043 Blue Lock: System Ten Years Early

"This is bad, an overwhelming gap in strength." Tanaka Shingen propped his hands on his waist, panting heavily. The rapid passing between those two small guys was already troublesome enough, not to mention that ghost-like guy who ran as if he were flying.

"W-w-we're going to lose... they definitely won't pick me, and if we lose another round... eek! No, I don't want that, I said it, I shouldn't have played in the first match." Tokimitsu Aoshi also fell into a low mood, muttering nonstop.

"Shut up. If you're going to give up, then get lost. Don't block my path." Itoshi Rin shouted angrily at the two who had no fighting spirit. The killing intent in his eyes kept condensing, and in a daze it seemed as if one ugly monster after another was roaring out from deep within Itoshi Rin's heart.

"Damn it! I won't end like this!"

Beep!

The whistle sounded. Itoshi Rin carried the ball and charged diagonally forward, not caring about the attacking route at all, instead taking a detour to find Ranze Kurona on the outside.

"You guys, I'll destroy every single one of you, and then go kill that bastard..." Itoshi Rin growled indistinctly, but his footwork showed no sign of being affected, the ball nimbly shifting left and right at his toes.

'This guy's weapon is agile, rapid movement. Then I'll use a speed you can't keep up with.' Itoshi Rin suddenly started, kicking the ball toward Ranze Kurona's right side.

"A mistake? Can I reach it?" Ranze Kurona judged the distance. Just as he instinctively lifted his right foot to receive the ball, Itoshi Rin moved a step ahead of him and tapped the ball out once more before he could touch it.

Afraid of kicking Itoshi Rin and committing a foul, Ranze Kurona could only pull his foot back at the last moment, losing his balance and half-kneeling on the ground.

"Amazing. You lured me into turning sideways and lifting my foot, then touched the ball before me."

"Next is you, blue-haired." After getting past Ranze Kurona, Itoshi Rin turned his head to look for the next target, fixing his gaze on Hiori Yo.

'Kōken Shinichi's lackey. Your advantage is vision and your way of thinking, then making the best choice through calm analysis.' Images of Hiori Yo's earlier movements flashed rapidly through Itoshi Rin's mind.

"Then I'll mess up your judgment!"

"This is bad, the real monster has marked me as prey." A drop of cold sweat slid down Hiori Yo's forehead, his heart pounding under the gaze of a stronger opponent.

"But I have no intention of surrendering!" Hiori Yo gritted his teeth. His radar-like eyes faithfully took in the data ahead, his brain spinning nonstop. "Come on, let me see where my limits are right now!"

The distance kept closing. Itoshi Rin still made no move. Five meters, four meters—it's coming! Hiori Yo took a deep breath, but at that moment, Itoshi Rin, who was carrying the ball forward, suddenly made a passing motion. And on his right side was Tokimitsu Aoshi, who had been following behind him all along.

"Eh! You're passing to me at a time like this?"

A pass? No way, at this moment? Hiori Yo's eyes widened, all his lines of thought completely thrown into chaos by this single action from Itoshi Rin.

All of Hiori Yo's thoughts and predictions became unusable, because Itoshi Rin gave him only two options: pass or go himself. Hiori Yo had to choose one of the two within a limited time!

'Life or death, a 50% choice— which should I pick?' Hiori Yo kept thinking. If it were at the very start of the match, he would absolutely think that Itoshi Rin would pass the ball, but Rin's current state was clearly off. In this state, would Rin really pass?

'He won't pass!' Hiori Yo clenched his teeth and snapped awake from the predicament Itoshi Rin had given him. Itoshi Rin was absolutely not the type to hand the power of choice over to someone else!

If passing to Tokimitsu Aoshi meant a 100% chance of getting past me, then even in this state Itoshi Rin would definitely pass, because in his eyes that would be an opportunity completely created by himself. But now, in this 50% situation, he absolutely wouldn't pass!

Passing to Tokimitsu Aoshi was only a possibly successful option, but if Itoshi Rin did it himself, then even if I guessed right, Rin could still crush me with stronger individual ability. This isn't a fifty-fifty question of victory or defeat—this is a pseudo-problem where passing has a 10% win rate and going himself has a 90% win rate!

Hiori Yo solidified his conviction. Unmoved by Itoshi Rin's raised-foot passing motion, he stayed in his defensive position.

'Next is thinking about what Itoshi Rin will do after realizing I've guessed his intentions. Crush me with speed? Or... wait! What?!'

Mid-thought, Hiori Yo's eyes suddenly widened. He saw that Itoshi Rin indeed ignored Tokimitsu Aoshi at his side, but at the same time, he also had no intention whatsoever of changing his movement to continue charging forward.

Itoshi Rin's right leg lifted high, his center of gravity tilting slightly to the left. His gaze was locked tightly on the space behind Hiori Yo...

Itoshi Rin chose neither option!

'This guy... didn't even fully put the question on the table... whether guessing a pass and chasing Tokimitsu Aoshi, or guessing no pass and waiting for the attack, both are wrong options. Itoshi Rin, this egoist, wants an absolute certainty that guarantees a 100% win!'

"He's going to shoot directly from this position!"

"You were a step slow again, Hiori." A reassuring voice sounded from behind. Shinichi calmly met the crazed and provocative gaze of Itoshi Rin.

"Looks like you haven't been training enough lately. You need to work harder too."

Shinichi had both hands in his pockets and stepped one pace to the right. Just this small step alone caused a drastic change in Itoshi Rin's expression, the contact point of his already raised right foot shifting slightly.

The ball blasted out, curving with an extremely exaggerated arc around Hiori Yo and charging straight toward Shinichi in front of the goal. But Shinichi merely looked at the ball indifferently, with no intention of blocking it at all, letting it graze past his cheek.

Little master, there's more after this chapter—please click the next page to continue reading, it gets even more exciting!

Smack.

The crisp sound signaled the final result. The Blue Lock goalkeeper dove forward and blocked the ball. Shinichi, hands in his pockets, looked down at Itoshi Rin, who had fallen after forcibly twisting his body to add extra spin to the ball and kicking it out.

"In an instant he saw through all my lines of thought. Just relying on a single step, he blocked my final shooting lane... everything about me was calculated..."

Itoshi Rin weakly lifted his head. Behind him, countless ferocious phantom monsters shattered one by one and dissipated, until only wisps of black aura slowly shrank back into Itoshi Rin's body.

"Why would you think that scenery you can see is something I can't see, mediocre talent?"

"And why didn't you come face me head-on? Can this kind of trickery really satisfy you?" Shinichi shook his head with some regret.

"What a pity. If the half-finished football you stole from Itoshi Sae earlier still had some value, then your current ugly kicking style..."

"Doesn't even have the value to be Plundered."

The Blue Lock goalkeeper tossed the ball to Shinichi, who jogged forward. Shinichi caught the ball, a flash of flame flickering through his eyes. Like a bolt of lightning, he instantly crossed the entire pitch and then lifted his foot to score.

3:0 → 4:0

"Ah↗↘? That monster still hadn't even used his full strength before? We're done for, we're really going to be wiped out."

"Hah... hah... this is too exaggerated, this guy..."

Tokimitsu Aoshi and Tanaka Shingen stood to the side dejectedly, panting nonstop. Only Itoshi Rin stubbornly stood back up, holding the ball and slowly walking toward the center.

"Damn it! Damn it! I wasn't running away!" Itoshi Rin clenched his teeth, still trying to struggle on. But that nightmare-like figure appeared once again. Overwhelming power left him completely unable to resist. Shinichi simply and brutally used body contact to shove Itoshi Rin aside, forcibly snatching the ball from under his feet.

"That's enough. I'm already sick of watching this farce. Hurry up and end it." After hearing just this one sentence, Itoshi Rin could no longer track that figure. In the end, he could only collapse blankly, staring dazedly at the white woven lights on the dome ceiling.

The whistle signaling a goal sounded once more. Shinichi let out a light breath and looked at Itoshi Rin lying on the ground. "Hey, how long are you going to lie there?"

"Roll over here. This is the reward for your interesting struggle."