Perpetually eclipsed by the girls" club, the boys" soft‑tennis team teeters on the brink of disbandment because of weak skills and a string of poor results. Desperate to fill ranks, Touma Shinjō searches for capable players but finds none. Then Maki Katsuragi arrives as a transfer student; his lightning reflexes are revealed when he stops a stray cat in the classroom, instantly capturing Touma"s attention. Intrigued, Touma boldly invites Maki to join the boys" squad, but Maki declines, saying he won"t join any club. Touma persists and eventually convinces him to play—only if Touma pays his fee and covers club costs.
Maki signs on, and his phenomenal performance and rapid learning quickly put him ahead of the rest. This sparks tension among the boys, but Maki challenges his teammates to match his apparent natural talent and motivates them to devote themselves again to the sport they had abandoned.
As the boys" soft‑tennis club members uncover their own strengths, they face personal trials and confront the darker realities of growing up in middle school.
