31. MONSTER
note: i fucking hate this match. its so long., im literally so bored of it. give me my man GIVE ME MY MAN GIVE ME MY MAN WHERE IS LOKI
if the writing quality drastically decreases its bc. im not enjoying this. at all. plsss s give me my man. the. kids miss you 💔
ON A BETTER NOTE THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO CLOUDYY POOKUMS!!! THEY DREW THE MANAGERS AND ITS LITERALLY PERFECT. I'LL SHOW IT AT THE END OF THE CHPATER!!!
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THE
whistle blows once again, and the game restarts. With an even score of 3 — 3, it could be anybody's game at this point. Rin runs along the mid-field with the ball, while Chigiri and Nagi have abruptly switched positions. You stare with confusion, brows furrowed and forehead creased, What are they doing?
You have never gone through this formation before—but you have to have faith in them, you think, taking in a deep breath. Chigiri marks Rin, and every other player is completely occupied, except for Bachira. So, Rin sends it over to the bob-cut boy, and Chigiri wastes no time in running over towards Bachira, getting all up in his face to distract him.
Bachira looks around, and you assume he's doing some analytical thinking because straight after, he makes a play to distract Chigiri that works. However, his plan is quickly stopped in motion by Isagi appearing out of nowhere, blocking his route so that there's only a thin slice of space Bachira can maneuver himself into.
All according to plan, apparently, because as soon as the ball moves away from Bachira's foot, Barou comes in, with blazing hunger in his eyes, and steals it as soon as he makes contact with the spherical object. He runs without care for Tokimitsu following after him like a leech—jumping over his attempt at sliding the ball away from his grasp, and only coming to a halt when Rin finally responds, kicking the ball out of bounds as a last resort.
The ball lands near your silver bench, and both you and Komi peek at him. It rolls towards your foot, so, as soon as Chigiri jogs over, you lean down and pick it up from off the ground. You hold it up, and you make eye contact with him for a second. He's positively glowing, you surmise, and you can't help the smile that crosses over your face.
He holds his hands over his head with the ball in play and tosses it over to Isagi. Isagi runs forward, and Rin sprints right next to him. They're in a close, head-to-head play, and they seem so into it that they don't even realise that Bachira rushes right between them. Neither one even spares him a glance, only runs right past like he wasn't even there.
Chigiri slides forward when Rin seems to gain possession of the ball from Isagi and Rin's strange two-on-two battle they were having, knocking the ball out of bounds and causing a throw-in for Rin's team. Isagi helps Chigiri up, and they both rush over to block for the throw-in.
Aryu kicks the ball over to Tokimitsu, who screams in anguish when he's pressed from behind by Barou, and in a panic, sends it to a safe place—Rin. But Rin moves forward—kicking the ball back to Tokimitsu, who screams once again. They continue this pattern as they get closer and closer towards their goal—Tokimitsu stops abruptly when Barou tugs him backwards from behind, and Chigiri slides the ball away out of bounds.
The speaker suddenly blares, "For tackling from behind, and malicious sliding, Shoei Barou and Hyoma Chigiri will both receive yellow cards."
You visibly roll your eyes at that, lips curled up in a snarl and arms folded under your chest, "Are you serious?"
Komi leaned back, the silver seat sliding alongside her—the seat did feel a bit unsteady, maybe you should put your bag down—"That was a little dramatic."
Both Chigiri and Barou let the virtual referee know their disapproval of this action very vocally—but to nobody's surprise, no consequence occurred because of this. Rin takes the free kick, and you can see everyone (including both you and Komi) on edge about what he's planning to do. He winds up his leg—ready to kick the ball... and he takes the shot.
It slides right over Isagi's head—so fast that he doesn't have the time to react properly, even though Chigiri reaches for it. It's almost depressing, Isagi's facial expression, knowing that if he reacted just a little faster, Rin wouldn't have scored the goal.
With a score of 4 — 3, the odds aren't looking too great in your favour. The cynical sound of the whistle (something you associate with both good and bad memories) blares out, and Isagi runs along the midfield with the ball. Barou keeps glancing backwards at Isagi like he's waiting for a pass—but unfortunately, Tokimitsu sticks to him like glue, or maybe an annoying pest, but whatever it is, Tokimitsu just can't seem to be shaken off.
They start screaming incoherent words at each other—seemingly in a fruitless battle, when Isagi suddenly turns on his heel, and the squeak from his shoes sliding against the plastic grass finally alerts them, and they both turn simultaneously in surprise. Bachira stopped Isagi in his tracks, pressed in front of him and soon, everyone was starting to gather up within this small confine.
However, in a twist of events, Isagi sends the ball flying over everyone's head, into a space where nobody seems to be—except for Chigiri. He runs up, his speed letting him fly past Aryu's tracking, and sprints down the midfield with the ball. All the others gathered up in that large cluster that Isagi created soon joined in running down—all awaiting Chigiri's pass. But it is only Isagi who runs in the opposite direction to everyone else, and only Isagi who receives the pass and is about to kick it with full, maximum force.
Then, Rin comes running in, pressing up against Isagi and forcing him to turn, and it looks like Rin is about to steal the ball and take everything that Isagi worked so hard for. When, suddenly, in another twist of events that had you at the edge of your seat, he dips around, maneuvering the ball in such a way that even Rin couldn't predict—in a way, that Isagi himself wouldn't even have predicted.
He uses the back of his heel to send the ball flying into the goal and evens out the scoreboard, which secures a final showdown—in a battle of analytics. It's like all time stopped as soon as Isagi scored in the goal, and you can't help but yell out a cheer for your player, smile widening shakily.
That play... was nothing short of incredible. Everything was so perfect. You cover your mouth with your hands and stare at Isagi with stars in your eyes, watching as Chigiri jumps onto his back and connects fists with Nagi. If you could, you totally would've ran onto the field right then and there, and tackled him with all the admiration you could muster—but you knew better.
Especially when you see the look of pure, unadulterated shock on Komi's face, unlike anything you'd ever seen on her before. She's barely breathing you surmise, and she has to manually close her mouth when she realises you're staring. She sits back up from her leaning position, and coughs, tilting her face away so you couldn't see.
You stifle a chuckle by slapping a hand over your mouth, hunched over when you feel the hard stare she directs at your back.
You can barely compose yourself as the whistle blows, and the tension in the air is so thick you can taste it. Whoever wins the next play... wins it all.
Rin begins the kick-off by passing to Tokimitsu, who runs down the field with his usual frightened expression, passing back to Rin again and again. They try to pull off the past move that scored them their previous goal, but Barou interrupts them by crashing his back into Tokimitsu and forcibly halting his moves.
When Chigiri starts blasting forward towards him—Tokimitsu freaks out again and returns the ball to Rin, who instantly sends it to Aryu. Aryu manages to catch it at it's highest point with Nagi marking him—but it seems Nagi has a plan of his own because as soon as Aryu lands on the ground, Nagi jumps up and plucks the ball right out of his grasp. But without a hitch—Aryu steals it right back.
The glamourous boy runs down the mid-field, and in a place only he could see—Bachira stands and receives the pass sent to him. For some reason, Bachira doesn't move. He just stands there, still in shock, with a conflicted expression. He barely even reacts when Chigiri swoops the ball from right under his feet, and the pass is sent towards Barou.
He blocks Tokimitsu from receiving it, and tries to run across—but with the biggest Tokimitsu at his side, it's impossible to move. Barou has no choice but to pass it to Isagi, who passes it right back when Barou escapes the mutant next to him. Because they've been stealing the ball from each other the whole game, nobody expected this. You cover your mouth with your brows raised, then furrowed, when you glare down at the field. You have to win this.
Isagi receives the ball again—but without warning, Bachira comes running in, sliding across the floor rather aggressively for the ball. Isagi manages to dodge him, but Rin comes running towards him, so Isagi passes over to Chigiri. Chigiri doesn't hesitate to boot it over the field, down to Nagi, who catches it with his chest. The ball rebounds off his chest and makes its way to Isagi, who shoots it into the goal.
For a moment, you're sure it's about to go in—despite the look of despair on Bachira's face, you want him to make it. You dig your nails into your thigh, jaw clenched tight and eyes narrowed when Rin comes out of nowhere, blocking Isagi's direct shot with his head and falling to the ground.
The soccer ball lands in Bachira's lap. Without warning, he runs down the field at full speed, dribbling the ball past your players and even nutmegging Isagi after a moment of hesitation. He speeds forward, doing the same move with Chigiri and his strange new dribbling style—then proceeding to nutmeg Barou for the third time, a move which makes your jaw drop in absolute shock.
Even when he's surrounded by everyone on your team but Isagi—Bachira still manages to pull off some crazy juking moves and even shakes off Nagi trying to hold onto his shoulder. He rushes forward, slamming his foot into the ball once he's sure to get a free goal...
When, in another twist, the ball rebounds off of Isagi's foot, and he watches as the ball flies back with shock in his eyes—where would it go? Perhaps if Bachira had aimed a little to the left, or to the right, or a little weaker, the fate of your team would've been altered.
But alas—Lady Luck did not seem to shine her favour down upon you all at this moment—and without an ounce of humanity, it lands right at Rin's feet. Then, everyone is over—ears ringing in the silence that is only interrupted by the ring of a whistle. You... have lost.
Isagi collapses on the floor, a frustrated scream ripping from his throat, while Rin's team (ironically, except for him and Bachira) all celebrate, and Komi rushes onto the field with her bag in hand to congratulate her teammates. You sit completely unmoving, still in shock, at the scene in front of you. It replays in your head over and over.
That... was just cruel.
You silently sling your bag over your shoulder, and take tepid steps onto the field, joining your team in their regrets. You don't know what to say—so you don't say a single word.
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OBVIOUSLY ALL OF THESE ARE NOW CANON (except for the y/n one but its so adorbabalekekenek) THIS IS NOT FANART ITS LITERALLY CANON BC I SAID SO 🗣️
KYOUKA AND KOMI ARE THE SILLIEST LESBIANS EVER I LOVE AND BLEACHY LOOKS SO SASSY ITS PERFECT
THIS IS THE CUTEST THING EVER THANK YOU BEST POOKIE EVER