Chapter 17

‘Nah, I’ll be fine.’

First Selection – Final Game

Team Z Formation

*Flashback to before the match*

“Our three guys at the top will be Kunigami, Gagamaru and Bachira, with Gento and Isagi behind them to delegate our offense, this strategy should be big trouble for Team V.” Iemon explains, standing in front of Team Z. “Remember Team V’s offense is nothing to sneeze at! We will be on edge, so we’ll defend with everything we’ve got, and we will keep pressing the opponent’s attackers!”

“Raichi you’ve got the stamina and determination to annoy their attackers, so go and show them your super-sexy-soccer.” Gento cuts in, sitting to the left of Iemon and tying his shoe. “When they inevitably lose possession, get the ball to me or Isagi so we can build up our offense.” Turning towards his pink-haired teammate he continues “Chigiri, you’re going to work your ass off this game, when they have the ball move back and help our defence, when we’re in possession get your ass to the left wing to support our attack. You two are going to be irreplaceable for our counters to work.”

Raichi and Chigiri both nod their heads towards the white haired boy with determination burning in their eyes.

“Our ideal result would be a 1-0 victory! This is the best way for the ten of us to win against the strongest opponents so far.” Iemon exclaims, punching his fists together. “Whilst that probably is the ‘ideal’ result, we need to be prepared to score five or six goals, cuz’ no matter how good our defense is they’ll probably sneak by a couple of times.” Gento continues standing up and stretching his back before staring at his teammates.

“But who cares about defense right? We’re strikers so show them what you got and show them what true monsters look like.” He concludes his speech, his golden eyes flashing towards the rest of Team Z, looking like he’s prepared to go to war.

The Team responds with various cheers and declarations of victory, beginning to make their way towards the doors of the locker room. “I’m gonna tell ya’ again, Kuon. You’re gonna be in the half-way line, and you ain’t gonna do nithin’ for all 90 minutes. You ain’t gonna stop us and ain’t gonna help us. You ain’t doing shit.” Raichi tells Kuon whilst making his way past him towards the rest of Team Z.

“I wasn’t planning on doing anything anyway. I don’t need to do anything to survive, so who cares.” Kuon responds walking a couple of paces behind Team Z. “I’m sure Team V are gonna play softer now, since they’ve already qualified for the next round!! Let’s get them while their guard’s lowered and beat them!” A nervous Igaguri exclaims towards the rest of his teammates. 

Walking ahead of him Gento looks over his shoulder at the scared monk, whilst deep in thought ‘There’s no way that those two are going easy on us.’ Images of Nagi and Reo flash before his eyes. ‘They’re determined to keep their undefeated streak going, so they’ll fight tooth and nail. Or well Reo will, can’t imagine Nagi going at this seriously.’ He sweatdrops at the mentally image of a sleepy Nagi standing in front of Team Z’s goal with a couple of confused Team Z members around him. ‘No matter what, I’ll end their streak right here and now!’

“We can do it! Let’s Win this!” Igaguri yells trying to hype up the rest of Team Z. “Let’s go.” a determined Chigiri says to no-one in particular. “Let’s win this, TEAM Z!!” Iemon exclaims, raising his fist into the air, to which the rest responds with a loud resounding “YEAHH!!!“

Walking near the middle of the pack, Gento sees Bachira and Isagi a bit in front of him having a conversation. Seeing this he speeds up and wedges himself between the two with a smirk on his face. “You two nervous or something? We’ll win this game easy-peasy just watch me.”

At the younger boy’s cocky statement both Bachira and Isagi release a chuckle, easing their nerves a bit. Bachira chooses to ruffle Gento’s hair, causing him to almost fall due to the force of the dribbler’s hand atop his head. “Yeah, we’ve got this.” Isagi responds, staring towards the field with a determined smile on his face.

At the same time as Team Z finally arrives on the field, on the opposite side a pair of double doors open up to reveal Team V in their black and white uniforms walking onto the field. Leading the gaggle of strikers where the big three of Team V. 

On the left side a large number 10 on his jersey, black haired pushed back and glasses adorning his was Zantetsu Tsurugi.

On the right, pulling his purple hair back into a ponytail, and relaxed body language was Blue Lock’s resident rich kid, Number 9 Reo Mikage.

And in the middle of the two, slouched over, a ball at his feet, a mass of messy white hair resting atop of his head and a bored expression dancing across his face, Reo’s own treasure, Team V’s Number 11 Seishiro Nagi.

Both Reo and Nagi look across the field, locking eyes with the trio walking in front of Team Z.

On the left side, a large grin across his face, hands behind his head, yellow dyed hair showing beneath the mass of brown hair, Team Z’s best dribbler and Number 8 Meguru Bachira

On the right, with black hair and blue eyes, the center piece of Team Z, the player with the biggest growth in their Team so far, Team Z’s pair of eyes and Number 11 Yoichi Isagi.

And lastly in the middle Blue Lock’s resident phantom, leaning forward hands shoved into his uniform’s pockets, a confident smirk on his face and steely determination glinting in his golden eyes, Team Z’s number 7 and top scorer Gento Hirako.

  Time until last game: 00:00:00

  Blue Lock Fifth Stratum Last Game 

  Team V vs Team Z

  Begin!!

With a loud whistle signaling the start of the fifth stratum’s final and most interesting game so far to start, Nagi immediately passes the ball towards Reo, who was already mid sprint, running up the field and towards the defensive line of Team Z.

Gento looks to the left and locks eyes with Isagi, giving the raven-haired striker a nod and moving up the field, whilst Isagi rushes back to try and guard Reo. While Reo’s attention was on Isagi, Bachira rushed towards Team V’s offensive engine and put some pressure on him, trying to gain possession.

Seeing no way past the two, Reo passes the ball to his right, at the waiting Zantetsu. However what neither of them realized was that they were actively playing into Team Z’s plan.

Receiving the ball Zantetsu moves forward trying to find an angle to fire a shot towards Team Z’s goal, seeing this both Chigiri and Raichi move towards each other closing the black haired strikers shooting angle, which would result in an easy save for Iemon if Zantetsu would choose to shoot.

Whilst Raichi and Chigiri were slowly making their way towards Zantetsu he, as expected, passes the ball towards Nagi, who was weaving in between Team Z’s defense. “IGAGURI!” seeing the pass Isagi yells to his shorter teammate. In response Igaguri jumps up and heads the ball away from Team V’s ace right to Isagi’s feet whilst yelling “Pick that shit up, Isagi!”

“Alright!” Isagi responds with a quick yell, while receiving the ball. Taking a single touch and turning to his right he spots a free Bachira a bit further up the field. “Bachira!” He yells, before quickly sending the ball right to the dribbler’s feet.

Receiving the ball and quickly turning 180 degrees right towards Team V’s goal Bachira begins to make his way towards Team V’s defense, “Hop! Coming Right up!”. While Bachira was making his way up the field skillfully avoiding Team V’s midfielders and later on defenders Gento was waiting right outside Team V’s penalty box, hiding in the defenders blind-spot, since their attention was on Bachira.

Looking around he spots Gagamaru moving towards the penalty box, with a small wave of his hand, he signals the Caveman to pierce right through Team V’s defence. Right as Gagamaru was on the same height as Team V’s defensive line Bachira sends a cross barreling towards him at a high speed. “‘Kay that one’s yours, Gagamaru!”

With the ball nearing Gagamaru’s position the tall striker quickly realizes that he wouldn’t be able to reach the wild ball with his foot, he launches himself forward, hitting the ball with a diving header.

The ball, now hit by Gagamaru with a huge amount of force, fires its way towards Team V’s goal. The goalkeeper just looks at the ball as it soars into the post, missing the net by mere centimeters. With the ball beginning to make its way out of bounds, Team V’s defenders move forward to intercept the rebound, hoping to start a counter-attack.

With the ball nearing the line, both of them tense up when a breath blows right into their necks. Feeling their hairs standing up, one of the two quickly turns around hoping to spot where the sensation came from, before a voice from his blind-spot startles him.

“Wrong way, dumbass.”

Turning back around he can only watch as a blur of white hair dashes by him, in between the ball and his teammate. With Gento wedging himself in between the ball and Team V’s startled defense he rushes forward with the ball almost out of bounds and the keeper out of position, Gento kicks the ball with full force rocketing it right Team V’s goal, blowing past the keeper and hitting the top of the net.

GOAL! – Scorer: Gento Hirako

Team V 0 – 1 TEAM Z

Running a hand through his hair, Gento turns towards the stunned defenders with a cold smile, decorating his face. “That’s what I call a Jumpscare, wouldn’t you agree, weaklings?”

He turns to the rest of his team who were shouting various forms of support and shouts of pure joy at seeing their ace putting them in front. Gagamaru rushes over and throws Gento over his shoulder whilst making his way towards the other celebrating members of Team Z.

Whilst Team Z celebrates, Reo was still standing near the half-way line watching as a celebrating Bachira launches himself at both Gagamaru and Gento with a yell. He gains a large smile on his face before speaking up whilst resetting the ball preparing for Kick-Off “Wow!! Ain’t that a sight to see?!” He turns towards his white haired treasure “Hey, Nagi let’s do that now!”

Game restart! – Team V 0 : 1 Team Z

With the players back in position, Nagi yet again passes the ball to Reo who passes it back to his defenders. ‘Wait what?’ Seeing this Gento stops for a second, not having expected the early backpass. Team V’s defenders pass the ball between each other, keeping the ball away from the pressing strikers of Team Z. During this Nagi was leisurely making his way up the field. Seeing Nagi in position Reo calls for the ball. Upon his request he immediately receives the ball from his teammate.

Gento rushes forward, towards Reo at the same time as the purple-haired striker prepares to fire a cross towards Nagi. Reo hits the ball with full strength, sending it forward similar to Bachira’s cross. Gento just barely manages to tap the ball with his foot, not enough to send it out-of-bounds, but enough to send it flying forward uncontrollably.

“Just a bit too late Gento.” Reo says, putting his hands on his hips sending a sideways glance towards the aforementioned Gento, who was busy watching the ball’s uncontrolled descent nearing his goal.

“It’s spinning so damn fast! The margin for getting the ball is even slimmer than mine was!” Gagamaru yells, seeing the ball wobble its way right towards Team Z’s penalty box.

During this, Nagi was weaving past Team Z’s defense and tracking the ball’s movements, putting himself in the perfect position to receive the wild ball. ‘There’s no shot, he got that.’ Gento thought to himself, although not fully believing his own thoughts as he felt sweat running down his back, watching the scene unfold in front of his own eyes.

With the ball still slightly outside of Team Z’s penalty box and flying high above the players heads, Nagi jumps forward with his leg outstretched and manages to completely kill its movements. ‘Huh?… How the fuck?…’ Seeing this Gento’s eyes widen and he turns towards the smiling Reo.

“Suprised, Gento?” Reo says, as Nagi lands gracefully back on the pitch, with the ball slowly descending in front of his already pulled back foot. “I told you, Nagi and I are undefeated and it’s going to stay like that, Casper.” As Reo finishes his sentence, Nagi fires off a volley right, leaving Iemon with no chance to intervene as it hits the back of the net.

“Well, that was simple.” Nagi says with a carefree expression on his face, “I don’t see why you guys couldn’t do that first try and needed a rebound.”

‘What the hell is that guy?’ Gento thought to himself, feeling nervous for the first time during his time in Blue Lock.

Goal! – Scorer: Seishiro Nagi

TEAM V 1 – 1 Team Z

Whilst Team Z was standing around, stunned at the display of pure talent by Nagi, Reo calmly walks up to his treasure. “That was a good one, Nagi! Just as I pictured it!” turning towards his purple-haired teammate Nagi responds with a bored tone of voice “Hey, Reo… Can I slack off for the rest of the match?” “Nah, not yet! Not until you score five more goals.” “Hmph… Can it be four?”

During their small conversation Gento was deep in thought, still staring at the ball laying in the back of their goal. ‘What the fuck… That ball came from the back of his head, flying wildly cuz’ I altered the trajectory and he fucking trapped it mid-run? He trapped it and fired of a volley without giving the two defenders a chance to intervene”

Rubbing the back of his neck Nagi responds to Reo’s request “So five more goals, huh? This is so annoying…”

“That was just a fluke, right?! We’re still tied thanks to Gento’s goal. Let’s go!! Let’s go!! Let’s get them!! Bless us o’ great Buddha!!” Igaguri yells, trying to rally Team Z to not have them lose motivation. “We’ve gotta pull this off, huh?!” Raichi responds with a nervous grin across his face.

 Game Restart! – Team V 1:1 Team Z

Restarting the game, Gento passes the ball to Isagi who moves up the field. With two Team V players closing in on him he spots a free Kunigami and quickly passes the ball over to Team Z’s hero. “Go for it, Kunigami!” Kunigami receives the ball and rushes forward. ‘We got this, our tactics should be able to push through.’ Gento thought to himself, still hovering near the half way line, preparing to turn back and defend.

Kunigami, still pushing his way forward, gets intercepted by two of Team V’s defenders, ‘My middle shot’s range is around 28 meters, if I get there my chances to score skyrocket.’ Nearing his preferred spot to shoot from Kunigami slows down slightly, trying to get past the defenders, ‘Three meters left, now I’ll fake shoot and get past time.’ However whilst his leg was pulled back Kunigami feels a breath at the back of his neck, startling the ginger-haired hero. “Huh?!” turning to his left he spots Reo right beside him.

“Aren’t you a bit outside your shooting range?” Reo questions, before pulling the ball back, successfully stealing the ball from Kunigami. “I studied every skill a brute like you might have, Kunigami.” He says whilst turning around and sprinting away from Kunigami. ‘How did he- That’s Gento’s technique?!’

Turning around Kunigami quickly gives chase and follows right behind Reo. “Wait! I’m not letting you go so easily!!” With Kunigami trying to steal the ball, Reo yet again spots his treasure prowling near Team Z’s penalty box. “One more time. Let’s do this Nagi!!” He yells out calmly before firing a high pass up the field.

‘That’s the same pass as last time!’ Gento realizes whilst sprinting towards Nagi who was already in position to receive the ball. “I’ll get it!! You go wait in front, Raichi!!” Igaguri yells, positioning himself right in Nagi’s path towards the goal. “What, so you can lose the ball like before?!” Follows Raichi’s enraged response.

Nagi slightly turns, to spot the ball and roughly calculate its final position, with the ball flying over his shoulder he raises his foot and lightly taps the ball with it. ‘Again?! How does he do that?!’ Gento thought to himself, as the ball flew slightly above Nagi’s head.

With the ball up in the air, Nagi calmly turns around, with Igaguri rushing towards him the white haired genius jumps up and kicks the ball with all of his might.

The ball flies past Raichi’s head and Iemon’s outstretched hand, hitting the back of the net.

Goal! – Scorer: Seishiro Nagi

TEAM V 2:1 Team Z

‘A fucking bicycle kick? Are you serious?’ Gento thought to himself slightly shaken by the whole ordeal. “You’re shitting me…” Raichi says gobsmacked. “AH, shit!! This is bad… This is so bad!! Is our plan already ruined!” Naruhaya yells out, gripping his hair completely stressed out.

“Hey, Kunigami! Why the fuck did’ja lose the ball like that?! You were s’posed to shoot!! That’s your job here, aint it?! So just fucking take it seriously already!!” Raich yells rushing towards Kunigami and grabbing him roughly by the shoulder. “Shut up with the whining! I could tell you as much with that awful defense!!” Kunigami responds, with an equal amount of anger lining his words.

However before things could escalate further, Gento and Isagi intervene, dragging the arguing members of Team Z away from each other. “Alright, alright calm down. I’m just as pissed at you two, but quit fucking fighting!” Gento says whilst standing in between the two of them.

“You wanna win, then get your shit together!”

– End of Chapter 14 –