with him. He develops a love of the game equal to Gorō and becomes a talented catcher. Told by his mother that if he wanted to play baseball, he had to play for the best team, Toshiya went to play as a catcher for Yokohama Little League, which is the area's best team. Gorō runs into him again (Gorō moved away after his father's fiancée adopted him), and the two begin a rivalry as intense as their friendship. He plays against Gorō on Yokohama Little and again as the catcher of Tomonoura Junior High School's team. In between the time, Toshiya's family abandoned him due to debt problems, and he began living with his grandparents. Swearing to go pro so he could one day repay the debt he has from his grandparents. In the Junior years, Toshi wanted to get into Kaido High because he believed that was the best path to turn pro. He was later told by the Kaido scouts to give up so Gorō would join. Though Toshi had misunderstood Gorō's idea and thought Gorō did not want to play baseball with him. After the defeat to Mifune East, Toshi regained his confidence in Gorō and wished that they would go to the same high school together and defeat Kaido. Later Gorō told Toshi to go to Kaido with him to improve their skills. They try out for Kaido High School's baseball team together with Komori and become teammates on Kaido's Junior Varsity team for a year and a half. During his years in Kaido, Toshi had lost contact with Gorō after his departure from Kaido. And when Gorō finally meets Toshi again, Toshi had completely forgotten of Gorō's team thinking they were only just surviving in the tournament. During the match against Seishu, Toshi was confident in defeating Gorō's team, though he was amazed by Gorō pitching he was injured. Toshiya went on a fantastic winning in the Koshien Tournament. Forming a battery with Mayumura and was Kaido's fourth batter. After high school, he had been scouted by the Tokyo Warriors team and won the Best New Player award. During the Baseball World Cup, he first joined Team Japan as DH, but later took on the catcher mask. At first, he had some trouble during the first match, though with Gorō's help, Toshi's confidence slowly increased. Kaoru is in Gorō's class in elementary school and eventually