Tendou's appearance made Itoshi Rin, who was originally preparing to rest and then find his next opponent to quickly pass the assessment, instantly become agitated.
His face, which was like ice, instantly became as ferocious as a wild beast. His pair of eyes, sharper than knives, were fixed on Tendou.
"Tendou Kageyoshi!"
He had already learned Tendou's name. In the second stage of the second selection, when Tendou had entered the door, his name had been seen by everyone present.
"Yo, Itoshi Sae's little brother." Tendou deliberately didn't call him by his name, giving Rin the feeling that he was just an accessory to Sae.
In fact, Rin, who had understood the underlying meaning of his words, was indeed very angry at this moment. But more than being angry, he wanted to know what relationship this guy in front of him had with his older brother.
"Say one more word of nonsense and I'll kill you."
"Tell me quickly, what is your relationship with that guy Itoshi Sae? And what did he say to you?"
He was desperate to know everything about his older brother. Just because... before going to Spain, Itoshi Sae was the older brother he respected the most. But after returning from Spain, his older brother had become incredibly unfamiliar to him.
He would never forget that evening. When Sae had just returned from Spain and found him, the first thing he said was that he wanted to give up on becoming the world's number one striker.
How could that be? This was the promise between the two brothers! When he didn't agree, Sae had "beaten him up" and said that he was an eyesore. At that moment, Rin felt that he had been betrayed by his closest kin, and his world was about to collapse. Then his love turned to hate, and he wanted to defeat his older brother!
"It's nothing. We just happened to play once."
Tendou said nothing more. He just nodded to Bachira and then left the preparation area, heading to his new dormitory.
Having arrived at the fourth stage, they needed to rest for at least 24 hours before they could play their next match. Whether it was Rin's team or Tendou's team, their matches would be in 24 hours at the earliest.
Rin didn't chase after him, but an idea had already formed in his mind. He would snatch this bastard over and then get all the information about Itoshi Sae from his mouth.
...
Before long, Tendou's group of four arrived at a 4-person dormitory. Thank God, they finally didn't have to sleep on the floor. Although it was a bunk bed and the conditions weren't that great, at least they didn't have to sleep on the floor with 11 people.
"I want the bottom bunk!" Chigiri was the first to throw himself onto the bottom bunk of one of the beds, hugging the pillow tightly and not letting go.
Seeing this, Reo and Karasu were also tempted.
But the next second, Tendou domineeringly pointed to the bottom bunk of the other bed. The meaning was very clear: he also wanted a bottom bunk.
Reo and Karasu looked at each other and could only choose one side each. The sleeping arrangements were decided so playfully.
The clothes were prepared in advance, and daily necessities were available in Blue Lock, so they could move in directly.
After settling down, Karasu jumped off the bed and asked directly, "What's next? Are we going to have a match with that team of genius bastards?"
Their team had arrived here relatively early, arriving just before or after Rin's team. And for the fourth stage, there were temporarily only their two teams.
"Itoshi Rin's team? No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, and that guy Bachira... their strength can't be underestimated."
Chigiri had already prepared his conditioner and other things, planning to take a shower. Who knew that his teammates would suddenly start a strategy meeting.
"But on the other hand, if we can beat them, we can form the strongest team in all of Blue Lock," Reo said, his interest lukewarm. His mind was currently on Nagi. Since Bachira was snatched away, it meant his Nagi had lost the match and had fallen into the loser's bracket with Isagi. If he was accidentally eliminated, he would probably go crazy.
Right now, Reo was no longer thinking about revenge or not. He just wanted Nagi to catch up quickly.
And also... this team was not his to command.
Karasu, Reo, and Chigiri all turned their gazes in unison towards Tendou.
"I'm not interested in anyone on their team," Tendou said, taking off his shoes, also preparing to take a shower. "Whether it's Itoshi Rin or Bachira, neither are the people I want."
Karasu asked, "Then who do you want?"
"That ninja teammate of yours is pretty good."
For the last person on the team, Tendou still leaned towards finding someone from Isagi's original team. He paid attention to the real-world audience's dynamics every day. So he knew that right now, the audience really wanted to see his team and Isagi's team meet and snatch players from each other. The explosive point of the last episode had made his popularity points skyrocket. He believed that meeting Isagi again would usher in a second explosion of traffic for the plot.
In the original story, Isagi's final 4-man team members were: Isagi, Nagi, Barou, and Chigiri. Now that the "young lady" was on his side, Tendou didn't know who the last two choices would be.
Of course, Isagi might not necessarily choose his team as an opponent now, because Bachira was on Rin's side.
"Eita? Indeed a good choice," the Crow-bro said with his customary wry smile. "In a competition of this nature, it's probably better to choose a player with outstanding individual ability."
"Why? Isn't it better to choose a familiar and strong teammate?" Chigiri didn't understand. If you have strength but lack coordination, you're just a pile of loose sand.
...
"Of course not," Karasu said, wagging his finger. "Compared to team coordination, the second selection places more emphasis on individual ability."
"In the first selection, a team only needs someone who can turn a '0' into a '1.' The others just need to cooperate well with this person as the center, turning the '1' into a '100' to form an effective fighting force."
"But in the second selection, the number of people on a team is reduced to only 3. You have to attack while also taking care of defense. The demand on individual ability is extremely high."
"And then there's the field, which has been shrunk by several times. In a match on such a field, the rhythm will be as fast as basketball. Compared to teamwork, individual performance is actually more important. Just like that guy Tendou, we lost to him alone."
Karasu was also very helpless when he said this. In their match against Tendou's team, every time they were about to score, their efforts were in vain because of Tendou's presence. Tendou alone had dominated the entire field.
"So, instead of pursuing coordination, it's better to find a stronger teammate. Pass the ball to the strongest person, let the strongest person attack the opponent's weakest person, and victory will be within reach."
The Crow-man still believed in his formula for victory. Even though they had just lost to Tendou, it was only because Tendou was too strong. Whoever defended against him was a weak point.
"And, haven't you noticed, Young Lady No. 1? You can easily use your speed to handle both defense and offense at the same time."
"So that's how it is. In the match just now, I did feel like I could reach anywhere," Chigiri said, his eyes looking up at the ceiling. Then he reacted and said angrily, "You bastard! Don't call me young lady! And who's No. 2?"
...
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