Z Team controlled the ball, but several failed attacks left them frustrated. Finally, the ball rolled to Ryan.
The instant Team X saw that, panic rippled through them. Almost every player sprinted back into the box parking the bus right in front of their goal. They knew they couldn't win, but they could at least stop the scoreline from getting uglier. They were gambling on one thing: that Ryan couldn't shoot from distance. After all, every goal he'd scored so far came from inside the box.
Ryan stared at the packed defense.
One… two… three… nine defenders crammed shoulder to shoulder in front of the net.
Only Barou and the goalkeeper weren't part of the human wall.
He twitched an eyebrow.
"Seriously? Who dragged a whole bus in front of the goal?"
Just then Kunigami jogged up beside him.
"Let me take this one."
Ryan gave him a thumbs-up.
"Go for it. If you score, you're the MVP."
"Watch me crush them fair and square!" Kunigami declared.
"Yeah, yeah good luck."
Kunigami set the ball, backed up a few steps like he was taking a free kick.
Ryan sighed inwardly.
Great. We're not shooting a Carlos highlight reel here, dude. And where's Barou? He's not even trying to press?
He scanned the field. Barou was being marked tightly by Raichi exactly as Ryan had ordered earlier. Raichi had grumbled about it but obeyed anyway.
He complains a lot but still listens… total tsundere, Ryan thought with a grin.
That mop of yellow hair reminded him of Eriri from his past life another stubborn blonde tsundere. What was she doing now? Drawing questionable manga? Grinding through a new galgame? Or maybe staring at his old photo again…
While Ryan's mind wandered, Kunigami charged forward and smashed the ball with his left foot.
It screamed toward goal like a cannonball
but one defender jumped, twisted, and blocked it with his backside. The ball ricocheted high and bounced back toward midfield… landing right at Ryan's feet.
He looked down.
"Alright… time to try that shot."
No run-up, no hesitation, he just swung his leg. The strike left his foot with incredible power, even without momentum.
Kunigami froze, stunned. Long-range shooting was his specialty; he knew exactly how difficult that technique was.
The ball soared upward, high above everyone's heads.
The goalkeeper smirked.
"Too high. That idiot skied it again."
He turned slightly, ready to fetch the goal kick
Then the ball dropped.
From the peak of its arc it plunged straight down, like an elevator falling down its shaft. The keeper's eyes widened; he dove but the ball slipped past his fingertips and rattled into the upper net.
GOAL!!!
"No way… no way… NO WAY! That actually went in?!"
Ryan's eyes went wide. Even he couldn't believe it.
He'd been practicing knuckleball shots for weeks, but never mastered them; he'd only meant to take a wild chance. And somehow, this one had gone perfectly.
Inside the unseen Gates of Miracle, the door glowing green symbol of Midorima Shintarō's power shone brightly.
It wasn't luck at all; Ryan had simply forgotten he possessed that ability. Midorima's power didn't scream like Aomine's speed or Murasakibara's strength, so it rarely surfaced. He almost never used long-range shots, favoring close-range kills.
While Z Team roared in celebration, chaos erupted in Team X's camp.
Barou was arguing fiercely with a teammate wearing a headband, the one who'd suggested "parking the bus."
Barou had opposed it from the start. He lived for attack, not hiding like a turtle in the box. But the others had grown tired of his selfishness. Every possession he'd lost came from refusing to pass so they'd gone with the headband guy's defensive idea.
Now that very plan had just been obliterated by Ryan's impossible strike.
They no longer dared gamble on him missing another. Confusion spread through the squad as they reset for kickoff.
Barou demanded the ball again. His teammate hesitated but passed there was no other option.
Immediately, two walls of muscle Kunigami and Raichi closed in on him. A short, brutal wrestling match later, they ripped the ball free.
Kunigami passed to Bachira, who burst downfield. One defender stepped up Bachira flicked the ball behind him with a stylish elastico and danced past.
Then he saw it.
The "monster" waiting inside the box Ryan.
Instinctively, Bachira curved the ball toward him. It threaded between defenders and dropped perfectly at Ryan's feet.
Two defenders clamped down, blocking any direct shot on goal. Ryan glanced sideways their positioning killed his space.
Then spark.
A wild, creative impulse flashed through his brain.
Colorful streaks of light flared around him like flames in motion, pure anime energy, not real fire.
He planted both hands on the defenders' shoulders, pushed off, and flipped his body backward
a bicycle kick.
His foot met the ball cleanly. It carved a brilliant rainbow through the air, arcing toward the upper corner.
GOAL!!!
The stadium erupted.
Ryan landed, looked up at the curving path of the ball, and grinned.
"Heh… guess they don't call it a Rainbow Shot for nothing."