Chapter 32

The concluding fixture of First Selection stays level at three apiece as Team Z keeps pace with the previously unbeaten Team V. Wataru Kuon cannot accept that a squad down to ten players has clawed even, sneering that Team V ought to feel humiliated by the struggle. Reo Mikage snaps back, dismissing Kuon as garbage and ordering him to be quiet.

With a quarter hour left on the clock, Reo carries the ball forward and swears he will not fall here. Jingo Raichi shadows him relentlessly, needling the pampered heir about whether he has ever tasted defeat and promising to deliver his very first one. Boxed in by Raichi, Reo can barely move. Elsewhere Zantetsu Tsurugi runs into a wall of Chigiri and Naruhaya, while Nagi finds Igaguri and Imamura planted between him and the net.

Reading his partner's frustration, Nagi breaks into a rare sprint and calls for the ball. Isagi is stunned to see the notoriously idle player suddenly invested. Nagi collects the pass, promises Reo he will actually try, then flicks the ball past Igaguri and slips around Imamura before feeding Zantetsu. He asks his teammate to serve him a ball near the goal, a request that catches Zantetsu off guard. Even with Chigiri closing in, Zantetsu cuts back and loops a delivery to Nagi, who traps the awkward ball and buries an outrageous finish despite two defenders on him. As the strike goes in, Nagi tells Reo that the sport is actually fun.

Nagi's decision to press forward marks the first occasion he willingly takes charge of an attack, a shift that unlocks his dormant talent. His finish edges Team V ahead at four goals to three. Kuon remains baffled that a ten man Team Z has been able to trade blows with the tournament's dominant side.

Titled Impetus, rendered in Japanese as Shodo, the chapter spans twenty one pages and launches the fifth tankobon volume. It first ran in the 2019 seventeenth issue on March 27, 2019, with an English release following on July 20, 2021. Its events are adapted in the tenth episode of the anime.