Chapter 29

-Third Person POV-

“talking” – ‘thoughts’

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

Following the loud whistle and the announcement of their loss the members of Team White could only stare at the ball in the back of their own goal in shock. Next to Bachira, Isagi falls down to his knees and hits the ground with frustration.

Whilst Bachira is looking down at Isagi deep-in-thought, Gento walks over before calmly clapping the boy on the back, “Nice one, weirdo.” he compliments his friend. “Huh?” Bachira looks at the shorter striker with confusion, ‘What’s with the sudden 180?’ he thinks to himself.

“Umm, what was that about Gento?” the dribbler questions Gento, whose face immediately bursts red before he looks away scratching the back of his neck, “I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Gento mumbles out. Bachira continues staring straight at Gento, who is still clearly uncomfortable with the sudden question.

After a solid minute of uninterrupted silence between the two, Gento sighs before finally answering “Look, you were stuck in your head. I kinda just… wanted to shock you out of it. Which worked so… yeah…”. Seeing Bachira still not responding, Gento looks down at the ground, kicking up some grass with his foot, “Sorry. I kinda went overboard, didn’t I?”.

“Yeah you did.” Bachira responds causing Gento to wince, ‘Fuck…’. Whilst Gento is still bracing himself for the eventual outburst from Bachira, his eyes suddenly widen when Bachira lets out a laugh before punching him in the shoulder.

“Well, atleast it worked in the end.” Bachira stretches his arms over his head, “You should work on apologizing though, Gen-chan!”. Letting out a breath and releasing some of the tension in his shoulders Gento lets out a small laugh before looking back up at his friend, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

As the two finish up their conversation Aryu, who had been obsessively posing up until now, makes his way over towards his teammates, “I assume the three of us will choose, who we pick right?”. Looking over at the approaching giant, Gento briefly locks eyes with Bachira before shrugging and turning back to Aryu, “Honestly, I don’t really care. Just don’t pick Barou.”.

“How about we choose-” before Bachira could finish his sentence, their fourth teammate suddenly cuts in, “Shut up. I’m going to choose.“. At the sudden intrusion Aryu, Bachira and Gento startle looking over at Blue Lock’s current number one in confusion, “Since when do you care?” Gento asks Rin who goeas back to ignoring him, “And there will be no objections.“

“Bitch…” Gento mumbles out loud, causing Bachira to snicker as Rin continues his rant, “I was unable to read that last play. It’s the first time since coming to Blue Lock that I’ve tasted defeat.” “We won though.” Gento cuts in earning a sharp glare from Rin, “That makes one more person that I need to crush. Dammit… I won’t let you sink here. Come, Isagi Yoichi. You can have a front row view of my ascension to the world’s number one.”.

“Welp, guess I’m fine with that.” Gento says to no one in particular, turning to Bachira who is smiling at Isagi, “That was your choice anyways, right weirdo?”. Looking back down at his friend, Bachira nods, “Yup!”. With the choice now completed the intercom comes back to life with its robotic voice echoing over the field, “Itoshi Rin, Aryu Jyubei, Hirako Gento, Bachira Megumi, Isagi Yoichi. Second Selection ‘Rivalry Battle’ CLEAR!!!”.

“Come on loser, we’re going.” Gento briefly looks fown at Isagi, stretches his arms over his head, before he heads over to the door labeled ‘Winner’s Gate’. ‘Isagi’s probably the best choice. Chigiri would be alright too I guess, but long term Isagi seems better.’ he continues his walk, with his arms still stretched high up in the air and his head tilted back, ‘I don’t think I can link up with Nagi and Barou’s… well Barou.’.

At the door he stops walking, realizing Bachira and Isagi are stilll on the field. “You guys coming, or not?!” he calls out towards the two. “Let’s go Isagi.” Bachira tells his friend still kneeling down on the ground before walking over towards Gento.

Gento watches Isagi walk over and share a brief conversation with his former teammates who effectively tell him to fuck off. As the two finally enter the door, Gento briefly stays behind watching the remaining members of Team White fall down to the ground with desperation, causing his heartbeat to pick up slightly and a smile to grace his face.

As the members of Team Red, alongside the newly appointed Isagi are making their way through the corridor, Gento chooses to speak up, “Learned your lesson now?” he asks Isagi, looking at the dark haired striker out of the corner of his head, “Huh? What are you talking about?” Isagi looks down at Gento with confusion.

At this Gento slightly puffs out his cheeks looking at Isagi with annoyance, ” ‘What, you scared to lose?’ That’s what you said to me, right?”. Hearing this, Isagi becomes even more confused, “Don’t you say that all the time?”. “Yeah, I do.” Gento responds firmly, causing Isagi to sweatdrop, ‘Is he seriously that petty?’.

“To be perfectly honest, I wanted the stylish Chigiri Hyouma.” Aryu decides to cut in, “But your back heel was rather stylish too. Welcome aboard, Isagi Yoichi.”. Turning tiwards the taller striker, Isagi briefly bows, “Thank you…”. “Don’t thank him, he’s super weird.” Gento says, narrowing his eyes at Aryu over Isagi’s shoulder. ‘You’re one to talk’ Aryu, Isagi and Bachira think to themselves at the same time staring down at the shorter, horror-obsessed striker.

“Isagi!” Bachira calls out towards his friend. As the two begin their conversation, Gento chooses this moment to slip away and speed up, catching up with Rin who has been walking ahead of the pack quietly.

“Umm, Rin.” he speaks up, causing the emo to look down at Gento, “Yeah?”. “Sorry about the whole ‘brother thing’ in training…”. Gento apologizes to the taller boy, ‘Getting my karma up today.’. “I don’t give a fuck.” Rin responds, causing Gento to look up at him in shock, “Huh?”.

“You were right, with the way I am now there is no way I can beat him.” he looks ahead, narrowing his eyes with determination, “I will get stronger and I will destroy him.”. ‘Seems like rage-baiting my teammates is apparently super useful.’ Gento thinks to himself, before shoving his hands into his pockets and walking besides Rin in silence.

“Hey, Gento.” Isagi calls out from the back of the team, forcing all members to turn back and look at him, “Tell me. Why exactly did I lose to you?”. Gento’s eyes flicker between Rin and Isagi, “Didn’t I tell him already?” he whispers to the tall striker beside him, “You did.” Rin responds normally.

“In our match just now. Why couldn’t I defeat you? The same goes for you Rin. What was I missing?”. Isagi finishes his question. Gento looks at Rin before tilting his head towards Isagi, motioning for the emo to respond, “Hah. It’s so obvious, even a monkey could tell. Hell, Gento already told you. It was ‘Luck.'”. ‘Calling me by my first name now?’ Gento thinks to himself, ‘Progress.’.

“Hold on!! A vague answer like ‘luck’ isn’t enough for me. I need to get stronger, you’ve gotta have something more concrete than that!” Isagi yells out, whilst Gento stares straight at the door ahead of him, ‘We’re talking too much about some concept. If four-eyes isn’t on a monitor behind this door saying something ‘I’ll teach you about luck in the world of football’ or some shit I’ll eat my own shirt…’

“… You’ve got no right to live in a competitive world.” Rin finishes his explanation towards Isagi before looking down at Gento, “Right?”. “What? I wasn’t listening.” Gento deadpans at Rin.

As the five of them finally arrive at the doors an overhead speaker suddenly turns on, “Well, well, my unpolished gems.” Ego’s voice echoes through the corridor, ‘Fucking called it.’ Gento thinks to himself, “First off, congratulations on clearing the second selection. ‘What is Luck’, you say.” he briefly laughs before continuing, “Quite an alluring discussion indeed. Now, go on and pass those doors.” As he finishes his sentence the doors suddenly creep open, revealing a room in the form of a pentagon with three monitors displaying Ego’s face and five beanbags in the middle.

“As a reward for clearing the stage, I’ll teach you the mechanism of luck, in the football world.“. ‘Dangit, almost got him word for word.’ Gento thinks to himself, walking towards the centre and flopping down on one of the beanbags.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” hearing Isagi speak up, Gento tilts his head towards the striker, ‘Damn these things are comfortable.’. “There’s no way something like that exists!! Luck is just luck!! It’s pure and simple, coincidence, nothing more!!. he yells out at their ‘teacher?’.

“Aah. That’s that the losers always say. Their subpar intelligence twists reality, interpreting it in a way that benefits them.” Ego responds, causing Gento to release a short laugh, “Wha..” Isgi stares at the monitor in shock.

“Shut up and listen.” Ego cuts him off again, “First let me ask you, have you ever been shat on by a pigeon?” Ego asks the strikers., who simply stare up at him in confusion, “The fuck?” Gento asks out loud.

“It’s the worst when it happejs isn’t it? And only afterwards do you notice that there’s shit on the ground all around you and when you look up, you see a ton of pigeons on the telephone lines.”

‘Ah I get it.’ Gento thinks to himself, “So it could have been avoided if you’d noticed the shit beforehand. So, it isn’t really bad luck? That’s what you’re telling us right?”

“Correct, I’ll ask you another question. Let’s see… Imagina a lottery game at a summer festival. If the unscrupulous store owner didn’t put in a winning ticket, and someone drew a losing ticket, could you really say that they had bad luck?”

“Seriously, what’re you trying to say?” Isagi questions Ego, “Just ignore me, why don’t you?” Gento mumbles to himself crossing his arms.

“I’m saying ‘luck’ isn’t something to be found just anywhere. Rather, it is something that only descends upon those standing where it will drop. The same concept applies in a game of football. Think of those 90 minutes as a series of inevitabilities and coincidences.

Improving your shooting, dribbling, passing. In order to make full ose of one’s strategies and formations all of these acts are deliberated with the intention of creating the inevitability called a goal. Think back. You’ve made ‘1’ from ‘0’ increased the repeatability of your goals and learned to wield your weapons and formulas.

You could say that everything you’ve learned in Blue Lock was for the purpose of increasing the rate of inevitability of your goals. But, the moment your teammates’ and your opponents’ acts of inevitability collide… Like it or not, coincidences begin to pop up. These become the epicenter of ‘luck’.”

He motions to the space beside his head, causing a replay of the final moments of their match to appear with a little “beep”.

“And that’s exactly what happened in this final play. The moment when Bachira broke through these three and headed for the goal. There were four of you who either slowed down or stopped entirely.

With the exception of Isagi, who had predicted this and continued to press onwards, in the judgement of that singular moment, they became spectators of the goal.

However, just one person, Hirako Gento, instead of slowing down, sped up towards Isagi. Realizing that the ball would not be passed to him, he grasped instantly from Isagi’s blocking motion the possible ‘coincidence’ that the ball would rebound and continued to run.”

“Ahem.” Gento cuts in holding up his hand, “Not to burst your bubble Ego, but I realizied jackshit.” Causing the others to look at him surprised, “It was purely instinct, there really wasn’t more to it.”

Ego simply looks down at Gento for a second before responding, “Well you didn’t disprove my claim, Gento. A striker’s body needs to keep up with their mind. If your actions are driven by ‘Instinct’ then your body and mind are completely in tune. Making complex analyses and thought processes appear as primitive as ‘instinct’.”

Gento lowers his hand, ‘Was that a compliment? From Ego?’, suddenly his eyes widen, “Wait a sec. You said four of us were reduced to spectators. Adding Bachira, Isagi and I that comes to seven. Someone’s still missing.” Gento calls out.

“Correct again, the other striker to grasp the situation before himself was Rin, the both of you were beginning to make the same run, Rin however not wanting to risk a counter attack hovered slightly behind you.

Had you failed to receive the ball, or the ball bounced in another direction, Rin would have been able to receive it. Of couse, there still was always the chance of the ball falling into the possession of the other team.

In that case, given their positions and numbers, the other team would have equalized and with the direction the game was headed would probably have won.

That’s how close and fierce of a game that was.

There’s no denying that luck was the determining factor in who won this game. But wehc ‘luck’ does come around, those who only sit back and watch, will invariably waste that chance.

If you aren’t prepared to take advantage of that coincidence and only reach out for ‘luck’ when it’s staring you in the face, it’ll already be too late. Only those who foresee the possibility and prepare for it, those who have trained in order to be able to seize the opportunity whenever it presents itself, those who have determined where that chance will fall and lie in wait…

Only those with that keen sense of smell, or instinct if you will, wil be smiled upon by the goddess of ‘luck’.” behind Ego a literal depiction of the goddess of luck appears as he continues, “Do you understand now? Luck and coincidence are both a part of football, or will you continue to whine that the results were by coincidence?

Luck descends equally upon only those who are truly prepared to fight.“

‘So it was ‘luck’ that the chance was created, but it was skill that created the goal.’ Gento thinks to himself, processing Ego’s speech.

“Now then, with that said, your second selection is over. Exploit and be exploited. Use and be used. You should now understand the principles behind sparking a chemical reaction.” Ego starts up again, “Next, is the third selection. As I’ve told you before, you’ll enter a training camp with several world-class players.

First off, in 24 hours you’ll play a 5 vs 5 match against these world select players. You frogs in a well, it’s time you learned of the world.”

 – End of Chapter 26 –