Chapter 95: Just Shoot
"But hey, no hard feelings later, okay?" Nanase clasped his hands together, preemptively setting the mood.
"You're right. After all, this is a match that could decide our whole lives," Hiori agreed with Nanase's sentiment.
"Yeah. Let's all give it everything we've got!!!"
Without realizing it, Isagi had already been swept up in their atmosphere.
The three of them cheered together, then marched out of the tunnel with invincible strides.
"Oh, here they come. A bunch of small-fry interns."
As soon as they stepped out of the tunnel, Shidou spotted the trio.
Kira also turned around, a bright smile on his face. "Isagi! We get to be teammates again."
"Yeah, Kira. I'm here." Isagi was bursting with fighting spirit.
Fighting side-by-side with Kira again.
Hiori blinked his large eyes, asking curiously, "Isagi, were you and Kira teammates before?"
"Yeah, we were in the same room back in the first selection."
"Oh..."
Hiori began to size up the impossibly bright Kira.
"Nice to meet you." Hiori and Nanase greeted Kira politely.
"Likewise. Let's do our best together." Kira responded warmly to both of them.
"Tch... what a bunch of fakes. Just some small fry, is it worth getting so excited?"
Shidou couldn't understand Kira's behavior at all.
Kira didn't bother arguing with him. 'You'll find out soon enough if Isagi and Hiori are small fry. Pink-haired freak.'
Opposite them, Karasu and Rin had been waiting for a while.
Their teammates also emerged from the tunnel.
Hyoma Chigiri, Kairu Saramadara, Kyohei Shiguma.
"Chigiri?"
Isagi's sharp eyes instantly spotted Chigiri on the opposing team.
Not only Chigiri—he would have to face Rin's challenge together with Kira.
Facing Rin again…
But this time was different!
'Kira is on my side.'
'Itoshi Rin!!!'
'This time, I'm going to beat you!'
Isagi made up his mind.
On the other side, Chigiri also noticed Kira and Isagi and waved a greeting.
Kira waved back.
But Rin? After entering the pitch, he acted like he didn't even know Kira, not giving him a single glance.
'Interesting. Does this mean Rin is going all out?' Kira started to get interested in this match too.
"The 5v5 match begins now."
"Rules are the same as before. First team to score five goals wins."
"Goalkeepers are still the Blue Lock Man robots."
"Team A kickoff!"
The announcement blared over the speakers.
Team A: Ryosuke Kira, Ryusei Shidou, Nijiro Nanase, Yoichi Isagi, Yo Hiori.
Team B: Itoshi Rin, Tabito Karasu, Hyoma Chigiri, Kairu Saramadara, Kyohei Shiguma.
The match between the two teams began!
Team A started with the ball.
Kira kicked off, passing laterally to Shidou beside him.
"Pink-haired freak, let me see what you're made of..."
"Heh... I'm about to explode." Receiving the ball, Shidou's expression filled with excitement.
He dribbled forward with incredible speed.
'Not bad.'
Kira recognized Shidou's monstrous physical specs at a glance. When he dribbled, it looked like every muscle in his body was firing at once. His muscle density was on par with Kunigami.
"Looks like you're having fun."
Karasu appeared in front of Shidou.
"Eh? Fast."
Shidou thought his burst of speed would leave everyone in the dust, but he was intercepted after just a few steps.
Karasu pressed him hard physically. Shidou was forced to use his back to shield the ball, leaning into Karasu's body.
As expected of the Top 4.
Karasu's defense was not to be underestimated.
"Pass! Shidou!"
Isagi, desperate to make an impact, had already followed up behind Shidou.
He pointed both hands to the open space at his feet, signaling Shidou to pass back immediately.
At the same time, Isagi's eyes caught the opposing player, Saramadara, moving in to double-team.
"Tch. Annoying..."
Shidou caught a glimpse of Saramadara closing in from his peripheral vision.
He knew if he held onto the ball any longer, he'd be trapped in a pincer.
He passed the ball back to Isagi.
"Good..." Isagi trapped the ball cleanly.
A bird's-eye view of the field instantly materialized in Isagi's mind.
'Use these eyes! Make them work in this match!'
In an instant, Isagi noticed the shift in Kira's positioning.
'Great run!'
Isagi didn't hesitate. He launched a long pass.
The ball drew an arc through the air, flying like a precision missile straight toward Kira.
"Nice! The pass is perfect. As long as Kira traps it cleanly..."
Isagi's thought process suddenly froze.
'Crap. I forgot the opponent is Rin.'
"Isagi's tricks can't fool me."
Rin appeared instantly in front of Kira.
"Facing off right from the start?" Kira tried to chat to distract Rin.
"Don't play those cheap tricks. They won't work on me."
Rin saw right through Kira's intent.
"Then I'll just have to surprise you."
Just as the ball was about to land, Kira extended his right foot, preparing to trap it.
'Trapping to the right?'
Rin's defensive center of gravity unconsciously shifted slightly to the right.
However, the moment Kira's right foot touched the ball, he didn't stop it. Instead, he flicked it behind his standing leg, sending it rolling to his left.
Kira burst past from the left instantly.
Breakthrough complete!
"Rin got passed?" Isagi watched from the other side, dumbfounded.
Kira's movement was incredibly silky and artistic.
It made Isagi feel a sense of deja vu, as if Kira was one of the World Five players from before.
In fact, Kira had learned this trapping technique by observing Pablo Cavazos during their match against the World Team.
When Isagi's pass came flying in, Kira had already judged the landing point in advance. Before his standing leg even planted, he used the inside of his other foot to flick the ball behind his standing leg the instant before it hit the ground.
Rin, defending, was misled into thinking Kira would trap to the right. So when Kira flicked the ball in the opposite direction from behind his leg...
Rin was caught completely off guard.
"Stop him!"
Rin shouted back as he turned to chase.
Kyohei Shiguma's cover speed was fast too. He had already started running the moment Rin was passed.
Kira wound up his leg, preparing for a long shot.
Shiguma was too late to block it.
"Don't even think about it!!!"
A gust of wind blew past Kira's side.
Chigiri arrived at the same time, his long pink-red hair trailing behind him.
With lightning reflexes, Chigiri slid in, completely sealing off Kira's shooting lane.
As Chigiri blocked, Rin and Shiguma were also closing in.
Three players surrounding Kira!
"Your formation... is a total mess!"
The corners of Kira's mouth curled up. 'Trap successful.'
His shooting motion instantly morphed into a pass.
The ball flew toward the far side of the penalty area.
Rin looked back. "Shit! Forgot about that guy..."
On the other side of the field.
Seeing the ball flying toward the side of the penalty area, Shidou sprinted like a mad dog.
Karasu was left in the dust.
"Is that his real burst speed?"
"MY BALL!!!!!" Shidou screamed as he chased the ball.
Team B defenders scrambled to get back.
"Incredible." Isagi was shaken to his core.
"It wasn't so much Kira finding a needle in a haystack with that pass, but Shidou's judgment and reaction speed."
"Those two, with zero communication, just created an impossible chemical reaction."
"But at this rate, even if Shidou gets the ball, he'll be surrounded. I need to move to support him."
Isagi completed his thought process in a split second. Just as he was about to start running, he noticed Kira standing still out of the corner of his eye, hands in his pockets.
'What does that mean?'
'Does Kira think Shidou doesn't need support for this one?'
On the field, when Shidou reached the ball, Chigiri had barely managed to get back to cover. Chigiri was the fastest, and Shiguma was right behind him.
If Shidou stopped the ball to trap it, he would be swarmed.
However, Shidou just kept his head down and ran.
When he reached the spot, he swung his leg and shot without aiming.
Observe the goal position? Check teammates?
Set up a shooting stance?
No!
None of that!
Just one word!
SHOOT!!!
BOOM!
Blue Lock Man lived up to expectations and failed to save the ball.
The ball flew into the net.
Team A led 1-0.
Rin looked baffled. It was the first time he had ever seen someone shoot like that.
It looked like an idiot just kicking blindly.
The key was that it went in, which left everyone speechless.
Kira had witnessed the magic of Shidou firsthand. 'So this is what a 'god-tier goal' looks like.'
"That guy... didn't even look at the goal. He just shot?"
Chigiri panted heavily, his head spinning slightly.
'That was way too reckless.'
'Pink-haired freak!'
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