章 72: A Day Off
The day after the match, we were given two weeks of rest and the freedom to leave Blue Lock. They returned our belongings to us as we departed. Anri made sure to personally hand each of us our items before we left.
Before entering Blue Lock, I decided to open an Instagram and Twitter account before I made a name for myself.
But now that my phone is constantly beeping, I have to turn off the notifications because it is getting annoying.
[Yesterday]
I noticed that there was a lot of activity going on with my phone. Notifications were flooding in, like a rapid fire. "Let's see what's going on," I mumbled as I settled back onto the couch and picked up my smartphone.
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hayashi.murano
Post 1
followers 31,182
following 15
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Notifications (9K)
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All Mentions
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darwin_n9 and 25 others followed you
j.loki and 30 others followed you
noochan_1108 and 30 others followed you
karimbenzema and 15 others followed you
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sae.itoshi sent you a message
lalalalisa_m sent you a message
j.loki sent you a message
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As I scrolled through my phone for the next few minutes, notifications kept appearing on my screen rapidly. In that short time, my followers had grown to over a thousand, a significant increase that caught me off guard.
It seemed that people who watched the match were curious about me otherwise, I couldn't think of any logical explanation for this sudden spike in attention.
Pushing that thought aside, I decided to check my mentions first. One particular post caught my eye as I was tagged in it, and I clicked on it to see its contents.
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[A photo of Murano's bicycle kick goal]
1121 likes
View all 82 comments
1 day ago
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Clicking on the photo, I saw a close-up shot of my mid-air form, the perfect connection between my boot and the ball captured in all its glory.
The comments were filled with praise, some in Japanese and others mixing English with emojis to express their awe.
"Holy moly! That goal was lit!" one comment read.
"The future of Japan!" another declared.
Another one that caught my eye was...
@kyo31
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That must've been a fluke. #rigged #scripted.
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I closed the message tab and then went to Twitter, ignoring the notifications and messages.
Back to the present...
After turning off notifications for both Instagram and Twitter, I received a new message.
I grabbed my phone and quickly opened the Messenger app.
From: 'Kurona'
"You coming?"
Oh, I forgot, we agreed to meet up today.
"Yeah, what time was that again?"
"around 11 a.m."
I quickly shot back a reply and tossed my phone on the bed. I quickly got ready and left my room, heading out for the day.
"Do you want to share what your goals are going forward?" The voice from the TV echoed through the room.
As I passed by the living room, I saw my family gathered around, watching the TV.
"Are you recording this?" my younger brother Haru asked excitedly.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it," my older sister Hina replied while holding the remote.
At this point, I wondered what they were watching, so I quickly took a glance.
Next, I saw my face appear on the TV screen. They were watching my interview again, this was like the fourteenth time I've seen them watch that.
"I want to become the Greatest Of All-," my voice sounded from the TV.
"Oh my God! how many times are you going to watch that?" I asked them.
"Uh..." Satou scratched her head.
"Until you become the GOAT, hahaha!" she teased.
"Like this?" Haru said as he attempted a bicycle kick goal on the couch.
"Oh dear, you shouldn't be jumping on the couch," my mom scolded as she entered the room.
"Haya, are you leaving already?" she asked me.
"Just heading out with some friends for a bit," I answered before catching a bullet train from Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi to Shibuya.
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Tokyo Prefecture
Shibuya
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When I arrived at the cafe where we had agreed to meet, I saw Hiori and Kurona sitting outside at one of the tables.
"Oh, there you are." Hiori greeted me with a nod.
"Hello!" Kurona stood up and waved in my direction.
"What's up?" I asked as I approached them.
"Is it just us then?" I questioned further.
"I called Nishioka and Shidou, they should be here soon," Kurona replied while taking a sip of his coffee.
"Barou said he had other plans today, but Nishioka will be joining us soon," Hiori added.
"Alright then," I responded, taking a seat at the table.
"So, who did you invite?" Kurona asked curiously.
"He will be here soon," I replied.
Conversation flowed effortlessly as we waited for the others to arrive.
"How does it feel to not kick a ball for a day?" Hiori joked.
I responded, "Yeah, it's been a minute. My legs are already itching to get back on the field."
Kurona sighed. "Get a load of this guy," he nudged me playfully.
"Well, maybe," I shrugged. "But for now, I wouldn't mind trying something different. How about some FIFA at the internet cafe?"
"Yeah, that's part of our plan for today. But let's wait for everyone else to get here first," Hiori confirmed.
Soon enough, Shidou, Nishioka, and Niko arrived and joined us at the table.
"I guess the whole gang is here," Shidou said as they walked towards our table.
"We finally got out of jail. It's nice to have some time to relax," Nishioka added with a laugh.
As the group settled in and ordered some drinks, we turned around only to find out that the rest of the Blue Lock cast was also hanging out at the table across from us, with the likes of Isagi, Chigiri, Reo, Kunigami, Otoya, and Karasu.
We decided to head to the internet cafe together since they said Nagi was already there.
"Oh, by the way, guys, I invited someone to join us today," I said. "Who?" they all exclaimed eagerly, leaning closer. A moment of silence, and then I pointed to someone who was approaching us. "He's here."
As the well-known football prodigy Julien Loki approached our group, they all gasped. Naturally, Kurona, Shidou, and Hiori were aware that I had given Loki my contact information following the world five's match, of course, but to be close enough to personally invite Loki?
However, I only invited him because the NEL is starting soon, so he had to be around Tokyo.
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