It was time for the second selection and in the building x, Team V and Team W were the two teams that progressed with the whole team. Of course, it was also the moment when everyone found that all the buildings and teams were one and all the same.
"Thanks to Ose Leon, Isagi Yoichi awakened early." In the monitor room where all the screens were covered with Leon, Ego said with a finger on his chin.
"Yes, it seemed he learned a lot from their match." Standing with files in her hands, Anri spoke.
"The one who learned from the match was not only Isagi Yoichi."
"Ehh??? What do you mean Ego-san?"
"Tch, listen carefully here Anri-chan, it was apparent that Ose Leon was rather an arrogant guy. Although, we are looking for strikers like him, don't you think he has to learn what a lost is?"
There was a crazy grin on Ego's face as he said this.
"He underestimated those who are in the lower ranking than him. Although it wasn't something like contempt, rather, indifference, he has to change that passive attitude of his."
Anri hesitantly asked, "But didn't he play seriously in the match with Itoshi Rin and Shidou Ryusei? He wasn't passive at all."
"That was until he saw what they could do, Anri-chan. Didn't you see that the first goals were both Itoshi Rin's and Shidou Ryusei's? He has always thought victory is in his grasp. That, he could change the tide of the match whenever he could. While that could work now, that would be complete and utterly useless out in the world. He might have experience in the Ice-skating world… but here in the soccer, he is nothing but a frog in the well."
"He is similar to Nagi Seishiro of Team V. But the difference was, Ose Leon had more experience and tricks up his sleeves. I don't like the fact that he trains all day but wastes those training in the real matches."
Ego didn't stop for a moment and continued:
"However, thanks to the match with Isagi Yoichi, he is starting to change."
In all of the screens, be it big or small, Leon was there, challenging the Blue Lock man with all of his seriousness. The proof would be his furrowing brows and the opened, active imagination of goals.
"Woah… it's almost as if he was creating ways on how to score new goa–" Before Anri even finished, Leon ran back to the very back of the field and scored a goal from right there, passing through all the holograms' defense.
"It– it was a long-shoot shot straight from the very back! There had never been a player who could do this before!"
Anri slammed the table in her excitement. Even Ego was shocked. There had been a trace of cyan-like blue fire trailing the ball, awake in its path.
And it went straight to the goal, those prided holograms weren't able to stop it.
"...Let's see if he could recreate that goal."
In the end, that was all Ego could say.
Leon was not able to do it a second and third time without failing. But slowly, he grew proficient. In the end of the second selection, Leon had a new ace up his sleeves and was more meticulous to microdetails.
Leon named this shot, 'Ignite shadow pass'. Although, it was not meant to be a pass. Sound familiar? It was because this technique was taught to him by a friend who played basketball.
He was inspired from the principle behind the ignite pass. He just modified the name to Ignite 'Kuroko' pass to give honor (Kuroko ain't dead y'all) to his friend, who was the original owner of the technique.
After he passed the second stage, Leon walked down the narrow hallway and met Itoshi Rin again.
"You are here too, Rin?"
Rin was the only one in the room before Leon. The blonde did not care that Rin didn't reply to his casual greeting and sat himself beside Rin, curling his knee to his chest.
They sat together in a comfortable silence.
Rin closed his eyes and leaned his head back to the wall. For some reason, Leon's presence always calmed down the turmoil in his heart. He was able to be just 'Rin'. Just, Rin. Not Itoshi Rin, the renowned prodigy Itoshi Sae's brother.
"Hmm, as expected of someone as stylish as you two to arrive before me," twirling some long and inky strands between his finger, the Aryu 'Stylish' Jyubei walked toward Rin and Leon 'stylishly'.
"Hiiiiiiiiii! There are others here! Scary!" The scaredy cat who ranked high for some reason cried out as soon as he passed the second selection.
There goes peace and quiet.
"We have to form a group with three people. We have four here." Aryu glanced toward all the occupants of the room, subtly hinting that one of them will be left behind.
Rin's teal eyes flickered toward his left, where Leon was sitting. It just happened that Leon was also looking toward Rin; violet and teal clashed in the air.
After a moment, Leon opened his mouth, "Three of you go, I will group with others."
Everyone had their attention on the blonde.
Rin intensely stared at Leon, "Are you waiting for your lukewarm brother?"
Chuckling dryly, Leon said, "No, it's time for the little samurai to grow up."
Others took a double take at the usage of the nickname 'samurai'.
"Don't you usually call him Davy, though?"
Aryu tilted his head, hair still in his hand.
"Yep," Leon didn't elaborate further.
Respecting his boundary, the rest no longer asked him.
"Come with me," Rin's tone didn't give him room for objection. "How domineering, Rin." Leon and Rin had a staredown. In the end, Rin spoke a word: "Reason."
Humming, Leon fiddled with his hand. "Because you and I will collide if we were in the same team." Then, he stared into Rin's eyes and pulled their faces closer, "If you," he said, fluttering his eyelashes, "want me that much, come and get me yourself."
Only when Leon stood up, everyone broke out from their spellbound state. Rin stared at Leon for a little longer and said, "Let's go."
"We will be waiting for you 'stylishly'."
"Fi-fighting, Leon-kun!"
That was all Aryu and Tokimitsu said before they followed behind Rin.
[Itoshi Rin, Aryu Jyubei, Tokimitsu Aoshi] —Grouped!
Bored, Leon laid on the floor, when all of a sudden, a shadow loomed over him. He slightly parted his eyelids to see a guy with two strands on his face like antennas, close to his face.
"Hey, beauty. Why not group with me?"
Leon tilted the corner of his lip slightly, "Sure". As an afterthought, he said, "But we still need one more person–"
Just as he said, one of the doors opened and another contender walked in.
"Perfect."
[Ose Leon, Shidou Ryusei, Kurona Ranze— paired!]