Chapter 55

Isagi and Nagi savor their win as the announcement names Team White the victors. Baro fumes and Naruhaya agonizes over his failure to score. When Isagi says either of them could have taken it, Naruhaya cuts him off, admitting he had misjudged him and branding him a genius of adaptation. Isagi thanks him, crediting their match for his growth, while inside Naruhaya begs him to stop offering pity. Asked whom to steal, Isagi selects Baro, and Naruhaya silently thanks him for ending it cleanly. Isagi promises to win in his place, but Naruhaya orders him to drop the softness or he will never last.

A flashback explains what drove Naruhaya. One of five siblings orphaned when his parents died, he and his elder sister became the family's providers, balancing training with work. The day he left for Blue Lock, his siblings handed him a handmade charm, a box of candy faces carrying their messages. Rising to his feet, Naruhaya tells Isagi to win, and his run ends. A day earlier, Chigiri and Kunigami, unsure whom to recruit among the first-phase finishers, spotted Reo slumped against a wall after Nagi walked away from him, and offered to join forces, since Isagi had left them behind too.

Baro is chosen while Naruhaya is eliminated. Naruhaya's family history unfolds in flashback. Reo agrees to team with Kunigami and Chigiri following Nagi's departure.

The chapter is titled A Dream that Won't Come True (Kanawanai Yume), the 55th overall and the sixth of Volume 7 in the Second Selection Arc. It is adapted in Episode 15 of the anime.