The next morning after my heart-to-heart with Chigiri, all of Team Z returned to our usual training, pushing hard to improve as much as possible in preparation for our last match in Bluelock's 1st Selection. That day, we were doing 4v4 with Bachira, Kunigami, Gagamaru and Naruhaya attacking and me, Imamura, Raichi and Igaguri defending and Isagi would sub in at regular intervals. We were playing and switching roles every 15 minutes.
During my team's turn to attack, we were surprised by a newcomer, our resident bootleg Uzumaki, Chigiri. We took a break to rest after our 15 minute were up and I took that opportunity to talk to him. "Hey, Chigiri. Finally decided to fight for yourself again?" I asked with a smile. He just looked away and grumbled out, "Don't get it twisted. I decided it myself. Your words last night didn't change anything, okay?". I chuckled at that and replied, "Alright then, are you ready to show the world your true self? Are you ready to run, Chigiri?". he breathed out and said, "Just gimme the damn ball already...also, thank you, Kaido. I needed that Wake-up call. Its about time I believed again.". With that said, he jogged onto the Field and that brought a smile out of me. With his incredible Speed, we're definitely not losing to Team V. Those bastards won't know what hit them.
As Chigiri joined our training, I placed him on the attacking team with Kunigami and the rest while Isagi joined us on the defending team and we kicked off again. (In case you haven't picked it up, Iemon stayed in goal again even after I told him it was okay for him to play upfield every now and then. Seriously, that guy....I don't even know what to say about him. But then again, its his decision.)
This training session turned out to be very fruitful as Team Z welcomed another overpowered Weapon, Chigiri's Speed. We now had something new to throw at Team V. As I expected, he was a problem to contain on our defensive turn. I was the only one who had any hope of keeping up with him but even that was a pipe dream. In attack, he blew past everybody, even Isagi's Spatial Awareness, while it could read the field, nobody could react to Chigiri's Speed. And when it was our turn to attack, we found it extremely hard to get past him.
At the end of our training, we all sat around the field, resting and cooling down when Ego's face suddenly appeared on the big Screen again. "Hello there, Diamonds in the rough. You've been working hard, I see." he said with a little wave. 'Great. He's here again. What is it this time?', I thought to myself but I listened anyway.
"Hmm. Hmm. You've all been doing well. Growing fast. But you're still missing one thing that will elevate you to the next level. And that one thing you currently lack is a Formula for Goals. Every true Striker has one. What is a Formula for Goals, you might ask? Its quite simple. Your Formula is the what you do to get your goal. What were you thinking when you got the ball? How far away from the Goal were you when you received the ball? What movements did you make so you could receive the ball in an open space? How many defenders were in front of you when you had the ball? What was the position of the Goalkeeper when you were ready to shoot? Questions like these are what can be answered by your Formula. Analyse yourselves. Look intently at your Weapons and ask yourselves, What can I do to score more goals at a consistent rate? Because the best Striker are the ones who can consistently score Goals no matter the conditions, no matter the opposition, no matter the pressure. True strikers, even on their worst days can perform. Can the same be said about you?". His face immediately flickered out, leaving the big screen black and us in complete silence. Yet again, our eyes have been opened to what felt like a new Football world entirely. We stayed silent and pondered deeply on his words in our seated position on the Field. I looked back on my goals, my assists, my dribbling, my movements, looking for what might be a pattern but I just couldn't come up with something. "Man, what the hell does Math have to do with Football? I swear this Ego guy just comes up with random nonsense and throws it at us expecting us to be better all of a sudden." Naruhaya who had probably had enough of the thinking and the silence complained. "Knowing Ego, he probably wants us to figure something out ourselves. Something that should elevate our game if we manage to grasp it. Remember, he did the same with the Weapons talk he gave us back then.", Isagi calmly explained. "Yeah, I guess you have a point there.", Iemon said in concurrence.
Suddenly, Kunigami stood up and said, "Well, I for one have had enough of pondering over this. The best we can do now is prepare a much as possible for Team V. if there's some mysterious message Ego wants us to grasp, I think we'll grasp that in the middle of our match. It's not unheard of for people to unlock some enlightenment during intense conditions and our match with Team V will definitely be intense." After saying his piece, he left the Field and entered through the door and out of sight.
Following his departure, the rest of us, seeing his point and agreeing, got up and left the Field. I went back to the Bathrooms to wash up and changed into the light Blue Bluelock Tracksuits. After changing, I went to the cafeteria to get a meal.
Sitting in my seat and eating, somene came up and sat beside me. That someone sported a head of bright Pink, Chigiri Hyoma. "Hey." he greeted an sat down with his food. "Stir-fried Vegetables, huh? That's nice. I get Gyoza as a side meal. Wanna trade?". He froze with his chopsticks in his mouth and reluctantly nodded. I smiled at that and swapped our plates around. Getting a taste of his Side meal, it was surprisingly very well done. The leaves were soft and crispy at the same time. The sauce and the spices used were very prominent but didn't drown the taste of the Leaves. If anything, it complemented the taste to give it a clean, healthy taste. A Vegetarian's Paradise. My sincerest compliments to the Bluelock Chefs.
"So, how was it, finally fighting for yourself again? You really showed us the real you back there. Question now is, are you ready to push your Weapon to new heights again? Because you'll have to if we want any hope of beating Team V." I asked with a light smile. He looked serious and replied, "It...…I don't know. It felt...…liberating. Honestly, I'm still scared I'll blow my leg out and kill my dream again but…." He placed a tentative hand on his Right Knee "….I want to do this. I want to fight for myself. I want to dream again.". "Then win. That's all you need. Win. Win. Win and keep on winning. That's the only way you can become the Best Striker in the World. And the first target is Team V. With your Speed, we'll make light work of them and then, well I guess we'll have to wait and see, right?", I encouraged and held out a fist to him. He smiled and we connected fists. "Yeah. You're right.".
We are ready for you, Team V. Bring it on, Bluelock.