02x03 - Hitotsu no Koto da yo

[bunniefuu]

What kind of an excuse is that?

Huh?

You would've had more chances
when you got to high school.

It's only natural
that there are people better than you.

But that's not the point.

That's not the point at all.

[mellow music playing]

[exclaims]

- [Yumeka] Well...
- Ah.

It's easy to say the right thing
when you're watching from the sidelines.

Well, sure, but that's what I think!

Ugh, you're just so annoying!

I can't stand
that know-it-all look on your face.

I'm never gonna see Natsu again,
so just let it go!

You came up to her with your bad attitude.

You made things ugly.

That's because someone
who wants to win nationals

shouldn't be fooling around!

She's practicing as much as everyone else!

[Yumeka] She used to do more than that!

It was basically all she did!

Chinatsu is good because she trained
more than everyone else.

If she slows down now,
she's not gonna win!

[gasps]

[Taiki] So she's being like this

because deep down,
she's worried about Chinatsu?

- [woman] Ms. Goto?
- Huh?

Mr. Inomata? Is something wrong?

No, everything's fine.

One thing's for sure.
Those two can't go on like this.

[opening theme music playing]

BLUE BOX SEASON 2

EPISODE 28
THEY'RE ONE AND THE SAME

[bright music playing]

Morning.

[yawns]

Taiki! Pack those side dishes
in the bento box!

Did you oversleep?

I stayed up way too late
watching K-dramas.

What is she? A teenager?

Where's Chinatsu?

I sent her on ahead.
The Winter Cup is right around the corner.

Make sure she gets that bento box.
Leave it in front of the clubroom.

You got it.

[Taiki] Chinatsu's bento box...

GOOD LUCK

If I wrote a little message,
I wonder if she'd like it.

Like I would do that.

I'll give her the biggest piece of meat.

Lots of vegetables too.

And the best-looking tamagoyaki.

If you do that, the lid won't close.

You think so?

[Taiki] I'm heading out!

[door closes]

[indistinct chatter]

Hey, Taiki.

You're late today.

I had to drop by the store.

- [girl 1] Next!
- [girl 2] Okay!

[panting]

- And next!
- [girl 3] Okay!

So basketball has a tournament coming up?

When one of the clubs
has a tournament game,

the air in the gym changes.

Everything is more tense.

You can feel their nerves
all the way over here.

Yeah.

[whistle blows]

[soft music playing]

I feel it too.

- Morning.
- Good morning.

Good morning.

Anyway...

See ya later.

Don't worry about her.

She may act like that,

but her rhythmic gymnastics
have never been better.

It looks like you have way less
of an influence on Hina's life

than we thought, I guess.

What are you trying to say?

[sighs]

Huh? Whose bento is that?

Oh, that's mine.

[gasps]

[chuckles]

Chinatsu, we'd better hurry.

[Chinatsu] Right.

[bright music playing]

[girl] Pass!

- [panting]
- [Nagisa] Go, go, go!

[Chinatsu] Let's get that point back!

- [grunts]
- [Nagisa] Nice! Now get back!

[whistle blows]

- [Nagisa] We're back in ten minutes!
- [girls] Okay!

- Yuna.
- Huh?

You got a sec?

What is it?

It's about that play earlier.

You could've gone for the shot yourself.

Everyone was focused on guarding Saya.

You don't have to rush into it,

but I think it's okay
if you play more aggressively.

I can go over it with you
either in the mornings or after practice.

Enough!

I'm sorry, okay?

I already know I'm not good enough.

I'm dragging the whole team down.

But Chinatsu,

you have to stop thinking
everyone can work as hard as you do.

[gasps]

Sorry. I'm just stressed out.

It's fine.

It's not like I'm perfect either.

Let's just do our best.

[soft music playing]

[young Yumeka] You're here first again?

Huh?

Don't you ever wanna skip practice
to do other stuff?

I can't do that.

I started later than everyone else.

If I don't practice
at least an hour more a day,

I feel like I won't catch up.

An hour a day multiplied by 24 days
is one full day's worth of practice.

A year's worth would be... Let's see here...

It would be, uh...

There's no time to waste on anything else!

Saying it is one thing,
doing it is another.

You pulling that off,
that's your talent, Natsu.

[soft music continues playing]

[phone alarm chiming]

ALARM
STOP - SNOOZE

You have to stop thinking
everyone can work as hard as you do.

- [thuds]
- [Taiki] Oh, dang it!

[Chinatsu chuckles]

[cheerful music playing]

Good morning, everybody.

Morning.

Morning, Chinatsu.

I left both your lunches on the table.

They should be packed nicely today.

Didn't oversleep this time?

What do you mean?

You should be grateful

that I wake up this early every morning
to see you two off.

I'm very grateful.

Yes, thank you so much.

Good!

Okay, then who wants a piece of cake?

You get so carried away.

[chuckles softly]

Hey, Taiki...

What's up?

Just curious.

Have you ever thought about
wanting to skip morning practice?

If Chinatsu weren't around,

I think I would've skipped practice
all the time.

Uh...

Yeah, I definitely have.

My first thought is, "I just wanna sleep."

But when that happens,

I try to imagine how I'll feel later.

And if I'm being honest with myself,
I know I'll regret it.

I think of how skipping
is only letting myself down.

That's usually enough
to get me up that day.

Ah, Taiki, you're too earnest.

[Taiki] You're one to talk.

[cheerful music continues playing]

If she's asking about it,

I wonder if Chinatsu
ever feels like taking a break too.

I'm sure she does.

Her nonstop routine started
because Yumeka was around.

But she still doesn't take a break.

That's just like her.

Yumeka has the wrong idea.

It's true that Chinatsu is continuing
to work hard on her own,

but that's only because she has a goal.

Still, she must be tired.

I really wish that
Yumeka had stayed by Chinatsu's side.

[boy] Where's the girls' basketball team?

I heard they have a practice game
in the morning.

- Excuse me.
- Oh.

Oh, look. How's it going there, Coach?

I've got a ticket to the girls'
first Winter Cup game.

Anyone want it?

Eh, my wife bought it,

but she's going back to her parents' house
because her mother hurt her back,

so I've got an extra one.

It's a good seat,
right next to the basket.

Me, me, me, me! I want it, sir!

Sure, kid, it's yours.

- Let's go.
- But don't you have practice that day?

Huh? Uh... I, uh...

It's for a friend, actually.

In that case, I'll take the ticket.

Ahh!

It should go to someone
who's gonna watch, right?

I don't care either way.

No way! You can't have it!

Why not?

It's more important for me to watch anyway
since I'm in basketball club.

I was the one who asked for it first!

He never said
it was first come, first serve.

The last thing I want
is this guy getting close to Chinatsu!

Well, there's a saying,
"He who strikes first wins."

Wow, haven't heard a Japanese expression
like that in forever.

[Taiki] He plays the exchange student card
whenever he wants!

Hmm. Good luck sorting it all out.

In that case,
why don't we compete to decide?

Let's see here. How about if...

Whoever can last longest
in a shuttle run wins.

A shuttle run?

There'd be a gap
if we played each other's sports, right?

Running would be a lot more fair.

After all,
it's just jogging back and forth.

Is that fair?

Wouldn't a basketball player
have an advantage in endurance?

Plus, Matsuoka's a year older.

He said he ran ten kilometers a day
when he was in America.

[boy] No matter how you look at it,
Matsuoka's the favorite.

What do you say?

You're on.

[female voice on recording]
You will hear a five-second countdown.

After that, the test will begin.

Five seconds to start.

Three, two, one.

Begin.

[xylophone chiming over speakers]

[birds chirping]

[girl] Are we really going back
to school for more practice?

We already gave it our all
during the scrimmage.

[Nagisa]
This way, we can review right away.

Couldn't they have at least gotten us
a bus back or something?

[Nagisa chuckles]
It's not a long way, you know.

I'm going to my house
for a change of clothes,

and then I'll meet you guys over there.

Mmm-hmm. Copy that.

KIKUCHI DENTAL CLINIC

This is the dentist that Taiki goes to.

Look. You're better off not going there.

[woman] Thanks for running our errands.

[Yumeka] I'll be back in 30 minutes.

[gasps]

I'll see you later...

Oh, Ms. Goto?

Could you also pick up some toilet paper
while you're out?

Sure.

Goto?

I thought that your last name was Kido.

My parents got divorced
when I graduated middle school,

so my last name changed.

I had no idea.

It's not exactly uncommon.

I didn't think to mention...

Wow, Yumeka.
You really don't tell me anything.

[xylophone chiming over speakers]

Do they want that ticket that badly?

Is it really worth all this running?

[Haryu] Hmm.

There must be something more to it.

[Nishida] What do you mean?

Your steps are getting sluggish,
aren't they, fanboy?

Don't know what you're talking about!

Glad to hear it.

Because I'm not even
feeling warmed up yet.

He's totally unfazed.

[grunts]

Hey, and while we're at it,

why don't we say that the loser...

agrees to give up on pursuing Natsu, hmm?

There's no way I'd agree to that. [grunts]

I'm not giving up my feelings
over something this dumb!

Huh. I see.

But still...

I think we can agree
that if you end up losing to me,

it's gonna look super lame.

[Chinatsu]
You don't tell me anything, huh?

[mellow music playing]

Do you work here part-time?

I do.

[Chinatsu] Then Taiki knew too...

Did you move to another school

because of what happened
with your parents?

[Yumeka] It's got nothing to do with that.

I see.

That's the kind of thing
I wish you'd told me.

I know just because I'm your friend,

that doesn't mean
you have to tell me everything.

Because I don't know how you feel.

It is your life. I can't change that.

I can't change that.

Sorry. I'll let you shop now.

How was I supposed to tell you?!

You don't wanna see my weak side.

Do you, Natsu?

'Cause then I wouldn't be
your role model anymore.

[gasps]

And sure,

we had a lot of fun times
back when we were friends.

I was always that teammate
who could teach you about basketball.

You depended on me.

At first, that made me happy.

But then, somehow,

I started to lose
my passion for basketball.

[gasps]

You're lying.

I'm not lying.

[Yumeka's mom] So listen, me and your dad...

Deep down, I'm not as cool
as you think I am, Chinatsu.

I often thought about skipping practice.

And when I realized
that having talent didn't matter,

I wanted to be done altogether.

Because the truth is,

I was the one looking up to you.

You never wanted to skip practice.

You just quietly did what you had to do,
and that made you amazing.

I was embarrassed
by how different I was from you,

and I started to hate myself.

How could I tell you something like that?

[sentimental music playing]

But her ability to work hard,
I do admire that.

[young Yumeka] You pulling that off,
that's your talent, Natsu.

One time, I happened to notice you.

It was the day after our last game
in middle school...

and you were practicing all by yourself.

I was in a slump after we lost,

only feeling a sense of relief
that it was all over.

But you...

I imagined
it must have been really frustrating,

seeing that you worked so hard
and only to end up disappointed.

That's why I was so shocked
when I saw you.

Hanging out with some guy.

That's not the same determined Natsu
who made me feel like giving up.

She loves basketball!
She doesn't care about anything else!

All she does is practice!

'Cause that's who she is!

You're wrong.

He's not just some guy.

It all comes down to one thing.

When you quit basketball,

I lost my best friend

and the one person I could always rely on.

I was so lonely.

Winning nationals was such a far-off goal

that when I started to doubt

if all this constant practicing
was really worth it or not...

or when I felt like giving up...

I had a source of strength.

It's because I have someone like him

that I'm able to do my best!

[closing theme music playing]