Chapter 24

-Third Person POV-

“talking” – ‘thoughts’

Second selection – Third stage

3v3 Rivalry Battle

BEGIN!

“This match will be held on a special 40 by 30 meter mini field! The goals are also smaller than normal. Both goalkeepers woll be identically skilled ‘Blue Lock Men’.” the robotic voice echoing from the intercoms explains, “The winning team will steal one player from the opposing team, in the process advancing to the next stage. The losing team will lose a member and go back a stage.”

Gento finishes putting some tape around his ankle, before moving towards his teammates, hovering on Rin’s right side, slightly in front of the boy, much to the latters annoyance. ‘Suck it edgelord.’

“It’s a 3-on-3, first to five goals match. – The second selection, third round – RIVALRY BATTLE!”

Second Selection 3rd Stage – Team Red vs Team White

Kickoff!

With a loud whistle echoing across the pitch and signaling the start of the game, Isagi immediately passes the ball to Bachira who starts moving towards Team Red’s goal.

“Go cover Bangs, Hirako!” Aryu yells at Gento, pointing at Bachira, before moving to cover Nagi.

“Call me by my first name.” Gento drawls over his shoulder, before calmly stepping in front of Bachira who is looking back at him with a large smile.

“The Blue Lock ranking is just the order in which we cleared the first stage, right? You don’t scare me one bit!” Bachira says cockily, starting to perform some high speed scissors.

“That feels targeted, weirdo.” Gento responds, a small smile forming on his face ‘You won’t score.’ he thinks to himself briefly scanning the pitch, ‘Rin’s not helping, Aryu’s marking Nagi.’, Gento steps up leaving a large opening for Bachira, who immediately uses it to get past Gento, “I also leveled up in that room with Blue Lock Man!”.

‘The goal will be from you…’ he rushes towards the middle, making eye contact with Rin in the process, who is looking at the play almost disappointedly.

Bachira and Isagi run towards Rin, “You’re next, Rin-chan! Let’s go Isagi!” Bachria yells in the process. Team White forms a triangle around Blue Lock’s number one, right as Bachira sends a high pass over said striker, “But it’s actually going to Nagi!”.

Aryu quickly moves to intercept Nagi’s path “I’m on it.” he speaks up from right behind the white-haired genius. “I’ll stop you, stylishly.” Instead of trapping the ball and trying to get past the tall striker covering him, Nagi pushes it away from him towards his teammate.

“This distance, this timing, it’s your range Isagi.” Nagi says, watching as the ball moves towards its intended target. “Nice one, Nagi.” Isagi speaks up, tracking the ball with his eyes wide open.

‘Focus on the impact, with no excess power, my new direct shot!!!’ he thinks to himself, pulling back his leg.

“That’s it?”

an arm shoots forward from Isagi’s blind spot, with a body quickly following and completely cutting off his chance to score.

Gento immediately turns and stares into Isagi’s startled eyes, “I just told you, you’re way too confident.” As soon as he finishes speaking, Gento flicks the rapidly approaching ball over both him and Isagi using his heel.

The ball flies up in a high curve, hitting Rin in the chest who still has not moved away from the kick-off spot. “I’ve got a good idea of the level you guys are at and it’s so mediocre I could die.”

Pulling his leg back he continues, “Do you still think that this is a game? This is… a battlefield. Just now you turned your backs on soldiers with their guns drawn.” Rin violently kicks the ball making it fly in a high arch right towards Team White’s goal.

“That’s why you’re mediocre.” he finishes at the same time as the ball soars past Blue Lock Man’s outstretched arms and right into the back of the net.

GOAL!! Scorer: Rin Itoshi! – TEAM RED 1:0 Team White

“Nice shot, edgelord.” Gento says, watching as Rin leisurely makes his way towards Team White’s goal. Aryu looks at his two teammates before flicking his hair back, “Hey. That was way too glam. Don’t leave me out of it.”.

“Why? Can’t do it yourself?” Gento teases his teammate who looks back at him with annoyance dancing over his face. As the two begin to bicker, Team White is staring at the trio of players.

“Is that what it feels like playing against Gen-chan?” Bachira asks Nagi, wiping the small droplets of sweat off of his face with a large smile on his face. “Creepy little fucker, isn’t he?” Nagi responds without a care in the world.

During this Isagi is looking at Gento in shock. ‘He read our play immediately?’ turning towards Rin his thoughts continue to spiral, ‘And right from the kickoff spot?’.

“Let’s just get this over with. This is seriously a waste of my time.” Rin speaks up again, picking up the ball and marching back towards the kickoff spot. “Can you lighten up a bit?” Gento asks Rin as he moves past him, who looks down at him with a cold expression, “…no…”.

“Hold up. I’m putting my life on the line to be here too, you know.” Isagi speaks up, staring right at RIn, “You’re also playing soccer for the sake of your dream, right?”.

Rin coldly stares, right over his shoulder straight at Isagi, “A dream? It’s nothing so stupidly naive. Tell me, have you ever played soccer with your life on the line? To me soccer is a fight to the death.”

“Can’t even fault him, at least he’s determined.” Gento turns to his ‘glam’ teammate, whilst Aryu is less than impressed, “That’s absurd.” he speaks up twirling some of his hair around his finger.

“This guy seems like a real pain.” Nagi, lazy as usual, drawls out, meanwhile Bachira gets even more excited “Ba Ha! What a weirdo!”.

“Bring it on so I can kill you. Your mediocre playtime ends here.” Whilst speaking Rin throws the ball over his shoulder at Team White, moving back towards Team Red’s side of the pitch.

Game Restart! – Team Red 1:0 Team White!

Isagi yet again passes the ball to Bachira causing all three of them to rush forward, with Nagi again being the forward of their triangle. ‘Again?’ Gento stares at his former teammates and Nagi, not impressed by their lack of creativity.

This time however, Rin actually begins moving, seeing that Bachira sends another pass flying over the tall striker, “Rin-chan, I won’t let you touch this ball!”.

The ball curves right towards Nagi, who looks at it “So gentle… Nice pass, Bachi–“. Although before the ball could reach its intended target, Aryu soars high into the air intercepting the ball and heading it towards Gento in the process.

“I’ve descended to earth. Your touch is super glam, but we can’t shine if we can’t touch the ball.” he speaks up, landing in a low crouch. “Get the ball, Hirako. Then pass to me in front of the goal.”

Receiving the ball, Gento gains an irritated expression on his face, “I told you to call me by my first name, jackass!”, still looking at his teammate Gento pulls the ball back, causing Bachira’s tackle to go wide.

Gento looks down at his friend with a teasing smile on his face, “Really? Trying to surprise me of all people?” he asks, as he hits the ball with the outside of his foot, firing a high cross up the field. “Get your goal then, Glam-freak!”

Isagi rushes to intercept Aryu’s path to the ball, placing his body in between the two. ‘Alright! I got it first!’ the ball bounces in front of him, as Aryu presses himself closely to Isagi, ‘Now I just need to-‘.

His thoughts get interrupted, as one of Aryu’s long legs shoots forward, right past the defending striker firing the ball at a high speed into the back of the net with Blue Lock Man yet again failing to stop a shot from one of Blue Lock’s best.

GOAL!! Scorer: Jyubei Aryu! – TEAM RED 2:0 Team White

“The most glam player on this field is me.” he says, whilst striking a pose, still playing with his hair. “That goal was kind of boring, no?” Gento says to Rin, who promptly ignores him and calmly walks back towards their own half.

Aryu however moves over and stares down at Gento menacingly, “Me? Boring?” Gento just chuckles nervously, walking away from the tall striker with his arms in the air, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Meanwhile Team White is collecting the ball from their goal and begins setting it up to restart again, “Sorry. I didn’t think he could shoot from back there.” Isagi apologizes to his teammates. “Don’t sweat it. That long-legged-glam-san is bad news, too. Makes him worth beating.” Bachira calms his teammate.

Game Restart! – Team Red 2:0 Team White!

For the third time in this game, Isagi passes the ball to Bachira, “How should we attack?” he asks his teammate. “If I can’t pass to Nagi then I’ll just do this myself!” Bachira yells out rushing straight at Gento, who is looking back at him with his body completely relaxed and his head tilted slightly.

“We never had a real one-on-one, huh, Bachira.” Gento asks, lowering his body slightly to the ground, ‘Let’s see what you can do.’ “Just try to stop me, Gen-chan!” Bachira responds as he quickly closes the distance between the two.

Bachira begins with some high speed scissors, Gento however moves backwards at a similar speed, tracking the ball whilst briefly flicking his eyes up to look into Bachiras. Gento steps forward, prompting Bachira to try and get past the younger one, performing a roulette.

With Bachira now behind Gento, he looks forward, beginning to accelerate, his foot however is only met with the empty air making the dribbler’s eyes look down, finding the ball has disappeared.

“Fell for it, weirdo.” Gento taunts his friend, rushing towards Team White’s goal with the ball at his feet. Looking upwards he spots Isagi trying to stop him “You sure, you want to try this, Isagi?” Gento taunts, speeding up and running straight at his opponent.

Now standing in front of Isagi, Gento completely relaxes his body ‘Come on second-best’ he thinks to himself staring into Isagi’s eyes with narrowed pupils.

Isagi’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?! Left? Right? Which is it?!’

With Gento and the ball now closely in front of him Isagi feels a cold shower run over his neck, ‘Gotta foul him!’ he thinks to himself and goes to grab at the younger. As Isagi steps forward, Gento feints to the right. When Isagi moves to follow Gento passes the ball between his outstretched legs and sprints past him.

‘Huh?! I couldn’t read him?!’ Isagi thinks to himself as Blue Lock Man rushes at Gento, who calmly chips the ball over it, letting the ball slowly drift into Team White’s goal.

GOAL!! Scorer: Gento Hirako! – TEAM RED 3:0 Team White

Gento calmly walks past Isagi patting him on the head in the process, “Your eyes are useless here Isagi.” The aforementioned striker looks up and finds Gento looking down at him with a bored expression.

“Still think I’m mediocre, edgelord?” Gento asks, looking at his egotistical teammate. “Let’s keep playing.” follows the response from the supposed best striker.

Gento bends down and slightly adjusts the bandage around his ankle, whilst Aryu is walking over to both of them. “What are they up to? A strategy meeting?” he asks both Gento and Rin.

Rin, the edgy little shit, just stares at Team White coldly, meanwhile Gento looks over his shoulder mildly intrigued “Well, maybe things are gonna get interesting.”.

Game Restart! – Team Red 3:0 Team White!

Isagi, ever the creative player, passes the ball to Bachira for the fourth time this match, restarting the game in the process ‘Seriously?! Again?’ Gento thinks to himself looking at his teammate with a slight grimace.

The three players of Team White form a close-knit triangle, being tightly marked by the players of Team Red.

Bachira is trying to get past Gento, who maintains a small amount of distance between the two, not leaving an opening for Bachira to utilize. Gento takes a step forward, aiming to steal the ball from Bachira, who upon seeing this sends a highspeed pass right under Gento’s outstreched leg, whose eyes widen upon seeing the ball fly past ‘Oh?’.

Nagi, who is being closely marked by Aryu, instantly sends a pass towards Isagi, not leaving a chance for Blue Locks number two to steal the ball from him. Isagi does the same, sending the ball quickly over to Bachira, who repeats the process sending the ball back to Nagi.

Using the quick first-touch passes the trio manage to close the distance towards Team Red’s goal. “I’ll stop them with style.” Aryu says, tracking the ball with his eyes. “Don’t care.” Gento quickly shoots him down.

Nearing the goal and with the ball now at Bachira’s feet, Isagi makes a break for it and begins sprinting into the penalty area, finding his preferred shooting angle.

Gento looks over his shoulder tracking the striker’s movements, spotting his teammate already moving to intercept him ‘You’re actually a pretty smart edgelord.’. “Okay buddy..” Gento runs back looking at Bachira, “I read you loud and clear!” finishing his sentence, Bachira preparing to send a quick pass right at Isagi.

“You’re painfully obvious.” Rin speaks up coldly, “Did you think I wouldn’t be able to see the things that someone like you can?”

At this Bachira freezes up, “No way…”. Gento quickly moves forward, closing the distance between the two “Got scared there?”. However before Gento could steal the ball, Bachira looks up with determination burning in his eyes, “In that case… NAGI!”, he fires a pass straight past Gento, who can only watch as the ball soars towards the white haired genius of the opposing team, “Seriously?”.

The ball is traveling towards Nagi at highspeeds, moving wildly a flicker of realization dances over Nagi’s eyes as he looks eyes with his teammate, “Ah.”. “That’s right, feel it!” Bachira says, with a manic smile spread over his face.

With the ball now barely in front of him, Nagi sticks out his foot, flicking the ball over both him and Aryu gracefully. Just as the ball reaches its peak, Nagi turns, quickly getting past Aryu and sprinting away from him at high speeds “That was my hunch.”

Before the ball could reach the floor, Nagi hammers it past Team Red’s keeper, right into the back of the net.

GOAL!! Scorer: Seishiro Nagi! – Team Red 3:1 TEAM WHITE

As Team White were celebrating their goal and moving back towards their half of the pitch, Gento stood slightly away from them watching whilst wiping away the sweat that had collected on his forehead, ‘A chemical reaction, that’s what you called it, right Ego?’ he looks between his two teammates grimacing, ‘There’s no shot, I can get such a reaction out of those two, we’re just not compatible in the slightest.’.

As the three were continuing their talk and Gento was lost in thought, Rin, who had collected the ball and stood back in the center of the field speaks up again, “Having a friendly chat on the battlefield? Don’t you idiots know how to learn?”.

Game Restart! – Team Red 3:1 Team White!

“I’m gambling my life on a single moment.” Rin says, as he yet again tries to score a goal from the kickoff-spot.

Bachira and Nagi watch as the ball soars towards their goal, Blue Lock man tries to stop the ball from going into the goal but the ball is just barely out of reach. Gento’s eyes widen, realizing what’s about to happen.

Before the ball could cross the line, Isagi just barely manages to head it away from the goal and out of bounds, “I can see the same things as you Rin. Don’t be so mediocre.“.

As soon as the ball lands the robotic voice of the intercom sounds across the pitch “Team Red’s ball. Corner Kick for Team Red!”

“Kinda embarrassing Rin.” Gento says, at his annoyed teammate, who is moving towards the ball and placing it down at the corner.

Gento watches as Bachira moves close to him, scanning his surroundings he spots Aryu being closely marked by Nagi and Isagi hovering in between the two pairings.

He watches as Rin steps up to take the corner, ‘He won’t pass this.’, Rin hits the ball full force, sending it high into the air.

Rin watches the ball with indifference written clearly across his face, as the ball curves high above the five players and dips scratching just below the crossbar and barely over the outstretched hands of Blue Lock Man.

GOAL!! Scorer: Rin Itoshi! – TEAM RED 4:1 Team White

“Cool, you can actually score.” Gento taunts, looking straight at Rin, whose eyes narrow in response, staring straight back at the shorter striker in front of him.

“Now, that was a super glam move.” Aryu says, moving towards Rin whilst posing (?). “That should be impossible.” Bachira laughs, scratching his head. “How are we supposed to stop that?” Nagi asks with a deadpan.

Reaching his own side of the field, he stands next to Rin before turning to the striker beside him “You gonna get a hattrick?”. Rin looks down at him, “Of course I will, luke-warm trash.”. “No wonder you don’t have any friends.” “What?” “Nothing…”

Game Restart! – Team Red 4:1 Team White!

Bachira passes the ball to Isagi, who quickly sends it to Nagi who yet again sends another fast pass to his teammates. The trio perform the same attack pattern as before, whilst Team Red gets into similar positions as before, moving to cover their opponent one by one.

Gento, standing in front of Bachira, watches out of the corner of his eye as Rin begins taunting Isagi. Rin locks eyes with Gento for barely a second, who immediately nods back.

Gento moves barely to the side, opening a path for Bachira to send a pass straight at the supposedly free space in front of Isagi, while blocking his passing route towards Nagi in the process.

“BACHIRA!” Gento hears Isagi shout, gaining a smile on his face as the ball soars past him, ‘Fell for it.’. He watches as Rin intercepts the pass, receiving with his chest before immediately sprinting towards Team Red’s goal.

“Bachira! Nagi! Stop him!!!” Isagi yells at his teammates, running behind Rin with his arm outstretched.

Gento, seeing his teammate sprint towards him, moves to the side, leaving Bachira open to defend Rin, ‘Let’s see what you got, loser.’. He watches as Rin, starts rushing at Nagi getting past him with ease, before doing the same to Bachira leaving the two to stare into the open air in front of them, stunned.

With Rin now free in front of the goal, he pulls his leg back preparing to end the match once and for all, although during this he feels a small shiver run down his spine.

Before his foot could reach the ball, another smaller foot shoots out from behind him, propelling the ball forward barely scraping over the ground and passing straight through Blue Lock Man’s legs, who could only watch as the ball made its way into the goal.

GOAL!! Scorer: Gento Hirako! – TEAM RED 5:1 Team White

Rin’s eyes widen as he turns around looking into Gento’s eyes who is staring straight back at him with his hair casting a dark shadow over his eyes,

“What happened to your hattrick?”

– End of Chapter 21 –