Blue Lock. Building 5. Monitor Room.
One Day Before Match 4: Team Z vs. Team V.
The room was bathed in the cold, flickering light of the projector screen. Team Z sat on the floor, watching the highlights of Team V's massacre of Team Y.
On the screen, Nagi Seishiro was defying physics.
A long ball soared sixty meters through the air. Nagi didn't run to it; he drifted. He extended his right leg effortlessly.
The ball, traveling at high velocity, hit his toes and simply... died.
Black Hole Trap.
The ball dropped straight down, completely motionless. Nagi then casually volleyed it into the net.
Next to him, Reo Mikage was the conductor, spraying passes with perfect accuracy. On the wing, Zantetsu Tsurugi was accelerating so fast he looked like a glitch in the video feed.
"They're monsters..." Igarashi hugged his knees, his face pale. "Team Y had the best defense in the building, and they lost 5-0. Nagi scored a hat-trick without even breaking a sweat."
"That glasses guy, Zantetsu," Chigiri murmured, his eyes narrowed. "His initial acceleration is explosive. In a short sprint, he might be faster than me."
"And Reo Mikage," Kunigami added, crossing his arms. "His stats are balanced across the board. He has no weaknesses."
The mood in the room was heavy. Despite Team Z being undefeated (3-0), the gap in raw talent seemed like a canyon. Team Z had won through struggle, evolution, and Isagi's manipulation. Team V won simply because they were better.
"We have 9 points," Kuon spoke up from the back of the room, where he sat isolated. He sounded timid, afraid to speak too loudly. "Even if we lose... we probably qualify in 2nd place. Maybe we should play for a draw?"
Isagi Yoichi stood up. The sound of his chair scraping against the floor silenced the room.
He walked to the whiteboard, picking up a marker.
"A draw?" Isagi scoffed, not even looking at Kuon. "If we play for a draw against them, we'll be slaughtered. Nagi doesn't understand mercy. If we show weakness, he'll crush us out of boredom."
Isagi drew a large triangle on the board.
"Team V is strong," Isagi began, his voice steady and commanding. "But their strength is also their weakness. They are rigid. They rely entirely on this specific chemical reaction."
Isagi circled the top point: Reo Mikage.
"Reo is the Brain. He decides the pace. He decides who scores. Without him, the system has no input."
He circled the right point: Zantetsu Tsurugi.
"Zantetsu is the Engine. He provides width and chaos. He forces defenders to spread out."
Finally, Isagi circled the left point: Nagi Seishiro.
"And Nagi... Nagi is the End Point. The Anomaly."
Isagi turned to the team, tapping the marker against the board.
"I've analyzed all three of their games. Nagi has scored 9 goals. But do you know how many times he has created a chance for himself? Dribbled past a player? Initiated a play?"
The team stayed silent.
"Zero," Isagi answered. "He waits. He stands in the danger zone and waits for Reo to deliver the package. He treats soccer like a turn-based RPG. He waits for his turn."
The Golden Formula Adjustment.
Isagi drew a red line cutting off Reo from Nagi.
"To kill a genius who doesn't think, you don't fight him physically. You fight his supply line."
Isagi pointed at Raichi Jingo.
"Raichi. You have the highest stamina in Team Z. Your job is simple. You are going to man-mark Reo Mikage."
Raichi blinked. "Man-mark? You mean follow him?"
"I mean haunt him," Isagi corrected. "Don't look at the ball. Don't look at the goal. Become his shadow. If he goes to the bathroom, you go with him. Make him so annoyed that he loses his composure. If Reo can't pass comfortably, Nagi starves."
Raichi grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Annoying people is my specialty. I'll make pretty boy cry."
Isagi pointed at Chigiri Hyoma.
"Chigiri. You take Zantetsu. He's an accelerator; you're a sprinter. Drag him into long-distance races. Force him to chase you deep into our half, then beat him on the counter when his gas tank runs empty."
Chigiri nodded, a confident smirk playing on his lips. "I'll teach him the difference between fast and god-speed."
"And Nagi?" Bachira asked, tilting his head. "Who stops the monster?"
Isagi pointed the marker at his own chest.
"I will."
"You?" Igarashi gasped. "But Isagi, he's taller than you! And that trap... if he traps it, it's over!"
"That trap is exactly why I can beat him," Isagi said, his eyes glowing with a cold, predatory light.
He replayed the clip of Nagi's goal.
"Watch closely. When Nagi traps the ball, he kills it completely. For exactly 0.5 seconds, the ball is stationary."
Isagi paused the video right as the ball hit Nagi's foot.
"A moving ball is hard to calculate. It has spin, velocity, randomness. But a stopped ball? A stopped ball is just an object."
"Nagi waits for the ball to stop before he shoots. He resets the play to zero. That is his habit. That is his arrogance."
Isagi turned off the projector. The room went dark.
"I don't need to be taller. I don't need to be stronger. I just need to be there at that specific 0.5-second interval."
"While he is waiting for the ball to settle... I will steal it."
Isagi looked around the room. The fear had evaporated. In its place was focus.
They weren't looking at Team V as gods anymore. They were looking at them as a puzzle that Isagi had already solved.
"We have 9 points," Isagi said. "We've survived the traitor. We've survived the fear. Now, we hunt the undefeated."
"Tomorrow, we don't just win. We prove that logic beats talent."