3.26. Tiniest Of Gaps

"Welcome to Neo Egoist League, Match 7!"

Bachira dashed out onto the pitch with a whoop. Above them, the casters' voices rang out, and on the other side of the pitch, PXG took the field. Compared to himself, they looked incredibly serious. Bachira didn't know why - after all, it was only their auction value they were playing for.

As usual, he was hyped. PXG were strong - probably stronger than Bastard or Ubers. Their players were all incredible, and Bachira wanted to see that for himself.

Otoya tossed a casual arm around his shoulder as he followed. "Ready?"

"When am I not?" Bachira grinned, poking Otoya in the side. The other boy yelped with surprise, scowling playfully back at him.

"True." He nodded, glancing across at PXG. "But they're like... really good."

"Ah, who cares?" Bachira did a little spin, flinging his arms out. If he was honest, he didn't know what he was doing. It was just fun to move, fun to play around. "So what if they're strong? We just have to be stronger."

Otoya huffed. "And if not?"

"Then it doesn't matter...!" Bachira laughed. "The two things that really matter here are raising auction value, having fun, and looking cool."

"That's three things, Bachira."

"My mommy always said you should give more than people expect."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing." Bachira waved a hand, smiling. He looked back towards PXG. They were spreading out over the pitch, the ball waiting patiently in the centre for their kick-off. Holding out a hand, he winked at Otoya. "See you soon?"

"Yup." Otoya first gave him a fist bump, then slapped their palms together. He smirked, and ran off.

Bachira craned his head upwards, listening as the casters spoke. "With that, are you all ready?!" He imagined the noise of a crowd cheering, and grinned. "PXG against Barcha, kickoff!"

The game started.

PXG's attacking players consisted of Rin, Nanase, and Tokimitsu grouped around a blond boy in the middle. Charles Chevalier, the fancy pass dude. Bachira solemnly thought. They didn't bother trading many passes - as soon as possible, Rin was running right towards them down the centre of the field.

Bachira whooped, and ran for Rin as well. I can't wait... come on, Rin. Show me what you've got.

They got within a few metres of each other. Rin tried to break past him, faking to one side and stepping for the other, but Bachira easily followed. You can't use my own stuff against me, Rinnie...

Though, Rin took it a step further. He'd faked left, and when Bachira thought he was going to run right, he faked right as well, and took an extra step back towards the left. Bachira still managed to follow, impressed. "Okayy, okay... pretty good."

Rin's eyes narrowed with annoyance. Bachira grinned cheerfully, closing the distance between himself and Rin. "I'll be taking this, thanks!"

As Bachira's leg shot out, trying to steal away the ball, Rin took a few quick steps backwards. He glanced behind him, and before Bachira could press him further, he passed away. "No chance." He muttered.

At Bachira's side, Otoya appeared. The boy gave him a nod and a grin, holding his ground. "What's up?"

"The cold, hard, concrete roof." Bachira chirped. He gestured at the PXG players. "But in front of us, a lot of boring guys."

They tried another attack, right down the centre again. This time, instead of it just being Rin, Nanase and Tokimitsu joined in. Otoya moved towards Nanase with the ball. Bachira held back slightly, waiting to see who Nanase passed to.

When Nanase's foot began to move, Bachira moved too. It's Tokimitsu, right?! He jumped forwards, intercepting the ball a metre from Tokimitsu's feet.

But the boy didn't let him go that easily. He immediately charged for Bachira, his speed suddenly doubling as he barreled forwards. Bachira's eyes widened, and he sidestepped, barely managing to get away. Tokimitsu swung around, coming for another try and stealing the ball.

Bachira looked for a way past him. And then he looked down as the ball was snatched from his feet.

Rin was running for the goal. He sidestepped a defender, and as Nanase caught up to him, the two played a perfect game of passing. Constantly moving the ball, Nanase circled around Rin, using his left and right foot to just constantly be a nuisance to the Barcha defenders.

Within a few seconds, they broke straight through the defence. Rin moved to shoot.

His foot collided with the ball. Instead of a shot towards the top corner of the net, Rin aimed for the direct centre of the goal. Bachira tilted his head with confusion - and then the ball curved.

Whatever spin he'd put on it, it was insanity. Its trajectory changed from the centre of the goal to the top corner, curving upwards and sideways and completely throwing the goalkeeper off. Bachira nodded excitedly as it slammed into the back of the net. "Whoa!" He laughed. "That was sick?!"

The casters certainly thought the same. "That was sick?!" One of them yelled. Bachira's smile dropped, and he scowled at the ceiling. Copycat.

The caster, of course, didn't hear him. "PXG take the first goal, one to Barcha's zero!"

"Our Bluelock TV's Mercenary System is now in play! Y/N L/N has been subbed onto Barcha!"

"Will they use him? We didn't see it last time, maybe this time will be different?!"

Bachira glanced towards Y/N and Lavinho. As soon as Y/N's melodramatic, Power Ranger-esque transformation had taken place, the small boy had slowly headed over to the Barcha coach. He stood there, a sort of dazed look on his face as Lavinho spoke to him.

Bachira frowned, watching them. Y/N only answered with nods or shakes of his head, standing there with hunched shoulders and a lowered head. He looked similar to a puppet with its strings cut, Bachira thought.

But eventually, Lavinho came to a decision. He raised a hand, grinning as he called out the substitution. One of the Barcha forwards was being replaced, and Y/N L/N was to be put in into a supporting striker position.

Heart rising, Bachira's smile got wider. Y/N! Wooooo! Y/N was one of the funniest players to be on a team with. He was good, he was strange, and he wasn't afraid to laugh and have fun like some of the other people Bachira knew (hint: Rin Itoshi).

Yet when Y/N tapped hands with the person subbing off, and headed onto the field, Bachira instinctively knew something was off. The other boy's posture didn't change. And more importantly, there wasn't a smile on his face.

"Hiii....?" Bachira hopped over to Y/N, lowering his head and peering up at him from below. "Ready to play?"

Y/N blinked. His eyes slowly shifted to Bachira. He blinked again, looking completely out of it. Bachira stared at him, waiting for an answer as a confused-looking Y/N just stood there. In the end, the boy nodded once.

That was all the time Bachira had. Barcha restarted with the ball, and Bachira was the one to start. He jogged to the centre of the pitch, placing his foot on the ball and turning to face the rest of his team. "...Ready?"

Come on, Y/N. He mentally cheered. You can do it! I'm gonna give you the ball, and you're gonna score! Who cares what everyone else says! Bachira looked towards him. Y/N didn't look up from the floor.

"Y/N." Bachira passed. PXG's players ran directly after the ball, Rin and Tokimitsu charging right for Y/N. Yet, the small boy didn't react. The ball rolled to his feet, thumped against his boot.

When the enemy players were directly in front of him, Y/N looked up with wide eyes. They found Bachira's across the gap, fearful and lost. He could swear in Y/N's eyes, he could see the beginnings of tears. W-wait, what? Do I stop the game...?

It didn't matter. As Rin and Tokimitsu approached, only a few metres away, Y/N... moved.

Bachira blinked-

And the ball was in the air. Y/N had flung it upwards. He tapped it with the outside of his foot, knocking it midair in one direction. And then he was running.

A burst of incredible speed, faster than Bachira had ever seen him go before. In the World Five game, Y/N had been faster than anyone in Bluelock. In the U-20 game, he'd been faster than everyone in Japan. And now, in the NEL, he looked like one of the fastest in the world.

Rin and Tokimitsu could do nothing. Y/N blazed past them, his eyes suddenly sharpening. Bachira's mouth dropped as Y/N charged straight for PXG.

He wasn't even looking at anyone else. But something was different about him. Y/N wasn't laughing, he wasn't talking, he wasn't even smiling. He was dead serious, moving directly towards the goal.

Then he shifted directions. He moved, heading for one of the PXG wingers. Zantetsu. Bachira's eyes widened. He began running, trying to support Y/N, but before he could get there it was all over.

Y/N's movements were cold, calculated. Zantetsu's strengths were explosive acceleration and his starting speed. And yet, Y/N completely outclassed him, free to do whatever he wanted. Y/N could outpace him close up, he could outpace him long range. He was better at dribbling, at ball control, at shooting, and from the way he toyed with Zantetsu, everyone knew it.

Y/N was humiliating him, in front of everyone. Forcing him to show off his best skills, Y/N then crushed them, utterly demolished them. Nobody else even dared to go close to the boy, only watching as Zantetsu's face went from annoyed to completely hopeless. He had no chance against Y/N.

And then, Y/N was moving on to the next. He turned down the centre of the field, destroying each and every one of the enemy players in the most twisted way possible. Bachira was stunned into silence.

Against different players, it was like his entire playstyle changed. Up against Karasu, he changed into a version of Sae Itoshi with cool dribbles and great movement. The better midfielder.

When he got to the defence, Bachria could almost see signs of Lorenzo in his movements. He brought forwards a terrifying zombie dribble, sweeping through each one by himself. The better defender.

Y/N wasn't just playing the game. He wasn't just playing for a goal. He was purposefully squashing every single player's skills. Bachira could almost hear his thoughts. Is this really the best you've got?

It was something Bachira had noticed during the World Five game. Maybe Y/N was a nice enough guy off the field. But on the field, he was nothing but a sadist. He played to purposefully cause as much pain, as much negativity to the other players as possible.

But recently, Bachira hadn't seen that side of him. Why is it appearing now...? Not that I'm complaining, of course. Looks sick!

It didn't matter why it'd appeared - the truth was PXG stood no chance.

He ripped through the entire team by himself. His speed was on another level. His pathing was on another level. His dribbling was on another level. Bachira had thought Rin was good. But Y/N made Rin look like a toddler.

In record time, he reached the goal. PXG surrounded him on all sides, people leaping in front of the goal to block a shot. Others pressed him, realising that he wasn't going to pass. They'd nearly completely abandoned marking Barcha players, six of them going against Y/N alone.

It was the tiniest of gaps. A microsecond of delay, where the goal was slightly vulnerable. Bachira didn't even see the gap in the defence, but apparently, Y/N did.

His body tensed-

The ropes of the net stretched.

What?

Bachira froze. And then he blinked a few times, trying to figure out what he'd just seen.

What the...

He looked from Y/N, to the goal. And at the ball, which was just thudding to the ground. Bachira's face lit up, and he let out a whoop. "Wow!"

Everyone else stared at the goal. The blood drained from PXG's defenders' faces. The goalkeeper didn't move, frozen in surprise in the centre of the goal. He'd barely moved an inch towards the edge of the goal, not even starting his jump yet.

Because the ball was already in the back of the net.

It was a shot that people had barely been able to track. Cameras could catch it, sure, but for everyone on the field, they'd only caught a blur before it had gone in.

The casters were screaming their heads off.

"What in the world was that?!"

"Y/N L/N, with one of the most stunning goals I've ever seen!"

"He takes the ball... what a solo run from him! He got through the entire team by himself! And finishing it off in such a crazy manner, they were blocking that goal! He still got it in!"

"I gotta replay that. Holy... let's get a replay on the broadcast right now."

Around the world, people watched.

They watched in slow motion as Y/N, on his left leg, fired a shot towards the goal. A godly shot. A straight bullet, directly into the back of the goal. None of the defenders nor the goalkeeper had a chance.

"I mean... if you're PXG there, what can you even do?"

"Nothing. Nothing, Natsuki. We'd been hoping for a better performance from Y/N, and it looks like we've got it. Whatever he did over that break, it worked like a treat!"

"This kid is ambidextrous, too. The ability to do that kind of shot on both feet is insane...!"

"Just getting reports in now, that shot that just happened was recorded to be a faster speed than Michael Kaiser's famous Kaiser Impact?!"

"Y/N L/N, our country's very own prodigy, returns to glory with that shot!"

As everyone was celebrating, in awe, nobody noticed Y/N himself. Nobody noticed the terrified look in his eyes as he stared at the ball, or the shaking of his hands, or the way he hadn't reacted at all to the goal. He'd bit down hard on his own lip, stopping himself from showing any emotion.

Despite scoring one of the best goals in the world, Y/N had turned and walked back to his own half without a word.