On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Confession on the Field

That's a lie.

Shut it.

"But that all does sound right." Kusaka let out another sigh, but this time, he had a more determined look on him. "Thanks. I'll try it."

He nodded at him before taking out his tablet. He poured all his attention on Mach Tiger's plays to ignore the not-so-subtle look Minaho was giving him from the other aisle.

~~~~~

"The Football Frontier International Vision 2's Asia district prelims have reached the semi-finals! The match between Japan's Inazuma Japan and Thailand's Mach Tiger is about to begin! Now, the match will begin momentarily! What sort of fight will Mach Tiger versus Inazuma Japan show us?!"

The whistle signaled their opponent's kick off. Almost immediately, their number 11 was able to get through the midfielders. Shindou had to stop him with Einsatz. He then passed to Tenma, who was going to pass to Tsurugi, but was cut off by the enemy captain's jump. He then made a long pass back to the striker still on their side of the pitch.

He ran past Konoha, who was unable to move. Kusaka chased after him, but was outrun. He then made a shot, which was easily caught by Ibuki.

The game continued on like that for a while. Hardly any of the other Mach Tiger members were moving up, and they were all clearly aiming for pass cuts to make counterattacks.

Tenma grunted. He was already sweating from all the back-and-forth they've been doing. "No matter what offense we use, we're met with a counter."

"We have to break through their last line of defense somehow."

Shindou went up to them. "The only way we can score a goal is by executing Kami no Takuto with higher precision."

"We ought to be able to pull that off now!" Tenma encouraged.

Shindou looked back to all their members. Each of them had a determined look on their faces. So, he nodded.

Tenma stole the ball in the next throw-in and Shindou immediately used Kami no Takuto Fire Illusion. The ball went to Tetsukado, then Sakura, and then back to Tenma, who was already near the defense line. He quickly dodged a Muay Thai-like steal and passed to Shindou.

"Fortissimo!"

"Killer Elbow!"

His shot was blocked.

However, as soon as the keeper threw the ball back in, Matatagi stole it. Two of the defenders ran back, but a path was lined up for him. He used Parkour Attack to try and score a goal, only for the two to block it with Death Scythe Middle. They made another long pass and they once again attacked from the right, where Konoha was unable to guard.

The ball was passed to their striker, who got past all the other defenders. He then used Ivory Crush and made the match's first goal.

"Inazuma Japan's defense fell apart as a result of Morimura's actions! Will they be able to correct this?!"

Wow. That's a gut punch right there. I get that it's his job to comment on everything, but... wow.

Can you please shut up before I start going insane?

You already are.

He mentally rolled his eyes before shaking his head out of it. He and Matatagi made the next kick-off.

However, they were able to steal the ball almost immediately and kept moving up from the right. Kusaka continued to cover for Konoha as best he could and was able to send the ball out of bounds. But then he approached Tenma with the most frustration they've ever seen on him.