Yama meets Togawa in the same time as Tora. He is also in the Tigers' team and introduces Togawa to it. Yama has an illness that makes him lose little by little the use of his muscles.
Yama was the manager of the Hanazawa Middle School track team before his illness prevented him from. He knows every national 100m race winner, even stating that the last one was won by Togawa as, before he stopped because of his leg, he "ran the fastest". He talks to Togawa about his illness (saying he will not live after 20) without being resentful, what Togawa doesn’t understand, being depressive after his own operation. Yama tells him that "nobody knows why we're alive. We don't have time to bother".
When Yama can hardly go out of his home, Togawa often visits him, always with a remainder of the Tigers, and Yama is always cheerful about it. He once assumed Azumi and Togawa were together, saying they were "a nice couple" and asking about their engagement, embarrassing them both.
As the disease progresses, Yama becomes very negative and bitter, making Togawa distressed. To help him, Togawa tells him how much of a hero he is to him, showing so much normality when he knew he was doomed, and helping him too.
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