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.

Tokyo Metropolis League has opened. Ashito and others have their first official match against Seikyo High, but the mood of the team has been awful since the fight on the day of the entrance ceremony. The Esperion Youth B team struggles to coordinate, despite being chosen as a starter, Ashito hasn't found the answer to Date's assignment. Frustrated, Taira suggests that the first-year players switched out.

Esperion B team starts to show some signs of improvement as they face undefeated Musashino in the next match. When the team needs to be united more than ever, Takeshima and Togashi, who are the key defenders of the team, have a huge fight. Tachibana, with a strong resolution that he will do anything he can to win the next match, goes to Yuma to ask him what happened between Togashi and the promoted players in the past.

The game against Tokyo Musashino is the climax of the Tokyo Metropolis League for Esperion B team. Although the team has worked on countermeasures against Musashino, the air is still tense within the team and there's a clear sign of anxiety on the faces of many of them during the warmup. But right before the game starts, Takeshima disappears from the locker room with his girlfriend, Tae.

The match between Esperion and Musashino will determine who will dominate the Tokyo Metropolis League. Musashino's ace, Kaneda, takes advantage of the weak coordination between Togashi and Takeshima, giving Musashino a go-ahead score. Right before the end of first half, Kuroda injures himself due to his desperate defense play. During the halftime, Asari blames the center-backs, but Date disagrees with him. Togashi has resented Takeshima for a long time, but now…