Chapter 20

Unbeknownst to the two of them, back in his office Jinpachi Ego was watching the duel between the white haired geniuses closely with a smile on his face.

Seishiro Nagi vs Gento Hirako

With the two of them still locked in their own world the other members of Team V and Team Z could only stand and watch, not finding an opening to help their respective teammate.

Gento and Nagi continue their duel, trading possession quickly, however neither is able to create distance from the other. The two hit the ball at the same time, causing it to fly away from them, seeing this Gento quickly turns, preparing to sprint after it.

With Gento putting his right foot down, beginning to accelerate towards the ball, a sharp pain shoots up from his foot making his face scrunch up. However, not wanting to lose, Gento ignores it and continues with his sprint, reaching the ball shortly after Nagi and blocking his attack yet again.

The both of them continue to push each other further and further. With the duel picking up in intensity Gento begins panting heavily, starting to get exhausted. ‘Come on, come on, make a mistake already Genius.’ he thinks to himself, staring up at Nagi.

“Nagi! Over here!” a voice cuts through the tension mounting between Nagi and Gento. The white haired strikers turn, spotting Reo, who managed to get away from Raichi. Seeing his teammate Nagi’s dedication got instantly shattered, ‘That’s right, I can rely on Reo…’ he thought to himself, moving to pass towards Reo.

As soon as Nagi turned to Reo, Gento was already moving over to the rich kid. When Nagi passes the ball over to Reo a voice speaks up by his side, startling him.

 “You’re in the way”

Reo looks to his right spotting Gento, just a couple centimeters away from him. Gento runs past Reo, intercepting the ball with his heel and flicking it over the two. Looking over his shoulder right at Nagi and Reo he mumbles a quiet “Pathetic” before continuing to move up the field.

‘Come on… Come on…’ he thinks to himself before getting intercepted by Zantetsu “You again?” Gento asks, looking at his opponent with a bored expression. “I won’t let you past a second time!” Zantetsu shouts, determinedly, squaring up with the younger striker in front of him.

‘You’re completely open, loser’ Gento thinks to himself rushing straight at Zantetsu. Seeing this Zantetsu’s eyes widen ‘Huh?! He’s rushing right at me?!’, he thinks to himself, startled at his opponent’s decision.

Now standing in front of Zantetsu, Gento completely relaxes his body ‘Come on scumbag, break’ he thinks to himself staring into Zantetsu’s eyes with narrowed pupils.

Zantetsu’s heart beat begins to pick up, staring straight at Gento, who was staring back at him, completely ignoring the ball in front of him. ‘Where is he going?! He’s not just gonna give me the ball is he?!’

With Gento and the ball now closely in front of him Zantetsu feels a cold shower run over his neck, ‘Now!’ he thinks to himself and shoots his left foot forward trying to get the ball, thinking Gento would run past his left side.

“Did you get scared, Zantetsu?” Gento taunts the striker, pushing the ball forward and sending it right under Zantetsu’s outstretched foot, quickly getting past him.

“What?! Straight through?!” Zantetsu thinks to himself, turning around to stare at Gento’s back as Gento was looking over his shoulder with disinterest.

Turning and looking up Gento sees four defenders between him and the goal, quickly scanning the field he sees Kunigami and Gagamaru in front of him, whilst Isagi was hovering behind him . One defender rushes forward hoping to stop Gento, who flicks the ball over him forcing the defender to gasp in shock, Kunigami and Gagamaru clear the way for Gento, leaving him and three defenders face to face in front of Team V’s goal.

Gento’s thoughts begin running quickly, analyzing ways to get past the trio of defenders in front of him, before a shout from his right interrupts his focus.

“Gento, pass!” Isagi shouts from his right, having a clear shot on goal, Gento slightly tilts his head to the side seeing Isagi, causing his eyes to widen, ‘Oh, right… I’m not alone right now.’.

Gento turns his body to the right and pulls his left foot back, aiming to pass the ball to his teammate. Seeing this the defenders scramble to move in between Isagi and the goal. 

During this Gento was looking straight at Team V’s goalkeeper, ‘Now!’. At the exact moment one of Team V’s defenders blocks their goalkeeper’s line of sight, Gento kicks the ball with his right foot, aiming straight for the bottom left corner of Team V’s goal.

The defenders scramble to turn around, blocking the goalkeeper’s sight even further, leaving him to stand still and watch as the ball hits the back of the net, having no chance to save the shot.

GOAL!! Scorer: Gento Hirako!

Team V 3:5 TEAM Z

Gento falls to his knees panting heavily and profusely sweating. Around the pitch members of Team V stare at the younger boy kneeling in front of their goal with varying expressions of shock displayed on their faces.

Back in Team Z’s half Nagi was looking at Gento, with slightly widened eyes being impressed by Gento’s attack. “No way… he outplayed me- no us.” Reo mumbles to himself with despair written across his face “He beat me and Nagi…”.

Zantetsu sat on the ground not knowing what to do, turning to Reo and Nagi, hoping that Team V’s aces had a plan to beat Gento.

Even on the sidelines Kuon is staring at the ball lying in Team V’s goal, “All three of them? He got past the best players in this stratum?” turning to look at Gento who was standing up and wiping the sweat from his face “Just what the hell are you, Gento Hirako?!”

In his office Ego was staring at the young striker with a large smile spread across his face, “So that’s what your awakening looks like, you curse.”.

Back on the field Gento stands up and spots the stunned Isagi standing beside him, “Thanks for being the bait, Isagi.”. Hearing his name, Isagi turns to his left seeing Gento looking back at him, completely straight faced and with ice-cold eyes burning into his own. ‘He used me…’ Isagi thinks to himself watching as Team Z surrounds Gento, celebrating his goal.

“HOLY SHIT! WHAT WAS THAT?!” Igaguri yells, throwing his arm over Gento’s shoulders, who turns to him, staring at him coldly “We’re not done yet…” he mumbles, moving to pick up the ball ignoring the commotion around him.

Picking up the ball, Gento walks past Team Z staring vacantly in front of him, seemingly not registering how his teammates were trying to talk to him. ‘Not done yet…’ he thinks to himself looking up at the trio of Zantetsu, Reo and Nagi who had recovered from Gento’s goal and were talking amongst themselves ‘There’s still some hope left in them…’.

Gento puts down the ball on the halfway line, his heart pounding in his chest from exhaustion when Team V’s aces look up and lock eyes with him ‘I need to break them completely.’ he thinks to himself before turning his head away from the trio and begin walking back to Team Z’s half with the rest of Team Z following behind him.

Looking up at the clock, he sees that only fifteen minutes had passed since the second half started ‘Thirty minutes left. More than enough time.’ he thinks to himself before scrunching his face, feeling a stinging sensation shoot up his leg from his ankle, ‘What’s up with that?’.

Game Restart! – Team V 3:5 Team Z! 

Zantetsu passes to Reo, who moves forward with Team V following behind.Watching this Gento turns to Raichi, bumping him with his elbow before pointing at Reo with the ball at his feet, “Raichi, kill that guy.”. Raichi looks down at Gento, who was staring back at him “Don’t tell me what to do.” he says before rushing forward to attack Reo.

With Reo getting pressured by Raichi yet again, he becomes irritated. “Can you fuck off already!” he says to his pursuer, before managing to gain some distance and send a pass right towards Nagi.

“Really? Again?” Gento asks, appearing right in the ball’s path and stopping it dead in its tracks. “You need to find some more options, loser.” he says, sending a pass to Isagi, who immediately sends it up the field, aiming for Bachira.

Receiving the ball, Bachira dribbles past defenders pushing forward on the right side of the pitch, nearing the corner flag. Moving up the field Gento places himself just outside of Team V’s penalty area, before thinking to himself ‘Just two passes, to dismantle them?’ looking around at the distraught defenders he gains a huge smile on his face as he continues, ‘This will break them completely.’.

Bachira cuts back, preparing to cross the ball seeing as Kunigami and Gagamaru rush forward into Team V’s penalty area, whilst Gento was hovering just outside. Locking eyes with the young striker he sends a high cross heading straight at Gento, who traps it with his right foot and sets it down just in front of him.

Pulling his right foot back Gento aims to weave the ball through a gap in Team V’s defence when he spots movement to his left. Zantetsu is sprinting at him at a high speed and lunges forward with a slide tackle aiming to clear the ball.

The tackle came in late, hitting Gento’s foot at the same moment he kicked the ball causing it to go wide and hit a defender making it deflect out of bounds.

Seeing the ball fly wildly out of bounds, the members of Team Z look at Gento, wondering how he could miss his shot that far, only to see the young striker lying on the ground holding his ankle with his face constricted in pain and Zantetsu standing up beside him.

Before anyone could react a loud whistle echoed across the pitch quickly being followed by the mechanical voice of the VAR, “Foul Zantetsu Tsurugi! Yellow Card! Freekick: Team Z!”. 

As soon as the announcement finished, Zantetsu looks up confused, turning and seeing Gento lying on the ground in pain, “Huh-” before he could finish Raichi rushes over and harshly pushes him to the ground.

“THE FUCK DID YOU DO YOU BASTARD?!”, Raichi yells standing over Zantetsu who was looking up at him shocked, before the situation could escalate further Kunigami pulls Raichi away from the speedster whilst some of Team V’s defenders were moving to stand in between the two. “Stop it Raichi!” Kunigami yells at his teammate who was trying to break out of his grip, “If you continue you’ll get a red!”.

Raichi doesn’t get the chance to reply before another whistle screeches over the pitch “Yellow Card: Jingo Raichi!”.

During this Bachira rushes over and kneels next to Gento, concern clearly written across his face “Shit, are you okay Gen-chan?”. Gento rolls over to face Bachira looking up at his teammate, shaking his head before gritting his teeth as another sharp pang of pain shot through his leg, letting out a quiet breathless “Fuck.”.

Chigiri stood beside the two, staring at Gento as memories of his own injury resurfaced, turning and shooting Zantetsu a harsh glare before also leaning down to kneel beside his teammate not knowing how to help him.

Looking at his teammate on the ground, surrounded by Chigiri and Bachira, Isagi turns to the camera overseeing the field before yelling out, “Hey! Ego! Get someone down here, he needs help!”.

At the same time Gento slowly sits up, still breathing heavily from the pain. He turns his head looking between Chigiri and Bachira, sending them a pained smile before speaking up, “Couldn’t stop me without fouling me, could they?”.

During this Kunigami is still pulling Raichi away from Zantetsu, not allowing the boy to actually fight his opponent. Raichi’s shouting gets interrupted by a panel opening on the side of the field, revealing Anri rushing towards the huddle of strikers quickly being followed by a couple of staff members carrying a stretcher.

“Alright, clear the way please!” Anri yells out, motioning with her hands for the strikers to move aside. After taking a quick look at Gento’s ankle, which at this point was slightly swollen, and talking with the other staff members, Anri decides to take Gento off the field, not wanting to risk worsening the injury.

Being lifted onto the stretcher, Gento looks down at his foot annoyed, ‘Just when it was getting fun…’ he thinks to himself. Both Isagi and Bachira were walking besides Gento, as he was carried off the field and towards the open panel, “Don’t worry Gen-chan, we’ll beat those guys.” Bachira says to his friend.

Looking up at the two Gento nods before speaking up, “Yeah you better, if I found out you lost, I’ll kick your ass.”. At this his teammates laugh before slowly turning back to the field, however before he fully leaves the field Gento speaks up again, “Oi, Isagi.”

Hearing his name, the striker turns around looking at Gento who was staring back at him, determinedly,

“Crush their hopes, striker.”

– End of Chapter 16 –