Headliner

In the commentary box, Tereasa reels at the unforeseen halftime scoreline with Blue Lock up 1-2 and turns to Natsuki, who calls the challengers a team unlike any seen in Japanese football, matching the U-20 blow for blow. Atsuto adds the stakes plainly: a level second half means a draw, with no extra time and no penalties to follow.

On the pitch Isagi and Bachira celebrate as Isagi's parents, Iyo and Issei, proudly single out their son. Bachira's mother, Yu, bellows encouragement, insisting he can do more than a striker's role allows, then sheepishly apologizes to the startled crowd around her. The two families introduce themselves, and Yu confesses this is the first time she has watched her son truly enjoy the game. Nearby, Chigiri is caught mid-drink by his older sister Koyuki and their mother Neneko, who snaps a photo to his embarrassment, while Karasu and Otoya note how cute and alike his family looks.

As the exhausted U-20 trudge off, Buratsuta corners the coach Hoichi under the stadium, furious at the deficit despite having Sae on their side. Hoichi pleads that the opponents proved craftier than expected, but Buratsuta wants results, not excuses, declaring that winning is justice and losing is guilt. He orders the coach to crush Blue Lock by any means. In the locker room the deflated U-20 debate their approach, Sendo despairing over his missed chances, when Sae strolls in and flatly announces he is quitting the match. He explains he only ever took Aiku's wager to see what the squad would produce, and having found them too flawed to begin with, he has satisfied his real curiosity, which was Blue Lock and the different dream they chase.

Aiku begs him to wait and apologizes for the selfish bet, admitting he wanted to gauge his own level and now understands, painfully, just how weak they are, weak enough that Blue Lock will absorb the team and erase it from history. Sae says it is too late, but Aiku insists one card remains: their demon. Beneath the stands, Buratsuta snaps at the flustered Hoichi that anything is permitted so long as they win, and orders number 13 onto the field. Hoichi hesitates, since using him effectively endorses Ego's philosophy, but the JFA president overrules him. The chosen substitute is Ryusei Shido, the hired gun handpicked by Sae, already zipped into a U-20 kit. Shido asks whether he is enough to make Sae stay, and Sae, praising Aiku's cleverness, agrees to remain, vowing that he and Shido will be the match's headliners.

The chapter confirms a level second half would end the match in a draw and formally names Isagi's and Bachira's parents while introducing Chigiri's mother and sister. Buratsuta strong-arms the coach into winning at all costs, and after Sae threatens to leave, Aiku's decision to bring on Ryusei Shido, Sae's own pick, persuades him to stay for the rest of the game.

"Headliner" is the 122nd chapter overall and opens Volume 15 as its first entry, part of the U-20 Arc. It marks the debut of Iyo and Issei Isagi, Yu Bachira, and Koyuki and Neneko Chigiri. The chapter was adapted within Episode 33 of the anime and released in Japan on March 10, 2021.