Chapter 13: One Against Eighteen
Inside Team Z's dormitory, when everyone learned that Naruhaya Asahi had fallen into amnesia due to an accident, they all couldn't help widening their eyes as if a rare giant panda had suddenly appeared before them.
Their gazes fell directly on Naruhaya Asahi—undisguised, filled with surprise, curiosity, and faint concern.
Even with Naruhaya Asahi's strong mental fortitude, being stared at by so many pairs of intense eyes made it nearly impossible to ignore them.
Finally, he put down his lit phone with a helpless sigh, raised his head, met everyone's gaze, and spoke bluntly:
"Go on. What do you want to ask?"
Everyone looked at each other, silent for a long time.
The one who eventually broke the silence was Kunigami Rensuke, the person with the strongest sense of justice among them.
With a face full of concern, he asked,
"Is your head okay? You really don't need to see a doctor?"
Naruhaya Asahi shook his head slightly and replied firmly:
"No. I dislike strangers touching and examining my body— even official personnel. Once this Blue Lock project ends completely, I'll earn money myself and go to a major hospital. I'll have an experienced department chief diagnose my condition."
Hearing that their amnesiac teammate already had such a clear plan for future treatment, Kunigami relaxed a little and nodded.
Next to speak was Isagi Yoichi, who always felt more approachable than the others. Sitting beside Naruhaya Asahi on the soft bedding, he asked:
"I heard you used to be a football player. Can you tell me—after losing your memory, how do you usually train your body?"
Rare.
Hearing the question, Naruhaya Asahi felt surprised—but also quietly pleased.
These guys finally realize how weak they are—and that they need to train their skills and weapons.
Looking kindly at Isagi, he shared openly:
"My training method is mainly watching highlight videos of my idol—Mr. Arthas—playing soccer. By repeatedly watching those recordings, I can deeply study and absorb his superb technique. Then I naturally go to the practice field and imitate those skills."
"Besides that… I sometimes go online to watch training courses posted by professional coaches. I focus on strengthening whatever weaknesses I currently have…"
And as Naruhaya Asahi passionately described his training plan, everyone present could clearly see his near-fanatical admiration for Mr. Arthas.
Perhaps it was because he stumbled upon Arthas's brilliant performance on the field by accident.
Even after losing his memory, Naruhaya Asahi never became estranged from football.
From the previous match, it was obvious his skills were still immature and rough.
For example—during dribbling—he mostly relied on his exceptional speed and the muscle-memory dribbling he had somehow retained to forcefully break through defenders.
But judging from the match against Team Y, his skills were improving at a multiplicative rate.
No—"recovering" was the more accurate word.
Sitting on his other side, Chigiri Hyoma could sense that Naruhaya Asahi didn't feel much connection to Team Z.
Perhaps it was because their skill gap was too big.
Perhaps it was because of his amnesia.
Having experienced injury himself, Chigiri understood better than anyone what it felt like to nearly say farewell to a football career.
So after Naruhaya explained his training plan, Chigiri asked:
"Aren't you afraid? Losing most of your memories like that."
Naruhaya Asahi shook his head:
"No. On the contrary—it feels… relaxing. Like something that had been accumulating forever finally got wiped clean."
Chigiri could sense that he really was relaxed—like he had finally shaken off a heavy burden.
Knowing this wasn't something that tormented him, the red-haired beauty actually smiled.
Beside them, Kuon Wataru handed Naruhaya a bottle of energy drink to help with his thirst.
After seeing his team's ace finish drinking, he asked about the next match.
"Our next opponent is Team W. Naruhaya, do you have a plan?"
"Yeah. You guys choose a random goalkeeper. The rest can team up with Team W to try and steal the ball from me."
Naruhaya said this casually after finishing his drink, and just as he was about to pick up his phone again, a big hand slammed down on his arm.
He looked at the owner of the hand without changing expression.
Raichi was furious.
Naruhaya Asahi had no idea why.
That clueless expression—why are you angry?—only made Raichi angrier.
He grabbed Naruhaya's collar and shouted:
"HEY! Do you even know what you just said?! We're on the same team! How the hell can we work with the enemy to fight YOU?!"
"Because you're too weak."
The moment he spoke, the "King of the Field" executed a textbook grappling move—prying Raichi's arms off and pinning him to the bed.
The change happened too suddenly.
Raichi didn't even have time to react before his face was smashed into the mattress.
When he tried to struggle, he discovered that Naruhaya was pressing his weak point—his knee—from above, locking down every part of his body:
"Naruhaya!"
"I'm listening. And like I said—you're too weak."
Even with a height under 170cm, Naruhaya Asahi easily pinned 182cm Raichi to the bed.
A baby-faced, muscle-less shorty overpowering a bulky delinquent.
The massive size difference only made Naruhaya's close-combat strength more terrifying.
This immediately reminded Bachira and Isagi of the punch he once slammed into their stomachs.
Both instinctively held their bellies with trauma.
Seeing things turning bad, Kuon was about to call Iemon to pull Naruhaya off when a chilling statement froze him:
"Think carefully about what the administrator said earlier—each building produces three top scorers. Five buildings mean fifteen top scorers total. If you have a brain, think about how those fifteen will survive in Blue Lock."
"And don't give me that stupid 'they'll form a team' answer."
Anyone with a functioning mind began trembling.
Even the monk—ranking dead last—started chanting:
"Namu Amida Butsu… please tell me this isn't real…"
"We… Team Z… are going to be split up? Is that what you mean?"
Imamura murmured slowly.
The room fell silent—because yes, that was exactly what it meant.
Raichi finally calmed down.
Seeing he was no longer impulsive, Naruhaya released him and sat back in his seat.
"That's right. This is only the first selection round. With two wins so far, all of us surviving is guaranteed. But in the second selection, we'll definitely be separated."
"So while the opponents are weak—every one of you should try fighting me."
"Ego said Blue Lock exists so we can defeat the other 299 players. So you shouldn't hesitate."
His serious tone made everyone fully realize Blue Lock's true nature.
A teammate you relied on—was originally someone you must defeat in the future.
If Naruhaya once made them feel secure—
Now they felt despair.
Sensing the atmosphere collapsing, Kuon quickly tried to talk sense into him:
"Football is an eleven-man sport, Naruhaya. If we and Team W all target you, that's nineteen attackers coming for you on the pitch."
As someone who had played in school tournaments, Kuon deeply understood the importance of teamwork.
'Senior Kuon, we can't keep up with you.'
'You're too fired up.'
'Dreaming about nationals… Japan rep team… Only you believe that kind of stuff.'
Back then, no matter how hard I tried, I...
Then—
"Football is an eleven-man sport—BUT only when both sides are of equal strength."
Naruhaya's sudden statement cut through Kuon's bitter memories like a blade.
Kuon's perpetually squinted eyes widened—face flushing red with anger.
He opened his mouth to roar back—
—but then froze.
A chilling fear shot up his spine.
He stared into Naruhaya's eyes and saw—
a starving young beast slowly approaching him.
Though the boy was short and baby-faced, the aura of a natural predator radiated from him.
His eyes—aggressive, invasive—were brimming with the will to trample everything beneath him.
Kuon staggered backward, trembling.
Equal strength? No. No.
The gap had always been monstrous.
Everyone realized it.
Isagi stared at the caramel-haired boy and felt crushing despair.
Dribbling, speed, passing—every aspect was beyond them.
And he was the youngest—the one with the greatest growth potential.
And worst of all—
He was still amnesiac.
If he regained his memories—regained his true foo sense—
what kind of monster would he become?
The bloody truth suffocated Isagi.
Everyone else tried to speak—but swallowed their words.
To Naruhaya Asahi, they were probably like kindergarteners kicking a ball—
children with minor talent but no physicality.
Even if nineteen children tried to steal the ball from a pro player, they still couldn't.
The scales of victory were tilted from the start.
Bachira stood up, licking his lips playfully, yellow eyes full of hunger:
"Hehe~ Sounds perfect. Naruhaya, let's go with your plan. I've been wanting to play against you."
"Bachira…" Isagi stared blankly.
Beside him, Kunigami added:
"Fine. Let's fight fair and square. Let's see who's strongest."
Enraged by Naruhaya's words, Kuon pushed back his hair:
"Count me in! As a senior, I'm not backing down after being insulted like that!"
With Bachira, Kunigami, and Kuon stepping forward, everyone else gathered their courage.
In the last match, all had scored—proof they weren't weak.
Nine members of Team Z together couldn't possibly lose to one small tyrant… right?
When it came to Igarashi, the lowest-ranked monk, he said timidly:
"I'll try my best too…"
Naruhaya, who looked predatory moments ago, froze—staring blankly at him.
It was rare to see him look confused.
After a moment, he replied:
"You don't need to try in the next match."
"Huh?"
The monk blinked, confused.
"Bench."
CRACK.
That was the sound of Igarashi's heart breaking.
He remembered—Naruhaya had already taken his jersey after the last match.
Meaning he wasn't a striker, wasn't a keeper—
He was just… a spectator.
And worst of all—
the match against Team W was likely the only chance to challenge the tyrant.
Because Team V was also undefeated—
and once they faced V, Naruhaya definitely wouldn't allow such "freedom" again.
But fine. Team Z had eight players.
Team W had the Wanima brothers.
They had eighteen attackers in total to steal the ball from one tyrant.
Surely… surely…
…
"H–hey… that's impossible… right…?"
Shirtless, sitting on the ground at the edge of the field, the monk stared blankly at the scoreboard.
The seventh match in Building 5—Team W vs Team Z—had ended.
[0 : 7]
Team Z won with overwhelming dominance.
And that match made everyone understand their place.
The little tyrant—Naruhaya Asahi—
his strength was on a completely different level.
All 7 points…
were his.
Team Z and Team W combined—
18 attackers failed to stop him.
Because of this, not only did Team W stare at him in despair—
Team Z's eight members were the same.
Now, on the vast field, the only ones still standing were Naruhaya Asahi—
and Raichi, barely.
Raichi was gasping, drenched in sweat.
Naruhaya—the caramel-haired tyrant—looked coldly at the exhausted bodies collapsed across the turf.
Eyes narrowing, disappointed, suppressing nausea, he turned to leave this boring field.
But then—
A furious scream rang out.
"THAT DAMN GENIUS! WHY IS THE WORLD SO UNFAIR?!"
Naruhaya stopped instantly.
Slowly, he turned back—
His amber eyes reflected the terrified, twisted face of Wanima Keisuke, the younger brother.