"That shot must have been at least thirty meters away!"
Meguru ran to where Ryōsuke had been standing, his face lit with excitement. His eyes darted from the goal to the kicker, studying both intently.
"How did you make that shot? The power it had even after hitting the net from thirty meters — that's incredible! You're definitely the strongest player on our team!"
Nearby, Yoichi watched with eyes full of wonder and admiration.
"I've been working on my long-range shots, though I still need to improve my accuracy." Ryōsuke said with a smile, "Shouldn't you two be sleeping? It's getting quite late."
"Mm." Yoichi nodded, still staring at the goal.
Standing where Kira had taken his shot, the distance seemed impossible to him. He couldn't imagine maintaining such power from so far away.
"Why don't we all practice together?" Meguru suggested with a smile.
"Sure." Ryōsuke agreed — group practice was more efficient than training alone. Despite his sore legs, he could manage some basic positioning and practice drills.
He also saw this as a chance to learn Meguru's masterful dribbling technique, which could help him break through the penalty area.
Even with the system boost, Ryōsuke knew he had to keep improving. He wasn't satisfied yet.
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After about an hour of training, the three of them stopped to take a brief rest.
Meguru turned to look at Ryōsuke, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully before speaking.
"Kira, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why did you choose to eliminate Gurimu Igarashi?"
"My answer might seem simple." Ryōsuke said slowly, "Partly because he came looking for trouble, which gave me possession of the ball. But mainly because he was the one who most deserved to be eliminated this round."
"Most deserved?" Yoichi asked, confused.
"When I first arrived, I counted twelve people total. The tag game would eliminate one person, leaving eleven — exactly the number needed for a soccer team's starting lineup. I figured we remaining eleven would form a team to compete against others, with losers being eliminated. Though Jinpachi Ego hasn't confirmed this yet, I believe that's where we're headed."
He continued carefully.
"To form a strong team, we needed to eliminate the weakest player. Gurimu Igarashi ranked last in both physical condition and technical skills, so I chose him."
"You thought that far ahead...?" Yoichi's surprise turned to realization, "But even with eleven people, we're all forwards. How would we handle positions? It would be chaos during a match!"
Meguru, standing to the side, smiled knowingly, "So your actions today were a show of force? With a leader, we can avoid that chaos, right?"
He was remarkably intelligent, with an intuition that surpassed others — in his eyes, this intuition manifested as a monster within his heart.
"You could say that." Ryōsuke agreed with a nod.
"Interesting." Meguru's smile widened as he leaned forward, "You know, there's a monster in my heart that tells me someone in this group is like me."
He glanced briefly at Yoichi before returning his focus to Ryōsuke.
"And the monster tells me there's someone even it fears... that's you, Kira."
"Is that so?" Ryōsuke maintained his smile.
"Kira, why did you join Blue Lock?"
"To win." Ryōsuke answered.
Though he had initially planned to take things as they came, once he set his mind on a goal, he devoted himself entirely to achieving it.
He considered this stubbornness a remnant of his former life as a manga artist, but in reality, he possessed an unparalleled competitive spirit.
Looking at him, Meguru's smile widened.
"It's getting late, we should head back to rest."
"Mm."
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The next morning, Ryōsuke woke up early.
Though it had only been eight days, he had already developed the habit of waking up before sunrise to practice. In the enclosed environment of Blue Lock, however, one couldn't see the sunrise.
"The bed is so hard... I'll add a premium bed to my list of goals." He got up and stretched.
While the soccer equipment was complete in every way, the living conditions were sparse — ten people sleeping in one room, each with just a mattress, blanket, and pillow.
After washing up, he went to do basic warm-up exercises to gain Competition Points. The others began to wake up an hour or two later, officially starting their first day in Blue Lock.
Jinpachi arranged physical tests for them that day. The exercises were intense with barely any rest periods, and many team members couldn't make it through the entire session.
"Kira, how can you still keep going...?"
Yoichi was hunched over a bucket, vomiting, nearly collapsed from exhaustion, while nearby Ryōsuke continued running on the treadmill as if nothing was wrong.
"It's manageable." He replied.
'Though the physical test is quite intense, compared to Riko's training, this is actually gentle,' he thought to himself.
On the other side of the testing room, Jingo Raichi was also running on a treadmill.
Jingo had a fierce temper and an immense competitive spirit, refusing to accept anyone on the team as his superior.
After witnessing Ryōsuke's performance in yesterday's tag game, he had instantly taken a dislike to him and marked him as a rival.
With physical endurance being his greatest strength, Jingo was determined to outperform this guy in the physical tests — even though this wasn't meant to be a competition.
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