Original subtitles

All right, missy. Go right ahead.

Notebook

Damn it.

What is this? Seriously, what the heck?

I-If one of the defenders moves even a bit, I'm forced to move as well.

Otherwise...

C-Crap.

C'mon. If you don't block my view of the goal, I'll just take a shot at a distance.

H-He's so good.

A-And he's retired?!

I only saw him play once in Futami, but his ball control is insane.

N-No, that's not the point.

Manager.

There's no way playing rope train is gonna do anything—

Takeshima.

The way your pelvis is facing reveals which way you're going to move.

And your eyeline gives you away.

Try to be craftier.

Togashi.

Attempting to widen your field of vision is a good idea.

Observe Ashito closely and give stuff a try.

Uh... H-H-Hey. Hello?

Asari. And this goes for you, too, Takeshima.

Maybe you two should help Ashito practice defending

until you can explain it all in simple language.

Tachibana, you're not timing your eye contact quite right.

Be more decisive.

Y-Yes, sir!

As for you, Yuma...

Keep doing what you're doing.

Huh?!

Old man, listen to me—

Ashito. You're the only one who let go of the rope.

I like to take a walk around here on Thursday nights.

I'll come train with you at this time every week.

Keep doing this drill until you can do it properly, boys.

Esperion Town

Shuttle Bus Stop

Kuroda, in my opinion...

You are the quintessential club youth product.

That's your defining quality.

Do you mean that in a good way or a bad way?

Please don't hold back. I came to hear all of it.

I've known you since you were on the junior youth team,

but I've never seen you so openly vulnerable.

Very well. I respect your determination, so I'll tell you.

First, let me ask you a question.

Who seems the least like a club youth product on the current Esperion team?

That'd be Aoi-kun.

You're right. But there's one more.

Huh?

When Aoi was selected at the tryouts, to be frank, he wasn't up to our standard.

But Fukuda had a different standard.

It's the same standard that saw Akutsu picked at the tryouts.

Akutsu?

Youth teams tend to get model students or elitist players.

The type good at applying theory.

Right. That's what they lack compared to those of us who took the high school soccer route.

Elitism is absolutely useless.

When you're in a match that's life or death,

all it does is make you lose heart quickly.

What we need is some sediment.

Impurities in the crystal-clear stream that is the youth team's environment.

Ashito and Akutsu are alike.

Their chemistry will benefit Esperion Youth.

Maybe those of us promoted from junior youth

do think about soccer based only on theory.

But you're not bound by theories. I think I can learn a lot from you.

I had an inkling quite early on about what Manager Fukuda expressed.

But it never occurred to me to use it as an opportunity to reflect on my own play.

There's no denying that I looked down on Aoi-kun.

It was my stupid elitism holding me back.

Ohtomo.

Of the first-years, you are the strongest mentally.

You outshine everyone.

Wha...

What?!

But I'm always scared stiff before games.

Have more confidence when you're playing.

I think you have the temperament to be captain.

What?

M-Manager Fukuda trained with you?

What a blissful time it was.

And he promised he'd train with us like that every Thursday night.

Always thought I had to be established in the A team to be personally coached by him.

He didn't have anything meaningful to say to me.

I-I'm jealous, of course. But aren't you overworking?

You guys have matches for the B team, too.

Yo, Kuroda.

We're gonna train at night startin' tomorrow.

We need more attackers, so come train with us.

Our regular training won't be enough. Let's practice it together now!

Kuroda!

That's overworking yourself.

Okay.

I'll do anything.

Kuroda.

All righty.

Rustle Rustle Rustle

Rustle Rustle

Huh?

I discovered something.

Bathroom

Conference Room

Entrance

Forget the window. It's easier to sneak out the unalarmed fire exit.

A hand-drawn map?

If we take too many people, we'll get caught breaking curfew.

So let's keep it to just us for the first week.

Sure.

If it goes well, maybe the other B team members can join us.

W-W-Wait, T-T-Togashi!

I'm falling! I'm falling!

I'm tellin' you, you're too slow!

Damn it all.

How do you guys react so quickly?

Incredible.

You're all incredible.

Without using words, you understand each other and instantly plug any gaps.

I called it "playing rope train," but this rope exercise...

makes it obvious who doesn't have a defensive foundation.

What an innovative training drill designed to single out a weak player.

You idiot, Togashi. Why'd you look away?

Damn it!

Togashi.

What?

Um, well, you see...

I don't think you need to scan the field there.

With your current positioning,

you can already see the ball carrier and the guy you need to mark.

So you don't need to force yourself to scan there.

You'll lose one of them.

Okay.

I'm not sure what this rope exercise will do for me, but I'll give it my all.

I won't get left behind.

All right. Let's do this.

One more time.

Right.

Tokyo Myosen High School

So as you can see...

Making sense of how he feels

Sanshiro

Refreshing

Mineko

Only these two share silent moments

Close yet distant presence

this is where Sanshiro starts to see Satomi Mineko as a romantic interest.

To Sanshiro, who has just moved to Tokyo, Mineko is utterly captivating.

Whenever Mineko appears,

the vocabulary and grammatical expression become especially vibrant.

Integrated Japanese Language

Now, let's see... Motoki, read the next passage.

Huh?

The old man's gonna train with us today, right?

Yeah. It's Thursday.

I'm getting nervous.

Miyako?

What's up?

You're coming here again?

Is that a problem?

Oh me, oh my.

Training at Musashino finished early.

I-I don't need more underwear.

I didn't bring any today.

Okay, see you later.

Soichiro

Soichiro

Today

Cell phone — Just now

Yesterday

Mom

Cell phone

Mizuki

Cell phone

Kanako

Cell phone

Soichiro

Today

Cell phone — Just now

Yesterday

Mom

Cell phone

Mizuki

Cell phone

Kanako

Cell phone

Soichiro

Today

Cell phone — Just now

Yesterday

Mom

Cell phone

Mizuki

Cell phone

Kanako

Cell phone

Soichiro

Today

Cell phone — Just now

Yesterday

Mom

Cell phone

Mizuki

Cell phone

Kanako

Cell phone

Soichiro

Today

Cell phone — Just now

Yesterday

Mom

Cell phone

Mizuki

Cell phone

Kanako

Cell phone

Soichiro

Today

Cell phone — Just now

Yesterday

Mom

Cell phone

Mizuki

Cell phone

Kanako

Cell phone

Soichiro

Today

Cell phone — Just now

Yesterday

Mom

Cell phone

Mizuki

Cell phone

Kanako

Cell phone

Soichiro

Today

Cell phone — Just now

Yesterday

Mom

Cell phone

Mizuki

Cell phone

Kanako

Cell phone

Hi, Anri.

You really came.

Well, of course I did.

Manager Fukuda's going to be coaching today.

I could only join in with their training on that first day,

but I hear Ohtomo-kun and the others joined in and they trained all week.

I'm interested to see what Manager Fukuda is going to teach us all.

Maybe he'll even give me a piece of advice or two.

I don't know about you, but I think I'll just watch today.

What are you talking about?

Your clothes scream "easy to move around in."

Oh?

Okay! Your turn, Ohtomo.

All righty!

Ohtomo!

Kuroda!

The rope is taut, Ashito.

Damn it!

Ashito! Why'd you let the princess run through?

Nice, Anri. I haven't seen you score a goal since we were little.

The rope was taut.

You let Manager Fukuda lure you out.

But you're really improving, Ashito.

Yeah, the synchronization of the four defenders is way better now.

M-Manager Fukuda.

This rope exercise is great.

I called it "playing rope train," but it really works.

If the four of us don't move the same way, the rope pulls on us.

It teaches my body how to move, whether I like it or not.

Listen, old man—

Togashi, a question for you.

On your way to school from the dorm,

you pass several stores with red signs.

How many are there?

What? R-Red signs?

Like that ramen place on the corner?

Yeah.

Let's see...

Oh, the pharmacy by the river has one, too.

And...

Three?

Ashito.

W-Well, um...

RENTAL

The DVD rental store. The manga café. The BBQ place.

Manga Café

BBQ Kokuou

Myosen

Drug

Prescriptions

And the pharmacy sign has red letters, but it's actually white, Togashi.

And that one. Plus that one.

Seven.

Correct.

If you're registering a white sign as red, you've got a long way to go, Togashi.

But Fukuda-san, that's a bit, uh...

For the next 24 hours, note anything and everything you see in detail.

I'll ask you another question next week.

Kuroda, here's my advice for you.

I wrote it down.

Th-Thank you.

Tachibana.

Yes, sir.

Oh, and the girl from the ladies' team.

I wrote down what I noticed.

Th-Thank you very much.

Takeshima. Asari.

I can't promote you to the A team yet,

but in tomorrow's intrasquad game, wanna play on the squad team?

Y-Yes, sir.

Oh, so the four of us can play together?

Okay, that's all for today.

Huh?

Huh?! H-H-Hold on a second, Manager Fukuda!

Wh-What about me? Don't I get any advice?

Nope. Nothing in particular.

Damn it.

Aoi. I think that's enough sports drink now.

How can I not hit the bottle?

I was looking forward to his feedback all week while training hard.

Damn it.

Same here.

You did get wrapped up in your training, Aoi.

So much so, in fact, that you're looking a little thinner.

Huh? Y-You think so?

Well...

I guess my food intake was fine, but I did get less sleep.

If you'd like...

Do you want me to make lunches for you?

From now on.

Huh?

Uh, I can't ask you to do that.

The daughter of our sponsor has to do stuff like that?

Anyway, I have the meal plans Hana made for me.

They go all the way to July.

Speaking of Hana, I haven't really seen her since then.

Huh? Did you say "Hana"?

On my way here, I spotted her at the train station.

It was just her and Kuribayashi-san.

M-Miyako-san.

Anri, you saw her, too, right?

Meeting up alone like that...

Are those two dating?

Oh, there you are.

K-Kuribayashi-san?

Aoi, do you have a minute?

Wh-What is it?

Hana-san asked me to do her a favor.

I'll give you some advice.

Did you say Hana? I spotted her at the train station with Kuribayashi-san.

Are those two dating?

Let's see... Advice...

K-Kuribayashi-san.

Why are you trying to give me advice all of a sudden?

And what's Hana's part in it?

Did you run into her in town?

I mean, you two know each other, yeah?

She took care of me once when I was a kid.

She's managing my nutrition at the moment.

When I asked her to produce a nutrition plan for me,

she asked me to give you advice in exchange.

Sh-She asked for something like that?

Wh-What is this?

A soccer notebook. It's mine.

I'm not cut out for coaching or giving advice.

So you can have that.

Wait, what?

But this is the notebook you wrote in during the Kashiwa game.

Isn't it important?

It's fine.

I memorized the whole thing.

N-Not cut out for coaching?

A player of Kuribayashi-san's caliber? No way.

Manager Fukuda also said not being able to coach others was a bad thing.

No, not in his case.

Because he's on a whole other level, no one else can understand him.

That's why I'm even more curious about what's in that notebook.

Why would he give away something so important?

He seems like the type that doesn't listen to others.

So why's he doing what Hana asked?

What is she to him?

Actually, why am I thinking about something like that now?

I've got a mountain of stuff I need to work on,

and I'm aiming to go pro.

It's pathetic.

All right. I'm heading off now. But there's one more thing.

I wrote all that in a way that made sense to me.

Especially the tactical stuff.

But few people understand it when I show them.

With the presence of one ideal full-back,

this situation turns into a chance.

Superb in attack and defense

Doesn't meet the conditions. Needs a teammate

who can cover the whole left-hand side of the field.

Kuribayashi-san. Can you really do this?

I don't get a lot of chances to talk to you, so I want to ask you something.

I really want to go pro.

And to achieve that, I'm desperately doing all I can, every single day. But...

For you, going pro is inevitable.

You're in a league of your own.

For a guy like you, what's your goal in soccer?

What kind of view do you see?

You play soccer to get to the pro level?

Well, yeah.

At this moment in time...

Who is the best player in the world, Aoi?

Huh?

In every era, if you ask that question anywhere in the world,

a specific player will come to mind, right?

I want that player...

to be me.

If you've decided to devote the only life you get to soccer,

I don't get why that wouldn't be your goal.

But you managed to read it, huh?

That makes me happy.

Translation: Tomoko Takedani Sater Timing: Andy Ellis Editing: SMR Quality Control: William Haggard Translation Check: David Saylor

I'll crush you, you little shit.

I see it.

That's convenient for you.

The strongest youth player is in top form.

Why are you two so indifferent?

Good luck.

I hope you boys can keep up.

I've got to look up. Look up. Look up!

Next Episode

Aim Higher

This is a work of fiction, and bears no relation to any actual persons, organizations, or names.