02. TEAM Z

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FRANKLY

it's hard to decide what to take from your home when you find yourself impulsively moving out. It wasn't so much impulsive as it was sudden—but all the same to your siblings, who cried while clinging to your ankles, begging you to not go, to not leave them. It sure did break your heart to see this, but only you knew it was for the best. You were the oldest, which means you have the most responsibilities, and which also means that sometimes, you have to make sacrifices for the greater good of your family (and yourself, occasionally).

You walk out of the door, suitcase in hand, and bags slung around your shoulder. This should be everything you need to live a comfortable-ish life—the only thing reasonably precious to you was your phone, which was probably the most expensive thing you owned, given to you by a family friend for your seventeenth birthday. It was a nice phone, and she even got you a pair of wireless headphones to go with it (though you usually carried around wired earbuds when you went out).

It didn't take too long to get to Blue Lock, and you found you had your whole room to yourself—a stark difference to your home life, since you had to share with your two younger sisters—and you unpacked everything efficiently and laid down on the bed (which was really just a mattress on the floor, but you weren't picky). It seemed that Ego wasn't lying when he said that he would make your lives as comfortable as possible here at Blue Lock, because already, with the strange yet helpful technology in this place, it sure felt like you were bunking in the future.

You spent a few more minutes in your room until you heard a knock disrupt the silence. You rush to open it, and there stands the short, brown-haired girl, looking up at you with a timid smile. "Hello. Um... Ego told me to come get you. We... we're due for a meeting."

You nod, "Okay. Thanks." You start to walk, but notice how she trails behind you and fiddles with her fingers. You slow down considerably so that you are walking beside her, and she peers up at you through her thick bangs. "I don't think we introduced ourselves, right? My name is [name]."

She sends you a closed-eye smile, cheeks flushed pink and voice timid, "My name is... Kyouka."

You look away, back to the place in front of you. "It's nice to meet you, Kyouka. I think we'll be spending quite a bit of time here together. I hope we will get along."

"Y—Yes... I hope so too, [name]."

You both decide to not speak any more than you have to, and you feel grateful for that. The silence is refreshing, and you decide to bask in the rare quiet before you no longer have a chance to.

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"What typa shit meetin' is this?" Pixie cut kicks her feet up on a chair, which pushes bleach-head a little. In turn, the blonde shoots her a nasty glare, rolling her eyes and shuffling her chair away.

"There's so many monitors." The blue-haired girl leans forward, eyes wide with wonder as she stares at each of the screens. "What are these cameras even for? Are they watching our every move?!"

"Obviously," bleach-head retorts.

You point at one of the screens, and their attention quickly diverts to the moving people on it. "Look. People are coming in."

"Ermagosh, those are the soccer players!" Blue girl squeals, lights from the screen flickering in her wide green eyes. She leans forward, almost to the point her face is mushed up against one of the camera screens. "I know that guy! He's like, the tallest high school athlete. He went to my high school! Oooh! Oooh! I know that guy, too! He talks to like—demons! I'm pretty sure he was dropped as a baby or something." 

"You sure were," bleach-head mutters under her breath, before scooting her chair forward and tilting her head to the side. "There's so many of them. How many did that creepy guy say there were going to be?"

"Three hundred," You answer her plainly, and she cocks a brow at you. "I'm pretty sure there's going to be more than 5 teams. Maybe it'll go all the way up to A. But there are only 5 of us, given to the last 5 teams."

You scoff, and pixie cut follows, snarling at the ground, "It's like he wants us ta go 'ome. The lil' cunt." She speaks, voice heavy with the Kansai dialect.

"Ego... is back up on stage," Kyouka points out, thin finger directed at Ego's blank face. She scrunches her face up and looks away, bangs hiding her eyes. "He's being creepy to them too..."

"They look pissed!" The blue-haired girl laughs, chair rocking as she leans back and forth. Bleach-head—who is sitting behind her—scowls and tells her to quit doing that before she topples on top of her. Of course, the blue girl does not listen, and ends up doing exactly that, leaving them both crashed on the floor. 

You ignore the foul language that is suddenly all you can hear in the room, and peer closer to the screen. You see a boy with jet-black hair charge forward and start to run past Ego, into a lit-up room. The rest of the room soon follows suit, all charging to that room behind him. The blue-haired girl is still cackling, holding her stomach as she watches them.

She doubles over, hand resting on the bleach-head's shoulder for support, "They look so stupid! AHAHA! What the hell is with them?!"

"Take a look at yourself!"

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It's been a few hours since you five have been stuck in this room, and with each passing minute, you feel sanity slowly start to rip away from your mind. You look around at the others. Pixie cut is taking a nap on the table, head resting in her folded arms. Blue girl is somewhere draped on the floor, kicking a potted plant back and forth while mumbling an incoherent song. Bleach-head is also taking a nap, except she's laid across three chairs and using her jacket as a pillow. Kyouka is the only other person who is sitting beside you, silently observing what is happening from the cameras.

Your new team—Team Z—is trying to avoid being hit with a soccer ball being passed around by a guy with a buzz. He pelts it towards a sleeping boy on the floor, who does a backflip and shoves his foot into the baldie's face, eyes strangely innocent. You wince at the blood pouring out of the baldie's nose, staring incredulously at the boy who kicked him.

This is my new team... and these teammates are now, technically, the only thing keeping me in this job. 

You glance over at the other screens, particularly, Team V's screen, and everything seems to be normal over there. You almost feel jealous at how calm everything is going over with Kyouka's team, except for the fact that one boy is latched onto another's back, and the one holding him up is dodging for the both of them.

The baldie pelts the ball at a muscular guy—a stupid choice, considering the difference between their physiques, you think—and it seems to tick him off enough so that he doesn't think when he slams his foot into the ball hard, and it crashes right into another guy's stomach. The boy from before—with jet-black hair and bright blue eyes—doubles over and coughs, clutching his stomach with wide eyes.

"Ouch..." Kyouka mumbles, shrinking into her chair. She fiddles with the fabric of her ankle-swept skirt, fingers trembling. "That guy is way scary... sorry that you have to deal with him."

You swallow, but don't answer her. Kyouka seems to shake even more when the muscular boy throws the smiley boy off his back, and across the room with little to no effort, her shoulders tensing up and eyes hardening.

In a twist of chain events, the ball is pelted by the blue-eyed boy at the strongest player there, slamming into his face with full force and knocking him down, seconds before everything was over. 

"The guy on my team couldn't hit anybody, so it was a no-brainer," Kyouka laughs nervously, then looks over at your team's camera. "Your... woah... You—Your strongest guy is gone? Really?"

You blink owlishly a few times, lips unconsciously parted as you stare at the camera, entranced by your new teammates. The pretty boy was no longer part of Blue Lock, screaming and huffing as he walked out of the room, face tensing up with each step.

"Woah. Not so pretty now, is he?" You flinch as a face pops up between you and Kyouka's shoulders. Kyouka shrieks and stumbles out of her chair, staring up at the blue-haired girl's face in shock. "Hehe. My bad. My team got their strongest player out too, ya know."

"You were watching?" You raise a brow, and she only giggles in response. 

"Nah. I was listening. I heard your pretty boy scream bloody murder," a flush falls over her face, and she gives you a cute wink, sticking out her tongue. "It must be pretty sad, huh? I mean, he's never gonna be able to play pro now. Poor sucker."

"Well," you start, looking down at your shoes. "He can always just do something else. It's not that hard to quit something. I think it's better to quit before you're forced to, anyway." 

The blue girl pauses, blinking in silence, before breaking out into a grin. "That's the most you've ever said in one go to me! We're making progress."

You scrunch up your face and narrow your eyes at her, stirring a bubbling annoyance in your stomach. You turned your head away, back to the screen and rested your face in your hands, staring boredly. Kyouka glanced at you, eyes softening but said nothing, leaving her hands clasped in her lap, awaiting patiently.

"Caretakers," the screen glitches a few times, switching from the camera to a dark room, but it soon shows a picture of Ego, enveloped in darkness with the only light coming from the reflection in his glasses. His fingers were linked together underneath his chin, staring at you with a dead expression. "The time has come. Make your way to your designated teams. I do hope that you watched and learned a thing or two about your hidden gems."

He pauses and waits until you get up out of your seat—as if he could see you—until he speaks again, "One more reminder. If you fail your job as a manager, then you will be replaced indiscriminately. Do not fail. It is not accepted at Blue Lock."

Pixie cut, yawning and stretching her arms out from her nap, grimaces, "Yea, yea, we get it. Yer a fuckin' freak."

"Whatever. I'm leaving." Bleach-head also rolls her eyes, sauntering out of the room with a wave of her hand.

The blue-haired girl follows suit, skipping on her heels as she walks out of the room. Now, only you and Kyouka were left, standing next to each other and avoiding eye contact in an uncomfortable silence. You shuffle your feet on the ground, knowing this isn't going anywhere, not until you say something. "So..." You start, voice failing you with how meek it sounds. You clear your throat. "Should we go now?"

Her eyes light up—as if the mere prospect of you talking to her is exciting—and she nods vigorously, bouncing up and down on her heels. "O—Okay! Let's walk together, [name]."

You don't feel like you have any choice but to agree, nodding silently and following behind her.

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