Chapter 79: I'm Not There

Isagi is glad Baro's unpredictability broke through Rin's habit of exploiting others by pure reasoning, realizing that manufacturing something Rin cannot foresee is the road to victory. Across the pitch Aryu notes the match has grown complicated, Tokimitsu trembles, and Bachira warns Rin that things are turning tricky, to which Rin replies that he has logged the data so it will not happen again. On the restart Bachira lays it back to Rin, and Isagi instructs Chigiri to press hard and shadow whoever carries the ball while Nagi minds Aryu.

When Rin feeds Bachira, Chigiri covers, and Bachira braces for Isagi only to watch him peel off to guard Rin, leaving Bachira in a genuine one on one with Chigiri for the first time. Bachira breaks past, then meets Isagi as well, and once he slips through both, Baro pounces to rob him. Bachira realizes Isagi deliberately served as bait for Baro. Baro chops past Tokimitsu, but Rin's desperate slide tackle knocks the ball out of bounds, and Isagi sees that Rin merely reacted in time rather than predicting the play. Isagi concludes the winner will be whoever can harness Baro.

Bachira is thrilled to share the pitch with Rin and Isagi, calling them monsters he wants to play alongside. Chigiri's throw in reaches Isagi, but as Bachira readies himself, the pair move on without him, and he grasps that he is not competing in the same world they occupy. Titled Ore ga Inai in Japanese, the chapter runs eighteen pages, publishing in Japan on April 1, 2020, and in English on December 21, 2021. It follows Irregular and leads into Chapter 80, adapted in Episode 21.