Seven minutes till kick off...

Akira stood in front of the mirror in the Team V locker room touching up his eyeliner, it was his warpaint and he was hardly ever seen without it. The only times were when he was showering (which he would reapply directly after) or when he was sleeping (sometimes he would sleep with it on by accident).

The process calmed him before the match, as he focused on sharpening the tip and darkening the corner and the lid of his eye. Mentally preparing himself for the game ahead, "Let's get going, Akira" Reo called as he stood by the door with Nagi and Zantetsu. Twirling a hair tie around on his pointer finger, "Coming!" adding the final touches. Before checking himself once over, the curly-haired boy rejoined his remaining teammates in walking down towards the pitch.

As they walked through the hallway, Akira couldn't help but think back at his time at Blue Lock. Before he was so shy, and the thought of talking to strangers and being in unfamiliar situations made his skin crawl but now it was normal to him. He felt himself grow more confident in himself and his abilities, which made him seem unrecognizable compared to the Akira who entered the program.

"This is the final match, we're on zero losses in the round-robin so we're already through, but Team Z's survival rides on this match. But naturally, we'll go all-out for the win." Reo explained, his mindset not shifting whatsoever, they were going to win no matter what.

"Okay. 'Don't halloo till you're out of the womb.' Right?" Zantetsu agreed reciting another proverb incorrectly. "It's 'Don't halloo till you're out of the wood.'" Reo corrected once again slightly annoyed but turned his attention to more pressing matters, "Okay, this is the last battle of the first selection" he said hyping himself up as he approached the door that led to the pitch. "Don't halloo till you're out of the womb! No halloo-ing!"

"Nagi, you okay?" Akira asked turning to his friend, who had been quiet since turning off his phone in the locker room. "Yeah, why?" Nagi asked "Oh no reason me just want to make sure you okay" The white-haired boy couldn't help but let his heart swell, at the bronzed teen's concern, intertwining their hands he gave him a reassuring squeeze as they walked out onto the pitch where Team Z stood waiting with the rest of team V.

The two groups stood facing off, sizing the other up as they tried to assert dominance over the other with neither side sure who was winning. "So the weakest team is trying to beat us, the strongest team? Well, give it your best shot, Team Z. Hey, wait. There's only ten of you?" Reo said noticing their opposition was a man down.

"the cadela is over there" Akira hissed gesturing to the door where the traitor stood, "Oh, if we win. He's currently their top scorer, so he alone will survive. Guess he's sitting this one out." The amethyst-eyed boy observed the situation before them, the bronzed teen thought that hating Kuon any more was impossible, clearly, he was disproven in that theory as his hatred for the snake soared to a new level at the news that he wouldn't even be playing the in the final game.

'You cheat and then do nothing Deus, eu o estrangularia se fosse seu companheiro de equipe!' the curly-haired teen thought gritting his teeth, as he walked to his starting position, in between Nagi and Zantetsu, and in front of Reo.

The whistle blew marking the start of the first half of the final match, as Nagi passed the ball to Reo who advanced forward smiling from ear to ear. "So, Team Z, let's see what the bottom-ranked team has got." the purple-haired teen found himself covered off by Isagi and Bachira, forcing him to pass. "Go, Zantetsu. Show them your weapon."

Zantetsu went to shoot but found his path was blocked by Jingo Raichi and Asahi Naruhaya, leaving him to look for another option. "Akira!" The glasses teen said firing the shot towards him, but before the curly-haired teen could receive it. A bold-looking monk got in the way, "Igaguri!" Isagi yelled.

"Pick up the ball, Isagi!" the blue-eyed teen did so without complaint, as team Z pulled together their first string of passes. "Bachira!" passing to the dual-haired boy who gladly took the ball forward "Sure! Let's go." weaving past the defenders before sending it long, "Go for it, Gagamaru"

Gagamaru Jin of Team Z tried to header the ball into the net, though it missed by a small margin and hit the crossbar flying out of play.

"Damn, so close"

"One more time!"

Akira and Reo watched the team with piqued interest, "Oh, man! Now this is interesting! Don't you think Akira?" the amethyst-eyed boy asked looking towards the curly-haired boy who only nodded. "Hey, Akira! Let's give that move a try!" referring to what they had practised the day before "ok, vamos"

Sprinting into action Akira ran towards the box where he was anticipating Reo to ping the ball to, and like clockwork there it was waiting for him. Taking the ball down from the air with expert control it only took a matter of seconds for him to send it flying into the net.

Team V 1 - 0 Team Z

"Isso é tudo que você tem?" Akira asked looking towards Isagi and Bachira his aura was a complete 160 from what they were used to, gone was the sweet and shy teen they knew and loved and here stood the competitive monster, and even though they couldn't understand him they knew his words were a challenge. Which they gladly accepted

"Nice goal, Akira! Just like I envisioned it!" Reo said wrapping his arms around the teen's waist, bringing his lips dangerously close to the boy's neck. He was doing it on purpose, the amethyst-eyed boy fully aware of the looks his treasure was receiving from the opposite team so he decided. Why not rile them up a bit?

"Well that was easy I don't know why you were having such a hard time" Nagi said looking towards the pair whose eyes had never strayed from the bronzed teen, looking to rattle them a bit more.

"Hey Reo, can I play hooky now that Akira's scored?" the white-haired teen asked looking to the purple-haired teen who shook his head. "Not yet, five more goals between the two of you, then you can," the Mikage boy said "Aw, what about four? Akira help me out here" Nagi said in an attempt to bargain, "Leave me out of it, meu amigo" The curly-haired boy laughed

'He's not human, he's a monster too. How did he pull that off he plucked it out of the air, a super long pass from over his shoulder. Not only that it had a top spin and dropped like a stone, gaining control of a ball on the run is hard enough. But Akira had defenders on either side of him too, but he brushed them off like they were nothing. So many high-level techniques packed into a single moment, so that's him the highest-ranked player in building five, Ito Akira.' Isagi thought as he continued to stare at the bronzed teen, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Five it is then, that good with you Akira?"

"sim, claro"

'I knew the final match would be tough, but were up against these monsters' the blue-eyed boy thought, fear washing over him like a tidal wave. "It's only one goal, It's time for us to attack! Namusan!" Igarashi clapped his hands in an attempt to encourage his team, "We gotta do this" Raichi agreed as the whistle blew again for the game to start this time with Team Z in possession.

"Kunigami!"

"Right" Running forward the orange-haired teen hightailed it, hoping to make it within his shooting range to increase his team's chance of scoring. But Akira wasn't going to let that happen, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. He took the ball with little effort, pivoting before running towards the goal. "Hold it! I won't let you!" Kunigami yelled desperate to stop the curly-haired boy but it was too late, he was impossibly fast and too far ahead.

"Nagi, you up" Akira yelled as he passed the ball overhead, recreating the same play as before. "The same play as before? Stop him, Raichi and Igaguri!" Isagi yelled to his team's defenders who were waiting and ready, unwilling to concede another goal so early on in the game.

"I'll go press him!"

"That trick won't work a second time!"

But it was no use, the white-haired teen easily out-manoeuvred the buzzcut teen. Rocking the ball into the back of the net, leaving the opposition speechless once again.

Team V 2 - 0 Team Z

"Seriously?"

"Wh-What the hell was that? That was no joke! This is bad, it's already 2-0. Our plan won't work now!"

The cries of protest from Team Z players were futile, as the whistle blew for the game to continue. "Go, Chigiri," Isagi said hoping that their fastest player would be able to get at least somewhere near the opposition's goal. But Zantetsu made quick work of catching up to him, swiping the ball from under his feet and passing it straight to Reo. "Nice, Zantetsu!"

"I'll go to him! He's going to pass to Nagi or Akira!" Isagi said as he ran at the purple-haired teen, prompting one of his teammates to drop back. "Damn it! I'll drop back, too!" Now that he couldn't pass to either one of his treasures, Reo decided to take a slightly different approach "In that case...Go on, Zantetsu. This is your territory, right?".

Realising their mistake Isagi screamed at his teammate "Move back up, Maruhaya!" now realising that an opposition threat was in acres of free space. "Yeah, this is my territory" the glasses teen agreed, as he sent a diagonal shot into the top left corner of the goal with no way to stop it.

Team V 3 - 0 Team Z

"Reo...what exactly does 'territory' mean?" Zantetsu asked confused "Wearing fake glasses won't make you smart, y'know" Reo laughed teasing his teammate who for a fact, wasn't the brightest mind on planet 

As the quartet talked among themselves they failed to notice the dispirited Team Z, who seemed to be crumbling around them while Kuon stood smug in the corner. "All right, that's a wrap," Reo said high-fiving the glasses teen, "At the end of the day whoever we face, it goes the same way" The Mikage boy's words seemed to rial up one particular opposition player.

"I love it, this is getting fun," Meguru Bachira said, as he did keepy ups with the ball. His eyes bright with a sinister type of rage, revenge. "what's with that guy?" Zantetsu asked, "no idea" Reo responded hands now behind his head. "Bachira weird, fun but weird" Akira said making his teammates, Nagi included looked at him in confusion silently questioning how he knew their opponent. 

"Bachira, what are you talking about?"

"Huh? I mean, isn't that front four just incredible? I'm all hyped up!"

"Huh? We're 3-0 down! At this rate, we'll never-"

"Wait, Isagi. Don't tell me you're scared?"