ozu tells them they are odd. discussing the punishment but not the root cause - failure to teach the students about right behaviour. for example, not eating in a restaurant when they do not have money. he leaves them, and they conclude by disbanding the boys team, to be in effect after their next game (which is tomorrow).

kato has to tell them, since he is their coach. he is terrified of having to be the bearer of bad news to them, so he begs ozu to do it.

ozu does it. okubo apologizes to him for throttling him the other day (that's to threaten him with the same if he messes up today). ozu is not afraid. he tells them they will be disbanded after tomorrow's game, as punishment.

some of the boys are happy they don't have to play anymore.

ozu asks if they are happy it turned out this way. imoto looks unhappy, but he cheers up the boys by telling them to throw kato after the game tomorrow (but not catch him on the way down)

kato is trying to date ashikaga. he offers her michael jordan's uniform if she would come to his place. she declines.

haruka, the girls team leader, asks imoto if it's good the boys team is disbanded. he said, why not? he's stopped playing for a while now.

night. ozu does his resume and calls banks to look for work.

shikamatsu is very impressed he speaks fluent english. she says kato can't speak english, and asks him to teach english. ozu says he will consider it when he retires from banking. she tries to speak english with him, with the japanese pronounciation.

before he leaves office, he asks if the boys team were troublemakers. she tells him, until today's incident, they were just not interested in studying. they were transferred here, because of issues in previous schools.

imoto's parents are divorced. his mom works, so he's been transferred a bit.

matsuzawa had fought in school.

akimoto refused to study in his previous school

the other 2 were bullied.

this school accepted them, because her father, the principal, has a policy to give them a second chance.

ozu: no wonder i felt the students here are different

shikamatsu: not just the students, but the teachers as well.

they bump into ashikaga, who asks where the other teachers are.

everyone else has left. she looks at ozu and says, that means you are the only male teacher left.

kato has prepared his place for ashikaga. jordan's #23 jersey is displayed. his lights are all primed for romance. the door bell rings.

he opens the door for ashikaga, who says she's here just for the jersey. then ozu enters first, to the surprise of kato.

kato's romantic plans have gone awry.

ashikaga sees the jersey, and fawns over it. then ozu tells her he's spoken with jordan in new york. she switches to ozu immediately, and wants to know all about it.

yokomori meets matsuzawa. he asks her to watch his last basketball game. he says it's good they are disbanding, as that will give hiim more time with her. he tries to hold her hand, but she eludes him.

back to the threesome, ozu lets kato sit on the couch with ashikaga. kato compliments her on her attire, but ozu suggests that she would look better in a different pattern. ashikaga is impressed by his taste.

the door bell rings again. kato is getting flustered. it's imoto.

he's surprised other teachers were present. but nevertheless, he tells kato to wait for their lifting of him. he leaves, and ashikaga takes the opportunity to leave as well.

she catches up with imoto, and asks "is it cos you always lose, so you give up? that's cos you don't practise" imoto tells her it's kato that messed up the boys team, so they are going to get him.

kato complains to ozu about the disaster of his first time having a girl over to his place. blames ozu, and asks him to leave.

the next morning, they are having breakfast together.

kato wants ozu out, but he has the trump card. he knows what the boys are going to do to kato, so kato agrees to let ozu live there in exchange for his protection.

ozu meets his wife to finalise the divorce. he asks her what his daughter meant by calling him a ghost. he thinks it's due to his pale face, from tiredness. she asks him if he had written a letter to his daughter from awhile back. ozu didn't. wife sighed. he's always been like that - tells daughter to come to him for help, but is always busy with work. when she was bullied in school, she had wanted to ask her dad for help. ozu didn't know. she didn't tell me. wife said she never did ask, but she had wished you knew. couldn't you see it on her face? ozu didn't.

it's the competition, and the girls won. both ozu and yokomori turned up to watch the boys play. imoto reiterates his threat to kato.

as expected, the boys get thrashed, and ozu leaves before the end.

at the last few seconds, imoto suddenly puts on a one-man-show and scores a spectacular basket, catching ozu's eye.

nevertheless, the team lost, and that's the end of the boys team.

looking at the dejected lot, he is reminded of himself. what he had lost. imoto looks up at the sky.

when imoto walks past, ozu asks: what did he see in the sky

imoto: nothing

ozu: can you tell me one thing. will looking into the sky make you forget all your unhappiness?

imoto: it's none of your business

ozu: do you really want to give up?

orange: what does it matter!

ozu returns to the basketball court, where kato is nervously wondering where his protection went. ozu says he's done it, just that kato wasn't there to see it. ozu asks kato to let them continue to play basketball. ashikaga tells ozu to coach them. don't just give lip service. kato runs off at the sight of the boys.

ozu picks up the players' jerseys and gives them to imoto.

ozu: keep your dream