Two weeks after Blue Lock's triumph over the U-20, they returned to the facility, where both new and familiar people were there. The blue lockers, along with the old U-20 team, are now facing the world stage. With the formation of the Neo Egoist Lea...
"Seth, Ego wants to know the ratings for the players in your last match." Maria stated this while walking a few steps behind the boy.
"Uhm." Seth took a few seconds to speak. In all honesty, only two people really stuck out, and they were from Blue Lock. "Meguru Bachira, one. Yoichi Isagi, one. Everyone else was meh."
Those two were the only ones he saw another in, but then again, he only played with four members of Blue Lock. Kunigami had a good physique and, from what he saw, could shoot with both legs, but that was it. His playing style lacked any color. Otoya—he didn't see much of him during that game.
"Here." Maria gave him her phone, which displayed Isagi's bid, since it was clear he was the only one Seth took an interest in.
[Yoichi Isagi - Berserk Dortmunb - ¥18,500,000]
Although he hadn't played at first, the fact that he was able to link up with Seth and Noel definitely counted for something, as did his assist on the last goal. But for now, that doesn't really matter. With this next game, he was positive he'd have to put in a bit more effort.
⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝
As the two arrived in the next area, they saw everyone from PXG and Ubers already lined up. The boy and girl had half a mind to just walk out with the stares they got. It was like they had never met or seen a woman in their teenage lives.
Passing Loki, Maria took the uniform from him and walked over to Snuffy to do the same.
When the coin was flipped, Seth looked at Snuffy.
"Heads." The man smiled, although he didn't seem very confident in his answer. And he was right since it landed on tails.
"PXG." Maria threw that uniform at the boy, and while he threw the coin at her, they both caught them. While the boy changed, Loki placed a tablet in front of him.
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"This is your position, Seth." He then pointed towards a boy lying on the field. "If you and Charles can't force Rin and Shido to work together, then I'll have to sub one of them out at a time."
"Is that right?" Seth mumbled. "So you just want to force them to work together?"
"No, if you do that, they will grow dependent on you being on our side to work together. What I want is for you to support the one with the highest chance of scoring. For now at least."
Loki watched the boy stand. He stretched his arms behind his back.
"Alright." Seth gave his clothes to Maria, who began folding the uniforms he would no longer be using. Until the next time he played on those teams, that is.
Once the boy was in place, he looked at the players around him; unlike the last game, three Blue Lockers were on the starting team for PXG. Seth could only make out two or three people on this team that had a similar play style to him, but he would make it work.
"Match one of the Neo-Egoist Leagues: France vs. . Italy!"
The match started with the ball in Rin's position, and not surprisingly, he didn't pass to Shido and instead sent the ball back into Charles'grasp. This reminded Seth of Bastard Munchen and the way the players were clearly divided. Even those on the bench were cheering for different players.
Charles hummed a very low tune as he spotted Seth moving along the same line as Shido. "You're the one whose clips I was forced to watch!" He shouted out of nowhere.
Seth heard him but refused to acknowledge him, something that had adverse effects seeing as the boy sent the ball flying over the heads of a few Ubers and above the captain.
Seth moved his right foot back, and once the ball touched his back heel, he flicked it over his head and onto his left.
'Well...' He pulled the ball back, causing Aryu to miss the tackle. If he had succeeded, it would have landed in Uber's grasp. 'Guess I gotta work.'
Taking a double touch with his right foot, the boy then sprinted forward, passing the defender with very little effort, much to the displeasure of Aryu.
It wasn't long before Seth was met with another. Slowing his pace, he prepared to send it through their legs. The defender reacted by running forward, making it impossible to be nutmegged from where the Russian stood.
The boy instead opted to kick the ball in a way that caused it to spin around the defender and for him to suddenly accelerate past him. By the time he stopped and turned, Seth already had the ball at his feet, and his sprint resumed where it left off.
Not very far from Seth, Charles looked towards him with his mouth slightly open and his eyes watching his every move. "Oh! So you are cool! Let's play!"
"I'd rather not." Seth responded, dodging another defender.
"Then let's go!!" Grinning, the boy ran towards Seth as he looked at Charles with very slight annoyance. It was clear as day that the boy was going to do the opposite of what he said; however, he could use him to lessen his work load.
The boy moved the ball away from the person behind him, who happened to be Lorenzo. Due to their difference in height, Don had the advantage when it came to reaching, especially when they were in one spot.
"Captain~, long time no see!" The man showed his golden teeth, which made Seth glance away for a second and lose his hold on the ball. Don took that chance to kick the ball from under Seth's foot; his eyes narrowed as it went towards Uber's striker. "Captain, have you gotten sloppy?"
"No." They watched as Charles intersected it with a smirk plastered on his face.
'Did he do that on purpose?' Don's grin wavered as Seth pushed off him and turned his body in the process. Red eyes stared at the ball once the boy made a pass to his feet. 'Yup! Definitely on purpose!'
With that confirmed, he would have liked to take the ball from the Russian, but it was sent across the field towards Shido, who was not far from the goal.
"That's that." Seth proclaimed as he fell back while the Ubers tried to defend their goal. He had given them their meal; all they had to do was eat. Now, it was just up to who got to the fork first.
Or something. Maria's weird metaphors were unfortunately rubbing off on him.
As the ball approached Shido, he grinned at the marvelous pass. Seth's pass usually dies the moment they hit the receiver's feet, making a play after that easier to pull off. If they needed to use the momentum of the pass in any way, the boy would usually adjust how much force he placed behind it.
"Here it comes." Flashing his grin, he paid no mind to everyone around him, causing his downfall. If he had stopped the pass earlier on, he would only have to shoot with a few defenders on his back. Instead, he made a dash and got past most of the Ubers defense.
While most of the attention was on him due to everyone seeing how goal-hungry Shido was, Rin had stopped the ball with his shoulder and wand his back towards Shido.
"You-!" With all the gritting Shido was doing, it was a wonder that his teeth hadn't been grinded to dust. His "explosion" was denied by the "brother lover" he despised so much.
Once it fell, his right foot collided with the ball and sent a curved shot towards the goal, entering the net in the top left corner.
"GOAL!!" The shout over the microphones caused Seth to sit up. "With Seth Sidorov's assist, Itoshi Rin scores the first goal of the second game!!"
Sitting up, Seth looked at the two members of Blue Lock who were already in a heated argument. Could they really not find another time to argue? The boy had seen some of their clips and knew it was a bad idea to place the two on the field at once. He just didn't voice his opinion; it wasn't asked for.
Plus, Loki knew what he was doing. Unlike Seth, who only gave advice to people who asked and members of his team,.
Don crouched next to the boy and watched the players from Ubers make their way back to their positions.
"So, Captain, I see you decided to steal Michael's fun early." Lorenzo turned away from him and faced Maria, who was standing a good ways away from them. Sending her a big grin, he laughed as she threw the uniform at Seth and took a dozen or so steps back.
"I didn't 'ruin his fun'; he ruined his own fun by forgetting the agreement."
"Wasn't really much of an agreement, now was it?" He said he was taking the shirt from Seth's outstretched hand. The boy seemed to have a talent for changing his clothes quickly and in very awkward places.
"Not my fault." Standing, his eyes fell on Charles, who was being forced back into his position, then on Snuffy, who was walking towards them with a tablet.
"Seth, can I ask for a favor?" The master asked quite respectfully, but it wasn't like he had a choice. Well. He did, but saying he didn't made it easier to do tasks he most likely wouldn't want to do.
"Play as Uber's striker this round." After some research, Snuffy discovered that Seth hardly ever played the role of a striker or defender. He was usually at the center of each formation. Even in the New Gen's formation, he played as the team's playmaker.
"Sure." Seth answered without much thought before throwing the PXG uniforms at Maria, who walked away folding them. Snuffy blinked once, twice, then sighed.
He knew Barou would at least be watching the game from somewhere else; if not, then he would definitely see the clips.
"How do you want me to play? Aggressive, passive, tire them out?" Moving his sakura-colored hair, the boy asked while fixing his sleeves. The last thing he wants is for Maria to talk about how his clothes weren't perfect during a match. He couldn't even fold his sleeve without the woman sending death glears from the bench.
"Hm, aggressive."
"How aggressive?" Seth tilted his head. "On a scale of one to five, how aggressive should I play?"
"Five."
"Then I wouldn't pass the ball." He strugged. What he was saying was the truth. It would take effort, but he could definitely score a goal without passing against a team of this level. Especially when their strikers can't work together to save their careers.
"Four then."
"Okay."
Don and Seth watched as the man made his way off the field along with Uber's striker. The boy looked at Maria, who was wearing his glasses; her eyes shifted from his to PXG's goal, then back to his. Without answering, he turned to Lorenzo.
"Don, can you-?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." The man answered calmly. "Make my way up as soon as possible."
Don was the only one on this team that had played any matches with Seth; he knew how the boy played. No one could see what the boy played from start to finish on the field, especially since his vision changed so often during games.
The defender may not be able to keep up with his thought process, but he could keep up with his plays.
