"team z, please resume play."
we broke away into our positions, although it was obvious that the issue over who was going to score still wasn't resolved.
isagi placed the ball down in front of him with both hands. after the beep signaling the start, he passed the ball to bachira using his left foot.
"bachira! let's pass back and forth between us!" isagi called out. bachira gave a thumbs up and an 'okay!' in response.
?!!
imamura trapped the ball instead of bachira, stealing the ball from him.
"HEY IMAMURA?! WHAT ABOUT YOUR POSITION?!" isagi questioned. history repeats itself isagi..
"are you dumb isagi? whoever scores gets to survive! i'm never passing again, passing is suicide!" imamura yelled out, running towards team x's goal without looking back.
"w-what?! hey come on!!" isagi complained. he still seemed confused about the situation.
imamura continued to run aimlessly to the goal, completely not seeing the team x player on his left that was about to tackle him to get the ball to his teammate on the other side.
"too sloppy! i'll be taking this!" the teammate said, receiving the pass from the other who tackled imamura.
"DON'T LET THEM STEAL FROM YOU! I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR REAL.." raichi growled. who let the dog out?
"imamura, you idiot!" naruhaya said, glaring at imamura from his position.
"don't follow him! get back here and hold your positions!" kuon ordered, trying to prevent the same mistake from happening again.
as team x got closer to the goal, i could overhear the player with the ball talking with his teammate.
"barou's on our side.. so let's just act as support and pass to him!" the teammate said.
"huh?!" the person with the ball questioned, still running forward.
"you can tell by how team z is falling apart right? if we win as a team, we don't have to worry about scoring individually!"
"that's true.."
the person with the ball passed to barou while the other team x players started to work together by positioning themselves into open spots in the field.
"we'll cut across midfield!"
"take care of defense!!"
"okay! i gotcha!"
team x started to really play as a team, covering both the defense and offense positions without complaint. meanwhile, team z..
"..cover.. COVER BAROU!!" imamura yelled out frantically.
"YOU. DON'T. NEED. TO. TELL. ME. THAT. IMAMURA!!" raichi gritted out, multiple veins popping out on his face as he ran to block barou.
"damn, i'll stop him!!" kunigami said while running with raichi. chigiri followed closely behind.
at least six of our teammates ran to block barou off, not knowing what he was going to pull off next..
"are you sure that all you shitty losers should be covering me?" barou said, unexpectedly passing to his teammate behind him with the back of his foot.
"okay!! nice pass!! we're wide open!!" the teammate who received the pass said, running straight to the goal at an angle.
"crap! this is bad.." i heard isagi shout, trying to recover to block the team x players that were closing in on our goal.
it was just me and iemon in the penalty area, not enough to fend off the three team x players that were strategically positioned in front of our goal.
"iemon!!" i warned again, knowing i wouldn't be able to stop them from scoring.
i ran as fast as my ankle let me and slid against the ground in a tackle to prevent the team x player from scoring. unfortunately, i was too late.
the team x player kicked the ball, successfully scoring into our goal. iemon was too far away and missed the ball.
FWEET!
the score above changed to 2-0. we were already down by two, giving us an even worse disadvantage.
while team x was cheering over the successful goal, team z was fighting each other and getting physical, which was obviously not going to solve anything.
i could feel my eyes being drawn towards barou: the person who made everything possible for team x. how did it feel to have the power to control the field? to have everybody under your commands?
all i could remember were mr ego's words: 'this is a battle to rebuild football from zero.'
well team z certainly isn't rebuilding shit.
as the score gradually changed to 3-0, i could feel myself losing hope. when it got to 4-0, i already knew we would be losing. it didn't help that kunigami and raichi were focused on fighting with each other instead of trying to gain back the goals we lost.
and when barou scored into the goal with a header, i knew it was over. 5-0. there's no fucking way we would be able to make a comeback with this. not with the small amount of time left in the game.
there were only three minutes left in the game, and all of us were beat.
as isagi placed the ball onto the ground, i could see him and bachira talking. both of them looked worn out, but their faces were the total opposite. they were up to something, whether or not that was a good or bad thing.
after the beep signaling the start sounded, isagi immediately passed to bachira, who ran forward with the ball. he displayed multiple dribbling techniques, throwing team x off guard.
from my position, i could spot isagi sprinting past the team x players spread out across their side of the field. what was he doing?
"here it comes isagi.."
bachira sent a long pass to isagi, who skillfully trapped the ball with the top of his foot and continued to sprint towards the goal. it was a one on one with the goalie with nobody from team x close enough to stop isagi.
except for barou.
"hey number eleven.. don't try to show me up. i already told you i'm the king. try to get past me, loser." barou muttered menacingly, screeching to a halt right in front of isagi.
right on cue, our teammates finally caught up, kunigami and raichi calling for a pass. both were mostly open, except kunigami who had somebody onto him. both were fighting each other for a pass.
"I'LL DO IT!!!"
"no, me! over here!!!"
i assumed isagi would pass to raichi since he was in a good position without anybody trying to block him, but isagi unexpectedly sent a pass to kunigami.
"nice pass, isagi!"
kunigami was still far from the goal, barely reaching into the penalty area.
"no way he can score from that far away!!" someone from team x yelled out. little did they know about the greek god's inhuman amount of strength..
kunigami readied up his left leg for the shot, his leg positioned all the way back. the moment his foot made contact with the ball, it could barely be seen anymore. when it was over, all you could see was the ball in the goal, the net pushed all the way back from the impact of the shot.
FWEET!
the score changed from 5-0 to 5-1. team z finally got a point.
"YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
kunigami yelled in celebration of his goal, but raichi wasn't having it.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ISAGI?!! GET REAL!! I WAS MORE OPEN THAN KUNIGAMI, WHY'D YOU PASS TO HIM?!!!" raichi yelled, his hand grabbing isagi's collar harshly.
"n-no..!! wait a minute!! i was planning to shoot.. but i just.. my body just moved on its own!!"
"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!! WHO THE HELL PASSES WHEN THEY'RE TRYING TO SHOOT?!!" raichi yelled, becoming even more pissed than before.
"stop it raichi! we still got a point!" kuon scolded, breaking in between isagi and raichi to mediate the situation.
"HUH?!! ARE YOU AN IDIOT TOO?!! WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE SCORING A GOAL WHEN WE'RE GONNA LOSE 5-1?!!" raichi yelled, his anger directed to both kuon and isagi.
"YOU HEARD THE RULES RIGHT? THIS MATCH PROVED THAT A PUNY TEAM LIKE US HAS NO CHANCE OF WINNING NORMALLY!! ONLY THE ONE WITH THE MOST POINTS AT THE END GETS TO STAY HERE!!"
"BUT YOU WASTED THAT CHANCE ON A PASS?!! WHY THE HELL DID YOU EVEN COME HERE?! HUH?!"
"i-i don't know..that pass was..unconscious.." isagi replied weakly.
"hey number eleven."
barou walked up to isagi, looming over him.
"anyone who loses their nerve in front of the goal isn't cut out to be a striker. you don't have what it takes."
BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEP!
GAME OVER. FIRST MATCH FOR WING FIVE GOES TO TEAM X!
raichi shoved isagi down in frustration, stomping away. isagi looked terrible, like he just had his dreams crushed even thought it was just the first match.
i walked over to him and extended a hand to help him up.
"let's go, isagi. this match is over."
-
3.31.2024
song rec: drive by 1the9
i think you can tell that i really like 1the9 😭 but this song has great instrumentals so you should listen to it fr 🤗