"That Barou guy is good." Bachira stated as he picked up the ball.
"...Yeah. He got past me, my bad guys." Isagi apologized before going to his position. "What can I do as a striker? I feel like I'm not thinking hard enough about that."
"Over here, Isagi." Bachira said with a thumbs up. "Whenever you're ready!"
"Right." Isagi took a breath to calm his nerves. He then tapped the ball over to Bachira before running forward. His stamina had gone up by five over that small break.
Bachira passed back to Kunigami as he began to run forward. Isagi nodded his head, affirming his thoughts, as he ran. "Me, Bachira, and Kunigami will create a triangle. The rest of our team still wants to work by themselves, or some of them at least."
"Watch out for his power shot!" A Team X member yelled as they started to guard Kunigami.
"Damn. Here!" Kunigami called out as he made a short pass to Isagi
"From here..." Isagi thought as he saw the pass. The moment the ball made it to him, Isagi used his 'Perfect Touch' to send a clean and direct pass to Bachira with his first touch.
Bachira grinned as he got the ball, his eyes facing forward immediately. That was when a true challenge appeared in front of him. Barou.
"I'll put you down." He muttered, his voice cold as his eyes stared at Barou.
"Oh yeah, King?" Bachira stuck his tongue out mockingly. "Come and get it."
Barou ran forward, Bachira's act ticking him off. When Barou made it to him, Bachira tapped the ball between his feet. The moment it seemed Barou was distracted by the rapid movement, Bachira flicked the ball over his head. Barou instinctively tracked the ball going above his head.
Bachira used this moment as he ran past Barou, trapping the ball before running past. "Time for the finale!" Bachira smirked as he cocked back his leg.
"I got it!" A Team X member yelled as they ran in front of Bachira.
Bachira, instead of stopping, shot the ball anyways. Aiming for the ball to go over the head of the member and fall into the net. Unfortunately, a task was hard for Bachira to pull off. It was too slow. The goalkeeper was able to jump up and hit the ball away.
"Damn." Bachira sighed as he turned around to get on defense.
However, the ball fell right to Isagi. It was a stroke of luck. Luck that Isagi was able to draw out with his positioning. "Perfect chance."
The sound of footsteps was heard as Barou ran in front of Isagi. "Bow down to me!"
"This guy's relentless." Isagi thought as Barou approached. Though, he didn't falter. Unlike Bachira, Isagi had a weapon built for situations like this.
Without a moments hesitation, Isagi activated 'Perfect Touch' once more. His goal was for the ball to go between Barou's legs and into the net. Barou was also a perfect cover as the goalkeeper lacked the ability to see him fully. The moment the target appeared, Isagi swung his leg in accordance. His foot connected with the ball cleanly, causing it to fly in between Barou's legs just as planned.
Immediately, the goalkeeper jumped to save it, but it was too late. The delay of his actions costed him time as the ball slammed into the net.
2-1
The field fell quiet before Isagi yelled. He had never felt such a rush of pleasure before, how good it was to score. Especially in such a devastating way.
-X-
Team Z gathered in their locker room during half time.
"Let's change the formation." Raichi said as he drank from his water.
"How come?" Kuon asked as he cocked an eyebrow.
"I wanna be the striker!" Raichi said bluntly, no validation behind his reasoning.
"But he's making results. Barou would've scored way earlier in the match if it wasn't for Isagi's press. It was also his judgement for Bachira to pass to me. And finally, he just made a golden shot." Kunigami explained, his voice cutting through the air.
While everyone bickered, Isagi was more focused on the screen in front of him.
Congratulations! Due to making a goal, you've been granted the ability to up one stat of your choice!
Below it were options, listing each stat. Isagi pondered which one to choose. After a few seconds, Isagi selected the stamina option, bringing it up to C. His SP then bumped up to 200.
"I probably won't be able to recreate the goal with my current skills. I only got that opening since Bachira drew all the attention and I positioned myself where the ball would most likely land." Isagi spoke. "So, I think we should choose someone with more firepower as the striker. Kunigami, that is."
Kunigami stayed silent for a moment before nodding. "If that's what you'd like, but what's the rest of the formation going to be?"
Isagi grabbed a board as he started to shot it down.
ST: Kunigami
CAM: Isagi/Bachira
CM: Naruhaya/Chigiri
CDM: Kuon/Gagamaru
CB: Raichi/Imamura/Igarashi
GK: Iemon
"Why am I on defense?!" Raichi barked.
"You're stamina is good. I'll be relying on you to stop Barou." Isagi responded, giving him a thumbs up.
Raichi sat back down. "Fine but I better be on offense next match."
-X-
The players returned to the field as Isagi stretched. Team X started with the ball, so Isagi was trying to mentally brace himself for defense. Last time, he let Barou slip past him which resulted in the game being tied. But now, he didn't plan on letting that happen.
A Team X member passed to Barou as he began to race down the field.
Kunigami pressed Barou. "I'll stop you."
Barou kissed his teeth as he kept running forward. "Get out of my way."
Barou kept running, yet Kunigami was at his side. Slowly, Kunigami was able to force Barou to the left side.
"Behind you!" A Team X member yelled as they set themselves up for a pass. Barou, hesitantly, passed the ball back.
Isagi put himself in a position where he could have an eye on most of the players. "Good. Now that Barou doesn't have the ball, Kunigami can shut him out of the plays entirely!"
"Pass it back, now!" Barou yelled out, yet the member didn't look at him for longer than a second. Kunigami was marking him.
The member with the ball made a lob pass over to a different member, but instead of the ball meeting the player, Kuon had jumped up. His head collided with the ball, knocking it away.
The ball fell into the grasp of Gagamaru as he trapped the ball. "Sucks to be on defense, but I'll make do." He whispered before passing the ball over to Naruhaya.
"Alright, let's finish this!" Naruhaya blurted out as he ran forward. Naruhaya kept moving up. The moment a Team X member got near him, he wasted no time to pass the ball.
The ball rolled over to Isagi as he immediately started to search around. "I'll leave the rest up to you, Bachira." Isagi used 'Perfect Touch' as he kicked the ball. It curved as it fell down to Bachira gracefully.
Team X's half had little defense, allowing Bachira to have no confrontation as he got the ball. He smiled as he started to advance straight through the center. "Time for the finale!"
A member ran up, but Bachira effortlessly got past them with a quick flick. Another came which Bachira nutmegged. Finally, there was just one more defender before Bachira reached the goalkeeper. Bachira tapped the ball up kicking it over the head of the defender. He then ran forward as he found himself in the penalty box.
"Boom!" Bachira said as he swung his leg. However, his foot went past the ball. The goalkeeper dived, falling for the feint. "And zap!" Bachira swung his leg once more, kicking the ball as it flew into the goal.
3-1
-X-
The rest of the game went by quickly as Team Z was able to steal the ball before holding onto it for the rest of the time resulting in their win.