A sigh escaped your lips as you closed your eyes and faced the sky

It felt like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders and you were finally free

That's when a body collided with yours, throwing you off balance and causing you to fall

"Now that was an explosion!" He exclaimed with a wide smile and red cheeks

"Get off, you're suffocating me" you shoved the male off and stood back up

"Don't be like that!" Shidou chuckled as he stood up and wrapped an arm around your shoulder pulling you close

"That was amazing Y/N!!" Kitsunezato ran in your direction with your other U-20 teammates following behind

As they prepared to embrace you in celebration, you managed to dodge to the side as the multiple men collided with Shidou whom you had left behind to fend for himself

"You're not going to be doing that with me" you scoffed at the group before walking back to your side of the field

When you got there, you were met by a smirking Aiku looking down on you

"You're finally out of your shell" he chuckled

"Oh shut it" you looked up at him "It was just getting really embarrassing watching professionals get outdone by a bunch of teenagers"

"At least we weren't the ones mopping around with a pathetic expression for the first half" he leaned down to get closer to you while placing a hand on your head

"L/N!!"

"L/N!!"

The crowd chanted your name in excitement

You pulled your jersey up to your face to wipe the sweat dripping down your cheek and then slightly leaned your face further into your shirt, covering it up

"What's this?" Shidou, who had broken out of the pile of bodies and caught back up with you asked "are you covering your face in embarrassment?!"

"Shut up" you turned away from the pink-haired male

"Is L/N Y/N weak to praise?!" He laughed as he got all up in your face

"Can you leave me alone?" You walked back your position in hopes of getting away from the male

Luck seemed to be on your side as everybody was asked to get back to their positions and you were able to escape from Shidou's teasing

"We'll continue this later!!" He declared as he cupped his mouth to make his voice louder

PLAYER SUBSTITUTION

Everybody turned to Blue Lock's side as Otoya was subbed out for Barou

It had been a while since you had last played Barou and from what you remember from the second selection, he had developed this newly egoistic way of playing where he 'devoured' his teammates

Since you left Blue Lock earlier due to being shipped off to the U20 team, hadn't seen or played with him to know how it worked, so this would be your first time seeing him in action

Everybody got back into their position and the match finally restarted

Isagi passed the ball to Rin as Barou ran past the two

You looked back at the brown-haired male, analyzing his every move

His mouvements were unpredictable

He seemed confident in what he was doing, but it also looked like he was focussed elsewhere while running

You followed his line of sight and realized he was eyeing Isagi, but the latter was only focused on passing the ball back and forth with Rin

You couldn't seem to comprehend what Barou was attempting to do

That's when it clicked in your mind as Rin passed the ball to Hiori

You ran forward to get in between Barou and Isagi, so you could interpret the pass that was about to be made

Hiori made a long pass, over to what everyone might've thought was Isagi, but the ball landed far too ahead of the male for him to get possession of it

"What the hell?!" Hayate, who had assumed the ball was aimed towards Isagi, exclaimed

You, who had been running in their direction, caught up to Barou who had come to steal the ball from Isagi

"I've figured out that kinky thing you have with Isagi" you smirked at the brown-haired male who scowled back at you "he's the one you like to devour, huh?"

"The hell you want, little miss loser" he growled at you who had your arm out in front of him, limiting his mouvements

"Boo, that was a lame insult" you booed his way as the both of you came to a stop, and you stood in front of him blocking his way

"I'm Isagi-hunting" he growled, which matched the animalistic expression on his face "out of my way"

"Unfortunately for you, I don't feel like doing that so we'll both have to bear with each other's presence" you mocked the male

Instead of responding to your taunts, the male went into a position that made it seem like he was going to take a shot

You took a step forward in a way to block him, but that's when he lowered his foot and kicked the ball back with the heel of his foot

He twirled around you, making his way past you

Your eyes were slightly wide in shock before a smirk came over your face, and you looked back at him with a look of realization

He used various chop-dribbles to get past the other defenders

You quickly ran after Barou to prevent him from scoring a goal while most of most of your teammates were focussed on him and Isagi

Isagi was causing lots of confusion for your teammates, who thought Barou was about to pass the ball to him

You stopped in your tracks when you noticed Darai defending against Barou's unpredictable moves

Despite Barou's illogical moves, Darai was barely but able to keep up with him

That's when you noticed someone on the far left side of the field, whom nobody paid attention to

Yukimiya.

Leaving the male alone was a horrible mistake on your teams part and you couldn't believe they had completely forgotten to keep track of his moments

"I'm still not used to playing like this again" you muttered as you hurriedly ran in the male's direction

It was too late as Barou shot the ball past Darai, which reflected off the nets pole and headed in Yukimiya's direction

"Don't take him on by yourself, someone go assist him!" You shout in your teammates direction, but it was too late for Yukimiya was able to dribble his way through them

He shot the ball between Niou and Neru and headed straight for the goal

Aiku was able to get there in time to block off the ball with his head, but that wasn't enough for him

He once again ran after the ball that was about to land in Nagi's possession, and leaped in the air where he deflected it with his head once more

The look in his eyes, you could tell it

He was feeling the same way as you

He was in the zone

"Second ball!!" Isagi exclaimed

"Not a chance" you muttered, running in the direction the ball was going to land in

The ball landed on Rin' s chest as he prepared to take on your teammates to make his way to the net

But he came to a halt when he saw you standing in front of him

"You know up until now, we've only played with each other, but never against each other" you smirked "we were both first in the rankings, and we never got to determine which one of us was better"

"It's obviously me" he scoffed "you may have changed your play style, but it won't change the fact that your mouvements are sloppy. You're clearly not used to playing like this"

"Is that what it seems like?" Your eyes went blank as you stated Rin down

An intense atmosphere surrounded the two of you

Your gaze was heavy and Rin felt like his knees were about to give out

You took a step towards him, causing the male to come back to reality

He couldn't let himself be intimidated when you hadn't done anything

You ran towards Rin as the latter slightly pushed the ball to his left with his foot, readying himself to counter you

'I feel uneasy' Rin thought as he stared at you intensely

The male looked behind you as he made eye contact with Isagi who was making his way to assist him

"Focus, genius" your voice, that had gotten closer, made him flinch

"I can't hesitate" he sigh, his mind flashing an image of Sae

His eyes gleamed in determination as he ran in your direction

The two of you collided as he attempted to put his hand to your stomach so he could push you away and get you off his path, but that was in vain

"Rin!!" Isagi shout as he held his arms out, ushering Rin to pass the ball over to him

Rin ignored the other male as he pushed against you once more, this time with more force

You pushed your body against his to counter his strength, but lost your balance when the male pulled back and made his way around you

He was about to run past you, but he came to a halt when he was met with a surprise

You standing before him

"How?!" He exclaimed

"That was lame" you sigh as you ran up to him and took advantage of his surprise to steal the ball from him

"If that's the best trick you had to get rid of me, then you're even worst than I thought" you scoffed before turning to the male

Your eyes were wide, and a dominating force almost made the male lose his balance

"Your leg's, the force you were using and especially that look in your eyes" you chucked "you were all too predictable"

You made a long pass over to the person Blue Lock dreaded the most

Itoshi Sae

You looks back at Rin once more and before running after Sae, you said

"You keep talking about how everyone else is mediocre, but you're not any different"

Chat idk how I feel abt this chapter tbh

Didn't proofread so bear with the grammar mistakes