Chapter 14: Imaginary Rival

"That shot just now was at least thirty meters away!"

Bachira Meguru's face was filled with excitement as he quickly ran over to the spot where Kira Ryosuke was standing. He glanced at the goal and then stared intently at Kira Ryosuke.

"Seriously, how did you manage that shot just now? Even from a distance of thirty meters, you still had such an incredible amount of power after the ball entered the net... It's amazing! You truly are the strongest presence in our team!"

Isagi Yoichi, standing beside them, also looked at Kira Ryosuke with a mixture of astonishment and admiration.

"I've been practicing long-range shots a lot before, but there's still room for improvement in terms of accuracy."

Kira Ryosuke smiled and said, "Didn't you two get any sleep? It must be late now."

"Yeah," Isagi nodded, his gaze fixed on the goal.

He stood in the same spot where Kira Ryosuke had just taken the shot, and for Isagi Yoichi, it was indeed too far away. It was impossible for him to generate the same level of power as Kira Ryosuke.

"In that case, let's practice together, the three of us," Bachira Meguru said with a smile.

"Sure," Kira Ryosuke didn't object. Having more people practice together would be more efficient than doing it alone. Although his legs still felt a bit sore, there was no problem doing some basic positioning and exercises.

Besides, he also wanted to take this opportunity to learn from Bachira Meguru's excellent dribbling skills, which would be very useful when breaking through the penalty area.

Even with the system's enhancements, Kira Ryosuke wasn't satisfied. He had to further improve his own abilities.

After about an hour of training, the three of them stopped and took a short break.

And at that moment, Bachira Meguru turned his head to look at Kira Ryosuke. He squinted his eyes slightly, lost in thought. After contemplating for a while, he spoke up:

"Kira, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah."

"Why did you choose to eliminate Igarashi Gurimu?"

"For you, my answer may be a bit uninteresting. On one hand, he actively caused trouble, which gave me possession of the ball."

Kira Ryosuke spoke slowly.

"On the other hand, I believe he was the most suitable candidate to be eliminated in this round."

"The most suitable?"

Isagi Yoichi asked with some confusion.

"After we entered, I counted the number of people, and there were a total of twelve. In the game of Tag, one person needs to be eliminated, leaving eleven people. That's exactly the number for a starting lineup of a football team. So, I basically concluded that the remaining eleven people would form a team and compete against other teams. The losers would be eliminated. Although Ego Jinpachi hasn't mentioned it yet, I believe this is the process that follows."

Kira Ryosuke explained.

"If we are to form a team, then we definitely need to eliminate the weakest player. And you've seen that Igarashi Gurimu, who ranked last, is both physically and technically very poor. So, I ultimately chose to eliminate him."

"You actually considered all of that..."

Isagi Yoichi was surprised but seemed to realize something.

"While having eleven people isn't a problem in terms of numbers, we are all forwards. How are we going to distribute positions... It's going to be chaotic during the matches, right?"

Meanwhile, Bachira Meguru smiled, as if he had guessed Kira Ryosuke's thoughts.

"That's why your actions during the day were basically a show of force, right? As long as there's a leader, we can avoid that situation. Am I right?"

Bachira Meguru was a very intelligent person, and he also possessed intuition beyond that of others. In his eyes, this intuition was seen as a monster within his heart.

"You could say that."

Kira Ryosuke didn't hide it and nodded.

"Interesting."

And the smile on Bachira Meguru's face became even more apparent, while his body leaned forward slightly.

"Do you know? In my heart, there's a monster that tells me there's someone among this group who is like me."

As he spoke, he glanced at Isagi Yoichi from the corner of his eye, but quickly refocused on Kira Ryosuke's face.

"And the monster tells me there's a presence that even he feels afraid of... and that's you, Kira."

"Is that so?"

Kira Ryosuke maintained his smile.

"Kira, why did you participate in the Blue Lock?"

"To win."

Kira Ryosuke replied.

Although he used to go with the flow in the past, once Kira Ryosuke set a goal, he would do his utmost to achieve it.

He considered it his stubbornness as a former manga artist.

In reality, he possessed an unparalleled competitive spirit.

Looking at Kira Ryosuke, the smile on Bachira Meguru's face seemed to become even more apparent.

"It's getting late, we should go back and rest."

"Yeah."

...

The next morning, Kira Ryosuke woke up early.

Although there were only eight days left, he had already developed a habit of waking up and practicing before sunrise.

However, in the enclosed environment of the Blue Lock, he couldn't see the sunrise.

"The bed is really hard... Let's put a luxury bed in the target plan for now."

Kira Ryosuke stretched his body after getting up. Although there were plenty of football-related equipment, the accommodation conditions were not ideal. Ten people slept in the same room, with only a mattress, a blanket, and a pillow for each person.

After freshening up, he went to do the basic warm-up exercises to earn some competitive points. It took another hour or two before the others started waking up, officially beginning the first day in the Blue Lock.

On the first day, Ego Jinpachi arranged a physical fitness test for them. The intensity of the exercises was high, and there was hardly any rest time. Many members of the team couldn't keep up throughout the entire test.

"Kira, you can still go on..."

Isagi was holding a bucket and vomiting, almost on the verge of collapse. Meanwhile, Kira Ryosuke continued running on the treadmill as if nothing had happened.

"I'm fine."

Kira Ryosuke replied.

"The intensity of the physical test is indeed high, but compared to the training arranged by Riko, it's relatively gentle."

He thought to himself.

On the other side of the fitness room, Raichi Jingo was also running on a treadmill.

Raichi Jingo had a hot temper and an overwhelming desire to win. He was extremely dissatisfied with every member of the team.

After seeing Kira Ryosuke's performance in the game of Tag yesterday, Raichi Jingo felt annoyed, and in his mind, he had already treated Kira Ryosuke as his imaginary rival.

Physical strength was Raichi Jingo's greatest advantage, and although this was not a competition, he wanted to surpass Kira Ryosuke in the fitness test.