Hey, those men are back again.
Well, if you think about it, Aoyama is a national age-group player.
It's not surprising they'd show up to scout him.
That means there's no guarantee he'll be with us to the end.
Aoyama might leave...
Zaizen. Hey, Zaizen.
Our days of dreaming about reaching Nationals might be numbered.
He only came here because he liked the toilets.
If he's going to a pro youth club, he'll have no reason to remain with us.
#12
The Reason Behind Aoyama-kun's Choice
Hey, Aoyama!
We need to talk.
Are you going to join a youth club?
Those scouts were here again.
I don't want to be blunt, but everybody's relying on you.
You're our team's—
Look! It's Aoyama-san, the youth national player!
Seriously?
It's true! Oh, my god!
I always keep an eye out for your matches!
Can we get your autograph?
You're our team's...
...biggest hope.
Wow, even his autograph is amazing!
I'm going to treasure this forever!
Just kidding.
We actually got one!
Aoyama!
Yeah!
So lucky!
You should play where you can shine the most.
But...
Let's do our best tomorrow.
Mother!
What is it?
Please come to my next soccer match.
I'm going to score a goal for you as a present!
Let's get going.
Yes, Daddy.
You have your match now, don't you?
Yes.
Mother, I promise that we will win today's match!
Inter-High Tokyo City First Preliminaries
"You eleven knights who are gathered on this holy ground..."
Thanks to its ongoing popularity, Season 2 of the anime is greenlit!
"I am going to join the battle as well!"
"Let's save the world together!"
For some reason, I feel like this week's chapter is cheering us on!
I can feel the power!
Is Aoyama-kun really going to quit our team?
No clue! I have no idea what he's thinking.
Just like her...
Huh?
Oh, nothing.
She's pretty.
Is that your mom?
What the hell, you guys? What is it to you?!
Don't be so shy and introduce us.
Are you into older women?
That's my mother!
Besides, my mother's long...
Zaizen?
Listen up! Time for the pre-match meeting!
Let's review what we know about today's opponent.
What do you make of Zaizen's reaction?
He had a pretty serious look on his face.
Actually, I happened to see something when I was walking my dog this morning.
Zaizen was paying his respects at a grave with his father.
Wait, does that mean today's the day Zaizen's mom...
...passed away?
Really?
Hey, guys!
Be quiet! Anyway, moving on.
Our opponent, Kuraishi High School, has two powerful center backs.
They're a team whose rise is built on an ironclad defense.
In order to breach their defense,
we need you to shine as brightly as you can, Kaocchi.
Kaocchi?
Y-Yes!
Pull it together, everyone. Let's go win another match!
Yes, ma'am!
Captain!
Yeah!
Where's Zaizen?
He went to the bathroom.
Good, because...
Today's the anniversary...
...of Zaizen's mom's death?
Why didn't he say something?
Yeah, how come?
There's only one thing we can do.
Provide support for Zaizen!
We'll send everything his way...
...and help him score...
...to cheer him up!
Our team will win.
And we'll advance from the preliminaries!
Sounds good. I bet his mother would like that, too.
Sorry for making you all wait.
All right!
That's my cue as captain!
Fujimi—
Victory at any cost!
Fujimi High!
Fight!
All right, I'm pumped!
I can taste victory already.
Huh? I haven't said anything yet...
There's the cross!
It looks good!
With your build, I bet you're pretty confident in the air.
But quite frankly, you've got no chance when you're facing us.
Bastard.
No wonder those center backs are called the "Double Wall of Kuraishi High."
They're both physically strong, and they cover a wide range on the pitch.
Hm...
Well, I could easily obliterate them.
Aoyama!
Their defense is quick to hound him!
Their anti-Aoyama strategy's good, too!
They have a good defense.
He was pushed out of it again!
A long ball!
Oh no!
Dammit!
Gotcha!
They executed that counter perfectly!
So Kuraishi High School has taken the lead.
This match is as good as ours.
Kuraishi High School has won every match so far without conceding.
Even scoring one goal won't be easy.
Fujimi
Kuraishi
It's good that we took the lead in the first half, but...
I would have liked to get another one or two goals.
We need to be extra careful of Aoyama in the second half.
Ow!
Kazu-kun!
You scraped your leg. We need to rinse it off.
She was always into something.
Once she caught the bug for it, she was blind to everything else.
Because of that, it was always Jeeves who took me to and from kindergarten.
But I was glad to just have her around.
Mother! I got into the starting eleven for the next match!
Jeeves, where's Mother?
Young Master Kaoru...
Your mother has gone to a faraway place.
Once this match is over, Aoyama will also...
Dammit!
We will win today's match!
That will be my parting gift to her and Aoyama!
Congratulations! You're a winner!
What the hell's going on?
This is too much! You're broken, yo!
Zaizen Shiori
I'm Kaoru's mother
Shoot for victory at Nationals!
Fujimi High School Eleven
Dwelling on it won't help!
Zaizen!
Right now, I need to focus on the game!
Jeez, what are you doing?
Zaizen, back pass!
Crap!
I'm counting on your aerial prowess to get past that defensive wall!
Corner to Kuraishi High School!
Kuraishi scores!
Crap!
That's Kuraishi High School's second goal.
I can't believe Aoyama-kun's pushing forward this early in the game.
He must be feeling the heat, too.
Their closing down is almost instant!
Aoyama, pass it to me! That's too risky!
I guess he took one touch too many.
Even for you, that was reckless!
What?
It would have been pointless to pass to you in your current state.
What?
The ball!
Zaizen, the ball!
I missed?
Why aren't you here...
...Mother?
Zaizen!
Crap!
We've been caught upfield. Fall back!
Damn, what's wrong with me?!
Go for the counter!
All right, good!
The most dangerous thing about their team is
Aoyama's explosive offense in the last five minutes.
The key is how far ahead we are by that point.
We can't relax with a mere two-goal lead!
A three-goal lead will do it, though!
Not on my watch!
This is checkmate!
Oh no!
Got it!
Aoyama put his body on the line to stop it!
Hmph, Fujimi High School barely survived.
That was amazing, Aoyama!
You saved us!
Hey! Are you okay?!
Stay away.
Hey, those stains...
You can't play like that.
It's my fault.
It's because I screwed up.
Zaizen-san.
If you don't want to win, please get yourself substituted.
Let's do our best tomorrow.
Are you kidding me, Aoyama?
I am...
...not leaving this game!
How stupid do you have to be to headbutt the goalpost?!
Let go of me!
All right, just calm down!
Is his head okay? In all senses of the word.
Forget about the idiotic headbutter.
What's huge is that Aoyama being dirty has rendered him sluggish.
We have this match in the bag.
Aoyama-kun, if you're that dirty...
Listen up!
Fujimi High School is not just Aoyama's team.
Damn that Aoyama.
If you don't want to win, please get yourself substituted.
I don't want to win?
Of course I want...
...to win!
This guy!
Too bad.
They took it!
Now that Aoyama's sluggish, this is our chance!
A counterattack's coming!
This is the end!
How do you like that?!
He stopped their counter with his face!
He's got guts!
Looks like you got over whatever was bothering you, Kaocchi!
Ow.
Your soccer is so dirty.
You moron.
This sort of stuff is my job.
Let's win this match.
Of course.
They keep passing the ball around to chip away at Fujimi's stamina.
This is the extent of this team's abilities when their ace, Aoyama, isn't performing.
There're less than ten minutes left. They intend to let the clock run down.
At this rate, Fujimi will lose.
Damn it all!
We need to score right now!
So I won't let them tell me they're at their limit!
My legs are like this,
and my head's fuzzy from being oxygen deprived because I've run around too much.
Itou-san!
But you know what?
Compared to when I was moping around,
this is a lot better!
Son of a...
Nice, Zaizen!
Time for us to counter!
Stop their number 5!
Die!
I won't let you stop me so easily!
Captain!
Too far!
He can't make that!
That idiot!
That was our only chance!
Aoyama!
I thought he couldn't move!
It's the last five minutes!
I'm still on you!
Where are you aiming?
There's nobody over there!
Kaocchi!
This ball...
I will make it count!
My leg!
After we've come so far?!
Zaizen-san.
Zaizen!
Zaizen-san.
Zaizen!
Mother!
You can do it, Kaoru!
Fujimi
Kuraishi
Fujimi High won again, huh?
Par for the course, no?
I just remembered our first training match.
Show me your leg already!
It's fine. I just pulled a muscle.
Anyway, why'd you bother showing up now?
Haven't we seen that person before?
Wasn't she in the picture Zaizen had?
Zaizen's mom?!
Yes?
She's fit as a fiddle!
Then why'd you visit the graveyard this morning? Talk about misleading!
That was to honor our ancestors.
Dadd—I mean, Father only had time to go this morning.
Give us back the energy we wasted on being worried about you! You idiot!
What are you even talking about?!
I'm relieved to see you having fun.
After all this time? I don't care if you were volunteering or whatever!
Where have you been this whole time?
At first, I meant to come back straight away.
But before I knew it, it had been five years.
You're always like this!
I came to see you score a goal today.
I was really watching.
I'm going to score a goal for you as a present!
A present five years in the making.
You remembered.
You're so late, Mother.
Madam, I've come to pick you up!
Okay, I'm off to Brazil now.
Bye!
Mother!
Mother...
Aoyama.
What are you going to do about the team?
You're joining a youth club, right?
I'm not, though.
Really?!
It seems you don't understand your own position here.
You're already carrying the future of Japanese soccer on your shoulders.
Why is a player who's going to be the jewel in Japan's crown
not playing for a renowned school or a youth club,
instead of here at Fujimi High School?
I...
...like white uniforms.
The white of cleanliness!
Clean! Clean! A-o-ya-ma!
Aoyama-kun likes white.
He li-kes wh-i-te!
Are you kidding us?!
Picking a team based on the uniform
is so idiotic that I'm mad at myself for being worried.
You damn germaphobic, whimsical fool.