Chapter 104: The Gyro Shot
"Damn, Kira-chan actually got smoked," Shidou said, his face splitting into a wide, manic grin. He wasn't bothered; he was purely enjoying the chaos.
"Alright then, goggles. Step up and let's see if you can dance with me!"
Shidou lunged forward with that arrogant, predator-like stride of his. Behind Yukimiya, Reo felt a jolt of shock.
'Yukimiya is nothing like he looks on the surface,' Reo thought, recalibrating his view of his Top 6 teammate.
'He acts polite, but his style is pure violence. He's a physical powerhouse who wins through sheer explosive speed and raw grit.'
It made sense now. Yukimiya was the kind of player who had the balls to look Ego in the eye and demand an explanation for his ranking. He had the hardware to back up that ego.
"Come on then," Yukimiya said, his voice smooth but cold. He didn't flinch as Shidou closed in. If Kira couldn't stop him, a defensive amateur like Shidou didn't stand a chance.
"Keep up, snail!"
In a single second, Yukimiya shifted his weight and blew past Shidou, leaving him standing there like a statue.
"Wait, what?" Shidou blinked, staring at the empty space where Yukimiya used to be.
Yukimiya's lips curled into a faint smirk. In his world, a one-on-one duel was the absolute soul of football. If he could drag an opponent into a vacuum where it was just the two of them, he believed he was the undisputed king of Japan.
"One-on-one isn't working! Double team him!" Igaguri screamed, panicking as he tried to direct traffic.
Nagi didn't need the monk's shouting to tell him what to do. He closed in alongside Igaguri, trying to pin Yukimiya down. Seeing the opening, Reo sprinted up to Yukimiya's flank.
"Yukimiya! Use me for the link-up!" Reo shouted.
Yukimiya didn't even turn his head. "Don't bother. I've got this."
"I prefer to settle my problems as civilly as possible," Yukimiya muttered.
He didn't look for a pass. He didn't look for a better angle. He simply planted his foot and unleashed a monstrous strike.
BOOM!
Kira, sprinting back to help, felt a flash of genuine respect. The guy was thirty meters out—dead center in Barou or Kunigami territory—and he was pulling the trigger without hesitation.
'What a beast,' Kira thought.
Reo watched the ball leave Yukimiya's foot, his mind blank. There was no clear shooting lane. It looked like a desperate mistake.
The ball screamed into the air, arching high.
"It's way too high! We're good!" Igaguri yelled, watching the trajectory. To him, that ball was headed straight over the goal. He was already breathing a sigh of relief.
Yukimiya didn't look relieved. He looked certain.
Kira's eyes widened as he tracked the rotation—or rather, the lack of it. 'Is that...?'
A Banana Shot?!
At the apex of its flight, the ball suddenly died. It lost its momentum and plummeted toward the earth like a stone. It was like an elevator plummeting from the highest floor. It didn't just drop; it dove.
The ball buried itself into the net.
GOAL!
Team C had their equalizer, courtesy of Yukimiya's clinical technique. Aryu, who had been guarding the line, was left completely out of position by the sudden change in trajectory. He could only watch, paralyzed, as the ball hit the twine.
"Hell yeah!"
"Nice strike, Yukimiya!"
Team C swarmed their ace, but Yukimiya just looked back at the goal with a calm, practiced smile. "Like I said. I'm a peace-lover at heart."
"What the hell was that?" Igaguri stammered. His brain couldn't process the physics. "How does a ball just... die in mid-air?"
He'd seen Kira's curving "banana" shots, but this was something else entirely.
"It's a Gyro Shot," Aryu explained, his usual obsession with his hair replaced by a grim seriousness.
"Instead of side-spin, you hit the bottom of the ball with a lifting motion to give it top-to-bottom tumble. Once it hits the peak, the air resistance catches it and force-drops it. It's a nightmare for keepers."
Igaguri stared at the goal. "People can actually do that in real life? I thought that was just for TV."
Reo stood frozen, his eyes wide. He knew his own limits better than anyone, and he knew he couldn't replicate that shot. He looked across the pitch at Nagi and saw the fire in the genius's eyes.
'Is that the kind of competition it takes to get you fired up now, Nagi?' Reo wondered. 'You aren't the kid who followed my lead anymore. You aren't my masterpiece... you're your own man.'
***
Match continued. Team A kickoff.
"Shidou, get moving," Kira commanded as he tapped the ball into play.
"Whatever you say, Kira-chan. But I move when the spirit takes me, not when you tell me to," Shidou chirped back.
Despite the talk, his body reacted instantly. He was already sprinting into space before the words were out of his mouth. Kira gave a satisfied nod and fired a crisp, smooth pass to Nagi.
Reo stepped up to block his former partner, his face set in a mask of determination.
"You're playing like a zombie, Reo. You shouldn't be on the pitch with your head that clouded," Nagi said. He could tell Reo wasn't fully in the game; he was too busy inside his own head.
Reo flinched, opening his mouth to snap back, but Nagi didn't wait. He exploded into a lateral sprint, bypassing Reo before the other boy could even find his footing.
'I'm the one who made you!' Reo screamed internally. 'And now you're using my own tactics against me?! Who the hell taught you to play dirty like that?'
Nagi's lips twitched into a tiny smirk. 'Got him.'
He flicked the ball back to Kira. Kira saw Aryu making a diagonal run on the wing and didn't waste a second. The moment the ball touched his studs, he sent a booming long ball into the corner.
Yukimiya, who had been looking for a direct duel, watched the pass sail over his head and sighed. He couldn't get a read on Kira. Normally, a Top 1 player would want to take the ball and humiliate every defender in his path. But Kira was different. He was efficient. He moved the ball the second it made sense, refusing to be a ball-hog.
'So, how did a guy who shares the ball that much end up with a goal count that high?' Yukimiya wondered.
While he was thinking, the ball reached the wing. It was a battle of the giants—Aryu versus Ishikari. They were dead even in height, which meant the play came down to positioning and raw verticality.
Aryu proved why he was the king of the air. Ishikari had the height, but Aryu had the reach. He out-jumped the defender and headed the ball back into the center.
It was like a dinner bell for a predator.
Shidou launched himself at the ball with the ferocity of a starving wolf. Otoya, despite his technical skill, was overwhelmed by the sheer, unbridled violence of Shidou's movement. He was forced back, unable to anchor himself as Shidou drove the ball into the box.
Kira, trailing the play, saw Shidou enter the area and immediately slowed his pace. He didn't need to help. He knew what happened once Shidou got a scent of the net.
Inside the box, Shidou's expression turned demonic. He executed a sharp, fluid turn that left Otoya stumbling.
"Pew! Pew!"
With a manic shout, Shidou contorted his body like a pretzel, unleashing a high-impact strike from an impossible angle.
The ball tore through the air and slammed into the net.
GOAL!
Team A leads, 2-1.
"Yeah! More! I need to feel it again!" Shidou screamed, dropping to his knees and pumping his fists with a terrifying level of intensity.
"Man..." Yukimiya watched the celebration and stepped back a few paces. "Is your teammate always that much of a headcase?"
Kira shook his head, looking in the opposite direction. "I dunno. I'm not close with him."
It was too embarrassing.
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