Chapter 84: Angry Rin
On the pitch.
The Blue Team adjusted their mindset, and Rin prepared for the kickoff. The five world-class players of the White Team had now put away their initial relaxed attitudes and were standing somewhat seriously on their defensive lines.
Kira nodded to Rin. Rin understood and passed the ball to Kira in the midfield.
After receiving the ball, Kira began to adapt to the rhythm provided by the Cavazos Attribute Card, dribbling slowly and pushing forward without haste.
"Yo, this guy's movements have changed again," Luna noted sharply.
"Looks like he's a player with a versatile style," Blake nodded in agreement.
The World Star Team was somewhat surprised by the change in Kira's playing style. He had just been a speedster like Loki, but now he was practically identical to Cavazos.
It's well known that a player's habits are hard to change. Yet, Kira could switch between different states in a single match. That was baffling.
"Interesting, really interesting. This kid is hiding some secrets," Loki said, stepping up personally to block Kira's path.
Kira didn't panic in the slightest. As Loki approached, he didn't hog the ball at all, passing it to Bachira, who was following up.
"To me?"
Although Bachira was confused, he still received the ball.
Cavazos caught up a moment later.
"Pass it back, Bachira!" Kira shouted. Bachira didn't dare make any extra moves and obediently passed the ball back to Kira.
Kira didn't touch the ball, letting it roll past him to Isagi, who was in the rearmost position.
The Blue Team began to cycle the ball in their own backfield.
Loki watched the opponents busy themselves with amusement, hands on his hips.
"Are they not planning to attack aggressively? Trying to play possession?" Loki found it funny. Playing possession in front of world-class players? Wasn't that like teaching fish how to swim?
Loki looked back and signaled to Blake.
Blake nodded grudgingly.
In an instant, Loki and Blake began to press. The passing between the Blue Team members immediately became precarious.
Kira felt a bit bitter inside. If only Chigiri were here. At least Chigiri's speed could tear a hole down the wing.
There was no other way. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
As Kira received the ball, Loki stood before him like the King of Hell, extending a foot to steal it.
Kira's expression remained unchanged. He calmly shielded the ball and turned, avoiding Loki's tackle. At the same time, he delivered a surgical through ball that instantly tore open the White Team's defense.
The ball traveled in a straight line, bypassing Loki and Luna, and appeared perfectly in Rin's path.
"Whoa? That through ball really has Cavazos' style." Loki genuinely praised Kira's creativity.
Facing his high-speed press, Kira still had the leisure to spot the weak point in the White Team's defense and deliver such a high-quality through ball.
If the opponent had a world-class forward to coordinate with that pass, Loki believed their defense would have crumbled.
"Great ball, Kira!" Isagi was also stunned by the brilliant pass. It was too artistic.
The opponents were all world-class star players. To tear open their defense with a pass was an incredible feat.
Rin recalled Kira's eye signal from earlier. Holding onto his trust in Kira, Rin made his run, not expecting Kira to actually deliver the ball to his feet.
He couldn't waste Kira's pass again.
Rin raised his leg, preparing to shoot.
Bang.
An accident occurred. Cavazos slid in and directly disrupted Rin's shot. The ball at Rin's feet vanished.
Kira lamented inwardly. Rin's ability was indeed the ceiling among high school students. But Cavazos, an all-star player in the world's top five leagues, had been watching Kira for a long time.
Kira's pass had unexpectedly fooled Loki and Luna, but it couldn't fool the Freckled Baby. Because that kind of pass was in his own highlight reel.
"Yo, nice work, Angry Baby Face." Silva accepted the ball with a smile and immediately charged forward with it.
His massive figure began to accelerate. Kira vaguely felt the entire pitch vibrating. Finally, he understood the origin of the nickname "Heavy Tank."
Once he got up to speed, who would dare to stand in front and stop him? Anyone who tried would be sent flying.
Bachira wanted to rush up to intercept, but for the sake of Bachira's physical well-being, Aryu stopped him.
"?" Bachira looked confused.
Aryu covered his face and lowered his head. "Saving your life is more important..."
So, Silva dribbled from the backfield to the frontfield completely unmarked.
He unleashed a powerful shot.
Boom!
The ball went in.
4-2.
Kira vaguely saw the goal frame shaking. That shot was truly powerful and heavy.
"Skinny beanpoles. A strong body is the basic condition for playing football."
After scoring, Silva started doing calisthenics in front of the goal, showing off his muscles.
"Alright, stop preening, old man. Get back on defense. Let's finish this quickly." Loki came over to stop Silva's childish behavior and dragged him back to their own territory.
***
I... I wasted Kira's pass again?
Rin's face was a picture of utter despair.
Was the difference really this big?
Rin looked at the World Star Team players, and a question suddenly arose in his mind.
Could his brother, Itoshi Sae, compare to them?
Rin shook his head. Having played football with the goal of defeating Sae, he felt lost for the first time.
Rin seemed to understand the significance of Jinpachi Ego arranging this match. To make the boys of Blue Lock understand just how big the gap between them and the world's top tier really was.
Wait.
Rin looked up at Kira nearby.
This guy? Why can he still compete with them?
Rin had practiced with Kira. In his mind, Kira and he were equals. Could it be that during our previous sessions, Kira was holding back, deliberately going easy on me to spare my pride?
Itoshi Rin felt insulted.
***
Kira was scratching his head thinking about how to break the deadlock when he suddenly felt a chill behind him. He turned to see Rin looking at him with a frosty expression.
Confused, he asked, "What's wrong? Rin, are you feeling unwell?"
"Shut up, you hypocrite." Rin's tone was unfriendly.
Kira wisely shut up, sensing that Rin was really angry.
"After the kickoff, pass the ball back to me!!" Rin commanded.
Kira raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, whatever you say. You're the boss ."
Kira also knew the gap in this match was too large. Ending it early might be a relief for the Blue Team.
***
The match resumed.
Blue Team kickoff.
Rin passed the ball to Kira, and Kira passed it back to Rin.
Then.
Rin took the ball and charged forward recklessly.
Kira: ???
What the hell is this? You tell me to pass the ball to you, and then you just go rogue? Dude, what are you doing?
"Hey, hey, this guy on the other side is starting to play emotional football." Luna looked at the dribbling Rin like he was watching a child.
"Then go steal it from him. Stop posing with your hands on your hips and put in some effort," Cavazos said grumpily.
"Fine, my Freckled Baby. Since you asked nicely."
Luna instantly moved to meet him. Rin immediately accelerated and changed direction.
Luna simply extended his foot and stole the ball.
Luna shook his head. "Too green."
He was just about to dribble away when suddenly, a figure flashed before his eyes.
Itoshi Rin lunged to steal his ball back.
"Why do this guy's eyes look crazy?"
Luna was puzzled, but his feet weren't slow. He began to feint and change direction. Normally, Rin should have been easily shaken off.
But unexpectedly, he couldn't shake him off immediately.
In the distance, Kira fell into deep thought. Did Rin... just evolve?
"Hey, hey, what are you doing, Prince? Can't even shake off a Japanese high schooler?" Silva mocked.
"Oh, this boy is a bit different too. Didn't notice it before." Loki noticed Rin's unusual behavior.
"Japan… seems they have even more incredible players than we thought." Blake's dead-fish eyes lit up again.
"Tch, you're getting annoying."
Veins popped on Luna's forehead. He was getting a little angry too.
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A/n: I haven't really been paying attention to Power Stones lately, but yeah, since we passed 100, here's your extra chapter...
If we break 200, another one is coming, meaning a total of 3 chapters will be released today!
Hand over all your Power Stones!!
For advanced chapters: Patreon.com/Demonic_Fiction