3.9. Best Coach (Part 2)

Chigiri was on fire.

Not literally, of course. But he could feel the adrenaline hurtling through every single vein and artery, his body feeling light as air. Energy throbbed throughout every muscle, and even as he sprinted around, he didn't feel the slightest bit of fatigue.

Even though they'd lost a goal to Kaiser, it didn't matter. What mattered was that they had the kick-off, meaning Chigiri could go on the offensive. As the two teams lined up, he hopped from foot to foot, keeping both legs warm and ready to go.

The ball started with Agi. He passed to Reo, motioning for Manshine City to move up on all sides. Chigiri began moving slowly down the wing of the field, one of the enemy midfielders sticking close to him. From the side, he could see both teams spread out in front of him. Bastard Munchen were clearly divided, not playing in a cohesive manner. Manshine was the opposite.

Probably worried about Reo going on another run, the majority of the attention was on the centre of the field. Manshine played on that, piling more people into the middle, trading short, fast passes between their players. Reo. Agi. Reo. Agi. Back to Reo. Nagi. Back to Agi. They kept up a furious pace, passing back and forth but not really going anywhere with it.

Though, as they played, more and more of the Bastard Munchen players were being drawn in, trying to cut off their passing lines and disrupt their formation. The sides of the field were being watched less and less.

Eventually, Reo made a move. He took the ball from Agi, and without looking, passed across to Chigiri on the flank.

His eyes widened. His heart thumped. Chigiri shot forwards, legs pushing him as fast as possible down the wing to receive the ball. He didn't need to trap the ball properly, just tapping it forwards so he could keep his momentum going. This was his element. Nobody was going to outrun him, especially not on the wing.

"Careful of a pass!" There were two Bastard defenders in front of him. One of them, part of the original team, flung his hand out wide. "Mark that purple haired kid!"

Chigiri held back a laugh. Who does he think I am? Pass? Since he'd joined Manshine, he'd been working specifically not to pass. He'd trained for hours on end, training his body so he would never need to pass again, if he didn't want to. So he could simply do what he loved most. Run past everyone.

The other defender, Kurona, shook his head. "He's not going to pass."

The two of them faced off, Kurona behind the foreign man. Chigiri didn't even bother looking at possible passing options. He just sped up, revelling in the feeling as he barrelled towards them. Fifteen metres... ten metres... five....

The first defender, he booted the ball right past him. As the man turned around to chase it, Chigiri just sped up, catching the ball. He'd effectively passed to himself - something that he'd watched Loki and Y/N often do with their sheer speed. Head on a swivel, he locked onto the goal. I just need to get to that spot...

Prince had shown it to him. A 'golden zone', where he would be able to score from pretty much every single time. He'd had no idea about it before, but in training he'd found it trivially easy to score goals from that position. Why? Prince had said something vague about it being muscle memory, from shooting from similar locations in the past.

He could score if he got there. The only difficult part was, yeah, getting there.

Kurona attempted a slide tackle. Chigiri paused. Then he kicked the ball forwards even fast, just out of range of Kurona's legs. He sped up yet again, catching the ball just before Isagi could intercept.

As soon as they locked eyes, both Isagi and Chigiri knew what the other wanted. Chigiri wanted his goal. Isagi wanted to delay, buy time for his teammates to help steal the ball away. "I won't let you do what you want."

"Yeah?" Chigiri raised an eyebrow. "Just try to stop me."

He burst into motion. Isagi was predicting he'd go inside, towards the centre of the field - he could see it in the boy's body, the way his shoulders faced. He had no idea about the golden zone Chigiri was aiming for, and he was going to take full advantage of that. So instead of going towards the middle, he started heading away from the centre, more towards the sideline.

Another defender had arrived, blocking off Chigiri in front. Isagi was chasing him from the side. So, instead of moving, Chigiri just stopped, resting one foot on the ball. He stood there, seemingly lost. His teammates noticed, pushing upwards to try and give him passing options. Isagi and his teammate noticed too, both of them lunging forwards at the same time.

That was all he needed. As they both moved, a gap opened up in between them. He cut right through that gap, tapping the ball through Isagi's legs as he turned and scooping it up again on the other side. More and more defenders were incoming. Kunigami put himself right in Chigiri's path, and the defenders he'd already passed were circling back around to try and stop him again.

He ran in a zig-zag, physically forcing his way between the players. His entire body was alight, feet a blur as he moved left, moved right, dancing between the defenders with incredible speed.

Then finally, he reached the zone. A small area, around 44 degrees from the near post. Both eyes raised, focused on the top corner of the goal. No need for a powerful shot... just a controlled one.

He shot. The ball lifted, arcing through the air. The defenders could do nothing but watch, pray as Gagamaru leapt towards the corner of the goal. But even he couldn't stop it as it slammed right into the back of the net.

"Chigiri Hyoma scores the first goal for Manshine City! The score is now 1-1!"

🥕🥕🥕

"Woop woop!" Chris Prince leapt from his chair. He threw his arms out, demanding attention from both the cameras and the players alike. "This game has got me fired up! Whoa!"

Y/N glanced over to him hopefully, as the man walked out onto the pitch. Does this mean...? Prince read his mind, glancing back and holding a hand out to make him stay. I'm going on when Noa goes on. But he doesn't look like he will...

Prince might've noticed that, because he ramped up the arrogance even more. One of the Japanese U-20 players cheered. "Are you going to mentor the team? Help them score two more goals?!"

"Huh?" Scratching his head, Prince paused. "Why would I do that? No, I'm doing something much more fun."

Sarcastically, Y/N spoke in a doting, reverent tone. "Oh, pray tell us, incredibly modest master." He already knew what Prince was going to say, a grin already forming.

In one swift motion, as he headed out onto the pitch, Prince grabbed the hem of his shirt. In front of absolutely everybody, and on live broadcast to millions worldwide, he stripped off his shirt. Y/N burst out laughing as Prince flexed, assuming three different poses to show off his muscles. "I'm gonna score two goals, and win the game myself!"

Y/N's laughing grew even louder as from above, a calm digital voice rang out from the speakers. "Chris Prince gets a yellow card for undressing on the field!"

Prince winked brazenly at the ceiling. "Yep, I know!" Y/N doubled over in his chair, trying to hold back tears as his face turned red.

The man began to speak with the Manshine players. "Let's go with a hyper offensive system. I'll go right up front, next to Agi. Reo, you're an offensive midfielder. Chigiri and Nagi take the flanks."

Y/N frowned. If Prince was up front, where would he be? A pang of worry hit him. But he pushed it aside, choosing to trust Prince as his laughs died out. He said he would put me on. I just need to believe.

"Remember, kiddos. Trust in your ideals, and feed me the ball! I want to score."

Then Noa rose from his chair. Y/N's heart skipped a beat as he watched the man slowly remove his jacket. Was he subbing on? Eyes flickering quickly between Prince and Noa, Y/N swallowed hard. His teeth unconsciously clenched. Noa walked onto the field.

"Ideals, ideals..." Noa sighed. "You say that, but in the end, all you want to do is show off, Chris. You fail as a coach."

Prince shook his head, dramatically exhaling. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr World's Number One. I haven't forgotten about last year's Player of the Year award, you know. It was so close... if you weren't there, I would've been first."

Raising an eyebrow, Noa's voice showed the tiniest bit of humour. "Did you say 'it was close'? When I got 882 votes to your 201?"

"Don't point that out!"

"Even though the gap between first and second was the largest it had ever been in history? It was close, yeah?"

"Don't point that out either!"

"Even though nobody remembers who came second place or below?"

"Second is still important! I remember! I was second!"

Prince sucked in a few deep breaths, calming himself. Noa just glanced over to his team. "Bastard Munchen. I'm not coming in as an offensive player, but as a defensive midfielder. I'm going to shut down this showboating narcissist."

"I'd like to see you try, Mr High and Mighty Number One." Prince gave him a devilish smile. "But unfortunately, you're not going to get a chance."

Noa narrowed his eyes. "Bold words."

"Oh, not at all." Prince laughed. "You're not actually going to get a chance, 'cause I'm not going to be attacking."

Y/N's heart rose into his throat. Prince looked over to him, nodding once. "Formation change, Manshine. As much as I hate to say it, I'm also going in as a defensive midfielder. Instead, Y/N over here will take the position at the front, with Agi."

He couldn't get out of his chair fast enough.