Intermission: The Gauntlet
Intermissions are optional.
This is the last intermission. You've almost made it through the gauntlet. After the next lesson, you're through. Keep it up.
For a piece of trivia, ば comes from the topic marker, は. The h- syllables used to be pronounced with a p, which is why their voiced versions use a b. The topic marker is an edge case where a p evolved into a w instead of an h.