You'll never walk alone
By ArokuRaita
Disclaimer: Blue Lock belongs to Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura and this fanfic was written nonprofit.
17. The deciding match
There were only 10 minutes left to start the match between Team White and Team Red. Tension was high in both dressing rooms. But when they were walking through the tunnel to the soccer field, their emotions were different.
Kunigami could feel his heart beating so loud that he thought that someone could listen to it.
"Hey, Chigiri… Do heroes always feel this excited?"
The only one who'd do it was his red haired partner. Mostly because they had spent many hours together, training and listening to each other's breathing and beating hearts.
"Isn't that because you're teamed up with me? Such an insensitive hero"
"Hah. We're gonna win this, Chigiri"
"Of course, Kunigami. I'll carry you through the whole match"
He was already carrying Kunigami in his heart and mind. 90 minutes of a match wouldn't be a problem.
On the other side, Isagi was tying his shoes, ready to go. He had his mind fixated on winning and stealing Bachira back, so he didn't have time to get nervous. And that was something new to him: even when he was about to face 3 really good opponents, the challenge was motivating. Isagi felt confident in his team and his ability to devour others.
Just you wait, Rin. I'll get Bachira back!
The game started with a pass from Isagi to Barou, who was marked by Kunigami just to prevent the king from entering his shooting zone. Isagi went to his rescue, but Reo reached him.
"Brace yourself, Isagi Yoichi— Nagi is a treasure I found! With this match, I'll steal him back from you!"
How could Nagi say to me that Reo wasn't his boyfriend?! This guy has 'jealousy' written all over his face! Isagi felt a bit guilty, until he remembered that it wasn't his problem.
"Barou! Pass here, now!"
"Quiet! You're distracting me!"
"Use me, Barou!"
That way to phrase it was even more distracting for the king than Isagi's voice. Maybe that was why he didn't notice Reo coming from behind and stealing the ball from him.
Reo and Kunigami ran towards Team White's goalpost. Yoichi waited until Reo sent a pass, but it didn't land where he thought— He aimed for Chigiri!
"Perfect timing, Reo"
He wasn't alone: Nagi was by his side.
"I've caught up, Red Panther"
"Only for a moment. Now you step on my shadow!"
Chigiri charged up again and left Nagi behind, who just could see how the red haired striker made the first goal.
Team Red was a really good challenge!
This time, Isagi used his field vision. There were many possibilities to get a goal. He chose Barou again to charge and positioned himself to get a pass from the king, but to no avail.
Barou insisted on keeping on alone. Kunigami took advantage of it and stole the ball. While Isagi went back to protect the goalpost, he saw the powerful shot from his former teammate.
Now, Team Red was winning by 2 points.
"Hey, Barou, give it a fucking rest already!" Nagi said to the king. It was rare to see him so upset.
Before they could start fighting, Isagi told them he'd be in charge of passing. So he put all the new info he had gathered and renewed the vision in his mind.
Then, he noticed that Barou's path was a dead end. Instead, Nagi's path was full of goal possibilities!
He passed to his white haired teammate. Chigiri was almost there, prepared to block, but Nagi looked as calm as always.
"Did you know? No matter how fast you are, humans aren't able to suddenly go backwards"
With a beautiful trap that sent the ball in Chigiri's opposite direction, Team White made their first goal.
Reo couldn't believe it: there was someone else making Nagi give his best effort! Kunigami asked him if Nagi had gotten better than before, but he didn't listen.
Being left behind was painful, but watching his former best friend thriving with another guy was even worse. He couldn't think that that growing was good for Seishirou. If it wasn't because of him, it meant almost nothing to Reo.
This way of thinking is horrible, but I can't really be happy for Nagi if he is with Isagi! I hate it!
Why? Why wasn't he enough?
On the other side of the field, Nagi high-fived his blue eyed teammate.
"Nice pass, Isagi! Now let's go ahead and with with just the two of us"
The genius striker was quick to discard annoying people or situations (in this case, Barou), but Isagi had another way of thinking: 'No resources wasted'. He wanted to squeeze all Barou's talent and create a chemical reaction with him.
Barou just watched their high five from afar. He didn't like his team— Nagi was messy and Isagi was almost omnipresent, like a disobedient butler that never left his master alone. He could swear he listened to Isagi's voice even in his dreams.
Then, he could see Isagi walking towards him. He tried to convince him to pass and to think about his and Nagi's goals too. Was it really that difficult for them to understand his philosophy?
His answer was blunt and admitted no reply.
"I'll win with my goals. I'd rather die than to play for the sake of someone else"
Well, one of the most annoying traits of his blue eyed peasant was that he always replied.
"Why can't you understand that that way of thinking is destroying your possibilities?! You're better than this! 'I can become an amazing player'... I teamed up with you because I believed that! But at this rate, you'll disappear here!"
Barou tried not to snap.
"Hey, watch what you say, you moron… I have all this skill and yet I can't win… Obviously, the one most pissed off at me is myself!"
And he was pissed off at Isagi, too, and his controlling ways. As if it would be possible for a peasant to control a king! Barou admitted that this particular peasant had something that attracted him, but asking for passes was crossing a line.
"In the end, we're both egoists. Beings that can only do things the way we want. Don't think you can control me"
Yoichi just watched Barou go.
"There you go. Can't you just go with that? No need to rely on Barou. Let's just win with the two of us"
"Yeah, you're right…"
Nagi was sure that he and Isagi had enough skills to win. However, the thought of Isagi creating a chemical reaction with another guy upset him.
And it was dangerous with Barou. He could see himself as a king, far from the commoners and all, but was a man big enough to take Isagi by force if he wanted to.
Nah, he'd never do it, wouldn't he?
Unconscious to Nagi's thoughts, Isagi didn't look too convinced about going on as a pair.
"Besides, that guy… How come he still keeps up the king shtick? Even though he's not being useful at all" Nagi said. "If you don't admit your loss, you won't earn the real frustration of losing"
The match restarted with Team Read having the ball. Isagi went to block Reo.
"Hey, Isagi Yoichi, there's something I don't understand"
Here we go again…
"Why did Nagi choose someone like you, who's only good for direct shoots?"
This guy is a pain in the ass. Now I'm sure they were a couple and Nagi didn't know it!
"I don't know. Do you have some amazing ability then?"
"I don't have anything, like you, Chigiri or Kunigami. I may not have a special weapon like that… And that's why I'm determined to win this match"
After that, he left Isagi behind and passed to Kunigami.
"And by winning, I'll deny you, Isagi Yoichi!"
However, Yoichi focused on his pass and the fact that Reo was Team Red's core. Trying to understand their connection was way more important than to listen to a scorned ex boyfriend.
Chigiri got the ball and then shot a centered pass that Kunigami headed into the goal.
Isagi tried to stop him, but Kunigami was too strong and pushed him aside. He fell to the floor, panting.
Against that perfectly balanced Cerberus, we are a knight who lost an arm called 'Barou'... We can't win! And I can't come up with a vision of winning just with Nagi and me. We'll just score 1 or 2 goals and end up losing anyway!
Think!
Then, he saw his problem from another angle. If it wasn't about adapting to Barou or trying to form a perfect 'Cerberus' as his rivals… Then it was about devouring Barou and making him surrender.
Besides, that could erase Team White's predictability.
If Barou doesn't want to change, I'll change. Me, our strategy, everything in this field.