Halftime came and went but it didn't feel like rest.It felt like silence before something broke
Kei sat with his eyes closed ignoring the noise around him.The coach's voice was distant players chattering tactics but he was inside a storm of thought
They had seen too much
The opponent had adapted too well
And yet he didn't feel cornered
He felt challenged
As the second half kicked off Kei didn't race forward like usual.He drifted back just a little hovering in the space where no position truly existed
It was quiet there
A place between the lines
And from there he saw it
The pattern behind the pattern
The opponent's movements weren't just tactical.They were emotional
Their rhythm followed the emotions of their captain.Anger made them press more wildly.Calm slowed their attacks.Grins meant they were baiting
So Kei stopped looking at formations
He started watching faces
Every twitch every sigh every second they avoided eye contact told a story
By minute 52 he had rewritten his internal map of the game
Not based on numbers
But on people
When he next received the ball he didn't even look up.He passed it to a space no one marked yet but he knew the fear in one defender's eyes would make him hesitate to step up
And it worked
The ball slipped through
Dazai connected
Almost a goal
But the message was clear
Kei wasn't chasing the second half
He had become its shadow
And shadows always moved first