2nd HALF

With the second half looming, the commentators recall the shock of a Blue Lock lead as Isagi and Rin return to the pitch. Rin spots Ryusei Shido and mutters that the Japan U-20 really did decide to use him. Shido swaggers over, hurling insults and telling Rin his reign at the top is finished; Rin fires back that the timing is perfect, since crushing Shido is exactly the jolt his game needs. The booth confirms Wakatsuki has been swapped out for Shido, a total unknown to them. Anri notes the U-20 have reshaped around Shido as their lead forward and asks how Ego will answer. He refuses to alter his formation, explaining that Blue Lock has trained for this scenario and that the U-20 themselves will struggle to use the one forward the project could never tame. At last, he says, they will learn why Sae singled Shido out.

The half kicks off with the U-20 on the ball. Niko locks onto Shido, aware his real menace is his finishing inside the goal area, and vows not to lose sight of him. Shido darts about at random, baffling both sides, and Niko observes that his off-ball runs disregard every formation, making practice useless against a player wired purely to score in a one-on-one mindset. Sae threads a long, low pass down a slim channel straight to Shido. Chigiri closes in, but Sendo shouts for the ball, and the confusion lets Shido slip it across, telling Sendo he finally understands. Sendo snaps back that he is only obeying Sae's orders. Chigiri realizes Sendo has reshaped his game to serve as Shido's decoy, mirroring how Isagi supports Rin, and the sudden link-up splits Blue Lock's defense as Sendo feeds Sae through a gap.

Reading the whole field in an instant, Sae winds up as if to shoot, but Shido lurks in the goal area. Sae bends the ball high and curling to the left into the box, where Shido shakes off Chigiri and rises into a midair volley, relishing the challenge. Isagi frets that Shido's mere presence has spiked the U-20 attack and that a goal could awaken the whole team, but Niko lunges in to intercept at the very last second.

Shido is formally introduced as the U-20's forward, and Ego declares the game will finally reveal why Sae chose him. Niko fixes his focus on marking the danger man, while Sendo reinvents himself as Shido's decoy in the same way Isagi shadows Rin. Shido nearly opens his account with an effortless finish, only for Niko to cut it out at the last possible moment.

"2nd HALF" is the 126th chapter overall and the fifth collected in Volume 15, part of the U-20 Arc. Its events were split across Episodes 33 and 34 of the anime, and it first appeared in Japan on April 7, 2021.