Why were you playing so pathetically?

This was a match

Whether or not Blue Lock was at stake, this was a match

And you refused to lose

You refused to give up simply because you liked the place

You were never one to hesitate to speak your mind.

From a young age, you had this uncanny ability to observe the world around you

You had always stood out to the people who surrounded you

It was at the age of six that you discovered your passion for soccer while watching your older brother playing with the neighbourhood kids

Genji had introduced you to the sport and with that, you had found your passion

By the time you reached middle school, you were the star player of your school's team

Your skills were unparalleled, you had a natural instinct for the game, a keen eye for strategy and a pretty good physical prowess to back it up

But even with your skills, your unfiltered personality often brought you into arguments with your peers

You didn't believe in sugarcoating things, it was useless and wasn't going to help anybody improve if they were always being sheltered from the truth

You saw things as they were and felt as though it was your duty to voice your observations, no matter how uncomfortable they might be

If a teammate was slacking off during practice, you went ahead and called them out

If a teammate had made a mistake during a match, you pointed it out

If a friend asked your honest opinion on a sensitive matter, you always gave them a straight and blunt answer

To you, you felt like you were helping them out by pointing out their mistakes in hopes that they could find a way to learn from them, but not everybody was able to appreciate the harsh truth

At first, people were appreciative of your straightforwardness

People always came to you for feedback, believing that your insights were helping them improve

But eventually, as middle school ended and high school started, people were starting to grow tired of you

The truth wasn't always what everybody wanted, especially when it was hurtful

Her friends and teammates grew resentful of your constant critiques, feeling attacked rather than motivated

They felt judged and uncomfortable around you

The turning point came during a crucial soccer game at the end of your second year

You were on the brink of participating in the championship, and tensions were high

"Y/N! Pass over here, I'm free!" your teammate Sakura shouts from your left side

'She's too slow and a defender closing in on her from behind, that's a no-go' You turned your head away from her

"Stop ball hogging and pass, you're not making it through by yourself!" your blonde teammate, Hina, shouts from your right

"If you had put in some more leg exercises like I had told you to last month, you wouldn't be this slow and maybe then I'd pass" you muttered to yourself

"I've got you!" a defender from the other team rushed in front of you in an attempt to block your passage, but you didn't slow down

instead, with the outer part of your right foot, you lightly pushed the ball to the right as the defender leaned to block your path

you retracted the ball, pushing it back to your left, but the defender was ready for that move, and was once more in your way

"Basic move! I predicted you'd do that!" she laughed in victory

but behind all that confidence lay an unsure female

you could see the tiny scowl present on her face as she started at your feet to see which way they would go

she slightly spread her legs in a way to stabilize herself and enable herself to run in any direction you could try to run in

but that was an awful mistake on her part

you kicked the ball between her legs, nutmegging her as the shock that overtook her, stopped her from reacting

you ran past her and caught up to the ball

"A meg?!" she shouts in confusion

You were back on track and nearing the goal before two more defenders came and blocked your way

The girl you had just moved past was closing back on you from behind and you were officially surrounded

"Pass damn it! You're not making it past them this time!" Ava shout your way

"Oh no you won't!" the girl blocking you on your right was about to steal the ball from your feet before you passed it, but unfortunately for her, you were faster and had already passed it from in between her legs to your brunette teammate

The defenders who had all put their focus on you had left your teammate free to shoot her shot at the net

But the goal never came,

Ava, whose cleats were untied, accidentally stepped on her laces and fell flat on her face, giving the other team time to recover the ball and counter again your team

that small mistake had cost the goal you had worked so hard to achieve

During the halftime break, you were unable to hold back

"How the hell do you forget to tie your fucking laces!" you shout at the brunette

"Hey calm down, we still have another half before the game is over. Two goals is nothing we can't catch up to!" your black-haired teammate, Yukki, enthusiastically stated

"It is when your teammates are incompetent!" you shout in frustration not thinking over what you were saying

"What..?" Hina asked in disbelief

"Oh don't give me that" you rolled your eyes as you looked back down at her "If you had taken the time to do those exercises I offered you, maybe you'd be a bit faster and then maybe I'd pass the ball to you"

"Let me not even begin with Sakura" Next, you looked over at your other teammate "Your dribbling is sloppy, you dribble like how I did back when I was a toddler"

"Freya, I can't even express the amount of irritation you bring me!" you let out an exaggerated sigh "Maybe instead of shooting your shot with guys every other day, try shooting your shot at a net cause you can't score for your life. We can't always be depending on my goals to win!"

You continued insulting each and every one of your teammates till your frustration was finally completely let out

Your teammates broke down in tears, and the rest of the team turned to you with a look accusing you of being heartless and cruel which you realized at that point that you were

After that game, you found yourself increasingly isolated and the camaraderie you once shared with your teammates was gone, replaced with cold stares and whispers

"You see her with the H/C hair?" a voice pointed your way in the hallways "Yeah, I heard she's cold and cruel to people, even when after they've been nothing but nice to her"

"Yeah her, heard she shit talks her friends behind her balk"

"How insolent"

"She should just leave man, nobody's going to miss her anyway"

And that was exactly what you did

In your third year, you switched schools and this time, you made the decision to keep your observations to yourself

Even if in soccer, you had to let go of these small details that aided you in your games

Hopefully, with that, people would accept and not hate you

and people did

You were easily accepted and made plenty of friends in your new school

Even if you weren't able to play for a female team since there wasn't any, the male team didn't have any problems accepting you into their ranks

That was when you had finally locked that other part of yourself away from this place

Maybe you were being dramatic

Maybe you weren't

But either way, that person wasn't ever going to come back

I mean... not until now

RESTART!!

Sendou threw the ball in your direction as you as of now, in possession of the ball once more

Bachira was cornering you, basically hugging you and removing any space for you to make any attempts at the goal

You noticed Sae on your right and passed the ball over to him before dashing in the direction of the goal

As you stood right in front of the PA, Sae passed the ball straight at your feet as you held it between your legs, but before you could even turn towards the net, your back came in contact with a hard torso

"I'm not letting you shoot," Reo's voice said in determination

"Is that so?" you looked back at him

his imitation of Kazuma was almost on point

but no one could ever copy someone else a hundred percent

unfortunately for Reo, his matchup was a person who could call just about the smallest detail in something

"Your legs are too spread and you're unsteady. Your knees are too bent, making it easy to simply knock you over. Maybe try tying your hair completely and not just the back, because even the smallest strand ending up in your eye could ruin this entire defence mechanism" you pointed, even the useless detail, without looking up at the male "Just a little lean back like this" slightly leaned into his chest, removing the remaining balance the male held as he fell on the floor "and you're on the floor"

Reo was in shock

His perfect imitation had been so easily seen through

You ran past him, but another obstacle came your way

Aryu's long limbed-self

"I'll be stylishly taking this away from you now" he pointed to the ball that rested between your feet

He attempted to close in on you so he could stretch his leg and take the ball away, but you weren't going to allow that

You weren't going to let those spider-like legs steal this ball from you

"You're leaning too much on your right" you stated with a sharp feint to the left, you baited him into extending himself in that direction as Aryu fell for it, stretching his leg out to intercept your path

In a heartbeat, you shifted your weight and flicked the ball to the right, taking advantage of the space he'd left open

Your fluid and precise movements took everyone aback, considering the play you had displayed earlier

Even as you had made it past Aryu, Karasu had dropped down from his spot in the center to assist the defenders

"So now you're deciding to play properly?" he smirked as sweat dripped down his face "Maybe I should become a motivational speaker"

He was the last obstacle that stood between her the net (and gagamaru)

You paused for a second, sizing him up

He had this pattern in his plays that consisted of him always being the one to initiate the attack on his opponents

and this was what would be his downfall

"You have this bad habit of jumping in too early when you're pressured" you chuckled at the male

You feinted to the right and of course, Karasu was able to keep up as he shifted his weight, preparing to block your move

"And when you hesitate too much against stronger opponents" you smirked "you're open"

his foot slightly slid to the right and that was your queue to go

you dashed for his left side, but he immediately stretched his other leg out to block your way

you reeled the ball back and flicked it over your heads

"Same basic stunt you pulled on Otoya last time" he chuckled "guess there was never anything to worry about"

"And that overconfidence of yours, it'd your biggest flaw!" you chuckled before jumping over as Karasu finally realized what you were really up to

he stretched his arm out to block your way but it was useless as you smashed your head onto the ball, sending it speeding toward the goal

Karasu fell on his back due to his unbalanced position

gagamaru who would've originally been able to block wasn't able to react due to the fact that Karasu was blocking his field of view to you and the fact that by the time he realized the ball was coming, it was far too late to block it

still, he stretched his arm out to throw it out but it all came in vain

GOAL!!

3-2 for U-20 Japan

an overwhelming goal produced by the now-awakened egoist, L/N Y/N

you stood up from your crouched position as you let out a sigh

you looked back at the blue-haired male who laid his back on the grass, staring up with wide eyes

"Thanks for the wake-up call" You looked down at the male as you brought your jersey up to your face to wipe the bead of sweat that ran down your cheek "But maybe if you shut that cheeky mouth of yours, your team could've had a chance to win"

Sae stared at you from afar with an unreadable expression

On Blue Locks benches, everybody but their unhinged coach sat with wide eyes

"What was that?!" Anri abruptly stood up in confusion as she dropped her clipboard

"So the first to achieve 'Flow' in this match was L/N Y/N" He looked at the H/C haired female

"She achieved that through pure concentration and analysis of her foes" He pushed his glasses up to his face "If Shidou is to be considered a demon among soccer players, Y/N is like a divine being who holds the fate of all sides characters on the field. She knows their strengths and weaknesses and with that, she's able to overwhelm them. Like a queen in a chess game. An Empress."

I literally didn't know what her backstory was gonna be, all of this is written on spot 😓

Just for a simplified explanation for those who don't understand. Y/N has a great analytical ability that enables her to read through people and weed out their weaknesses. She also has this overwhelming presence (kinda) which is why Ego referred to her as an Empress.