51. ANYTHING, TO ENSURE IT

*⋆｡˚𖦹࣪˖ ִֶָ⋆｡°✩

SOON

Anri squeals, face flushed pink and excitement practically radiating from her figure. "Amazing... they did it! They caught up!" She types in something on her tablet, then quickly peers over at Ego. "But I wonder... Why did our offence strategy suddenly work? Makes me wonder how we were having so much trouble in the first place..."

"Nagi is just really good," You nod, face planted in your hands. "He's totally brought up our morale."

"Don't you two errand girls get carried away by a simple goal," Ego doesn't even glance away from the field when he rudely insults you—you give him an offended stare—"If they can create a situation where they've got a 50-50 chance of scoring, our forwards are expected to do that much."

Anri hides her obvious contempt for Ego at that moment, puffing out her cheeks and looking back towards the field, "Meaning... the play before that was the critical one?"

"Exactly," Ego leans back in his chair, leg propped up over his knee and eyes dark, "Itoshi Rin's improvisation... was the origin of that goal. Didn't I tell you? Our players are strong. All the selections I put them through have trained their capacity to improvise."

He pauses—like he's taking a moment to think. "What is the objective of this match, [name]?" His eyes meet your own curious gaze.

You're shocked—you didn't expect him to ask you this so suddenly. You press your lips together, while you think of your answer. It's so simple, yet so true. "It's to win. Plain and simple."

"Yes." He nods, and you discreetly let out a sigh of relief. "Whether they can get into that mindset quickly will be crucial. Even if your plans fall apart, even if the path you take is not ideal, as long as you don't lose sight of your objective, your situation just becomes another challenge."

"That's... the mindset necessary for improvising!" Anri nods her head, nodding in realisation. Ego looks down at the ground behind his lens, eyes froggish and unblinking.

"Now you understand, Anri-chan. Blue Lock doesn't need an average joe who waits around for orders. What we want... are the egoists who discover their own challenges. Itoshi Rin moved towards the challenge faster than anyone else, and Yoichi Isagi responded to that... It seems Yoichi Isagi really is the key... to Itoshi Rin's awakening."

You chew on the inside of your cheek, tearing your eyes away from Ego and Anri once the game restarts, back at 1 — 1.

Sae receives the ball and is quickly met with none other than his own brother, Rin. The tense air between the two is unmistakable, and it sends a jolt of panic towards your spine. They... don't look happy to see each other. Maybe... I was wrong.

Sae and Rin duke it out for a little while, until the elder manages to dribble the ball away, out of Rin's clutches and he runs forward—Rin doesn't hesitate to latch himself to his brother's side and try to helplessly take the ball off of him.

Both Kitsunezato and Isagi and both open and call for the ball, but both the brothers choose to pointedly ignore the two.

A fated battle between brothers... You puff out your cheeks and lean forward, utterly entranced. What a show.

Sae and Rin both have personal beef with each other—it's blatantly obvious—but their little feud is interrupted in the middle when Sae manages to nutmeg his little brother, rushing down the field towards his goal.

Sae sends the ball flying over and it goes towards their ace—Sendou. Niko and his ridiculous vision realise this—he rushes forward and slides down the grass when he suddenly halts. Sendou is confused by his motions and catches the ball with the side of his shoe—Niko abruptly rushes forward and slams his foot into the ball, right over Sendou's foot, away and over to Karasu.

Karasu catches it with ease and when pressed by Hayate, doesn't waste a second in sending the ball over the field to his own greatest weapon—Otoya. Otoya manages to juke out his marker, Darai, by using Karasu to trade passes—their long-time strategy that you can easily recognise.

They do this until Otoya is met with the last step of the U-20's defense, Aiku. You don't expect Otoya to look so calm when he passes the ball without an inch of hesitation—without even glancing in the direction he's kicking in—to the left side of the field, runs Chigiri. You didn't even notice he was there, not until he has the ball in his clutches and is chased down by Aiku.

However, even Aiku doesn't stand a chance against the fastest pair of legs in Blue Lock—Chigiri blasts right past him with unfathomable speed, slicing right past him and forcibly creating an opening into the goal zone. He's quickly met by the defenders crowding that zone, and Chigiri makes a quick decision to make a long, arched pass back over to Karasu—shouldn't he be on defence?

You shake your head, watching as the ball tumbles to where Karasu is in a perfect position right in front of the goal—eyes wide with wonder—only for the precious object in front of him to get blasted away. Itoshi Sae comes out of nowhere, rushing in and kicking the ball away before Karasu even gets a chance to react.

It rebounds away, and your eyes follow its path, all the way where it leads to the one and only ace of Blue Lock himself—Itoshi Rin. He spares Sae a hard, blazing-hot glare and winds his foot up, ready to smash it into the ball—only for Aiku to block his path and Rin reacts immediately by stopping his foot's course to stay still.

Isagi calls out, loud, after a second of intense eye contact between Rin and Aiku, rushing behind Aiku and distracting him for a moment—that moment was all Rin needed to dribble past the defender.

Even though Rin has a shot course open—it was his non-dominant foot—his right side was still heavily covered by Aiku, and you're sure Rin won't shoot—

But you're proven wrong once again. You really need to stop second-guessing your players.

Rin takes the shot over all odds and shoots a show-stopping goal with his right foot, his dominant foot, but gives it a spin so it can fly into the goal with ease. It blasts right past the fingers of the goalkeeper and your team finally earns another point.

You could nearly scream from happiness—you might've, but you can't remember if you did—it wouldn't have been heard over the obnoxious cheers from the crowd, anyway.

40 minutes into the first half... and we're already in the lead...

You slap your palms over your mouth and grin as wide as your lips can possibly stretch out, As always, Rin is incredible. You're... sparkling!

*⋆｡˚𖦹࣪˖ ִֶָ⋆｡°✩

You tumble into the locker room at full force, stumbling over your own feet as you launch yourself at the nearest person.

"Wo—woah!" Karasu nearly falls over as you wrap your arms around his torso and squeeze—so hard that he wheezes, "Give it a rest!"

You laugh loudly as the locker room is filled with cheers of joy, "That was so... INCREDIBLE! WHY THE HECK DO YOU ALL HAVE TO HAVE SO COOL OUT THERE?!"

You abruptly detach yourself and, like a koala, cling to the next person—who just so happens to be Nagi—"Everyone loves you! That goal was superb! Amazing! Incredible! I've never seen anything like it! It was spectacular!"

"I don't have enough brain power to process those big words..." Nagi speaks slowly and low, nearly falling backwards from how hard you cling to him, giggling like a child and in such an uncharacteristic way, you start jumping up and down from the pure adrenaline you're experiencing right now.

Bachira leaps up in front of you and holds his palms out—you don't waste a second in connecting your hands with his in a pumped-up high-five, "Woohoo!" 

The locker room is loud as everyone talks about their incredible plays and their chance of actually winning—everyone, except one person.

In the corner—practically glowing with rage, Barou sits with his fists clenched so hard you're sure it's lost circulation—forehead creased with anger. A shiver flits down your spine when you see the expression he's making. I knew he would be mad he wasn't chosen... but... does he have to look so intense?

The doors suddenly slide open, and there stands both Anri and Ego, walking side by side and a tablet slid safely into Anri's arms. She smiles, pretty and warm, "Good job in the first half, everyone!"

Ego looks a lot less pretty and warm than the short woman next to him—permanent scowl etched onto his expression and eyes blank with darkness, "Quiet down, you unpolished gems," He fiddles with his tie like he's not used to wearing one. "It's time for the half-time meeting."

Anri looks nervous at Ego's harsh tone of voice, "Ego-san is here to review the first half, and discuss tactics for the second half."

"Well, for starters, why were you able to score? The breakdown of everything up till now... it must be accurately carved within yourselves. Whether it be changing formations or combinations, we'd anticipated and prepared various strategies in preparation for this match. But facing the top players of your generation, it didn't work at first." He clears his throat, shoving his hands into his pant pockets. "Itoshi Rin and Isagi Yoichi. Closing their distance more than they'd ever done during practice—dramatically increased Itoshi Rin's options. Itoshi Rin... why did you do that?"

Your eyes turn to Rin, awaiting his answer. Sweat drips down his face and he has a towel hung around his shoulder—yet, there is an unmistakeably intense look in his eyes, "I couldn't get past all four of their defenders otherwise... and we wouldn't get started unless I did. I needed a sacrificial lamb, and Isagi just happened to be readily available."

You let out a heavy sigh, gaze returning to the ground as you rub the hell of your palm against your forehead, Only thinking of yourself, as always. But still, you smile. I don't expect anything less from you, Itoshi Rin.

"A sacrificial lamb, huh? Good answer. That's not something that could've been conceived during practice." Ego tilts up his glasses, then, in an unnatural head turn, bores his gaze into Isagi. "Well then, Isagi Yoichi, do you consider yourself a sacrificial lamb?"

Ego's words make Isagi pause, and he thinks with a conflicted expression. However, it takes him less than a second to think of his answer, and with determination etched all over him, he says, "No. I intend to score my own goals."

You could've sworn Ego almost smiled—but you can't be sure, not when his face is as blank as a sheet of paper. "... Yep. Good. That's perfect. All eleven players on the pitch sees himself as the protagonist of the game. The ego to continue fighting is within all of you, and that's the reason you seized the lead in the first half."

Ego scratched the back of his bowlcutted head and tilted his head down, clicking a button and the screen behind him went blank with only the Blue Lock symbol breaking the white, "However, there's no guarantee that the second half will go just as smoothly. In fact, there's no way it will. So, it's time to put an end to the festivities, right here, right now. Because you have not yet accomplished anything."

His face goes dark and a shadow is cast over his features. In such a moment, all you can think of is that Ego truly is intense. There's a reason he was picked for a project like this—his words are like static in your ears—he's fucking crazy.

"Your only order for the second half... is to overwhelm them. There is no need for more than one protagonist."

He swiftly turns on his heel and takes his leave, Anri following behind him like a sitting duck.

You blink, watching as the doors close shut behind them, and the room erupts into loudness once more. Gagamaru stands up, towel fluttering down behind him, "Alright. Let's go, then."

Igaguri cheers, "Hell yeah! Let's win this!"

You suck in a deep breath, hand placed over where your heart is pounding within your chest. The next half... is what determines everything. We need to win.

We will win, you furrow your brows and nod to yourself. I'll do anything to help ensure it.

*⋆｡˚𖦹࣪˖ ִֶָ⋆｡°✩