Why did Ego Jinpachi's Blue Lock project choose 300 high school students instead of university students or elementary school students?
Because the majority of manga readers are high school students. With a high school student as the protagonist, the audience can better immerse themselves.
Alright, that is indeed a fact!
But there's another point.
The stage between 16 and 24 years old is the fastest period of growth for a football player. After the age of 24, a player has basically entered their peak, and further improvement becomes difficult. This is the reason why Ego chose to launch the Blue Lock project among high school students.
And Mikage Reo, like Nagi, has only been playing football for half a year. For the two of them, Blue Lock is the most suitable place for them right now. There are sufficiently strong opponents here, as well as professional training to help them improve quickly.
Mikage Reo's imitation ability had already been showcased in the match against Team Z. His background story is very similar to that guy Kise's; his learning ability is outstanding, and he's strong at picking up new things.
And.
He also clearly knows his own limits. For a genius's 100%, the highest he can achieve is 99%. For example, Nagi can perfectly trap the ball in any place, in any posture. But for Reo to do this, he needs to meet specific conditions. This is the difference between 100% and 99%.
Understanding this point, after Reo started playing football, he quickly upgraded all his weapons to 99%. This was his reliance on competing with geniuses, or rather, not letting Nagi leave him behind, to go and become the world's number one together with him.
In the original story's match between Team V and Team Z, Reo had only watched Team Z's attack once before he was able to completely replicate it. So it's not surprising at all that he can now imitate Karasu's soul-stirring little hand-off.
Using this method against Karasu might be a bit of a stretch, but if the opponent is Hiori, it's still a dimensional-level crushing.
"You can doubt yourself, but you can't doubt me."
"Because I am the strongest."
Tendou's extremely arrogant words were still swirling in his mind. Reo didn't think it was sarcasm. At that time, right after he had been abandoned by Nagi, Tendou's words had even made him feel trusted and warm.
Since that's the case, I can't let that guy Tendou look down on me!
"Don't even think about getting past, Young Lady No. 2!" Reo's face twisted, transforming into a 700-billion-yen overbearing CEO. He extended his hand in front of the extremely delicate Hiori.
But Hiori only looked delicate; his ranking was the real deal. He came from a sports family. Both his parents were outstanding athletes, so he had received an elite education since he was young. A situation like this wasn't enough to pin him down on the spot.
He tangled with Reo. He didn't pass, but cleverly pulled the ball back, followed by a shoulder drop and another change of direction.
In the end, Reo still hadn't completely mastered the "Chameleon" ability. He tried hard to close the distance between Hiori and the ball but was still a step too slow.
BAM!
The ball was kicked out hard by Hiori. It shuttled through the air at high speed, penetrating to the edge of Tendou's team's penalty area. At that spot, Otoya Eita arrived with a "bami," and along with him came the "young lady," Chigiri Hyoma.
BAM!
Otoya received the ball with his back to the goal, shielding it from Chigiri at the same time. Karasu then rushed over, raising his hand to support. Otoya saw him, feigned a pass, but then executed a heel chop.
A Cruyff Turn.
The turn that was said to be able to deceive the whole world looked so natural on Otoya. Perhaps because he was born into a ninja family, his movements were filled with a sense of agility, swift and nimble.
"Eita!"
Just as Otoya was about to take the shot, Karasu once again shouted out.
Otoya glanced to the side and, sure enough, saw that No. 1 "crackling" over, his whole body bathed in lightning. His speed was too fast, like a gust of wind, silently blowing to his side. His teammate was in position; the next step was how to get the ball over.
Otoya was already like an arrow on a drawn bow, his right leg already swung back. He silently calculated the distance to Tendou. With that kind of sprint speed, there's a chance he'll disrupt my final shot. This was the conclusion Otoya came to.
With a tap, Otoya forcefully twisted his center of gravity, changing his shot into a pass. He was aiming for the far corner of the goal, but his purpose was not to shoot, but to send the ball to the feet of Karasu, who was making a run into the box.
"Although it was half a second late, it's a good pass." Karasu sprinted forward at high speed. This pass was as far away from Tendou as possible. As long as he could catch up, it would be an open goal opportunity.
However.
Suddenly, just as he was about to make a sliding shot, his eyes widened like saucers, and his heart skipped a beat. In his field of vision, a flash of azure light passed by. In a daze, he seemed to see Tendou's pupils rotating.
Almost at the same time, Otoya also noticed that the gust of wind was not blowing towards him, but was chasing the ball.
And then he saw.
Tap!
Tendou slid over, and at the absolute limit, cushioned the ball between his instep and ankle.
"It's those eyes!" Karasu's face no longer held a smile.
Before the match, he had noticed that Tendou's eyes were not right. At first, he only thought that his dynamic vision was different from ordinary people. Looking at it now, it was far from that simple.
Recalling his direct confrontation with Tendou just now, and Tendou's decisiveness during the coin toss... it was as if his opponent had seen the result in advance, always able to be one step ahead of them.
"This isn't something that can be explained by just having excellent predictive ability."
...
In the control room.
Ego and Anri both lamented, "What an enviable pair of eyes."
They had learned from Tendou's basketball career that he had a unique pair of eyes. They were as beautiful as the sky. If you stared at them for a long time, you would even get lost in them, as if you were in that sky. But his eyes were not just good-looking, a mere decoration that made countless girls scream.
Tendou had never explained it directly, but the players who had faced him had all shared a similar feeling. From their words, Ego had summarized that Tendou's eyes could seemingly see the opponent's future, and it was a 360-degree view with no blind spots, capable of covering the entire court.
This ability had once earned Tendou the nickname "God of the Court."
But in this world, no one can truly see the future.
There was also a player in Blue Lock who claimed to be able to see the future. Hiiragi Reiji! A player who had appeared in a side story. But the "future" that Hiiragi saw was more like a kind of prediction. He could perform a deep calculation on a player based on their "past" history to judge their actions. To put it bluntly, it was like Satsuki, predicting the opponent's actions based on known information.
But Tendou.
He gave people the feeling that he was really seeing it. Not based on past history, but on instantaneous feedback.
"Tendou Kageyoshi... he can predict his opponent's next move just by looking at their actions."
There were too many similar scenes in Tendou's matches. Those who faced him were always one step, or even two steps, behind him. This allowed Tendou's offensive and defensive abilities to reach the absolute top tier in Blue Lock.
"Eita, get back on defense!"
Karasu immediately pressed to win the ball back. He had already realized a very terrifying possibility.
"Be careful! This guy... can probably see our future!"
Huh?
Otoya's mind went blank for a split second, and then he cooperated with his opponent to pounce on Tendou.
...
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