Project: Bland King

Chapter 37: Big Bang

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As the game began to resume, everyone had returned to their seats. Hirata, Sato, and Kei, who met the new Kiyotaka, entered into a discourse about it. 

Hirata: I told you it was a bad idea. But don't worry, he's just focused on the game right now. 

Sato: That's no excuse! He couldn't say 'hey' or 'what's up?' He was out of line for that. 

Hirata: Ayanokouji doesn't seem to be the same person as before. Whatever he went through in 'Blue Lock' changed his personality or something. We can meet him after the game. He'll be back to normal then. 

Sato: But still-

Kei: It's fine. It's my fault. I could see it in his eyes. He cares about this game a lot. I don't know why but I've never seen him care about anything like this before. Let's just keep watching the game and I'll talk to him afterwords. 

Horikita: That's the best choice. If this game is as important as he's making it out to be, there might be more repercussions than just the outcome alone. 

Sudo: Hm? What do you mean by that?

Horikita: I mean, as soon as he left ANHS, he got swept away to this project. He wouldn't have joined a soccer project out of the blue. He never liked sports. So he's there for a reason and the outcome of this match might make or break it. 

Sudo: Oh...

Koenji: Not bad, Horikita-girl. You got it almost on the money. 

Sudo and Horikita looked over their shoulders to see Koenji still resting his feet on another student's head. 

Koenji: But to say he's not a fan of sports now is criminal. He wouldn't be trying this hard if he didn't like what he was doing. It's wholesome in a way. 

A couple of rows away, Kanzaki rested Ichinose's head on his lap. Ever since she fainted, she's been effectively knocked out and the rest of her classmates have tried in vain to open her eyes. 

But they aren't that interesting to write about so let's go to cooler classmates. 

Ryuen was somewhat weary. That final goal of the half did, in fact, change the momentum in favor of the U-20. But he still had his faith in Ayanokouji. 

Ryuen: I'm putting my faith in you, monster. Don't ruin my pockets. 

Ibuki: Ayanokouji himself is playing pretty well but if he's the only one that's reading the other team's plays, they can't win. 

Ishizaki: Soccer is a team sport. Someone has to step up. 

Albert: Agreed. 

A row of seats above them had Arisu and Kamuro, talking amongst themselves. 

 Arisu: Kiyo might be a bit fucked in the beginning. 

Kamuro: Huh? 

Arisu: Like I said, defending is harder than attacking in this instance. On one hand, he has 9 other players to help him on the offense but just himself for the defense. Being the only one that can comprehend their attack is going to be a problem. 

Kamuro: Who do you got winning then?

Arisu: At this point, even I don't know what kind of plan Kiyo is cooking up but we'll just have to see. Alot can happen in forty-five minutes.   

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Sae passed the ball over to Shido to commence the second half. 

Linking up in a triangular formation, Shido, Sae, and Yagami charged forward. They would cut through the middle using their new formation.