Chapter 33: The Top Scorer? Nothing Special.
While in his state of Total Concentration Breathing, Ryosuke Kira's focus and perceptive ability were heightened to an extraordinary degree. Every detail on the field—every shift in weight, every twitch of muscle, every micro-movement in his opponent's rhythm—became clear to him as though magnified.
In that precise instant, he noticed the subtle change in Hibiki Ōkawa's center of gravity.
The step-over was, at its core, a battle of psychology—a tug of war between attacker and defender. And in that battle, Ōkawa had already revealed his impatience. His composure was slipping.
He knew he didn't have the luxury of dragging things out against Kira. If he wasted even a moment longer, the rest of Team Z's defense would converge, and his entire attack would collapse. Failing here was unacceptable. He could not allow his team's strategy to die in his hands.
Ōkawa switched his footwork, ready to break past Kira in that decisive heartbeat—
But Kira had already reacted.
The instant an attacker changes rhythm… that instant is the opening.
Thunderclap and Flash!
With an explosive burst of speed, Kira shot his foot out and intercepted the ball at the exact moment Ōkawa attempted to accelerate. The ball was cleanly stolen away.
Thunderclap and Flash could be used not only for shooting and attacking, but also for explosive defensive bursts. The sudden acceleration and abrupt shift in tempo were devastatingly effective against an opponent mid-dribble.
"Impossible?!"
Ōkawa froze, eyes wide as if lightning had struck him. He had never imagined that his proudest dribbling technique—his most polished step-over—would be read so easily and broken so cleanly.
The rest of Team Y was just as stunned. Even Ikki Niko could only stare in disbelief.
"Ryosuke Kira actually cut off Ōkawa?"
Ōkawa's one-on-one prowess was acknowledged by every member of Team Y. None of them could stop him alone. He was their sharpest blade, their sole offensive hope.
Yet Kira, on his very first direct confrontation with him, didn't merely interfere—he outright stole the ball.
"Beautiful steal, Kira!"
Kuon shouted excitedly. Had he been the one facing Ōkawa, he certainly would have been fooled by that fake and left behind.
…
"Did Ōkawa seriously just get dispossessed by Kira?! But Ōkawa's a well-known talent!"
Anri Teieri exclaimed inside the monitoring room.
"And Kira—he's a striker, right? He doesn't even have any defensive background, yet he managed to completely shut down someone like Ōkawa in a pure 1v1… that's unbelievable."
"He has extraordinary judgment. He read Ōkawa's fake cleanly."
Even Jinpachi Ego let out a rare note of admiration while watching the replay.
He almost never praised individual players. But in this moment, even he couldn't help himself.
Ōkawa's step-over wasn't amateurish—it was high-level, tight, controlled. Any ordinary defender would have had their balance drawn out instantly. Yet Kira saw through the feint, caught the moment the rhythm shifted, and executed the perfect interception.
Moreover, Kira used his top-end speed defensively, allowing him to close distance in the blink of an eye. The sudden burst of acceleration threw off Ōkawa's estimation of the spacing, leaving him no time to shield the ball.
At the start of the match, Ego didn't understand why Kira had placed himself on the backline.
Now, he finally realized the truth.
Kira's potential wasn't limited to the position of striker.
…
"You said you'd get past me?"
The two brushed shoulders as they moved in opposite directions. Ōkawa's expression was still frozen with disbelief, his entire being stunned into immobility. In his ears echoed only Kira's calm voice:
"Sorry, but that's absolutely impossible. As long as I'm guarding this half, you will never break through me."
Kira struck the ball with a forceful long pass, sending it soaring toward the front field like a guided missile streaking across the sky.
"Quick—defend!"
The sudden loss of possession sent Team Y into chaos. They hadn't expected Ōkawa to lose a 1v1 so decisively—but there was no time to dwell on it. They needed to retreat, tighten their formation, and ensure Team Z could not counterattack.
"Did he hit that too far?"
Niko surveyed the field carefully. Though Kira's interception had been flawless, this long pass looked overhit. None of Team Z's players were near the landing point.
Until—he saw something red moving like a streak of lightning across his peripheral vision.
"That—?!"
Under his fringe, Niko's eyes widened, disbelief etched into his face.
That crimson silhouette was Chigiri Hyōma.
The player who had been practically invisible in the previous match was now sprinting at a speed beyond the reach of ordinary athletes—far beyond what anyone expected.
"What kind of speed is that?! Besides Kira, Team Z has someone else that fast?!"
Niko cried out, then desperately sprinted toward the landing point as well.
Though he was closer, his inferior physical ability and the hesitation caused by his earlier misreading of Kira's intention cost him precious moments. He didn't accelerate in time—
And Chigiri reached the ball first.
Even though Team Y collapsed their defense quickly, Chigiri's blistering pace had already carved through their ranks.
"Great pass, Kira!"
Chigiri shouted, his voice alight with renewed passion.
He had once resigned himself to abandoning football. But ever since entering Blue Lock—and ever since seeing Kira's back on the field—that faint spark in his heart began to burn again.
As he saw the arc of Kira's long pass, his body moved instinctively. He sprinted at full speed toward the exact point where the ball would drop.
It was the one place he could reach with his maximum acceleration.
And the only player capable of sending such an impossibly precise long ball… was Kira.
Chigiri had only one thought burning inside him:
I absolutely cannot waste the chance Kira created.
He struck.
He scored.
1–0.
"Princess, that was beautiful!"
"You were that fast all along?!"
"That was insane!"
His teammates rushed around him in excitement, forming a small crowd. But Chigiri headed straight to the back, raising his hand to high-five Kira first.
Kira's interception had created everything.
He was the only one on the team who could single-handedly stop Ōkawa.
"That was Ōkawa, you know. I could never stop him… his step-overs were too clean."
"You kidding? In front of Kira, Ōkawa's nothing."
"If Kira hadn't been there, Team Y would've scored first for sure."
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〔TL〕
Is my boi Isagi being sidelined? TT_TT
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〔TL〕
Every 100 powerstones = 2 bonus ch.
Every 2 review after 100 ps = 1 bonus ch.