章 46: [46] Fear and Fracture?
"Let's go too, Reo."
For the first time, Reo felt that the person beside him, Nagi, seemed so unfamiliar.
Those eyes glimmering with excitement, that intense drive to win—these were expressions he had never seen before.
Yet, at the same time, Nagi's fighting spirit began to stir something within him.
"Oh, of course. We can't just let them look down on us like that." A smile returned to Reo's face as he accepted the ball Nagi handed to him. "We may have lost unexpectedly once, but I'm not planning on adding another loss in this Blue Lock."
Beep—!
The whistle blew. Reo quickly surveyed the field and passed the ball to Zantetsu.
"Zantetsu, kick things off with your speed."
Zantetsu received the ball on the flank, leaning forward like a bullet shooting through the field.
His speed caught Kurona off guard, allowing him to get past with a single step.
"Although I noticed your speed during defense earlier, this level of impact is truly remarkable." To everyone's surprise, Hiori managed to keep up with Zantetsu.
Abandoning his mark on Nagi, Hiori darted out from a blind spot and used his body to block Zantetsu's charge. "But unfortunately for you, it's still within my range. Did you think I've been training against anything less than monsters all this time?"
"Pass it back, Zantetsu!" Mikage Reo's voice came from the other side. Just before being tackled, Zantetsu managed to pass the ball across, narrowly avoiding a crisis.
"But what now? Zantetsu's breakthrough is harder than expected. That shark-toothed runt took this chance to switch to marking Nagi. Now, I'm the only one left unguarded on the field…"
"How humiliating! If that's the case, I'll do it myself!" Reo steeled himself, taking the ball and charging forward on his own.
One meter, two meters!
Kurona began to feel uneasy, instinctively stepping closer to Reo to prepare for a defensive backup.
But this small shift in positioning was exactly what Reo had been waiting for!
"That's exactly what I wanted you to think. Go, Nagi!" As soon as Kurona moved, Reo executed a perfect pass.
The fleeting opportunity was seized with precision, the ball whizzing toward Nagi like a cannonball.
Reo's confidence never wavered—he was certain Nagi's talent would ensure he received the ball.
"Without that white-haired guy, you're nothing."
The carefully crafted plan was shattered by Rin, who intercepted the pass with a sudden burst of speed, cutting in between Nagi and Reo.
"Acting so sentimentally on the battlefield—you're disgusting enough to make me sick. Just get off the field already." Rin's cold remark was followed by a swift counterattack.
With the ball now in his control, he surged toward the opposing goal.
A horrified Reo, realizing the gravity of the situation, yelled to Zantetsu, the only one capable of intercepting Rin, "Stop him, Zantetsu!"
As Zantetsu charged in from the side and the others gave chase, Rin remained expressionless.
His eyes, however, betrayed a flicker of boredom. "If this were a battlefield, the command you just issued as a leader would be equivalent to ordering your soldiers to expose their necks to the enemy's blade."
Rin lifted his foot and executed a sharp pass.
The ball narrowly skimmed past Zantetsu's body and landed perfectly at the feet of Hiori, who had been overlooked during the chaotic defense.
Hiori raised his right leg high, preparing for a powerful shot.
With the Blue Lock goalkeeper leaping into position to block, Hiori suddenly shifted his foot mid-swing.
Instead of striking with his toes, he used his instep to push the ball horizontally.
The deceptive move sent the ball sailing past the goalkeeper, who had been tricked into misplacing his weight, and into the net with ease.
Beep—!
1:0 → 2:0
"What a waste of time. Let's finish them off quickly and move on to the next stage."
The score on the screen changed again, and Mikage Reo stood frozen in place.
'No, we can't win. There's no way we can win. All of my strategies have been completely read by that guy with the long lashes... Are Nagi and I... going to lose?'
"Hey, Reo, it's kickoff... Reo?" Nagi jogged over and nudged the ball toward Reo, but the latter just stood there in a daze, letting the ball hit his shin before rolling off to the side. "Reo, what's wrong?"
"Nagi... we're... probably going to lose."
"Yeah, maybe. They're really strong, huh? But we just need to score five goals first, right?" Nagi, oblivious to the weight of Reo's words, jogged over to retrieve the ball again. "Come on, Reo, let's start."
"It's meaningless, Nagi. That guy is way stronger than me. He's seen through every move I've made... And they're only playing three-on-four right now. Even if we somehow manage to score, there's still that other guy who hasn't even entered the game yet. He might be even stronger."
"We're just their playthings, Nagi... We're not as strong as we thought we were..." Reo's mind replayed his parents' words: "Maybe I really can't become the best player in the world."
Unlike the original story where Team W lost to Isagi, despite outnumbering their opponents, Reo realized that even if someone like Kuon joined, it wouldn't have changed much.
Most of their teammates were just there to make up the numbers, unable to meaningfully contribute to their attack.
From a purely objective standpoint, they were still the stronger side.
Losing the match wouldn't have made them question their abilities, only certain aspects of their strategy.
For example, Zantetsu's speed was far superior to Reo's, but Reo never felt inferior because he excelled in areas where Zantetsu fell short.
Weaknesses could be compensated for with other strengths.
Even in the original storyline, when Reo lost to Shidou Ryusei, it only made him acknowledge his shortcomings, not despair, because they were different types of players.
But Rin Itoshi was different.
Whether it was vision, dribbling, shooting, speed—everything about him was superior.
For someone like Reo, who prided himself on being an all-around player, Rin was the worst possible opponent.
There was no aspect in which Reo could see himself winning.
"Nagi... I'm weaker than him... I don't think I can beat him..." Reo gritted his teeth and looked at Nagi, but the response he received was a cold, indifferent face.
"So, what do you want me to do? Comfort you? Lie and tell you that you can do it?" Nagi stared at Reo expressionlessly. "Wasn't it you who gave me this dream of becoming the best striker in the world? And now you're the first to give up? Are you... scared, Reo?"
"No, Nagi! I just..." Reo stammered, feeling as though every word from Nagi pierced straight into his heart.
He suddenly realized how pathetic his behavior was.
Flustered, he tried to explain, but Nagi cut him off.
"Enough, Reo! You should have understood this ever since we lost to Team Z. We're not the strongest, and that's exactly why I've kept moving forward, fueled by regret."
"Of course we'll lose—I know that. But I still have to keep moving forward. To become stronger. No matter how many times I lose, as long as I keep improving, I'm getting closer to the dream of being the world's best striker. I always thought our dream of becoming the best together was absolute..."
Nagi didn't pass the ball to Reo this time. Instead, he walked to the center line himself, his eyes burning with determination. "But if you're going to stop here, then suit yourself. I don't care anymore."
"The dream of becoming the world's best striker... I'll achieve it on my own."
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