Chapter Text
Snuffy was getting ready to leave the Blue Lock facility. The Neo Egoist League had ended after all it was time to leave. As he was packing his suitcase his phone started ringing. He reached towards his phone expecting the call to be some annoying business deal or something like that. He never would’ve expected Ego Jinpachi himself to call him. It must’ve been something important then. He accepted the call.
‘‘Hello?’’
‘‘Ah finally! I need you to check on your players.’’ The request was too sudden for Snuffy’s liking.
‘‘May I ask for a reason?’’
Ego gave a long sigh on the other side of the line
‘‘So PXG found Charles as a toddler and are thinking that every team might have some players that turned into children. So we’re making everyone do a check’’
‘What?’ Ego must be joking. How can someone turn into a child?
‘‘Before you say anything else. No it isn’t a joke and we also don’t know how this happened. But we need to see the how many people are affected so we can understand the importance of the situation.’’ Ego answered all his questions without him even asking them. Snuffy was kind of impressed he’s not gonna lie.
‘‘Understood I’ll check with you after then’’
And just like that Ego closed the phone to his face. Rude but Ego was a person like that so Snuffy didn’t care much. He quickly got ready and left to check up on the players while trying to figure out how this situation could’ve happened.
Snuffy looked at the Ubers players dorms first, there was nothing out of the ordinary except Lorenzo not being around but he probably was just wandering around after all if he turned into a child his roommates would notice it so he moved onto blue lock players dorms. He decided to leave Barou’s room for last so he went ahead and knocked on the other door. Without even a minute passes till Oliver Aiku opens the door.
“Yo Snuffy. What’s up with the early visit?” He asks curiously as soon as he sees Snuffy.
“Just a check up on the players, nothing much. There isn’t anything unusual going on,is there?”
When he heard Snuffy question one of Oliver’s eyebrows rose.
“Huh. Just a check up.” He said mirroring Snuffy wording.
“There really isn’t anything you’re not telling us right?” Oliver asked with a serious tone.
‘So he figured out something was wrong.’
He figured it would be more convenient to just straight up tell him than try to make Aiku believe his poorly made up story so he told him the truth.
Aiku surprisingly took the news very well.
‘‘Well I guess that explains it.’’ Aiku said after waiting for Snuffy to finish. Before Snuffy could say anything back Aiku opened the door showing inside.
Inside Barou was shouting at Lorenzo while Sendou sat on a bed-probably his or Aiku’s-scrolling on his phe with a small Black puffy ball looking thing on his lap. When Snuffy took a good look at Sendou’s lap he realized that it was a kid that's sleeping on his lap.
‘‘Hey King!’’ Oliver said, voice strong enough to empower Barou’s shouting but not loud enough to wake little Niko up then everyone in the room turned towards Oliver and Snuffy. Upon receiving all the attention Oliver continued speaking.
‘‘I would like it if you kept your voice lower. It seems that our little Niko is asleep.’’ He pointed at the little fluff ball that was on Sendou’s lap. Barou’s look softened and he apologised it was barely hearable but still he had apologised. Which was kinda unexpected knowing it was Barou but it wasn’t that surprising with how much authority Aiku has over all the players. He was one of those people that were born to be the leader.
After Lorenzo calmed down,and they stopped Barou from beating him to the ground,Snuffy and Aiku finally could have a proper conversation about Niko’s situation.
“So any idea about what’s going on?” Aiku asked.
“Not clearly. I got a call from Ego this morning. He told me to check up on the players and when I asked why he told me PXG’s Charles Chevalier has turned into a child so they’re doing a damage check.”
Aiku put his hand on his chin and hummed.
“But How did this happen?” He looked up at his coach, confused as if his coach could answer his question.
“I really don’t know. There’s no logical explanation for this.”
Snuffy felt disappointed in himself for not living up to his student's expectations but he couldn’t do anything about it. It wasn’t football or anything he really knew about.
“Well I guess we have to take care of our little Niko for a while. Until they found out how to turn their ages back.
A few seconds of silence passed by while they were watching Lorenzo, who was trying to annoy Barou more than ever. Aiku broke the silence and asked.
“So is it only Niko who’s like this here?”
“I guess so I haven’t gone to the last room but it was Barou’s room so Yea it seems like it’s only Niko.”
“Niko is the only guy who’s under 18 you know.”
Snuffy was stunned for a second, Aiku really knew his team well.
“And if I remember correctly PXG’s prodigy is also under 18. I think only ones who turned into children are the ones who are under 18.”
Aiku was clever but Snuffy thought of that too when he saw Niko was the only child here.
“Might be but we don’t have any solid evidence for it. We only know those two,we don't even know if anyone else turned into children too.”
“Well that makes sense but I would like to stick onto my thesis you know.”
“I can’t stop you from doing that, after all it’s your way of thinking.”
Aiku smiled and nodded then got up.
“Better seperate those two or Lorenzo might actually face Barou’s fury.”
Snuffy was still thinking about how this situation can happen that he didn’t even realize Barou’s growing noise towards Lorenzo.
‘I should inform those two,Anri and Ego,I guess’
When he opened his phone he saw the Masters chat filled with messages.
—-----
NEL Masters and managers
Anri the Manager Lady added +**********
Anri the Manager Lady
I added Karasu Tabito to chat to keep track of PXG
Noa
What about Loki?
Anri the Manager Lady
We cannot contact him at the moment so we decided that Karasu will keep us updated
Chris Prince
Well it’s early so he might be sleeping teenagers need their sleep to grow afterall
It’s true but hopefully it's the case
and nothing happened to him
Anri the Manager Lady
Please don’t panic we will sort everything out you just need to focus on your teams
.
.
.
—------
Well that’s concerning. Loki being not avalible is not something Snuffy can see happening. Plus if Loki turned into a child that would make his hypothesis stronger and probably prove Aiku was right.
After all the talking about where to group up had ended he made his way through the bed Aiku-and Sendou-was sitting on while watching Barou trying to save the scared little Niko from Lorenzo’s hands.
Aiku saw him getting closer and got up to meet him halfway.
“Grouping up?” Aiku asked. He always knew what was happening Snuffy was slowly believing that Aiku was a prophet or some sort of stuff like that.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“Bastard facility?”
Snuffy gave a heavy sigh.
“If you already know it, why ask it?”
“I don’t know what you're talking ‘bout.” He said with the corner of his mouth while turning towards all the commotion Lorenzo is causing. Snuffy felt bad for letting Aiku handle all the chaos Lorenzo bought but the Captain never really seemed tired of it either. He seemed to like the lively atmosphere within the team.
After Aiku gathered everyone they started to walk to the Bastard facility. Snuffy had realized something-it might’ve been embarrassingly late but-Lorenzo was hanging out with Bluelockers. So while walking he decided to ask.
“Hey Lorenzo.”
“Huh?” Lorenzo stopped making funny faces at little Niko and turned towards him.
“What were you doing outside your dorm at this hour?”
Lorenzo made an “O” shape with his mouth then answered him.
“I was bored so I was just strolling in the hall but then I met Barou-chan~☆. Then I decided to hang out with him…” Barou rolled his eyes and scoffed at that. “but couldn’t because he had this little bun in his arms.” He turned towards Niko when he started mentioning him and continued making faces to him when he stopped talking.
“I had to stop them from waking everyone up, you know.” Aiku said, looking back over his shoulder.
“Yeah sorry about that, I always make you take care of them.”
“Nah, it's cool, I'm used to it. I’ve been a captain for a while now.”
“Well if you say so but really thanks for keeping them in line.”
“No problem at all. As I said, I've been a captain for a while, so even if you told me not to, I would still keep them in their place.”
Snuffy nods and they continue their walk silently until Barou starts speaking.
“Hey, why the hell are you coming with us? Don’t you have to go back to Italy?”
He asks, turning towards Lorenzo.
Lorenzo points to himself.
“Huh? Me?”
“Of Course you, who else could I be speaking to!?”
“Uhhhhh, well Coach is my manager soooo What about that Coach?”
Snuffy realized he had been summoned into conversation and answered him.
“Well, I cannot leave considering I am the team's Coach but you can if you want to.”
“Nahhh I’ll leave with you, I don’t wanna go anywhere without my manager.”
Snuffy nods but Barou jumps into conversation.
“Yeah it’s probably not a good idea to let you go anywhere without your babysitter.”
Before Snuffy can protest Lorenzo makes finger guns and adds.
“Exactly. Barou-Chan~☆ knows me very well.”
Barou scoffs and rolls his eyes which means they can continue their silent walk.
They arrived at the Bastard’s caffetteria. Snuffy realized it was actually a great idea to group up at the Bastard facility. Manshine City had already come and were eating breakfast right now, Chris was struggling to keep Nagi awake while the others were eating. They had 3 children which meant all other children were Bastard players. He kinda felt bad for Noa after seeing the chaos that was happening. But that feeling changed hands when he didn’t see Noa around and Ness running around trying to keep up with some of the children. ‘Still uncaring as ever’ he thought as they walked in.
“Woah I thought there wouldn’t be this much little ones around.” Sendou said, wide eyed.
“I think Aryu did the right thing.” Barou chimed in his voice filled with regret. They asked Aryu to come but he wanted to finish his morning beauty routine so he refused.(He totally didn’t refuse cause author didn't know what to do with him)
They were picking a place to sit but then Lorenzo took off.
“Micahhh~<3” He ran towards Kaiser who just entered the room and were carrying stuff under his arms.
Kaiser frowned when he heard his nickname being called out by Lorenzo. Lorenzo almost jumped on him but Aiku came to his rescue and stopped Lorenzo.
“As expected of you Micah! You’re worth 400 Million. 400 MILLION!!!” Kaiser rolled his eyes and ignored him. He looked like he already had a ton of shit going on.
And that look was actually how the situation was. They-Aiku and Barou-tried to get Lorenzo to calm down a little. While those things were happening Snuffy decided to learn Noa’s plans.
‘‘Hey Kaiser.’’
‘‘Huh? What is it?’’ Kaiser says harshly at the start but his tone softening realizng it’s Snuffy.
‘‘Well I wondered if you wanted some help. We have more hands than needed after all.’’
‘‘Oh…’’ He thought for a few minutes looking over at Ness. ‘‘I guess it would be good if you guys helped Ness out. He seems a little tired.’’
‘‘What about those in your hand?’’ Snuffy asked pointing at rolled yoga mats under Kaiser's arms.
‘‘These? They were suggested by Chris. Since that white haired guy keeps sleeping we decided to move some tables to the back and make a matted place where the kids can asleep or just sit around ad play.’’
‘‘Chris suggested that?’’ Snuffy never thought he would see Chris caring this much about some kids.
‘‘Yeah I was pretty surprised too.’’
‘‘Well let’s start before it gets more crowded here.’’
Kaiser went to carry the tables with Aiku and Barou. Snuffy decided it would be more efficient if there were at least four people so he spoke with Chris and persued him to join the boys too. The other group-Sendou,Lorenzo,Agi and Snuffy-went to help out Ness and played some games with the kids.
They didn’t think Nagi would participate in the games they planned but he refused to be away from Reo so he joined in too. It didn’t took too long for the matted area to be completed. When it ended Menshine took their leave as Nagi was getting kinda fussy so they were the first people to sit at the matted area.
Barou and Aiku were tired from all the heavy lifting so they decided to lay down a bit. Sendou wanted to sit around a little too and Ness was already really tired from taking care of all the children so they decided to let the children run free by themselves. Snuffy sat close to the door so the kids wouldn't get out of his sight. And he really didn’t want to search the whole facility to find some missing kids.
After a while the cafeteria was full of screams. Children were playing but the caretakers were exhausted. Snuffy was gonna go sit with Lorenzo and the others but Lavinho came running to him.
“Hey Snuff, you’ve been looking over the door right?”
“Yes? What happened?”
“Uhhhhhh-” Lavinho looked unsure “No getting angry and starting a lecture ok?”
“You lost the kids didn’t you?”
“Well, not all of them. Otoya is with PXG but Bachira took off…”
“Ok that's fine we’ll fin-”
“...with Isagi in tow.” Lavinho diverted his eyes and started scratching his neck.
Snuffy stunned for a second.
“You lost Ego’s favorite!???”
“Yeahhh. I know it’s bad…”
“It’s bad!? No it’s terrible. We need to find him before Ego comes.”
“He didn’t go out right?”
“Thank god, no”
Lavinho sighed a big sigh of relief.
Snuffy wasn’t a person to panic but Ego was very unpredictable and it wasn’t a doubt he had his favorites on Isagi. So Snuffy didn’t want any negative impression on him.
So they decided to ask around if they had seen them but when they went over to PXG to ask about the kids they learned things they didn’t expect.
“Hey guys, have you seen Bachira or Isagi anywhere?” Lavinho asked in a slightly quiet tone since Charles was sleeping on Shidou’s lap probably because he was tired of too much playtime.
“Well we saw them not too long ago. What happened?” Karasu answered.
‘Oh great mamabird is gonna be very angry’ Lavinho thought.
“Well we-”
“You lost them didn’t you?” Karasu cut him off, quite rude to be honest.
“Uh- Yeah kinda he ran off with Isagi while I was taking to Noa”
“Wait… didn’t they come to pick up Rinrin and that country boy too?” Shidou added.
Karasu’s eyes widened after his words.
“So you mean to tell me Rin and Nanase are missing too!?” Karasu exclaimed with anger.
“I guess…” Shidou said at the tip of his tongue, barely hearable.
“Otoya, Do you wanna stay with Shidou or do you want me to leave you with someone else?”
“Karasu there isn’t any need to-”
“Shush you dum dum my kids are missing too. That means I’m searching too.” Then he turned towards Otoya.
“So? What do you wanna do?”
Otoya looked curiously towards Shidou. Shidou, seeing this, told him.
“I don’t care if you choose to be with me, do whatever you wanna do.”
Otoya nodded. “Then I wanna go to Yuki”
“Yukimiya? Sure let’s find him then I’ll go look for Nanase and Rin ok?” After getting Otoya’s confirmation he turned towards Shidou.
“You can look after him right?”
“Who do you think I am!? Of course I can.”
“Just reminding you were the one who came knocking at my door saying I need an adultier adult.” Before Shidou could argue he continued. “Whatever I think I can trust you for a bit but call me if something happens ok?”
Shidou made a salute pose and added.
“Yes, Boss”
“And that bit just got washed away but whatever. You're an adult. Be an adult.” he pointed at him while saying those.
“Yea yea whatever just go Mamabird.” Shidou waved his hand on a ‘shoo’ motion.
Karasu avoided more timeloss and just nodded, got up and they all left.
Little did they know that they left the door unattended and some little feets have realized it then went on a little adventure