After we had entered through the gate at the end where busses. Standing in front of each were seemingly security guards with a stack of papers. Before we could enter we had to sign them.
Giving them a quick look over I signed and got right onto the bus. Unsurprisingly I was the only one on it.
'well, I did run quite fast.' I thought amusedly. Instead of waiting for the people to board I simply put my AirPods in and waited for us to go.
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"Next, Sitashi Watarazu.". Says the smoking hot chick handing out what I assume to be uniforms.
"Now then, please head to the room corresponding to the letter on your uniform, get changed and wait for further instructions."
"yes ma'am!" I said whilst giving her a wink. 'Damn not even a response'.
inspecting my uniform I saw the number 297 on the sleeve with a Z underneath.
Heading inside the building I found a plethora of doors with different letters on them. Team Z was the last door. "damn, that's not a good sign."
"Yosh! World's best here I come!" Entering the room I saw 11 people, including Isagi.
'Good, if it's here. I can beat him!' I still wasn't content with how our last match went but even more so about how everyone thought he was better than me.
"Ah, Sitashi? You're here too!" he said putting his arms around my shoulder, much too comfortably for me.
"Of course, I'm here. If it's to be the best why wouldn't I?" I responded, casually slapping his arm off me.
"Ah yeah, I guess that makes sense. I just thought you quit is all." he said with a giddy smile as if we were buddy-buddy. 'Annoying.'
"Had a change of plans." I said whilst walking towards a locker. I began taking off my clothes until a shirt suddenly hit me in the face. "Which bas-!"
"ah, my bad. My clothes flew away." swallowing the words that were about to come out I looked at the human tank that had spoken.
"Nah, it's cool." I said trying to maintain my cool. 'Is he really under 18? With muscles like that he must be good.'
Going back to changing, I heard him talking to Isagi but it had nothing to do with me. There was also a guy with a buzz cut named Gurimu Igaguri, I tuned him out when he started giving his back story though.
Finally finishing changing I took some time to observe my team, Ryosuke Kira seemed to be the biggest threat here he also had the lowest number on his sleeve which I already assumed to be our placings.
Besides him, Isagi and muscle the rest looked like trash to me.
"Are you done changing you lumps of talents?" 'There he is! The man who'll hold my ladder to the top.'
"The others in your room aren't just your roommates... and you will push each other higher. I've used my personal judgement to quantify your abilities and rank you. That's the number displayed on your uniforms. Now anyone can tell with a glance relative to the other 299".
Glancing towards Isagi's shoulder I noticed his number said 295. 'So he thinks he's better huh?'. Clenching my fist I inwardly vowed to beat him.
"That ranking will change by the day and will go up depending on training and games. In the end, those in the top five will unconditionally be registered for the u-20 World cup happening six months from now."
'So I have to beat 290 players to compete?' I realized, my will wavering slightly.
'So be it then! I'll crush everyone here if it means I change my fate.'
"By the way, those who fail blue lock will forever lose the right to represent Japan. What you need to succeed here is ego. So first we'll hold a little entrance test to measure your aptitude. Now, time for some tag."
"The time limit is 136 seconds, if you get hit with the ball you're "it". Whoever's "it" when time runs out will have to piss off back home! Also, no using your hands. Best of luck unpolished gems."
Not saying another word the screen switched from ego's face to a screen showing Gurimu as "it" and a timer of 136 seconds.
"What the hell? This is a move-in test? This ain't soccer!" said some gruff-looking guy.
"#300, I'm ranked the lowest and I'm "it" first... but I'll do it. Guys no hard feelings about who goes home okay?" Gurimu said loudly which subtly improved my image of him.
"Wait a minute that stuff about representing Japan, do you actually believe him? Surely it's a bluff right?" said some air.
"I dunno but what if he's for real? I'll do it, if I lose ill be stuck in that temple forever. If I lose I'll be stuck in that DAMN temple FOREVER." It seemed his words had shown everyone the reality of things as no more words where spoken. nobody wanted to lose, to go home.
'I won't lose no matter what, I'll play as if my life depends on it!'
Gurimu began to charge toward Isagi which ended up with him in a corner along 3 others.
'I'll just stay in his blind spots so he won't target me, that's how ill win.' I strategized while watching Gurimu run around missing all his shots. Until the ball rolled toward a player who was... sleeping?
But before Gurimu could even kick the ball at him he jumped onto his hands and kicked him right in the face.
"OWW, HEY! THAT'S A FOUL RIGHT? FOUL!!" Shouted Gurimu holding his now bleeding nose.
"mm? we just can't use our hands right? Mornin" The guy said after jumping onto his feet.
'Was he pretending to sleep? Damn, looks like another problem.'
"Hey, I don't like when people play dirty. Let's fight fair and square" said Mr.Muscle
"Somebody's a goody-goody."
*WHAM* Before he could even respond he was hit by the ball straight at his head. "Tch, IGAGURI you BASTARD!" he said before kicking the ball at an impressive speed. Hitting isagi right in the gut.
'oof that's gotta hurt.' looking at the scoreboard I noticed he only had a minute to hit someone else.
Isagi kept on trying to hit an opponent but it seemed nobody here was weak enough to be hit by his shots.
There are only 45 seconds for him to score, 'Tch Isagi don't you dare lose here.' I continued watching from a distance. 'This isn't my fight... I don't need to do anything. If I do nothing, I'll win.' I thought with sweat dripping down my cheek.
"Nyahaha, hey you! Here's your chance!" Said the weirdo while holding Mr.muscle in some sort of body lock.
The chance was quickly shut down as Mr.muscle threw him across the room and right on top of Gurimu.
Weirdo quickly jumped off him and ran while Gurimu stayed on the ground wincing in what seemed like pain. 'Aah he's injured, I guess it's over'.
"HIT HIM NOW ISAGI, NOW IS YOUR CHANCE!" Said Kira.
'Wow, what a boring end. But i guess it'd only make sense for the weakest to leave first ' I thought while scratching the itch on my balls.
'These suits are wayyy too damn tight.'
"H-hey wait, this isn't- you cant! I'm sorry I aimed for you before! I don't want it to end like this!" 'Go on Isagi, end his career he's unnecessary to this team anyway.
This is the system of blue lock, the Strong eat the weak and the weak can get up and struggle or be devoured.' I thought already foreseeing what'd happen.
Isagi got into form for a shot, and just as he was about to kick it at Gurimu, he stopped putting the ball under his feet.
"No... I came here to change my life... I'm here... To become the world's best striker!" taking a complete 180 turn he started running in... My direction?
'Wait wait wait, me? How'd he even know I was behind him? No now is not the time to be thinking about bullshit'. Without thinking I went to my max speed to run away. But before he could shoot at me the weirdo took the ball from him.
"I like you! You get it... if you're gonna crush someone... it should be the strongest!" He said before running in Kira's direction.
'Idiot he threw away his future for something as flimsy as a tag game.' Slowing down I watched as he proceeded to miss his shots on Kira, even with one going too high. But right, where the ball was heading, isagi stood, like always.
And with 3 seconds left he kicked the ball at Kira's face hitting him square in the jaw.
2
1
*BZZZZT*
'They won?' I was dumbfounded not at all expecting Kira to be the one eliminated.
"Isagi Kun? Wha-what are you doing?" Said Kira in shock.
"Pfffft HAHAHAHAHAHA" I couldn't hold it in. The whole thing was spectacular! 'This is victory! Is this your ego Isagi? To devour the strong! I like it.'
"Huh, what're you laughing at?! This game means NOTHING!" Said Kira walking in my direction but before he could do anything a *Bzzzt* sound came from the screen.
"Good work you lumps of talents, results are everything here. NOW GET OUT LOSER! RYOSUKE KIRA YOU'RE DISQUALIFIED!!"
"Don't mess with me.. how is this supposed to make us win the world cup... these games... why do I. WHY DOES SOMEONE AS TALENTED AS ME NEED TO HAVE HIS FUTURE DESTROYED?! IM THE JEWEL OF JAPANESE SOCCER YOU GOT ME? ARE YOU SAYING IGAGURI OR ISAGI HAVE MORE TALENT THAN ME HAAH!?"
'Hmph yes, he absolutely does bastard'
"WHAT DOES THIS EVEN HAVE TO DO WITH SOCCER?" he futilely screamed some more.
"In blue lock, everything is related to soccer, take a look around you mediocre chump. The size of this room is 16.5x 40.32 meters. That's the same size as the penalty area. About 75% of goals happen in this area, It's a striker's workplace. Basically how well you can position yourself here determines your worth as a striker... Anyone who cant survive that battle lacks the talent to be a striker!"
Kira kept on shouting as if some sort of exception would come his way. I tuned him out as it was a waste of brain cells to listen to him.
In the end, he left blue lock with anger evident on his face. Ego kept on talking about egoism and such, but I couldn't connect with what he was saying. After all, Isagi was the only one who even looked at me with a ball under their foot.
"Congratulations, you've passed the blue lock entrance test. There are eleven of you in each room, from now you'll be living together and sharing a common destiny sometimes you'll cooperate, and sometimes you'll betray each other... Rivals carving out a shared dream as blue locks Team Z!"
'I can't wait!'
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Damn, I wrote 3 chapters in 1 day, I'm a tank. From the next chapter, I'm going to be freestyling so don't expect the same results as in the manga. Also, drop sum stones if you want me to continue this!