Some time after the results of their first match, Team Z, along with our protagonist, was in the hallways of the facility on their way to the rest area in their dressing room.
"Phew, that was intense," said Isami, catching the attention of Kaiser and the girls around her.
"Was the match intense for you?" Kaiser replied with curiosity on his face.
"A little. I don't know if it's just me, but I felt more pressure in this match than in the others I've played in. Maybe the risk of losing the opportunity to advance in my life adds another level of difficulty," replied the black-haired girl.
"I understand. It would be wise for you to get used to it. You still have a lot to do. You haven't refined your weapon yet," Kaiser added.
Bachira, who was standing nearby, heard what happened and, curious, decided to ask.
"What do you mean, Kaiser-kun?" Bachira joined the conversation.
"Think of it as an externalized version of your talent in a certain role on the field. Isami's talent has something to do with his eyes. I remember mentioning it when we trained. The same applies to you with your ball dribbling skills," sighed Kaiser, scratching his head, trying to simplify the information for them.
"Yes... I remember. I could vaguely visualize where the ball was going to fall or its direction during the game, but the rhythm of game was so fast and my nerves prevented me from reacting properly," Isami interjected.
"It's a classic example of when your body can't keep up with your mind," Kaiser sighed.
"Is that so?" Isami murmured.
"Yes, take advantage of these games to improve your basic skills. You're going to need them. In a real game, there's no time to hesitate or think. If you don't stay alert and consistent, you're very likely to make mistakes that will hurt your team and cause serious consequences." Kaiser pointed to his mind as Isami looked at him intently.
"I understand..."
"Ne Kaiser-kun, what about me~?" Bachira spoke, getting Kaiser's attention.
"Hmm, your talents vary, as does your playing style. Apart from your talent for dribbling the ball, I can't tell you anything else that would hinder your rhythm. Each of you must find your own paths and styles," Kaiser explained as the two blackhaired girls looked on.
Bachira nodded with her hands behind her back. "Okay~"
Chigiri, who was standing in front of Kaiser, remained thoughtful about her own path. She was aware of her greatest talent or virtue, but just remembering what had happened in the past made her tremble.
Those painful days of recovery after she fractured her knee in an important match by putting too much pressure on it while running at high speeds only accelerated the fear in her consciousness.
Chigiri clenched her teeth, and a huge wave of blood ran through her body, causing slight tremors in her upper torso to become noticeable.
"How unfair..." That was all the redhead thought before clenching her fists and moving forward.
Kaiser watched Chigiri's behavior suspiciously, and was about to interfere when he was interrupted by someone else.
"Hey Chigiri, are you okay?" someone said quietly, drawing Bachira and Isami's attention to Chigiri.
It was Kunigami who spoke. She had decided to just listen to the previous conversation, but unconsciously, during Kaiser's explanation, she looked at her legs. She already had a rough idea of her talent. Unlike other women in Japanese soccer, her physique gave her an advantage when it came to risky plays.
However, while analyzing her own body, she noticed Chigiri clenching her fists. She sensed something strange in her and, out of concern, decided to interfere.
Chigiri came to her senses when she heard her teammate's voice. She immediately turned around, revealing her surprised expression, but with some discomfort in it.
"Is something wrong?" Kaiser asked, getting her attention.
"Hmm... Kaiser-kun, what do you think of me?" Chigiri replied, taking Kaiser by surprise, as he had not anticipated such a response.
Instantly, the girls looked at our protagonist out of curiosity. They were already aware that when it came to general soccer analysis, Kaiser seemed to be the most suitable person for these issues so far.
Kaiser, on the other hand, remained silent, directing his gaze at Chigiri's body, who immediately felt somewhat uncomfortable under her classmate's gaze. Unlike the others, she didn't know why the mere idea of him watching her so intently seemed to embarrass her.
"You have nice legs." As he said those words, Chigiri looked up, embarrassed, to pay more attention to him.
"However, I don't know if it's my imagination, but I sense that something is weighing on you. You have the same problem as Isami when it comes to reacting. Your body is capable of reacting to the rhythm of the game, but your mind freezes up."
"Is that so?" Chigiri unconsciously looked at her leg again.
Kaiser watched impassively and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Once he realized where she was looking, he nodded to himself.
"I see... I think I more or less understand what's going on with you," Kaiser said, drawing the attention of a nervous Chigiri.
"Did he notice my injury? No, maybe it's just a coincidence, surely that's all it is," Chigiri thought, feeling a wave of nerves wash over her mind, a small drop of sweat running down her face.
"What's wrong with her, Kaiser-kun?" Bachira intervened, looking at Chigiri with curiosity.
Isami, who was next to her, nodded, puzzled by her classmate's behavior.
Kunigami silently observed the situation. It was the first time she had seen Chigiri look so nervous; not even the risk of losing the game had ever made her behave like this before.
On the other hand, Kaiser was lost in his thoughts, quickly glancing at Chigiri's knee and drawing his own conclusions.
"Something must have happened to her knee. She's in good physical condition, especially her legs. Maybe she's used to running a lot. Something or someone must have hurt her knee, and she's reluctant to put pressure on it," Kaiser concluded in his mind.
"Kaiser-kun?" Bachira called again, breaking our protagonist's monologue as he looked at her.
"It's nothing, it's not something I should tell you," Kaiser commented, looking at Chigiri with mixed feelings.
"I see..." Bachira sighed with disappointment, dropping the subject. She felt that the conversation had taken a delicate turn, and she certainly didn't want to provoke her teammate.
Chigiri just closed her eyes for a moment, sighing in gratitude for Kaiser's refusal.
"Hmm, what's going on?" Isami said, confused, not understanding the situation.
"It's nothing," Kunigami interjected, trying to change the subject.
"Yes, it's not important. Let's take a break. We have things to talk about before the next game. We need to improve certain areas if we want to have a chance of winning," Kaiser said, drawing the girls' attention to him.
"You're right about that," Isami agreed. She wanted to win more than anything else, but she still didn't expect the advantage they had earlier thanks to Kaiser and Bachira to vanish because of her años his team's mistakes.
"If we lose again, there's a big risk of losing and being eliminated from Blue Lock. I still have a lot to do," Isami thought, clenching her left fist in frustration.
"Eh, that would certainly be a problematic situation, to be honest. I won't leave here so easily," Bachira said with mixed feelings about the previous tie. She was not satisfied with that result; only victory mattered in her mind.
"It seems we should talk to the guys about the future reorganization of the team. Barou was the only one who scored three times for his team, and everyone unconsciously followed his orders when he led the attack. In contrast, we scored three times thanks to me, Kaiser, and Bachira," Kunigami said.
"Your point is?" Isami interrupted her reasoning, staring at her intently.
"That all the attacking plays were orchestrated by Kaiser-kun. Without him, we wouldn't have had the chances to score," Kunigami replied, looking at the aforementioned player, who remained silent.
"It's true, if we think about it logically, Kaiser was the nucleus for initiating the attacks. Although I don't like the idea of giving up the forward position, if Kaiser takes the position, we can do something against the next teams," Chigiri interjected in agreement.
Bachira nodded in agreement with Chigiri's opinion, remembering Kaiser's personal goal, which she described as an exceptional shot that made her blood boil with excitement.
Bachira looked at Kaiser with an excited smile, and he simply raised his right eyebrow in surprise.
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At that moment, Team Z was in their dressing room, resting after the intense minutes of the match.
Raichi, who was standing surrounded by the boys, was not entirely encouraged by the previous tie and stared at Kunigami with irritation in his eyes.
"Hey guys," Raichi said, getting everyone's attention. "Let me be clear about this. Kunigami is useless as a striker. I think she's better suited to defense than that dwarf Naruhaya."
Naruhaya, who heard what was said, snorted at the way he was mentioned. "Shut up, you didn't do much on the field either. You stole the ball and took away our chances to attack!"
Raichi gritted his teeth before replying, "Hah!? What did you expect me to do!? Don't play innocent, the rest of you would have been motivated to score goals too if it weren't for the other shitty team putting pressure on us. I'm a striker, damn it, not a defender!"
"That's true... Being a defender sucks."
Kunigami, who was sitting alone, sighed somewhat annoyed by her team's argument, which caught Raichi's attention.
"Got something to say, Kunigami!?" Raichi exclaimed irritably, pointing at her.
"I admit that I leave a lot to be desired as a striker, but let me make it clear that unlike almost all of you, I was able to score a goal, so I already have an advantage over you," Kunigami replied irritably.
Upon hearing this, Raichi simply laughed shamelessly, further angering the orange-haired girl.
"What's so funny?"
"Any decent forward can score with a pass like that. Don't get cocky. You had it easy scoring that goal thanks to the blue rose. I'll show you in the next game that I can do that too," Raichi pointed out exasperatedly, then continued drinking her juice.
"Guys," Ikki said, clapping loudly to get everyone's attention, who stopped talking.
"We have things to fix here. Although thanks to Kaiser-san we avoided losing, we're still not in a good position. If we risk losing the next game, we're going to have a hard time," Ikki said with his hand outstretched.
"What do you suggest?" Kuon asked curiously, along with the others and Kaiser, who just remained silent.
"Look, considering the explanation Ego-san gave us, five teams are going to play a robin tournament rounds, so only two teams will advance to the next round. If we lose again, we'll be in a deficit. We need at least three wins or more if we want to avoid the risk of elimination."
"I see... So even if we tie on the last match, we're going to be in big trouble if we lose again from now on," Kuon commented with a somewhat irritated expression.
"Yes, something like that. That's why I propose that the forward position should go to the MVP of the previous game. Everyone here is aware that Kaiser saved us from defeat. Almost all of the attacking plays were made by him, and his defense against one of Barou's attacks helped us avoid a worse situation with another goal advantage," Ikki proposed, pointing to Kaiser, who was just watching the scene with amusement.
Upon hearing Ikki's words, everyone looked at Kaiser, each coming to their own conclusions about the game.
"It's true, honestly, that guy Barou made me nervous when he got close to the goal," Gagamaru commented, scratching his head.
"Tch, it's true that the blue rose was the MVP of this match, I can't deny it, but I would like to propose that if someone manages to be the MVP of the next match, they should take up an attacking position, either on the wings or as a striker," Raichi exclaimed reluctantly.
"Why do you propose that?" Imamura commented, looking confused at Raichi.
"What else, you idiot?! It's for us on defense. It's harder for us to attack. If there's one thing that irritates me more than missing a shot as a forward, it's when they score on me because of a defensive mistake!" Raichi exclaimed, a vein throbbing in his face.
"So your idea is that if you score or defend a goal attempt, it counts towards winning the MVP of the match and securing an attacking position, is that right?" Kaiser said amusedly, drawing the attention of the others to him.
"Something like that, Blue Rose. I admit you're good at playing, but I'm not going to give up on getting the striker position. However, I don't want to lose the next game either, so I'll just have to trust you for now and steal that position from you again," Raichi agreed.
"I understand. Well, I don't mind taking the position, just try to make things easy for me. It would be annoying to have to defend again because of your mistakes like before," Kaiser commented, remembering the goal he intercepted from Barou at the beginning of the game.
"Well, now that we've defined the core of the team, I'd like to comment on something else," Ikki interrupted, taking control of the conversation again.
"What do you need to know, Ikki-kun?" Bachira interjected with curiosity in his voice, along with the others.
"We need to define now what you are good at. Even though we have 10 forwards here, I think we should clarify our skills so we don't succumb to chaos again."
"Right, I think we all noticed that the moment Barou took the initiative to attack and scored the goal, his team started to work around him," Isami joined the conversation.
"And your point is?" Raichi asked, looking at her.
"Early in the game, both Team X and us were only thinking about scoring goals and taking Kunigami's forward position. I think that uncontrolled style we had before was the soccer that Ego-san had told us about, with no strategy at all," Isami began to explain as the others looked on.
"Uh-huh," Raichi said, rolling his eyes.
"True, it was unusual soccer for me," Naruhaya commented.
"However, our chaos began and Team X's stopped when Barou was able to score his goal. They felt inspired by the fact that someone was able to reduce the goal deficit and began to play in a more coordinated manner, which is why they became a more coordinated team and started to give us problems."
"So while I don't like the idea of giving up the forward position for now, I have to admit that, like Barou, who is the core of Team X, I think Kaiser represents the same concept that could help us fight against other teams from now on, at least until we adapt and improve our skills and are able to score on our own," Isami finished explaining to the others.
"Tch," Raichi exclaimed reluctantly at the explanation.
"In simple terms, we need an overwhelming talent to help control the chaos and hold this team together so that what happened before doesn't happen again," Kaiser interjected, summarizing Isami's words for those who didn't understand.
"Ohh, now I understand," Imamura said.
"Idiot..." Raichi whispered.
"Did you say something?"
"¡Nothing!"
"Well, could you tell me what you are good at or your most outstanding skill?" Ikki said, taking the lead in the conversation again.
"Tch, my best talent is my amazing shooting technique. I like to call it 'sexy soccer,'" said Raichi, pointing to himself.
"Hmm, well, my ball dribbling skills, I guess," said Bachira calmly.
"I'm good at close plays," said Gagamaru thoughtfully.
"I have good power in my left-foot shot," Kunigami said, extending his toned leg.
"Sexy," Kaiser thought, staring intently.
"Speed and technique, I guess," Imamura said with a friendly half-smile.
"I can fly across the field!" exclaimed Naruhaya, encouraged by the revelations.
"I'm good at analyzing the field and orchestrating plays," said Ikki, pointing to his eye area.
"Does he also have good vision like me?" Isami wondered to herself, remembering the words Kaiser had said to her about her vision of the game.
"My greatest strength would be my jumping ability," Kuon said, extending his hand.
"And you, Isami-san?" Ikki said, looking at Isami.
"My greatest talent? I guess it's somewhat related to yours. I'm good at analyzing the field, but I can't react in time because of my physique," Isami replied, embarrassed by her weakness.
"I see, so the team already has two pairs of eyes. That will be useful for orchestrating attacks for us and the others," Ikki replied with a small smile of interest.
"And you, Kaiser-kun?" Bachira said, looking at our protagonist.
Everyone looked at our protagonist, who was thinking about it.
"Hmm, my shooting power with my dominant foot is fast, and I have good vision to intercept plays and passes," lied Kaiser to the others, who just nodded in agreement.
"That's true, that shot of yours was amazing," said Bachira with excitement in her voice, remembering the goal.
Kaiser just nodded with a small smile.
"What about you, Chigiri?" Kunigami said, looking at his teammate who was sitting on the ground.
"I'm sorry... But I don't want to say," Chigiri said somewhat reluctantly.
Bachira and Kunigami just sighed at her response.
"Why won't you tell us?" Raichi exclaimed in confusion at her refusal.
"I'm sorry, I can't say," was all the redhead said, somewhat reluctantly.
"With this, my suspicions grow. What a waste to let your talent die" thought Kaiser, looking at Chigiri's knee and remembering the conversation from a few minutes ago.
"Tch, since that's the case, leave the princess with her secrets!" Raichi exclaimed irritably at the sight of an uninterested Chigiri.
"Fine," was all Ikki said before orchestrating the most optimal strategy for the next match.
Meanwhile, the rest just watched him.
"Here, take this," said Kuon, handing him a notebook and pen to help him channel his ideas.
"Thanks," said Ikki, beginning to write down the best formation for his team.
"What do you think of this?" Ikki finished writing and held up the notebook, showing everyone the positions of each player.
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Formation: 3-4-3
Positions:
Goalkeeper - Gagamaru
Left Center - Naruhaya
Center - Raichi
Right Center - Kuon
Left Back - Chigiri
Right Back - Imamura
Midfielder 1 - Ikki
Midfielder 2 - Isami
Left Winger - Bachira
Right Winger - Kunigami
Striker - Kaiser
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"I see, your idea is to give us versatility when passing to give us more opportunities to score, right?" Kuon said, interested in Ikki's formation.
"And not only that," Kaiser said, drawing the attention of the others.
"That formation is useful for falling back on defense like the 5-4-1 formation, but it's not easy to do that. Honestly, that formation is still unstable for us," Kaiser said, impressed by Ikki's cleverness.
"That's true, we need to train more to form a connection. The one who secures the opponent's mistake can be punished by us due to the variety of passes and reject the opponent's counterattack. It's a risky option, but it works because of Kaiser's presence, which gives us great opportunities to pass and attack at the same time," Ikki agreed with a sigh.
"Tch, at least it shouldn't be as easy for them to score on us now as it was before," said Raichi, analyzing the defensive side of the team he was part of.
"True, it's already an improvement. We need to get more familiar with each other. That week wasn't enough to create proper harmony," said Kuon with a sigh as he looked at his team.
"I still have the opportunity to score goals easily anyway," Kunigami said, observing his position.
"Yes, I remember seeing this formation in games before. It opens up a great offensive opportunity between the midfielders towards us or the fullbacks as well," Bachira said excitedly.
"I won't complain, I guess. I'm good at passing, but I want to make it clear that if we get the advantage, I'll give my all to score goals," said Isami seriously, crossing his arms.
"Anyone would do that. We're all strikers, after all," said Naruhaya, amused by the situation.
"Well, forgetting that, I guess I can work with this more easily, at least I know what to do," Chigiri commented, looking at her position with satisfaction.
"Looks like I'm not going to be leaving the goalkeeper position," Gagamaru said reluctantly, scratching his head.
"You're good at it, stop complaining," Bachiras said, sticking his tongue out.
"Tch, annoying bee," Gagamaru replied, which made Bachira laugh even more.
"Okay, we need to practice more. Let's train before the next game," Ikki concluded the discussion as the others looked on.
Everyone nodded with excited smiles, bumping fists with each other.
"Kaiser-kun," Bachira approached a puzzled Kaiser.
"Bump," Bachira extended his hand with his fist in front of him under Kaiser's amused gaze.
"Okay," replied Kaiser, responding to his request.
"This team isn't bad. They still have a lot to learn, but for some reason, it's fun to be here," thought Kaiser, watching his team look at each other in a more lively atmosphere than before after the game.
"Well... Let's go," thought Isami with a clenched fist, watching his teammates bump fists each other.
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(Author's note: It's hard for me to write chapters related to concepto of soccers or games in particular , ha ha ha. I need to learn more about it. Leave your suggestions here in the comments, because I'm not a big fan of the sport. That aside, I hope you liked the chapter, and sorry for the delay these days. See you later)