17. Speedy Faux, History Lesson

(—ᴀ/ɴ: ꜰᴀᴜx ᴍᴇᴀɴꜱ ꜰᴀᴋᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴘʀᴏɴᴏᴜɴᴄᴇᴅ ᴀꜱ "ꜰᴏᴇ". ᴅᴏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ.)

'I wanna win, and make Y/n my teammate!'

Shortly after his inner monologue, Isagi walked up to the ball in the middle of the pitch, putting his foot directly on the side of it. He turned back to his teammates and passed immediately to Bachira.

"Hey, go be a dear and block bangs," Aryu demanded, his words directed toward a specific boy.

Y/n gave Aryu a scowl as if saying 'Don't tell me what to do, you cretin.'

Y/n opened his mouth to respond, but a certain bumblebee's wants and hunger for a battle over a soccer ball needed to be satiated. The brunette giddily made his way over to Y/n with the ball and started performing a rather fast series of scissors.

Y/n immediately, and intelligently, kept his distance and leaned to each side as he slowly moved backwards, careful to keep to the balls of his feet. He looked down, eyes focused keenly on Bachira's feet as he frowned.

Bachira slammed a foot on the ground and swiftly pulled off a quick outside turn around Y/n, humming quietly with wide eyes a cheeky grin as he successfully passed the scary speed demon with little effort.

"Whoops," Y/n sneered, "it appears I've let him slip through..."

Bachira burst forward with excitement, shouting happily as his feet pounded the grass. "I've leveled up since I first faced Blue Lock Man!"

Y/n stood in place, hands clasped behind his back and kicking the grass while whistling and humming one of his favorite songs.

Isagi grinned at Bachira. "Alright, Bachira!! Let's go!!"

Y/n hopped on either of his feet, glancing at Rin who seemed to be uncontrollably bored with the situation. Y/n couldn't blame him.

Isagi started to stare intensely at Bachira. 'Come on...pass to me!'

Bachira mumbled with a cheeky grin. "I know you want it, Yoichi..." He reeled his foot back and locked his ankle. "But it's actually going...to Nagi!!"

Nagi—face blank as ever—received the pass immediately. The snowy-haired individual looked bored, but he wasn't. Not even a little.  His eyes darted around, scouring for a certain blueberry-haired individual.

Once he was able to find Isagi, his eyes locked onto the boy.

'I know what you want,' Nagi thought, smiling on the inside, 'and I'm gonna give it to you. Show me that you're a striker. Show me how much of a monster you are.'

"Isagi," Nagi hummed, speaking softly as the name rolled off his tongue haphazardly.

Bachira, who had been off to the side to provide support, felt his body go stiff. He made a jagged shift and pivoted slightly to look back to where he had originally passed a not-so-interested player.

It sounded more like a gun. A muffled shot with a bullet just waiting to collide with someone or something.

Isagi had the ball, but if he didn't shoot now, they would never be able to bask in the glory of receiving the first goal of the game.

Bachira's eyes went wide and he felt himself stumbling out of the way. He turned his head back to Isagi.

"ISAGI," Bachira shouted, his voice breaking in the process as he tried to convey his fear. "YOU NEED TO SHOOT THE BALL. GET RID OF IT OR ELSE YOUR MOMENT IS GONE."

"He never had one to begin with," Y/n cooed, his face relaxed despite his body shooting forward at ridiculously high speeds.

Isagi's body shuddered and he reeled his foot back, locking his ankle. He could feel his body growing sweaty. His palms were growing clammy.

A few feet away came Y/n.

Isagi shot.

Y/n planted a foot around a meter before he reached Isagi, causing his body to halt suddenly and lean forward slightly. Once he steadied himself, he laughed.

"Oh, man! You should've seen yourself!" The short boy doubled over and held his stomach as tears pricked at his eyes. "Your fear almost made me rueful!! Oh boy...hah...damn!!"

Rin's face scrunched in annoyance. Aryu raised a brow.

"Enough," Rin demanded as soon as Y/n stopped laughing. "I have a good idea of the level you all are at."

Rin gripped Y/n by the back of the head, pulling his hair to make him stand upright.

"Ow, ow ow ow ow.." Y/n whispered. "I don't kink shame, but here? Now? The bedroom is a more fitting place to initiate such acts."

With Y/n's hair bunched up in his fist, Rin shook Y/n's head.

"Okay, okay, I'll shut up," Y/n scowled, teeth grit as he spoke.

"As I was saying," Rin continued, "you're all so mediocre I could die."

Rin shoved Y/n off to the side and went to go and get the ball.

Aryu immediately took this as a chance to touch the short youth under the guise of "fixing his hair".

Rin had settled himself in the middle of the pitch, waiting—rather impatiently—for Aryu and Y/n to get in their respective positions.

Rin stood right next to the ball, continuing his speech. "This isn't just a soccer pitch, it's a battlefield. And you just turned your back on a gun-toting soldier."

Y/n sighed and hunched over, tapping his foot. "You're actually so cringe I could die."

Rin paid no mind. "To me, losing a soccer game is equivalent to death within warfare. This isn't just a sport, it's life or death."

Y/n groaned and stretched. "Get ready guys this is going to be like two hours long. Emo boy over here is gonna give us a history lesson if he keeps talking. Next thing you know he's gonna start talking about how Hiroshima was bombed."

Rin scowled. "That's enough, pipsqueak."

Y/n paused. "Excuse me? Pipsqueak?"

Rin turned. "Yeah."

Bachira chuckled a little. "Are we gonna get going or no?"

Rin turned back to face the other team. "I've had enough of your lukewarm plays. You all settle for mediocrity, and it makes me sick. You can't possibly think you'll go down in soccer history with skills as elementary as that. I bet a middle-schooler would provide me more entertainment than any of you."

With his words finished, Rin's eyes grew half-lidded and he reeled his foot back, angling his body so that the arc of the ball would create the perfect parabola.

When his foot collided with the ball, it almost seemed like second-nature to that of Itoshi Rin. His move seemed so fluid like he was used to shooting a ball from the halfway point of the field.

The whistle blew, signaling that Rin had just scored a goal.

"I was expecting more of a challenge."