| “ | I'm a pro. | ” |
"9th Up to Bat" is the ninth chapter of the Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens manga and the third chapter in volume 2.
Synopsis[]
Xianming Lin stands with a gun pointed at the head of the boss who trafficked his younger sister and withheld information about his mother's passing, insisting that he is not the child or the amateur that Zhang has always treated him as. Hisashi Ivanov appears from behind and disarms him, and as the strangulation expert begins to choke Lin, Zhang departs in disinterest. Stabbing the monster has no effect, and Ivanov only forces Lin to stab himself with his own blade. When Ivanov repositions Lin for a batter grasp on his neck, Lin pulls the knife out and pulls its hidden trigger, shooting Ivanov in the forehead with one of his knife-gun's bullets.
Ivanov's phone rings as Lin attempts to leave, and Lin answers the call, but Ryuuji Munakata calls his bluff immediately and promises to head over. As a heavily injured Lin attempts to leave the office in a rush, he bumps into Zenji Banba on his way in.
Banba reveals the listening device he had planted on Lin's jacket and puts the small mechanical spider on Ivanov's corpse. Lin, still bleeding heavily, collapses in the backseat of Banba's car, and as he swears to get revenge on Zhang for the deaths of his family, he allows himself to cry.
At Bar Babylon, meanwhile, Jiro Tanaka has seen the news with Kazuki Saitoh's face plastered on it and is startled when Saitoh himself bursts into the bar. He listens to Saitoh's story sympathetically, and Jiro in turn tells his own story, of the murder of his lover and his choice to become an avenger and take revenge for those unable to themselves. He explains how he met Misaka after killing her abusive stepfather, took pity on the small girl and brought her to live with him. Afraid of being thrown away and killed, Misaki works hard as an avenger to make herself useful, and Jiro is torn with disgust at himself for allowing a young child to help him with his unsavory line of work. Saitoh listens in surprise, identifying with the girl at their both finding themselves living in a world neither of them were ever supposed to witness, and he asks Jiro to avenge him by finding the true culprit and framing them for Qiaomei Lin's murder.