Episode 3.The soft tennis club begins playing practice matches with Maki and Toma paired up. Despite being a beginner, Maki outplays everybody, but struggles with shots aimed at him. After watching how poorly the team plays, Maki chastises them for wasting their time. Toma agrees with him and rage-quits the club. The next day, fellow player Itsuki Ameno is bullied by two students about his family situation, leading him to hit one of them with his racket. While Rintaro and Itsuki talk to their advisor about the bullying, the rest of the team tells Maki that Itsuki's mother poured boiling water on him while he was a toddler. Later, Maki calls Toma and tells him that as he still wants to be paid, he refuses to acknowledge Toma quitting. Toma attends practice the next day.