Ichiro is the ace and captain of Tomigaoka High after Rukawa left the team. He loves basketball so much that he wants to play with Rukawa for national conquest for Rukawa was his idol and co-teammate during their Junior days. Only to find out that he has illness and are only allowed to play basketball for the last time. His sister understands her brother, visited Haruko and asked her if she could asked her brother Takenori to have a game with her brother Ichiro. Akagi disagrees at first but agreed in the end for he understands his situation. Ichiro was happy. The team divided into two, Ichiro was with Sakuragi and Rukawa, but Rukawa didn't like the idea playing with a junior and decided to transfer to the opposite team. Sakuragi supported Ichiro throughout the game. Ichiro gave his best to compete with Rukawa so as Rukawa to Ichiro for Ichiro wants to prove to Rukawa that he deserved playing with him. Scoreless at first but got his offense rhythm to score from one end to another. His teammates in Tomigaoka came and cheered for Ichiro. At the end of the game, Ichiro was happy and Rukawa gave his jersey to Ichiro.