after years of suffering haruaki hell, in their third and final year i think of a haruaki heaven where akimaru finally locks in. during practice he's working on his batting and tanking haruna's pitches like takaya did in middle school. once while going home together akimaru hits haruna with this tear-jerking speech, something like "i know it's a bit too late, but i want to help bring you to koushien" all serious and stuff. and because haruna is a really easy homosexual, the moment his best friend starts doing the bare minimum this guy is on cloud 9. when he gets home he's skipping his feet and being overly cheerful and chatty over dinner that nao-chan and his mom start getting suspicious