Initially, Ryouta is a bully in elementary school, pushing Komori. Goro and Shimizu stand up to him and he eventually backs down after Goro hits him for trying to throw his baseball glove into the river. He soon realizes that he doesn't have any real friends and asks Goro if he can play baseball with him, Shimizu and Komori. He starts off playing soccer but changes to baseball so he could play in the little league with Goro and the others. (Source: Wikipedia)