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51. ANYTHING, TO ENSURE IT
*⋆｡˚𖦹࣪˖ ִֶָ⋆｡°✩
SOON
Anri squeals, face flushed pink and excitement practically radiating from her figure. "Amazing... they did it! They caught up!" She types in something on her tablet, then quickly peers over at Ego. "But I wonder... Why did our offence strategy suddenly work? Makes me wonder how we were having so much trouble in the first place..."
"Nagi is just really good," You nod, face planted in your hands. "He's totally brought up our morale."
"Don't you two errand girls get carried away by a simple goal," Ego doesn't even glance away from the field when he rudely insults you—you give him an offended stare—"If they can create a situation where they've got a 50-50 chance of scoring, our forwards are expected to do that much."
Anri hides her obvious contempt for Ego at that moment, puffing out her cheeks and looking back towards the field, "Meaning... the play before that was the critical one?"
"Exactly," Ego leans back in his chair, leg propped up over his knee and eyes dark, "Itoshi Rin's improvisation... was the origin of that goal. Didn't I tell you? Our players are strong. All the selections I put them through have trained their capacity to improvise."
He pauses—like he's taking a moment to think. "What is the objective of this match, [name]?" His eyes meet your own curious gaze.
You're shocked—you didn't expect him to ask you this so suddenly. You press your lips together, while you think of your answer. It's so simple, yet so true. "It's to win. Plain and simple."
"Yes." He nods, and you discreetly let out a sigh of relief. "Whether they can get into that mindset quickly will be crucial. Even if your plans fall apart, even if the path you take is not ideal, as long as you don't lose sight of your objective, your situation just becomes another challenge."
"That's... the mindset necessary for improvising!" Anri nods her head, nodding in realisation. Ego looks down at the ground behind his lens, eyes froggish and unblinking.
"Now you understand, Anri-chan. BlueLock doesn't need an average joe who waits around for orders. What we want... are the egoists who discover their own challenges. Itoshi Rin moved towards the challenge faster than anyone else, and Yoichi Isagi responded to that... It seems Yoichi Isagi really is the key... to Itoshi Rin's awakening."
You chew on the inside of your cheek, tearing your eyes away from Ego and Anri once the game restarts, back at 1 — 1.
Sae receives the ball and is quickly met with none other than his own brother, Rin. The tense air between the two is unmistakable, and it sends a jolt of panic towards your spine. They... don't look happy to see each other. Maybe... I was wrong.
