Chapter 115: The Final Roster
On the screen, Shidou and Yukimiya were locked in a desperate, lung-bursting sprint for the ball.
Not far behind them, Kira stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the struggle with the detached air of a spectator who had already seen the ending.
"Come on, goggles! Do you really think you can stop me?" Shidou barked.
"I won't know until I try, will I?" Yukimiya shot back.
The two collided as the ball dropped, but Shidou's raw, erratic physicality won out. He contorted his frame at an impossible angle, snapping his foot across the ball.
GOAL!
The buzzer sounded. 5-2.
Shidou had buried the final nail in the coffin.
"Match over. Final score 5-2. Team A wins," the intercom announced.
Finally. It was over.
Kira let out a massive yawn and stretched his arms toward the ceiling. He immediately felt a few sharp, resentful gazes burning into his back. He turned to see Kiyora and Nanase looking at him with pure, unadulterated salt.
"Uh... hey guys," Kira said, giving them an apologetic, sheepish grin. He knew he'd basically been coasting for the last twenty minutes, and his lack of hustle was pretty obvious.
"Assemble in the main hall in six hours," Ego's voice crackled through the speakers. "I will be announcing the starting eleven for the match against the Japan U-20 National Team."
"Hell yeah," Kira muttered, pumping a fist. Finally, he could go get some real food.
***
Cafeteria.
Kira and Shidou were currently systematically destroying a mountain of food. As the warm nutrients hit his stomach, Kira felt a wave of pure bliss. He could have cried.
As he ate, a thought crossed his mind. In the original timeline, Shidou was supposed to get into a massive brawl with Rin during this phase, land himself in solitary, and eventually get poached by Itoshi Sae for the U-20 squad. But because Kira existed, the team brackets had shifted. Rin and Shidou still hated each other, but they hadn't come to blows.
'I wonder if Sae will still come looking for Shidou,' Kira thought, pausing with a fork halfway to his mouth.
"Hey, Kira-chan. Why'd you stop? The meat's getting cold," Shidou said, noticing the pause.
"Nothing. Just wondering what kind of team Ego is going to put together."
"Don't sweat it. No matter how he builds it, you and I are locks for that list," Shidou said, his voice dripping with confidence. "Once we're out there, we'll show those National Team brats what real freaks look like."
"Yeah. Hopefully," Kira replied. He wanted to believe it, but he knew Ego was dealing with external pressures now.
***
Monitoring Room.
Ego stared at the screen, his face a mask of calculation and slight annoyance. He had finally finalized the roster.
Anri walked in, looking anxious. "Is it ready, Ego-san?"
"Tch..." Ego let out a long, frustrated sigh.
"What's wrong?"
"To win, sometimes you have to make sacrifices." Ego muttered, sounding like the words tasted like poison.
If Kira and Shidou hadn't shown such terrifyingly good chemistry, this wouldn't be so hard. But they were a lethal duo, and now the JFU had forced his hand by demanding Shidou for the other side. Ego felt like he was being forced to break his own masterpiece. After hours of rearranging and theorizing, he finally clicked the 'Save' button.
***
The Central Hall.
Kira had managed to squeeze in a nap before heading to the meeting. When he walked in, the room was already buzzing with nervous energy.
"Kira! Over here!" Isagi called out, waving him over. "Where's Shidou? Isn't he usually attached to your hip?"
Kira scanned the room. "He's not here yet?"
He felt a pit of unease forming in his stomach. He looked around the entire hall twice, but the pink-haired menace was nowhere to be found.
"Are you looking for me, Kira?" Bachira asked, popping up in front of him with a wide, mischievous grin.
"Damn, Bachira! Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack," Kira said, clutching his chest. "I was looking for Shidou. Haven't seen him since dinner."
Bachira tilted his head. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him either."
'So it happened after all,' Kira thought. 'The JFU made their move.'
"Oh man, I can't breathe. My heart is pounding," Nanase said, clutching his chest.
"If it pops out, can I eat it?" Hiori asked with a completely straight face.
"Wait, what?!" Nanase jumped back, looking genuinely terrified.
The heavy doors at the front of the hall slid open. A thin, bespectacled man stepped out, a tactical clipboard tucked under his arm.
"Whoa... is that him?"
"The man himself?"
"A living, breathing Jinpachi Ego."
The players erupted in whispers. They were so used to seeing him as a giant head on a screen that seeing him in the flesh was a surreal experience. Ego waved a hand for silence, and the room went dead quiet instantly. They had spent months being conditioned to follow his voice; seeing him in person only amplified that authority.
"Listen up," Ego began, his voice cutting through the silence. "First, let's redefine the premise of this game. Football is a scoring sport. Period."
"Goals are the only metric that determines the value of a striker. That is why I designed the third selection: to test your adaptability and find the core of a team built on pure scoring efficiency."
"Are you ready? I am about to announce the starting eleven that will take down the Japan U-20 National Team."
Everyone held their breath. This was it. The moment their lives changed. Even Kira felt a slight tremor of anticipation.
"First, our lone striker. The tip of the spear—Ryosuke Kira."
"Obviously."
"No surprises there."
"I'm not even mad. He earned that spot," someone muttered.
The players accepted the choice without a hint of protest. Even Rin gave a slight, begrudging nod. Kira was the most versatile offensive weapon in the building, and everyone knew it.
Ego glanced at Kira before continuing. "Ryosuke Kira. An average of 2.8 goals per match. The highest efficiency in the facility. This team will be built entirely around your ability to produce high-volume, high-impact offense."
"I don't want a team that plays it safe. I want a team that can be down five goals and still have the ego to believe they can put six in the net. And the only player capable of leading that kind of hyper-offensive evolution from the front is our All-Around Center Forward."
Kira felt a surge of pride. 'All-Around Center Forward? I like the sound of that. Keep it coming, Ego.'
"Next, the goalkeeper—Gin Gagamaru."
Gagamaru looked like he'd just been told he won a free toaster. He'd been playing keeper for Team Z and during the trials, and he'd actually grown to like the view from the back.
"Your reaction time and total body flexibility are unmatched," Ego explained. "You are the guardian of this team's ego."
"Sure. Sounds good," Gagamaru replied, looking as spacey as ever. Kira couldn't help but chuckle at how chill the guy was.
"Now, the center-backs. Ikki Niko. Jyubei Aryu."
No surprises there either. Niko's ability to read the pitch and intercept plays was elite, and Aryu's reach and verticality were essential for stopping aerial threats.
"And to provide speed and ball control on the flanks, our fullbacks," Ego continued. "On the right—Hyoma Chigiri. On the left—Meguru Bachira."
The defensive line of Blue Lock was set.
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Hand over all of your Power Stones!!
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