Negative (ネガティブ Negatibu) is the 193rd chapter of manga, Baby Steps.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Eiichiro Maruo
- Hisashi Kanda (flashback)
- Yoshiaki Ide (flashback)
- Yu Nabae (flashback)
- Hiroshi Araya (flashback)
- Takayuki Okada (flashback)
- Natsu Takasaki
- Natsu Takasaki's Father (flashback)
- Takayuki Okada
- Yoshiaki Ide
Summary[]
Okada is very determined to win the match against Eiichiro as he has to win a title in order to stand out. Eiichiro, on the other hand, is approached by Ide.
Synopsis[]
Eiichiro checks his notes in All Japan Inter-high Tennis Competition when Ide and Kanda faced for the finals match and Ide won. Eiichiro learned the details from Araya and Araya warned that Eiichiro that Kanda might be stronger than Nabae now. Eiichiro also checks his notes about Okada who has a solid track record in his tennis career and about Okada's rising shot.
While Eiichiro is watching the video for the rising shot, Natsu visits him and thanks him for cheering her in today's match. Eiichiro tells her that his parents will manage to watch him in his matches in case he wins his match against Okada. Natsu shares that her parents used to watch her matches before but due to her embarrassment on her parents' cheer and being in slump, she forced her parents not to watch her succeeding matches. With Eiichiro's encouragement, Natsu, then, decides to call her parents to invite them to watch her in All-Japan Junior.
On the 2nd day of the competition, while Okada is concentrating, he remembers what he overheard before. Apparently, they were talking about the possible contenders for the winner of All-Japan Junior and they forgot about Okada as Okada did not win a title before and remains as a runner-up unlike Nabae, Ide, Kanda and Araya. This becomes his driving motivation not to lose on the second round against Eiichiro. On the other hand, Eiichiro meets Ide while Eiichiro is warming up. Ide tells Eiichiro that he will study abroad and will leave Japan after watching the match of Eiichiro and Okada. He also gives comments on Okada's tennis style and tells Eiichiro to give a more awesome match compared to his match against Ide in Kanto Junior.