"5th Up to Bat" is the fifth chapter in volume 1 of the Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens manga.
Synopsis[]
Jiro Tanaka drops off Misaki and her rescued cat and brings Kazuki Saitoh to a warehouse, where he reawakens and finds himself bound to a chair. He is forced to watch José Martínez brutally beat Shota Yamazaki, a high school student, at the request of the owner of a cat the boy had tortured and killed. The torture only ends when Shota is decapitated, and Martínez accepts a request from Jiro and leaves. Saitoh hurries to work the tape off of his mouth and explain that he is not Jun Murase, getting Jiro to believe him after showing him his Murder, Inc. business card. Saitoh explains his situation, and Jiro apologizes for the misunderstanding, untying him and offering his business card.
The next morning, Xianming Lin wakes up to a call from Zhang, who tells Lin to kill Zenji Banba that day. However, Lin refuses to complete the job until he is paid properly for Takeda's death. Zhang refuses to back down and tells Lin that he will just send other killers to do the job, to which Lin strengthens his resolve to defy his boss and makes plans to kill any other killers who are sent to kill the private detective Banba.