Meguru Bachira, a prominent figure in the Blue Lock anime, is an exceptionally gifted footballer. Yet, his appeal extends far beyond his abilities on the pitch. It stems from his signature phrase: “There is a monster inside me.”

What is the true meaning behind these words? Naturally, this has sparked immense curiosity among the audience. Below is a detailed breakdown of the exact nature of the “monster” Bachira speaks of.

1. The Origin of the Imaginary Monster

From a young age, Bachira was a gifted freestyle footballer. His extraordinary dribbling overwhelmed his childhood friends; they couldn’t strip the ball from him or match his sheer talent. Frustrated, they eventually stopped playing football with him, opting for video games instead.

But Bachira refused to give up. He created an imaginary friend—a “monster”—and continued playing with relentless enthusiasm. He developed a habit of passing to this entity, mesmerized by the phantom goals his companion would score.

As a young boy, Bachira confided in his mother about this presence. With gentle wisdom, she explained that the monster was an imaginary friend only he could see. Crucially, she never called him weird. She understood that this companion allowed Bachira to play the game he loved and kept him happy.

Still, Bachira could not deny his deep longing for a real friend who shared his joy for the sport. He confessed this desire to his mother, who prayed alongside him that he would one day find the companion he sought. Bachira held onto a steadfast belief that this friend was out there.

Before joining Blue Lock, Bachira played for his middle school team. His teammates constantly demanded passes, but Bachira’s keen instincts always saw that his imaginary monster was in a better tactical position. Naturally, he passed to the phantom. This left his actual teammates scrambling for unreachable balls.

They mistakenly judged him as a poor passer, completely blind to his elite playmaking vision. They repeatedly scolded him, urging him to stop playing selfishly. They genuinely believed he had the potential to turn professional—if only he stopped making erratic, directionless passes.

Behind closed doors, a haunting fear sometimes gripped Bachira. What if he never met someone who truly understood him? What if he was doomed to play football alone forever? These thoughts left him with a suffocating emptiness, making him feel as though the sheer weight of his loneliness might kill him.

2. Finding His Ideal Monster

During Blue Lock’s initial test in Team Z’s room, twelve strikers faced a grueling two-minute game of tag. Whoever was struck by the ball became “it,” and whoever remained “it” when the timer expired would be instantly eliminated, permanently crushing their dream of joining the Japan National Team.

In the final minute, Yoichi Isagi became “it.” He struggled to land a hit on the room of agile, athletic players. Finally, Isagi caught a lucky break—Gurimu Igarashi had fallen and lay defenseless on the floor.

Isagi knew that achieving his own dream meant shattering someone else’s. Yet, he refused to eliminate a low-ranked player like Igarashi. Instead, Isagi set his sights on the strongest player in the room. This extraordinary shift in mindset immediately caught Bachira’s attention.

Without hesitation, Bachira stole the ball from Isagi, making himself “it.” In his mind, he locked onto his prey: the highest-ranked participant, Ryosuke Kira.

With just ten seconds left, Bachira relentlessly pursued Kira, who effortlessly dodged the barrage. As the clock ticked down, Bachira made a bold gamble. He launched a precision pass to Isagi, who was standing face-to-face with Kira.

In a split second, Isagi fired a devastating volley straight into Kira’s face. Kira collapsed to the floor, instantly eliminated and stripped of his grandiose ambitions.

Ironically, Isagi didn’t even understand why his body reacted automatically to shoot at Kira—the one person in the room he actually knew.

Isagi later confronted Bachira, asking why he risked the pass; if Isagi hadn’t fired the shot, Bachira would have been sent home. With a goofy smile, Bachira replied that he simply knew Isagi would kick it, leaving Isagi stunned.

Once officially on Team Z, Bachira approached Isagi during a solitary night training session. There, Bachira offered a deeper answer. He revealed that the “monster” inside him had instructed him to pass to Isagi, candidly confessing how lucky he felt to be at Blue Lock because it led him to Isagi.

The truth was, during that chaotic game of tag, Bachira had vividly seen his imaginary monster physically attach itself to Isagi. Acting on sheer instinct, he passed the ball to the man carrying his phantom companion.

Just as Bachira hoped, Isagi fired the ball without hesitation. It was the very first time someone had received Bachira’s pass and executed his exact vision. In that moment, Bachira knew with absolute certainty: Isagi was the real-life monster he had been searching for.

3. Rin Itoshi’s Harsh Awakening

One day, Bachira observed Rin Itoshi intensely focused on solo target practice, driving the ball into the net with lethal precision. Cautiously but bravely, Bachira approached Rin, hoping to join the session. Though initially annoyed, Rin eventually allowed Bachira to train with him.

Afterward, Rin offered a piercing critique. He acknowledged Bachira’s joyful, spirited dribbling, but brutally pointed out that Bachira was terrified of playing individually. He accused Bachira of constantly searching for someone else on the pitch.

Bachira was stunned. It was the first time anyone had ever seen through him so clearly. He immediately assumed Rin understood the “monster” inside him. Rin, however, was baffled by this bizarre talk. He dismissed it as a ridiculous fantasy that made Bachira’s playstyle cowardly and pathetic. Unbothered, Rin told Bachira to go ahead and play with his imaginary friend, while Rin focused on becoming the number one striker in the world.

4. Erasing the Monster Forever

The turning point arrived when Isagi (Team White) challenged Rin (Team Red) to a rematch, desperate to win back Bachira, whom Rin had poached in their previous encounter. As the match unfolded, Bachira watched in awe. Two absolute monsters were trying to destroy each other, reading movements with terrifying brilliance and clashing at an impossibly high level.

Bachira had achieved his dream of playing alongside his ideal monsters. Yet, he suddenly felt completely irrelevant—a passing shadow leaving no real mark on the game. He realized that Rin and Isagi found joy in scoring goals to feed their own massive egos, while he had reduced himself to finding joy merely in assisting them. The crushing realization hit him: playing solely to find a monster to pass to would never allow him to stand as an equal beside them.

Reflecting on his core passion, Bachira remembered where his true talent lay: the art of freestyle football. He recalled the pure, unadulterated joy of playing alone as a child. He realized he no longer needed a companion and was no longer afraid to fight on his own.

When a Team Red teammate demanded a pass from a highly advantageous position, Bachira ruthlessly ignored him. Even though he saw the illusion of the monster clinging to his teammate, Bachira refused to be shackled by it anymore. He abandoned the pass and locked onto a new, singular objective: scoring his own goal.

Shedding the chains of his lifelong crutch was agonizing, but Bachira finally cast the monster out of his life, erasing it forever like fog dissipating in the wind.

Unleashed and operating on pure instinct, his freestyle genius exploded. He stunned Team White by executing three spectacular, consecutive nutmegs against Isagi, Chigiri, and Barou. Transforming into an unstoppable dribbler, he then humiliated a desperate triple-team of Barou, Chigiri, and Nagi with a breathtaking rainbow flick.

Though he had permanently eradicated his imaginary friend, Bachira silently thanked the entity for being his loyal childhood companion. Now, standing on the battlefield wholly for himself, he no longer relied on phantoms. He had found ultimate satisfaction in his own ego, no longer needing Isagi or Rin as an excuse to play football.