Chapter 121: The Savior's Clearance
The moment Kenyu Yukimiya touched the ball, Teppei Neru was on him like a shadow.
Neru had these tiny, bead-like eyes that made Yukimiya want to laugh. It was hard to take a defender seriously when he looked that ridiculous.
"Nice glasses. They actually look pretty sharp," Neru said, his eyes locked on the frames.
"Thanks, short stack. Don't blink," Yukimiya shot back.
In a heartbeat, Yukimiya ignited. He unleashed an explosive burst of acceleration, leaving a literal blur where he had been standing. He was past Neru in less than a second.
'He's gone,' Yukimiya thought, already looking toward the box.
"Going somewhere?"
Yukimiya's head snapped to the side. He was stunned. Neru wasn't behind him—he was running shoulder-to-shoulder, matching Yukimiya's top speed with terrifying ease.
"You're actually faster than you looked on tape," Neru remarked. His tone was impossible to read—was it a compliment or a jab?
Yukimiya had technically beaten him with that first move, but Neru wasn't a traditional, bulky defender. He was a speed specialist. He lived for the chase.
"No way… did Yukimiya just lose a one-on-one?" Isagi muttered, watching the battle from the center.
Yukimiya wasn't about to roll over. The two of them engaged in a high-speed duel along the touchline, a frantic scrap for positioning that ended with Neru sliding in and poking the ball loose.
The second ball was up for grabs.
Itoshi Rin didn't hesitate. He charged toward the loose ball, his mind already calculating the next move. 'Breaking through might be a hassle. I'll settle for a clean trap and a turn toward the goal.'
Rin killed the ball's momentum, but before he could pivot, Kazuma Niou was barreling into his space.
"Shut down! Exterminate!" Niou roared. "I'm not letting you move an inch, Blue Lock's Number Two!"
Niou threw his entire weight into a shoulder charge the second Rin secured the ball.
"Tch…"
A vein popped on Rin's forehead. He was beyond annoyed. 'Number Two? Who the hell does this gorilla think he's talking to?'
If Rin let a meathead like this stop him, he didn't deserve to be on the pitch. As Niou's massive frame collided with him, Rin didn't try to stand his ground and trade blows. Instead, he performed a micro-hop, lifting his feet off the turf just enough to let his body go slightly weightless. He used the momentum of Niou's own charge to drift forward two steps, absorbing the impact like a high-end shock absorber.
He landed perfectly, the ball still glued to his foot.
"Unbelievable! Itoshi Rin just shrugged off a direct hit from Kazuma Niou!" Atsuto Tereasa shouted.
From the announcer's booth, it looked like Rin had simply overpowered a giant.
"He didn't overpower him. He redirected the energy," Harutaro Natsuki corrected, leaning forward. "In the pro leagues, you'll see top-tier strikers hop right before impact. By being airborne, your center of gravity can't be easily toppled. It's a sophisticated piece of postural control."
"Wow, Natsuki-san. That's a deep dive into the mechanics."
"It's a basic survival skill for a world-class striker," Natsuki said, sounding impressed despite himself.
Back on the pitch, Rin reset his center, ready to tear into the box. But out of nowhere, a foot lunged into his vision, cleanly hooking the ball away.
Oliver Aiku. He had been lurking, waiting for the exact moment Rin's focus shifted to his footwork.
"Good boy, Niou. You did your job," Aiku said with a smirk.
Rin's eyes widened. He hadn't even sensed Aiku's approach. 'When did he get that close?'
Aiku didn't waste a second. He turned and began driving the ball up the pitch himself. The stadium exploded with the sound of his name.
"BEAUTIFUL, AIKU!"
"First he locks down the box, then he takes the ball himself! That's our captain!"
"The U-20's Iron Wall is proving to be impenetrable!"
Tereasa's voice was reaching a fever pitch. Rin cursed under his breath and began a desperate sprint back to cover the hole in the defense.
While in full stride, Aiku cocked his leg back and unleashed a monster of a long ball. It was a 50-yard precision strike that bypassed the entire midfield, dropping right onto the laces of Itoshi Sae.
"Tch…"
Rin's frustration was reaching its boiling point.
Ryosuke Kira saw the danger immediately. In the blink of an eye, the momentum had flipped. The ball had gone from the U-20's defensive line to their most dangerous weapon in a single pass.
The counter-attack was on.
"Look at this! The ball is with Itoshi Sae!" Tereasa screamed.
"ITOSHI SAE!"
"SAE!"
"GO FOR IT!"
The crowd's roar was deafening. Hyoma Chigiri sprinted to meet him.
"Don't think we didn't plan for your counters!" Chigiri shouted.
Ego's instructions for Chigiri and Bachira were clear: they had to balance each other. Since Bachira had pushed up for the previous attack, Chigiri had stayed deep to anchor the defense. The "Red Panther" was determined to use his legendary speed to put the brakes on Sae.
Sae didn't even acknowledge Chigiri's existence. He didn't slow down, didn't feint—he just whipped a pass around Chigiri the moment the redhead got close.
Chigiri froze. The speed of Sae's decision-making was inhuman. He had found the passing lane before Chigiri could even set his feet. It was a 50-meter, low-altitude laser of a pass.
On the U-20's left wing, Kento Chou—a mountain of a man with bodybuilder muscles—trapped the ball, looking slightly stressed. "Man, Sae's passes are always so hard to handle. Glad I didn't mess that up."
The moment Chou secured the ball, Jyubei Aryu was in his face.
"Let's see what those glamorous muscles can actually do, powerhouse," Aryu said, striking a defensive pose.
Chou looked at Aryu's lanky frame and winced. "No thanks. Here, Kitsunezato, you take it!"
He didn't even try to dribble, instead shoveling the ball like a hot potato to his teammate, Teru Kitsunezato, who was cutting into the middle.
"Keep the tempo up. That's the rule of the counter," Kitsunezato muttered. He was another U-20 winger who had drifted inside to exploit the space.
"Hey, hey, hey. I knew exactly where you'd be, little man," Tabito Karasu said, his eyes glinting as he stepped into Kitsunezato's path.
Karasu was perfectly positioned to snuff out the play. But Kitsunezato just gave him a wicked grin.
"We knew you'd be there too."
He didn't try to beat Karasu. He flicked the ball backward into the path of a trailing runner. It was Sae again.
"Crap! Sae's unmarked!"
Karasu's calm facade crumbled. "Don't let him shoot, Niko!"
"On it!"
Ikki Niko wasn't the fastest player, but his positioning was elite. He threw himself into Sae's shooting lane instantly. His goal wasn't even to steal the ball; he just needed to buy one second.
One second for the Red Panther to recover.
Chigiri appeared at Sae's side like a lightning bolt, his foot reaching in to poke the ball away.
"Nice, Niko! Perfect delay!"
"Got him!" Niko shouted as they closed the trap.
Sae didn't panic. With both defenders bearing down on him, he used his left foot to softly chip the ball into the air.
'Wait… why so soft?' Niko's heart sank.
Chigiri's eyes widened. Sae had threaded a needle, lofting the ball through the tiny gap between them and perfectly into the path of Shuto Sendo.
'How many moves ahead is he seeing?' Chigiri thought. 'Gagamaru!!!'
Sendo killed the ball, set his feet, and let fly with a powerful strike.
Sae watched the shot and just shook his head, looking unimpressed.
Gin Gagamaru, acting on pure instinct, dived to his right. He threw out his hand and felt the sting of the ball as he parried it away from the goal.
The shot was stopped!
"Unbelievable! A miracle save from the Blue Lock keeper! But the ball is still live!" Tereasa's voice was a frantic staccato. "The box is a complete mess! Who's going to get there first?"
"It's Sae! The ball is landing right at his feet!"
"It's like the ball is attracted to him! Is he going to cross? No, Sae is going for the finish!"
"My god, it's a chip shot! The keeper is out of position, he can't get back in time!"
"The first goal is coming… it's—"
Tereasa's voice cut off abruptly.
A blue jersey launched itself into the air in front of the goal line. The hang-time was unnatural.
It was Ryosuke Kira.
Kira met the ball at the apex of its arc, snapping his head forward to drive the ball out for a corner.
A goal-saving header.
Sae's eyes finally showed a flicker of genuine emotion—a cold, calculating curiosity.
"I don't believe it! The clearance comes from Blue Lock's Number 10, their captain, Kira!"
"He's a striker! Did he really sprint the entire length of the pitch to save that?"
"That shouldn't be possible. That's absolute insanity!"
The stadium fell into a stunned silence for a heartbeat. Then, it started.
A single person clapped. Then another. Within seconds, a thunderous wave of applause swept through the sixty thousand people in attendance.
Kira had just announced himself to the world. And the world was finally paying attention.
-------
-------
HAND OVER ALL OF YOUR POWER STOOONEEESS!!