[122] Isagi Yoichi's Awakening

"Barou Shouei charges forward with the ball, relentlessly pushing ahead. Is he planning to take on the entire counterattack by himself?! But Shinichi is also sprinting—so fast! Too fast! Shinichi has caught up with Barou Shouei, and the defenders are closing in. Will he pass? No! Barou Shouei cuts outward, widening the distance between himself and Shinichi. That's too reckless!"

Commentator Natsuki was practically spitting as he spoke, his words flowing non-stop. "Barou Shouei has clearly made up his mind not to pass, but his intentions are far too obvious! The U-20 national team players have already seen through it. He's still too young—no matter what the tactics dictate, you can't let your opponents read you so easily! Now he's about to be double-teamed!"

"That's right! Barou Shouei is in a dire situation, but he hasn't given up yet. He keeps stopping abruptly and shifting directions, trying to break free, but the U-20 defenders are all battle-hardened warriors. It's nearly impossible to shake them off completely. With Miroku delaying him, his pace is slowing down more and more—he's trapped! Is he still refusing to pass?!"

"No, it's too late! The passing lanes are already sealed off by Teppei, and now he's locked in a two-man press... Wait! Barou Shouei forces a pass at the last moment! The two defenders, focused on his movements, completely missed what he did with his feet! Shinichi receives the ball, turns his back to Oliver Aiku, flicks it over—shoots! GOAL!"

The live commentator, Atsuto, even stood up in excitement, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Unbelievable! Unbelievable! Barou Shouei used his sheer determination as a decoy, continuously drawing the defenders' attention, only to pass at the most unexpected moment! He created a near-perfect one-on-one scoring chance for Shinichi! And in a one-on-one situation, Shinichi is arguably the strongest player on the field right now. He did not disappoint—goal!"

"We can see Barou Shouei, visibly emotional, rushing towards Shinichi. It's easy to imagine how thrilled he must be to register an assist in his very first appearance. Their coordination was absolutely seamless—even when Barou Shouei insisted on going solo, Shinichi never hesitated, fully trusting his teammate and continuing his run. And in return, Barou Shouei did not betray that trust. This is truly a touching display of teamwork."

"That's right! It's almost as if Barou Shouei was acting as a shepherd dog for Shinichi, herding all the defenders into just the right positions. Thanks to their incredible teamwork, the score is now 2-6, with Blue Lock leading. There are only 30 minutes left in the second half! The U-20 team needs to find a way to break their scoring drought, and fast!"

"Yes, let's see what adjustments the U-20 team will make next."

...

On the field, Barou, whom the commentators described as "excited"… was indeed extremely fired up. His veins bulged as an overwhelming, terrifying aura surged from him—far more intense than when he was single-mindedly charging forward, even while being double-teamed by Miroku and Teppei.

"You bastard! Who the hell are you calling 'Shepherd Dog'?!"

"Oh my, I was wondering who it was—turns out it's my loyal dog, Wolf-Dog, coming to lick my boots. That was a nice pass, by the way."

Turning around, Shinichi faced Barou's menacing approach without a shred of fear. He continued to smirk and taunt him, but the aura surrounding him grew even more oppressive, so much so that it forcibly stopped Barou in his tracks.

"What's wrong? The ball-hogging failure who got himself trapped and had no choice but to desperately pass the ball to me—what exactly are you planning to do to the man who just saved your entire football career in front of the whole world?"

"You—!"

"By the way, I had no idea… that you loved passing so much, Wolf- no, Shep-herd-Dog."

"Tch!" Barou cursed under his breath twice before abruptly turning away, refusing to continue his verbal duel with Shinichi. It was true—he had no choice but to pass the ball to Shinichi in desperation at the last moment. But more than that, he simply couldn't win against this bastard in a battle of words.

"Damn it... One day, I'll beat you fair and square, and then I'll return every bit of this humiliation right to your face!"

...

"There's no stopping that guy… He's just too terrifying. Defending against him is impossible."

Aiku slumped onto the ground in frustration. Even in his FLOW state, he had pushed himself to the absolute limit—but Shinichi moved as if there were no restrictions at all. Still, despite the setback, the fire in Aiku's eyes had not dimmed in the slightest.

"What have I been doing all this time…? Stuck in a well, seeing only the sky above me. Crushed by the system, I despaired and stopped moving forward, limiting my vision to nothing beyond U-20."

Aiku clenched his fists, staring intently at Shinichi's back.

"I want to reach a bigger stage too… I already had my dream of being a striker taken away from me. I won't let myself be the one to erase this last dream as well…"

"Sendou..."

"Huh?"

Sendou, caught off guard by Aiku's sudden call, turned around. Aiku flashed him a dazzling smile.

"We're both going to the world stage. And when we make it to Hollywood, we're picking up girls together."

"Hah? What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"I'm saying—"

Aiku suddenly stood up and smacked Sendou hard on the back, making him wince and jump away.

"I'm saying, aren't you supposed to be our ace striker? Didn't you say you were going to marry a Hollywood actress? Then pull yourself together, damn it! If you're a striker, then score some damn goals!"

"Like you're one to talk! You didn't defend properly either, and you still have the nerve to lecture me."

Wearing a pained expression, Sendou kept rubbing the spot where he had been smacked, muttering under his breath. But despite his complaints, the fire in his eyes only burned brighter.

"I don't need you to tell me that, idiot."

At that moment, Isagi suddenly cut in.

"Um, I wanted to ask… I feel like you guys entered some kind of special state just now. Is there a trick to it? What does it feel like?"

"Huh?"

Aiku and Sendou were caught off guard. They exchanged glances, struggling to put it into words. Before they could come up with an answer, Sae walked over, his face cold as ever, and looked straight at Isagi.

"Stop overthinking it. If you do, you'll never enter that state."

"Throw yourself entirely into the match. Let yourself be completely immersed in football. If you can't do that, you won't be able to keep up in the games ahead."

"Immersed…?"

Isagi nodded thoughtfully. As he walked back to his position, his mind kept racing.

"Complete immersion… If that's the key, then… haven't I experienced that before in Blue Lock? During certain matches, I've had moments where I instinctively reacted, almost without thinking, and managed to pull off direct shots. Back then, I thought it was just my subconscious executing my thoughts through reflexes… but looking back, could it be that I had already entered that state without even realizing it?"

"If that's the case… recalling that state, fully immersing myself in the match… No, it wasn't just that. Back then, I wasn't thinking about the game itself—I was focused on my goal! Yes! At that moment, all I wanted was to score that one goal, and I pushed my abilities to their very limits. Maybe for a player at Itoshi Sae's level, his goal is to fully immerse himself in the entire game. But for me, I just need to focus on what I can do in the moment—a more precise, immediate objective."

"I don't know if this way of thinking is correct or not, but my intuition tells me—I've found the key to entering that state!"

...

The match resumed as Isagi remained deep in thought. With the referee's whistle, Sae once again surged forward with the ball. But this time, Hiori was right behind him, keeping pace stride for stride.

"Didn't expect Shinichi's little sidekick to have this much fight in him."

Sae glanced briefly at Hiori, whose eyes burned with determination, before shifting his focus back to the field.

"If you really want to prove yourself, then keep up."

"Tch. It's not like I want to go down without achieving anything—even if the opponent is Shinichi."

Hiori appeared on Sae's right, smoothly assisting him in executing a quick one-two pass that effortlessly bypassed Karasu's defense.

"I may have chosen to follow Shinichi, and I might even be willing to sacrifice myself for him… but my ultimate goal is to complete myself—to create a monster capable of reshaping the history of world football."

"After all… I am an egoist who walked out of Blue Lock."

As the two of them continued to break through the defense, Chigiri suddenly lunged in, cutting off the passing lane between them. At the same time, Karasu quickly doubled back, blocking Hiori's path.

"You two sure are having a fun chat, but what about us poor guys you're casually leaving behind? Not only are we getting no screen time, but we're just being used as background props now?"

"Talk about arrogant. You really think you can just ignore us now, huh?"

"You're only falling behind because you couldn't keep up."

Unfazed, Hiori smoothly maneuvered past Karasu's pressing. With his targeted training and clear objectives, his physicality had improved to the point where he wasn't just holding his ground against Karasu—he was surpassing him.

"You should work on your conditioning."

With that, Hiori swiftly changed direction, spinning away from Karasu. His dribbling was sharp, effortlessly slipping past Karasu's upper-body blocks.

At the same time, he drew Chigiri's attention before sliding the ball right under his feet, sending a clean pass to Sae.

However, the moment Hiori made the pass, Chigiri reacted like a predator, pivoting sharply and lunging aggressively toward Sae.

"I knew you'd pass it to him!"

"Nice read, princess."

At that moment, Raichi seized the opportunity and rushed in, joining Chigiri in cutting off Sae. But instead of panicking, a gleam flashed in Sae's eyes.

Without hesitation, he lifted his foot and threaded the ball with surgical precision through the narrow gap between Raichi and Chigiri, sending it directly to Sendou, who was making a rapid forward run.

"No way… He just received the ball and didn't even need to adjust before threading a perfectly curved pass between the two of us?"

Chigiri stared at Sae in disbelief. He had known Sae was strong, but experiencing his level of play firsthand was far more overwhelming than he had imagined.

"Snap out of it, idiot!"

Karasu gave Chigiri a hard shove, snapping him back to reality.

In just that brief moment of hesitation, Sae had already resumed his run.

Meanwhile, Sendou, who was momentarily blocked by Rin, returned the ball to Hiori. Without missing a beat, Hiori had already prepared to send a pass toward the sprinting Sae.

"Damn it… I can't afford to lose focus in a game like this. And their passing tempo—it's insane! They barely just moved the ball, and they've already cycled it twice. But still… if it's me, with my ability… I can catch up!"

Even though Chigiri had only instinctively paused to assess Sae's passing target and the overall situation on the field—considering his next move and any possible counterattacks, which was a perfectly normal reaction—there was simply no room for hesitation in such an intense battle.

Realizing this, Chigiri gritted his teeth and sprinted toward Sae in an attempt to intercept him. But just then, out of the corner of his eye, a shadow flickered past.

"!"

Chigiri snapped his head around, but the figure had already vanished. And yet, he couldn't ignore that fleeting presence.

"Just now… was that Isagi?! His movement… Damn it!"

The realization hit him like a bolt of lightning. Ignoring his teammates' surprised looks, Chigiri abruptly changed direction. At the same moment, Hiori released a pass—its target was none other than the advancing Isagi!

"That was close… but I've got you!"

Just as the ball reached Isagi, Chigiri barely managed to intercept. Without a second thought, he leaped into action, blocking Isagi's right-footed shooting angle.

He knew that if he could cut off Isagi's direct shot, even for an instant, it would buy enough time for Gagamaru to react—and with that, Gagamaru would be able to stop the shot!

"Even if it was subtle, he still noticed me… I guess even though I was conscious of not letting it affect me, my movements did change slightly."

Isagi furrowed his brows as he watched Chigiri close in—but rather than panic, his face remained completely composed.

"But it doesn't matter—this time, I'm just the decoy."

Without hesitation, Isagi played a lateral pass, sending the ball sailing over Jyubei's head. The recipient? Itoshi Sae—who Chigiri had left unmarked!

"Right now, my goal is to help my team score!"

With flames burning in Isagi's eyes, Sae lined up his shot—and fired. The ball smashed into the net.

U-20 Japan 3 - 6 Blue Lock!

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