The New Recruit

チーム名は…リトルバスターズだ

Awakened early in the morning by someone announcing the return of Kyousuke Natsume, Riki Naoe goes to stop his roommate Masato Inohara from fighting their friend and Masato's rival Kengo Miyazawa. Riki asks Kyousuke to intercede, who tells them to fight only with objects thrown from the crowd of onlookers. Kyousuke's younger sister Rin objects when Masato tries to use a white cat as his weapon, causing Kengo to lose interest. Riki reminisces how he has been friends with Kyousuke, Masato, Kengo and Rin since childhood when they brought him into their group called the Little Busters. Riki later suggests that the five of them do something together like they used to, and Kyousuke proposes that they play baseball under the team name Little Busters. Kengo immediately excuses himself from this, as he has to prepare for a kendo tournament. Later that night, Kyousuke gets Rin to go to the girl's dormitory to try to recruit team members. After a couple of failed attempts, Rin is confronted by Sasami Sasasegawa and three other members of the softball team; Rin ends up losing the fight. The next day, Riki goes looking for new Little Busters members, which leads him to follow a girl up to the school's roof.

君が幸せになると、私も幸せ

On the school's roof, Riki finds Komari Kamikita, a clumsy girl from his class who loves sweets. Riki tells her he wants to recruit her for the baseball team, but he soon realizes that she may not be well suited for baseball. Later, Riki goes to find Rin after she shirks her classroom duties to play with several cats. One of the cats has two notes tied to it, the first of which says that there is a secret to the world and if they want to find out what it is, they have to complete several tasks first. The second note lists their first task: Fix the sanitation problem in the boys' dorm storage shack. Riki doubts the sincerity of the notes, but Rin is excited to take on the first task. She later gathers up Kyousuke, Riki and Masato to go clean the storage shack. Komari finds them there and agrees to be join their baseball team, but first she and the others go to work cleaning up the shack. On the baseball field, Komari displays a complete lack of athletic ability, but Kyousuke still welcomes her onto the team after she replies to his question of what is necessary for baseball with the answer, "Guts, bravery and friendship." Soon after, Riki collapses from an attack of narcolepsy, which he has had since childhood.

可愛いものは好きだよ、私は

The members of the Little Busters baseball team have morning practice, though Rin is less than enthusiastic. Masato gives Riki back his idiom dictionary, albeit damaged and smelly, in a plastic bag. Haruka Saigusa, a girl from a different class, wantonly borrows the dictionary before Riki can stop her, and upon chasing after her accidentally runs into the desk of Yuiko Kurugaya, a genius girl who is often absent from class. While during a class break when Riki is trying to buy a drink from a vending machine, Yuiko drags him away to a spot with a few chairs and a wooden box she set up among some hedges. They spend time talking, and ultimately Riki loses track of time, later dashing back to class when he hears the bell. Haruka gives Riki back the dictionary and berates him over its disgusting state under the cover. When Masato and Kengo are about to have another fight, Yuiko intervenes, causing Kengo to lose interest. Yuiko and Masato initially fight with the rules Kyousuke previously set up, but Yuiko loses after she severely kicks Masato several times. Later, Yuiko catches the Little Busters during practice and joins the team, proving to be a powerful asset.

幸せのひだまりを作るのです

Riki helps his classmate Kudryavka Noumi move her boxes into her new dorm room one afternoon. The next day, Riki goes to the roof looking for Komari to thank her in place of Rin for taking care of one her cats that was injured. He finds her asleep and hears her sleep-talk about her brother, but when Riki asks Komari about him, she says she is an only child and that her brother only appears in her dreams to read her a picture book with eggs and chicks. The next day, Riki and Rin go to the roof and find Komari a little sad. She had found the picture book from her dreams with the name Takuya Kamikita on the back, but her mother will not tell her anything about having a brother, and Komari cannot remember anything about him. Komari asks Riki and Rin to accompany her to a retirement home, and the other members of the Little Busters decide to join in as well. They spend time with the retirees, talking with them and cleaning their rooms. Riki cleans the room of a cross old man named Kojirō who normally scares anyone away by yelling at them, but Riki stays and cleans his room regardless. After he scares away Komari, Kojirō reveals his full name to be Kojirō Kamikita and tells Riki to keep her away from him.

なくしものを探しに

Komari continues to dream about her brother, and Riki goes to see Kojirō to learn more about Takuya. Kojirō merely tells him that he should not pry further into the matter if he cares about Komari. Unable to sleep, Riki goes out to buy a drink and encounters Komari at the school gate, who had gone out to buy snacks. She invites him up to the roof to watch a meteor shower, where the spend the rest of the night. Komari asks Riki to go on a date with her so she can search for her lost memories. They take a train to go to where Komari used to live and they end up taking a boat out on a lake. Riki suggests to her that she does not necessarily have to look for her brother, and Komari jokingly asks him if he will be her brother. It starts raining on their way back towards school, and while running to find shelter, Riki spots a dead kitten. Komari starts sobbing uncontrollably as she recalls memories of her brother.

みつけようすてきなこと

Komari is in shock from remembering her dead brother Takuya, recalling the time they spent together in the hospital. In Komari's recollection, Takuya writes a picture book for her, and tells her that he might be gone when she wakes, but tells her not to be sad because it will all be a dream. When Komari awakens, her brother has died, but she remembers what he said, and does not despair. As a defense mechanism, Komari begins to believe that Riki is her brother. Kyousuke tells Riki that if anybody can save Komari, Riki can. Riki speaks with Kojirō, who tells him that this happens every time Komari witnesses death, and that she will return to normal in a few weeks. However, Riki is determined to save Komari, and adds to Takuya's story book. Riki forces Komari to accept her brother's death, but through his extension of Takuya's book, shows Komari that she has friends to support her.

さて、わたしは誰でしょう?

Riki sets out to find more members for the team.

れっつ、るっきんぐふぉーるーむめいとなのです

Riki, Rin, and Masato go to great lengths to make sure their newest team member gets what she wants: a roommate.

学食を救え

Rin finds another message on Lennon. This time, the mission is to save the cafeteria. Later, Riki wonders how the message's author knew there would be a crisis in the cafeteria, just before he is hit by another narcolepsy attack...

空の青海のあを

Riki is tasked with finding the last member of the Little Busters to have a full baseball team of nine. Riki hits a foul ball that hits Mio and he brings her a compress the next day. He notices that Mio always has a parasol and that he always sees her reading under the same tree in the courtyard. Their other classmates call Mio "shadowless" because of the parasol and the fact that she does not have much presence. Riki wants to help her like Kyousuke and the others helped him, so he asks Mio if she would like to join the Little Busters, but she declines. Later, Yuiko enlists the help of Riki to help find Mio's book. They go back to the classroom, but are unable to find it, thinking that someone may have hidden it as a joke. However, Yuiko arrives to explain that there was no wrongdoing, and the girl who had picked up the book before gives it back to Mio. Some of the Little Busters members come to get Riki for practice and Mio goes to watch them play.

ホラー・NO・RYO大会

To test the team's courage, Kyousuke sets up various traps within the school.

無限に続く青い空を

Riki wants Mio to be included among his friends, so he asks her to be the team's manager, which she ultimately accepts after initially thinking they were starting an all-male idol group. After practice, Mio brings everyone hot drinks and they exchanges phone numbers with her. The next day, the Little Busters get together to write tanka poems, but Mio leaves part of the way through. Riki finds her sitting under her usual tree, and after talking for a bit, Riki feels as if Mio wants to disappear. Riki tells Mio that he saw someone who looked like her in town, but she was no carrying he usual parasol. Before leaving, Mio tells him that she plans on submitting a tanka in a competition held at school. The next day, Mio does not show up at school, and Riki overhears his classmates saying they also saw a girl in town who looked similar to Mio. After school, Riki sees the girl standing below in the courtyard.

終わりの始まる場所へ

Riki sees the girl who looks like Mio in the courtyard, but she disappears soon after. Mio remains absent from school for several days, and people around Riki start slowing forgetting about her. The next day, Riki finds Mio in the courtyard, who gives him her treasured book of poems and invites him to go with her to the beach. Midori, the girl who looks like Mio, shows up at the beach and reveals that the reason why Mio always carries a parasol is to hide the fact that she has no shadow. Upon learning this, Riki suffers an attack of narcolepsy, and when he wakes up, he is already back in his dorm room, but cannot remember what happened at the beach. Life returns to normal, until Riki rediscovers Mio's book of poems and goes to look for her in the classroom. However, Midori comes in and everyone except for Riki know her as Mio. While mulling over Mio's disappearance, Midori confronts Riki and wants him to call her Mio like everyone else, which Riki refuses. Midori points out that she also does not have a shadow, and Riki thinks that Midori may be Mio's shadow. Midori says that eventually, he too will forget about Mio.

だからぼくは君に手をのばす

Riki is resolute that he will not forget about Mio, but Midori plays around with his memories of her, leaving him unsure about how much of his memories of her are real. Riki seeks help from Kyousuke, but all he can offer is to tell Riki to not trust anyone but himself for the sake of Mio. Riki suddenly remembers Mio saying she was going to submit a tanka in the school's competition, and discovers that the poem is about the conversation they previously had about the paper airplane. After talking with Midori, Riki realizes Mio is at the beach, where the two reunite. Mio tells Riki how she first "met" Midori as a child, who is in fact an imaginary little sister she created. Mio's mother eventually gets her medical treatment until she finally forgets all about Midori. However, she remembered her after reading the tanka by Bokusui Wakayama about the bird and the ocean, which caused her to black out. After she came to, she realized her shadow was gone. Riki pleads with Mio to come back with him, but she refuses and turns into a bird, flying away. Riki begins to sob over losing her, but is reinvigorating after receiving a call from Midori. Riki goes into the ocean and locates her, where he once again pleads for her return and ultimately witnesses Mio and Midori becoming one person. Afterward, the two find themselves back on the beach, and Mio has her shadow back. They go back to school and rejoin the rest of the Little Busters.

ムヒョッス、最高だぜ

After an initial failed attempt by Komari and Kudryavka to get Riki to follow them because of something 'serious', Rin texts Riki to come to her room in the girl's dorm. Narrowly escaping detection by Kanata and the other disciplinary committee members, Riki makes it to her room to find the rest of the female Little Busters members together for a sleepover. Kyousuke calls Riki and surmises that he has been kidnapped by the girls, so he, Masato and Kengo play games to figure out which one of them will go to rescue Riki. After eating some pastries, the girls take turns bathing until Riki is last. However, he later finds his clothes have been replaced by a girl's uniform, which he reluctantly puts on. The resident assistant of the girl's dormitory drops by to tell them to keep the noise down if they do not want a visit from the disciplinary committee. Afterward, they rolls up some newspapers and start hitting each other, which ultimately causes Kanata and several other disciplinary committee members to warn them about being too loud. Luckily, Kanata does not recognize Riki while he is cross-dressing. The next morning, Riki leaves after thanking Yuiko for helping Rin socialize with the other girls. He runs into Kyousuke who had just won the right to go rescue him after playing games the whole night.

そんな目で見ないで

Masato battles Haruka after she eats some of his katsudon, but he loses quickly. Later, Riki, Rin and Komari watch as Haruka starts to repair a bench which she has fond memories of, but Kanata arrives and points out that the bench was already going to be destroyed so there was no point in trying to repair it. Haruka and the others watch as two other disciplinary committee members destroy the bench and take away the remains to be incinerated. Haruka is taken away to the disciplinary committee to answer for her numerous infractions, but she loses her composure from the committee members laying countless blame on her, including accusing her of wrongdoing she did not commit. Before she can make things worse for herself, Yuiko intervenes and calms the situation, though Haruka is still ultimately punished. Another day, the whole school is in an uproar after flyers are posted all around school saying that Haruka's father is a criminal. The members of the Little Busters go around school collecting and taking down the flyers until they finally find Haruka, who had been crying alone in the baseball clubhouse. She explains that in her family, each woman takes two husbands, and one of her mother's husbands was later arrested for murder and attempted arson. Finally, Haruka reveals that she and Kanata are in fact twins.

誰かにそばにいて欲しかったんだ

Haruka tells her friends how she and Kanata were born from two separate fathers, one of whom, Shō Saigusa, was the one previously arrested. Due to this, the Futaki family took control of the Saigusa family, and Haruka and Kanata were compared from early on to decide which one of them would be the heir to the family. After Kanata was chosen to be the heir, Haruka was blamed and tormented by the family, so Haruka chose to make trouble for Kanata so that she would get scolded for not keeping her in line. Haruka initially believes her friends will abandon her after knowing the truth, but they resolutely reassure her that they would never abandon her. Later, the Little Busters play baseball until Haruka is able to smile again, though afterwards Kanata warns her not to drag her friends into any trouble. Another day, Haruka bakes chiffon cake, but it turns out dry. Haruka goes see Shō to find out if he is in fact her father, but he does not tell her. Later that night, Riki tells Kanata that he just wants to help Haruka like he was helped in the past, but he apologizes for his arrogance. The next day, Haruka shows Riki some chiffon cakes she baked, and he is surprised at how much better they taste this time. However, it turns out that this was merely Kanata disguised as Haruka, who suddenly shows up shocked.

答えは心のなかにあるんだ

As it begins to rain, Haruka confronts Kanata and discovers that Kanata had lied to her when they were younger about being allergic to eggs. After Kanata leaves, Kudryavka tells Riki that she is a nice person when inside their room, and merely pretends to usually be cold. Riki finds Kanata in a classroom and she tells him how she told Haruka she was allergic to eggs to protect her from getting beaten by their family, but Haruka finds it difficult not to shoulder all of her hate onto Kanata. Later, Riki convinces Haruka to go talk to Kanata, and she tells her she wants to know the truth about their family. Though initially reluctant, Kanata tells Haruka that their family was nice to her as long as she was better than her, and that the Futaki family often beat Kanata whenever she went easy on Haruka. Kanata had to secure the succession of the Saigusa family and be hard on Haruka, or else they would have killed Haruka. Haruka apologizes for thinking that she was the only one having a hard time, and she reconciles with her sister. Kanata decides to leave the family and the two go see Shō, who tells them their mother and their other father tried to leave the family with Haruka and Kanata, but the Saigusa family took the kids back, prompting Shō to intercede and ultimately go to jail as a result. Haruka tells him that she does not have to know who her real father is anymore, and later, Haruka and Kanata go see their mother and other father.

きっと、ずっと、がんばるのです

Kudryavka decides to take a national proficiency test in school, and the other Little Busters members help her study, especially in her weakest field English. Komari coaches Kudryavka in English, followed by Mio covering both math and physics. While Kudryavka is eating with Riki and Masato, some girls make fun of her, but are quickly scared away by Yuiko. Kudryavka continues to study in the library with Riki, Masato and Yuiko. Kudryavka tells them about her grandfather who raised her and how she used to travel around with him, including a small island nation called Tevua in Southeast Asia where she was born. Kanata comes by to give Kudryavka back her book on the many-worlds interpretation, one of many books she reads for international exams as a hobby. On the day of the test, Kudryavka accidentally fills in the wrong bubbles on her test, and has to take a remedial class as a result. Kudryavka feels bad about failing after her friends helped her study so much, but the others Little Busters show up in the remedial class to show her that she is not alone.

恋わずらいをいやせ

Another mysterious letter arrives for Rin and Riki, telling them to ease the lovesickness of a second-year boy named Aikawa who likes Sasami. They start by asking Sasami what her hobbies are and the type of guys she likes, only to find out that she likes Kengo, though he has no interest in her. Aikawa is shocked to hear Sasami likes Kengo, but Rin urges him to sing a hip-hop song to Sasami with some original lyrics to imply his love for her. Aikawa accidentally messes up the last line in the song, leading Rin to suggest a three-way attack on Kengo to get Sasami to fall for Aikawa. However, this backfires and Kengo ends up taking down Aikawa. Sasami arrives on the scene, impressed by Kengo's athleticism. Aikawa decides to give up, and Riki later realizes that they merely have to ease the pain of his unrequited love to fulfill the request. Rin goes to apologize to Sasami, who ultimately agrees to hand over her email address after sympathizing with what Aikawa is going through. Rin gives her email to Aikawa, who thanks her for it.

50ノーティカルマイルの空

After another training session, the Little Busters join up to clean their clubroom. Later in the night, Riki comes across Kudryavka and assists her with a traditional ritual of her country, Tevua, which was once part of the Soviet Union. During the ritual, Kudryavka tells Riki about her mother and how she spent little time with her as she was preparing herself to become an astronaut. Kudryavka also tells him that her name comes Laika, a Soviet space dog who became the first animal to orbit the Earth. When the day finally comes for her mother to launch into space, Riki goes to look for Kudryavka to watch it on TV with her. When he finds her outside, she feels that it is better not to watch it as her own manner of wishing good luck. However, Riki and Kudryavka later learn that the rocket exploded on launch, and that mission control has lost contact with Kudryavka's mother.

わたし、必ず戻ってきます

No news comes whether Kudryavka's mother is still alive, and travel is restricted to and from Tebwa to reduce risk of contamination from the exploded rocket engine. However, the Tebwan embassy sends Kudryavka a plane ticket so she can go to see if her mother is safe. Kudryavka is conflicted about going back to Tebwa because she had come to Japan to escape having dropped out of Tebwa's aviation school after half a year. Initially, Kudryavka decides to stay and throws away everything she had related to space, but Riki recovers the items and brings them back to her. Riki tells her that she can just be herself in chasing her dream of space, even if she cannot become an astronaut. Kudryavka admits that she wanted to see her mother and decides to go back to Tebwa. Before leaving, Kudryavka says goodbye to her friends.

あなたの大切なもののために

As her friends in Japan learn that an uprising started in Tebwa following the failed rocket launch, Kudryavka meets her grandfather where he is in hiding and learns that her mother survived the explosion. As her grandfather leaves to pick up her mother, Kudryavka is captured by the rebels and imprisoned in a cave. As her friends keep wishing for her safe return, Riki holds on to the gear she left behind, a memento of her mother's, and it mysteriously appears in Kudryavka's hands, which she uses to break free. Some time later, the uprising is quelled and Kudryavka reunites with her mother for a while before she returns to Japan and rejoins her friends.

鈴ちゃんが幸せならわたしも幸せだから

Riki and Rin are by the side of the river when they receive another mysterious letter telling them to do a puppet show, and soon spy some kids having an argument. A girl was going to put on a puppet show for her friend, but the panda doll she was going to use got damaged. Wanting to clear the task, Rin tells the kids she will put on a puppet show the next day. Rin initially gets help from the rest of the Little Busters, but after Kanata calls curfew and sends them back to their rooms, Komari secretly comes over to Rin's room to finish the preparations until the following morning. Rin takes everything back to the spot by the river where she tells Riki that she should try hard to do the show by herself because Komari helped her so much. The five kids from the previous day show up and Rin puts on the show for them which they all enjoy. Rin goes to see Komari, but initially has trouble finding her until she finds her up on the school roof. Komari congratulates Rin for a job well done and tells her she was wishing on a star for success. Komari says the star-shaped hair ornament she wears is also a wishing star that may grant her wish, and when Rin points out that she has two, Komari says that the other star will be for granting Rin's wish.

最後のひとり

Kyousuke tells the Little Busters that their first baseball game will be against a team composed of captains from other sports clubs. Most of the team is ultimately excited about the match, save for Riki and Rin. In addition, Masato points out that they still only have eight members, but Kyousuke reassures them that they will eventually have the final member. Later, Riki, Rin and Masato spot Kengo talking with Miyuki Koshiki, a former member of the archery club who was forced to quit after she lost an eye during an accident. Masato brings this up during lunch, brewing speculation from others about their relationship, but Miyuki points out that she was just asking him for advice. Later that day, Riki and the others learn Miyuki went up to the edge of the roof, prompting him, Rin and Masato to rush there against orders to stay inside the classroom. Three teachers try to dissuade her, but Miyuki slips and falls in the commotion, just to be rescued by Kengo in the nick of time, although he breaks his left arm and is suspended from the kendo club for a semester. Kengo decides to join the Little Busters, and after several tries, manages to hit a home run with one arm. With the Little Busters team complete, Naoe cannot shake the suspicion that Kyousuke was aware all this time that Kengo would eventually join them, as if he knew in advance what would happen.

最高の仲間たち

After being left in charge of the Little Busters, Riki is struggling about what he should do since he no longer has Kyousuke to lead him, Kyousuke himself explains Riki he is now stronger than ever and all the things he's done, wether he realised it or not, proved that he was stronger than he believed he would be, Kyousuke leaves, telling Riki to become stronger. In the club room, still struggling, Riki gets encouragement words from Haruka and Mio who explain how Riki saved their lives. On the rooftop Kurugaya, Komari and Kudryavka also explain how Riki helped them overcome their problems and saved their lives. With all this in mind Riki comes up with a strategy to defeat the oponents' team. During the game the team is being watched by all their friends (even Sasami and her minions) and successfully defeats the other team, leaving them victorious as the Little Busters. After the credits some scenes are shown that are similar to the Little Busters visual novel's Refrain route after Kyousuke's plan went into action. They depict Rin leaving the school and Kyousuke and Kengo fighting in the rain after their baseball match. The episode ends with the title screen of "Little Busters Refrain" (the visual novel's final route) and Kyousuke's voice saying "The time that had stopped begins to move once more" implying there is still a secret to this world to be discovered and the story is not over yet.