Hiromichi Kojima, the star batter of the fictional Lycaons in Japan’s Pacific League, travels to Okinawa to train and break out of a slump. While there he meets Toua Tokuchi, a 134‑km/h (83‑mph) pitcher and the undisputed king of a gambling variant of baseball called “One Out.” Encouraged by Kojima, Tokuchi signs with the Lycaons under a unique contract: he earns 5,000,000 yen (about US $46,000) for each out he records, but loses 50,000,000 yen (about US $460,000) for every point he allows.