Days (2016)

Tsukamoto Tsukushi has just entered Seiseki High School, renowed for its soccer club. That's when his classmate Kazama Jin invites him to play futsal because their team is lacking a player. Tsukushi is worse than a beginner, but he gives it his literal everything to score a goal. Seeing Tsukushi like that forces Kazama to remember the time when he used to get pure joy out of soccer.

Tsukushi and Kazama, along with all the other first years who joined the soccer club, are forced to run outer laps as a collective punishment. As Tsukushi does not want to be a bother to the others, he asks the captain Mizuki Hisahito for permission to run everybody's laps by himself. Seeing Tsukushi continue to run relentlessly, fueled by nothing but the pure sentiment of “I want to play soccer with everyone", the other first years are inspired to join him.

It’s the first day of the joint training camp. During dinner, Tsukushi overhears the students from other schools talk about Kazama's middle school days. Curious about what happened in the past; Tsukushi tries his best to ask his roommate, but can't quite do it. When Tsukushi wakes up the next morning, Kazama's missing; apparently he went to train by himself on the pitch.

Tsukushi asks his classmate and member of the beautification committee, Ubukata Chikako to help with the cleaning. But since he can't get her to listen, he ends up being late to practice and is punished with additional outer laps. Seeing him relentlessly running, never even considering to give up soccer, Ubukata is reminded of her old self. Meanwhile, coach Nakazawa is carefully observing everybody at practice, thinking about the line-up for the Interhigh tournament.

Tsukushi is helping with the training of the third-year, Kasahara, who decided to quit after the Interhigh. As line-up for the Interhigh is announced, the first-year, Kazama, and the roster slowly fills up. Finally, one last pick remains... And now, finally the first match of the Interhigh is about to begin!

Even though the first match was a victory, Tsukushi is depressed that he was unable to do anything. That's when Indou Kaoru, the captain of Seiseki's rival school, Saku High, appears before Tsukushi. He invites Tsukushi to play soccer, and the two of them go to a futsal court. Despite the other team having an unsurmountable lead, Tsukushi doubles down on his soccer of "running more than anyone else" and enables his team to score a goal by becoming a decoy.

The second preliminary match of the Inter High is Seiseki vs Minami Highschool. Thanks to Kazama's plays, Seiseki wins with a huge lead. The next day, Tsukushi is running the outer lap by himself because he wasn't allowed to play. His run is fueled by his desperate wish to stay on the Seiseki soccer team. Then come the semi-finals, where Seiseki is having trouble against Ariake's overly aggressive team...

Thanks to Mizuki's efforts, Seiseki does manage to advance to the finals. In order to prepare for their next match, they study their opponent's playstyle. In the finals they will be facing off against the "Miracle Team" that suddenly rose to the top, the current Kantou Champion, Sakuragi Highschool. The first-years are all in awe of the skill of the present top scorer, Saku High's number 10, Narukami Shuuji. Meanwhile, Kazama is so excited that he gets to play a strong school, that he can barely contain himself.

It's the final match of the Inter High preliminiaries. Seiseki's captain Mizuki is fully recovered and Seiseki's eleven is in top shape to fight. However, Tsukushi has concerns since Kazama is acting different than usual. Right after the start, Kazama fails to trap the ball. Initially it seems as though Tsukushi's worries were justified, but Kazama then recovers and makes it to the enemy goal all by himself.

After Mizuki takes the lead for Seiseki, they put Kazama on Indou Kaoru. However, just five minutes later, Indou's shot lands in the net. Realizing that Indou is in a totally different league, for the first time, the bitter taste of defeat spreads in Kazama's mouth. That is when Kazama remembers how hard Tsukushi works and begins to engage Indou with an untypically inelegant play style.

Tsukushi enters the game to replace Ooshiba, who had exhausted all his energy. As he tries to step onto the field, his shorts fall down and his underwear is exposed! Seeing that, the entire Seiseki team cracks up. Indou notices that the team's spirit changed, and realizes that he needs to stay cautious. When Indou tries to pass Kazama again, suddenly Tsukushi is there too, and Indou is stopped.

To everybody's horror, Tsukushi's shot hits the goal post. Mizuki and Kimishita still dash forward to go for the rebound, but Saku High clears the ball and the match is over. Everybody is shaken by this, especially Kazama and Tsukushi, who both feel something they've never felt before. Tsukushi does the one thing he can, he runs without giving his body any pause. That's when Ubukata intercepts him and sits him down for a serious talk.

Tsukushi's childhood friend Sayuri asks him to take a break and go to the summer festival with her. A few days later, the members of the Seiseki soccer team gather at Ooshiba's place for a certain reason.

As soon as the summer vacation starts, Seiseki's soccer club is off to the 5 day Sakurajima joint training camp. Since the roster for the championship will be put together from the ground up, an intense battle ensues for those spots. The second-year player Ooshiba, who has the same position as Tsukushi, tells him to come at him with everything he's got. When the training match begins, Mizuki and Kazama manage to score goals against Bousou High School from Chiba, but Ooshiba is not so lucky.

The training match ended on a bad note for Tsukushi. In the evening, he joins the third-year Haibara to review the recording of the match and ponders what he lacks. The next day, coach Nakazawa grants him and the others a chance at redeeming themselves, and the next training match again Genbu High School begins. However, Tsukushi is ordered to take the center-back defensive position...

After talking to Kazama about the dilemma of wanting to be a regular, but not wanting to fight his friends for that spot, Tsukushi was trying to find a solution that fits himself.

On the final day of the camp, Seiseki is playing against Seikan High School. Right off the bat, Taira's bullet-like pass is caught by the super rookie, Himura, and the ball ends in Seiseki's goal. However, thanks to Usui raising the line, it's offside and the goal doesn't count. Kazama pays it back in kind and gets up to the opponent's goal, but this also doesn't end in a goal. Meanwhile, Ooshiba and Kimishita are struggling with the oppoent's defense...

The second half of the Seikan match. Tsukushi is swapped to replace the injured Kazama. Meanwhile, on the Seikan bench, the coach and Taira are arguing about the best way to utilize Himura. Taira insists to have Himura be the sole forward, the coach puts a 10 minute time limit on it. Himura wants to repay Taira for sticking up for him by scoring elegant goals, and actually brings the score to an even 2:2.

Right as the match was about to end, Tsukushi puts everything into his shot and secures the victory for Seiseki with that goal. Tsukushi can't quite grasp what just happened, but when Kazama and the others jump on him to celebrate, tears of happiness run down his face. Meanwhile, Kazama's mother, who had come to see the match, quietly tries to leave. Kazama takes Tsukushi's hand and introduces him as his amazing friend.

Summer vacation is over, and the preliminaries for the championship in the Tokyo area begins. For the third-years, it's the very last tournament. Seiseki steadily advances through the preliminaries, and the next opponent is Hokutou High School. It looks as if they're off to a good start with taking the lead, but due to rough attacks from the opposing team, Ooshiba gets injured. Mizuki protects Kimishita from the same fate but is dealt his second yellow card and Seiseki loses two key players for their next match.

The opponent for the semi-finals is the newly founded team from Keiougawara High School. Even though Seiseki is missing it's "Three Arrows", Kimishita and the other third-years put on a strong show.

Due to Nitobe's red card, Seiseki is down to 10 players. To make matters even worse, Keiou's top two players, Kai and Maruoka put pressure on Seiseki's goal. Somehow, with Usui's defense and Inohara's super save, they survive the first half, but right after the start of the second half, Keiou's intense attacks lead to the score being tied after all.

Thanks to Usui's set up, Tsukushi is able to wrangle the second free kick from Keiou. Just like the first time, Kimishita takes the shot, but this time it's a low flying ground shot! Even though Keiou's goalie reacts, the shot knocks his hand away and the ball is in the net. After causing the upset, Seiseki commits to defense, but Keiou's attacks are relentless. And in the final 3 minutes, just as Usui is about to clear the ball, something unforeseen happens...

After the fierce battle, Seiseki is the team that stands victorious. Kimishita scored three goals from the free kicks, but it was Tsukushi who secured those free kicks. Thus, even without the "Three Arrows", Seiseki was able to put on a performance worthy of their reputation. While everybody is celebrating their advancement to the finals, only Tsukushi looks glum. After the match, Kurusu and the others who brought the equipment back to the club room see a crying Tsukushi kicking the ball by himself.