16 Problem

After the match, the team gathers up to celebrate a little bit. They took their food from the canteen and brought it back to their dormitory.

Haruo even spent one of his reward points to get a steak. Another 2 steaks came from Isagi and Kunigami. Besides those steaks, there was also all the food from everyone mixed in as well.

It was a show of gratitude so that everyone could enjoy the taste of victory. Haruo would have spent another point but Kuon just smiled at him and said it was alright to just contribute one point.

"So he will be sitting on 2 points? Why not let him spend it if he wants to?", asked Raichi.

"Hey, I only said I would spend another point, not all three of them. Look who gets greedy for the food." Haruo deadpanned at him.

"He used one of his points for something else last time. It is up to him to spend them where he wants. Be nice since he did contribute. My guess is he is planning to get another massage for himself?" Kuon figured out his motive pretty easily.

Haruo looked at him and thought something for a while.

"Yep, my muscles feel pretty cramped up again. All that running in those last minutes did not feel so great."

Imamura grinned sheepishly. "And it is not because of Teieri-san?"

"Shut it already with you trying to rile me up. I got my focus on football only. Besides, when I become number one here I will get enough time to get her on a date."

"Whoa, look who has it going for him. Hey Isagi, you also ran forward with him. How did you figure out he would pass to you?" Bachira grinned and asked Isagi how he managed to receive a pass from him.

"Hmm? Well, I just felt that there was a goal in the air so I moved instinctively. I wanted to score after all. But thinking about it now I guess Sugewara is more of a team player than most of us give him credit for? Even Kunigami got a ball from him."

Some of the others looked at Haruo. They knew he was rather strong in scoring but for some reason, he stayed passive and played a supportive role lately.

Haruo on the other hand ignored most of the talk and only chewed on his portion of the steak and his facial expression was sparkling because of the amazing taste he had inside his mouth.

The others would probably never know that he was playing it safe to not injure himself. Well, all but Kuon by the looks. He was probably the only one taking a clear note of Haruo's condition.

"Hey! He already started eating!" Igarashi also took his own portion and could only chew slowly savoring the taste. "Damn, I forgot how amazing meat tasted."

"Well, looks like he passed it to you just like I do so often. You probably were a very good option in the attack. Okay, here comes your reward, say aahhh!"

Bachira himself more often than not felt intrigued to pass to Isagi out of instinct that he felt like Isagi had some kind of luck charm for that.

"Whoa, it's alright Bachira. I can eat on my own." Isagi tried to dodge the incoming fork with the steak on it. But Bachria only laughed and still got him, pushing the steak into his mouth. Even off the pitch, it looks like it was hard to dodge Bachira's faints.

"Gotcha!!"

"MGH?!"

"I honestly think Isagi's weapon could be that *Goal Scent* he mentioned before." Kunigami now added to the conversation." I mean I can't say for sure since it's something he would know best but it was thanks to Isagi's goal that Team Z went back into scoring more. And that's a fact."

"Tch. I haven't accepted that" Raichi commented on that. "This team still feels rather impish. Sugewara was the one that did the most work. Without him we would probably had been in a struggle to win this."

"Now then, with this game won we should not argue about stuff like that. Team Z is now on a rather safe spot to see another day. We only need another win or draw and we have our 7 points to proceed further." Kuon announced their current position in the round-robin.

Generally speaking a team needed two wins and a draw to proceed. Since they had already two wins it was taking a lot of pressure from their shoulders. But they should not relax yet since 2 loses would make them fight with whoever would be second with goal differences.

"So who is our next opponent again?", asked Haruo now.

"That would be Team W."

"Still not the ones that are a danger...Hmm, I really wonder what Team V is like. Their scoring is out there as well." Haruo thought about Team V that had already scored 8 goals just in their very first game. Somehow he felt like he wanted to beat their score.

But what Haruo saw after the next few days while training with the others was Team V's result that showed they had scored another 5 goals against Team W.

Currently, Team X was also the only team that had played three games. They lost against Team Y. The same Team that Z crushed last time.

Man it had to be rough to be the team from the 5 that had to do two games extremely close after each other. That all just because the number of teams was uneven.

But this result meant Team X is out and done. Now only Baro could proceed after getting enough goals. With winning only their second match against Team W sure not enough.

1. Team V - 6 Points - GDF +12 - Goals scored 13 - 2 games done

2. Team Z - 6 Points - GDF + 5 - Goals scored 10 - 2 games done

3. Team Y - 3 points - GDF -11 - Goals scored 5 - 3 games done

4. Team X - 3 points - GDF +-0 - Goals scored 6 - 3 games done

5. Team W - 0 points - GDF - 6 - Goals scored 0 - 2 games done

"Damn, Team X is already out? You mean to say that Baro's team is out?" Igarashi was surprised.

"It just goes to show we can't be all too lazy. We will probably have to do a double match in the following days." Haruo was the one most concerned about not getting enough resting time and that brought him discomfort to the point where he got stressed.

Rubbing his neck he started thinking about something.

Isagi approached him and tapped his shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

When Haruo looked at him he sighed. "Yeah, I will probably manage..." There was a certain reason why Isagi was the one asking that. He probably noticed the predicament as well.

-----Flashback----

When the last match ended Isagi, Chigiri and Haruo had met inside the data room.

Haruo was there to upload the training and answer some of the comments on his Youtube and Twitter accounts as well as Instagram. It really took some effort to keep this up.

Chigiri only joined a little bit later and seemed to watch the recording of their own last match. That was actually the only use for the room currently. You could review your own match data. Just not the data from other teams in other matches.

Isagi was joining them after having Igarashi annoy him again. Well, the main reason being that Isagi just could not sleep.

Since Chigiri was looking at footage of the last game Isagi joined him and asked what he is still doing up so late. Haruo was already clear

The conversation ended up discussing Isagi's weapon probably being spatial awareness. To which Haruo commented that it always had been his keen eye. It was actually surprising that Isagi still didn't notice the hints given to him to figure it out for himself.

But I guess training spatial awareness is out of the window after all. Mostly match experience could help in that matter.

Isagi not wanting to be the centre of focus tried to push Chigiri and ask him for his weapon. After all he still had not given in and said that it was his speed.

Surprisingly Chigiri told him about his knee injury and that he was only in Blue Lock because he wanted to find a reason to stop playing football for good.

"If you really feel like that, then why are you still training and playing? You know some would gladly take an injury for that what they love..." Haruo was the one that said those words. He could clearly relate to Chigiri.

"Hell, even right now I am pretty close to getting an injury with pushing myself too hard. So don't go and talk like some edgelord about quitting just cause you are afraid of another injury. Your body is still able to perform. So why not make it fly for the remainder of the time? I at least will do my best no matter what."

With those parting words Haruo left both of them alone.

Later he would know that Isagi and Chigiri seemed to be having a fight. It was probably because of Chigiri not wanting to accept this. Especially after knowing that Haruo is doing his best while he is keeping low.

------------

That is why Isagi was asking if he was going to be alright. Knowing someone was feeling strained to play two matches in such a short time and without any possible subs is bound to have a high risk of injuring himself.