Aoashi

Aoi Ashito is an ace of a weak soccer team at a junior high school in Ehime. His play almost gets the team to the semi-final in his last tournament in junior high, but provoked by the opponent’s goalie, Ashito receives a red card and is removed from the game. While Ashito is running on the beach to forget the frustration, mysterious Fukuda Tatsuya, who calls himself the manager of Tokyo City Esperion Youth team, approaches Ashito.

At Fukuda’s invitation and with the support of Shun, Ashito goes to Tokyo alone for the tryouts of Tokyo City Esperion Youth team. Thoroughly impressed with Esperion’s facility, Ashito is escorted to the tryouts by Hana Ichijo, Fukuda’s sister-in-law. Among the 86 candidates of notable achievements, Ashito has no outstanding records. Nervous as he is, Ashito is excited to be able to play soccer on the beautiful field.

The final test turns out to be a game with the Esperion Youth team. Fukuda tells the candidates that he will give a piece of information to them during the game. While other candidates feel overwhelmed, Ashito is eager to beat the Youth team so everyone can pass the test. The candidates feel good about the game, but start to feel uneasy at the Youth team's sluggish play.

While the candidates are overwhelmed by the youth team, Fukuda rubs salt into the wound by telling them a piece of information. Unable to recover from the shock, the candidate team allows more goals to the youth team, making it a one-sided match. While his teammates feel completely beaten and lose their fighting spirit, Ashito, still feeling the pain from Akutsu's attack, starts to lose his will to fight.

The letter of acceptance arrives to Ashito in Ehime. Ashito and his friends are overjoyed at the news, but Noriko, Ashito’s mom, looks at the celebration with mixed feelings. Hana tells Ashito to have a heart-to-heart with Noriko, but he never gets the chance until the day of his departure.

Ashito arrives at Esperion's base, meets fellow test participants and meets future teammates. However, the team's coaching staff promises not to give an easy life to the players' desires.

Fukuda suggests that Ashito and other new Esperion Youth players play an intrasquad game. Anyone who proves their worth in the game will be promoted to the A team. All new players are excited at the prospect of joining the A team. Ashito, playing his favorite forward position, starts the game out well. However…

The intrasquad game will determine who gets promoted to the A team. However, no one is passing the ball to Ashito, who is not able to communicate with his teammates through his soccer. He stands in the middle of the field, unable to do anything. Date says that Ashito lacks "individual tactics" to keep up with the constant change of play. Akutsu, a senior player who attacked Ashito at the tryouts, appears in front of him after the game.

Ashit who can't easily master the basic soccer movement of "stop and kick". Togashi, who is in the same room, tells the true meaning of "stop and kick", not seeing the thoughtfulness of Ashito who is going to practice alone. However, Togashi's explanation is abstract, and night training is difficult. They both irritated each other, but eventually, from the movement of Togashi, Ashito finally got a hint of "stop and kick".

In the unusual mini game of 11-on-21, Ashito completely loses the trust of Kuroda and Asari for lack of cooperation. Date gives Ashito the assignment to figure out why they got mad at him. While the others enjoy the only day off of the week, Ashito sets out to practice alone, not being able to find the answer. Then, a sudden visitor appears.