32. NEW TEAM

*⋆｡˚𖦹࣪˖ ִֶָ⋆｡°✩

AFTER

walking on the field, it's like everything has just suddenly changed. The world around you seemed to shift with the weight of their loss ringing heavily on your shoulders, and it was like each breath you took had to be forced out of your lips. 

Rin's team are discussing who to pick, about to choose the name of their final victor... when Rin himself suddenly interrupts them, his tone of voice just as aloof as always. "Shut up. I'm deciding. And no objections allowed—" He pushes his hair back, ignoring the shocked looks he receives from all his teammates. "The final play of the game... I was totally unable to read it. I haven't felt defeat like this since I came here. Not until that moment. So now, there's one more person I need to crush. I won't let you sink back down."

Rin steps forward, self-confidence practically oozing out of him when he wags his finger to usher his new teammate over, "Come along, Yoichi Isagi. I'm gonna become the best in the world—and when I do, you're going to have a front-row seat."

Your jaw positively drops at his words, and you stare at him with wide-open eyes, That means... I'll be stuck with those weirdos?!

You look back at Nagi, Chigiri and Barou—who all have their head turned down, refusing to even meet your gaze. So, you step forward, crouching down beside Isagi and look up at Rin. There, you see how cold his eyes look. Bachira peers over the Itoshi's shoulder, a smile on his lips, "Hey, Isagi, let's go."

The others in your new team all make their way through the winner's gate—but only Bachira and Komi seem to wait for Isagi (and you guess, by extension, you). You and Isagi both stand up, and he turns back abruptly with an apologetic expression at your team, "You guys... I'm sorry—we nearly made it happen! We came this close to beating the top three! That last goal was nothing but chance! We weren't steamrolled like last time—"

Chigiri's chest rises and falls erratically, and his jaw is clenched so tightly you wonder how he can even talk, "That crap's the last thing we wanna hear." He looks up, a wave of burning-hot anger in his eyes, "Rin selected you over the rest of us. Nothing's gonna change that. So just shut up and get going."

"You got that right," Barou rasps out, voice heaving with pants when he directs his glare at Isagi. Looking at him right at this moment—you're sure he's about to murder somebody. "If I have to look at your face any longer I'll end up killing you. Do yourself a favour donkey, and go."

Nagi throws his head back, resting his elbow on his knees, "Yeah, man. After all, you were always the main character on this team. We were paying the price for being the supporting cast, plain and simple." But when he finally meets Isagi's eyes, you wonder if this guy in front of you really is the spoilt Nagi Seishiro. "But I swear, the next time we meet you're finished. We'll crawl our way to the top without you."

Isagi pauses—silent, but you don't think he just doesn't know what to reply with. His eyes light up after Nagi finishes talking, and his apologetic tone is nowhere to be found, "You three better catch up. So, we'll meet again." Isagi doesn't give them one last glance before he walks off, confidence practically seeping out of him.

You pause, fists balled up tight—but when you peer back at their tightly-knit faces, you can't help but turn away without any final words, following next to Isagi when he makes his way through the winner's gate—both Bachira and Komi by your side.

⋆｡˚𖦹࣪˖ ִֶָ⋆｡°✩

The walk through the prison hall is tantalizingly silent. You and Isagi had successfully caught up with the rest of the team, walking behind them at a slow pace. Tokimitsu turns back, a nervous smile on his face, "G—Glad to have you on board! If Rin wants you on the team... you must be something special." You appreciate his nice—albeit extremely awkward—attempts at trying to be friendly with Isagi. He seems like a nice guy.

Isagi thanks him with a strenuous smile. Aryu's sharp eyes peer over, cutting into Isagi like knives as he flips a strand of his hair over his shoulder, "I'll be honest with you, my first choice would've been Hyoma Chigiri. And yet—that backheel shot you made was glam, so, you're welcome here, Yoichi Isagi."

You stifle a laugh at the face Isagi makes when Aryu gives him an adoring look, and Komi only slaps the heel of her palm against her forehead when sparkles start flying around Aryu.

"Much appreciated." Isagi respectfully lowers his head. Tokimitsu grows nervous at this, waving his hands around in the air while he splutters nonsense.

"No need to be so formal with us! Welcome to the top three! AAAh! Not like I'm trying to play the seniority card or something! I'd never abuse my position!"

Aryu pushes himself right in front of Tokimitsu and strikes a model-like pose, "So negative. Behold, and be washed away with the wind of glam."

Komi makes a noise of despair, rumbling from her throat as Tokimitsu tries to explain something to Aryu, that you don't bother to listen to. She turns to you with exhausted eyes, "I don't wanna sound like a jerk... but I'm so glad that you're here to help shoulder the burden of this team with me."

You laugh at this, hiding your mouth behind your hand when you speak, "Don't worry—I get it. Not to be rude... but this team does feel like a handful. There's a lot of personality."

"You can say that again," she breathes out through her mouth with a sigh. Aryu strikes another pose from next to her, hair flowing gently in the wind (what wind?? we are indoors??).

"This team's players... are already glam. And now, we have two glam managers... superb glam." He looks at you, fingers tracing his chin thoughtfully. You give him a strained smile when he starts looking you up and down—no doubt observing your glamness. "You're extra glam... almost as glam as Hyoma Chigiri. You'll do well."

You don't quite get what he means, but you unsurely thank him anyway. Tokimitsu peers over Aryu's shoulder, cheeks flushed pink and eyes nervously darting from you to him. He whispers something, that Aryu raises a brow at, but you don't catch it. You're sure Komi does, however, from the way a smile curls onto her lips and a soundless chuckle breaths from her mouth.

Suddenly, you're brought out of your stupor by Isagi suddenly stopping in his tracks (which, by turn, forces both you and Komi to pause as well) and pointing directly at Rin. Everyone grows deadly silent, and the only sound is the way Isagi's voice bounces off the walls, "Hey Rin. Tell me something. How did I lose to you again? What was I missing? What do I need to defeat you?"

Your attention is diverted over to Rin. He turns his head to look at Isagi, and he doesn't react any differently from normal, even with the interrogative tone that Isagi has. He scoffs, "Even a chimp could answer that. It was luck."

Isagi doesn't seem to take this answer too kindly, brows furrowed and eyes down pointed in anger at his unfulfilling answer, "Wait just a second! That doesn't explain what happened back there! I want something concrete, how else am I supposed to get stronger?!"

RIn turns away, already beginning to walk, "Luck can't be boiled down to some coincidental factor. It's the hidden element that only favours those who choose to act on desire. And if that's beyond your understanding—you have no right to live in a world of victory and defeat."

Isagi looks shocked, maybe mildly offended by his choice of words, but he doesn't get a chance to reply, even if he wanted to, because Ego's tantalizingly shrill voice suddenly rings out through the hallway, "Hello again, my diamonds in the rough. My congratulations on passing the second selection. Yes... what exactly is luck? Quite the distasteful topic, don't you think? Please, proceed through the next door. I have a reward for you." 

He finishes off his mini speech with a sing-song voice, something that sends anxiety flitting down your mind.

You already get the feeling that he's going to go on another unnecessarily long rant—and looking at Komi, you think she gets that same shivering feeling as well. Still, you and your team all proceeded through the sliding doors (which seemed to be much better quality than the ones from before). There, you see the jumpscare that is Ego's face on all the screens stuck to the walls.

"Since you passed the selection, I'll break down the real nature of luck and how it applies to soccer," Ego says, and you hope he doesn't see the way you roll your eyes.

"Real nature?" Isagi questions, head moving back as he talks with a confused expression. "It all comes down to coincidence, doesn't it?"

Ego pushes up his glasses, causing a white sheen to shine over his eyes, "Sure, if you were an average Joe on the losing side, I imagine that's how your tiny brain would refer to being the facts."

Isagi doesn't take just mild—he takes heavy offence to this statement, letting out a gasp and his jaw positively dropping at Ego's rude words. Even you give him a look through the screen, furrowing your brows and frowning. Whether he sees you or not, it doesn't matter in the end, because he keeps saying, "Shut up and listen. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever in your life been shat on by a pigeon? I think you'll agree, it's the worst."

I hate my boss.

"But, afterwards you realise something—see," a pigeon appears in his palms, manifesting out of digitally thin air, "The ground's covered in bird shit, and when you look up, there are a bunch of pigeons above you. Can you really call it bad luck when you could've avoided the shit? Simply by taking note of your surroundings a bit sooner."

Yes, you can. Because you got shit on.

He continues, still as creepy and strange as ever, "Luck doesn't exist just anywhere. It only comes to those who place themselves in its path. It's the same on the soccer field—think of those 90 minutes of play as a series of inevitabilities and coincidences. Turning zero into one, boosting reproducibility, inventing a formula specific to your weapon, every one of the lessons you've learned during your stay in Blue Lock has been about increasing the inevitability of scoring goals. Although, that inevitability will eventually collide with your opponents. This results in a coincidence, which then becomes ground zero for luck."

On the screen, it shows an instant reply to the last goal of the game, and you feel your mind grow numb at the sight. "As we can see here in the following scene, we have the moment number 16 dribbled through, ready to shoot. These five players," showing on screen were pictures of each player except Rin, Isagi and Bachira, "decelerated or stopped running altogether. Number 15 anticipated him breaking free, but everyone else made the snap judgement to watch the shot. Or, nearly everybody."

Rin is seen running after Isagi, and you almost snort when you see the intense look on his face from so close up, "Number one didn't slow down, he accelerated towards his opponent. He realised a pass was never going to happen, and 15 would try to block his shot. Recognising an opportunity was present, he thought the attempt would fail."

"Okay, back up a minute, supposing that is true, no one was able to predict where the ball would land," Isagi glares up at the screen, a stubborn expression on his face. "It could've easily fallen anywhere on the field."

"Exactly, but you're talking about the possibility of you gaining possession of it. Let's pretend that number one instead decided to decelerate like everyone else. The ball might still have fallen in his direction, but if he had gotten possession in that area, the other team's defence would have swamped him before he could shoot. In short, not a good spot for a striker. So what did he end up doing? He sped up and relocated himself, somewhere he could take aim at the goal. Number one found a spot where he could draw the winning number, then waited for his luck."

Your eyes widen at this, and your head snaps over to Rin. He's staring at a single point on the ground—like he was in a daze or something, and he refuses to even glance at anybody. You squint, swallowing when you stare at his eyes, Just how does your mind work?

"So you're saying Rin, still on the bird shit bullseye, increased his chances of recovering the ball."  note: i have no idea what he says here. just guessing.

"B—Bird shit bullseye??" Tokimitsu looks way too scared to be talking about bird shit. Maybe he has some sort of bird shit trauma. 

"Naturally, there was a possibility the ball could've gone to an opponent. If that had happened, he would've easily been countered and lost possession—end of story. Then the other team would have won. That's how close and intense of a game it was." He sips from his coffee mugs casually. "You must hone your mind to respond to those coincidences, otherwise the opportunity will vanish before you know how to react. Learn to seize that chance by improving yourselves, so when it comes around, you can figure out where it might fall and be there waiting for it."

With a loud sigh, you hear Komi shift, and she takes a seat on a weird-looking glowing blue thing in the middle of the room. She glances up at you with a deadpan look, but her lips still curl into a smile when she nudges her head towards a spot just to the left, motioning for you to sit beside her. You smile at this and take her up on that offer.

A digital pigeon lands on Ego's shoulder, and even if it is just a pixelated being, you hope it shits on him. "You know what they say about the goddess of fortune—she only smiles down on those who favour her. Soccer is overflowing with lucky coincidences. Are you going to learn how to spot them, or cry when you overlook the science in front of you? You'll always be second-rate if you don't know how to harness chance. Once you've done all you can, hold your head up high. Give everything you have in a fight. That's the only way luck will find you."

And with that, the bird fades away into blue cubes that shatter in contact with the bottom of the screen. 

Ego claps his hands, and all attention is once again diverted towards himself. Even if he is a mad, crazy, wicked man, you have to admit, he does have a talent for garnering attention, "Moving on! As I said, your team managed to pass the second selection, by now you should have learned the principle behind creating a chemical reaction. Next up, we have the third selection. And as promised, you'll participate in a training camp with the world's top players. You'll begin your next match in twenty-four hours."

Right, you think, folding one leg over the other and leaning your elbow on your crossed knees. I forgot about that. I remember in my schedule seeing that girl... with the wavy green hair had to show them around Blue Lock... so that they wouldn't get lost. And she came back with a traumatised expression. 

You smile, but it lacks warmth and feels a little dead inside. Lucky me.

The screen shows a picture of five players, all looking extremely different from each other. You assume they all belong to different countries, anyway. You look up and find yourself smiling. Ego speaks, "Your team, versus the world 5. You're not diamonds—you're froggies in a cage. Time for you to learn about the outside world."

*⋆｡˚𖦹࣪˖ ִֶָ⋆｡°✩