Capítulo 15: 15 - Butthurt & Broken Dreams

"I didn't come to trample on those weaker than me," I began, looking down at Igaguri, who was still sitting on the floor and cradling his injured ankle. "I came here to become the best in the world."

'Unless I beat someone stronger than me, nothing will change!'

With adrenaline coursing through my veins, I felt the rest of my rationality fade away as I kicked the ball away from Igaguri.

Before I could continue running, the bobbed-cut boy stood in my way with a playful smile.

"I like you," he said, pointing at me with a cheerful face and tone. "That's right~! If you wanna beat someone, it should be the strongest one here~!"

Right from under me, he had stolen the ball and dashed past me.

The screen had changed again:

[Oni]

[Bachira Meguru]

[Ranking 290]

[Time - 00:11, 00:10…]

'Is he fucking crazy? There's less than 10 seconds on the clock!'

I couldn't even fathom his "plan" or if he even had one.

Bachira dribbled the ball towards one spot where five players had gathered: one with a more feminine look and silky red hair, one a bit more plain-looking and easy to forget, a tall young man with long limbs and black-silver hair tied in a bun, and then… Ryosuke Kira.

"He's going for me?!" Ryosuke Kira gritted his teeth with a panicked look while the clock counted down. Trying to speed away from the cheerful yet crazy Bachira Meguru, Bachira had kicked the ball at him, but he barely dodged the attack.

00:08

00:07…..

However, almost like he knew he'd dodge it, Bachira performed a roundhouse kick, acting like he would kick Ryosuke Kira at his side. Still, his attention was aimed at the football on the ground.

Ryosuke Kira had run away from him like he was running away from a crazy monster, but after Bachira powerfully kicked it at the wall, it ricocheted back, flying over both their heads.

00:04

Ryosuke Kira breathed a sigh of relief after dodging Bachira's attacks, but little did he know that that ball he'd so tactfully dodged… was flying over to—

00:03

"Right where I wanted you to be," I grinned so wide, feeling my heart beat out of my chest from the adrenaline.

"Wait, hold on a second—" he tried to defend himself as he frantically stepped back.

"Sorry, but there can only be one Kira on this team," I whispered, gracefully balancing the ball on one foot. "And that's ME."

00:02

"BON!" Bachira yelled in anticipation as he and the others watched the scene before them.

00:01

Like a different entity completely overtook me, I powerfully shot the ball, twisting my body at just the right angle.

" —UEGHH!"

The ball plummeted straight into his face, and he collapsed to the ground, blood pooling out of his well-defined nose.

[TIME END!]

[LOSE!]

[Oni]

[Kira Ryosuke]

[Ranking 289]

Tap! Tap, tap…..

The sound of the football bouncing on the ground echoed throughout the room. Ryosuke Kira slowly managed to sit up with an unbelievable shock written on his face.

"W-what did you… just do?" he stuttered, looking at me with his mouth agape and nose bleeding. "What the actual fu—"

Blip.

Before I could say anything, Ego Jinpachi again appeared on the monitor, sarcastically clapping his hands from the screen.

"Good job, you unpolished gems. Let us continue to the results…" and Ego's tired, buggy eyes widened even more quickly. "The player we will get rid of is—Ryosuke Kira! You are EXPELLED!"

"...What the fuck?" he muttered with blood still coming out from his nose, still in denial after everything. "Do you think you'll win the World Cup with this dumb shit?! With these stupid games? Why was I…?!"

Suddenly, his entire demeanor changed. His calm and noble face had been riddled with anger and resentment.

"HOW COULD YOU ERASE THE FUTURE OF A PLAYER AS TALENTED AS ME?! AREN'T I JAPAN'S "NATIONAL TREASURE"?! HUH?! SO WHY THE FUCK DON'T YOU EXPEL YOSHINO OR IGAGURI INSTEAD, HUH?!"

"Say what?" Igaguri chimed in, obviously caught by surprise at his complete personality change.

"What's even the point of this stupid game?! Tag ain't fucking football! So why're we even doing it?!" He broke down at Ego while the bowl-cut man fixed up his hair.

"Blah, blah, blah, all I hear is complaining from you," Ego looked down at him intimidatingly from the screen. "At Blue Lock… everything you do is related to football. Have a good look at your surroundings, you sham of a talent."

While everyone did as he said and looked around the room, he continued. "The area of that room is 16.5 x 40.32 meters… the exact same proportions as a penalty area. About 75% of all goals are scored from this little area. You could say it's the "domain of a striker." In other words, in this small space, the positioning skills of a striker mean everything. Therefore, those unable to survive under such conditions… can hardly qualify to be talented strikers."

As Ego laid it down on us one by one, Ryosuke Kira still couldn't fathom those words or the explanation.

"So what?!" he angrily refuted. "Okay, sure, the room's width is exact or whatever! But tag's got nothing to do with FOOTBAAAAAAAAAALL!"

"*sigh* Fine, I'll break it down for you even more since you're too slow to comprehend," Ego sounded annoyed but explained anyway. "The skill required by the fleeing side is tactical awareness. In other words, positioning. As for the pursuer, what they need is not only accurate dribbling… but the precision to make shots that will hit their target. That's what makes it optimal football training. Jeez…"

"That's–that's… HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO KNOW ALL THAT SHIT IN JUST TWO MINUTES?! A GAME OF FOOTBALL LASTS MORE THAN 90!" he screamed, his face scrunching up so much that he almost didn't look like the same charming guy from before.

"The average time a player possesses the ball during a match is… about 136 seconds. You were given the exact same opportunity you would have in a real game," Ego rolled his eyes as if all this explaining was a nuisance.

"Th-then, what'd you expect me to do in just 10 seconds?" he tried to defend himself even more until he was immediately put down again.

"Is that what you would say if this were a real match?" Ego scoffed, adjusting his square glasses to his nose. "Remember, from the time the ball hit you, until the clock ran out… you still had about one second left. There was plenty of time to survive by shooting it at an injured Igaguri since he was right by you… and yet, you wasted that chance."

"B-but, I-I—" Ryosuke Kira stumbled on his words, but Ego kept going, zooming in his camera to the point where we could see only his dark eyes.

"The one who is "it" in tag, that is, the one who has the ball, decides who they want to "win"... but also gets to decide who they want to "lose." A striker carries all of the responsibility on his back. A striker is one who keeps on attacking until the Very. Last. Second."

"Akira Yoshino, who, instead of aiming for the injured Igaguri, chose to defeat those higher ranked than themselves… While Meguru Bachira, had the initiative to aim for the strongest player… they're both perfect examples of people who, rather than do what was best for the team, had the tenacity and the courage to pursue their own will… that is exactly the "egoism" that I am looking for. And that is why, this is your loss, Ryosuke Kira. Now fuck off."

"That's… He… Suddenly… Bachira… Came so fast, it…"

At this point, he spoke in broken sentences, trying to come up with excuses, but to no avail; he'd run out of everything.

He turned to look at me, and his face was unrecognizable. Gone was the heroic and noble persona he'd made us believe.

"You—" Ryosuke glared at me. "YOU never answered me. Why did you target me, Akira Yoshino?" he gritted his teeth menacingly, biting down on his lips as his brown eyes never left my gaze.

"Fiesty, huh?" I replied mockingly, and I could see the veins pop out of his skin as my words irked him more.

"Cut the bullshit, AND ANSWER!" he growled as if he was ready to chew my head off.

At this point, I didn't care what I said to him or how I said it. He was going to leave anyway.

"Because, Ryosuke Kira… you're a fake." I said it with a monotone voice that had him furrowing his eyebrows offendedly.

"Say that AGAIN?! You don't even know me!" he roared, to which I stood my ground.

That's true. I didn't know him.

Huh, I guess it's hypocritical to call him a fake since I've been disguising myself as a guy my entire football career, but… during the match, I couldn't quite pinpoint what felt off about him. Although, seeing how badly he lashed out after the game, I guess this was his hidden ego.

During the game, he mentioned that he was only here to reject Ego's "rotten ideology" but claimed he wouldn't let "that guy" destroy his future.

I couldn't understand why he decided to participate in this program despite being the only one who first spoke up against Ego in the JFU auditorium.

'Reject his ideologies my ass. You want my explanation? Fine.'

"Weren't you the first one who spoke up against Ego during his speech in the auditorium?" I raised my voice while using my reflective vision to recall that situation identically as if it were a movie. "You were claiming that you "will not throw away your own team!" or that your "team is your main priority, particularly those of you who'll participate at Nationals"? Didn't you say that?" I interrogated him word-for-word, and he crossed his arms.

"So what? Get to the point."

"Ryosuke Kira… if you really "cared" about your team, you shouldn't have come to Blue Lock in the first place. "My team is my priority"! "I will not throw away my own team"! What a load of bullshit," I mocked with a mischievous smirk.

"Everything you said back then, you proved just how much of a hypocrite you really are. You threw away your team because they weren't your priority. That's why you came here because deep down, you believed in that 'giraffe's' ideology. You believed you could be one of the top 5 players selected to play in Japan's U-20 team. Right?" I questioned with a poisonous smile, and he couldn't even find the words to refute.

I had backed him up in a corner because he couldn't say anything. All 300 of us were there that day in that auditorium and heard the only guy bold enough to speak against Ego during those quiet moments.

"You're fucking wrong. I do care about my team. I already told you, I just wanted to refute that guy's ideology!" His glare poked daggers at me. If looks could kill, I'd be dead right now.

"You're a broken record, but fine. It's ok to just admit it, but I guess... whatever makes you sleep at night." I shrugged, looking back at him with no fear or remorse.

"This is wrong… This is… so, so wrong! You're ranked three fucking hundred! You're the worst player here!" he frustratingly blurted out as he paced around the room, tugging his white hair in agony while everyone watched his mental breakdown.

"BAHAHAHA!" A sharp and wild laugh slipped out, a sound I didn't even know I had in me. It bubbled up as I stared down at Ryosuke Kira, my eyes gleaming with a twisted sense of satisfaction.

"I may be "the worst" player here, but didn't you say you wanted to see why 'Akihiko Sakaguchi lost to me'?" my grin got bigger, and I couldn't tell what kind of look I had on. "Look at you now, Mr. Two fucking hundred and eighty-nine. I, the worst player here, defeated YOU. And now… you know how it feels to LOSE to ME."

Seeing him backed into a corner and watching how I, the worst player, ended his football career. I couldn't gather why I was so satisfied to see him so completely ruined.

"You're fucking CRAZY! YOU FUCKING SADISTIC FREAK!" he shouted, his voice shaking with rage as he stormed toward the now-unlocked door.

He didn't even look back, slamming it behind him as he left, his words still echoing in the room.

'Hmm, I hadn't considered myself a sadist, but maybe I am one? No, I can't be.'

But still, there was one more thing I needed to get off my chest.

My eyes targeted Bachira Meguru, with the dark, bobbed hair and golden highlights underneath.

As if feeling my eyes on him, Bachira playfully stuck out his tongue after the dramatic ordeal.

"You…" I approached him. "Why the hell did you pass it to me? Are you fucking crazy? If I didn't take that shot, you would've been expelled!" I raised my voice at him, but I really couldn't find it in myself to be mad at him.

"So?" he smiled like a child as he looked at me. "I thought you'd kick it, so I passed it to you."

"Huh?" I was baffled by his words. "What kind of logic is THAT?!"

Translation: ARE YOU A FUCKING IDIOT?!

"I mean, results are everything in this place, right? I believed in you, so technically… I won. Didn't I?" Bachira had a smirk still plastered on his face, and at this point, he was starting to get on my nerves.

However, he did have a point.

'If he hadn't passed it to me, I would've never been able to target Ryosuke Kira. After all… he and I… had the same idea in mind.'

During the last 15 seconds, when Bachira had control of the ball, it was like I could read him. I was still confused about what he was doing, but I could read that he and I both wanted to take Ryosuke Kira down. And in those few seconds, it was like our bodies and minds had synced up.

He had passed the ball right where I needed it to be—before Kira.

"Hahaha," I chuckled lightheartedly, releasing my tension after this revelation. "I guess you did win. Thanks for the assist."

I offered my hand out, and he took my hand to shake. However, he was looking at them with curiosity.

"Wow, your hands are so smooth and… kinda… small?" Bachira felt up my hand in amazement, and I immediately yanked it back.

"Haha… sorry, I'm a little self-conscious about the size of my hands," I chuckled nervously, trying to play it off.

'He's crazy, but I think he's a 'good crazy'?'

What the fuck is even 'good crazy' anyway?!

In the meantime, Igaguri was muttering to himself. "That's… just plain nonsense… from beginning to end…."

"Nonsense…?" Ego overheard, and I forgot he was still there on the screen. "It is nonsensical indeed. But then, so is this world. Either you win, or you lose. While you were getting excited over your mediocre successes, true strikers tread a path of winning or losing everything… Every single day, in order to keep on surviving."

Right, I had forgotten that this was just one little game. I was amped up because of that power I felt. But, this was still nothing compared to what we had to face in the long run, depending on if we made it that far.

"How was it? Since you were born… wasn't this the first time you felt true danger? Were you scared? Shocked? Did your fight-or-flight senses kick in?" Ego highlighted as we all stood silently, recalling every emotion we felt during that game. Our silence confirmed everything he said we'd felt.

"Good... that... was just a taste of Blue Lock's essence. You understand that much, right? The football you've played all your lives is for WEAKLINGS! DIDN'T YOU GET THOSE SHIVERS? 'Nice… I survived…!' THAT is the feeling of "VICTORY"! SO SHOVE IT IN THOSE TINY BRAINS OF YOURS!" Ego screamed, a wide, disturbing grin on his face as he talked down to us. "Since each time you rejoice in that feeling, your "ego" will steadily grow. And you'll need it to climb to the top and be the best striker in the world."

After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he cleared his throat.

"However… congratulations. You have passed Blue Lock's entrance test. Your room was designed for no more than 11 people… so from now on, you'll cohabitate together, you fated eleven…" Ego told as we all looked at each other in unison. "You may cooperate with each other… and also betray each other… You, and the rivals you'll have to trample… are Blue Lock's "Team Z.""

'All of us here… are going to be teammates…?'

"One more thing…" he added, threateningly looking down at us from the screen, but then I saw his black eyes focus only on me.

"#300, Akira Yoshino... let's have a… chat."