19. Preparation

"The last game ended in a draw, with Team Y drawing against Team W, 1-1. Ikki Niko scored the equaliser."

Iemon flicked to the next slide of his powerpoint, which showed the round robin table, mostly filled in. "We're currently in third place. If we draw, we won't move on. We have to win this game."

Y/N had joined them for their morning strategy meeting for once, in their training room surrounded by equipment.

At the sound of Niko's name, Y/N glanced up from where he sat at the back of the room. He didn't particularly care what they were talking about, but he did care about Niko for some reason.

Raichi glared at Kuon. "Hey, the traitor is listening in on this. Should I kill him?"

"Yes, please." Y/N blurted.

Everyone stared at him with shock. Y/N shrugged nonchalantly, and Raichi grinned shark-like at him. "You know, that's the first time we've agreed on something."

"I'm not sure that's a good thing." Isagi interjected.

"Anyways, it's a miracle Team Y came away with a draw." Igaguri said. "Without that, we would be properly out."

"Was Niko even the kind of guy to take shots himself?" That was Chigiri, leaning on his knee in the middle of the room. He'd been growing more and more relaxed since his goal against Team W, talking to the rest of Team Z.

"He got inspired by a certain someone!" Y/N knew Bachira was talking about Isagi, but at the same time he felt a bit of pride that Niko was performing. Like the younger boy was his little brother.

"Focus." Iemon said sternly. "Now, Team V has three key players that have scored eighteen goals in three games. This is due to their stupidly good attacking skills."

He put up clips of each of the three players, and Y/N momentarily realised just how alike Bluelock was to Ascension. Everything was monitored.

"Tsurugi Zantetsu, with five goals. Mikage Reo with six goals. And their team's top scorer is Nagi Seishiro, with seven goals." Y/N was pleasantly surprised. I knew they were good, but that's impressive.

"In order to win, we have to shut them down."

The entire time, Raichi had been stalking Kuon, growing closer and closer, and finally he struck, grabbing Kuon by the shoulders and putting him in a headlock. "I haven't forgiven this little bastard!"

"You're going to spill the beans to someone again, aren't you!" He choked Kuon, yelling loudly. "Let's take turns punching him!"

Iemon threw down his remote and turned off the powerpoint, probably wondering why he had to be put in the team with a bunch of children.

Isagi rushed to stop Raichi. "Hey, don't injure him! We need him for the game against Team V!"

"Are you kidding me?" Kuon ripped Raichi off of him, taking a few steps back. "I'm not playing. Even if Team Z loses, I still get to move on as their top scorer."

Kunigami walked slowly over to him. "If I score three goals in the next game, then I'll be the top scorer with four goals."

"No way you can do that, playing with ten men-"

"I'll do it." Y/N nodded, impressed by the show of courage as Kunigami steelily stared Kuon down.

The brown-haired boy was quiet, leaning against the wall before he spoke. "You can't play soccer alone. I know that better than anyone." He slid down the wall, sitting onto the floor. "I've been working so hard to make my dream of winning the World Cup a reality, and I'm not stopping here."

"Hold on." Bachira glanced at the ceiling. "If the top scorers are tied, who moves on?"

"The one with fewer penalties, if I remember right." Chigiri answered - where was this going?

"But what if they're tied on that, too?"

From a screen high on the wall, the familiar face of Ego Jinpachi appeared. His voice rang out from hidden speakers, and he waved to grab everyone's attention. "The one with the higher Bluelock ranking will progress."

When everyone was looking at him, he continued. "Hello, it's been a while. Ego Jinpachi here. If your team's top scorers are tied, it is the one with the higher ranking that will progress." He pulled up a list of their rankings. "Indeed, the top one here is Kuon Wataru."

"See, I'm at the top." Kuon laughed.

"What?!" Cries of rage came from all of Team Z, with Raichi as usual yelling loudly. Y/N just sat there quietly. "Why is he at the top?"

"In the first selection, scoring is the only thing assessed. What he did isn't against the rules." Ego removed the list, leaning in close to the camera. "But Kuon, let me say this..."

His face tightened with annoyance. "As a striker, you are the lowest of the lowest. You are trash, and you are never going to succeed. You might feel like you've survived this situation, but if you do, it would be through luck alone."

"It's not good enough to just score goals. Those goals have to be reproduced, again and again in different circumstances. The world's best will have mastered that technique." Ego's eyes locked onto Y/N's. "A rigged goal has zero reproducibility, and is therefore trash."

"Don't just rely on coincidences. Find the formula for you to win, again and again and again, and you will become a true striker."

As Team Z's expressions gradually turned to more withdrawn, thoughtful faces, Ego chuckled for the first time. It was low, through his teeth, and over the speakers had a mechanical edge.

"Besides, Kuon Wataru, I wouldn't believe you're safe. Who knows? A player on your team could score three and become the top scorer. Or they could score five, or ten, or fifteen!" Ego's eyes were firmly locked onto Y/N's, but nobody else noticed.

Y/N nodded resolutely. If we're losing, I need to move on as the top scorer.

Ego's image flickered off the board, and a timer appeared. "24 hours. Tomorrow morning, your soccer careers could be over."

🥕🥕🥕

Pulling on his boots, Y/N felt himself automatically tensing.

Even though he loved soccer, and he'd played thousands of games risking his entire career, he still got tense before every important game. And on top of that, if Team Z was losing, he'd have to score at least four goals in order to become the new top scorer.

It wasn't a hard task, but Y/N couldn't get it out of his head that if he failed, his career could be over.

Around the room, Team Z probably was feeling something along the same line. Nobody spoke. They donned their jerseys in silence, not meeting each other's eyes.

Y/N seemed oddly quiet as well, a huge change from the playful boy he normally was. Everyone put it down to nerves, but Y/N was just thinking about how he should play this.

If I don't leave enough time at the end, then I won't be able to score enough goals. Even if I ran in a straight line from one side of the field to the other every time, I would need a few minutes to score four goals.

He laced up his boots, doing a few stretches at his bench as he waited for the rest of Team Z to get ready. They had spent the past 24 hours training like crazy, minus Y/N of course.

Y/N leant low to his leg, feeling his thigh muscles strain as he stretched. He repeated the motion a few times, before standing up and trying to touch his toes.

"Let's go." It was the first words spoken in a while, from Iemon. He stood up, looking around the room before the ten players of Team Z walked out of the door.

They headed down the same corridor as usual, filing out from the dark confined space onto the brightly lit area of the field.

A timer ticked away, high on the pitch's wall as Team Z took their respective positions. Y/N walked over to defence as usual, studying the other team. Reo, Nagi, and that black-haired Zantetsu guy were already in offensive positions.

It took a few minutes. Annoyingly boring, long dragged out minutes, as Y/N shifted from foot to foot trying to keep his muscles warm. He was going to sit it out, for a bit, anyways, and see how the game went.

Wait. He realised. Team V is guaranteed to go through to the next selection no matter the outcome of this game. So, winning or losing here just decides if either Team Z or Team W go through. It's okay to win, because Team Z in my opinion has more promising talent than Team W.

He felt a small smile creep onto his face, as he muttered aloud. "I can play properly this game?"