Unaware of the bet that placed Takigawa's career on the line, Ryo watched both teams carefully. With the score tied at 1–1, Ryo knew that neither side would hold back in their pursuit of victory. That meant more fouls, more pressure, and more aggressive play.
Luckily for Ryo, he hadn't had many opportunities to use his skills in the first half, so he still had plenty of uses left. He had no intention of wasting any of them, so he planned to use them all before the match ended.
Right from the start of the second half, Ryusei took control of the game. Their energy remained high after they scored the equalizer at the end of the first half, so the momentum naturally carried over into the second half.
And Ryo was at the center of it all. He kept the ball alive along the left wing, helping circulate it without turning it over to Cono. He deftly weaved through clusters of orange jerseys and instigated the team's attacks, even drawing a few fouls in the process.
The only thing preventing them from scoring was the pressure Cono had maintained on their strikers. Neither Ren nor Ken could get enough space to pose a big enough threat. Every attempt they made to get the ball was met with fierce, immediate resistance.
But keeping such a solid defense was tiring, and after ten minutes, the cracks began to show in Cono's defense.
The earliest sign came when Ryo managed to slip a pass through to Ken, allowing him to get a shot on goal.
If their defense is starting to break down, now is the best time to strike.
It wasn't long before Cono lost possession of the ball again, when one of the players tried to dribble past Tomoya, only to have the ball cleanly kicked away from him.
Seeing the loose ball roll onto his side of the pitch, Ryo immediately moved in. His opponents reacted as well, but they were a step slower than he was. Still, they closed in fast enough to pressure Ryo from all sides the moment he gained the ball.
Ken and Ren are already moving to get open. I need to get the ball through to them.
{Skill Activated!}
—[Misdirection – A]
Might as well get as many stat points as I can with Crowd Support.
{Skill Activated!}
—(Crowd Support – C)
——[Based On Current Cheering Levels, Overall Stat Increased To 51.]
Ryo acted like he would dribble the ball to the right, turning his body and shifting his gaze to sell the act completely. Then, in one fluid motion, Ryo stepped past the ball with his left foot and tapped it with the inside of his right foot, making it pass behind his body and through a narrow gap in the encirclement on his left.
{Bonus Activation!}
—[Misdirection – A]
Ryo spun around and squeezed past the players, recovering the ball near the touchline. With the boost from his skill, Ryo left the other players behind and advanced toward the defensive line.
His initial plan had been to link up with Ren and Ken, but they were marked tightly by the defenders. With plenty of space in front of him, Ryo ran up further.
The first defender stepped up to challenge him.
Still under the effects of his skills, Ryo chose to engage him directly. The defender was being smart and maintained a good distance between them, forcing Ryo to create an opening himself.
Pushing the ball forward, Ryo tapped it with the outside of his right foot, making it look like he would cut into the center. The defender reacted instantly and engaged, hoping to get a tackle.
But Ryo tapped the ball again—this time with the outside of his left foot.
The ball was completely redirected to the left, leaving the defender grasping at empty space. While trying to stop his run and switch directions, the defender lost his footing on the slippery grass. He fell onto his side, unable to even brace himself for the fall.
Having executed a clean double chop with the outside of his feet, Ryo continued by running forward along the touchline. Now, there were only three defenders left—the closest one approaching him, the middle one guarding Ken, and the furthest one guarding Ren.
But this time, Ryo saw the opening for a pass. Planting his right foot into the ground, he swung through with his weaker left foot and curved the ball over the first two defenders.
Although Ren was still marked, he had positioned himself on the inside, giving Ryo just enough space to thread the pass. Ren effortlessly controlled the ball as it dropped in front of him, and he glanced up at the goal, preparing to shoot. But like his brother, Ren also lacked strength in his left foot.
The power that went into the ball was less than his earlier attempt, and the goalie had already predicted where Ren would shoot—to the left side of the goal.
The ball flew low along the ground, slowing as it hit the rain falling from the sky. That gave just enough time for the goalie to reach out his right leg and place it in the ball's path.
Ren's shot hit the goalie's leg with a dull thud and deflected away from the goal, back through the center. The tension from both sides was palpable. Only one thought resounded in the players' minds.
We have to score!
We have to clear it!
But as everyone looked towards the ball, they noticed whose wishes would be answered first. In a flash of white, with his jersey wet from the rain and smudged with green from the grass, the golden number 18 popped out from its pleats like a ray of sunlight.
The crowd's cheers reached their peak, and the voices of each player overlapped as they yelled out. But, with a face filled with intense focus and determination, Ryo remained calm—unbothered by all the commotion surrounding him.
He lined up his shot and poured every last bit of energy he had into his leg to score from outside the box. When his foot finally made contact, Ryo's form was perfect. His entire body was angled perfectly, his left foot was planted firmly next to the ball, and his right foot made contact right at the laces.
The ball screamed forward, veering slightly left before curving back to the right. For everyone watching, it did not seem like a shot that suited Ryo's frame—the amount of power and technique in that shot alone defied his age.
But it wasn't just the shot.
His ability to read the ball, players, and the match allows him to anticipate the ball's movements, often making him the first to react to a loose ball.
Ryo had already started moving toward the center right the moment he made the pass. So the moment it rebounded, he was already close to the ball, allowing him to get the shot off before the goalkeeper could fully reset.
Even in his follow-through, Ryo's eyes never left the ball. He watched it fly past each defender before it finally sent ripples through the net.
The spectators along the edge of the stands all rose to their feet with fervor, some of them yelling at the top of their lungs, some whistling, and some quietly applauding.
Ryo was immediately hounded by his teammates. Ren reached him first, immediately throwing himself onto Ryo and loudly praising his goal. Ryo smiled without restraint, enjoying the moment as his team enthusiastically celebrated all around him.
—————————————————————————————————
Despite the relentless rain, Ryo couldn't feel more alive. Surprisingly, his Exhaustion had only just climbed above sixty. Whether it was adrenaline or the thrill of the game, Ryo barely felt the need to slow down—and it showed.
Like a tsunami or an avalanche, Ryo drove through Cono's midfield and defense as an unstoppable wave. Cono quickly learned that stopping him required at least two players to contest him, and even then, that wasn't always enough. The only alternative was to deny him the ball entirely. But Ryo's constant involvement in both the midfield and the defense made that very hard to accomplish.
Every time Ryo and his teammates drove up the field, both Cono's players and their supporters held their breath, hoping that they could hold on. But although they constantly applied pressure, Ryusei was never able to finish the ball in the net.
After more than an hour of intense play in the rain, some of them were starting to get tired.
Cono had already substituted two of their players out after Ryo's goal, bringing in fresh legs with a tall centerback and a small, timid midfielder.
Although Ryusei still had firm control over the ball, whenever they relinquished the ball, Cono fought fiercely to drive it forward. The new midfielder, wearing the number 22—Akihiko, as Ryo heard his teammates call him—always managed to create pressure where it was the most effective.
Despite being on the younger side and only coming in now as a substitute, it was clear he hadn't been with his team for long. Yet his skill rivaled, if not surpassed, that of his teammates. It was a clear reminder that skill did not necessarily correlate with age.
During one particularly dangerous play, Akihiko managed to break free from Tomoya in the midfield, leading to a shot on Ryusei's goal. Fortunately, Taiga pressured him just enough to disrupt the shot, allowing their goalie, Kenta, to deflect it over the goal.
"Hey, Akihiko, go take the corner," one of the strikers commanded.
Ryo couldn't help but scoff as he heard the player call out.
How repulsive.
Whether it was jealousy or just a selfish desire to score, to Ryo, the striker's intent was obvious. He wanted to push the corner kick onto his junior and seize the glory for himself.
And the others don't seem to mind reaping the benefits either.
Ryo noticed a few others also smirking at the situation, only deepening his distaste. Such a clear alienation of a teammate, especially when that player clearly contributes to the team, was something Ryo didn't hold much respect for. And during the finals, too? That was unacceptable.
Even though they're still kids, they should know better by now.
But still, the midfielder himself didn't complain, and he jogged to the right corner and prepared to take the kick. Ryo calmly took a spot near his position close to the front post, guarding against any short corners. Behind him, at least a dozen players clashed together, true to the typical chaos that characterized a corner kick.
When the referee blew the whistle, Akihiko wasted no time running up to the ball. With his left foot, he sent the ball hard, with a loft that Ryo would not be able to reach.
But something seemed off.
Ryo noticed the ball didn't follow the standard trajectory into the box where the eager strikers were waiting. Instead, it arced away from the goal.
One of Cono's defenders had run towards the box at the far side of the goal. He was all by himself, reaching the ball as it landed right in front of him. The cluster of players hadn't extended that far back, and as a result, when the defender shot, the ball flew uninterrupted towards the goal.
As much as Ryo wanted to chase the ball to block the shot, the moment he saw the recipient of the corner kick, he realized he was too far removed to do anything. Even Kenta, who was much closer to the play, barely managed to see through all the players to track the shot, yet he was unable to get a hand on the ball as it whizzed past him.
Just like that, in the sixty-seventh minute of the game, Suwa Cono had equalized the score to 2–2.