Arc: Chapter9

   ‘Direct Shot!’

With this shot… my life will change. The average Naruhaya is no more!

Naruhaya was confident that he would succeed.

The ball sprinted in a straight line, and there was no one near the goal. It was too late for the Bluelock man to stop that. For a moment, it appeared as if Team Red was finally, finally going to score a goal.

For a moment, everyone held their breath. And stopped what they were doing.

Everyone except Leon, that is.

Just when the ball was near the goal, Leon appeared, and once again, he viciously and cruelly took away their hopes.

“Hmm… not bad.”

That was all Leon said in the faces of Team Red -Naruhaya’s- overwhelming despair.

With a plop, Naruhaya fell to the ground on his knees and tightly clenched the grass.

For a moment, it was silent.

Then, it was broken by Shidou.

“I think you just captured my heart,” he said, pointing finger guns at Leon with the (not) faintest tint of blush on his cheeks.

“I think you already said that before. Try again.”

Leon said, causing an arrow to go through Shidou’s heart.

Shidou mumbled, clutching his heart, “I think you just made me fall for you even more.”

Leon was walking toward the despairing Naruhaya and did not hear him. But Kurona who heard Shidou gave him a weirded-out look.

Without notice, the match seemed to stop subconsciously. Or not. The war of stealing the ball did not start because the ball was currently being stepped on by Leon.

(The ball: Here I am, living the moment of my life.)

“...That was Isagi’s weapon, wasn’t it?” Leon said to Naruhaya whose head was still on the ground. He continued, “Copying others is not your fort. If only you used what was yours, you might have a chance. With you like that now… you are nothing more than a trash.”

With that, Leon took off. Naruhaya still not lifting his head.

What kind of bullshits are you talking to me!? With my weapon, I might have a chance!? Then, pray tell! Why didn’t I stand out more than Isagi!? Why did I never score a goal!?

At first, Naruhaya had confidence in his weapon, especially, his footwork. But, was there a moment where he score a goal on his own? No, even with others, he never scored a goal.

Naruhaya’s confidence dwindled little by little. Until his confidence and insecurity were down to the floor.

It was then when Isagi, whom he secretly competed with, got a weapon called, ‘Direct Shot’. Naruhaya’s eyes were drawn to it. It was magnificent, compared to Naruhaya’s pathetic weapon.

The Direct Shot’s greatness was in his head all the time. In jealousy, Naruhaya began to compare it with his own weapon and decided that, with that weapon in his hand, he would become better than Isagi.

In a futile effort to comfort himself.

Unfortunately, that kind of thinking made things worse for Naruhaya.

Every time I look at you, my heart ached.

My jealousy was eating my heart.

Even after the sound signaled the start of another round of ball stealing, Naruhaya did not get up.

“Get up donkey! If you aren’t going to play, move!”

“Kukk…”

Barou Shouei, also known as, ‘King’ Barou, kicked Naruhaya to the side, not caring for his teammate at all, and continued his journey of ball stealing.

“Fxxk!” He cursed as Leon kicked the ball between his legs and went behind his body to connect with the ball once more.

Barou’s reflexes were fast, despite him having a big body. He reacted to Leon quickly and attempted to steal the ball from other’s possession.

Barou Shouei vs Ose Leon!

“Tch!” Leon’s eyes darted everywhere and he noticed that Shidou was running toward the goal.

At that moment, Shidou glanced toward Leon and their eyes met in the air. And Leon knew exactly what Shidou wanted him to do.

Shidou kept sprinting toward the goal without taking a break, without looking at the mess behind, and as if he was confident that Leon would accept his silent request.

“What a strange guy. Here you go.” Leon muttered under his breath, slightly baffled at Shidou’s baseless confidence in him.

And then, as soon as Barou showed a little gap in his defense, Leon gave a super long-distance pass to Shidou.

“Yep, this feels nice,” Laughing in happiness, Shidou added another goal to Team White.

It was the first time Shidou felt that someone understood him.

“Great Buddha, O’ Great Buddha,” Igaguri trembled, he was clearly more shaken up than before.

How were we supposed to win against these monsters? How am I going to survive this!?

Kurona wiped his sweat with his shirt. Although he hadn’t landed the ball or goal once in this match, defending against Igaguri, who was panicking and trying to make Kurona foul was a lot of work.

Imagine being not able to kill an annoying fly that buzzed around you.

Kurona looked at Igaguri as if he was a disgusting cockroach.

He was playing dirty.

And it was straining Kurona both physically and mentally.

4-0, with Team White in the advantage.

Team White was leisure and had all the time in the world. Meanwhile, Team Red was breaking down one by one.

The first was Igaguri, whose competitive spirit failed as soon as he realized Leon was going to be their enemy and made dirty plays in panic.

The second was Naruhaya, who admittingly, was better than Igaguri at the start. But despaired as soon as his emulation of Isagi’s play did not succeed.

And the third was…

None other than ‘King’ Barou.

Barou looked down at his hand. Am I trembling? Me? The King is trembling? This must be excitement… yeah, how could the King tremble in fear?

He glared at Leon from afar, who paid no mind to him at all.

I haven’t lost yet!

Even in times like this, Barou was still thinking as ‘I’ instead of ‘We’.

Well… this type of egoists were also what Ego wanted. However, 1 vs the rest was only possible when you are overwhelmingly overpowered. I mean, didn’t even the players like Micheal Kaiser need the players that supported his plays?

After all… you couldn’t be everywhere on the field at the same time when you only have one body.

Barou ran across the field by himself when both of his teammates were breaking down, the ball at his feet, Team White started closing in.

In the end, Barou too started to feel pressured.

His body still, frozen as Leon swiftly took the ball from him.

Impossible. Am I actually feeling ‘fear’?

Fear. The concept itself was foreign to him. All the time, when all those wimpy teammates of his were afraid, he never understood.

What is there to fear? Just crush them and the fear are non-existent.

It was pretty understandable that Barou did not know fear. After all… since he was young, he never felt fear, even once.

Just now, when he saw Leon’s eyes, Barou’s body froze by itself.

“Useless,” Leon whispered, his presence loomed over him, despite the blonde being more than a couple of centimeters shorter.

For the first time in his life, Barou knew fear.

And what came along with it: Despair.

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~~~

Author's Note:

Sorry for updating on Sunday again. I was very busy with homework and studies. So, I'm changing the update schedule to every Sunday.