𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲

More and more people were flooding through the doors into the second stage.

Shit. You really needed to explain this somewhere privately, not that privacy really exists in Blue Lock.

Rin must have noticed you growing increasingly more impatient, "We have to have a team of three people to get out of here."

"Ugh, fuck," you shook your hands out in a desperate attempt to rid of whatever frustration you were feeling. "Alright...um," you could feel the weight of a stare on your side and when you turned to your left, you came face to face with some big-eyed dude, "Hello?"

"You...S-sorry, you look a lot like a professional football player!" he shouted nervously. Why was he nervous? You weren't doing anything particularly threatening. Yet.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," you grabbed his and Rin's arms and dragged them through the entrance to the next stage, they surprisingly just let you. Once you opened the door, you sighed in relief. The room was empty. You shoved the guys inside and walked to the opposite wall. "How do I start this..." you muttered.

You paced back and forth until you resigned, "Okay, you," you pointed to the nervous guy, "What's your name?"

He shivered, "Tokimitsu.. Aoshi," he rocked back and forth on his seat, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It was rude of me to stare, and say that. I-"

"Dude, it's fine." You pinched the bridge of your nose with a sigh and faced both of the boys, who were comfortable in their seats. You felt like a teacher lecturing her preschoolers. "Fuck it, you'll hear this anyway I guess," you motioned toward Tokimitsu. "Right, so, I assume you thought I look like [Surname][Name]...?"

"Yes!" he squeaked.

Rin just raised one of his eyebrows skeptically, like he was mentally asking 'what the fuck are you doing?' maybe there was a 'lukewarm' slipped somewhere in there. "Yeah, Tokimitsu, that's me. In Blue Lock, just call me 'Kazuma.' Long story short, I was the closest access Ego had to someone suitable to be his 'staff-on-the-front-lines,' I guess."

Rin sighed, "So, you work here?"

"In a sense. I don't really know, Ego doesn't like talking to me for longer than ten seconds at a time."

"Understandable," he muttered bitterly.

A small frown formed on your lips, "Aw, c'mon, didn't you miss me?" you asked sarcastically.

He didn't get a chance to answer before the beautiful, blissful peace that was the solidarity of the stage three room was shattered. Your group of three turned toward the doors that swung open, Bachira, Isagi, and Nagi walking through them.

Huh, you expected Isagi to team with Bachira, but not Nagi. It would be a pleasant surprise, if they didn't pick the worst time to show up.

Their group stopped once they recognized you in the room, "Kazuma?" Isagi questioned.

"Yo," you nodded to them in greeting.

Bachira stretched his arms behind his head, "You teamed up with those guys? Why not someone from our team?"

"Ah," you smiled and slung an arm round Rin's neck, bringing his face close to ours, "Rin, here, and I are close buds!" He just responded by pushing you off of him and rolling his eyes. You narrowed your gaze on Bachira, hoping he'd pick up the hint. He furrowed his brows, and sighing silently, you subtlety nodded back and forth between you and Rin.

It took him a second, but he, finally, had his epiphany and formed his mouth into a circle in realization.

Isagi brushed off you and Bachira's facial exchange and turned to Rin, "You're Itoshi Sae's younger brother, right?"

You suppressed a cringe at the mention of that name, while Rin put no effort into hiding his disdain. "Yeah. The only reason I'm in this lukewarm program is to destroy him."

Fucking dramatic as always. Isagi must have been feeling theatric as well, "I want to fight you," he declared confidently.

Rin nodded, "Anyone will do. You're all just stepping stones, anyway."

The both of them immediately turned to the match confirmation panels without asking the literal four other people who would have to participate. Wanting to just get it over with, you followed them and clicked the button as well. Tokimitsu, Bachira, and Nagi went to theirs in suit, too.

You were totally screwed.

Those idiots immediately wanted to jump into the game. So, consequentially, you were standing, discouraged, on the field. You'd decided that you'd really get to work with helping these guys in the second selection. But, given the fact they'd give you no time to make a plan, there was absolutely no way you could do that at the moment.

And, no. You did not want to hear that 'improvise, adapt, overcome' bullshit.

The game was about to start, and Rin was trying his damndest to glare down Isagi. You sighed. Walking up behind him, you hit the upside of his head. "Cut that intimidation crap out and start the game," you chided. He rubbed the sore spot and shot you your own glare before getting into position.

Isagi started the kickoff with a pass to Bachira, and you processed how weird it was to be playing against them. Bachira was able to get his way past Tokimitsu and pass to Nagi, who was in front of the goal. You really had to pull out motivation from those cheap, cheesy 'dig deeper!' posters to actually be able to move your limbs to block Nagi's path to the net. By the works of a miracle, you did.

He was forced to pass it back in front of him, but that seems to have been where your luck ran out, because Isagi got to the ball and sent it straight past your head into the net.

You had to say, that one really took a stabbing to your soul. Props to them, I guess.

Tokimitsu was flipping out, muttering negative confirmations to himself. Rin, on the other hand, was back to his glaring. "Your level...is so lukewarm, I feel like dying," he stated to your opponents. A faint 'shut the fuck up' by you could be heard in the background, but mostly drowned out by Mr. Number One himself.

He went into a melodramatic monologue on the middle of the field, before wrapping up the performance with a shot into the goal. That was really the only way he could save himself from that embarrassing bit, good for him. Although, you couldn't count on one hand the amount of times he'd said 'lukewarm' in the past ten minutes.

Team White started down the field with the ball, Bachira sending the ball toward Nagi. Yet again, you were forced to block the pass in front of him. You used your head to direct it back to Tokimitsu, listening to him freak out while you dashed for the goal. Bachira intercepted the pass from him, you watched as the ball flew above your head.

This whole game sucked. Especially for your goddamn lungs.

It took all the will power you had to increase your speed and beat Isagi to the ball, shooting it into the goal once you did. You had to say, it felt pretty worth it to have the expense of your lifespan threatened for a nice goal. Maybe.

After the restart, Bachira past by Tokimitsu to the goal. The nervous wreck somehow managed to catch up to him, but Bachira did yet another cut and Tokimitsu got to him again. Tokimitsu seemed to snap, anxious yells knocked up an octave, muscles swelling twice their size. If that was even possible.

He raced down the field, chanting that he needed to get the goal to finally relax. And, he did. Man, were you on a field full of fucking weirdos.

The game was still at a pause, you and Rin were standing next to Tokimitsu as he freaked out.

You patted the back of his crouched over form, "Dude, it's okay. Good job getting the goal." Rin scoffed from your side and you shot him a sidelong glare, "Sock it."

Rin rolled his eyes and walked back to his position, but the boy in front of you was still rocking on his heels, "I can't get too happy! What if I can never do it again?!" he whined.

You pursed your lips, "I don't know...just, ...I don't know." You really didn't. What were you supposed to do with a high schooler losing it in the middle of a football game, one he was playing in?

He looked up at you with wide eyes, "Ah!" he screeched, "Don't look at me! This is so embarrassing to do in front of you, of all people!"

"Uh," you swallowed, "Right, yeah...then, I'll just go over here..." you walked meekly back over to your position, Isagi gave you a questioning look. You just shrugged your shoulders and pointed you head back toward Tokimitsu.

The game restarted and Team White must have figured out an actual tactic. They were connecting well as a team, something yours failed to do. Passing back and forth between each other in the midfield, Bachira got the ball to Nagi, who you were guarding, and he got around you to put the ball into the goal. Rough.

Rin tried to score from the centerline, again, and Isagi was able to block it before it reached the net. Your team got the corner kick, Rin shot it and made it in. Talk about a fucking show-off. At least, now, your team only needed one more goal for this to finally be over.

And then, it was. It took all of three seconds for Rin to get fed up and steal the ball from Isagi. Getting around the rest of Team White, he scored the final goal.

He kinda, sorta, maybe, possibly, carried your team. But, it's alright, you'll get to sleep early tonight.

_______________________

happy mother's day !