A decisive choice

"What are you doing here...?"

Akira's voice trailed off as he realized who the voice originated from. 

"You can just call it instincts," Otoya replied as he surged from behind Akira, his foot aiming for the ball with a sly and precise tackle.

He nearly stole the ball from Akira's foot if not for Akira instinctively pushing the ball away at the last moment. 

"It's as Hiiragi said, his first instinct is indeed to throw the ball away."

Team W's defender rushed to intercept the ball, but right before he controlled the ball, another player appeared from behind him and slightly pushed him off balance. This small move was enough to ruin his first touch on the ball. 

"I knew Akira's weakness was obvious, yet I never expected you guys to realize it in the first half of the game. That Hiiragi guy, he's a lot more dangerous than expected."

Miyata talked to himself as he pressured Team W's defender, urging him to make a mistake, which would in turn make him lose the ball. 

"Why is nothing going according to plan?" Team W's defender complained, passing the ball back to Hiiragi who stood back up and arrived to support him. 

"If not for that idiot randomly switching up his playstyle so drastically, we wouldn't be in such a situation," Hiiragi replied, trapping the ball under his foot and waiting for the incoming Akira. 

"Who are you calling an idiot!?" Akira dashed at him, pushing him with his shoulder which would normally be called out as a foul, if not for Hiiragi passing the ball back to Otoya at the last minute to keep the ball in play.

"The game is getting pretty heated," Jude commented, standing a few meters in front of Otoya as he finally activated his special weapon, [Excitement].

'With only 10 minutes left, it should be fine.'

He thought to himself, his gaze locked onto Otoya. He already took his time in the first half to analyze every player's strengths and weaknesses with his [Eyes of the Lord]. 

He knew that Otoya's weakness would be his dribbles, he's not used to the spotlights, and a high-stakes one vs one duel was the equivalent of his kryptonite. Especially since his opponent was none other than Jude, whose specialty is actually one-on-one duels. 

"That's annoying," Otoya murmured, his brows furrowed as he looked around for any opportunity to pass the ball and move to the offense. 

Unfortunately for him, in the same way Hiiragi figured out the weakness of some key players in Team X, Miyata also figured out that if Otoya were to end up in a one vs one duel against a defensively solid player like Yanagi or Jude he would have a very hard time. 

To take advantage of that, everyone was tasked to cut off the passing opportunities of Otoya if such an opportunity were to arise. 

That tactic Team X made up during the halftime break was still far from perfect, yet it allowed Jude to gain a few more seconds face-to-face with Otoya, and that was all he needed.

He dashed forward, making Otoya's body tense up, knowing that any slight mistake would be capitalized on by Jude.

He knew he had to go through on his own this time. 

"Damnit." Otoya cursed under his breath as he pushed the ball forward, accepting the confrontation with Jude. He placed his hand forward in the hope of using it to keep some distance between himself and Jude. 

Jude simply smirked as an answer, his thoughts and instincts reaching a whole new level thanks to his special weapon. This allowed him to react in time and block Otoya's arm with his own before throwing a sharp tackle, successfully stealing the ball from him and pushing it towards Miyata. 

The young, brown-haired boy, didn't let that opportunity slide by. He ran as fast as he could, controlling the ball and rushing forward with Akira by his side. 

"Give it to me, I'm unstoppable right now!" Akira yelled out from his right, accelerating once more and pushing his body to its limits as he ran towards the goal. 

"Pass it here." Jude voiced, appearing on Miyata's left, he let his instincts take control of him, running wherever he believed would be best to score. 

Miyata's eyes darted around from one player to the other, his mind racing to make up what the best decision would be.

On one side, he could pass it to Akira who was guarded by a single defender, with Hiiragi rushing from behind him to stop him. While on the other side, there was Jude — Team X's striker and top scorer.

He was now guarded by a single defender as well, two players following him closely, one of them being Otoya. 

'Akira is currently in a state surpassing his past limits, if I pass to him now he might be able to score and pull it off this time. As for Jude, he's being closely followed by Otoya, that man being the biggest danger on the field, it would be best to not risk it...'

Giving one last glance to both players, Miyata gritted his teeth, looking at the single defender guarding him.

Miyata clenched his fist in frustration. He unexpectedly armed his shot and struck the ball with a precise and powerful strike, sending the ball flying past the defender. 

"I'm a striker as well, don't you dare underestimate me!" Miyata roared, taking everyone by surprise as the ball slightly curved at the last moment, heading towards the left side of the goal. 

"Why is Team X so full of weirdos!" Team W's goalkeeper yelled out. He dived as fast as he could and barely succeeded in punching the ball away. 

The ball bounced off the goalkeeper's first and landed on the crossbar, bouncing once again and landing in front of the now open cages with the goalkeeper falling down on the ground after his dive. 

"Don't even think about it. It's mine!"