Chapter 28

‘Let’s see them panic.’

Whilst Gento’s thoughts begin to speed up, Team White were talking amongst themselves inside of their own penalty area. “Looks like he’ll read through anything even remotely easy, which means we just have to go beyond what he can even imagine, right?” Nagi suggest to his teammates.

“Yeah, a goal which even if he understood, he couldn’t possibly chase after.” Chigiri responds, “We’re gonna be playing at merciless difficulty, but if we can all go in with our weapons cranked to the max…” “We might be ablte to break through.” Nagi finishes the redhead’s sentence.

Game Restart! – Team Red 3:2 Team White!

Sending a quick pass towards Isagi, Nagi restarts the game as the trio consisting of Chigiri, Isagi and Nagi rush forward, whilst unbeknownst to them Barou is seething behind them. Walking up the flank, Gento notices the king’s absence before quickly spotting him, stalking behind the rest of his team, ‘You’re up first.’.

As Rin and Aryu rush in to confront both Chigiri and Isagi, forcing a 2v2 Isagi passes the ball to his teammate, who passes the ball behind Aryu before immediately accelerating past the black haired striker. “It’s time to invade the enemy camp.”.

Seeing through their play, Rin easily catches up to Chigiri and closes off their attack yet again. With the opening now closed, Chigira passes the ball to Nagi. ‘I should stop him, but I need to watch out for Barou. Right now he’s the biggest threat.’ Gento thinks to himself, before drifting towards the white haired striker, ‘Just fall for it.’

As Isagi spots Gento closing in and Bachira already in the way he forces his way into Bachira’s blind-spot using the fact that the dribbler’s attention is occupied by Nagi to his advantage.

Gento’s eyes narrow as his heartbeat picks up, his imagination picturing a lion prowling through the tall grass in a savanna, ‘There you are.’. He moves to the side slightly, opening up a path towards Isagi right as Nagi sends a ball over the top of Bachira’s head.

Rin and Isagi clash over the ball, leaving it to bounce away from the two into the open space, Gento left open for him.

“I win, Isagi. This is my ball now.” Barou says, barging in, like a lion pouncing on the prey he had tracked for miles. “Barou?!” Isagi yells out in shock, “He broke through Rin’s prediction?!”

Barou rushes forward, ball at his feet eyes completely focused on the goal.

He pulls his foot back, prepared to tie up the game.

The image of the lion leaping at it’s defenceless prey, plays in Barou’s mind.

However, before he could shoot, a foot manages to stop the ball in it’s tracks before Barou falls over the leg attached to it.

“Fell for it.“

As Barou lays on the ground he rapidly turns his head only to be met with the expressionless face of Blue Lock’s current number three staring back at him, causing the blood to drain from his face, picturing the lion stomping onto a beartrap, cutting off its front paw leaving it to bleed out alone and hungry.

“You’re utterly predictable.” Gento criticises the fallen king, before turning and sprinting towards Team White’s goal.

He doesn’t make it far, before Isagi, having been the first to recover from the shock, is already blocking his way. “I see through your plays, Gento.” “Do you?” Gento leans forward, sprinting straight at Isagi keeping his body low to the ground. ‘This again?’ Isagi thinks to himself watching ‘He’ll feint again.’ Right as Gento’s upper body blocks Isagi’s vision on the ball, he steps forward with his arm outstretched, “I won’t fall for that again!” he yells out.

“Yeah, I know.” Gento tells his opponent, jumping up and flicking the ball over the two of them, ‘A rainbow flick?!’ Isagi thinks to himself, shocked. “Just because I don’t rely on fancy tricks doesn’t mean I can’t do them.” Gento says, continuing to sprint past Isagi.

Just as he nears the penalty area, Gento pupils narrow, ‘You’re already here?!’ He thinks to himself looking over his shoulder just as Barou barrels into him, whilst at the same time Chigiri charges in with a tackle hitting his standing leg.

Htiing the ground and getting the air knocked out of him, Gento hears a loud whistle echo over the pitch before hearing the automated voice of the VAR coming from the speakers “Due to a tackle from behind and a malicious slide, Barou Shouei and Chigiri Hyouma: Yellow Card! Free-kick Team Red!”

As Barou and Chigir begin yelling at the VAR Gento rolls over, briefly rubbing his ankle before standing up and stombing on the ground a couple of times, ‘That fucking ankle again… At least I wore the bandage.’ Gento thinks to himself, staring at his ankle with narrowed eyes before retrieving the ball and setting it back down, watching as Rin walks over towards him.

“You ok?” Rin questions his teammate, surprising the white haired striker for a second time in this match “Huh?”. Motioning towards the younger striker’s foot, “Your ankle.” Rin points out. ‘He’s worried?’ Gento thinks to himself before responding, “Yeah, yeah, nothing too bad.” he waves off his teammates’ concern, “Surprised you care, to be honest.”

Rin briefly looks down at the shorter striker before looking back at team white.. “Compared to the others, you’re not useless.”. Gento’s eyebrows raise at the striker’s almost-compliment, “High praise coming from you.”

“I’m shooting this one. I assisted you twice, so let me have this.” Gento says, taking a step back, watching as Chigiri and Isagi form a wall. “Don’t make me regret this.” Rin tells his teammate, before moving towards the penalty area, forcing Nagi to cover him.

‘Now then, where to put it?’ Gento thinks to himself, briefly bending down and readjusting the bandage on his ankle. Looking up he finds Isagi deep in thought, eyes flicking between Gento and Rin. ‘Gotcha.’

At the exact second the whistle blows, giving Gento the go ahead to shoot the freekick, he immediatly hammers it full force, curling right over Isagi’s and slightly to the right of Chigiri’s head.

Isagi’s eyes widen as the ball soars over his head and hits the back of the net, with the keeper not having a chance at stopping the ball.

GOAL!! Scorer: Gento Hirako! – TEAM RED 4:2 Team White

“Got nervous, didn’t you, Isagi?” Gento asks the dark-haired striker, causing him to startle and look back at Gento. “You know me. Why would I waste the opportunity to score from here?” Turning around and walking towards his half, Gento briefly looks over his shoulder with a chuckle, “I mean seriously, who do you think I am?”

“For real strikers there never were two options” Rin pipes in, standing besides Isagi making the shorter of the two turn towards the prodigy, “For someone of our caliber, the only option was to score a goal.” Not bothering to look back at his opponent, Rin walks towards Team Red’s half.

“THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING, ISAGI?! Why the hell didn’t you jump?!” Barou rages at this teammate, whilst Team White were strategizing their next moves, Rin comes to a halt next to Gento who cracks his neck before looking up at the taller striker. ” ‘Someone of our caliber’, huh? Seems like you’re taking a liking to me, Edgelord.”.

Briefly looking down at the younger striker, Rin clicks his teeth, before returning his gaze towards Team White who were now resetting the ball, “Like I said, compared to the rest you’re not useless.”

Game Restart! – Team Red 4:2 Team White!

Team White restart the match with a short pass from Nagi to Isagi, who alongside the rest of the team immediately rush forwards. Running in the direction of his own goal, Gento watches as Barou sprints straight at him, “Really? This again?” he questions Barou who simply snarls at the striker, choosing not to respond.

Looking past the wall of muscle sprinting at him, Gento spots Isagi trailing behind the two, ‘Come on, Bachira. Cover your man.’ he thinks to himself at the same time as Barou spots Isagi behind him. “Alright, you scrub.” He says towards his teammate before upping his speed and sprinting straight at Gento, who turns around now facing Barou with his back.

‘Can’t let him get in front.’ He narrows his eyes at Barou, who tries to get past him with feint after feint. “Not gonna happen.” Gento tells his opponent, continuing to block his path. Looking up he finds Isagi drifting towards the outside of the pitch, ‘Shit! He’s drifting wide, if I keep blocking Barou he’s free… But I can’t leave this fucker.’.

As Gento is momentarily distracted, Barou uses the opening to get past the younger striker. “GRAHH, I GOT PAST HIM! Give me the ball! NOW!” Barou yells at his teammate, before Gento forces himself in front of him “I told you, not happening.”.

“FUCK OFF ALREADY!” Barou yells at Gento. However with the space behind him now left open, Isagi manages to pass the two, continuing his run towards Team Red’s goal. Looking at the retreating striker with annoyance Gento clenches his teeth watching as Bachira appears in Isagi’s path.

“Isagi! Give it to me!” Nagi calls out towards his teammate, causing Gento’s eyes to widen ‘You’re here too?’ he thinks to himself, looking up he finds Rin hovering nearby, ‘Wait, if everyone’s here, that means!’

Just as Gento finishes his thought, Isagi sends a cross across the pitch towards Chigiri, who is being closely marked by Aryu. “Full speed ahead!” Chigir yells out, sprinting straight at the ball, “But you’re getting tired aren’t you princess?” Aryu questions, starting to catch up with the speedster.

As Isagi bursts forward out of the huddle of players, Gento clenches his teeth, ‘Fuck. I can’t leave Barou to follow Isagi.’ Looking around he can’t spot an opening for himself, ‘He fucking played me.’

Spotting his free teammate, Chigiri passes the ball into the penalty area. However just as Isagi begins feeling confident, Rin appears behind him forcing him to come up with a new plan.

Faster than Rin managed to predict, Isagi brakes at full power, allowing the ball to pass between his legs as Rin brakes just a second too late. With his back bow turned towards Rin and the goal, Isagi’s leg shoots forward before he pulls it back full-force, hitting the ball with the back of his heel.

Not having expected this, the ball manages to go under Rin’s legs and just barely pushes in between the goalie’s leg and the post, hitting the back of the net.

GOAL!! Scorer: Yoichi Isagi! – Team Red 4:3 TEAM WHITE

Leaning forward to rest his hands on his knees Gento breathes heavily for a second, watching Team White’s celebrations ‘Fuck, that was good.’ he thinks to himself. ‘We’re still up by one, but if this keeps going…’.

Looking at Bachira, he finds his friend looking at Isagi eyebrows raised, extremely impressed with his opponent’s play, ‘You’ve been pretty useless so far.’ After thinking for a second, a sinister expression makes it’s way onto Gento’s face ‘Let’s see what you’ll do after this.’

Walking over towards Rin, who had just picked up the ball, he briefly tugs on the taller one’s jersey, “Rin, wait a second before you restart, okay?”. “Why?” comes the immediate response. Gento nods his head over towards Bachira, who is already making his way back towards his starting position, “I gotta, let’s say motivate, someone for just a second, okay?”, a little giggle escapes his lips, “I wanna try something new.”.

Rin looks down at Gento with a weirded out expression, “…whatever…” he mumbles out before walking towards the kick-off spot, whilst Gento begins approaching Bachira from behind.

Bachira, watching Rin put down the ball, is deep in thought when suddenly a pair of arms loop around his neck from behind, causing him to stiffen in shock.

“If we lose, who do you think they’d choose? Probably me or Rin, right?” He hears Gento whisper straight into his ear,

“I thought you wanted to play with Isagi again? He’ll leave you behind, you know?”. Upon hearing his friend’s whispers the blood drains from Bachira’s face as his heartbeat speeds up.

“I mean, why would they choose you, what have you done so far? I mean, sure you scored once, but what did you do for the goal? That was a freebie by Rin, no?”

Gento chuckles to himself as he removes his arms from Bachira’s neck stepping to the side of his friend, leaning forward and locking eyes with an ice-cold stare on his face.

“Are you gonna do something about it? ‘Cause right now, I’m surprised you got this far. What about that monster of yours? Not showing up? Leaving you all alone?”

Turning to look at Rin, Gento holds up a single finger, motioning towards the striker to wait just a second longer, “No wonder, with the way you’re playing right now… I’d leave you behind too.“

At this Bachira takes a step back, whilst at the same time, Rin restarts the game by passing the ball to Gento.

Game Restart! – Team Red 4:3 Team White!

Sending the ball towards his teammate with the first-touch, he continues completely ignoring the approaching Barou, “But, it’s up to you isn’t it? If you’re so scared, do something about it, Bachira. Show me why I chose you.”

As the ball approaches him, Bachira’s thoughts begin to run quickly, with his heartbeat elevated the surrounding world sounds as if it were underwater. Looking around the pitch, at Rin’s blank expression, Isagi’s determined stare aimed straight at him and Gento’s almost disappointed look he clenches his teeth, pupils narrowing on the ball.

Receiving the ball, Bachira immediately sprints straight at Isagi, whilst Gento begins walking towards Team White’s goal completely relaxed. ‘Hopefully you’ll forgive me for that, weirdo.’.

As Bachira nears Isagi, Aryu appears besides the two, “Bachira, pass to me!” he calls out towards his teammate. ‘Shut up!! Get lost!!’ he thinks to himself, before he fakes a pass before flicking the ball straight through Isagi’s outstreched legs taking the striker by surprise.

“Stop him, Chigiri!!! You should be able to catch up!” Nagi yells out, “at the rate he’s going, I’ll catch up easily!” Team White’s princess responds, getting into Bachira’s path. “I won’t let you get away!” he calls out to the approaching dribbler.

With another flick of the ball, Bachira manages to perform another nutmeg, passing Chigiri with ease as Barou begins to catch up. “Running wild, Bowl cut?!” he yells out, grabbing Bachira’s shoulder ‘Shut up!! I’m not running wild- I’m waking myself up to break this curse!!!’ he thinks to himself, managing to pass the ball inbetween Barou’s legs for a third nutmeg in a row.

“His movements are sharp, at this rate, we’ll lose!!” Nagi realizes, starting to move towards Bachira’s path. “He’s trying to run the whole way!! Everyone, after him!!” Barou orders his teammates.

‘That won’t be enough.’ Gento thinks to himself, keeping himself parallel with Bachira as he approaches Team White’s goal, ‘Not when he’s like this.’ Watching as Barou, Nagi and Chigiri close in on Bachira, a spark of interest pierces through Gento’s head, ‘What’ll you do now?’.

Rin runs forward, positioning himself for a pass from Bachira, who appears offended at the mere thought of passing the ball right now. “If we can steal the ball, their side of the field’s wide open!!” Barou yells out, “That’s the tradeoff for running wild!” Chigiri responds, “If we can steal the ball, that’ll be our chance…” follows Nagi’s response.

‘Shut the hell up!! All of you scurrying around me- GET OUT OF MY WAY!!! YOU FUCKING NOBODIES!!!’ flicking the ball up, Bachira begins to perform a variety of tricks. Flicking the ball up, dropping down and controlling it with the back of his neck, completely overwhelming the trio of strikers surrounding him.

Briefly, Bachira remembers the rainbow flick performed by Gento earlier and immediately uses it to get past the three strikers defending him. “Enough, already.” Nagi calls out, grabbing Bachira’s shoulder aiming to stop his attack.

Bachira however, flips, allowing himself to get free from Nagi’s grasp and landing in a crouch, “Goodbye, Monster.” he mumbles to himself, hitting a volley, rocketing the ball towards the goal.

Although before the ball could reach the goal, Isagi jumps to intercept the shot, causing the ball to bounce up. “I believed in you, Bachira. I believed that you would come here alone.”

“Well, that’s just unlucky, isn’t it.” Both Bachira’s and Isagi’s eyes widen at the voice coming from beside the two. Turning the two spot Gento standing there calmly as the ball began to fall right in front of his foot.

“To be honest, even I didn’t see this coming, Bachira. So this was just a shot in the dark from me.” Gento tells his friend, letting the ball bounce off of the floor, before hitting the ball full force, rocketing it past the goalkeeper’s outstretched arms.

GOAL!! Scorer: Gento Hirako! – TEAM RED 5:3 Team White

“Too bad everyone’s afraid of the dark.”

Final Score: Team Red 5: 3 Team White – TEAM RED WINS!!

– End of Chapter 25 –