Murano didn't celebrate, he picked up the ball and quickly ran to the halfway line.
This action resumed play quickly.
Manshine's full press rapidly won the ball from Bastard Munchen straight from Kick off.
Murano passed the ball back to Reo, then strayed off wide instead of staying central.
---
Reo advanced with the ball, and Isagi stepped up to challenge him.
Reo used his body to block Isagi then turned around.
Murano was also already on the move.
He drifted toward Hiori's zone, dragging him from Reo, and thus opening a lane for Reo to exploit.
Hiori tracked him instinctively, stepping across to cover Murano's run, and in doing exactly that, left the exact space Reo needed to cut inside.
'There.'
Reo rushed into the space, shifting the ball onto his left foot, he executed [Barou's style chop] to bypass Kurona who rushed to the scene.
---
At this point in time four Bastard Munchen players still circled around Murano, watching his every move.
Reo cut past Birkenstock fending him off, which was possible due to improving his overall parameters.
Kurona rotated across to cover the gap, then Ness left Murano's side and was already sprinting to close the passing lane behind him, forcing Reo wide.
'They're not going to give this up easy,' Murano thought, watching from the side.
Reo slipped a pass to Nagi, who received it with a clean first touch.
---
Nagi held the ball under pressure from Yukimiya, shielding it until Yukimiya lunged and missed the ball, Nagi turned the ball back the opposite way.
Nagi sent a through pass to Reo, who was already making the run in behind.
Reo took it mid-run, then cut it back to Chigiri instead. A quick one-two pass, that sent Reo to burst past Grim on the overlap.
---
For the first time, it was only him and the goal keeper left.
And Murano also coming in from behind with Kunigami attached to him.
'This is it,' Reo thought, the whole sequence came down into a single decision.
He remembered the exact design of it. The same move Murano had used to beat Julien Loki to score the goal back in the World Five match.
Reo mirrored it, a drag-back to create a shooting angle, then an explosive strike aimed for the top corner.
Gagamaru didn't move until the very last second needed to dive.
Then he dived, comfortably saving the ball.
Gagamaru got up to his feet, tossing the ball back out with a shake of his head, not even looking at Reo directly.
"Cheap fucking knockoff," he called out. "But a knockoff's still a knockoff. Bring your own move next time, kid."
Reo's jaw tightened as he said, "Tsk. Read the fucking room, jungle boy."
Reo glanced once toward Murano, who was jogging back up the pitch.
'Fine. Maybe it was.'
Gagamaru was evidently having a good game.
---
Substitutions
Hajime Nishioka replaced Boey for Manshine.
On the German side, Raichi came on for Yukimiya, and Gurimu Igarashi replaced Kurona.
Igarashi hadn't started this match due to a yellow card and a warning from his previous game that had kept him benched despite otherwise elite physical numbers.
He survived the Wild Card but his real weapon wasn't his speed, shooting abilities, or technique.
It was malice.
Genius Killer Malice was the deliberate, perfectly legal art of drawing contact, exaggerating its intensity, and turning a player's own aggression into a foul against them.
In short, It was an invitation offered so convincingly that anyone who took it walked straight into a foul.
Nobody on Manshine's bench had looked out for that yet.
They were soon to learn.
---
Reset...
The whistle blew, and Manshine's press came immediately, Nishioka and Reo closed down the first pass before Bastard could even settle, cutting off every passing lane with support from the others.
Igarashi took the ball under pressure, and Nishioka lunged for it immediately.
'Careful,' Murano thought, already moving to support.
Igarashi let the ball drift a half-step further than it needed to.
Nishioka fell for it.
The instant his boot arrived, Igarashi rolled his ankle theatrically over the contact, falling to the ground.
The whistle screamed.
Foul - Manshine City.
Nishioka stared down at him, stunned. "I barely touched you!"
"Yellow card for, Number 12, Hajime Nishioka," It was announced.
Nishioka received a yellow card seconds from coming on to the game.
---
'So that's how it looks like in person,' Murano thought, watching Igarashi jump back to his feet as if he wasn't the one faking an injury.
---
Free kick taken quickly, Kaiser passing it sideways to Ness before Manshine could reorganize.
Ness advanced, and then found Kaiser in space.
In the meantime, Manshine's press wasn't as intense as it used to. As they were still feeling frustrated from the unfair call, which made them more cautious and thus played it more safely.
Kaiser received the ball with too much space.
But Murano was already closing the gap, reading the angle before Kaiser had even decided which way to go.
So he went for a one-two with Ness.
Murano got his foot in to cut the pass off before it could leave Kaiser's foot.
---
The ball flew loose near the center circle. Ness reached it first, but Chigiri arrived there faster, taking it away and dashing forward, Reo went wide to offer a support.
Igarashi tracked back immediately, positioning himself directly in Chigiri's driving lane.
He wasn't attempting to tackle, but to invite exactly the kind of contact that had just awarded Nishioka a card.
Chigiri slowed, then crossed the ball wide instead, refusing the bait entirely.
Avoiding to go through him meant that Igarashi was definitely a threat on the pitch, perhaps in the same caliber as Murano.
Reo received the cross and then charged at Menser, Nagi drifting into space just off his shoulder.
Menser backed off rather than commit.
'Igarashi's move doesn't only hurt us but his teammates too. Now, they have to make sure that they don't fall victim to such act. They were being careful now,' Murano thought.
Reo swished it back to Murano.
Four Bastard shirts reoriented toward him immediately, the same method from before.
But this time, Igarashi was one of them.