseball."
In a world where women's professional baseball doesn't exist, Heesu's primary goal is to continue playing baseball in high school.
Some say it's a great feat for a middle school girl to throw that fast, but Heesu believes that even if she can't, she needs to throw at least 130 kilometers per hour to advance to the next level.
So I only practice fastballs and obsessively stick to the routine whenever I feel anxious.
Although that routine seems to have nothing to do with skill (licking the idol's glove with your tongue, eating only bone-in chicken instead of boneless, etc.).

Heesu, who ended up injuring his shoulder while overdoing it, takes a year off, and during that time, the school baseball club itself disappears.
Even Taejin, the female catcher who formed a close battery (baseball term for a pitcher and catcher pair) with Heesu, has quit baseball.
Heesu, who could not give up baseball, transfers to Jungwang Middle School to participate in the last middle school competition in the second semester of his third year.

There is only one mind that moves Heesu.
I never want to quit baseball.
I want to keep throwing.
I desperately want to die.
In front of Hee-soo, Dae-yoon, a cold-hearted catcher who is the complete opposite of Hee-soo, appears.
Daeyoon doesn't seem to have any intention of playing baseball even after going to high school.
In one way or another, both of them are far from being starters, so they end up going to the game as the 'auxiliary battery' of the Jungwang Middle School baseball team... .

Middle school, female, baseball player.
These are like bibimbap ingredients; they may look ordinary when they are on their own, but when mixed together, they become something special.
Heesu thought it was better to look special than ordinary.
With graduation approaching, I need to somehow stand out if I want to play baseball in high school.
Tonight, Heesu got a chance to look special.
Because the baseball team that Heesu belongs to is on TV.
--- p.7

Daeyoon liked baseball.
I liked it so much that I did it for 6 years.
But now I don't think about that at all.
I have no talent, I have limitations, and maybe that's why I have no regrets.
It's too early to be ready for the end, but as far as baseball is concerned, it really is the end.
How did you end up playing baseball? If you think about it, it's all because of that guy.
--- p.23

Heesu fiddled with the baseball in his pocket.
A baseball is also called a 'hardball'.
The feeling of catching a hardball with your fingers is incomparable to that of a softball.
Smaller, faster, more colorful, and sharper.
A magic created by twisting or twisting 108 threads with your fingers.
There is an indescribable sense of exhilaration and thrill when a batter's bat swings at a ball that cuts through the air.
Ecstatically.
Yeah, I guess I have to play baseball.
Even if it means throwing the baseball into the catcher's groin instead of the catcher's mitt.
--- p.38

“You two, come and see.”
"yes?"
Suddenly, Director Son called Hee-soo and Dae-yoon over.
“Did you two have similar faces? Did you fight?”
"no.
Who said they fought?”
“We didn’t fight.”
“If you fought, make up quickly.
“From now on, I will give you two a very important mission.”
“What is it?”
“I appoint these two as our school’s ‘treasures.’”
“A treasure?”
“The treasure means auxiliary battery.
“Do you guys use cell phones or not?”
“I’ll write it.”
“What do you need when your phone battery runs out? You just need to charge it.
“The job of the auxiliary battery is to give the team the strength to endure until that charge is made.”
--- p.66

“What are you talking about with just one game?
“The competition isn’t over yet.”
“I don’t want to work hard anymore.
The harder I work, the more I get hurt and the more my friends get hurt.
The harder I try, the more scared I become of throwing the ball.
My shoulder hurts because I can't throw 130 degrees yet.
The ball doesn't go where you want it to go.
What school would want a pitcher who is slow and has no control? He got punished.
“It makes sense, since I even abandoned my friend because my heart was in pain.”
“If you’re going to say something like that, you might as well lick your gloves.
“Don’t be so petty.”
“Didn’t you know? I’m a real slob.”
“What is it that is originally like that!”
This time, Heesu looked at Daeyoon with surprised eyes.
I thought you were a guy with no motivation at all.
Daeyoon continued speaking without paying attention.
“I… think you’re a really great baseball player.”
--- p.84

Daeyoon came out of the dugout and stepped onto the field.
Red earth, white lines.
Green fields.
And beyond that, a huge wave of spectators can be seen.
“Jungwang Middle School players replaced.
“Kim Dae-yoon, the 7th batter and catcher at bat.”
Wow.
Daeyoon thought that even though the cheers weren't for him, everyone was cheering him on.
No, not only himself and Heesu, but also all his friends who are not the main players.
To all my friends, this will be the last competition.
Each of them had no talent, no luck, and perhaps no hard work, but their will to pursue what they loved to the end.
--- pp.126-127

Heesu wanted to have something definite throughout his baseball career.
A fastball of 130 kilometers per hour and a sharp changeup.
Something that doesn't spin a little when you try to throw a knuckleball, or that doesn't drop weakly when you try to throw a fastball, but something that can reach the mitt completely.
But Heesu thought it was okay even now.
Even if I don't reach the mitts, even if I don't go pro, even if I end up not being able to play baseball, I still have that love for it.
Take it well.
My last ball with everything mixed up.

--- p.137