Extreme Focus

As Baro drives out toward the touchline and slips Hayate completely, Darai picks him up and sizes him up as a strange wildcard. Baro flicks a glance inside toward Isagi and Rin, which makes Darai brace for a pass before dismissing the idea, since Baro rarely gives the ball up and the shooting angle looks hopeless. When Isagi calls for it, Darai resolves not to drift wide until Baro forces him to. Baro accelerates, cuts further out, and answers Isagi's second shout not with a pass but with an inside chop-dribble that leaves Darai flat-footed. Told to stop toying around and release the ball, Baro snarls that he will never pass and intends to swallow both Isagi and the whole match. He then rifles a ferocious left-footed strike that cannons off the post. Nagi mocks him, Hayate notes the disarray he is causing, and Isagi calls for the loose second ball.

Yukimiya collects the rebound with Neru on him and recognizes that Baro has fractured the U-20 shape, opening a window to engineer the ideal finish. Slipping into Flow State, he maps his route, feints left to draw Neru, then bursts right past him. Still short of a shot, he seizes the unusual space Baro's chaos created and shifts into a full-speed La Croqueta, threading between teammates and defenders like a needle in a style Neru recognizes from street football. Yukimiya screens off Hayate to build a perfect chance, but Nio closes in and forces him to abandon it. Refusing to panic, he lets his Flow guide him to the next best option and curls his finest gyro shot between Neru and Nio, bending it hard to the left instead of the expected corner.

Both defenders are stunned, and Yukimiya is certain of the goal, but Aiku sweeps in from the right at the final instant to head the shot away. Yukimiya cannot fathom how Aiku, coming from his blind side, arrived at the exact spot with no guarantee of success, since his usual game relies on reading a play first rather than gambling. Aiku himself feels almost unhinged, sensing the defense's most vital point with his whole body as he chases down the ball and leaps to clear it. Yukimiya recognizes that Aiku, too, has reached Flow State, and his rival relishes the moment he has long awaited.

Baro effectively dismantles the Japan U-20 back line but sees his own shot miss. Yukimiya reaches Flow State in response to the chaos, cuts through the defense, and unleashes his best gyro shot, only for Aiku to intercept at the last second and reach Flow State himself.