The next practice match.
"Nice one, Rin!"
"Go up the side!"
At the end of the second half, it's 3-0, a crushing victory.
I can easily back it up, but... from there on, no pass will ever come.
Rin erases his best image and then captures the whole picture. In his head, he sees the movements of all the players, as if filmed from a drone.
An image leading up to a shot. It's not about me getting a goal, the only option that could get us to the score is...
Rin intentionally didn't get out of that space, and got a pass. The defenders gather to stop Rin. He could dribble and force his way through, but he doesn't do that either. He draws the enemy to the very edge. On the opposite side, his teammate comes up. He makes a sharp pass on the route between him and the goal.
Now run!
Chasing the ball from Rin, he runs. One-two. The goalkeeper is so focused on Rin that it slowed down his reaction.
Twack!
With Rin's last pass, they score a shot. His teammate said, "Alright!" and made a victory pose. Boring.
If his Nii-chan had been there, he would have passed the ball to him in front of the goal and he would have scored it directly..... He stopped thinking.
No pass is coming. That is now the reality. Anyway, the team won for the first time in a long time.
"Good job!"
"That shot you made was great!"
The more the coach and teammates rejoice, the colder Rin's feelings become. But this made it clear. In order for this team to win, he would have to adapt himself to the team's abilities, rather than seeking someone who could match his abilities. In this way, I would pull the whole team up. In this way, he would pull the whole team up. It is as if a child prodigy who can understand high school math has to do addition and subtraction in grade school.
Still, we have to win. I made a promise to Nii-chan. I'll use my new weapon and make my team win.....!
In order to catch up with his Nii-chan he saw off at the airport, he has to make the team's victory his top priority. To do so, he must hold himself back.
Hold back the you who was trying to steal the goal with everything you have using that sense of smell for the goal and assemble an attack as a team play. This decision by Rin was the best choice for his goal of "making the team the best in Japan". As evidence of that, the team has been reborn since Rin changed his style. The team became a winning team, just as it had been when Sae was with them. The team's atmosphere improved, and with regards to Rin, even his reputation shoots up.
"Rin, as expected of an ace!"
"You are Sae's younger bro after all!!"
Even their manager and coach entirely changes their attitude towards him.
"You scored another shot! You're a genius!"
"Whoa! We're so strong!"
When it comes to his teammates, he wonders what they are talking about. No one understands Rin's frustration. But they can win, so that's fine. It's as if there are marionette strings attached to his teammates, controlling and moving the team..... That is Rin's new weapon. It is a play that can only be made with Rin's combination of technical, physical, and tactical skills. It has also led him to bring out the best in his teammates.
His teammates give their all without even realizing that they are being played by Rin. By getting a pass at the best time, they can play beyond their capabilities. Ironically, when Rin abandoned his growth as a striker, the level of the team was raised as a whole, making them more capable of winning. Rin successfully took Sae's place.
That's why there were more trophies for Rin to receive. The team won the tournament and he received the most valuable player award. He put his trophy next to Sae's.
... With this, I can catch up with Nii-chan.
He's relieved to finally see the results of his efforts. However, the soccer he's been playing freely up until now, was turning into something feeling terribly crippling that follows him around. It is suffocating and boring. Perhaps because of this stress, he has recently been watching shark movies at night, where sharks attack humans. It's refreshing to see a giant man-eating shark attack and munch on humans. Sharks are sensitive to the smell of blood, and their sharp, jagged teeth can grow back many times. He got to know more about sharks for nothing. He looked at Sae's picture next to the trophy.
I wonder if Nii-chan felt this way too.
Sae in the picture looked grumpy and didn't say anything to him.
I'm sure even Nii-chan played in Japan with such a burden. That's why he went abroad, to Spain..... in search of playing soccer freely.
Sae, who has been leading the team, may have been holding himself back as a striker. He finally understood Sae's feelings. If that's the case, he will do the same. He felt that Sae in the picture smiled a little.
tl: *just a brief explanation on the title. It is 自分を殺してでも in Japanese. Most of us know that 殺して is means "kill" but it can also mean "holding back" which is the context of this part. Rin is holding back his striker abilities to help his team.