Chương 29: Mimicry

Sho stood unmoving as the ball approached him from behind and simply grinned in Bachira's direction as he took a deep breath and sighed.

With a clear and tranquil mind, Sho wore a carefree expression as he still stood unmoving as Junichi ran past him. While Junichi ran past Sho, other players from Team W got in their positions and patiently waited for Sho to act first.

As soon as they got in their positions, Team Z acted in retaliation as a short monk named Igarashi and an average teenager with deep blue eyes, named Isagi ran towards Sho with Bachira's words in mind.

Bachira heartily grinned as Sho stood there waiting for them to approach. After they got in arm's length, Sho kicked the ball down the field towards Junichi, and as soon as Junichi received the ball he kicked it horizontally towards the other end of the field, in hopes of kickin it towards his teammate waiting there.

Bachira surprisingly looked towards his feet as the ball luckily fell in his lap. As Bachira ran with it, Junichi angrily stomped his foot into the ground and cursed himself as Team W's first plan of attack failed.

At the exact same moment Junichi stomped his foot into the ground, Bachira kicked the ball down the field towards Gagamaru.

The lanky highschooler looked around him and licked his lips as the ball gracefully fell in front of him.

Gagamaru: "Nice Pass, Bachira."

As those words left his lips, he angled his foot towards the goal, resulting in the ball flying past Team W's goalkeeper and into the bottom right of the goal.

Team Z 1-0 Team W

Gagamaru tripped as he landed on his weirdly angled foot, but Kunigami quickly ran towards him and offered his hand, helping Gagamaru get up.

Across the field Isagi weirdly looked in Sho's direction as he seemed unbothered by the sudden goal. Bachira noticed Isagi speaking to himself and poked his shoulder, interrupting him.

Bachira: "Don't worry about him, he's the type to stay calm and calculate his every move, so let's keep attacking and finish him off."

For the first time in a while Sho felt the excitement and suspense from fighting a worthy adversary as he looked towards Team Z and tightened the laces of his shoes.

Team W's Goalkeeper surveyed the area and found Sho too far from him, so he settled for Junichi. Before he tossed the ball towards him he shouted.

Team W's Goalkeeper: "Plan 4!"

Junichi nodded his head in the goalkeeper's direction as he turned around and ran down the right side of the field with the ball, until he reached the halfway line.

Junichi: "Plan 4!"

After he shouted their plan to the rest of his teammates, he found a nearby teammate across from him. Since he was close, Junichi lightly tapped the ball in his direction, but before it could reach its destination Isagi swiftly intercepted the pass, and whispered in Junichi's direction.

Isagi: "Learn to shoot the ball for yourself."

As soon as those words left his mouth he instinctually released Spatial Awareness and sent the ball to the most optimal striker

Kunigami ran through the weak defense and sprinted to Team W's goal as the ball ran through the air and slowly approached him.

As the ball reached over his head, he jumped and angled his head towards the goal. Resulting in Team Z's second goal.

Team Z 2-0 Team W

Kunigami: "Let's fucking go!"

All of Team Z crowded Kunigami and complimented his amazing goal. While they all celebrated, Junichi ran towards Sho and said,

Junichi: "None of our plans are working Sho what should we do?

Sho: "Then I guess we'll have to resort to using plan Z."

Junichi: "But we aren't supposed to use that plan until the second half."

Sho: "Look at the score Junichi, if we don't use Plan Z we'll be screwed, and if Plan Z doesn't work, we'll just have to figure something out on the spot."

Junichi begrudgingly nodded in agreement and went to each teammate and told them to execute Plan Z.

While Junichi prepared the other members, Sho walked over to Bachira and grinned.

Sho: "You got us stuck in a rock and a hard place."

Bachira: "Nya ha, what can I say my team's stacked. But when did you start passing to people?"

Sho: "Don't worry about that Bachira, just don't expect us to break so easily."

With those parting words, Sho leisurely walked back to his position and forgot about Team Z's past goals. As the last few remaining minutes of the first half of the match flew past him.

A loud ring signaled the end of the first half.

Both teams were slightly exhausted as some gasped for air, while others took short breaths. Sho and Bachira looked at each other from the end of their sides of the field and both still saw fight left in them. Bachira turned away from Sho and walked a little faster towards his team.

On the way to their respective tunnels, Bachira giggled and followed the rest of Team Z into the locker room as they were all high spirited.

Isagi: "I thought Sho was good Bachira? If he doesn't pick up the pace we're gonna wipe the floor with them."

Bachira: "I thought so too. He's not acting like himself."

Kunigami: "Fuck him, they suck so let's get ready and finish em' off in the second half"

On the other side of the arena, Team W depressingly sat on the bench in their locker rooms and stayed quiet. Until Junichi spoke.

Junichi: "None of our plans worked guys. We gotta start pressuring Kunigami and Bachira to keep the ball out of their possession.."

Sho: "That's incorrect Junichi. We need to worry about Isagi, he's the one who's constantly passing, leading to Team Z's goals."

Team W began wrapping their minds around Sho words, and began realizing that Isagi was there for almost everyone of Team Z's plays.

For the rest of the break time, Team Z got riled up and Team W distraughtly spoke to one another.

A loud ring reverberated throughout the empty field, signaling the start of the 2nd half of the game.

While both teams began walking through their respective tunnels, Sho suddenly stopped walking with the team as his eyes began to hurt. He immediately leaned against the tunnel wall and covered his eyes with his hands.

After a few seconds of light pain in his eyes, Sho took his hands away from his eyes and grinned at this sudden change.

What nobody but Sho heard was the sound of a once heavy and locked chain, easily being snapped off the ominous door in his mindscape.

If someone were to look at Sho while he leaned against the tunnel walls, they'd see his eyes suddenly morph. As they were once heterochromatic, but were now an odd but rather mysterious purple ripple pattern that spread over his eyeballs.

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Thank you for reading stranger!