Meditations on bris/isbr [8/?] "Immovable Object"
Link to previous part.
As the 3v3 match against Team Red is about to commence Isagi still thinks that, by bearing the responsibility of working as the middle-man between Nagi and Barou, he can make this team work. He thinks that he can take it upon himself to induce a ‘chemical reaction’ between the three of them by responding to them both and becoming the axis of the team this way.
But he hasn’t really internalised what Barou said previously during their talk, and how reluctant he really is to support anyone else’s plays.
The game starts with Isagi sending the ball to Barou while thinking that the chemical reaction they will make will be the key to 'controlling this match'. He thinks that, but doesn't explicitly realise that the control he envisions is his own control. He hasn't had to come to this realisation yet, because during the Second Selection he's thus far only played in a team with Bachira and Nagi, neither of which has been opposed to following his design and acting as his support without question.
But if Isagi really only cared about coordinating as a team and inducing chemical reactions, he would at least consider the idea of letting the team be led by Barou. But that thought doesn't even cross his mind, since he's as much of an egoist as Barou is, just not as candidly aware of it himself yet.
He gets a reality check very soon after kickoff, when Barou repeatedly demonstrates his reluctance to pass the ball. Now, Barou had no trouble passing the ball to Naruhaya before and trusting that he’d pass it back to him, but since that game and his talk with Isagi he seems to have become aware of the fact that these people are not going to just prostrate themselves in front of him. And so he’s aiming towards keeping the ball in his own possession as much as he can, so that Isagi and Nagi won’t ‘mess it up’ for him by trying to steal the show.
In face of Barou's illogical plays, Isagi is left having to try to figure out a way to ‘get him to pass’ on the spot. However, Team Red is coordinated enough to steal the ball as soon as this hiccup in Team White’s cooperation shows itself — leading to Chigiri scoring.
Still refusing to acknowledge just how stubborn Barou is about following his own ideal playstyle even at the threat of losing, Isagi proceeds to set up a play that involves him passing the ball to Barou again, and expects him to assist him as he rushes forward with a clear path to the goal.
And then acts surprised when he doesn't do that.
After Kunigami scores another goal for Team Red, Isagi finally updates his parameters; switching from looking at the ideal design in his head to perceiving what's happening right in front of him. He acknowledges to himself that Barou is not going to just magically start passing, and chooses to cooperate with Nagi instead, which quickly leads to a goal.
But he still hasn’t given up on the thought of integrating Barou as part of the team, and consequently bringing him within his own sphere of influence (though that's still not the way he sees it).
So, he approaches him again, asking him nicely to please help them. And at this point I’ve got to say that while Barou might be quick to blow up at the sight of dirty towels on the floor, he’s got a surprisingly large reservoir of patience in asserting and re-asserting his goals, ego, and methods to others. This time Isagi listens, and gets exasperated with him. He raises his voice, telling him that they're going to lose like this, and that Barou is squashing his own potential.
This is what I said regarding this line of thought in a previous post:
As such he [...] rationalises his frustration to himself as being caused by Barou “wasting his talents”. I say “rationalises”, because while I think that does frustrate him, I don’t believe Isagi is actually trying to help Barou here for altruistic reasons. Rather, I think he's trying to recruit him to be someone who would play according to Isagi’s own ideas and help him score — which Barou instinctively recognises and rejects outright.
Barou reacts with what I interpret as mild shock and confusion when he hears that accusation thrown right in his face. I don't think he expected that at all, since he's been (correctly) reading Isagi as an egoist who instead of listening to him and adhering to his will, is instead trying to impose his own will on Barou. I don't think he thought there'd me anything more to it.
And while Isagi's ideas about chemical reactions were already new to Barou, I would wager that no one has ever dared to say something like this to him before:
I think Barou recognises a grain of truth in what Isagi is saying, and that hits a nerve.
Up until now it seems like he's been able to rely on his overwhelming individual talent, and even when his teammates have failed him, he's been able to come out personally victorious by scoring the most goals — this being what saved him in the First Selection. But his tried-and-tested philosophy is finally starting to show cracks. I believe Barou can imagine himself getting locked off at this point, and his own weakness at his inability to change his own fate frustrates him.
His confident mask slips for a moment as he voices out his honest feelings about the situation, and Isagi is struck silent by his outburst. Covering his face (in rage? shame?) Barou then proceeds to take Isagi's words and throw them back in his face, telling him exactly what he thinks of them.
It sounds harsh, but considering it's the exact same approach that Barou himself has tried to use on his own teammates, it actually isn't a condemnation on his part, just a rejectal.
What drives home the fact that Barou isn't disgusted by Isagi's ego as much as he is by the thought of 'serving him' is that he continues by acknowledging Isagi as an 'egoist', and attaches to him with the words he's used to describe himself previously.
Isagi is left speechless as Barou walks away from him, though the implications behind Barou's words don't quite sink in yet (but they will, very soon).
When Nagi comes up to him and asks what's the problem and why couldn't they just try to disregard Barou and win this on their own, Isagi has to admit he's got a point, and wonders about his fixation on Barou.
"Is it to win the match?"
Well, yeah, but at this point Isagi hasn't yet concluded that they need Barou for that, and he's had instant success when he simply disregarded Barou before. So that isn't the whole story.
"Or is it just because the way he is now feels like such a waste to me...?"
I think this is a bigger part of it, if not the full answer either. But I did say before that I do believe this also frustrates him, so I'll elaborate on that a bit here:
I've previously laid out how I think that Barou embodies many of the striker traits that Isagi considers ideal, and how several of these traits form parallels between Barou and Noa, whom Isagi has admired for half of his life. Isagi has also been shown to consider Barou 'incredible' and 'cool', and he's admitted to Barou previously that the skills he has that rely on his physique are the kind Isagi himself could never have, no matter how long he trained.
So, the way I see it is that at this point in time Isagi still half-idolises Barou as an exemplary striker, though he's also grown so much himself that by this point he can easily imagine an even better version of the guy who still seemed out of reach at the beginning of Blue Lock. And because Isagi is someone who reliably goes for the 'strongest guy in the room', it bothers him to think that Barou might end up getting locked off. Isagi wants Barou to succeed and continue in Blue Lock so that he'll have another chance to face against him on the pitch in order to surpass him. After all, Barou is the very person who shook him to his core in the very first match of the First Selection, and pushed him onto the path of egotistical playmaking.
It's a very particular type of interest that stems from Isagi's admiration, his desire to extend the implicit rivalry between them, and from his desire to see Barou grow into that immense reservoir of potential that he sees in him. Isagi believes in Barou and wants him to live up to his own expectations — and that's why it's so frustrating to him to think Barou might end up disappearing here.
But there is another reason to his fixation: A theme Isagi has repeatedly thought of in this game is control, yet Barou is not someone he can control through conventional means. He resists it with every cell of his being, and by getting hung up on the thought of integrating Barou in his own design, Isagi has been approaching him, and by extension this match in an entirely wrong way.
...Good thing Isagi isn't an immovable object, but the 'adaptability genius' himself, aka An Unstoppable Force.
More on that in the next part.