Chapter 8

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   "Im gonna say it! I think having Isagi as our center forward was a mistake!" Raichi started, "NEXT GAME ILL BE AT THE VERY TOP OF THE LINEUP!"

    "No way! Me! Isagi sucked, but id be an ace as center forward!" Naruhaya exclaimed.

     "SHUT IT SMALL FRY!" Raichi yelled.

     "Eh? Why are you all acting like that when isagi didnt even pass to you?" One guy asked.

     "Just take me off defense man!" Igaguri whined.

     "ENOUGH ALREADY CAN YOU ALL CUT IT OUT?!" A shirtless kuon yelled, "WERE NOT HERE TO MESS AROUND!"

     'Dang.. look at those abs-' you thought to yourself, 'no this isnt the time to be thinking about that!' You scolded yourself.

    "Do you really get how dicey our situation is now?! Our team has already been saddled with a loss!" Kuon explained.

    "Nope.. watcha mean?" Igaguri asked

    "Listen, in this first selection.. five teams play in a round robin tourney. Only the top 2 will move onto the next round! Supposing that all the teams are about equal and manage two wins and losses, the max number of points theyll have is 6. Therefore, we shouldnt aim for those six points, but exceed that number and go for 7!! Of course there may be more draws than that, but with two wins and one draw, well have 7 points. Well be much more likely to make it if we reach that threshold!" Kuon explained, "that goes for every other team too! Lose 2 games and they cant reach seven points no matter what! It might not guarantee elimination, but two losses will put us in a 'dead zone' of sorts that would be beyond hard to crawl out of. So just like that, team z is on the verge of elimination. If we lose again, were all but finished! This isnt the time to be thinking about ourselves.. if we dont focus on what we can do to win.. then its over for us."

     "PREACH!" You yelled, breaking the silence after his speech.

       Everyone turned to look at you.

      "What..?" You asked.

      After a few seconds, igaguri spoke up, "kay then, do you have a plan or what?"

     "No... not yet im afraid." Kuon replied.

     "Then whatevs! Thanks for the pep-talk!" Igaguri spoke as he raised his hand, waving goodbye.

     "But if things dont change then-" kuon started.

     "Its true." Kunigami interrupted, "if it aint for bachira and isagi, it wouldve been impossible for me to score a goal. I think that goal was a hint on how to win."

    "ARE YOU SHITTIN ME YA MEAT HEAD!!" Raichi yelled, making you jump, "YOUR ONLY SAYING THAT CAUSE YOU WANNA GET MORE PASSES AND BE THE BEST SCORER RIGHT?!"

    "But it was an amazing goal! Honestly i thought it was the best goal of this match! With more of those, well win easy!" Bachira spoke, causing you to look towards him, but isagi blocked your vision before you could face your friend.

    "eh? Isagi.." you questioned.

   "Bachira.. put some clothes on.." isagi spoke.

   Your face turned a dark shade of red as you turned away and covered your eyes.

   "Oh yeah.. i forgot that (y/n) shares a locker room with us.. my bad.." bachira apologized as he put on his pants.

    "YOU STUPID?! A SHOT AS STRONG AS THAT IS A FLUKE! YOU CANT CONTROL THEM!!" Naruhaya yelled.

     "I mean.. ego did say this was all to compete in the world cup.. and while he mentioned world class strikers like Cristiano Ronaldo, and Messi from Cantona.. none of them have actually won a world cup.. am i right?" Chigiri started, "that said, his talk about playing football without foundations.. thats probably where the hint is.."

      "Oh yeah..." you uncovered your eyes, "speaking of 'playing football without foundations..' i mightve figured out what he really meant!"

     Raichi raised a brow, "And what's that girlie, spit it out."

     "Early in the match, everyone was only focused on scoring goals. Wasnt it like playing freestyle? I think playing freestyle is what ego meant by saying 'football from scratch' because there was no strategy at all!" You laughed.

"Hm.. maybe.." igaguri spoke, "that wasnt yer usual football.."

"Yeah.. that hurts to see.." gagamaru joined in.

"But that all stopped when baro scored his goal.." isagi added, "they were inspired by it and naturally chose to keep passing it to him. Because he proved that image of scoring a goal, thats why i believe they were able to become a proper team. Baros first goal destroyed that freestyle chaos. He became the foundation of his team with skill alone. And after witnessing talent, their other ten members could improve their own play enormously just by following his lead. Thats what we need. Our very own foundation, an overwhelming talent to hold this team up and guide us to victory."

You smiled seeing that isagi was on the same page as you were, isagi continued, "Ego used that rule to make something clear to us, he forced us to discard our ideas of tactics and positioning. To score goals 'entirely on our own' and that our teams foundation could only come after the explosive clash between our egos. 'Football and the teams with it are born from a top-notch striker.' I think that was egos message for us."

"Well well! Youre on the right track!" You heard Ego's voice echo throughout the room, "Listen up you unpolished gems, the second match of the fifth stratum concluded just a few moments ago... and team V trampled over team Y with a score of eight to zero. These are the current standings.."

A screen popped up on the TV. Team Z was in fourth place, team V being in first.

Ego then began explaining stuff about being confined to a role and that we all had our individual talents. You were uninterested, for you already knew your strengths and weaknesses.

Authors note: sorry the update published so late, had to finish up this chapter before publishing 😅

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