The Tokyo League season begins. Esperion B faces Seikyo High School in their first official match, but the atmosphere among the first-year students, including Ashito, has been tense ever since the incident at the entrance ceremony. The Esperion B team, burdened by this bad atmosphere, is unable to work together as they would like, and Ashito, who has been selected as a starter, is unable to find the answer to Date's problem. Unable to bear the situation of struggling against a weaker opponent any longer, Taira requests that the first-year members be substituted.