27. TAKE ME WITH YOU!

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THE 

moment the match ends, and the whistle blows, a wide grin stretches across your face and you run onto the field, unphased by Kyouka's fish-like expression, with wide bulged eyes and a dropped jaw. However, you're abruptly stopped in the middle of the field when Barou suddenly takes ahold of Isagi's shirt and grabs a fistful of it, dragging him up into his face.

Nagi stands beside you, slumped over so that his head is near your ears, "Woah, high-five denial."

The sound of the announcer becomes nothing but white noise in your ears as you listen to Barou scream into Isagi's face, "First off... take it back, now! Let's hear it... still think I'm a donkey?!"

Isagi raises his hands in defence of the raging bull in front of him, eyes darting around nervously and his voice small and meek, "Nah man... I made a huge mistake... Turns out you're even cooler than I thought."

Barou snarls, letting go of Isagi's shirt with his signature tic mark pulsing on his forehead, "Being around you really throws me off my game."

You laugh at the scene in front of you, and without warning, you launch yourself onto Barou's back, hands on his shoulders as you leap up to grab onto him. "That was amazing! Amazing shot! Amazingggg!!" 

Laughter bubbles out of your lips when he goes red in the face from anger and looks over his shoulder, a curse on the tip of his tongue. But he stops, clenching his jaw and clicking his tongue in his signature Barou fashion. However, those curses quickly fall out of his mouth when Nagi suddenly sandwiches you between him and Barou, knocking you three over on the ground. With a twist of his knee, Isagi is taken down with him, and soon, you're laughing hysterically on the floor while Nagi speaks with wide-eyed wonder, "Guys, we won! Victory tackle!"

Isagi groans, arms shaking as he tries to lift himself up, "Ugh—you're right on my—!!!"

Barou growls at Nagi, fists clenched into balls as he furrowed his brows so heavily it caused forehead lines, "Bastard, get off of me!"

You can't stop laughing with joy until tears start brimming at the corner of your eyes, chest heaving with each breath you sucked in, "I can't—breathe! Ahahaha—!!! Nagi—get Ahahaah! Off!"

You clutch your stomach and sit up, and Nagi rests in front of you with an expression you've never seen before. He looks at you curiously, blinking like an owl as you wipe the tears out of your eyes and try to stop smiling before your cheeks start hurting, "I've never seen you laugh like that."

You can't stop smiling—that's all you can realise, and you feel like you're lighter than air, despite the 190cm man that's folded on top of you, "I just... I'm just so happy! That last play was truly incredible... Barou! How come you never showed us you could do that?!"

When you snap his name, he averts his eyes and stares down at a spot on the floor (where the grass is oddly parted from how you rolled around cackling moments prior), "I didn't. It just sort of came to me out there."

At this point, you all were now kneeling or sitting back on the grass, a comfortable quiet now enveloping you all, "Aw, come on, tell us. We wanna know more," Isagi speaks with a smile.

Barou stands up, a distant expression on his face, "Since forever, I thought the field belonged to me and everybody else was the supporting cast. Didn't matter the players or the teams, it was all about me. But then," he looks down at Isagi and Nagi, eyes narrowed and sharp, "you two came along. And for the first time, I had to give up the lead role to someone else. So, to survive here in Blue Lock, I decided to dominate the field as the villain instead. That's all there is to it."

A smile grows across your face at his explanation, and you cover to turn your head away before he sees. You don't think you'd ever live it down. Nagi leaned back on his palms, digging into the soft grass as he spoke with a weary voice, "Well, guess it helped that we had crazy strong opponents. If they'd been weaker, then you might never have had your insight."

Barou chuckles once, a soundless and humourless sound, "Yeah, I can't argue with that."

Isagi laughs, but his laughter sounds genuine as he looks up at Barou with sparkling eyes, "Yeah, there's no getting around it, you are amazing!"

Barou doesn't react in the slightest to Isagi's praise, an annoyed expression plastered on his face and a hand on his hip, "Shut up. My dreams to become the world's best striker doesn't make any difference to me if I have to play the villain for that to happen. Just as long as I'm the king. And Isagi..." His stare suddenly gets more intense and he scowls, "I'm never losing to you again. Do you hear me?"

Isagi doesn't reply but rather nods wordlessly with a wicked grin. Nagi looks up at Barou in amused shock, "Wait, you called him by his actual name, not donkey, loser etcetera."

"Oh yeah! Huh..."

Barou gives Nagi a dead stare, lips pursed, "You're a pain in the ass, Mr Hassleman. No one's counting, except you."

Nagi doesn't seem phased by his words, but still chews Barou out regardless, "Dude, use my name. It's Nagi, not Mr Hassleman."

Barou glares, "Not a chance. Can it, pest."

"Barou! Say my name! [name]!" You point at him with your pointer finger and an expectant look on your face. He stares at you for one more second, before turning away on his heel.

"When hell freezes over, you shitty manager."

Nagi pouts, cheeks puffed out and brows furrowed in a way that reminds you of a child, "Hey come on, no need to be rude! Shitty is a pretty strong word."

Isagi laughs, a deep sound rumbling from his chest, and with a bright pink flush spread across his face, despite the sweat dripping down his cheeks, he's positively glowing. "We did good. Nice game," he says, right before you, Nagi and Isagi do a three-way fist-bump.

You raise your hands in the air and smile, "Amazinggg!" You almost feel high from how excited you are, and you genuinely feel like you can't stop smiling. 

"Yep," Nagi agrees, and you swear you could see an upward quirk on his lips.

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You four stand before the losers, a hand on your hip when you look over at Nagi, who says, "Alright, time to decide."

"Oh yeah," Barou pipes up in his gravelly voice, "We gotta pick."

"Yup," Isagi doesn't glance away from the losing team in front of him. His eyes are misted and cloudy, and you can tell he's thinking hard about this, but you can't say you weren't as well. In your own selfish mind, you wished they would pick Reo for the sole reason of you having a companion in Kyouka. But then again, you wouldn't be too opposed to either Kunigami or Chigiri winning by your side once again.

"So," Nagi folds his arms over his chest, head tilted to the side, "Who are we taking?"

"For, it's gotta be number 50, that Kunigami guy. He's good at holding onto the ball, in and around the box. If he joins our team, we'll spend more time with it upfront." Barou inputs his own opinion, something of which you note. "In other words, I can score even more goals."

He's right, Kunigami is really good at that. It would definitely help. Even if Barou's reasoning is totally selfish.

"No, Reo would be better since he can balance defence and offence," Nagi shakes his head and his white hair falls over his eyes, grey eyes sharp and peering at Reo. "We need an anchor to set up shots, he'd be the best choice to let us play however we want."

Barou shrugs, uncaring with a small sigh, "Meh, I guess that works."

You have to stop yourself from inputting your own, incredibly biased opinion. You just missed your friend.

"It's true," Isagi places a hand on his chin and his eyes look like he's lost in thought. "It would unify us in some ways. But also, bringing him along would be a suicidal act, crushing all of our potentials."

"Look, I know it feels like common sense of us to want to create a balanced team, but that's not what we need." Isagi looks over at Nagi specifically, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed down. "Don't forget, to get past the second selection, chemical reactions are key. We're in this position because we created new ones in real time during the match. I was devouring Barou, and he devoured me right back."

You gape wide open at his choice of words, blinking froggishly at Isagi, Oh wow!

"No one here could've possibly foreseen that last play. Unpredictability is what separates us. And how we win—the player I want," A wicked smile crawls up Isagi's lips, and once again, he feels like a totally separate person from the guy off the field. "Is someone who can devour all three of us. Otherwise—we won't be able to defeat them."

Instantly, you realise who he's talking about when he says them. You shrug your hand down on your hips and clutch your notebook under your arm with your bag slung over your shoulder, "Well, then it's obvious who we should choose. It can only be him."

"It's a gamble, but you make a good argument," Barou groans, looking at the player you're referring to.

"I agree," Nagi nods, eyes lighting up at the sight of him. "While we were playing, none of the others could keep up with us."

"I know. He's the only one we can bring into our chemical reaction, who won't disappear." Isagi stands firmly, raising his arm and his pointer finger and shoving it directly in his direction. "Hyoma Chigiri."

The sheer look of shock on his face is something you hadn't seen from his cocky self since the first selection. Isagi doesn't falter when he balls up his fists and stares down at the ground, "Come along. We need those legs of yours to win."

Silently, Chigiri walks over, grass crunching beneath his feet. You can't quite catch what he mumbles under his breath, but you can hear him when he glances over his shoulder, red eyes piercing into Kunigami, "I'll be waiting, hero."

You don't even notice how Nagi stands over Reo until he speaks, a distant look in his eyes, "Reo. That final goal our team made... it only worked because you're so talented. Both Isagi and I knew you had the ability to pick out a pass, even during a situation where it seemed all but impossible. You're incredible—that game proves it beyond a doubt. Listen, I may be advancing, but I know we'll make it—"

He's abruptly cut off by the strained, tight voice of Reo, who refuses to look at him, "Then pick me. The last thing I need is your sympathy, just give it to me straight. You and I both know you don't care about me anymore." 

Reo looks up, eyes filled with fury when he meets Nagi's quietly surprised, dull grey eyes. Purple brows furrowed, he spits through a clenched jaw, "You're not the same Nagi I came here with. Or have you forgotten the promise we made each other? We were gonna be the best in the world together. If you're gonna abandon me... then dammit, do it properly."

Nagi doesn't reply for a few seconds, and you have half a mind to stop him before he does. But this is not your fight, you decide, and you have no right to stop them. "Let's say I did pick you. Maybe then you'd finally be satisfied. So what? We'll be back on the same team again, but it wouldn't motivate us. You think becoming the best is really that easy? We did make a promise—only I'm not the one who forgot. Honestly... I'm through caring. You've changed... you're a hassle now. This... is goodbye."

Without a second glance, Nagi turns on his heel and leaves Reo—a shocked, flabbergasted expression on the purple head's face—in a flash. You can't say you have the best opinion of Reo, but really, his expression is so pathetic you can't help but pity him. It's like his whole world has come crashing down with that simple speech, and he rests on his knees with his hands digging into the grass.

You can't seem to stop yourself when you step forward, hands resting on your thighs when you bend down slightly, so you can see Reo's ghastly expression. "I think... you should take control of your own life. If you're too dependent on somebody... then you will never be able to truly improve. Maybe... you should try choosing yourself for a change."

You don't dare look at his face when you walk back, and Nagi gives you a look as if to ask you, why? But you don't even glance his way, looking forward with a blank stare. You can hear Kunigami yelling something at Reo in the distance as you all walk away, and you can feel Reo's piercing purple eyes on your figure, but you don't pay him any mind either.

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note: so far nobody's guessed the first kiss person yet 🗣️ ALSO WE HIT 10K YAYYY CHEER GUYS

if anybody has any ideas of what i should do for 10k lmk.