"kunigami..."

you looked to the side as a sweatdrop ran down your face

"wait... where's kunigami...?" isagi's face paled completely as he looked to his left and right "and Y/N. where is she...? where's their 5th player?"

'they're so preoccupied with shidou's appearance that they haven't even noticed me' you deadpanned at the reaction

you were on the center of attentions back yet none of them had noticed you yet

"hey reo... why isn't he with you...?" isagi was stressed and in obvious denial "come on, kunigami wouldn't let things end like this!"

by the of that little speech, shidou had taken his time to drop you off next to kurona so you could hold on to the male

"hey blueberry..." his deep voice reached their ears "It's over. I sent him straight to hell"

isagi glared with wide eyes at the darker male

"sure he had a good physique and he was a rightful person with a good heart, but..." as he walked slowly behind isagi, he continued his speech "on the battlefield, none of that matters. the people who aren't able to live for the explosive moments are straight garbage"

"that hero of yours was like a slime who couldn't even let me level up" you smirked as he looked forward

'he's teasing them just to start unnecessary problems' you had forgotten about shidou's passion for violence wherever he was at

"shut the hell up! you know nothing about kunigami!" isagi turned to face him, infuriated

"didn't you hear me? I don't give a crap..." the male squinted his eyes as he jumped into a kicking manner "about your relations with him!"

isagi who was still in a moment of shock wasn't going to be able to avoid the blow coming his way

as he was about to kick isagi, isagi was pulled down by his red-haired former teammate

"that's about enough coming from you." a female voice reached all of their ears as someone blocked his foot, grabbed onto it and threw him to the ground

"Y/N...?" the two males looked up at you with wide eyes

you looked down at them with a sigh as you reached your hand to pull them back up

"thought you said you weren't able to move your body" shidou got back up as he put his hand on your shoulder

"that was before, I rested enough so I'll be good" you looked at him before hitting him on the head with your fist "could you not start brawls everywhere you go?"

"no can't do, missy~" he responded in a sing-song voice as he got up and put his arm over your shoulder

"for real." you heard bachira's voice as you turned to face the dark-haired male who was seemingly stretching his arms "to me you're the slime you tanning-bed freak"

"It's sunlight, not salon" shidou smiled

"so this is the guy you picked over me? that's insulting" the male turned his gaze to you

"yeah, she prefers me over all of you" shidou smirked while boasting "you know I also got to see her in the sh-" BAM

you had hit his head once more but this time you had your foot on his face as you pressed it onto the floor

"that's about enough coming from you" you scowled at the male as a tick mark made an appearance on your forehead

"that's about enough you lumps of talent" Ego had intervened before the situation could escalate further "any more violence will result in forcible expulsion and..."

'so it's now that he decides to intervene after everything this idiot has done since the third stage' you sweatdrop as you remove your foot from the blonde's face

"...none of you have the time to worry about the dropouts because...

your soccer careers are in danger of disappearing forever"

this had gotten everybody to quiet down as a tense aura enveloped the room

"first of all, I'd like to congratulate you all on passing this selection and well... a lot's happened which caused me to have to change the plan"

"since the bigshots of Japanese soccer want to obliterate blue lock, I decided to throw them a challenge" he spoke as he put his finger out for a hologram to appear "the third selection will be pushed back a bit since blue lock's existence will be depending on the outcome of this match"

"Japan U-20 vs Blue Lock eleven."

"if you win this match, you'll have the honour to steal the right to represent Japan in the U-20 world cup" he pushed his glasses up

the room tensed up as everybody stood in shock at Ego's revelation

"man I wished whoever that kunigami guy was walked in instead of the both of you" a new voice came from your left side as he let out a sigh and you turned to be met with Karasu's apathetic face

he looked down at you with a slight frown on his face "I sent you back to the second stage in hopes you wouldn't make it back but I guess my efforts were in vain"

"it was foolish of you, to be honest" you scoffed at the male "you should've known better than to think sending us back would've been all it took to take us down"

"yer just slightly better than I thought" the male shrugged his shoulders "but I'm still the better one out of us"

"cause then again, I was the one to win" he tried to provoke you but you just deadpanned at his words as shidou who was on your right side began laughing

"you're a joke if you think, you're anywhere near Missy's level" he laughed out

Karasu comically blinked at shidou who laughed for a few more seconds before finally calming down

then another voice chimed into the conversation as he draped his arm over your shoulder, bringing you closer to him

"I knew the both of us were meant to be" Eita calmly stated "even after losing and being sent back, you climbed your way back to see me again"

'he's delusional' your deadpan deepened even more at the male's statement

you were surrounded by morons despite all your attempts to avoid them

they just kept coming your way with no signs of ever leaving you alone

the only calm one out of the 3 who surround you was Yukimiya who stood in between Karasu and Eita with a sweatdrop on his face as he could only stare in pity at your situation

"...state as a fact that Itoshi Sae has agreed to play for the U-20 in this match" you had missed out on a small part of the speech but this part had gotten your group's attention

"the time to risk everything had come" Ego spoke with madness written all over his eyes "you've learned all about being an egoist and acquired weapons and chemical reactions in between each other"

"you've all gotten a taste of the world's best players and becoming a part of the Japanese team is no longer a dream..." he had his arms out as he continued his speech "It's already at your reach and now all you have to do is grasp it"

"it's about time you lumps of talent bring about a new era" in your eyes, it looked like his smile had widened so much that it had reached his eyes

creepy

the room was stiff at first before confusion began to appear on people's faces

"does that mean we'll have to pick mid-fielders and defenders from this group?" gagamaru spoke up

"but none of us are actually fit for those positions since we're all strikers, they'll have defence specialists unlike us" a nervous boy trembled

"oh, quiet down." Ego's smile turned into a frown "do you think of me as stupid?"

"we'll be assembling a team focused on the following 6 players" he put a finger to his palm

"will the following players please step up" Ego's screen disappeared as he instead podcasted the player's icons "our top player seat is actually shared by two people"

"L/N Y/N" the room went quiet and I mean QUIET when the female's name was mentioned

no matter how close they were to her and everything, it still hurt a man's pride to see a woman being better than them at something

all eyes turned to her who was still being held by Eita (who let go of her) and surrounded by Shidou, Karasu and Yukimiya

'she went from team Z to the number one spot?!' your former teammates looked at you in shock

"number one, damn you really are better than me" Karasu sigh in disappointment

as you were let go of by Eita, shidou ultimately pounced on you next putting his arm over your shoulders and putting all his weight on you "we're probably sharing that top spot togeth-" "Itoshi Rin"

"aw man" the male let go of you as an apathetic expression came to his face

"number two..." Ego prolonged his wo "Shidou Ryusei"

"there it is~" he sang out

"we had 2 top players in our team?!" igaguri looked at the two of you in surprised

"next up:

number three: Karasu Tabito « knew it »

number four: Otoya Eita « mkay »

number five: Yukimiya Kenyu « It's an honour »

"the last player is..." Ego just loved bringing tension in the room "Nagi Seishiro"

"oh" was all the white-haired male said

"that's it" Ego concluded, "any more questions?"

"excuse me Ego" Yukimiya rose his hand "just a simple question for future reference"

"I'd like to know why I'm only at the fifth spot" he looked straight into the dark-haired male's eyes "what's the difference between me and number one"

"the answers pretty simple" Ego crossed his arms "out of the thirty-five lot of you, the only ones to score a goal against the all-stars...

...were Shidou Ryusei, Itoshi Rin and L/N Y/N"

"one more question actually" it was Karasu's turn to question the male "why is the top spot shared?"

"i was just about to answer that but alright"

"in the world all-stars match, these two were the ones who stuck out the most to the stars" he started

"they evaluated that Rin was good in physical abilities and decision making but what he lacked was the ability to see and follow their movements directly instead of reacting after it had already happened" a hologram of Rin and Y/N standing back-to-back appeared in his hands

"and in Y/N's case, she had the ability to see and follow their movements and therefore react to them faster than the rest of her team but she lacked the physical capability to keep up with her visions" he ran threw the reports he had received from the stars

"but that's not all they claimed" he started once more, "they said at the end of their report that if they HAD to pick the better one out of the two, Y/N would be the one at the top spot"

this caused Rin's teammates to stiffen and the said male to frown at the revelation, after all they'd witnessed from the younger boy, there was still someone in this facility with even greater skills

"thought the reason behind that wasn't mentioned, that's about all I received from them" he finally finished his explanation "The rest of you were determined based on goals scored since the first selection, personal evaluation of the five world stars and my own personal judgement"

"alright, I see" Karasu nodded giving the short girl a short side glance

Ego then went on to explaining how he was going to divide the teams and how the Blue Lock eleven teams were going to be chosen

a door then opened and Ego motioned for the top six to go in, leaving the rest of the players behind

as you were walking down the hallways to the room Ego was leading you to, a hand was placed on your shoulder as you turned to the towering figure of Nagi

"hey" the male put his hand out

your expression softened at the sight of the tall male as you waved at him with a smile

Nagi was one of the few people you were comfortable with since he wasn't too loud or all over your face all the time

the two of you walked in a comfortable silence before finally reaching the room that Ego had pointed you at

you each took your own seats as you decided to stand and Nagi sat on the floor in front of you next to Eita

"in the matches up to now, the lot of you have proven yourselves to no doubt be Blue Lock's Elite" he began

he explained why you guys had been paired up and what he wanted you to accomplish with your partners

it was another one of his long speeches that you had been growing more and more tired of hearing

can't he just shorten them up into a resume of what he wants to say overall?

once he was done he concluded everything by saying "alright, you can all head to your rooms now"

wait

"do we get our own rooms now or..." you turned to face Ego

"no, you'll be sharing rooms with your partners" (I don't know if it's true but it doesn't affect the plot so 🤷) your world shattered at the revelation

Shidou brought his arms over your shoulder with a smile "I told you you wouldn't get away from me, we'll be together forever now"

all your hopes thrown in the dust, you had to share with this maniac AND the guy you had pissed off at the beginning of the second selection for THREE WEEKS

'I knew luck was against me but come on now, have pity'

awkward...

the walk to your room was awkward as hell

you were in the center while Rin was quietly walking on your left and on your right shidou was being his usual self, loud and invasive

as you got to the room there were 2 beds on one side and a single one on the other

"I'm taking the single bed." Rin firmly stated as he looked back at the two of you as if trying to intimidate you

"no way I'm sleeping next to this guy again plus I'm the only girl here so I should get to have the single bed to myself

shidou didn't bother fighting for the bed as he ran in the direction of the two others and jumped on the one he picked

there was an intense stare-down between you and the dark-haired male before the two of you turned your gaze to the bed

that's when the two of you made a B-line to reach it

you threw your bag with your Blue Lock material on the bed and pounced on it afterwards

the teal-eyed male glared at you while you pulled your right eye and stuck your tongue out "You're just mad you didn't think of doing that first"

"you're just as annoying as my old team" he sighs

"oh if you think that I'm annoying then a promise you, you're not ready for shidou" you chuckled at him

the rest of the day went pretty fast as the next day came

you were woken up earlier than usual by Ego who announced that your group was going to have the first match of the day

you did your usual routine but for the first time in weeks, shidou hadn't bothered you all-day

now that he had a new companion to bother, you were finally going to be able to have a normal morning

after you were all ready, you were led to a field where you would have to wait for the chosen 3 to play in your team

when the door opened, it revealed Isagi and two other boys you had yet to be introduced to

"oh. they're here" shidou was the first to speak "here come the small-fry interns"

they had yet to even speak and shidou was already here insulting them

"you're here, isagi?" Rin questioned

"no, he's not" you sarcastically responded as he gave you a small glare before turning back

"howdy!" a raven-haired male waved his hand in a smile "I'm Nanase and It's a pleasure to be playing with you"

you were going to like this one, he was cheerful and looked like a respectful person

"Hey Y/N" isagi walked over, his team following behind

"eh, y'all know each other?" the cyan-haired male questioned

"you know this guy?" shidou rudely pointed

"yeah we're teammates in the first selection" you responded as you grabbed his hand and put it to his side "don't point at people, it's disrespectful. Also hey Isagi, been a while"

"everybody please get in positions so we may proceed with the match" the robotic voice of the referee spoke out to the players

"Hey, I'm Hiori, nice to meet cha" the cyan-haired male spoke to you

"pleasure to meet you two, hope you can have a good game" you waved to the male before going your separate way

since you guys were a trio, only two of you could play at a time so you were going to sit out first

you could only switch between each other and not the players that had chosen to play with so you sat on a bench on the side as the others got into positions

on the other side, the first team you were playing was coincidentally Karasu's team which was composed of the said male, Eita, Chigiri and two other randoms

whistle

"Kick off!" the ref announced

the game began with Rin passing the ball to Shidou

as you looked at the match playing out, you wondered about how much your former teammates had improved

boring chapter cause of Ego's constant speeches

some characters were introduced but not much interaction actually happened, for that you'll have to wait for the later chapters