Natsunosuke Bonda is the central character and a left-handed relief pitcher for the Jingu Spiders, a professional baseball team. He is twenty-six years old, single, and in his eighth season as a professional, having entered the league directly after high school. He was selected as the final pick in his draft class, earning a signing bonus of fifteen million yen, and currently makes eighteen million yen per year, a figure that is above average for his role but still well below what many players his age earn. Born in Yamanashi, Bonda is deeply aware of the precarious nature of a baseball career and is obsessed with securing enough money to support himself after retirement. This motivation drives his every decision on and off the field, and he often reminds himself that there is money to be made in every game. His personality is pragmatic and anxious, constantly calculating how each performance might affect his salary and job security. As a left-handed specialist, he is typically used in middle relief situations. A notable quirk of his pitching is that he tends to retire batters whose salaries are either much lower or much higher than his own, while struggling against those in the middle range. This tendency is observed by his bullpen coach, Sakota. Bonda interacts regularly with Tokunaga, a former pitcher turned commentator who often seeks inside information from him, and has a romantic interest in a waitress named Yuki. He also shares a friendly relationship with his senpai, Korekawa, whom he sees being traded away during the series. The story follows Bonda as he navigates the financial and emotional realities of professional baseball, gradually developing a more nuanced understanding of his own worth both on the mound and in his personal life. His abilities as a pitcher are solid but not spectacular, and his greatest strength may be his ability to analyze opponents based on their salary statistics. Through his journey, he evolves from a player driven solely by fear of financial ruin to one who begins to appreciate the game beyond the paycheck.