Episode 12: I Challenge You!

Aoba's teammates ask her out on dates conditional on their performance during a game, but she criticizes their goals as too low. Even with Aoba not pitching her hardest, Seishu Junior High wins in a called game. Afterward Senda meets his cousin, Midori Koganezawa, who is annoyed he ditched practicing with her to watch Aoba's game. Midori challenges Aoba as a batter, but Aoba declines to pitch to her. At the Tsukishima batting cages, Ko tells Midori the pitching machines are not as fast as Aoba's pitches. Ko helps Risa Shido, the spoiled varsity team manager, go shopping and brings her to the Clover Cafe, where he asks Aoba to put the bill on his tab as a birthday favor. Aoba finally agrees to pitch against Midori and strikes her out; she tells Midori she plans to attend Seishu High School, even though she would not be able play in tournament games, instead of a school with a girl's baseball team. Aoba learns from friends that Ko was being Risa's servant for a day in return for the last available teapot that is the 16th birthday gift on Wakaba's schedule of presents.