High Point (境地 Kyōchi) is the 176th chapter of manga, Baby Steps.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Eiichiro Maruo
- Hiroshi Araya (flashback)
- Ryuhei Aoi (flashback)
- Natsu Takasaki (flashback)
- Himeko Sasaki (flashback)
- Yoshiaki Ide (flashback)
- Yu Nabae
- Ryuhei Aoi
Summary[]
Eiichiro tries to recreate the zone using the similarities of the 4 events which he experienced the zone before. As Nabae wins the second set, Eiichiro still does not have a definite answer about what zone is.
Synopsis[]
Eiichiro has experienced the zone 4 times ever since he started playing tennis - his match against Alex in Florida, against Araya in Kanagawa Junior Tennis Circuit, against Ide and the start of this match against Nabae. Using the data he had in these 4 events, he tries to find the similarities in order to recreate the zone at will. From his initial analysis, he considers the following: focusing on the present, having a good amount of data at hand, no hesitation on attacks and focuses on what instinct dictates.
Eiichiro gets the first point but he still feels that he is not on the "zone" yet. While there is no hesitation on his attacks, there is no feeling of "his legs moving by themselves", having "no sense of time". Eiichiro manages to keep his service game but his efforts are not enough to break Nabae's. Analyzing his data again, Eiichiro realizes the factor that he missed earlier - the "zone" he had in the 4 events were happened unconsciously.
Eiichiro decides to prioritize his instinct while finding more ways on how to be in "zone" again and keeping his service game - but fails as he cannot focus to his instinct while his head is prioritizing something else. Not only Nabae notices that Eiichiro's aggressive attacks are gone but even the spectators as well as the pace remain constant. As Nabae wins the second set, Eiichiro realizes that he was too naïve to think that he can recreate the zone because he does not a fully understanding about the zone itself.