33. Challengers (Part 1)

Y/N's team formed the default formation for a team of four. They were starting off with the ball, Rin standing in the centre of the field next to it. Bachira hung back behind him, acting as a way to give passes to each of the players.

He himself stood on the right hand side of the pitch, Aryu on the left. As soon as Team White entered the room, the taller boy walked quickly forwards, maintaining perfect posture as he approached Chigiri.

Y/N frowned, watching them interact. Aryu had taken hold of Chigiri's hair, eyes staring wide as he wrapped it around his finger to study. "That hair... is so glamorous. What do you put on it?"

Chigiri's mouth opened, and he hesitated, flushing pink. Aryu didn't seem to care how weird he was acting, focused entirely on his pink hair. "The same stuff everyone else uses."

Aryu hummed, thinking, before he nodded once. "It must be natural born glam." The tall boy extended a hand for a handshake, letting go of the hair. "It's a pleasure to meet another glam person, Chigiri Hyoma."

Chigiri accepted the handshake, gingerly holding his hand forwards. "Nice to meet you too." He checked the side of Aryu's uniform, making a note of the name. It was difficult, with him having to look slightly up to get a glimpse of Aryu's shoulder. "You have quite a classical name, Aryu Jyubei."

Uhoh. Y/N raised an eyebrow as Aryu's eyes widened with shock. The tall boy dramatically threw his head back, arms extending into a cross as he yelled loudly. Chigiri jumped back, startled by the sudden movements.

"Do not call me that!" Aryu bellowed - no, intoned. With his deep voice, it sounded sort of kind of very crazy. "My last name is not... Glam!" He drew out the last few words, making Chigiri very confused as he slowly withdrew.

He mumbled some things under his breath that Y/N couldn't really hear. The few words that he did hear just made him more confused, with things like "Oozes... mistakeable... a... samurai... complex."

Out of the blue, Aryu began throwing poses, full on emoting in front of Team White. "Let me erase all thoughts of it, with my glam poses!" The first pose, he arched his back, throwing one hand out to the side with the other on his temple.

The second, he half crouched, covering half his face with his hand and letting his hair hide the rest. The third, he knelt on the ground, looking up at the sky with his hands on either side of his head as he yelled into nothingness.

"He's gone batshit." Y/N stated.

"Yup." Bachira agreed. The two just stared with a mixture of interest and confusion as Aryu seemed to have a seizure at the mention of his name.

"I want the number one." Nagi's quiet voice drew Y/N's attention. He stood opposite Rin, Isagi at his side. "You take Bachira."

Bachira just grinned, focusing on Isagi. "So that just leaves..."

"Me." Y/N interrupted. He looked across the field, to where Barou was squaring up to him. The taller boy looked oddly eager to face off, eyes narrowed in determination and jaw set. "Against the selfish King."

For a few seconds, both teams watched each other. Barou seemed hyper-fixated on Y/N, but he didn't really care, just humming nonchalantly as he looked around the pitch. Nagi was eyeing up Rin, who looked like he couldn't care less.

"With that sorted..." Isagi said. "We're ready."

The whistle blew, and Rin kicked off.

🥕🥕🥕

He immediately passed backwards to Bachira, moving horizontally across the pitch to face Nagi head on. Bachira began pushing the ball forwards, up against Isagi.

Isagi's eyes were narrowed with concentration, processing the movements of his teammates and enemies while trying to keep track of Bachira. His opponent had slowed down as they neared each other, using crazy fast scissor movements to try and throw him off.

Bachira attempted a fake step while Isagi should've been disoriented, but it didn't work. As he dashed out to one side, Isagi kept up, brain working overtime to try and process Bachira's movements. I've improved so much, Bachira. That doesn't work on me anymore.

Isagi grinned as Bachira hesitated for a moment. "What's wrong? Try and get past me." He was so much more confident now - with Barou, Nagi, and Chigiri, and his improved eyes and brain, it was definitely possible to beat Team Red.

He's going to take a risk- Pretty much as soon as Isagi had thought it, Bachira sprinted down his left side, going in front of Rin to try and get through the gap in between Nagi and him.

Barou came from the wing, having left his position next to Y/N to trap Bachira. He attempted to steal the ball, but Bachira turned, facing away from Barou to prevent it.

That meant his eyes weren't on Isagi, for a good few seconds. Isagi read the field. Rin wasn't in a good place to receive, blocked off by Barou. If Bachira held onto the ball, Nagi would come swooping in as well. Y/N was too far.

Isagi left the tight group of players, sprinting towards Aryu.

Bachira, squished between Barou and Nagi, hit a hasty pass out towards the tall boy. But before it could get there, Isagi had intercepted it, chest swelling with confidence and pride at his read.

Y/N's eyes widened momentarily, and he hummed with delight. "That's new."

All the way to the other wing, Isagi hit a long ball to Nagi. Rin was nearby, positioning himself in a good area to prevent Nagi's first touch magic, but the white-haired boy didn't even try. He used his toe to poke it back into the middle of the field, where Chigiri was sprinting.

Both Rin and Aryu tried to intercept the ball, but were too slow. Chigiri burst in between them, rocketing past Team Red's defence. The goalkeeper came out, but Chigiri slammed it past it, into the top corner of the goal.

"They've improved..." Y/N tilted his head with interest, watching as Nagi and Chigiri high-fived.

"Y/N!" Bachira came bounding over, grinning. "Are they still too boring for you to play? Everyone is much better now!"

Y/N laughed. "Yeah, they've improved. But..." He retrieved the ball from the back of the goal, ignoring the Bluelock Man hologram. "They're still a little underdeveloped."

He began walking to the centre of the pitch, ball in hand as Bachira doggedly followed behind him. "Really? To me, they looked pretty good."

Y/N shook his head. "They still have a long way to go. Their bodies aren't trained to allow them to use their weapons properly, their strategies and game plans are nonexistent, and their creativity and unique play styles aren't different enough."

He placed the ball on the floor, waiting patiently as Team White formed up on the other side of the pitch. They kept the same formation. "On top of that, their movements are inefficient, wasting both time, energy, and space. But hey... they'll improve."

Y/N stood over the ball. He swung his leg forwards, tapping the ball to signal he'd restarted the game.

Yet, he didn't even move. He stood there, foot on the ball as everyone else stared at him in confusion. Bachira sidled up to him. "What are you doing?"

"It's thirty five metres to the goal, right?"

"We weren't told any dimensions..."

"I'm just guessing." Y/N took a step back, before he became a blur of movement. He planted his foot next to the ball, knee bending as he swung his other foot around.

It was a solid connection, with the side of the ball. The shot arced through the air, curving right around a stunned Isagi and heading towards the goal.

With no small satisfaction, Y/N noticed the shock in the blue-haired boy's eyes, as the ball headed for the left side of the goal. Bluelock Man leapt across, but it was too slow to prevent the ball going into the back of the net.

The whistle blew, and Y/N just grinned, watching Team White's faces drop. Across the pitch, Rin gave a tsk of annoyance, and Nagi sighed. "How are we supposed to play against that?"

Just as he'd begun to think it was going to be an easy game, Y/N had pulled that out of thin air. He was truly a monster of a striker, with overwhelmingly powerful weapons.

"We might not have stopped him, but he's not invincible." Isagi muttered under his breath, making Nagi look over at him. "His team certainly isn't."

"I'll be ready for the shot next time." Nagi sighed, going to retrieve the ball. "You just need to find a way to cut him out of the game."

He knew Isagi's eyes were on a different level to him and the rest of the players. While the short boy wasn't physically impressive, nor fast or skillful, his eyes and brain were incredible at reading the field. If anyone could shut Y/N out, it was him.

Barou growled. "It's one to one. Let's just play."

He took the ball off Nagi without a thanks, placing it down in the middle of the field as Team White returned to their original positions. Nagi's eyes drifted to the other field. "Rin's been quiet so far this game..." Y/N and him don't seem to work together well.

They kicked off.

Barou immediately sent the ball out to Chigiri. Aryu was blocking the princess's path, face stony cold as he tracked his movements. Behind them, Rin was waiting to defend in case Chigiri got past Aryu.

Though, with Y/N watching Barou in the centre of the field, that left a huge gap for Nagi and Isagi to exploit. Nagi began running as soon as he realised it, with Bachira forced to try and keep track of both him and Isagi.

Isn't that a strategic mistake? Nagi wondered. Rin just gave us tons of space. He began running alongside Bachira, waiting for a pass from Chigiri.

Isagi disappeared from his vision. Nagi frowned - he could've sworn he was just right there. Instead, there was just Bachira, also looking confused as they both ran forwards.

Chigiri stopped, sending a long pass across the field. It looked like it was going to Barou, because that should've been the only choice on Nagi's left. But somehow, Isagi was there to receive, grinning like a madman.

"Wait! Isag-" Nagi didn't even get to finish his warning before Rin and Y/N both flew out of nowhere.

Rin's foot hit the ball first, taking it down to the ground smoothly as he landed in a crouch. Y/N's foot would've hit it, but instead, he flew past, colliding with Rin and quite literally bouncing off of the taller boy.

Y/N whined childishly as Rin rolled his eyes, beginning to run towards the goal in a counterattack. Nagi's eyes widened with shock. They both predicted Isagi?

He began running back, all seven players except for Y/N moving back into Team White's half.

Nagi and Barou pinched Rin from either side. "I won't let you!" Nagi watched Rin's feet. Was it a dribble? Was he stopping?

In the end, Rin passed into the centre of the field, where Bachira was waiting. Isagi was immediately marking him, making Nagi breathe a sigh of relief as he bought them some time.

Aryu was flying down the wing, and so Nagi and Chigiri both rushed over to mark him. With Y/N only just lazily rising to his feet in Nagi's peripheral view, it was definitely easier to defend.

Bachira hit a high pass into the air. Though, Nagi was there, marking Aryu. "Nice, Chigiri! Stick with me, we can steal back the ball!"

Chigiri nodded quickly, breathing hard. "Yeah!"

Instead of doing what any normal person would do, though, Aryu jumped. Nagi was briefly caught off guard at the sheer height, his next breath catching in his throat as Aryu jumped far higher than he would've imagined.

The posh boy used his head, slamming the ball into the back of the goal before landing gracefully. "I dance..." Nagi had tried to hold up a hand to stop his jump, but it hadn't worked.

The whistle blew, signalling the goal. It was now 2-1, to Team Red.

Nagi huffed, swearing under his breath. He'd been pretty much useless this game. With Bachira's crazy ideas and passes, Rin and Isagi trying to outplay one another with strategies, Chigiri's speed and Y/N's unpredictability, it was difficult for him to get any action.

What am I saying... He mentally chided himself. That's just an excuse. I want to score, so I will. But aw man... They're so incredibly strong.

Nagi rose to his feet, head bowed as he thought to himself.

I really, really want to crush them.