14. GOAL!

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THE

game continued after what felt like seconds for you, walking back to your seat and setting your (significantly lighter) bag down. As soon as the whistle blows, the ball is passed to Kunigami, and he's quickly pressed by defenders of the other side. It's no surprise, considering the inhuman shot he had just made less than 15 minutes before. Kunigami makes the wise decision and passes the ball over to Bachira—who kicks it over to Gagamaru. The pass is short, though, and it seemed Gagamaru took a few steps too forward, so, he had to take the drastic decision.

The ball flies off of his feet—you watch with wide eyes at his *scorpion kick—as he utilizes his insane flexibility to get the ball into the corner of the net. It seemed like it was going to fly in, until Zantetsu, popped up out of nowhere, headbutting the ball away from the goalpost. The ball flies over to Isagi and he catches it with his chest, running forward until his path is blocked and the ball is stolen from underneath his feet. 

Isagi runs after the ball, a strange blue aura emitting from him in waves, but Nagi comes up right beside him, muttering something. Isagi visibly growls, gritting his teeth and dashes forward, and Nagi slows down until he's standing still—watching Isagi run. 

"Just stay up top!" You can hear something—for once—which is Reo shouting directions at his plebian teammates, "We'll hit them on the counter—!!!" However, he is abruptly cut off when Raichi dives into his side, hand forcefully shoved in front of Reo's chest and grins wickedly. He says something to him with malice evident in his expression—something that clearly seems to tick him off or hit a previously cooled nerve.

Reo slams his elbow into Raichi's throat with full force, and the sharp-toothed boy stumbles back in response, clutching his injured area but still holding a wicked grin. Your eyes widen and you gasp, but that shock quickly turns to white-hot rage as your brows furrow and your jaw clenches. You stand up out of your seat and you take a single step forward, foot hovering behind the white line separating you from the court. You can barely feel Kyouka's slim fingers wrapping around your arm to keep you grounded and to not do something you would regret.

A whistle blows, and the speaker's voice booms across the room, "Team V, number 9. Reo Mikage—for elbowing an opponent, you receive a yellow card." Your eyes narrowed directly at that purple-haired boy and you sit down, lips still pressed tightly together.

That was deserving of a red, you think, folding a leg over your other, then resting your elbows on your knee. Raichi quickly kicks the ball over to Chigiri, who quickly runs to the side. Zantetsu is right on him, however, and reacts faster than Chigiri can move. The redhead glares, then kicks the ball forward and dashes after it, Zantetsu following. The glasses-wearer has a burst of speed and zooms past Chigiri, but it takes only a few seconds for that speed to wear down and Chigiri to gain the ground in speed once again.

Chigiri slams his foot into the ball, and it lands right in the corner of the goal, evening out the scoring board. He cheers, and you find yourself smiling at him. Kyouka watches in silence, lips slightly parted and eyes wide with shock.

"You... you caught up..." She whispers, and goosebumps trail down her neck when you turn your head, and give her a confused glance.

"Of course we did. Our team won't lose," you say with so much certainty that Kyouka finds herself almost agreeing with you out of habit. She shakes her head, tugging at the end of her long brown hair, eyes darting around her side of the field. Reo runs with the ball and a furious expression on his face, but he soon meets with the unbreakable iron stalker that is Raichi. He cackles wildly as Reo's eyes dart around hopelessly.

The look on Reo's face is almost saddening, if you stare hard enough, you think. You're unable to take your eyes off of him, just because of his pitiful expression. To describe it in one word... you could only say utterly defeated. But it seemed you weren't the only one who had seen this expression because Nagi quickly ran forward and called for the ball from Reo.

Nagi dribbles skillfully, easily pushing through both Igaguri and Imamura. He kicks the ball over to Zantetsu in a swift motion, who does not go without Chigiri quick on his tail. Nagi calls for a pass once again, and in a tight-fitting angle, he spins on his heel, lifting himself off the ground and slamming the ball into the net.

Nagi falls flat on the ground as soon as he lands, and Reo comes to his side without a hint of hesitation, helping him up with wide eyes. 

"That angle was so sharp, you could cut yourself on it," you murmur, more to yourself than anything—but Kyouka still looks at you, head tilted and eyes resting all the same. She lets out a sigh, slumping down in her seat.

"I didn't know Nagi was capable of moving on his own... I seriously considered he was just an extension of Reo." Her exhausted tone and squinted eyes make her comment feel humourous to you, and you snort. Kyouka looks at you in shock, a hopeful smile spreading across her lips, but it soon dies down when you cough, and turn your head away, going silent once again.

The whistle blows, signalling the resume of the match and Bachira runs with the ball. There, in his path, are three defenders, waiting for him to slip up to steal it away from him. Chigiri gets passed, and he uses this opportunity to run down the field with his superb speed once again, racing against Zantetsu. Chigiri, with his ability to keep top speed for an extended time, was clearly about to reach the ball first—if Nagi hadn't been there, waiting. 

Then, with another twist of events, Isagi stole the ball away from right under Nagi's feet, leaving it open for Chigiri to run by and take. With an order from Reo, their defenders all moved to cover Chigiri's path and with a swift move—Chigiri shot. However, the goalkeeper barely grazed it with his fingers, and it blew off the side of the goalpost. You mutter a curse under your breath, brows furrowed as you look at Chigiri.

He looks distraught, but Team Z doesn't stop moving. The defence was all focused on Chigiri, so it left the left side laughably open, right for Team Z's designated feral boy, Gagamaru to take a shot. Reo blocked it and fell onto his back, blasting off his foot and forward into the mid-field—right into Kunigami's designated area to shoot. Nobody would be able to block his disgustingly powerful shot—as it blasted into the net and scored a breathtakingly beautiful point.

Kunigami lets out a loud cheer as soon as the points even out, and the others tackle him in a hug. A shiver travels down your spine, and you watch in awe as the scoreboard rises.

You cover your smile with your hands, lips trembling in delight as you squeal in your mind, Kunigamiii!!!! That was just... way too awesome!

The whistle blows, and a guy from the back row passes up to Zantetsu. He kicks the ball over the entirety of the midfield—just as your boys did from the very beginning—to Nagi, who is being relentlessly tailed by Isagi. They both pause when the ball starts dropping, and Nagi stares down at the ground when he suddenly takes a step back, and the ball bounces off of his shoulders. The snow-haired boy does a spinning maneuver around Isagi and winds up for a kick.

Your stomach drops, and you feel your heart speed up. No. No. This can't. You glance up to the clock—brightly seared into your retinas, less than five minutes are left—and then back down to Nagi, and goosebumps form down your arms. This can't be happening. It'll all be gone. There would be no way you could all make two points in less than five minutes. Everything...

You grip the edge of the bench, fingernails digging into the metal and you make a point to drive your heels into the ground, so you are absolutely sure you won't move from your place. Is this really how it all ends? You wonder, and you can almost feel your heart shatter in your chest. They've worked so hard... We've...

A strange static feeling fills your mind, and it seems everything almost goes in slow motion. It's all too sudden for you to fully process—when somebody grabs ahold of Nagi's face and drives him to the floor in a full-out rugby league tackle, both of them falling onto the grass before the ball could be kicked from its place.

A whistle blows, and you're too stunned to react as the speaker starts blaring its' noises again. "Foul by Team Z. Denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. Red card for Wataru Kuon, you're out."

You don't even flinch when Kyouka stands up out of her seat, and, in heavy contrast to her usual meek personality, yells out about what the hell are you all doing, or something along those lines. That static noise that fills your ears doesn't go away and only grows louder and louder with each voice that tries to overtake it. Kyouka. The speakers. Reo. Kuon.

What even is this?

Everything was riding on this game—including you, and your much-desired paycheck—and yet, they all pushed through. As if this thought wasn't in their head, you think, and still, they have the will to make it. Three minutes of extra time—you stare up at the board. Three minutes to get a ball in. Reo winds his leg for the free kick, and despite his past plays of constantly passing to others, he shoots the ball through himself. Iemon dives for it, blasting off of his fingertips and backwards.

Zantetsu sprints for it, the ball landing in front of his leg and winding it up to kick—when Raichi, in an incredibly fetal position, blocks the ball with the side of his thigh, grinning maliciously at the glasses-wearer. Rebounding off of Raichi's leg, the soccer ball flies all the way over, where Nagi catches it with his chest. He lets the ball bounce onto the ground in front of him, and he, once again, is preparing himself to slam it in—when he sees the self-made wall of men that would block a straight, cutthroat shot. 

So, he feints them out. He taps it lightly with the tip of his shoe, and it flies over Iemon, Igaguri and Imamura, inches away from landing into the goal—when Gagamaru dashes forward and kicks it up. The soccer ball rebounds off the goalpost and you are saved once again, you think and let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. Your chest is accelerating with this tension that is thick in the air, permeating your every sense.

The ball finally lands back to your team—on Isagi's foot. Isagi and the offensive-oriented players all dash to the other side. Reo makes a dive to run the ball off of Isagi's tracks—but he counters it by kicking it over to Bachira. Bachira makes use of his insane dribbling and slides the ball around his blockers swiftly, right before he passes right back to Isagi. Isagi looks around, then meets the eyes of the faster player on the field—and boots the ball over to him with scary accuracy.

When Chigiri sees the defence laid upon his route—he passes right back to Isagi, in a chain-like formation that looks almost impossible to consistently block. With the majority of the defence drawn away to Chigiri, Isagi runs forward and passes to Kunigami when two players run at him.

However, blasting past the ginger, Zantetsu slides from underneath and kicks the ball away—and without the agility of Chigiri, or the dribbling skills of Bachira, Kunigami is unable to dodge the fake-glasses wearer's kick. The ball flies past the two when Raichi suddenly comes running and slams his foot into the soccer ball, where Bachira catches it and juggles it on the tip of his shoe. Raichi, from his crouching position, screams at them to finally score it, or he'll kill them, and you can't help but agree.

If you all lose this now... You stand up, but this time, you don't say anything and only watch the match with so much intensity, that you wouldn't be too surprised if you were glowing. I'll seriously kill you all.

The defenders all go to block Kunigami and Chigiri—who had both made a name for themselves during this match—which leaves one last person open... Bachira meets his intense, glowing eyes, and giggles, sending the ball flying over to Isagi. Nagi runs up right behind him, and in an intense battle of (probably mental stress) and hard glares, Isagi finally dashes forward.

With one last, intense direct shot that leaves him tripping over his own feet and lying on the floor, it blasts past the goalkeeper's fingers, and into the net behind him. It's hard for you to even react as Isagi screams, pumping his fist up into the air and cheers as loudly as his lungs could possibly let him. The rest of the team all charge in and tackle him to the ground, jumping on him and engulfing him in bone-crushing hugs.

The rest of Team V lay there on the grass, utterly defeated and spent... except for Nagi. He frantically grabs the ball from the net and rushes over to Reo, eyes misty and clouded as he talks. They clear up as soon as the speaker blares a whistle, and the game is officially over. 

"And that's time! Final score, 5 — 4! Team Z wins!"

You don't waste any time—because as soon as she says those final words, you drop everything, ignoring Kyouka's pleas for you to wait a second, and run over to your teammates, your friends, and jump onto Isagi, laughter rumbling from your chest as you squeeze his neck and dig your face into his shoulder.

"You're a stupid tease, you know that?!" Your voice is muffled from just how hard you're digging your face into the fabric of his sweaty, gross practice jersey, but you don't care. You don't register how his arms wrap around your torso and hug you back just as tightly, chuckles falling from his lips as you squeeze. "Waiting until the last second to score... you're ridiculous!"

And despite those words, when you pull away to look into his eyes, he knows that you don't mean that. A wide grin spreads across your lips, and you have to turn your head away and cover your mouth so your cheeks stop stinging. When you finally remove yourself from him—you notice Kunigami walking over to Kuon—who is standing in the corner, alone.

The muscular boy spares Kuon a friendly grin and extends his hand—the team player in him shining through, "We won—and you're still part of this team. So—!!!" He's abruptly cut off by Raichi tugging on his collar, a scowl on his lips.

"Don't forgive him that easily, hero. He betrayed us and I'm not letting him off the hook, not by a long shot." Raichi is uncharacteristically calm as he speaks, voice toned down and eyelids resting across his pupils. He lets go of Kunigami and takes a step forward, looking straight into Kuon's eyes. "But you know, if you hadn't flattened Nagi like that, we wouldn't have won. So, whatever. C'mere, you traitor."

Raichi extends his hand with a teasing grin—showing off his sharpened teeth. You feel a strange sense of pride at how far he's come. Going from screaming (maybe he still does that) and death threats (and maybe, he still does that too) to allowing a traitor and a teammate to shake his fellow hand. Kuon steps forward hesitantly, reaching his hand to Raichi's...

When Raichi's hand suddenly flies up, and curls into a fist—slamming his knuckles right into Kuon's face, the sheer force of his punch causes the long-haired boy to tumble to the floor, and Raichi sneers, standing over him. "I'm still gonna hate you for the rest of my life! But at least this evens out your backstabbing! Got it, ya piece of trash?!"

He turns to you all, and you decide that maybe he hadn't come too far in his development... and strangely, you felt okay with that. "Who here's with me on this?!" Whoops and cheers for Raichi surround you all, and you laugh—hiding your mouth behind your hand when you snort. You look at Kuon wipe his now bloody nose, and all his other various past injuries, and your feet move on their own.

The cheers grow silent, and you step forward, grass crunching beneath your sneakers, as you stand before Kuon. You look down, and he stares up at you—bright violet eyes focused on yours, and he puts his hand up in defence—like he is expecting you to hit him too. But, you don't, and he watches at how you grab onto his larger palm and pull him up with all your might, your head gradually moving from tilted down to looking up as he rises to his full height.

You reach your thumb up, and wipe some of the blood from underneath his nose, "And you... need an icepack." You snort as he moves his head back slightly, cheeks growing red. You let go of his palm and stand beside Kunigami, a pleased expression on your face. He looks down at you—eyes filled with gleeful amusement, and he ruffles your hair, a large hand resting atop your head as he laughs.

"All building 5's matches have been completed. We will now announce the results of the first selection. The winners of the five-team round robin are as follows—in first place, Team V, eleven players progress. And in second, Team Z, eleven players progress. Per the rules, the top players from the disqualified teams will now move on as well, three players in total. These remaining twenty-five advance to the second Blue Lock selection."

The speaker-lady's voice rings out, and your entire team—including you, this time—cheers, jumping up and down with the announcement that everybody (including you) will pass. Everybody is safe. You're safe. They did it.

You smile, eyes crinkling into small, crescent moon shapes, We did it.

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* The scorpion kick, also known as a reverse or back hammer kick, is a physical move in that is achieved by diving or throwing the body forwards and then placing the hands on the ground to lunge the back heels forward to kick an incoming ball.