"..."
The moment was so shocking that most of the players on the field hadn't even registered what had happened.
It wasn't until Kaiser's desperate, anguished roar echoed across the pitch that they finally snapped out of it.
"H-How… how could this happen…?" Ness muttered with a trembling voice, barely able to process what he'd just witnessed. "Kaiser… actually got sent off just like that?" His voice cracked as he unwittingly twisted the knife. "This… this can't be right. That's not how it was supposed to go. Kaiser and I were supposed to turn this around together! How could he… how could he be taken out by that dumb monk-looking clown?! That's not how the story was meant to play out!"
"I never really saw you as a threat, but I didn't expect you to get taken out this easily by one of my own players," Shinichi said, walking over. He extended a hand to pull Igarashi up, then looked down at Kaiser, who was sitting dazedly on the ground after that anguished outburst. "Guess this ending really suits your clownish look."
"Shut up…"
"Oh? Planning to smear that flashy blue rose all over yourself to finish off your clown makeup?"
"I said SHUT UP!!" Kaiser suddenly jerked his head up, glaring at Shunsuke with pure rage. But what Shinichi saw in those eyes wasn't just anger—it was fear, buried deep but unmistakable. He smirked.
"Fear is normal. When you lose the very thing you rely on to survive—when your purpose is stripped away—that kind of future is terrifying. No one would fault you for being afraid. But if you can't overcome it… then you're not worthy of leaving your name in history."
"Because in the end, you're just another nameless corpse who fell before me."
There was no over-the-top mockery. Just cold, brutal truth. And that kind of truth cuts far deeper than meaningless insults.
Kaiser could've accepted being overpowered by Noa's overwhelming presence—he was used to resisting oppressive forces.
That had always been his philosophy: resist, rebel, and survive. It was how he'd lived from the moment he was born, fighting tooth and nail in the trash heap he'd come from.
So what if Shinichi stepped on him? He was used to climbing out of the mud. He could claw his way back again. But…
"Now step aside, fallen king. The clown's chapter is over. There's no role left for a stepping stone like you in the story that's about to unfold."
—!
It felt like his heart skipped a beat.
A crushing, suffocating pressure surged in from all directions. It was as if Shinichi had kicked him into a freezing black ocean—no light, no air.
At the bottom of that dark sea lay his bleak future. Shinichi and Noa were climbing toward the throne of the new era.
Behind them were monsters clawing their way up, desperate to reach the summit. Even that idiot Isagi, who dared to defy him, was among them.
And in this new generation…
There was no place for Kaiser.
...
"K-Kaiser, are you okay? It… it was just a mistake, right? Everyone has off days," Ness stammered as he finally dared to run over once Shinichi had walked away. He tried frantically to console him. "Right! The call—that card! There must've been a mistake. We'll appeal! Ask for a review! We'll get another chance, we can still—"
But the more he spoke, the weaker his voice became. By the end, it was barely above a whisper, tinged with the start of tears.
"Kaiser…?"
Kaiser slowly stood up, eyes dull and unfocused. He didn't respond to Ness at all. Without a word, he walked over to the bench and sat down heavily.
Then he pulled a towel over his head—hiding his face from the world.
...
"Your actions just now were completely unreasonable."
But of course, the world didn't give him the silence he so badly wanted. Noa, ever cold and unrelenting, wouldn't even give him that escape.
"From your first two plays, it was clear Ubers had adjusted specifically to counter you. But you ignored that in pursuit of personal glory and metrics. You didn't prioritize the team's victory."
"…Yeah. Got it," Kaiser muttered in a low voice, offering no resistance. It didn't matter anymore.
As long as he could brush it all off, he didn't care how harsh the criticism was. He'd accept whatever came his way—he just wanted to shut out the world.
But Noa wasn't done.
"On top of that, Lorenzo had already been drawn out of position by Hiori's movement. Isagi's system was starting to take effect. If you had cooperated at that moment, it could've created a much better shooting opportunity."
"But instead, you selfishly intercepted a teammate's pass, disrupting Hiori's working strategy. Even if we ignore the foul from the sub and assume your Kaiser Impact was still viable—your angle was already blocked. That goalkeeper had already stopped you once."
...
"I said I got it—will you shut up already!!"
Kaiser finally snapped.
He yanked the towel off his head and threw it onto the seat, shooting to his feet and glaring at Noa.
"Isagi, Hiori—I get it, you love them so much, then sign them already! Just forget about me! I'm unreasonable, right?! Fine—I get it already! The Kaiser Impact… is gone…"
...
"Kaiser…" Noa stopped mid-sentence, pausing for a long moment before asking softly:
"…Are you crying?"
...
"Ohhh? The king's crying?"
Before Kaiser could even wipe his tears, an infuriating voice cut in.
Shinichi popped up beside him with a smirk, phone in hand, snapping photo after photo.
Click. Click.
"Wow, fragile much? You're just like a brat who didn't get to play the role they wanted in make-believe and threw a tantrum."
The mocking tone turned the entire atmosphere upside down in an instant.
"All the guys from Blue Lock have had the ball stolen from them by me at least once," Shinichi said casually, twirling his finger in the air. "None of them went crying about it. Even our loyal mutt over there—his special move got completely shut down by me, and now he's just waiting for the next chance to sink his teeth into me again."
He pointed straight at Barou, who responded with a furious outburst.
It was only now that Kaiser realized—he had never actually tried to understand this guy he'd taken upon himself to treat as a rival.
"All right, that's enough," Noa cut in before things escalated. "Shinichi, just say what you came to say, or get back to the match."
No need to actually shatter Kaiser's spirit.
Shinichi dropped his playful attitude, and in his dark pupils, Noa's face was reflected.
"This is a rare opportunity. Why not have a match of our own?"
"That save earlier… I've been thinking about when I'd get the chance to return the favor."
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