Blue Lock: 13 Steps

|| Aprey ||

There are times when inexplicable feelings of worry and dread come swirling in without reason. The feeling of something heavy pressing down on your chest. That complicated and unpleasant feeling came swirling into Bachira's chest as he made his way towards the field.

Bachira: "Do you feel that?"

Isagi: "What do you mean?"

Bachira: "Never mind."

Both Team Z and Team W came out of their respective tunnels at the same time, and met each other's eyes, sizing up their opponents for the second time.

During that short time of malevolently staring at one another Bachira tried to meet with Sho's eyes but was denied as he kept his eyes pointed towards his shoes.

This feeling of discomfort, regret, and overall disappointment overwhelmed Sho and he stepped back on the field for a second time and unusually spoke to himself.

Sho: 'When have I ever followed other peoples advice on the way I play? Never! So why start now. It's time I put all my trust, all my faith, all my belief, all my confidence into all of my incomplete ego.'

Once Sho's head rose from looking down, imaginary black strings grew from his left eye and dragged itself towards Bachira's legs until it enveloped them.

All players on the field suddenly broke into a cold sweat and unknowingly looked towards the source of their hidden fear. Sho. Sho weirdly looked past their unwanted stares and looked at the weird black strings covering Bachira's legs.

Sho: 'Huh?'

A ring was then heard from the speaker above them, signaling the start of the 2nd half.

Junichi received the ball from his teammate in the center circle and got the sneaking suspicion to pass the ball towards Sho's direction, so he turned to the right and passed it his way and eagerly waited for Sho to lead the way.

Sho ran with the ball down the field, and took a whole different approach from his former self and aggressively pressured the short defender in front of him. Sho gazed at his opponents eyes, easily detecting the worry in them.

He turned around and put his back against his opponent's chest, then in one swift move he pushed off him. Effortlessly bumping him away from him. Sho took advantage of the free space between them and arced the ball over his defenders short frame, scoring Team W's first goal in the game.

Team W 1-2 Team Z

Almost as soon as the ball connected with the net of the goal, Sho paid attention to the short defender walking up to him and looked at his demoralized eyes and uttered a single word.

Sho: "Switch."

Bachira looked on at what had transpired and giggled to his fellow teammates near him.

Bachira: "Nya ha, welcome back Sho."

Sho walked back to his side of the field, and didn't pay attention to his teammates' uneasy expressions.

Isagi wiped some sweat off his forehead as the ball reset in the center circle, kicking it towards Bachira.

Bachira's emotions slowly grew from bored to excited as the selfish Sho he knew came back onto the field.

Bachira: "Finally it's time to set things straight between us. Let's finally see who's better."

A demented expression took over his excited face, as he dribbled down the field with the ball. Junichi saw that demented look and quickly threw his arms to the side in hopes of blocking him.