3.19. Crack In The Armour (Part 1)

"Goal...!"

"What was that?!" The casters screamed. "At long last, Isagi Yoichi... Bluelock's Ace... scores his first Neo Egoist League goal!"

"Incredible! From his left foot too, what a player! And across the field now, we're already seeing cracks in Ubers' previously impenetrable defence!"

"With that goal, the Mercenary is substituted onto the Ubers' roster! It's always up to the teams to choose whether they want to put him on, but in this case I really think Ubers need the extra firepower!"

"Well, we'll see...!"

After the small cinematic showing Y/N joining the Ubers' team, and the small boy made his way over to Snuffy, the coach immediately held up a hand. To many people's delight on the livestream, it was for a substitution.

The casters burst into quick talking. "You're right! Ubers are indeed substituting Y/N onto the field, in place of Sendou Shuto!"

"A supporting role?"

"No, they're changing their formation to play two centre-forwards. Barou, and Y/N side by side! Incredible firepower in the attacking third, let's see if it works out!"

Y/N looked up towards the casters, sighing with annoyance. "Please, I beg they shut up." Walking towards the Ubers team, and slapping hands with Sendou to show his substitution, Y/N entered the pitch.

Again, he was worried. Nagi's goal, sure, it had been amazing, but it had also been incredibly lucky. This goal? Isagi looked wholly comfortable using his left foot. That meant it was reproducible - and while it wasn't better than Y/N yet, it certainly wasn't bad.

Again, he remembered Noa. "If you don't improve, sooner rather than later Isagi Yoichi may become stronger than you." In the last game, he'd proven that wrong, crushing everyone to score the final goal. He'd beaten Isagi. He'd beaten Kunigami, and Kaiser, and any of the other Bluelock people.

But you didn't beat Noa. A little voice hissed inside of him. You couldn't get past him on defence, of all things.

Something about Isagi was different, though. Different from the last game. Y/N surveyed the pitch, jogging into a position right next to Barou. He largely ignored the greetings his team gave him, just nodding back curtly, and especially avoided acknowledging Niko's discreet look of concern. I don't need help. I need a goal.

He quickly noted the other team's strategies. Pretty much the same as against Manshine. Kurona and Isagi play together. Kaiser, Ness, Grim are all together. The only difference is Raichi... he was hella annoying in the U-20 game, but he's not actually that good.

The major difference here though isn't their strategy. It's Isagi. Kaiser is gonna be locked out by Lorenzo, and the rest of BM isn't strong enough to break through on their own. I need to get past Isagi to score, that's it.

They restarted the game.

Unlike every single other game, Y/N hadn't gone forwards straight off the whistle. He paused, passing slowly backwards to one of the Ubers' wingers.

Chat was confused. The casters were confused. And Bastard Munchen was confused, Isagi frowning as he tried to understand what the enemy prodigy was doing.

What they didn't know was that over the past days, Y/N had been slogging through the swamp called Ubers' 1200 page gameplan, fighting against the demon called boredom and having his eyes go red around the edges from the sheer amount of reading.

He was fully ingrained in their strategies now. He'd learnt the tactics Ubers wanted to use, what to do in each situation, and how to play the field the way Ubers wanted. Snuffy's game plan basically told him what to do in every single possible situation, wrapped up nice and neat in one long piece of reading.

Working with Ubers, either he or Barou would be given the goals. Y/N just had to be the more consistent one.

He held himself back from just sending it towards the goal, waiting as Ubers' five midfielders passed between them. They slowly crawled upfield, not letting any of Bastard's players get near the ball as they passed between them. Y/N practically walked up the field, every so often receiving and sending off passes.

Left winger, to Y/N. Y/N, to right winger. Right winger, to Niko in the centre. They moved the ball around carefully, going at a snail's pace upwards. Barou hovered near the goal, staring backwards at the rest of his team. He was marked by two players, both of them tensed and ready for action. Y/N spotted Isagi, further back behind Barou.

Eventually, as Y/N received the ball at a different time, Bastard Munchen got impatient. Two of them closed in on him at the same time from behind, trying to force him to give up the ball.

A mistake.

Y/N passed back to Niko. In an instant, the midfielder received. In the case that the defenders push out, and leave the defensive third weaker... a long counter works.

Turning, Y/N sprinted upfield. His heart was racing, spirits lifting slightly at the chance for a goal. Ubers will get me my goal. I just need to wait.

The ball came spinning over his head. He'd bypassed two defenders. Two more were marking Barou, so he was completely free. He ran diagonal to the goal, both him and the incoming pass going right for the corner of the penalty box.

Y/N glanced back, confirming where it was going to land. He looked back-

A flash of red, and black. A blur of gold. Isagi planted himself right in front of Y/N, eyes wide with anticipation as he readied himself to fight for the ball. Y/N's throat tightened with shock. He knew where I was going to run? He knew the plan?!

"Too obvious." Isagi murmured. His eyes were dazed, not even noticing Y/N. Like he was nothing but another puzzle piece, another pawn moving on an invisible chessboard.

Y/N jumped. He snatched the ball out of the air with his chest, letting it fall to the ground just in front of Isagi. It was a fair one on one. He surged forwards, accelerating with impossible speed forwards to get a foot on the ball. As soon as he did, he backtracked, yet again somehow managing to kill all of his momentum in a split-second. It was a move that threw even the best of players off, nobody expecting the unfair agility he had.

Isagi had predicted it.

The boy had started sprinting forwards when Y/N had trapped the ball. He didn't slow down one bit. If Y/N hadn't stepped back, it would've been a foul. But because he had, Isagi barely managed to scrape the ball away from him.

A millisecond off, and he wouldn't have got it.

A millimetre, and he would've missed.

But Isagi stole it away. A fair duel, and Y/N had lost to him.

He whipped his head around. Because Barou didn't seem fazed by the loss of the ball. Usually, he would show frustration, anger that he wouldn't have a chance at scoring. But now? It was just cool, calm, calculation. "Get him."

Isagi was swarmed. Niko, and two other midfielders all pressed Isagi at the exact same time. It couldn't have been accidental, that they were all so close. No, they'd been waiting. Waiting for Isagi to steal it from Y/N. They were out of position, way out of formation. It was a tactic he didn't remember reading in the book.

Ubers hadn't been ready to help Y/N. They waited until he'd lost, using a tactic he hadn't been involved in to break the Bastard defence.

They'd bet on him losing. They'd used him as bait. They tricked him.

And with that realisation, came such a sudden rush of anger Y/N himself was surprised. He bit back acrid bile, slowing down to watch as Ubers retook the ball.

The switch flipped.

Instead of Ubers advancing slowly, the speed instantly increased tenfold. The midfielders began sprinting forwards, Barou dropped back slightly, and everyone flooded forwards into the goal box. The defenders were instantly overwhelmed, lost amongst the horde of attacking players.

Niko. Sendou. Niko. Sendou. The two were blurs of movement, passing the ball insanely fast between them.

Y/N rushed to catch up, but whatever plan they were enacting, he wasn't part of. So he could do nothing but watch, confused as Barou ran straight for the goal. He drew all the defenders onto him, moths to a lightbulb. The ball came to his feet, drawing even more attention to him.

Not even looking, Barou slammed the ball backwards.

All the defenders were left out of position, trying to block a shot that wasn't coming. Instead, Ubers returned to their insane passing rhythm, passing backwards, sideways, through legs, and higher in the air as the box devolved into a mess of motion. Gagamaru, standing with defenders blocking his view, wouldn't have a chance at seeing what was going on.

Y/N did, though. He watched as Niko ran straight past the ball, jumping over it to let Sendou have it. Sendou passed back with his heel, faking a run to the right to draw the goalkeeper's attention.

But neither of them shot. In the end, it was Barou, hidden behind everyone.

It wasn't a fancy shot by any means. A simple, efficient, effective curved ball, arcing around the clustered players without any obstacle. It burrowed into the back of the goal, with Gagamaru unable to react in time.

"Goal!"

"With Barou Shoei's 'Stealth Kill' shot, Ubers level the game! One to one!

🥕🥕🥕

Y/N gritted his teeth.

What the hell?

As Ubers walked back to their own half, and Bastard Munchen's players grouped up to talk strategy, Y/N tried to calm himself down. Why would they do that...? They put me out as bait, pretty much, for Isagi. They used me to pull Isagi out of formation, to get an advantage to get into the box... But why?

The feeling was acidic - because none of the answers were good. They used me as bait, so they could give the goal to Barou. Why? Am I not just as good at shooting as him? I have the Kaiser Impact, on both legs, for god's sake! I can outrun the defence any day of the week! So why, why the hell are they choosing Barou over me?

And why didn't I know that plan? I would've remembered it. There were no strategies in that book that talked about using me as bait. Did they... are they planning to continue that? How many plans do they have?

And also, because he didn't want to admit how good that shot was. Gagamaru couldn't even react to it. Why, though? Barou's shot wasn't ultra fast, nor was it ultra slow.

But Gagamaru hadn't seen it coming. Barou must've waited, waited until the second Gagamaru let his guard down, and then only fired the ball. But how... how did he know when Gagamaru wasn't ready?

It's because he's better than you.

Y/N exhaled slowly. No, he isn't. Ubers chose to support Barou, that was why it was so easy for him to score. Next time, I'll be in a better position. They'll support me.

In any case, as the game restarted, Y/N took deep breaths.

Determination. That's what he needed to feel.

Y/N steeled himself. Like he'd done in the Manshine game, he pushed aside every and all emotion. He didn't need to be angry. He didn't need to care. All he needed was to play for his goal.

What's the best way? Ubers are too coordinated to break away from... I'll have to play along if I want to score.

And just hope they choose me over Barou.

Bastard Munchen started with the ball. Y/N took in the pitch in an instant, as Kaiser and Ness predictably began to make their way up the field.

Aryu's covering that... Lorenzo too. They're not gonna pass to Grim this time, he's baiting out two players. It won't go to Isagi. So, the ball should be stopped around... here. He ran forwards, slightly past the centre line as Kaiser and Ness blew towards the defence.

Two Ubers' players squared up to them. Kaiser simply ran straight past his mark, in a beeline straight for the goal. Ness span, presenting his back to the defender so he wouldn't be able to steal the ball, and dug his foot under the ball. He lifted it into the air, over both defenders' heads.

It was shut down before it could even land. Aryu was already there, leaping high into the air in front of it. He intoned loud, loud enough for Y/N to hear even a good distance away. "My turn... to shine!"

The ball was slammed out of the air, straight to Lorenzo. Aryu landed in an elegant crouch. "Exterminating stray flies is my job."

Ness sprinted for Lorenzo, the two of them shoving against each other as they grappled for the ball. Y/N raised a hand into the air, yelling to Lorenzo. "I'm free! Here!"

Lorenzo glanced across at him, dark eyes glinting. Y/N nodded once, and he nodded back. As the ball came towards Lorenzo, the zombie staggered forwards. He stretched out a leg, lazily tapping it away from Ness and redirecting the ball's momentum.

It came right for Y/N. He readied himself, eyes fixed forwards.

When it was just a few metres away, though, Isagi intercepted it. He flew out of nowhere, completely blindsiding Y/N. Y/N's eyes widened with shock.

He landed-

And immediately, Niko was there, colliding into him. Both boys tumbled off balance, thudding to the floor. Y/N glanced back with shaky breathing and a pounding heart.

What...?

Isagi... I didn't predict that? Isagi predicted me? He knew what I was doing...?

What happened to being unpredictable? The feeling was an unpleasant, unfamiliar one. I'm unpredictable... aren't I? Luna thought so, when I played him. But... how did Isagi know where to intercept?

And how did Niko know where to tackle?

They both predicted me? They both read me? Y/N's blood turned to ice.

They're better than me?

Both teams' players clustered around the fallen Isagi and Niko. Niko rose first, helping Isagi up as the two exchanged words. Y/N watched their mouths move, but didn't hear anything. Couldn't hear anything, over the ringing in his ears.

Other players came closer, trying to determine who'd take the free kick. The yellow card to Niko was issued. Y/N just stood there, watching as Raichi grabbed Isagi's shirt, and Kurona and Yukimiya joined them.

Isagi glanced over at Y/N. His eyes burnt with what everyone else would probably call ego. Y/N's burnt with barely suppressed anger. "You've gotta go back a bit, Y/N. Free kick, and all."

Sighing, Y/N did as he was asked. He turned, taking a few steps back. He chose a random Bastard Munchen player, heading towards him. But after walking just a few metres, he stopped. Looked over his shoulder, a hint of frustration coming through in his voice. What does he have that I don't?

"Isagi?"

"Yeah, Y/N?"

There was a silence, as vitriol built up in his throat. He didn't mean for the words to come out of his mouth, but they did nonetheless.

"Screw you." Y/N breathed venomously.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Isagi's confused expression. It only made him more angry, his next words more of a snarl than an insult. "Rot in hell, bastard."

Then he fixed his eyes forward, walking away.