015 Blue Lock: System Ten Years Early

"Mr. Ego, is what you just said really true? By honing one's weapon, can you really completely ignore defenders?"

After listening to Ego Jinpachi's entire lecture, Anri asked with great interest, while Ego Jinpachi looked at her with an expression that clearly said "what are you even talking about."

"How could something like that exist? The opposing defenders aren't dead. Even when Noel Noa completely shakes off his marker and goes one-on-one with the goalkeeper, he doesn't score every single time."

"Hey, hey! Then why did you say it like that just now!"

Teieri Anri looked utterly incredulous, while Ego Jinpachi calmly picked up a kettle and started making instant noodles.

"I was just giving them a line of thinking, letting them try to get as close to it as possible. Football isn't mathematics—there isn't a standard answer to every problem."

"But players can, through their own effort, get as close as possible to that answer. That means honing themselves so their abilities become more comprehensive and more complete."

"No single ability can guarantee a 100% goal rate, but there are 'weapons' that might work no matter the situation. For example, the speed of the 'prodigy' Loki, or Noel Noa's shooting."

"Hmm… then what about the first point? Disrupting the opponent's organization? That one seems possible, right?"

"Well, you could say that. At its core, football tactics are about creating numerical advantages, or delivering the ball at the right distance to the strongest player to break the defense."

"In the end, the meaning of tactics is the rational allocation of resources on the pitch—using your big cards against the opponent's small cards. Shinichi cares too much about his own strong points. He's always thinking about how to bring out his advantages—basically, he only knows how to play his trump card."

"For example, if he's physically strong, he wants to fight for the ball. If his aerial ability is strong, he wants to compete in the air. This works against lower-level opponents, but in battles between equals, it's easy to lose your way."

Ego Jinpachi snapped apart his chopsticks, poured in a generous amount of seasoning, and stirred the noodles.

"Football isn't just addition. Even if your absolute ability isn't as high as the opponent's, you can still weaken them through subtraction. That's what disrupting the opponent's organization means."

"And putting tactics aside, as a striker, you should think about how to prevent the opponent from doing what they're best at, lowering their score so you can win the comparison. I hope Shinichi can realize this on his own."

"Uh… then why not just say it directly? Mr. Ego's explanations to the other buildings were already quite subtle, but this time it was almost misleading."

"Only self-realization can maximize their potential. Taking a wrong path isn't necessarily bad—sometimes what you gain on the wrong road is even richer than the standard answer."

"Of course, maybe not. Perhaps he really will create some kind of miracle."

Ego Jinpachi looked through his glasses, fogged up by the steam from the noodles, toward the training ground monitors.

"After all, the reason some people are called geniuses is because they can do things ordinary people can't even imagine."

"Now then—let me see just how far you can go when your talent is pushed to the limit!"

"Kōken Shinichi!"

...

"Ah-choo! That gloomy guy Ego Jinpachi must be talking about me."

Shinichi rubbed his nose unhappily, his foot resting on the football.

"So then, what is the flaw you wanted to talk about, Hiori?"

"Emmm… it's kind of hard to say."

Hiori Yo loosened up his body.

"But I always feel like you're slow sometimes, Shinichi."

"Slow?"

Shinichi found that strange. Ever since transmigrating, he had always left everyone far behind—no one had ever said he was "slow."

"Emmm, it's hard to explain. If I really had to say, it's probably your reactions. It feels like you think a bit too much when you're dribbling."

"A lot of the time, you're dribbling for the sake of dribbling. With your ability, you don't actually need that many feints. If you just change direction and surge forward, no one could stop you."

"Take the 'prodigy' Loki, for example. He basically never uses flashy dribbling moves—he just relies on speed to overwhelm his opponents."

Hiori Yo took out the phone he'd retrieved by spending 3 goal points and pulled up footage of Loki's matches.

"I see what you mean…"

Shinichi nodded thoughtfully. When the prodigy Loki appeared in the second selection, he really did use his speed in an instant, changing direction like lightning to tear apart Rin's team's defense. Shinichi envied that ability a lot.

"But when I try it myself, I can't really do it. Even though I'm faster than most players I'm matched up against, once speed reaches a certain level, the differences aren't that big. Add the delays from physical contact, and when I'm closely marked, speed alone can't be the deciding factor."

Shinichi scratched his head in frustration. Just like in previous matches—if defenders kept blocking him and he didn't have enough sprinting distance to accelerate, he could only rely on technique to get past them.

"But in sprinting events, you can often open up a big gap right from the start, right? Maybe you just haven't adapted yet to combining your physical attributes with football."

Hiori Yo flipped through the footage.

"Look—whether it's at the start or when changing direction, you're used to kicking the ball first to get it moving, then chasing after it. That means your speed is being limited by the ball's speed."

"If, when you start, you can move the ball and your steps together, your explosive power can be fully utilized."

"So it comes down to improving ball control. That's not something you can boost overnight."

Shinichi sighed.

"Looking at it this way, a lot of Loki's direction changes have a kind of back-to-basics simplicity. They look simple, but they're actually pretty complex."

As expected, there was no sudden flash of inspiration leading to instant mastery of some invincible skill.

"So basically, keep the ball with you 24 hours a day until it becomes instinct. What about you, Hiori? What are you going to train?"

"For me… what I lack right now is the physical ability to keep up with you, and a broader field of vision. So, basic stamina training, and watching match footage."

"Alright, let's go with that for now. We'll check the results in the final match, against Team V. That Karasu Tabito—he seems to be from the same place as you?"

"Yeah, we've got a bit of history."

"Then I'll do you a favor and barely make it 11:0?"

"Shouldn't you score as much as possible for my sake? Crush him completely."

"Hah. Scary."

The boy chatted idly to temporarily forget the hardship of training, and time slipped by unnoticed.

Finally—

The match time arrived.

Team X VS Team W!