Chapter Text
Blue Lock TV.
It was a project made by none other than the mastermind of it all - Ego Jinpachi - after the Blue Lock Eleven successfully defeated the Japan U-20. It was made simply in order for Blue Lock to gain more popularity and income.
It only cost 500 yen, and yet it would be the whole package. The main focus were the football matches - as expected - but also the players everyday lives were streamed via security cameras all over the facility. Their routines, habits, everything.
It for sure was an invasion of their privacy, but that was the cost of becoming rather famous. Some of them decided to complain about it, but since they saw that there was nothing they could do about it, they eventually gave up.
The said project was doing astonishingly well, with already 80 million subscribers at just the start of NEL. People enjoyed watching the tense matches that happened on the football field, each player having their own unique play style. Even though all of the matches were incredibly fierce, lately, that wasn't the reason why people bought the app in the first place.
It seemed like new fans were more interested in the dynamics between the players than the actual football happening on the field. Ego indeed found that very weird, but who knows what was to be expected from the newer generations?
As much as it annoyed the man, he was not foolish enough to let this opportunity go to waste. Being the football-obsessed freak he is, he only cared about the sport, but in this case, he seemed to see potential in a certain something. So, naturally, he went to research it.
Social Media & Fandoms.
Those 2 were, as a matter of fact, rather strange places to stumble upon, especially for older people. They were full of, for example, very good edits, but also rather questionable thirst tweets. Luckily, Ego wasn't that old, - some would disagree - and after all, he was a technology genius. He knew how to adapt to new discoveries and that wasn't that big of a surprise.
However, Ego absolutely didn't comprehend what was going on in the Fanbases mind. He scrolled through the #BLTV hashtag on Twitter, falling deep into its rabbit hole. Some stuff was acceptable - fan theories & praising the players. But the more he scrolled, the more there was explicit stuff, which was a sign for him to stop.
One thing in particular that caught his attention was a hashtag that kept appearing again and again;
#KaiSagi
2M+ tweets
As he looked deeper into it, it seemed to be the name of the pairing between Isagi Yoichi & Michael Kaiser. He researched it, and found some pretty useful information. And so, he had come to realize that one of the main reasons for BLTV's success was the dynamic between the 2 boys.
He noticed that their relationship was often described as 'romantic'. There was a lot of fanart of them doing.. certain stuff, and even fiction of them. Minds of their fans truly needed to be investigated.
However, a genius (not really) idea occurred to his mind.
If the fans were so desperately craving for it, why not give them what they want? Ego was certainly not the type of man to invest his time into these types of things, but the idea rather intrigued him. After thinking about it for a while, he took the speaker and called out for them;
"Isagi Yoichi and Michael Kaiser, please report to Ego Jinpachi's office."
The 2 boys calmly walked in, not knowing what was awaiting for them. Ego was sitting in his chair, as always, and slurping some instant Ramen. His attention switched to the now open door, where were standing his targets for his little experiment.
"Hello, Ego-san. What did you need from us?" Isagi hesitated, while Kaiser walked up from behind him.
"Yo, arising strikers," Ego started, his voice echoing through the room.
"You must be wondering why I requested for you here. I'll try to make it as short as possible."
Isagi was carefully listening, while Kaiser on the other hand, stood there nonchalantly, as if he was forced to be there - which tehnically wasn't wrong. The younger boy wondered if they were called for because of their constant bickering. Maybe our teammates had enough of it and decided to snitch on us, he sarcastically thought.
"Are you aware of your reputation after the start of the NEL?" Ego questioned, even though he knew the answer.
"Uhm, yeah? I think people find it funny that we steal the ball from eachother despite being on the same team." Yoichi stated confidently, even though there was a pause for a split second.
"Exactly. With that being said, you also know about our project, the BLTV. You are being monitored by hundreds of surveillance cameras, all around the facility. Fans follow your daily routines and schedules. And recently, they've expressed interest in your twos dynamic in particular."
Kaiser raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms, "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"That means that if they want to see you together, we'll give them what they want. From now on, you'll be together on and off the field, for a certain period of time. We've prepared your own separate dorm, which you'll be sharing. You will do everything together - training, eating & living."
Isagi's eyes widened, his eyebrows furrowing in shock. On the other hand, Kaiser looked interested, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
"That'd be all. Now scram." Ego turned around in his chair, facing the screen again.
Isagi was stunned from shocked so badly, that Kaiser had to push him out himself. There is no way they want to see us together, we've shown nothing towards eachother but rivalry! Isagi would keep on thinking, his mind racing.
As they exited the room, they were standing across from one another. Isagi was raging inside, still not believing that he would now constantly have to be with the person he despised the most. What was wrong with their fans, making pairings of the last 2 people that would be together?
"So, Yoichi, what do you think about this little.. experiment?" Kaiser 'innocently' asked, tilting his head to his side.
"I think that it is absolutely horrendous and an abuse of my human rights", Isagi spoke through gritted teeth. Kaiser just laughed out loud at Isagi's overreaction.
"Oh, come on, Yoichi. You know you'll love it, you're just too scared to admit it."
Isagi's eye twitched. He wanted to beat up Kaiser so badly right now that he was barely holding himself down. The only thing that was stopping him is that he knew that even this conversation was being filmed and monitored. Giving up to Kaiser's teasing would just mean feeding the fans delusions.
He steadied out his breathing, as someone approached behind him. He turned around, and was met with a familiar woman - Anri.
"Hello, Isagi and Kaiser! I'm here to take you to your shared room now. All of your belongings are already there, so no need to worry about that. Follow me!" Anri explained with her usual cheerful tone.
The boys quickly started following her, walking side by side. The walk to their room was strangely quiet, the only noise being made was their jackets brushing against one another; the result of walking very close to eachother.
They arrived infront of their newly shared dorm. As the door opened, Isagi couldn't help but widen his eyes. The room was very luxurious and way bigger than the room he previously stayed at. It even had a window! Isagi hadn't seen one in so long, he immediately walked over to it, looking at the nature outside.
In contrast, Kaiser wasn't all that impressed. His previous room here had the same luxury as this one. The only difference is that this place was bigger than his last one.
Anri welcomed the boys into the room, and made her way out, leaving them all alone.
The room sure was big. It had a kitchen with a fridge, sink and some counters. The bathroom was solidly clean, having a bath, shower, basin and and a toilet. The rug was sprawled all over the place, making it not necessary to wear shoes. With that being said, it was definitely neat.
As Isagi finally moved away from the window, he was met with beds, which were in dangerously close proximity. They were so close, that it almost looked like a king sized bed.
"I wouldn't mind getting used to this, hm?" Kaiser glanced around the room, and then back at Isagi.
"I would. Why are the beds placed like that?" Isagi spat out while pointing at them, putting on a 'disgusted' face.
Kaiser chuckled to himself, deciding to have fun and tease Isagi - as always.
"Don't be sad now, Yoichi. If you wanted to share a bed, we can push them together. You should've just said so."
Isagi shot him a deadly glare, with eyes wide open. He was 2 seconds away from punching the taller man. Why did he find this funny? Didn't Kaiser hate him as much as he hated him? Isagi shook his head, overexaggeratingly sighing.
"You are absolutely sick in the head." Yoichi grumbled as he started unpacking his already delivered stuff. Kaiser laughed, sitting on his own bed and doing the same.
This was for sure gonna be a long period of time, huh?