It had already been an hour since the game had ended, and I finally arrived home.
"Hello mom, I'm home!" not receiving a response I wasn't too surprised, my mother worked long shifts to provide enough money for the apartment and food.
Taking my shoes off, I first headed to the kitchen. I could really use a meal after a loss like that, unsurprisingly there was nothing besides some minute ramen and cereal. Quickly cooking my ramen I headed with it toward my room.
It wasn't big only being 2x2 but it was where I grew up and I loved it.
Sitting on my computer desk I placed down the ramen and opened my laptop. For once I had some notifications on tweeter. 'oh? did someone message me?' opening his inbox he saw a message from some random kid.
"Hey, Sitashi! I loved your game today. Although it sucks that you lost it was a great attempt! - your biggest fan Bob.
"Haha, I have a fan??" reading the message subconsciously left a smile on my face.
'Too bad I won't ever play again.' I thought returning to my once again sombre mood. Leaving a response to my "biggest" fan I decided to scroll through my feed for a bit.
There were a lot of interviews with Ryosuke Kira and William Lee. It seemed Japanese Football found another money-making genius.
It pissed me off to the extent that those bastards won and got all the attention when it should've been ME. My mind traced back to when Isagi had passed the ball to that air of a player.
'If only he passed to me, If only my team was good. Now I'll never be scouted!' i thought slamming my fist against my desk.
Realizing my unintentional anger I closed my laptop and finished my ramen, leaving it on my desk for future me to clean I decided to take a nap.
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"-Shi wake up!"
*SLAP*
I instantly woke up and checked my surroundings, Seeing my mother standing above me with an envelope in hand a groan subconsciously left my lips.
"MOM, what'd I say about slapping me to wake me up, jeez" I said while rubbing my now red cheek.
"Humph, well then you should wake up when I call you! Anyway, there's mail for you here." She said while handing me an envelope with some sort of octagon in the centre.
"well go on, open it!" she nagged with more impatience than me. Opening the envelope what I saw inside made me grin from ear to ear.
I was Scouted!
Apparently, I had been selected for some sort of soccer training program, although it wasn't a team, it was something. More importantly.
'I don't have to quit!' i thought while accidentally squeezing the letter in my fist.
*SLAP*
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
"For not greeting your mother!" she said with a pout on her face.
"arghh hello mom" I forced out.
"good boy," she said before kissing me on the cheek and leaving with my plate of ramen.
"This is my ONLY chance," I said while doing my best to unwrinkle the piece of paper in my hand. 'This time I'll show my worth!'
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I woke up at 7 today even though it was a Saturday, all for one reason. Today was the day I see what this whole blue lock thing was about! Quickly doing my morning stretches, I headed to the bathroom to get prepared.
Making sure to style my hair nicely and where my lucky glasses that i whore in games.
Then heading downstairs to eat I was quite shocked to see my mother making breakfast.
"ahh morning honey, sit I've made you a meal." She said in an almost unrecognizable cheery tone.
"uh yeah morning, but don't you work at 6 am?" I said while taking a seat ready to feast on the eggs toast and bacon she made.
"oh don't worry about that, I cancelled my shift today to take you to your first day of practice!" She said while pouring me a glass of orange juice.
"oh ok thanks mom," I said with a smile adorning my face. Quickly finishing my meal we got into the car and headed toward where the meeting was being held.
We had arrived and my heart was pumping, today marks the beginning of Sitashi Watarazu!
"wait honey... remember no matter what happens just give it your best and don't be disappointed by the outcome, ok?"
"ok mom, ill keep those words in mind".
"good! I love you, do your best!" she said before speeding away. 'She definitely didn't cancel that shift' i thought with a wry smile on my face.
Walking towards the entrance of the building I saw very few people I recognized.
Itoshi Rin was one of them. The younger brother of the star player Itoshi Sae.
"damn what's a monster like that doing here?" I said aloud getting a few eyes on me. Not giving a fuck until I realized one of the players eyeing me was someone I recognized quite well. William Lee.
I locked eyes with him for a few seconds before deciding to speak to him.
'He's a good player and if we're going to be training together I might as well become acquainted with him.'
Walking toward him I extended my hand out and introduced myself, "Hello there, my name is Sitashi Watarazu, do you remember me?".
He stared at my extended hand for a second before looking back up at me.
"No".
That was all he said, and it didn't look like he was keen on saying more. So instead of embarrassing myself more, I reciprocated his attitude back to him.
"Too bad. You will." I said before walking into the building.
'Holy shit that was cool!! I should do that more.' but before I could become more delusional I felt the gazes of hundreds of people on me.
"phuu, what kind of training is this?" I said not expecting nearly as many players. Instead of being friendly, I decided to keep in my own lane until the coach or whatever came.
30 minutes later
I was getting kind of bored and just when I was about to get some fresh air I saw Isagi and... Kira enter the building. He didn't seem to notice me as he continued talking to Kira.
'Not that I care anyway'. I thought before my attention was drawn to the stage where a spotlight suddenly shined.
In the spotlight stood a tall skinny man, wearing an all-black suit. It looked quite fitting on him.
"ahem..er... Congrats, you unpolished lumps of talents. according to my personal judgement, the three hundred of you are the best strikers under eighteen. My name is Jinpaci Ego. I was hired to give Japan a world cup victory."
'huh? Win the world cup?'
"I'll say this plainly. Only one thing is necessary for Japanese soccer to become the best in the world: The birth of a revolutionary striker. You 300 will be my test subjects... In an experiment aimed at creating the world's best striker. behold, the factory built to conduct that experiment. BLUE LOCK."
"Starting today you'll all be living together while undergoing the special training I've devised. You can't return to your homes, and this marks the end of your previous soccer careers. But I promise this... Whoever survives this blue lock and outlasts the other two hundred ninety-nine... The last remaining player will become the world's best striker. That concludes my explanation, thank you."
'The striker who beats all 299 people here becomes the best in the world? what a load of crap! How am I supposed to beat someone like Itoshi Rin or William Lee?'
"umm, excuse me I can't agree to your terms"
'oh thank god someone else said it what kind of bullshit is this?'
"We each have a team depending on us. And some of us are preparing for nationals. You expect us to run off and live in some strange compound...? I can't abandon my team to participate in that."
'Although I hate to admit it, he's right getting us all to live in some compound based on his own whims? Nobody would do that shit! And it seems most people agree with him.'
"I see... You're all really terrible huh? Then fuck off. If you want to leave I won't stop you. You're worried about your teams? Instead of becoming the Worlds best? You'd rather be the best high schooler in our country's soccer backwater? I get depressed when I think of people like you carrying the future of Japanese soccer."
"Listen... The capacity for teamwork in Japanese soccer is the best in the world. You could call it a national gift, born of our considerate nature. But besides that, everything else about is... is second-rate."
"let me ask you... just what is soccer? A team sport played together with eleven comrades? A band of brothers each relying on the other? WRONG. And that's why this country's game has always been weak. I'll tell you... soccer is... a sport in which you must score more points than your opponent!"
"Whoever scores the most points is the best! If you want to play at "getting along" the piss off."
'This guy... he's not wrong.'
"I disagree... please take that back players like Honda and Kagawa those people battle together... we grew up watching our Japanese teams cooperate! They're my heroes! And you're wrong."
'This guy Kira just doesn't shut up huh?'
"...hm? Honda? Kagawa? None of them have won the world cup, right? THEN THEY'RE TRASH! I'm talking about becoming the best in the WORLD. Got it?"
"Take Noel Noa for example he beat out Messi and Ronaldo to take the ballon D'or... Do you know what the best striker in the world said? "instead of assisting my team to win 1-0, it feels better to pull off a hat trick and lose 3-4" you see? Eric Cantona, the greatest soccer player of the twentieth century said "I don't care about my team. I just want to stand out." And the greatest player of all time, three-time world cup winner Pele, said "The world's best forward, midfielder, defence, goalkeeper, whichever you ask about, the answer is still me."
"HOW ABOUT IT? AWFUL RIGHT? But these guys were number ONE! They were all revolutionary strikers!! All of them were peerless egoists. What Japanese soccer lacks is EGO! If you're not the world's top egoist... You can never become the world's best striker.
'This... This is wrong. if I'm not the top egoist I can never become the world's best striker? Is that really right?'
"and I want to create someone like that in this country. The lone hero who will stand atop two hundred ninety-nine corpses."
'impossible, against everyone here... could I win? Could I best them all?'
"Now lumps of talent. let me ask one final question... Imagine you're at the last match of the world cup... eighty thousand spectators... your on that field. The score's 0-0 The game has gone into overtime... It's the last play... you've broken through and received a pass from your teammate. Its a one-on-one showdown with the goalkeeper... There's a teammate twenty feet to your right if you pass you can almost certainly get a point... but you gamble the nation's hopes and the assurance of victory. Do you shoot without hesitation?"
"only those sorts of crazy egoists may enter here. I'll say this once more, soccer is a sport that exists for you strikers, think of everyone else on the field as supporting actors. Discard your common sense; on the field, you're the star!"
My body was covered in goosebumps, 'everything he said EVERY SINGLE WORD... was right. But do I have the ego to match?'
"Rejoice in scoring goals above all else and live for nothing but those moments. That's... What it means to be a striker."
'This... this I what I want, What I NEED. This is my fate... as a STRIKER!' i thought only to see Isagi already running towards the entrance.
"Like HELL I'll be left behind by you ISAGI!" I growled, charging towards the entrance.
This is where I'll show my worth, here at Blue Lock!
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wooh hope u like anywho onto writing chapter 3 !