**Murano's (POV)
I was half asleep, staring at the ceiling with tears streaming from my left eye. I was only partially awake as I recalled having a dream about my past life. In my dream, I was playing in the U-20 World Cup final match, where I had gotten a career-ending injury.
Scratching my chin I finally forced myself to open my eyes. I checked my cellphone and noticed that it was 5:55 am, five minutes before the room's alarm had gone off. While I was getting ready, I saw Hiori lying on his bed, appearing to be playing with his phone. But as I continued to look at him, a window suddenly appeared in front of me.
[Observer's Device Grade C]
Yo Hiori
Age: 17
SPEED 88 Grade A
OFFENSE 84 Grade A
DEFENSE 78 Grade B
SHOOT 75 Grade B
DRIBBLE 78 Grade B
Ovr:81 Grade A
I was astounded by the amount of information the system had just provided. The system's analysis of Yo Hiori's abilities and overall grade is impressively thorough. It had changed that much after an upgrade?
"Uh, morning," he said as he cast a quick glance my way. He was putting on his cleats and placing his phone on his bed.
"Morning," I said as I got up from my bed. Without waiting any longer, he left the room.
Right then, the room's alarm rang, which woke everyone else up.
_________
Blue Lock
Training Field
6:00 am
_________
**Yo Hiori's (POV)**
The last match showed me how much I'm lacking. Up until this point, I hadn't really given football much thought. I never really enjoyed playing soccer I only did it because my parents pressured me to play, not because I had any love for the game. But as time went on, I felt like a puppet being controlled by my parents to fulfill their own dreams. If anything, Blue Lock served as my escape from my toxic parents.
But now that I've seen the commitment and prowess of the people here, I fully understand that if I want to stay in Blue Lock, I must put in my all-out effort.
After all, I'd rather stay here than return to my parent's house.
But just as I placed the ball down and prepared to train, I noticed someone entering the field.
I couldn't help but stare at him as he walked by. I couldn't help but look at him. He had a well-built body, was extremely tall—much taller than most people his age—with blue hair that was styled in a short, spiky style with a bang in the middle, and striking blue eyes.
That was Hayashi Murano, the top scorer across all five strata in the Blue Lock's first selection.
Having already faced him, I had no reason to doubt his abilities. However, there was something off about him that was just...different. His presence gave off an air of pure dominance.
He walked over to me and said, "Let's train together."
"Sure," I said reflexively.
I then went on and picked up a lot of balls and placed them in the center.
As soon as we began training, I understood how incredible Murano was. I realized that he was truly gifted and knew exactly what he was doing. It was people like that who went on to become the number one, not me; I noticed while playing with him. I had to work harder to keep up with him because, just by looking at him, I was beginning to lose confidence.
After a while, Murano stopped running and exchanging passes and glanced at me. "Your passes are something else," he said. "Pass me more of those," he added.
I was surprised by Murano's sudden praise. I smiled a little and replied, "Thanks."
The rest of the players of the team entered the field, and we went on with training our skills together. But most of it was building chemistry among ourselves. They were pretty serious about creating a chemical reaction with me.
We had less than 11 hours left to play against the World Five but it seemed that they weren't worried or nervous about it.