Jackpot!
Seeing the golden glow before him, Shinichi eagerly opened the system menu to inspect his options.
[Ding! Congratulations! You've obtained the following temporary traits. Please select one to store permanently:]
[Persistence (Blue)]
[Peace of Mind (White)]
[Eavesdropper (Blue)]
[Strong and Sturdy (Blue)]
[Hardworking (Purple)]
[Top Scorer (White)]
[Motivated by Shame (Purple)]
[Game IQ (Blue)]
[Twin Talent (Blue)]
[King (Gold)]
"This draw leaves little room for debate," Shinichi thought to himself. "Most of the blue traits are hardly useful to me at this point, and even the purple traits seem lackluster. After all, in today's football world, who could truly give me such a humiliating defeat that it'd spark growth?"
"The only traits with any real value here are Game IQ and Top Scorer."
Shinichi pondered the choices carefully.
Although the summoning mechanism guaranteed a base level of ability corresponding to the trait grade—such as summoning legends like Kobe Bryant with a single purple trait—these lower-tier options seemed to offer little potential.
Gambling on something worthwhile from those traits didn't seem realistic.
"In that case, the decision is obvious. King, huh... I'm really curious to see who'll show up." After weighing the pros and cons, Shinichi took a deep breath and tapped on the sole golden trait.
As the summoning circle emitted a radiant golden light, dissolving the trait entirely, an unfamiliar figure materialized within the legendary training camp's space.
"Legendary Training Camp... this is incredible. Something I thought only existed in anime and novels is actually happening to me," a cocky young man emerged from the radiant light, a playful grin on his face. "Blue Lock, huh? What an interesting concept. It's like a sports version of a battle royale."
"Yo, what's up?" Tooru Oikawa brushed his bangs to the side, tilting his head as he looked at Shinichi.
"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm just a setter from volleyball. Attacking might not be my strong suit, but..."
"Messing with the opponent's defense using clever passes? That's my specialty. Let me show you the joy of being a playmaker."
"So it's this King... the Great King—Tooru Oikawa,"
Shinichi muttered, glancing away from Oikawa's mischievous grin. "What a waste. A useless guy like you is just a waste of my time."
"Hey, don't be like that! Come on, give it a shot. You've got nothing to lose, and I can help sharpen your vision on the field. I'm offering to teach you, y'know. It'll even improve your offense. How about I show you how to execute a delayed attack? You can trick your opponents with rhythm changes. Setters can go on the attack too, you know! Come on, try it!"
"Tsk, you're so annoying. Fine, I'll reluctantly learn from you," Shinichi said, feigning impatience as he turned his head, secretly winking at Kobe nearby.
What Shinichi didn't notice was Oikawa glancing back at Shougo Haizaki behind him, raising a finger to his lips in a gesture for silence, a sly smirk on his face.
"Hmph, gotcha." ×2
...
"Do they seriously think the other doesn't know what's going on? What's the point of this mutual play-pretending? Is this some kind of mind game I don't get?" Shougo Haizaki, already wary of sharp-minded people like Akashi, shivered as he watched the two schemers at work.
He leaned toward Kobe and asked in a low voice.
"That brat Shinichi has a dominant personality—he can't stand not being in control. Meanwhile, the new kid seems like the type who loves manipulating everything behind the scenes. So while he's pretending to yield to Shinichi, he's actually enjoying the satisfaction of outmaneuvering him. And Shinichi, knowing this, goes along with it, acting like, 'Oh no, you got me,' while still keeping the upper hand," Kobe explained with a roll of his eyes.
"These two figured each other out the moment they met. By playing into each other's quirks while maintaining their own boundaries, they're smoothing out their dynamic to avoid clashes later on. Just childish antics, really." Kobe's tone was dismissive, but his mind wandered to a certain overly stubborn companion from his past.
If only we'd been mature enough to compromise back then…
"But that brat Shinichi has never backed down with me," Kobe growled, irritation flaring as he turned to glare at the now-chummy Shinichi and Tooru Oikawa.
His piercing gaze locked onto them like a predator cornering its prey.
"You two brats, get over here!" he barked, his voice booming.
"If I don't train you both until you're crying, I'm not Kobe Bryant!"
...
As the night faded into dawn, Shinichi naturally opened his eyes, silencing the alarm that had already gone off four times. He stretched with a groan.
"Ugh… even though fatigue doesn't carry over to my real body, I feel like I've got phantom aches all over. That beast actually managed to train me into feeling imaginary pain," Shinichi muttered, grumbling as he got out of bed. After washing up and getting ready, he headed to the dining hall.
Inside, most of the players who had already completed their matches were present, with many nearly finished eating.
"Yo, our Top 1 finally decided to grace us with his presence?" Raichi called out loudly, waving at the still-groggy Shinichi. "If you keep slacking off like this, I'm gonna take that Top 1 spot from you."
"Try again in 300 years. Maybe when you reincarnate, you'll find an era where I don't exist," Shinichi replied, his half-asleep response drawing laughter from the room.
Everyone chalked it up to him not being fully awake yet.
"By the way, who's in the first group today?" Chigiri asked, starting a new topic.
All eyes turned to Shinichi, as he was the only one who had access to the schedule for the remaining matches.
Each player only knew their own match times and team assignments.
"Does it matter? It's not like I'm gonna lose," Shinichi said lazily, his sore muscles dampening his enthusiasm.
But under the expectant gazes of the group, he reluctantly took out his phone and tossed it onto the table. "The app with the Blue Lock logo, check the to-do list yourselves."
"Oh, teammates are Bachira, Saramadara, Gagamaru, and Kurona," Isagi read aloud after glancing over Hyoma's shoulder at the phone.
"Bachira and Gagamaru are playing, huh? And Kurona was on Shinichi's team during the second stage, right? With the chemistry they've built, I wonder if Bachira and Gagamaru will be able to adapt to Shinichi's rhythm," someone mused, setting the room abuzz with anticipation.
Chigiri murmured to himself as he looked at the opposing team's lineup: "The opponents are Karasu Tabito, Otoya Eita, Nishioka Hajime, Aiki Hibimizu, and Jin Kiyora… Aside from Nishioka, I don't know any of them."
"Although their rankings aren't very high, both Karasu and Otoya are actually quite strong—at least not weaker than me," Yukimiya chimed in, having previously teamed up with them. "And since they've played against Shinichi before, they've probably been thinking about revenge. Who knows what tricks they might have up their sleeves?"
"And then there's the 'Messi of Aomori'—Nishioka Hajime," Tokimitsu added, listing off details as if reciting trivia. "When you put these guys together, they form a pretty solid team."
From a distance, Rin glanced over at the group discussing the match but quickly looked away.
A bunch of guys weaker than me, not worth paying attention to. Besides, at that level…
"They're just cannon fodder," he muttered dismissively.
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