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Nagi has accepted that some things are better to let go of than let them wither away.
(He is lying through his teeth.)
He walks back home— he didn’t expect getting eliminated would feel so heavy and empty, instead of that satisfaction, acceptance, and lack of surprise he’d felt when the final rankings for the Top Twenty-Three were shown. He did not feel like he was humiliated when his downfall was shown on live television. He felt worse for Reo, who’d been caught crying for him on live television. For someone like him, who wasn’t able to work as hard as Reo and the others to stay in the Top Twenty-Three.
So he deserves to get eliminated. No matter how empty and unsatisfied he feels, he can’t achieve that dream of winning the World Cup with Reo, especially when he is not by his side.
He could’ve accepted Manshine’s offer, but… he can’t. He couldn’t describe his feelings, but he just couldn’t.
Nagi stays in this perfect wave of emptiness and loneliness, threatening to swallow him up whole as he stays in this mentality of everything being fine.
(Until he cries all by himself in class, missing who he had been back in Blue Lock.)
***
He’d gotten used to waking up in silence when the alarm he’d bothered to turn on goes up in the morning, and this just makes the pang in his heart hurt even more— for the past few months since he’d gotten that offer back in October, he always wakes up to the sound of loud chatter and chaos often happening, or maybe Reo — or Isagi — telling him that it was time for breakfast. However, when he returned, there was nothing but silence. Not even the presence of Choki can reassure him that everything is fine.
But today is different.
Because he wakes up to a baby’s cry.
No, not a baby; babies.
Nagi’s bleary eyes widen a fraction as he tries to find where the noise is coming from. Did one of his dormmates get a visit from their family? But the crying was so loud. It sounds like the baby is inside his dorm…
That is when he notices it.
His gray eyes zeroed in on two bundles that were not here last night. They were moving, despite being swaddled with blankets.
Nagi immediately reaches to take them to his arms, and now, he is face-to-face with the perpetrators of his quiet morning— two crying babies.
While the expression on his face was nothing more than crankiness, his body language betrayed his outside perceived calmness by his tense shoulders and nervous arms.
“What the hell…?” He whispers to himself as he stares at the kids. They both have the same white hair as he does, and when they open their eyes…
Lilac.
The same color as Reo’s.
And they shine the way Reo’s did when Nagi left him that day.
Wait.
White hair, lilac eyes?
Nagi’s eyes widen in realization. “Are these kids mine and Reo’s children?”
***
To hell with impossibility, Nagi thinks to himself, as he opens the door to his dorm, his children carefully tied on a makeshift jumper that was made out of tying the sleeves of his uniforms and jackets together. This was an excuse to see Reo back in Blue Lock. To, maybe, acknowledge him.
He is about to get on his bike when the sudden jolt startles his baby and begins to make one of them cry. Nagi swears under his breath, trying to get them to stop crying, but to no avail.
Also, aren’t babies like, fragile creatures? The smart person in his mind reminds him. They might be shaken and jostled when you move your bike. Also, what if you lose your balance and fall on the sidewalk?
… Public transportation it is.
Nagi initially was about to camp outside of the Mikage building, but Reo must have returned to Blue Lock to prepare for the U-20 World Cup, meaning they’ve all returned to the Blue Lock facility. Nagi has a photographic memory, even though he’s only seen the outside walls clearly once. It was actually near his high school, just a bike ride across the highway.
However, since he’s forced to travel through public transportation, it’s going to be more difficult to zero in on the actual location.
Riding public is such a hassle.
Finally, he is dropped off at the foot of the hill in which the facility is built on— he stares at the towering monument, the feelings in his chest strangling him a bit. However, when the newborns in his arms move, he begins to walk towards the hill with each laborious, heavy step.
To get Reo to acknowledge him.
To tell Reo about the things he failed to tell him when they were still together.
And most importantly…
To make Reo agree to pay his child support. This is clearly their child, no matter how much Reo will try and deny it. He’ll even agree to a DNA test.
As he makes his way to the top of the hill, he tries to contact Reo, only to realize that he’d been blocked.
He stiffens slightly, but the twins he’s carrying must have noticed his negative feelings, as they begin to whine and whimper. He swears under his breath, the tears in his eyes threatening to pour at this realization. Reo has changed; Nagi stayed the same, no matter what happened. They were already in different worlds.
What is the point of returning here?
He finally reaches the peak of the hill, with some semblance of drive within his veins. He was partially there to meet Reo, and, maybe, if there is a sliver of hope, get back to Blue Lock.
At first, he didn’t show the babies around. Instead, he put them inside a tent, and began to beg, bargain, and plead with the lone security camera within the vicinity. It scans him without any feeling, but he can tell that Ego and Anri are watching him through it.
However, when the speakers finally opened, it was to Anri-chan threatening to call the police on Nagi if he kept persisting to get them to open the door. Crap, looks like his time is up.
“Then just call Reo over here,” he requests— he doesn’t beg, he doesn’t plead. He requests. He asks for them, and he hopes for the best that they will comply with his wishes. If not, then he’s just going to get out the big guns and present their lovechild to them. He doesn’t want the public to know this. They might think that Nagi had given birth.
Anri’s voice once again cracks through the speaker. “I’m sorry, Nagi, but Reo is currently deep in his training. You have to leave now, or we’ll call the police. For real.”
Nagi sighs as the rain begins to fall down on him. He hears a sharp cry from the small camping site he set up. They must have woken up. Don’t babies need milk? If only Reo hadn’t blocked him, Nagi would’ve demanded boxes upon boxes of formula.
His eyes light up.
He stares back at the camera— this is not the end.
Instead, he simply takes the kids on each hand, trying to make sure they’re safe in his hold, and then shoves them both on the camera. “Reo, if you’re hearing this, unblock me now. We have twins, Reo. We need to raise them both. It’s a hassle to raise them as a single parent without any help from your other folks, you know? And since you’re super rich, I figured that you can just pay me with child support if you don’t want them.”
But it would hurt if Reo doesn’t want them.
“So. Unblock me, Reo. Please.”
Meanwhile, back in the Blue Lock office, Anri’s jaw drops as Ego stops eating his noodles mid-slurp.
Anri turns to Ego. “Um… what should we do now?”
Ego sighs, puts down his can of noodles before muttering something about the gays or whatever. “Get Mikage outside. Looks like he has child support to pay.”
***
Anri summons Reo immediately, muttering a flurry of words he can’t hear except for that name.
Nagi.
Nagi is here? Back at Blue Lock?
But why? How come?
He doesn’t even register Anri’s words, too conflicted to say anything. He wants to see Nagi again, yes, but not right now, when he’s busy preparing for the world stage. Besides, what the heck is Nagi doing, showing up in Blue Lock again? He was eliminated, right? He seemed satisfied with the elimination, so…!
When Anri opens the door to the outside world, Reo’s breath hitches as his vision spins.
Because, as soon as Anri opens the door, Nagi is already there, with…
Reo’s eyes look down, and his mouth opens, but no words come out.
Babies? Why is Nagi carrying two babies?
Nagi finally sees him— his dull gray eyes lighten up a bit towards Reo’s presence.
However, the first thing he says wasn’t, “I’m sorry, Reo…”
It was…
“Reo, are you going to offer me child support or what?”
… HUH?!
“What the— Nagi, what is the meaning of this?!” Reo demands, looking at Nagi, he can’t imagine Nagi being interested in kids, but here he was, cradling the two in his hands like they were the most precious things in the world. “Did you come all the way here to tell me you… have kids?”
Reo tries to do the math but decides that those things are a pain. There is no damn way he found a girl attractive enough to… do that with her. Besides, Nagi has never even looked at a girl during their time at school. There is no way these are his kids.
But the white hair? That’s a Nagi classic!
“Who’s the mother?” Reo asks hesitantly, still not understanding why he was summoned here.
“I am. I mean, they showed up in my room, so because my room gave birth to my twins, I guess I’m the mom?”
Reo stares. Nagi doesn’t so much as blink at the most ridiculous thing he’d said in his life.
“Okay… So who’s the dad?”
“You.”
Reo is beyond the word confused now. He is baffled. Befuddled. Utterly stricken.
He frowns. “What the fuck are you talking about, Nagi? Are you saying that I… had a part in this?”
“Yeah. Look at their eyes, Reo.”
Reo decides to try to understand whatever Nagi is on right now, but he complies. One of the white-haired gremlins opens their eyes, and…
His own eyes look back at him.
“What the fuck?” Reo asks, blinking. He looks at Nagi. “Tell me I’m not hallucinating, Nagi.”
“We're not. Or maybe we are. Why don't you ask the others if they're seeing what we're seeing?”
Reo furtively turns towards Anri, who gives him a thumbs up and gives him his congratulations before leaving.
Reo turns back to look at Nagi with a haunted expression. “Either they are not hallucinations, or we are all in this mass delusion together. Hold on— even if they have white hair and lilac eyes, that doesn’t mean they're ours!”
This is where Ego cuts in. “Nope, those brats are definitely yours.”
Reo looks at the camera. “What?! How do you know that?!”
“While your little boyfriend was begging for you to unblock him, I analyzed those kids in his arms with Blue Lock’s stellar DNA analysis technology. They are fifty percent Nagi Seishirō and fifty percent Mikage Reo. Congratulations, you're a father.” He says it in the most deadpan voice possible.
“What the— since when does Blue Lock have that kind of technology?!”
“The child support, Reo?” Nagi pipes up from behind him.
Reo lets out a very deep, very exhausted sigh. “Oh, I'll do you one better.”
***
The entire table inside the restaurant, which Reo practically rented for the day, is silent, except for the coos of the babies and the slurping of drinks and scrapes of utensils over boys who were way too hungry to deal with this bullshit. (Bachira.) They were not going to waste this time ordering the most expensive food and drinks, which Reo was accommodating towards. Reo’s parents will be seething when they see the bills, but it's not like they won't recover from this.
Chigiri takes a long, slow slurp of his drink, his red eyes staring at the babies on Nagi’s lap, currently being fed formula. He has never seen Nagi this focused and dedicated before. He cocks his head to the side. “Seems like maternal instincts are a real phenomenon.”
Nagi looks up but doesn’t say anything; Reo is the one who asks him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, look at him,” Chigiri gestures to Nagi. “He hasn’t taken out his phone to play games, he's been attentive to your babies—” Reo sputters at the reminder of their parentage, “and his eyes are shining like he's looking at you, or soccer. Seriously, I think he loves them already.”
“Love?!” Reo exclaims, abashed.
Bachira elbows Chigiri gently and leans in. “Dude, he's still in denial that he's in love with Nagi.”
Reo hears that. “I'm—!” He cuts himself off when Nagi shushes him, mumbling about how the babies need their sleep.
Isagi smiles awkwardly. “I mean, the evidence is right in front of you, yes? For some reason, the universe gave you and Nagi two babies to raise. I do hope this won't hinder your performance at the World Cup.”
Bachira then elbows Isagi. “Dude, is soccer all you can think about?”
Isagi chuckles shyly. “Sorry, but I'm just really worried for Reo.”
“I… I think I'm going to be fine,” Reo reassures him.
Karasu gives him a deadpan stare. “Ya look like yer ‘bout to faint.”
“Am not!”
“Reo, the babies,” Nagi reminds him softly, and Reo calms down with his hands on his face.
“You guys really are serving mom and dad energy,” Otoya quips from beside Karasu, waving a piece of steak around and getting the grease to hit the tables. Yukimiya asks for him to behave, just this once, please?
Reo is about to retort, but one of their — their? — twins start to fidget, and Reo takes the twin — the girl? — into his arms and takes one of the bottles, and places it in her mouth.
“They both know what to do in this situation,” Niko observes. “But the question remains… how are you going to juggle being an athlete and a young father?”
Reo stumbles. “Um, well, I—”
“If you're going to tell us we babysit your brats, don't bother, because I'm not going to,” Barou tells him. (He is absolutely going to babysit them.)
“I'll take care of them while Reo trains for the World Cup,” Nagi says, and everyone looks at him. “Baya can help take care of them.”
Reo takes a deep breath. “... Yeah, that would be a great choice. I'm… sorry that I'm going to be absent for the next few months of our kids’ lives, though.”
Nagi shrugs. “It's fine. You just have to unblock me.”
A few snickers from around the table.
“Unblock your husband, Reo,” Aiku says from over the table, and Reo wishes that he could die from embarrassment rather than continue to interact with these people.
Kunigami, who is still in a state of shock from the announcement that Reo and Nagi of all people had children, asks, “Did you two decide on names?”
“Oh! Name one after me!” Bachira demands in an average-sounding voice, considerate of their twins.
Reo’s eyes darted to Nagi, “Have you named them yet?” Maybe he should call Baya and get those birth certificates ready. Probably done in secret, too, or his dad will use this as a way to force him out of the games. He also can't let them enter the facility, still filled with cameras and Ego’s loathing for distractions, so Nagi’s dorm will have to do in the meantime. Begrudgingly, he might give them Nagi’s surname too.
Nagi nods. “Yeah. The girl you're holding is Chun Li, and the boy's name is Leon.”
Reo stares at him as the entire table tries to hold their exasperation and laughter.
“Street Fighter and Resident Evil. Nice names.” Hiori nods sagely.
“You're not supposed to approve of it…” Yukimiya sighs.
Reo looks down at his daughter— Chun Li, to Nagi apparently. He glares at Nagi. “We are not naming them those, Nagi.”
Nagi pouts. “But naming is such a hassle…”
Reo sighs. “We'll… name them Hiko and Hime for now.”
“Wow, ‘prince’ and ‘princess?’ How original,” Chigiri snarks.
Reo ignores that.
Nagi shrugs. “We can search up baby names today before you guys get back to training.”
“So, which one of you guys gave birth?” Shidou asks, and almost all of the people present groans at his question and shit-eating grin.
“No one gave birth to the twins,” Reo answers firmly,
Nagi, meanwhile, hums. He then looks at Shidou. “Well, yeah no one gave birth to the twins, but they appeared in my dorm room. So I guess… I gave birth to them?”
You can imagine everyone's reaction. Shidou’s smile grows wider at that confirmation.
Bachira begins to choke on his steak, and Isagi starts to pat him across the back in an attempt to get him to stop being a choking hazard.
Reo wants to put his face in his hands, but he realizes that he's still holding Hime.
Chigiri snorts at his explanation, talking over the sounds of a choking Bachira. “Well, congrats on the babies, mom and dad.”
Reo wants to scream.