Hidden Chapter 39「All Catchers are Mean Spirited」 #
Also known as “All Catchers are Inner Trolls”. This “hidden chapter” is completely based off panels from chapter 39 with as much original dialogue retained as possible( except for Chris, of course).
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If you actually care, here’s a very long blurb of how I got this idea:
When I first read chapter 39, I thought it had all the right panels for a “ghost story” telling moment. So I settled on a quick script on paper to sketch out a skit so that I could find the right panels to use. But as I continued to ponder and revise, something totally different came out…
Original Scenario #
- Chris tells a ghost story.
- Sawamura screams bloody murder before Chris reveals the climax.
- Kuramochi kicks Sawamura and the tension is broken.
- Chris looks sad with monologue that Sawamura spoilt the moment.
Iteration 1: (because I wanted to include Tanba’s appearance) #
- Chris tells a ghost story.
- Sawamura screams bloody murder before Chris reveals the climax, because he saw “the monster” just now!
- Kuramochi kicks Sawamura and the tension is broken.
- Chris looks sad/pissed with monologue to kick Tanba for appearing before revealing the climax. He had offered Tanba to appear then with a promise to catch his pitches in the bullpen later.
- Tanba goes to Miyauchi and says, “I don’t think Chris will catch for me again…”
Problem: I could not figure out a good ghost story to write…
Iteration 2 #
- Chris reveals “something” big -> to do with ace position -> causes hair loss (re: Tanba) -> full bald (re: One Punch Man).
- Sawamura & Furuya believes him.
- Chris assures Sawamura that he will help him reach that state, without him having to “cheat” his away by shaving his head like Tanba did.
- Sawamura is grateful to Chris.
- Miyuki comments that he will never beat Chris to be able to get away with saying that and still make others believe it to be true (okay, maybe just Sawamura & Furuya).
- Tanba overhears and complains to Miyauchi that Chris keeps making fun of his hair all the time and that he no longer wants Chris to catch for him.
Iteration 3 #
At this point, I’ve started to paint Chris as someone who enjoys trolling Tanba for fun. It really tickled me. Since Kuramochi keeps calling Miyuki “hara-guro” (mean spirited) and Okumura also has a sharp tongue, while the fan community seems to pain Chris as a deity … I thought to myself, “What if Chris was the ultimate troll after all?”. What if Chris enjoys trolling Miyuki too? But since he respects Chris’ skills, he takes it with grace.
So I came up with the title: “All Catchers are inner trolls”. Hara-guro (black hearted) refers to someone who is mean spirited (Ryou-san is considered to be one).
To make that happen, Miyuki had to go along with Chris and also smart enough to follow up even if they never discussed anything ahead of time.
Iteration 4 (Final) #
Chris had to make an impactful revelation that would tie to the ace position and/or pitcher-related. What spilled out was the “ace pitcher” blessing skill. (Remember: Chris is considered the top of the catcher food chain in this series. It had to be something special!). That brought in the whole RPG curveball with the levels, skills, and stats points (SP).
At this point, I just went with the flow and was loving it. I finally had my story & premise.
Originally, Chris was supposed to make a tall story (see iteration 3) and get away with it because of who he is. But it tickled me far more to just weave in the RPG element as plausible.
Iteration 4a (Addedum) #
Originally, Miyauchi said “Did Chris make fun of you again?” when Tanba comes complaining. But because I titled the story as all catches, I decided to rephrase his response to reveal an inner troll as well!