Chapter 106: Reo's Awakening
Kira's eyes shimmered with a dark, predatory glow. Standing across from him, Gagamaru couldn't help but swallow hard. Having played on the same team as Kira before, he knew exactly how lethal the guy's technical skills were.
'What's he going to pull?'
'A step-over?'
'A rainbow flick?'
'Or a Marseille turn?'
Gagamaru didn't have time to overthink it. Kira was already in motion. His feet blurred in a series of high-frequency, rhythmic taps. Gagamaru locked his gaze on Kira's legs, refusing to blink.
Suddenly, Kira dropped his shoulder.
'A feint?' Gagamaru stayed planted, refusing to bite.
But as Kira's shoulder dipped, he used the inside of one foot to snap the ball across to his other. His second foot met the ball instantly, exploding forward in a burst of acceleration.
La Croqueta!
Gagamaru's brain registered the change in tempo, but his body was a second too slow. He was left in the dust, completely bypassed.
In a moment of pure desperation, Gagamaru looked back over his shoulder. He was the final line of defense for Team C. Reo and Ishikari were too far out of position, their recovery speed nowhere near high enough to close the gap.
They could only watch as Kira stood one-on-one with the open net.
Boom!
Kira fired a strike toward the far right post.
GOAL!
Team A reclaimed the lead. 3-2.
"Hell yeah, Kira!" Igaguri screamed at the top of his lungs, practically vibrating with hype.
After watching Yukimiya and Otoya tear through them, the monk had been sweating bullets. He was terrified that his "carry" on the team wouldn't be able to keep up. But Kira's response was a loud and clear message: don't worry.
Igaguri's eyes actually welled up with tears. He was more emotional than the guy who had actually scored the goal. 'I definitely picked the right coattails to ride!'
Shidou stood there, momentarily stunned. Kira had scored in the previous match, but it had felt subdued—Isagi's last-second heroics had stolen the spotlight. But now, Shidou finally understood the weight of being Blue Lock's Number One.
A solo run. Bypassing three defenders. A cold-blooded finish.
'Tch. Kira-chan is a monster when he actually tries,' Shidou thought. He felt the pressure mounting. This was a level of dominance that made his own "king of the box" style look limited.
Nearby, Aryu looked like he was watching a rerun.
'Why are you all so shocked?' Aryu wondered. He'd seen Kira show his full strength against the World Five. 'This is just his baseline.'
Aryu's calm demeanor only made Nagi more curious. Apparently, Aryu had seen Kira perform at an even higher level. Nagi's eyes lit up with a renewed hunger. He wanted that spotlight. He wanted to be just as dazzling.
"That was... too much," Gagamaru muttered, replaying the goal in his head. Kira was significantly stronger and faster than he'd been back in Team Z.
Yukimiya's calm facade was gone. He was sweating. 'So this is the Number One?'
A few minutes ago, he'd been arrogant enough to think he could just take the throne. Now, his face was burning with a mix of embarrassment and realization.
He was lucky he hadn't said his thoughts out loud; his ego would have been shattered.
***
Audiovisual Room.
Hiori's jaw was practically on the floor. "Isagi, has Kira always been this cracked? He didn't show off that kind of speed or dribbling in the last game."
Isagi stayed silent. He didn't know how to explain it. To him, Kira was the embodiment of a miracle. Back when they faced the World Five, when Isagi felt nothing but pure despair, Kira was the one who stood up and dragged them into the fight.
Isagi felt a familiar, bitter taste in his mouth. Just when he thought he'd narrowed the gap with his last-second goal, Kira had leaped into another dimension.
'Will I ever actually catch up to him?'
"Kira is insane! I want to play like him!" Nanase said, his face full of pure admiration.
Isagi looked at him, confused. "Doesn't it bother you? Knowing there's such a massive wall between us and him?"
"Why would it?" Nanase asked, tilting his head. "Everyone is different, right? Kira being that good just gives me a target to chase. It's exciting!"
"He's right, Isagi," Hiori added, his voice optimistic. "Having someone like Kira in our generation is a blessing. He's the fuel for our evolution."
'You guys are way too positive,' Isagi thought. But he nodded anyway. It didn't matter how fast Kira was. He would keep grinding until he found a way to win.
***
Back on the pitch, Team A was celebrating.
On the other side, Reo had fallen into a deep, dark silence.
Mikage Reo. Heir to the Mikage Corporation.
In his life, Reo had never been denied. Expensive toys, popularity, the best education—it all came to him with a snap of his fingers. But Blue Lock had shown him that there were things money couldn't buy.
The World Cup trophy.
The title of World's Best Striker.
Those things belonged only to the "fools"—the people who threw away everything else in their lives just for the sake of the game. He looked at Kira and Shidou. He could tell that nothing else in the world mattered to them except the ball at their feet. They were obsessed. They were idiots.
And that was why they were so blindingly bright.
"Reo, you are my successor," his father's voice echoed in his mind. "Just go to a top-tier university, become a world-class businessman, and live a perfect life. I'm telling you this for your own good."
'No!'
That life was a prison. A pre-planned, boring, predictable cage.
'I don't want a perfect life. I want what they have.'
Reo's eyes sharpened with a fierce, iron-willed resolve. 'If the only way to reach my dream is to throw away my safety net and become an obsessed idiot, then fine! I'll be the biggest fool of them all!'
***
Match continued. Kira's FLOW state was still humming.
He could see the change in Reo's eyes immediately. The kid's aura had shifted.
'Good. If you didn't step up now, you wouldn't even be worth using as fuel, Reo.' Kira's lips curved into a dark smile.
Team C kickoff.
Otoya tapped the ball to Yukimiya. The second Yukimiya touched the ball, Kira was in his face.
'He's already here?!'
Yukimiya panicked. After seeing Kira's technical masterclass, his confidence in his own one-on-one skills was wavering. He hesitated, caught between trying to break through and looking for a pass.
'Hesitation is a death sentence, goggles.'
Kira's foot lashed out, sniping the ball right off Yukimiya's studs.
"LOOSE BALL!" Igaguri screamed, alert for the rebound.
Shidou didn't need the reminder. He was already lunging toward the ball like a starving predator. But a purple-haired shadow reached the spot first.
"What?!" Shidou barked. "Who the hell is this extra?"
Shidou was genuinely confused. How had this kid beaten him to the drop point?
"No matter how much I improve, I'll only ever be a 99," Reo muttered to himself, his voice cold. He flicked a crisp pass to Otoya.
Otoya prepared to break, but Kira was already closing the lane. The Top 1 was playing a one-man containment game, suffocating Team C's offensive duo.
Otoya, seeing no way through, was forced to pass back to Reo.
Reo took the ball and didn't slow down. He blew past Igaguri in a heartbeat.
"Pass it here!" Yukimiya shouted from the wing, having found an open pocket of space.
"Shut up. I'm not passing," Reo growled. His eyes were wild, focused solely on the goal.
Aryu stepped up to provide the backup defense, but Reo didn't flinch. He planted his foot and wound up for a strike.
Yukimiya stared at him, confused. 'From there? He's thirty meters out!'
------
From now on, I'll be dedicating more time to this fic and writing quality will improve. So get ready for FANTASTIC chapters!