17 The Lazy Genius versus The Invincible Genius

A few hours ago:

In the V Team locker room, three people could be seen chatting – Nagi, Reo, and Zantetsu.

"Hey, Nagi, I think you should challenge that guy from Team Z to a one-on-one match," said Reo.

"Why should I? Am I going to put in all that effort for nothing?" Nagi replied.

"It's not for nothing, Nagi. Currently, Team Z is ahead of us in goal difference. That means they've scored more goals than our team, and that guy is the pillar of Team Z. This duel between you two could be a way for us to gauge his strength before the game," Reo explained.

"Guys, I'm not the smartest person in the world, but isn't it obvious that if we measure their strength with this duel, they'll measure ours too?" Zantetsu interjected.

"Sure, but if we know exactly what to expect, we can come up with a plan to counter it, and they can create a plan to counter Nagi. In the end, it works out better for us because I trust Nagi's potential to outshine their best player. It's all about which team has the better player... and I have complete faith in Nagi," Reo concluded.

"Do you agree, Nagi?" Reo asked, expectantly.

"Hmm... I agree if you give me all the upcoming issues of Shounen Jump Magazine for the next year," Nagi replied.

"Okay, I can get that for you," Reo agreed to Nagi's whims.

"Then, I agree to challenge that guy," Nagi said.

Back on the training field:

"So, I'd like the rules to be simple. The first to score three goals wins the match, and after each goal, possession switches to the other player. What do you think?" Arata asked.

"Works for me, whatever," Nagi replied.

"Okay, let's do rock-paper-scissors to see who starts with the ball."

"Rock," shouted Arata.

"Scissors," shouted Nagi simultaneously.

"Okay, the ball starts with me."

Arata grabbed the ball and started running towards Nagi's goal, with Nagi standing in front of him to try to stop him. Arata attempted some feints, trying to dribble past Nagi, but Nagi didn't fall for any of them. Then, Arata started doing extremely quick stepovers and then pushed the ball a bit forward towards the goal line to try to pass Nagi, but the touch was too strong, almost going out of bounds. Arata managed to reach it in time and used the inside of his foot to prevent it from going out, noticing Nagi closing in to defend. He spun his body and flick the ball over Nagi's legs, surpassing him and shot the ball towards the goal as soon as he entered the penalty area.

1-0 (Arata)

"Come on, Lazy Genius, if you want to beat me, you'll have to try a bit harder," Arata taunted.

Now, possession was with Nagi, who approached Arata with the ball, attempting to outrun him using his speed. However, Arata managed to keep up with him, staying ahead the whole time. When Nagi tried to use his body to pass Arata, Arata tackled to take the ball away and continued running towards Nagi's goal. Nagi recovered and stood in front of him, attempting to block him. Arata began to slow down, lightly tapping the ball with the side of his foot, then accelerated again, performing a rainbow flick, using his speed and body to once again surpass Nagi. However, Nagi continued to interfere with Arata's ball control, even though he was unbalanced when they reached the penalty arc. Despite this, Arata shot the ball with great force, scoring another goal.

2-0 (Arata)

The ball was back with Nagi, who this time tried a more cautious approach. He slowly carried the ball while being watched closely by Arata. Then, he began to run, using his body to gain space against Arata. Although he couldn't completely pass Arata, he managed to drag him to the penalty area and pretended to shoot, but instead, it was a fake. He changed his body and the ball's direction, then used an elastic move to change direction again and prepared to shoot.

"Surely he won't anticipate this..." Nagi thought, but what he saw was Arata reading the entire play without confusion, placing his foot in front of Nagi's shot, preventing him from scoring and regaining possession of the ball. Arata ran towards the midfield and kicked with all his strength towards the goal, leaving Nagi a bit stunned after the play. Nagi tried to run to prevent the shot, attempting a bicycle kick to stop it, but he couldn't hit the ball properly.

3-0 (Arata)

"It was a great game; I'm sure the match between Team Z and Team V will be even more fun," Arata said.

"Yeah," Nagi replied.

Moments after the duel... In the Team Z locker room:

"Where have you been?" Isagi asked.

"Oh, I was just messing around with that guy from Team V," Arata replied.

"And how did it go?" Bachira asked, curious.

"I won, of course," Arata boasted.

"Stop showing off; obviously, you wouldn't win if it were against me," Raichi retorted.

Team V locker room:

"So, Nagi, how did it go?" Reo asked.

"I lost... couldn't score a single goal," Nagi said, sounding a bit frustrated.

"WHAT? Seriously?" Reo exclaimed, surprised.

"Hey, Reo, you said playing football would be fun, but it wasn't fun at all. There's nothing fun about losing, so in the match against Team Z, I really don't want to lose."

PS: Nagi isn't nerfed; it's Arata who excels in 1v1 situations (he had already mentioned at the beginning of the story that there are few people who could currently beat him in this style). He's still going to wreak havoc in the game...