Isagi snapped out of his memory.
In his mind, the puzzle piece labeled visual misdirection slowly surfaced
fitting itself perfectly into the large jigsaw inside his head…
until the entire picture became complete.
He called Bachira and Nagi over and explained his plan.
"From here on, I'll be 'invisible' for a bit."
Bachira tilted his head in confusion.
"Invisible?
What do you mean?
Is it because Eita keeps targeting you?
Are you scared?"
"No.
I'm going to experiment with a new technique.
Ryan taught it to me, but I haven't tried it in a match yet.
So listen
you two need to unleash your selfishness.
Make yourselves stand out.
The brighter you shine, the stronger my technique becomes."
Nagi didn't really understand what Isagi meant.
But hearing " Ryan taught it" made it easier for him to accept.
"Mm. Got it."
"Leave it to us, Yoichi!" Bachira said with a grin.
Red Team kickoff.
Isagi passed to Bachira.
Bachira controlled the ball and pushed forward, facing Yukimiya.
"We meet again."
"Mm. Let's have fun."
As Bachira advanced, his right leg kept faking to the right
as if he'd break through that side.
Yukimiya followed the feints, shifting right repeatedly.
Then
Bachira noticed a huge pocket of space on his left.
He nudged the ball left with the inside of his right foot
and burst past Yukimiya.
But Yukimiya immediately chased him down.
Bachira sensed Yukimiya closing in.
No way he'd compete in straight speed.
Meanwhile, Nagi had reached the edge of the box,
but Karasu was pressing from behind, blocking his shooting angle.
Just before Yukimiya caught him,
Bachira fired a low, fast pass toward Nagi.
Nagi's eyes lit up.
So this is what you want… Bachira.
He watched the spinning ball
its rotation wild and unpredictable.
"So that's your intention…
A gift from you, huh?"
Rather than trapping the ball,
Nagi let it roll past him
and just as it bounced up,
he flicked it high with his heel,
circled around Karasu,
and chased it down.
His instincts screamed at him
Shoot now.
He struck the ball cleanly.
It flew straight into the net.
From the sideline, Isagi watched the two collaborate
utterly astonished.
This is…
the spark created when talent meets talent.
The chemistry between Bachira and Nagi…
Bachira jumped onto Nagi's back cheering.
Isagi and Nagi high-fived.
"Nice one, Bachira."
Nagi commented,
"Your pass was more surprising than I expected.
Reo always passes in a way that lets me play freely…
But your pass
it just… appears in my brain out of nowhere."
"It's addictive, right?" Bachira laughed.
"Mm. Let's score more."
Isagi thought:
At this rate, my presence will plummet.
Eita's been watching me,
but once he notices my own teammates stop passing to me…
he might ignore me entirely.
Eita stared at Isagi.
His playstyle has already collapsed.
Even his teammates abandoned him?
They're not passing to him at all.
How boring.
I thought he'd last longer.
Ordinary guy.
White Team kickoff.
For the next few sequences, both sides exchanged attacks
but neither scored.
White Team especially had started ignoring Isagi.
He wasn't moving much.
Only sometimes drifting on defense
nowhere near as active as earlier.
To Eita, it looked like Isagi had been mentally crushed.
He's done.
Totally self-destructed.
But Isagi didn't see it that way.
He could feel it.
My presence is finally low enough…
Time for the disappearing pass.
Red Team began their attack again.
Bachira dribbled while Yukimiya and Eita rushed him.
Suddenly
Bachira passed toward empty space,
where no one was standing.
Yukimiya sprinted forward to reach it.
Eita scoffed.
"What, losing a teammate drove you insane already?"
"I see it clearly."
From Eita's perspective,
the ball rolled harmlessly
Then suddenly
it bent unnaturally and flew away.
"W what the hell was that?!"
"Hehe~ It's a secret."
Nagi sprinted ahead toward the landing point.
Karasu chased him.
Nagi reached first
Karasu arrived a beat late,
carefully watching Nagi's foot position,
waiting to predict his control.
But when the ball dropped
Karasu froze in shock.
Nagi trapped the ball with his back
spun
and redirected it to the opposite side.
Before Karasu could react,
Nagi was already one-on-one with the keeper.
He shot
and scored.
GOAL!!!
Eita asked Yukimiya,
"Yukimiya, did you see that?
That insane curve, what was it?"
But Yukimiya shook his head.
"No idea.
The ball just suddenly changed direction."
Even Yukimiya hadn't seen the truth.
Eita analyzed the moment.
Bachira passed it.
But a pass that inhuman shouldn't be possible.
Was it Nagi?
No he couldn't have been in two places at once.
Only one answer.
Eita looked at Isagi
who'd been "invisible" until now.
It has to be him.
He used some method we don't know yet.
Bachira walked over and slapped Isagi's shoulder.
"Yo, Isagi, what was that?!
They acted like you didn't exist.
Do you have superpowers now?"
Nagi joined in.
"Yeah. Explain."
But Isagi couldn't answer yet
he was still drowning in joy.
I did it.
Ryan was right.
When I chased that ball,
Yukimiya didn't even see me.
He just casually jogged after the ball…
He didn't see me at all.
That let Isagi reach the ball first
and launch the disappearing pass to Nagi.
He snapped back to reality.
"Not now.
After we win, I'll tell you."
Isagi looked at the scoreboard: 4–2.
One more goal… and we win.
White Team kickoff.
Karasu passed to Eita.
Eita dribbled toward Isagi.
"No matter what trick you pulled
it won't change the result.
This time, I'll stick to you till the end."
"Tch. Try it, then."
Eita saw Isagi charging.
Doesn't matter where you come from
I'll shake you off.
Get lost, ordinary man.
Then
Nagi charged in from the side, shielding Isagi.
"Leave him to me, Isagi.
You only bully the weak?
Stupid crow.
Fight someone your own size."
"You white-haired bastard…
you're annoying."
Despite his smirk,
Eita internally cursed.
This white hair is way harder to deal with than Isagi…
Eita performed rapid bicycles,
cutting left and right.
Nagi mirrored him.
Eita tried to shove Nagi away with his arm
"Again with that?
I already know how to break it."
Nagi flicked his elbow up
disrupting Eita's arm
and destroying his sense of spacing.
Eita abandoned his dribble,
looking at Karasu in the box.
He retreated a bit for safety distance
and prepared to pass.
Suddenly
Isagi slid in from the blind spot
and tackled the ball away.
Eita's eyes widened.
"An ordinary man
coming from my dead angle?!
Yukimiya, stop him!"
Got it!
Isagi passed to Bachira.
They performed a one-two to bypass Yukimiya
and launched a counterattack.
Karasu rushed back,
blocking Isagi's lane.
"You shall not… pass…"
He recovered fast.
"Isagi! Here!"
Bachira called from the side.
Isagi passed to him.
Yukimiya returned in timeto block Bachira.
Eita also chased back
but Nagi stuck to him like glue.
As Bachira and Yukimiya faced off,
Nagi broke off from Eita
and sprinted toward the box.
Eita and Karasu chased him.
Bachira wanted to pass immediately
but Yukimiya cut off the lane.
Bachira feinted,
pulled Yukimiya off balance,
then passed into the box.
Though Nagi also had defenders closing,
he lightly hopped,
trapped the ball with his instep,
landed
and passed the ball across the goal
to the empty side.
"I knew you'd be there."
Isagi.
By letting Nagi and Bachira draw all attention,
Isagi created a shooting space just for himself.
Eita saw it and his pupils shrank.
"Ordinary man?!
When ?!"
"Obviously
while you were spacing out, dumbass."
Isagi struck the half-volley clean.
The keeper froze.
The ball crashed into the net.
GOAL!!!
The announcer's voice echoed:
"Third Stage, 3v3 Rival Battle.
Final score: 5–2.
Red Team wins."
Isagi clenched his fist and shouted.
Bachira and Nagi ran over to celebrate.
"Great pass, Nagi!"
"Mm.
You always appear where I least expect…
but this time, I saw it clearly."
"Nice finish, Isagi."
"Thanks, Bachira."
Across from them
Eita's team sat on the ground, heads down.
"No way…
I lost to an ordinary man…"
"I told you not to underestimate him." Yukimiya sighed.
"Alright, alright save the arguing." Karasu muttered.
Isagi's team approached them, discussing their choice.
"So any preferences?" Isagi asked.
"I'm fine with anyone," Nagi said.
"I want that crow," Bachira grinned, pointing at Eita.
Isagi nodded.
"Same.
His ball-handling is exactly what we need."
Isagi called out:
"Come on, Eita.
Be a good servant to this ordinary man."
Bachira burst out laughing.
"Isagi!!
So you do like that kind of play!?"
"W–what?!
No!
When did you start learning bad jokes from Ryan?!"
Eita sighed loudly, annoyed by their noise
but he still followed them into the next-stage hallway.
Isagi looked ahead toward the next gate.
Ryan…
I'm catching up to you soon.
Just wait.
I'll make you acknowledge me.
"By the way, Isagi," Bachira said,
"How did you DO that disappearing thing?"
"Visual misdirection.
Ryan taught me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you're interested, you can read advanced chapters:
pat reon .com / Samorash
~> Bonus Chapter every 300PS!!