8. Feohtan

𝙁𝙚𝙤𝙝𝙩𝙖𝙣-

𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.

The artificial grass was nothing new to either team, yet the lush feel that mocked the authenticity of real blades was highly impressive. The grass was short and flimsy, crumbling and bending beneath the feet of twenty-two boys and a singular ball.

Four boys on each side stopped in the back, a few others stopped in the middle, and three stopped up front.

Team V had no real idea of how Team Z operated, but had an inkling of how they were about to start playing.

Team Z was aggressive...usually. Today they're choosing to lay low and engage in a friendly game of keep away. With knowing glances shot around the pitch, a familiar platinum blonde waved, earning a smile from his relative and a small wave in return.

While Team V was one to normally use the best players to their advantage, the ones with the lowest ranks stood firmly as midfielders, aiming to chase the ball down one at a time, taking turns so their Joker wouldn't wear himself out too fast. Reo and Nagi glanced at each other from either side of Y/n. Zantetsu pushed up his glasses and made eye contact with Reo.

When the whistle blew, the ball that was beside a specific ginger's cleats was sent back rather harshly to a blue-haired male, who stopped it with the inside of his left foot.

The game had officially started.

But what Team Z hadn't prepared for... was Y/n completely abandoning who he used to be. The short male stood still, complexion as perfect as ever, right hand on his hip as he shifted his weight to his left leg. His lips formed a perfectly thin line.

Isagi, the one in possession of the ball, was so distracted by trying to figure out why Y/n wouldn't budge that he forgot all about some charging midfielders. The inside midfielder went for a nasty slide tackle, and Isagi was lucky enough to avoid it.

"Guys," Naruhaya shouted, voice laced heavily with fear, "why won't he budge!?"

"That's what I'm sayin'!!" Igarashi cried out. "Amen!!"

The charges from the midfielders were relentless until a flash of purple stole it right from Isagi's feet.

It was mercilessly snatched.

Isagi froze. 'This wasn't how it was supposed to go...we were...but I...'

"You didn't pass, dumbass!!" an angry blonde interrupted Isagi's thoughts. "For this to actually work you have to keep passing the ball around!"

But Y/n was just...standing there. He hadn't moved a muscle from his original place as the striker, and just watched the ball, waiting for...something. His eyes blinked slowly as they showed complete disinterest for Team Z's tactic.

Wear him out? It was too easy to guess. To come up with a strategy to combat a star such as Y/n getting worn out by eleven players was too easy. He would just have to lay back a lot more and wait to be spoon fed his passes.

Y/n was almost upset that it was so easy to predict their solution to facing him and the rest of Team V. He grew bored and tired of their antics, yawning and fanning his mouth.

But when a high pass, just like Reo had instructed, curved seamlessly into the middle of Team Z's side of the pitch, that's when he sprung into action.

Thump.

The balls of his feet became the only thing that kept his balance after the first step using his heel. A shiver was sent down Team Z's spines. They heard that it was scary, but they never thought of it as something to make you freeze in place and feel like a mouse at the paws of a cat.

Just how much power were his legs able to produce?

Y/n sidestepped, just barely avoiding a dejected Igarashi. After landing on the foot farthest from the first opponent, he ripped up the artificial grass as he heard thumps hot on his trail. Without a second thought, he sped up as if Team Z's princess was nothing more than a hindrance to his mission.

Y/n could be easily seen, but not easily heard.

He was straight up nightmare fuel. A grim reaper of dreams and a presence that numbed the senses of everyone he faced.

Suddenly, Isagi remembered something, and it was as if time slowed. 'He doesn't think half the time... Exploit it...'

His brain broke down and rebuilt itself over and over again, attempting to read the speed demon as fast as he possibly could. A fake? A nutmeg? A heel flick or a pass? Maybe a shot from that distance? Can he even shoot from that far?

But he was a moment too late.

Y/n had reached the ball.

With his brain clouded and a monster as his pilot, his right foot trapped the ball and shoved it harshly in front of him as he darted to reach it. The ball was still in the air as he slapped it around in different directions until it bounced on the ground.

After hitting Bachira with a nasty nutmeg and feint, he quickly turned and shuffled to around the bee-looking boy, his back brushing swiftly against Bachira's elbow.

It's like a ghost had grazed his skin. It gave him goosebumps.

'What kind of speed is this!?' Bachira pondered with a smile. 'I want to catch up! He's on a totally different level!'

Bachira made a quick turn and sprinted giddily after Y/n, a giant smile shamelessly coating his features.

The moves Y/n produced were like magic, putting those who saw them in a trance from the sheer amount of speed and control they harbored. He juggled it as he ran, trapping it often and propelling it vertically and then horizontally as his cleats mercilessly beat and tore the grass with his eerily quiet steps.

But his eyes were cloudy, his mind completely oblivious to his surroundings yet reading it to ninety percent.

His legs moved like they were powered by gasoline.

And he didn't even break a sweat.

He plowed through relentlessly.

He shoved the ball to the right with the outside of his right foot, then stepped left and around a bewildered Imamura as he made his way straight toward Iemon.

With his right foot winding back and his ankle locking in place, his muscles tensed and plowed forward at such speeds that it might as well have broken a bone if a human were to touch it.

'Oh, an overshot,' Iemon sighed, but then quickly tensed. 'Wait, no, shit it's got an insane curve!'

It just barely brushed Iemon's middle finger. The only reason he could even manage to touch that disgustingly fast shot was because it was relatively close to him, but if his hand moved any closer, it'd surely shatter the bones it his fingers.

A shiver shot straight down Iemon's arm and it started to shake violently. His mouth fell agape and his eyes went wide.

The whole of Team Z looked at their goalie in horror.

Iemon only turned and grit his teeth, then spoke with a voice full of pure dread, "Whatever you do, keep that ball away from him... Even if it kills you."