After venting his frustration, Ryūma turned to the triplets and Yo Hiori.
"Let's all go for the steal! They're down a man right now. If we take the ball, this point is mine."
He finished speaking and burst forward first.
But to his surprise, four players from Team Z closed in, boxing him tight and even cutting off his vision for a moment.
"Out of my way!"
Ryūma forced his way through their surround with brute strength.
He rushed out, ready to intercept Haiichi Murakami—only to realize Haiichi wasn't even dribbling. He was charging ahead without the ball.
(Huh? Where's the ball? Damn it! Another blind spot trick!)
(They must've watched my match against Team W and figured out my peripheral vision isn't great. That's why they're using this to block my sight!)
Clicking his tongue, Ryūma spun and chased Shūhō Aoki. Sure enough, Haiichi had passed to Aoki on the right wing.
The triplets quickly closed in, brimming with confidence.
"Just wait, we'll shut you down together!"
But just as they were about to reach him, Aoki passed decisively to Haiichi, who was sprinting toward Team V's box.
"Way too obvious."
Rin Itoshi's cold voice cut in beside Haiichi. As Rin moved to intercept, three Team Z players suddenly surrounded him, blocking him from stealing the ball.
During tactics planning, Team Z had made it clear: Rin Itoshi had to be marked.
Since these guys weren't part of Rin's main reads, he'd ignored them—only to get caught off guard.
"Tch. Get lost, trash."
Rin's voice carried impatience as the ball moved away.
"Heh, Rin—this one's mine~"
Ryūma accelerated like lightning and cut off the pass meant for Haiichi!
But just as he tried to counter, Akemi Inoue appeared like an assassin, stealing the ball at his feet and passing instantly to Yukio Ishikari on the left, near the box.
"Heh heh! Just like I thought. When you drop your guard, blind spots eat you alive."
"Damn rat! You love lurking in the dark, don't you?"
Ryūma ignored Inoue after snarling and turned to chase Ishikari.
"Stop him, Hiori!"
Both Hiori and Ishikari tracked the ball dropping from above. But Hiori's height couldn't compare.
They jumped together—no surprise, Ishikari headed it first.
Then came a shock: Ishikari's header was met by Inoue again, who had rushed back and headed it on.
Ryūma pushed himself to chase, but after the pass, Inoue instantly turned and sprinted forward. That one step earlier gave him the jump. With his height advantage, the ball was cleared easily.
(Tch. So that's it… a high-ball strategy. That's their real play!)
As the ball headed to the center of Team V's backline, Rin read it early, sprinting and preparing to leap.
"Not happening! Been waiting for you!"
Haiichi jumped at the same time. The two collided mid-air!
Both lost balance and dropped quickly, but Haiichi still used his height to head the ball forward.
On the right wing, Aoki received it cleanly despite the triplets' pressure. His height gave him the edge.
As he gained control, two Team Z players blocked the triplets, leaving him space. He dribbled past the last one and charged into the box!
(This is our aerial tactic! But it's one-time use. Once Ryūma and Rin are ready, we'll never get through again.)
(But we only need one chance. This one will score!)
Aoki wound up for a shot.
"Tch—accelerate!"
Ryūma roared from the left and burst toward him.
Rin grunted and sprinted from midfield toward the box as well.
But to Ryūma, Aoki's shot motion looked strange—like he was waiting.
"Don't even think about it! Watch me take you out!!"
Suddenly, Putian Daiwa slid in from nowhere, shouting as he launched into a tackle!
Seeing both Aoki's odd motion and Daiwa's slide, Ryūma understood immediately and shouted:
"Don't! Daiwa!"
Too late. Aoki had paused instead of shooting, and Daiwa's slide took him out completely.
"Ah! It hurts!"
Aoki collapsed, clutching his leg, crying out in pain—real or fake, hard to tell.
A mechanical voice announced:
Beep! Dangerous sliding tackle in Team V's box! Penalty awarded!
"No way! He stopped shooting out of nowhere! I didn't mean to foul him! VAR, you blind?!"
"Come on, Daiwa. They set you up."
"They must've studied the W match and saw your sliding tackles are shaky. That's why they baited you."
Daiwa froze, then muttered in pain,
"Sorry, bro. I gave them a penalty. The point you and Rin worked so hard for… might get tied again."
"Partner, if this ends in a draw, yell at me, beat me if you want! It's all my fault!"
He looked at Ryūma with guilt, voice breaking, tears threatening.
"Tch! Enough. I'm not blaming you. Even if they score, don't you trust me to smash through their goal again?"
"Bro… if I were a girl, I'd marry you!"
"Can you shut up?! Don't disgust me."
Ryūma rolled his eyes so hard they nearly stuck, utterly fed up.
Daiwa scratched his head, chuckled, and walked toward the team. Bowing, he said,
"Sorry, everyone. My sloppy tackle caused trouble. I'll work harder to improve from now on!"
"Haha, Daiwa, you really do need practice. That slide nearly gave me a heart attack! Ryūma let you off this time, but next time…"
"Yeah, we triplets can tackle too, but sliding in the box like that is way too reckless. Be smarter next time."
Hiori and the triplets laughed and reassured him, followed by the others.
"Nothing to apologize for. What if I had blocked the shot?"
"Exactly. Everyone makes mistakes. Relax, we won't blame you."
No one on Team V blamed him. Even with the risk of being tied, no one looked tense.
Because the two core players looked exactly the same as always.
Ryūma smiled as he faced Team Z.
Rin stood calm, eyes locked on them.
Both were thinking the same thing.
(I want to…)
(Crush them now!!)
...
(35 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser