"LET'S GOOO!!!!!!!", Kunigami roared into the sky as his goal was confirmed on the big screen. "What was that, Kunigami?!! That shot was insane!!! You just pulled off a Knuckle Ball!!! That is some professional level stuff!!!!", I asked with a beaming excitement as we all rushed towards him, surrounding him with eyes of Joy. "How did you know you could pull that off?", I asked as we made our way back to our own Half. "I don't know. I guess I just focused more on what I usually did on Instinct and made a few little subconscious tweaks to gain maximum power and I just sent my foot through the ball and there we go. Goal.", he answered with a contemplating look. "Huh, well, I guess I was he was on to something, that Jim Beglin. He said, 'Sometimes it pays not to think too much and just put your foot through the ball and see what happens.'. I thought that was stupid because you could send the ball flying and lose your chance to score but I see his point now.", I said after we got to our own Half. Somewhere next to me, Isagi had heard that and froze. I could almost see the gears in his head turning at full speed. He was unresponsive for a minute and it took Raichi snapping him out of it with his loud voice before he could get his head back in the game.
Team V had the ball ready and placed it back on the Center Circle, ready to kick-off again. Kuon, standing before the ball, passed the ball back to Reo as the Whistle went off. Reo received the ball and passed back to a defender and moved up. The defender moved up and sent the ball high and hard towards our Goal. Gagamaru and Raichi had quickly rushed to converge on Kuon to stop his jump but he didn't jump which baffled the two of them. Instead, the ball came to Nagi who, as we had come to expect, brought it down expertly and started making his way towards our Goal. I was already chasing him down and in no time, I caught up to him, stopping in front of him. "And where do you think you're going, Genius? Try to get past me if you can.", I challenged him with a scathing glare. His eyes flashed with a challenging glint, matching mine, and he charged forward towards me with the ball at his feet. He made a few sloppy skill moves which I easily saw through, so I smirked and pretended to take his bait. Again, out of nowhere, Naruhaya had come in and stole the ball off him with a slide tackle which sent him stumbling to the ground. I took advantage of that and dashed on ahead to support Naruhaya. A few quick passes between Naruhaya, Isagi and Bachira and they were through the Midfield with Naruhaya taking my spot o the Left, Isagi down the middle and Bachira on his original position on the Right. I was behind Isagi in the middle while Kunigami and Gagamaru were on my left and right respectively as we countered again.
Naruhaya, using his small frame and incredible agility, weaved past players, moving behind them with movements that seemed so simple yet so effective. Almost no one saw him as he easily positioned himself in the player's blindspots.
"Whoa, Naruhaya's weapon is insane. He can position himself in people's blindspots and, taking advantage of that, he can steal the ball, pounce on loose balls and all that. An underrated weapon but highly useful too.", I contemplated out loud as I kept moving to join the attack, received a pass from Bachira and nutmegged one player, sped through two others and passed to Isagi who shifted left and right but couldn't shake off the final marker between him and the Goal. He suddenly twitched and sent a backheel pass to me and I fired a curving shot towards the top-right corner of Team V's goal. The Goalkeeper, unfortunately for me, got a fingertip to it and managed to push it against the post. The ball rebounded off the post and out for a Corner Kick.
We quickly moved into position to take the Corner Kick. I had already moved to pick up the ball and head towards the Corner Flag while the rest of Team Z moved into Team V's box, hoping to get a goal too.
In the 72nd minute, I was ready to take the Set Piece. I stayed still, watching everyone's movements in the Box. Isagi was at the near post, Gagamaru and Raichi were at the Penalty Spot Area and Igaguri and Naruhaya took position at the far post. Bachira and Chigiri were at the edge of the box. But with Team V, Nagi and Zantetsu were at the egdes of the Box while Reo and Kuon were in the box, ready to help out in clearing the ball out of the Box.
I raised my hand, signaling my readiness and stepped up to send the ball in. I moved in and sent an in-swinging ball towards the near post. Isagi rushed forwards and flicked the ball on with his head, into the air and behind him. The ball, flew over everyone's heads and Kuon who couldn't respond in time, was rooted to the spot, too late to jump. The ball floated in the air until a foot connected with it. A foot belonging to Gin Gagamaru. He had preemptively jumped and connected with the ball with an Overhead Kick, sending the ball into the bottom-right corner of the Net. He landed hard on his back and slowly scrambled up to his feet. I was close to the corner flag with my mouth hanging in shock, as did almost everyone on both teams.
The Whistle sounded to signal the goal and the big screen confirmed Gagamaru's goal as well as the scoreline.
Team Z 6 - 3 Team V.
Team V were stunned into utter silence while Team Z couldn't be in higher spirits. We loudly and cheerfully celebrated his Goal as we made our way back to our own Half. I moved up towards Isagi and spoke with him. "Yo, your Spatial Awareness is really something, you know that? Your movements are top tier but you just can't seem to finish off your chances. What's with that? Are you even trying to score?", I asked with concern. "Oh, Kaido. Its.....well, I don't know. I guess I'm still struggling to find my formula.", he replied with a crestfallen look. This brought a spark of realisation to me. "So you're still stuck on that, huh? I think I have an idea on that. Getting your own formula, that is." I offered an advice. "When I realised my own formula, it wasn't some super special skill that I just happened to learn out of nowhere. I just thought back to all my previous goals, what I did, how I did it, where I was, basically, I did what I usually did instinctively but I paid special attention to it while I was doing it. Think back to all your goals and look back on what you did to get them. Can you replicate them here?" I advised as I moved back to my position on the Left.
Isagi's mind was reeling with that revelation, moving at top speed, he visualised all his movements so far, his Goals, his passes, everything came rushing back to him with full force as his mind fought to piece the puzzle together. My words to Kunigami suddenly flashed into his mind, 'Sometimes it pays not to think too much about it and jus pit your foot through the ball and see what happens', that brought a spark of realisation into his mind, almost all his goals had been as a result of him just shooting without much thought. The idea had arrived and now it was all about getting the chance to put that idea into action.
73rd minute and Team V was ready to resume the game. This time, we knew the game was as good as done but we weren't taking them lightly. We knew the game wasn't over until the final Whistle so when they kicked off again to resume the game, we didn't rush them as we usually would, we instead sat in our own half, contented with letting them keep the ball but not giving them any chances to enter our Box. Every pass they made had a Team Z player close by but not committing to any challenges. Even Raichi was on board with it and cooperated seamlessly to preserve the status quo and protect our 3 goal lead.
We kept all of Team V's most dangerous players tightly marked, giving them no quarters to move in any threatening way. Nagi, I personally saw to it that no passes came anywhere near him. Zantetsu, I made Chigiri and Naruhaya switch poitions so that Chigiri would man-mark Zantetsu while Naruhaya, using his sneaky movements would pick off any passes that came towards Nagi. Kuon was marked constantly by Gagamaru while Raichi locked down Reo, not giving him a chance to even blink let alone sort himself out with the ball.
We kept Team V locked down until the 86th minute where Gagamaru had somehow beaten Kuon in the air as he jumped a fraction of a second before him. He got to the ball first from a high cross-field ball to Kuon and headed it to Isagi who was ready to counter. Isagi received the ball and started moving forward. In the moment when the ball met his leg, I left Nagi behind and dashed off at full speed down the Left, as did Chigiri who left Zantetsu behind and flew down the Right wing at full speed. As you'd expect, Zantetsu was hot on his heels. Kunigami had moved to support Isagi and Bachira was barely behind Chigiri whose great Speed had taken him ahead of Isagi and Kunigami in the middle.
Isagi and Kunigami played One-two's with each other and got past two Team V players. Seeing them swamped, he passed to me and I received the ball and stormed on ahead. I didn't make make it far before 3 Team V players swamped me so I had to pass back to Isagi and he immediately fired a long, forward pass to Chigiri who had been tangled with Zantetsu who had pushed past his limits and caught up to him. All Chigiri could do was stop the ball but that was enough as Bachira had made up the distance and recieved a hurried pass from Chigiri, leaving him and Zantetsu alone. The only ones who could continue the attack were Isagi and Kunigami in the middle and Bachira on the Right who was currently in possession.
Bachira danced past 2 more players and sent a cross into the Box for someone to connect with. I had made my way into the Box, alongside Kunigami and Chigiri and were ready to jump for it. What we didn't count on was Kuon who was already in the air and clearing the ball out of the Box where Isagi was running into position to shoot. As he made his way towards the bouncing ball, Nagi appeared beside him to defend. Isagi was one step ahead of Nagi who then quickly cut inside to come around his right side and block his shot. I knew Isagi couldn't pull off some insane first touch to take him away from Nagi. That sentiment was shared by all of us in the box as we shouted at Isagi to just play the ball into the Box again so we could score but Isagi, instead recalled what I had said back then, 'Sometimes, it pays not to think too much about it and just put your foot through the ball and see what happens'. This brought a sudden clarity into his rampaging thoughts as his final piece of his Formula clicked into place. This was his personal skill. The one skill that would bring him more goals. The skill that, coupled with his Spatial Awareness, would take him to the top. His DIRECT SHOT.
With a blazing fire in his eyes, he threw out every other thought and focused on the ball, the world slowed to a crawl, his mind sharpened beyond its limits, he could see everything. The Goalkeeper's position, Nagi right beside him, Bachira on the wings, Kunigami, Chigri and I in the box and everyone else running towards the box.
He strode forward, planted his left foot, raised his right into the air, balanced on his left foot, swung his hips and sent his right foot at the ball with all the power he could muster. His boot connected sweetly with the ball and a hard BOOM!! sounded out as the ball flew hard and fast into the top-right corner of the Net, out of the reach of the flailing Goalkeeper's hand and into the Net.
Isagi, the Striker, had finally arrived. His Formula was complete.
Team Z 7 - 3 Team V.
The scream of Joy that erupted from Isagi was monumental and I couldn't help but smile as I knew exactly what he was going through right now. The euphoria of finally completing your formula was incredible. He was well on his way to becoming the best Striker in the World.
A minute later, we settled down and made our way to our own half as Isagi was literally beaming with excitement. I walked up to him and swung an arm around his shoulder, "Congratulations, Isagi. You finally completed your Formula, huh? Well done.", I said with a happy smile. He returned the smile, "Thanks, Kaido. Your advice helped a ton.". "I didn't do anything, Isagi. That was all you. I only said something. You're the one who turned what I said into a clue and found your Formula. All by yourself. Also, that was a wonderful goal. Your talent is truly something special, you know that?", I complimented and slapped his shoulder before moving back to my position. He just smiled and moved back to his position as we waited for Team V to resume the game.
As Team V kicked off, there were no Surprises this time. The remaining 3 minutes left of the match went by in a flash and before we knew it, the final whistle went off ending the game and confirming our 2nd place Spot but most importantly, it confirmed our automatic qualification for Bluelock's 2nd Selection.
"YEEEAAAHHH!!!!!! LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!", I erupted into a euphoric scream of Joy as did every single member of Team Z. We went mad with celebrations as we had finally done everything we had set out to do.
The announcement sounded immediately from the Speakers.
"And that concludes the Bluelock 1st Selection!! Congratulations to the Qualifying Players. In 1st place, Team V has qualified with all its 11 players. In 2nd place, Team Z has qualified with all its 11 players." This brought another shout of Joy from all of us from Team Z as we hugged and jumped around each other in celebration.
"As for the locked off teams, their highest goal scorers have qualified for the next stage. From Team X, Shouei Barou has qualified with 10 goals. From Team Y, Niko Ikki has qualified with 3 goals. From Team W, Wanima Junichi has qualified with 4 goals. With that, Bluelock's 1st Selection is finally over!!!!"
I dropped to my knees with a gigantic smile on my face as another wave of Joy rushed through every member of Team Z. "We did it. We won. We freaking did it." I repeated in half disbelief, half unrestrained Joy.
A large hand entered my view. As I looked up to see the owner of said arm, I met Kunigami's light smile. "Come on. Let's head back in. We're going to celebrate this win.". I nodded and grabbed his hand as he easily pulled me up to my feet and we moved back to our room to celebrate. We beat the 1st Selection. We deserved this.
As we entered our Room and washed up, we all decided to pool our meals together t form a sort of celebratory buffet.
We entered the Cafeteria in high spirits and started ordering multiple servings of our foods, taking them into our rooms. After we were done with that, we sent Isagi, Bachira and Igaguri to go collect a lot of Bluelock-themed Bottles of Water while we arranged the foods in a circle.
Before long, we were eating and sharing stories and experiences all with the biggest of smiles on our faces. Even the loud, brash and rude Raichi was subdued this time which everyone appreciated.
Before long, we all went to bed, savouring the sweet taste of Victory.