30. GLAM BREAK

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APPARENTLY,

Isagi had, once again, gone off on his own and decided to have a friendly chat with Rin Itoshi, and because he never learned his lesson, he challenged him to a match once more. You took your sweet time digging into him, but eventually, you accepted fate and his choices and decided it wouldn't be too bad being around that pink-haired girl, Komi, once more.

You didn't think this about many people, but you thought she was pretty cool.

You walk through the prison halls of Blue Lock towards the field, already dressed in your tracksuit and your bag slung around Barou's shoulders—though, he refused to walk beside you. He insisted a king should lead, what a joke!

Instead, you were beside Chigiri, and things were a bit tense. Neither of you wished to mention what had happened that night, so you both decided to just talk about something else instead—such as tactics for this game (which was unusual given what you two usually conversed about).

"Will your leg be fine trying to pull that off?" You look up at him and tilt your head slightly to give yourself a better view. You can't ignore the way your stomach twists when he nods with a small smile. 

"I think if I'm able to do it in practice, I'll be fine doing it here," he nods, hair swished back over his shoulder. "So you don't need to worry, I'll be fine."

You pause and lower your gaze, ignoring the strange look you receive from Nagi. "Right. Okay." Soon after, you all emerge out of the tunnel and into bright lights, surrounded by the green battlefield. Barou slings your bag off his shoulder and places it on the silver bench, but you spend one moment more with Chigiri, "Good luck."

"Thanks. Today... just keep your eyes on me," Squinted eyes and a smile fall over his lips and he promptly turns around, walking on the field. Red eyes stare at you for a second too long—but you don't really notice. 

However, you do see how Isagi's eyes flitter between you and Chigiri, and for a second, you think that his ridiculous vision may have realised something. It doesn't matter, however, because your attention is soon caught away from him by Bachira.

The moment you look to the other side, Bachira is already waving and smiling widely at you, yellow eyes as bright as ever. You can almost feel his energy radiating off the field from where you sit, and you give him a small wave back, accompanied by a smile. It seems to pump him up well enough because he looks to smile even wider when he turns away.

The moment Chigiri walks on the field, Aryu notices him and walks towards him, lips parted and eyes wide in shock. He doesn't acknowledge how Tokimitsu asks what's he doing, and without asking, wraps a finger around a lock of Chigiri's long hair. 

"I must know what conditioner you use," His sharp eyes flit down to the ends of Chigiri's long locks, fiddling with it in his touch.

Chigiri looks confused, and almost a statue in surprise at how this tall, lanky guy suddenly came up to him, "Just the stuff in the communal bath. Same as everyone else."

"But your cuticles are beyond perfection. Clearly, you're one of the precious few with natural-born glam," Aryu says, a moment before his hand gets slapped away by Chigiri—an annoyed expression on his face.

"Don't touch the hair, alright?"

"My apologies, its beauty was beckoning me. I worship everything that is glam." Aryu places a hand on his chest, eyes fluttering closed. "It's an honour to battle a fellow glamorous being. Shake my hand, Hyoma Chigiri."

You almost burst out in laughter when you witness Chigiri's confused face when he shakes Aryu's hand—their matchup will definitely be interesting. You look over at Komi sitting beside you with an exhausted expression. She's rubbing the bridge of her nose and shaking her head, back hunched over.

"I have a feeling this is going to be a memorable game, Jyubei Aryu. By the way, that's a real grandpa name," Chigiri says once he's taken hold of Aryu's hand and given it a firm shake. You visibly facepalm in the background once he's spoken his peace. How blunt can you get? That was just plain rude.

Aryu abruptly lets go of him and takes a few steps back, face visibly contorted in anger. He clutches his forehead, hair flying in all different directions when he talks through a creaky and strained voice, "How dare you?! As if I wasn't already massively self-conscious about how un-glam my name is?! It belongs to a dusty relic... Like some medieval samurai... That... is the only thing I have conflicts about...!!!"

You see Komi grow redder the longer he keeps talking—so visibly embarrassed that she has to hide her face behind her hands. She whispers a soft apology to you underneath her breath—and you feel like you have to convince her she's done nothing wrong because if you don't, she'll implode.

Aryu proceeds to strike various model-like poses while flicking around his ridiculously long hair—you think he should audition for Rapunzel in the upcoming live-action—with sparkles flying around him once again (seriously, where does he even get all that glitter from?).

Tokimitsu tries to calm down his buddy (hopelessly) and waves his hands around trying to gather the glamorous boy's attention. You turn over to Komi, who's staring down at the floor with a dead look on her face (which is still bright red). You honestly feel bad for her.

Barou snarls, a dangerous aura radiating from him with the ball in hand, "All of you shut up! You better hurry and get into formation before I lose my patience." His words feel more like a death threat than some kind of warning—and somebody else seems to think so too.

Tokimitsu, with his arms wrapped around his distraught friend, whimpers out, "AAh!! We're so sorry! Actually... do you think maybe... w—we can take a rain-check...? Well... with Aryu in his current state, maybe we should w—wait until we're on our best...?" He slides down on his knees in front of Barou, which leaves Aryu collapsed on the floor.

Wow. Can't believe they're in the top 3. You hide your mouth behind your hand when Barou makes such a scary face that it causes Tokimitsu to have a mental breakdown, clutching his head and folding like a lawn chair on the grass. You deadpan again at Barou who's grabbing onto Tokimitsu's collar and forcibly dragging him up.

Tokimitsu screams something about RELEASE ME, DEMON?! but you don't pay it much mind. That's what everybody thinks of Barou when they first meet him, anyway. Komi, on the other hand, looked as if she was about to have an aneurysm from how pale her face was and you were sure she'd stopped breathing at this point.

How does she even manage them? Maybe I did get lucky with my team... even with the cocky princess, lazy spoilt brat, and never-listens-to-anybody-else-king. Oh, and Isagi.

Nagi is matched up with Rin next, which leaves Isagi and Bachira as the last pair. As soon as everybody gets into their positions, the whistle finally blows, and Bachira starts off with dribbling across the field. He uses an incredibly fast dribbling technique to try and shake Isagi, and usually, it would work—but not this time.

Not since Isagi has improved. You smile a little, watching Bachira's shock. You don't know what he's been doing all this time—but you can say one thing for sure, you think that Isagi has worked harder than anybody else all this time.

Bachira tries to break through where Nagi stands, but Barou rushes in like a raging bull and covers his back so that Bachira can't move anywhere. Tokimitsu calls for the ball, and Bachira complies—however, it is swiftly stolen by Isagi, who Barou cusses out soon after.

They're never going to get along, you shake your head with a grimace.

Isagi kicks the ball over to Nagi, who runs down the field, towards their desired goal. Rin stands within Nagi's way—but since Rin is in such an uncomfortable spot for Nagi, the snow-haired boy passes, down to Chigiri. Chigiri jumps up over Aryu and Rin's legs and maneuvers a ball in such a split second that it's almost impossible to catch.

He shoots the ball into the goal soon after and earns your team their first point of the match.

You grin, folding one leg over the other and straightening your back when he pumps his fist up in the air and high-fives Isagi. Just as you said—I'll keep my eyes on you.

The whistle blows once again, and Bachira is passed the ball by Rin. This time, Bachira doesn't make the same mistake and keeps an eye out for Barou, all the while Isagi stares him down. Aryu and Chigiri run down the field, while Nagi stays put in a defensive position.

Barou yells something out, which seems to distract Bachira enough so he stops—so, Isagi takes advantage of the situation and runs after him. However, it seems like Isagi is the one who was getting played, because right as he got close, Bachira kicked the ball away without so much of a glance, over to Aryu.

Chigiri sped up, seemingly about to receive it—when Aryu used his long, spider-like limbs and whipped his leg in front of Chigiri, sending the ball over to the right side. Tokimitsu runs alongside Barou, and it seems even the king can't out-strength such a mutant—because as soon as the ball rolls past, Tokimitsu passes it with the side of his foot in a surprisingly calm manner.

Your eyes dart to the middle of the court immediately, and there, you see the one person that was missing from this entire equation—Rin. You wonder how he had managed to go so unnoticed when his presence on the court is so suffocatingly overwhelming. He receives the ball with ease, and in his path, stands only Nagi. It's almost like Nagi has won—with how each of Rin's shooting paths is blocked, but as soon as Nagi runs closer to try and slide the ball away...

Rin jukes with a simple touch, but Nagi has given enough time for both Isagi and Chigiri to run in—but, simultaneously, has also given Bachira enough time to run in and even the numbers. Rin pulls his leg back and acts like he's going to blast the ball in, which successfully fools Chigiri. Then, he jumps over Isagi's failed swipe and kicks the ball into the goal like it was second nature.

He faked out two people back-to-back, then jumped over Isagi and scored... What does he even get fed? You squint your eyes at Rin, lips curled downwards. He evens out the scoreboard without even breaking a sweat, and Isagi lies on the ground with a ground jaw.

"Rin is incredible," Komi finally speaks, her stern-sounding voice rings out through your ears. You turn your head to her, and you see her eyes are deadly focused on the field in front of her, and she has an uncomfortable expression on her face. "I can't even begin to understand how his mind works, but... I still... am not the biggest fan of his personality... Even if he is kind of carrying our team."

She places her cheek in her hand with a pout. You press your lips together before speaking, "I don't think I can understand either. But, if anybody can understand the way Rin functions, it will be Isagi." Komi gives you a confused look but doesn't say anything afterwards. She places her face in her hands and only watches with a tired face.

Chigiri runs down the field with the ball in play—blocked by Aryu's overbearingly tall figure. Nagi runs down the field, hoping to attract some attention—which, thankfully, happens. Everyone has their sights set on the snow-haired boy, so much so that none of them even think to pay attention to how Isagi runs down through the back—or how Chigiri passes the ball over all their heads to Isagi.

Nobody, except Rin.

Rin catches the ball mid-air with ease, rushing forward and only stopping when blocked by both Nagi and Barou. He doesn't hesitate to give the ball to Bachira, turning away and letting the bob-cut boy take the lead role in this play. Bachira sends the ball flying forward, past Isagi, but it's clear that it wasn't intended to be a kill shot, rather, it curves.

The ball is sent Aryu's way, but he is quickly getting countered by Chigiri and Nagi. With a certain spin on the ball, Aryu manages to jump high enough to reach the ball mid-air, with such a jump only he could manage—and sends the ball into the goal with a headbutt. His hair whips behind him in the wind (we are indoors?) and blood drips down his nose.

Visibly, you can see Komi's jaw tighten at the sight of that, and she looks concerned. A manager must take care of their players, after all. I can't say I wasn't ever worried about some of them. You shiver at the memories, then shake your head and clear your thoughts.

With a score of 2 — 1 in Komi's team's favour, the whistle blows and the game begins once more. Chigiri receives the ball and quickly takes off across the field, with Aryu following closely behind him. Barou calls for the ball—and it seems Isagi uses him as a distraction once again to disappear behind the crowd.

However, as it previously showed, Rin sees right through him easily. Out of all these people, they have the same vision—they see the same things, and you think everyone on the field understands this. Especially somebody like Nagi, you decide, as you watch him maneuver exactly the way Isagi did, receiving the ball from Chigiri. 

When Rin catches sight of Nagi and blocks his path, the snow-haired boy sends the ball over Isagi's way without so much of a glance, and immediately takes off running once again. Isagi returns the ball to Nagi after some struggling with Bachira, yet, even with such a perfect pass, Rin still manages to keep up with Nagi's movements, so Nagi has no choice but to feint him out.

Rin's eyes widen—the most emotions you've seen him show—when he slides down on the ground, and without a hint of mercy, Nagi blasts the ball into the goal, evening the scoreboard out once more.

It's almost like steam emits from where Nagi stands, when he wipes his lip with his thumb and peers back at Isagi, with an expression only he could possibly hope to understand.  Isagi jumps on Nagi's back and Chigiri gives him a huge high-five—celebrating the otherworldly goal Nagi just produced.

Even looking at Komi now, her eyes were wide with wonder and lips parted in shock at the scene she had just witnessed, "Incredible... Number 7 is amazing." A smile curls onto your lips at the genuine praise she spouts, and you stare over at Nagi with a proud look—something you're sure he catches because he makes eye contact with you and nods.

Once again, Nagi proves why exactly he gets coddled so much off-field... I'll have to remember to give him some food again next time we eat.

You remember his request for you to touch his hair (something you remember Reo doing a lot back in the first selection) and at first, you insistently declined, but maybe you would take him up on that offer now. Just maybe.

The whistle blows once again, and Rin sends the ball flying back towards Tokimitsu and Barou. They both charge for it—and it seems like Barou's going to reach it first... when the ball spins on the ground and bounces in the opposite direction, towards Tokimitsu. Your jaw positively drops at the sight, and you have to force your jaw closed when he backs up into Barou with a killer shoulder charge.

Are you serious? To make a ball turn in a certain direction once it's on the ground without you even being there is one thing, but to have enough confidence to pull it off on a whim is insane. You remember your time as a player a few years back, and it took months of practising for you to be able to even turn the ball in a certain direction once you had kicked it. How long has he been practising?

Rin instantaneously gets into position, and Tokimitsu sends the ball flying over to him in response. Instead of taking the shot from there, Rin taps the ball and it soars towards Aryu (and Chigiri, who was following right next to him) who has to jump to his maximum reach to trap the ball with his chest. Chigiri positions himself in front of Aryu's shooting range—so, he passes right back to Rin.

The following events happen in this order—Rin pretends to shoot the ball to distract Nagi, which doesn't work this time. Rin then fakes Nagi out with a roulette that looks ridiculously hard to pull off. Rin then proceeds to send the ball over to Bachira. Bachira then scores a point.

Your eyes narrow at Rin Itoshi, and how he nonchalantly walks away after being such a technical playmaster in that whole situation—you seriously wonder what goes on through his head. You would really like to know how somebody like that even thinks. Komi looks just as annoyed as you do, but you guessed it was for different reasons.

Her lips were pulled down into a frown, and she rested her elbows on her crossed knees as she spoke, "His movements are incredible...  but I just can't stand how he uses everybody as puppets. It just feels wrong."

She sucks in a deep sigh, rolling her head back, "Then again, if they're fine with it, then who am I to say anything right? He'd just call me lukewarm." Komi gives Rin a sharp glare.

Everybody gets back into their original positions, and for some reason, you start sensing a dark aura surrounding your side of the field. It's probably nothing though, right? A cold sweat runs down your back.

The whistle blows, and the ball is sent over towards Isagi. Each member of your team runs forward, and once they pass the centre point, Isagi kicks the soccer ball toward Chigiri. His path is once again blocked by Aryu, but it doesn't seem to falter him, because he takes a sharp turn around the glamourous man. 

Of course, Rin predicted that move as well, so Chigiri made the correct decision in sending the ball all the way over to the other side—towards Nagi. Nagi is huddled in by the mutant anxiety monster Tokimitsu, and watching the way Isagi skillfully maneuvers himself around Bachira, and receives Nagi's pass.

Isagi runs towards his desired shooting range from the goal, hair flicking back from the wind, only to stop abruptly when Rin blocks his road towards victory with a deadpan expression. They cross shoulders, bumping into each other harshly. It's almost looking like all hope is lost towards scoring a goal...

When you see that there is one special person missing. He comes running in at top speeds, frown twisted as angrily as ever and brows furrowed as hard as he could possibly let them. The one and only king comes in and swoops the ball away from Isagi, stealing a goal from right under his nose. Even the great Rin Itoshi couldn't even react to Barou's egotistical play—standing next to Isagi with an irked expression.

You almost laugh at Komi's expression—even more shocked than when Nagi made his goal. Her jaw is completely slack and you're afraid her eyes might pop out of her head when she speaks, "He seriously stole from his own teammate? What kind of play even is that?!"

You snort, covering your mouth behind your hand and grinning at Barou's victorious expression (which is really just him looking down on everyone else), "Total stupidity. But he makes it work, so I don't get too mad." 

Barou's so unpredictable and selfish that it looks like that even Rin can't predict him. Maybe he's our shot at winning. A bright look forms in your eyes and a grin stretches across your face.

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note: drinking game idea. take a shot every time i say ball lol. boring chapter sorry. next one going to be boring too because i fucking hate this game so much i hate it i hate it i hate it