"Reo…"
Nagi stared blankly at Reo, but slowly, a small smile crept onto his face.
"It's been a while… since I've seen you look this fired up."
"Well then, since you've said all that… guess I'll put in a little effort too."
...
"Hey, hey, look over there. Doesn't that totally look like parents teaching their kid how to be independent?"
While Manshine's trio continued their conversation, the Ubers players looked on in amusement. Lorenzo, with a mischievous grin, leaned in and whispered playfully.
"Pfft! Lorenzo, you're such a clown!" Aiku couldn't hold back a laugh. But after sensing the shift in the atmosphere across the field, even the more easygoing players gradually grew serious.
"Whoa… looks like their little talk really worked."
"Alright, let's go. If you don't want that little chick pecking you, then stay sharp."
With his teammates focused again, Shinichi gave a low warning and stepped forward—it was time for their throw-in.
BEEP—!
As the whistle blew, Aiku launched a powerful throw-in to Kunigami. With Chigiri pressing hard, Kunigami dropped his stance, shielding the ball calmly while scanning his teammates' movement.
Then he passed the ball firmly to Lorenzo's feet.
"How about that? Our little hero up front is a rock-solid target man," Lorenzo said, backing into Reo with a slight lean of his head.
"Compared to him… your strength's a little lacking."
At that moment, Lorenzo suddenly drove his body backward. Though he had a tall and lean build, his strength was nothing to scoff at—on par with elite defenders.
With a burst of unexpected power, he knocked Reo off balance, nearly sending him stumbling to the ground.
"Not much for physical play, are you, 56 million."
Lorenzo grinned mockingly. But just then, Reo—despite his unstable footing—forcefully mimicked Shinichi's style.
Letting himself fall, he caught himself with his hand just before hitting the ground, and with that momentum, he reached out and poked the ball away from Lorenzo's feet from behind.
"Go for it!"
With Reo's shout, chaos instantly erupted.
All the players nearby charged toward the rolling ball.
Even though Lorenzo had been caught off guard, he recovered quickly and lunged toward the ball, ready to reclaim it with a swift kick.
"Don't joke with me—if anyone's stealing the spotlight in front of the whole damn world, it's gotta be the super-stylish me!!"
Just as Lorenzo's long leg was about to reach the ball, an even longer leg stretched out from afar and poked it away—Aryu, sliding in with a flying tackle, knocked the ball loose. Without wasting even a second, he sprang back to his feet and charged after it again.
"This time—it's mine!"
However, getting to the ball before Lorenzo had already pushed Aryu to his limits. He didn't have the energy left to control the ball's direction.
As a result, the ball bounced straight to Barou's feet.
But Aryu and the charging Chigiri didn't hesitate for even a moment—they lunged at Barou with everything they had, determined to win the ball back again.
"Jeez, you're all insane... but if we're talking crazies, count me in."
"Tch. Dammit."
With those two lines spoken almost simultaneously, Barou cursed under his breath and passed the ball back to the oncoming Lorenzo.
Seeing this, Aryu and Chigiri instantly adjusted, shifting their pressure to Lorenzo.
At the same time, Kurona arrived and swiftly blocked Lorenzo's passing lane back to Barou, patching up the opening that had formed between Aryu and Chigiri due to their differing speeds.
"Three-man pincer. You're not getting past us this time."
Chigiri stated flatly, his voice full of conviction as they surrounded Lorenzo with no way out. But Lorenzo showed no sign of panic. The tattoo on the back of his neck, shaped like a mouth, seemed to open and close with the motion of his body.
"That's not up to you."
"After all, like I said—I'm a madman too."
BANG!
With a touch nearly as powerful as a full-blown shot, Lorenzo sent the ball flying. He instantly dropped his stance and ducked low, slipping right beneath the raised arms of the two defenders.
But instead of charging straight for the ball, Lorenzo came to an abrupt halt—cutting off Chigiri's momentum so he couldn't accelerate.
Only then did he dash forward. Before Aryu, who was half a step behind, could close in, Lorenzo stretched out his long leg and reached the ball. His reach allowed him to get a touch even from afar, pushing the ball just past Aryu's outstretched toes with a sharp horizontal pass.
"You've got some impressive reach there, 26 million—but when we're talking freakish talent, don't forget to count me in, OK?"
"Lorenzo, bragging right after almost messing up? Really?"
Niko caught the ball and muttered under his breath. Without wasting a second, he sent a through pass directly to Shinichi.
"That's my job done. Boss, don't make me work overtime."
"Guess I'm back to puzzle-solving."
As soon as Shinichi received the ball, Nagi closed in and pressed tightly against him, trying to deny him any freedom of movement.
"Looks like you don't get it," Shinichi said casually, his back to Nagi.
"Sometimes, a corrupted save file means the puzzle's simply unsolvable—no matter what you do."
Still talking, Shinichi stopped the ball with his right foot, then nudged it left. His left foot stepped on the ball and shoved it further to the side as his body leaned left, as if preparing to spin that way.
"Turning left? That's too basic. Maybe a Marseille turn?"
Nagi's mind raced even without being asked.
"Shinichi's coordination and flexibility are elite, and his back-to-goal strength makes him really tough to spin past… but this could still be a straight burst past me. Ugh, this guy has too many options—it's not even a single-choice problem. He can shift into anything at any moment. I have to treat him like a multi-answer question and block every possible choice. Still…"
Suddenly, Nagi's heart skipped a beat.
"Wait… why can't I see Shinichi's movements—or the ball?"
SMACK—!
Shinichi, still facing away from Nagi, used his left foot to push the ball outward. At the same time, he shifted his body just enough to block Nagi's vision. In that moment of uncertainty, Shinichi's left leg suddenly whipped forward, swinging around the ball's front—and with a flick of his heel, knocked it hard.
The ball shot forward with incredible force, sliding under Nagi's legs and skimming the turf as it tore through the penalty area. And there—
Sendou, sprinting in, met the ball in stride.
THUMP—!
It all happened too fast. Even the goalkeeper had his vision blocked by Nagi and couldn't see Shinichi's movement. By the time he noticed the ball, it was already flying—Sendou's strike sending it diagonally toward the far post—
GOOOOOOAL!
Italy's Ubers 2 : 0 England's Manshine!!
"You used my own logic to turn the tables on me…"
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