3.27. Evolved Vision

Isagi was equal parts annoyed and excited. Annoyed, because he was so close. So close to just... finally being at the top of Bluelock. And now, yet another person was trying to get in his way.

Rin. Barou. Kaiser. And now Y/N. Everyone seemed determined to fight him, determined to overcome him. In the last game, Isagi had beaten Kaiser and Barou. In the next, he planned to beat Rin. But seeing Y/N...?

Y/N was undoubtedly going to be more of a challenge than either of the other two had been.

Kurona, Hiori, and Yukimiya had similar expressions of awe, watching as the cameras zoomed in on Y/N. He looked completely emotionless after the goal - something that had most of the chat spamming the cold face emoji.

Isagi's mind was racing. What did he do to himself in those two weeks...? His physical specs somehow improved in that short time... and on top of that, his mentality and focus are both on a level that I haven't seen from him before! Did he get fired up after I beat him?

Hiori made a small hum. "He's way better than before."

"Yeah." Yukimiya agreed. "That final shot... how is anyone supposed to defend against that? The Kaiser Impact was bad enough, now we have to account for that thing?"

"A tighter mark?" Kurona quietly asked. "Put Raichi on him?"

"No," Isagi murmured. "He's too hard to pin down. Y/N will just outrun him."

"Just spitballing here..." Hiori stared at the screen. "Cutting him off from the team? If they don't pass to him, he won't go on a run."

"Maybe." Isagi hesitated. "But that takes a lot of manpower and it's a huge distraction."

"How do we even know Y/N's gonna be on PXG?" Yukimiya questioned. "If we concede the first goal, he'll be on our side."

"That's still not good." Isagi muttered. "I need to be the one to score goals, to overtake Rin. If Y/N scores for our team, that's less goals I can take myself."

"Will Noa even put him on?" Hiori glanced at Isagi. "In that game right there, Y/N wasn't playing rationally."

"But his stats must be incredible." Yukimiya added. "If Noa goes off stats like he did before, then Y/N will be on for sure."

"Yeah..."

They all lapsed into silence. Isagi sighed. "Just watch, I guess. We have plenty of time to prep."

The four returned their gaze to the screen.

PXG's ball. Julian Loki, standing up on the flank, raised a hand to request a substitution change. The master brushed off his hands, looking at the camera. Next to him, Shidou stood up. Isagi frowned.

Playing with Rin worked... and now they're changing?

PXG did a complete formation change. Shidou took the striker's position at the very front, Rin was put on the bench, and in the place of Nanase and Tokimitsu, Karasu and Zantetsu moved up. In just seconds, the attacking three players had changed.

They launched a second wave attack. Shidou took off right towards the goal, and from the back, Zantetsu and Karasu formed a passing triangle with the French player in the middle. Isagi watched him, as he effortlessly dished out incredible passes to every single player on the pitch.

But they'd made a mistake.

PXG moved the ball way too much. Instead of choosing a fast, overwhelming attack, they'd gone for a slow, cautious one. And it just so happened that Y/N was able to take full advantage of that.

It was a calm, coordinated press. A logical dismantling of the entire enemy passing line, slowly forcing them back and back. Y/N ran from player to player, using his incredible speed to literally form a one man wall. He didn't communicate anything to his team, but somehow they understood.

Bachira shot forwards, joining in the press. Then Otoya. The three of them were blurs, ducking and weaving across the pitch and generally being huge threats to PXG. Isagi found himself watching Y/N.

He's different for sure. His... I guess, energy has completely changed. Before, it was more carefree. Now... Isagi could compare it to a businessman. Someone that continued doing their work every single day, and was good at it - but hated doing it. Y/N played like he was on autopilot, distancing himself emotionally from the game as much as possible.

But Isagi could catch small fragments of emotion. Tiny, tiny moments where Y/N would shy away from the ball. Where his leg would hesitate from touching it, and he would purposefully look away from it. It was puzzling. Is it a tactic?

Or maybe... no, that can't be right. Why would Y/N be scared of playing?

Y/N kept putting on the pressure. PXG kept having to pass faster and faster to keep control of the ball, moving it from player to player. And eventually, something happened.

PXG played four defenders. Two of them on the wings, and two of them in the centre. One defender stood diagonally left to the goal, the other diagonally to the right. As Bachira and Otoya ran down the two on the left, they were forced to pass across the pitch, parallel to the goal.

The only warning was a half-finished yell. "Hey, don't pass ther-"

Like an eagle, Y/N swooped in to intercept the ball. Nobody was anywhere close, completely caught off guard by Y/N's sudden dash. It was like he'd appeared from thin air. He'd left his mark completely in the dust, seizing control of the game in a single swift, decisive move.

Him against the goalkeeper. PXG scrambled to stop Y/N, but they were years, decades too late.

The boy got closer to the goalkeeper. The man was planted in the centre of the goal, arms outstretched, light on his feet. Isagi couldn't predict where Y/N was going to shoot. It's so open... and he has so much time. He could do literally anything...

The moment came. Isagi focused on the screen, trying to not blink as Y/N got into a position right in front of the goal.

His foot swung forwards.

The goalkeeper tensed- then jumped, leaping acrobatically across the goal towards the top corner. It was an incredible show of agility, of strength, and showed just why that man was at the highest level of goalkeeping.

And it was completely useless.

Y/N didn't shoot for a corner. He slammed the ball forwards, right into the centre of the net.

If the goalkeeper had stood still, the ball would've smacked into his chest. But Y/N had taken a risk, punting it into the middle, and it'd paid off. The goalkeeper looked absolutely idiotic, leaping for a ball that never came.

The ball thumped to the ground. Isagi's jaw hit the ground too. What was that...? That wasn't just pure speed. He outread everyone on the pitch, getting into that spot. And he must've been incredibly stealthy, hiding close by. Not even including the shot itself... that was incredible.

But the shot was something different. Incredibly fast... and maybe a different type of vision?! Isagi knew about Metavision. He knew its strengths, the sheer power it brought in predicting and playmaking. He knew about Predator Eye, the type of vision that allowed a player to read and choose the best timing to shoot against a goalkeeper. But had Y/N... brought out a third?

In fact, he's been doing it all game. He isn't just reading the field, he's reading each and every opponent. Isagi thought back. Y/N seemed absolutely unstoppable in every one on one duel, but Isagi knew it was due to more than just sheer speed. To use it properly, Y/N would have to know which direction to get around the player, and how to stop the player from tackling him.

Hiori glanced across at him with wide eyes. "Vision, right?"

"Yeah..." Isagi watched Y/N closely as the boy ran back to his own half. What is he doing...?

The game restarted.

Shidou and his supporting players stayed on. They began moving forwards slowly again, though this time Isagi noticed Karasu constantly keeping an eye on Y/N. The crow was probably trying to analyse him, understand Y/N's weaknesses. The only thing was... Isagi couldn't see any outright.

Same as before, the three main players of Barcha pushed the attack. Y/N was a demon, forcing PXG to keep the ball away, while Otoya and Bachira filled in the gaps that he couldn't.

But PXG looked to have figured it out. Karasu received the ball, backpedalling to draw Otoya out of formation towards him. He passed at the very last second, nearly losing the ball, but managing to get it out in the end.

And from there, they exploited the gap Otoya had left perfectly. Into the space, Zantetsu sprinted. They passed the ball backwards to the blond midfielder.

The boy turned, cameras catching the name written on his jersey. Charles Chevalier... He grinned impishly, a little fang on one of his top teeth sticking out over his bottom lip. And then he passed.

A simple one, but a good one nonetheless. It travelled the entire distance of the field, landing right at Zantetsu's feet. He sprinted forwards, carrying it as far as possible.

Defenders rushed to meet him. He let them in close, then passed backwards. Karasu received, and without stopping the ball, passed a second time.

Charles was there again. Isagi frowned. How...? That's a perfect position. Does he also have metavision...? He glanced across the field, at Shidou. He was already sprinting for the goal, even though the ball was way behind him. No way...

Apparently, yes way. Charles whipped the ball across the field, a ridiculous high arching shot. Shidou was pressured from two sides by defenders, but the imp seemed all too confident in his pass. Isn't it too high? Too fast?

The ball reached Shidou. His eyes sharpened, and he leapt into the air. Arms warding off his marks, he somehow, in some insane way, took the shot. The goalkeeper was caught completely off guard - after all, what kind of madman would try and shoot from that position?

The ball went in.

Isagi and Hiori locked eyes.

"That pass was intentional." Hiori began. "Charles knew what Shidou wanted, and sent the ball purposefully that high."

Isagi nodded. "He's good. He worked well with Shidou, and I'm pretty sure he'll work well with Rin."

Kurona cocked his head. "What are you on about?"

"The reason why PXG can win with two completely different systems is because of that guy." Isagi pointed. "Charles Chevalier, one of the New Generation XI."

🥕🥕🥕

On the pitch itself, Karasu was struggling.

They'd scored a goal, perfect. But now, Barcha had the ball to start. And Y/N L/N didn't look like he was going to stop anytime soon.

He stood near Bachira in the centre of the pitch, his eyes completely blank. Just the sight of it sent a shiver down Karasu's spine - what had he done to himself to make him like that? They showed no emotion at all, just a flat, cold detachment he'd only seen before in a few people.

One of them was Kuroi Jigoku. The man that had taught them Y/N's weaknesses before the U-20 game. The others were all behind bars, in one of the prisons Karasu had visited for fun a few years back.

But there was something different about him. There was a purpose in his movements. He was working towards something Karasu couldn't understand. Not goals. Not winning the game. Y/N was playing for a different reason.

And on top of that, he'd evolved.

Karasu knew people. It was... a hobby of his. He liked biology, he liked psychology, he knew how the brain and the body worked. And he knew that improving a person's base reaction time was very, very difficult. It was largely a genetic thing, and training took crazy hours to even get the smallest improvement.

But others on his team had mentioned it. Y/N seemed to be able to react to their movements the same time as they did, or within an instant. Like he knew what they wanted to do, even before they did it. If they were to win this game, Karasu needed to analyse him. He needed to understand what Y/N was doing, and counter it.

The game restarted.

What new ability have you gained, Y/N L/N?

He was off like a rocket, as soon as Bachira had passed to him. Karasu motioned for his team to go back, running forwards himself to take a one on one against Y/N.

He isn't even looking at me... Karasu watched Y/N's face slowly as the boy slowed to a stop. They faced off against each other for a second, neither willing to make the first move. Karasu frowned. "Where are you looking?"

Y/N's eyes looked blank, and dazed as ever. But they were moving incredibly fast, looking Karasu up and down repeatedly but never resting on his face. The vast majority of soccer players would focus on their opponent's face - after all, it gave them insight into how the enemy wanted to play, and their emotions. But Y/N wasn't.

He didn't respond. Instead, Y/N shifted the ball onto his right foot, and burst into motion.

Karasu could've blinked and missed it. But he managed to catch a blur, a rush of motion past one side. He turned, trying to chase, but his reactions were a half second late. Y/N had coincidentally done the perfect thing, with Karasu's body not prepared to face him in that way.

Watching as Y/N blew down the field, Karasu thought furiously. He prayed that his teammates would be able to help, but as Bachira and Otoya both joined Y/N, there was no chance.

Y/N was passing. He wasn't just out reading PXG, he wasn't just running solo, he was passing to Bachira and Otoya as well. He was simply better, and he wanted everyone to know that. He wanted PXG to crumble in on themselves, argue and blame each other for their loss.

And it was only when Y/N shot, a blindingly fast ball blasted into the back of the goal, that Karasu realised what Y/N had been doing. He hadn't improved his reaction speed.

He'd brought out an entirely new type of vision.