Original subtitles

I'm telling you, it's true!

After practice, even though there's no one

in the third string's gym, you can hear a ball bouncing!

What?

Sounds dumb.

Wait, Dai! Aomine!

Ghosts don't play basketball.

And if they do, I'll gladly play them one-on-one.

Hey.

What? Hold on, seriously? Do basketball-playing ghosts really exist?

No, there was probably someone practicing, and he just finished.

But I thought I heard noises right before I opened the door.

Excuse me.

Oh, God! I'm sorry!

I promise not to bring gravure magazines to school!

I won't sleep in class either!

-Evil spirit, begone! -Huh?

Aomine?

What?

We met on the first day of fall

after we began attending Teiko Middle School.

So you're so invisible no one noticed you're here?

That's incredible.

Aomine, you're laughing too much.

Sorry. Huh? My name...

You became a first-string starter as a first-year.

You're famous.

Really?

So, who are you?

I'm on the third string.

No, I mean your name.

And it doesn't matter what string you're on.

You love basketball enough to stay every night to practice, right?

There's no such thing as bad guys who like basketball.

That's my theory.

It's a weird theory.

What?

I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. Nice to meet you.

You're sure you want to play me?

Yeah. Whenever you're ready.

Really?

Prepare yourself.

Got it.

That hurt.

What was that?

You told me to prepare myself, so I was expecting something amazing.

What are you talking about?

I'm on the third string.

What?

I meant, "I still have a lot to learn, so prepare yourself."

You're weird.

Do you want to stop?

Hey, just now...

-Amazing. -What?

Aomine, let's do that again.

Sure.

I'm going to return the key to the faculty office.

Good work today.

Okay, later.

What a weird guy.

Thank you!

Thanks!

Hello. We meet again.

What are you doing here?

I like their vanilla shakes.

Really?

Here.

That can't be enough. You can have one.

Thank you.

-Is your house this way? -Yes.

Then let's walk home together.

Okay, but...

I don't think it's good to walk with both hands full.

Are you actually a pain in the butt?

So you stay late every day to practice so you can get promoted?

Yes. I want to improve as much as I can.

That's amazing.

There aren't even many guys on the first string who practice that hard.

But I have a long way to go.

After watching you, I realized something.

The first string is still beyond my reach.

When I was offense when we first started playing one-on-one,

why weren't you tricked?

I thought it was a pretty good fake.

Because I thought you'd probably fake.

What?

It was just a feeling.

I got lucky.

Huh?

It wasn't luck.

He read my movements at other points after that, too.

There's no point since he's slow, though.

He just might be interesting.

Hey, Tetsu!

Want to head to practice together?

-But-- -Who cares about that?

Aomine, we're not finished cleaning.

Yeah, but... Hey!

Midorima, what is this?

Today's lucky item.

That's not what I meant!

Aomine and I were opposites in many ways.

Honestly, I didn't think we'd be friends.

But our differences were easily overcome...

because I was overwhelmed and inspired by his play.

Something wrong?

No. You're amazing.

What?

Well, when it comes to amazing, I think you're more amazing than me.

Not many guys like basketball more than me.

Let's stand on the court together someday, Tetsu.

Okay.

I went to this game, and it was amazing.

Especially when first-year Aomine

went head-to-head against Kamizaki's second-year Inoue.

Neither gave any ground. They were on fire.

Really?

What? The promotion test was today?

Yes. The second and third strings took the test.

A few should rise to the first string.

Really?

All right!

Mine, you're still practicing?

Yeah. Next time we play, I'll take 20 points off Inoue.

Really? Good luck.

So, what are you doing, Mido?

It stinks in here lately.

Oh, that?

Mine and Zaki keep their unwashed T-shirts in there.

Aomine!

You're late.

I already...

What's wrong?

Aomine.

Are you not feeling well?

I'm thinking about...

quitting the basketball team.

What? Why?

I'm not strong enough to play with you,

much less move up to the second string.

I love basketball.

But it's been six months since I joined the team.

If I'm not cut out for it, there's nothing I can do.

Especially here at Teiko Middle School,

I doubt I'll ever be useful to the team.

There's no such thing as a player the team doesn't need.

Even if you can't play in games,

there's no way someone who stays later than everyone else,

even the first-string guys, to practice is useless!

At the very least, I respected you, and it pushed me to try harder.

I won't promise you'll get there if you don't give up.

But if you do give up, you'll be left with nothing.

I...

don't want you to quit playing basketball.

Aomine.

You've been practicing here?

Yeah. The other gym is too crowded.

You're practicing all alone?

Not alone.

Whoa, seriously?

How long has he been there?

-Who is he? -Tetsu. We always practice together.

Is this guy on the team?

Not the first string.

He's still on the third.

Oh, whatever.

Let's go.

No, I'm interested in him.

Interesting. I've never seen his type before.

It's possible that he possesses talents totally unlike our own.

It's kind of scary how well we're playing.

Especially those two.

Did you know this would happen?

It's greater than I expected.

Tetsu.

The first time we stood together on the court,

it was the end of winter.

Aomine's amazing. He scored 80 points by himself.

With Aomine around, it's not even a contest.

He's not a prodigy. He's a monster.

Summer came,

and Aomine began skipping practice.

Aominecchi's skipping again?

Yeah. Kuroko's not coming today either.

Kurokocchi, too?

That's unusual.

He can't stand to watch it anymore.

But there's nothing that he can say to him now.

Aomine.

Tetsu. What about practice?

Do you want to walk home together?

Okay, let's go.

Aomine, you've been skipping more practice lately.

Huh?

It's fine.

If I practice, I'll get better.

The harder I try, the more boring basketball becomes.

Besides, I don't think...

I'll ever get what I want.

And basketball is just a game.

I'm going to start skipping games, too.

You can't.

An ice pop?

It takes everything I have to keep up with you guys.

Honestly, I don't understand how you feel.

But no matter how much stronger you are,

if I were your opponent, I wouldn't want you to hold back or go easy on me.

Besides, you'll find someone more amazing than yourself soon enough.

You're right.

That's right.

Come to think of it, I never took 20 points off Kamizaki's Inoue.

He might have gotten stronger again.

How can you talk about skipping games when you've got him around?

Shut up!

That hurts!

We'll sub out Kise for Kuroko.

Everything else stays the same.

Let's win.

Yeah!

Aominecchi, it's starting.

What? Oh.

Huh? What about you?

I was subbed out for Kurokocchi.

You weren't listening again?

Sorry. Couldn't help it.

Momoi,

how many points has Aomine scored today?

Thirty-six.

I see.

Kuroko.

Pass the ball to Aomine as much as you can.

Okay.

Let's show them what true defeat is.

This is too one-sided.

All right!

Just play by yourself.

What is this?

Have you given up the fight?

This is what happens when I try a little?

Once your opponent has lost his motivation,

what's even fun about basketball anymore?

Tetsu.

It's no use.

The only one who can beat me is me.

I heard you turned down some high school recruiters again.

What do you want?

How many times is this? Why do you keep saying no?

I didn't turn them down.

Once I said I wouldn't attend practice but I'd attend games,

they're the ones who said there was no way.

Of course they did.

How are you supposed to work with your team if you don't practice?

Shut up.

Why would I practice and increase the gap between me and everyone else?

Well, that's a problem.

But very well.

I'll consider this with a forward-looking attitude.

There he is.

Aomine, right?

Who are you?

Imayoshi Shoichi. Nice to meet you.

I'm the captain of Touou, the team that just came to recruit you.

Yeah? What do you want?

We put a lot of emphasis on recruiting.

We're especially desperate to acquire

one of the Generation of Miracles like yourself.

So I wanted to get a look at you.

Really? Did you figure anything out?

Well, like I thought... actually, more than I expected...

you're too delicate.

You shouldn't come to our school.

What?

I saw the videos of your recent games.

While you're certain you'll win,

you play like somewhere inside you, you actually want to lose.

You feel isolated because of your exceptional strength.

Because you can't bear it,

you're waiting for an opponent to be your equal

or perhaps even stronger than you.

But unfortunately, nobody else wants that.

Especially not us.

That's why our coach deferred his decision.

Anyway, instead of waiting...

once you're prepared to be the best, we wouldn't mind having you.

You're a funny guy.

I'll think about it.

Do you think you'll be able to work with him?

If we give him free rein.

I know I'm contradicting myself,

but his strength alone is worthy of our faith.

We'll meet again wearing different uniforms a few months from now.