Chapter Text
It was during Second Selection of Blue Lock when an assorted group of aspiring teenage football strikers—Isagi Yoichi, Nagi Seishirou, and Barou Shouei—happened to share a dorm room together as a team. However, there were two bunk beds and one king-sized bed available. Everyone wanted the king-sized bed but couldn’t decide who would take it. So Nagi and Barou were bickering and throwing pillows at each other while Isagi was getting overwhelmed trying to mediate between them.
All of a sudden, Barou threw down his pillow, turned towards Isagi and barked out, “Ventilate the room!” He then turned towards the beds to inspect their sheets.
“And don’t you dare leave your towels and clothes on the floor. They’re eyesores!” He roared.
“Uh, right,” Isagi replied as he went to open the door. Why did Barou care that much?
“You’re not a king anymore. You’re a maid,” Nagi stated plainly to Barou.
“That’s a good one, Nagi,” Isagi chuckled, “I need to go to the bathroom, so I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Me too.”
“Suit yourselves,” Barou mumbled as he started to tidy up the beds without question.
Isagi and Nagi stepped out and returned a few moments later only to find the room sparkling clean like they had checked in at their hotel room for the first time.
“Oh wow, it looks like the room is much tidier. Maybe Maid Barou cleaned up the place?” Isagi asked since he was very impressed.
“Guess so. Hey, Isagi, what if Maid Barou were to manage a maid café?” Nagi wondered, “He would greet guests with a ‘Barou, Barou kyun!’ and his specialty dish would be the ‘King Love Omurice’ with extra hearts. This is what being Maid Barou means, right?” He made a heart-shaped sign with his hands.
“Yikes! That’s super gross!” Isagi blanched at that thought.
“What about a swearing maid café?” Nagi wondered again, “Barou can yell something like ‘Please get the hell out, you donkey bastards!’ to the guests while decorating their omurice.”
“Stop doing weird stuff to me in your imaginations, assholes!” Barou yelled in the background, “I’m listening!”
“Oh wait, that might work. That might actually catch on! It’s a real business opportunity!” Isagi exclaimed excitedly, rubbing his hands together in glee.
“I think that it’ll probably work,” Nagi agreed.
“No, it won’t! I’ll kick you to death!” Barou threatened, “I swear that this will never ever happen!”
Barou thought that it was the end of that stupid idea that day. But he didn’t think that it would become reality until one day, after many hours of grueling practice and training, Ego suddenly appeared on the TV screens throughout the Blue Lock facility.
“Greetings, diamonds in the rough. Is Barou Shouei available? He needs to report to me immediately.”
Barou looked up at the screen and groaned. What now? Was he in trouble? He just wanted to go take a bath and wind down for the night. So he rubbed his sweaty face with a towel and dragged himself down the long hallways towards Ego’s office. He then knocked at the door before Ego called for him to enter.
Once he entered, there was Ego sitting cross-legged at his desk, his assistant Anri sitting next to him, and an older, heavyset man sitting in the left corner of the room. They all looked at him with much anticipation while Barou glared back at them.
“What is it, Ego-san?”
“Well, take a seat here, and I will let you know.” Ego answered, motioning to a chair in the right-hand corner of the room, where Barou took a seat.
“Ok, before we start, this is my assistant Anri,” Ego motioned to Anri who waved to Barou with a slight nervous smile. “And this is Hirotoshi Buratsuta, the chairman of the Japan Football Union.” Buratsuta looked up and cocked his head towards Barou in acknowledgement.
Ego started to explain, “Barou, as you are aware, you and your family do not pay anything for you come to Blue Lock because it is a fully funded project by the Japan Football Union and many other generous sponsors. They invested because they fully supported my goal of producing the No. 1 striker who can win Japan the World Cup. However, I had some disagreements with them lately, and many of them had decided to stop investing. As a result, the Blue Lock project is in danger of being shut down, and we would be without a winning striker if we didn’t raise enough funds to continue.”
He then nodded his head towards Anri.
“While Ego-san and I were outside looking for potential ideas, we came across a quaint little property nearby that used to be a British teahouse where they sold tea, coffee, treats, and other services to their customers. As a result, Buratsuta-san helped us rent the property so we can turn it into our very own Blue Lock Café. I will be spear-heading this new side project as its owner, and you will be a general manager, or the public face of the café. The goal of this project is to serve as many paying customers as possible for the sake of Blue Lock,” Anri explained further.
“Absolutely not,” Barou stubbornly replied, then aggressively crossed his arms and pouted. “I’m here to show you all that I’m the king of football. I’m most intent on playing, nothing else.”
The Blue Lock adults nervously glanced at each other. “Well, we decided to choose you because you have shown the most potential to become the No. 1 striker based on your performance so far. That way, once you debut, you already have a loyal audience of fans. And as a savvy businessman, I truly believe that you have what it takes to bring in the money!” Buratsuta offered.
“Absolutely not. I refuse to work with you, mister, because I don’t know you and I don’t even care.”
“But what about your family? Your mother just called me today saying that your younger sister had a serious concussion from falling while she was on her bike,” Ego countered. Barou’s eyes widened at him in surprise. “She is gradually recovering from treatment at the hospital, but your family has racked up great debt from all the medical bills for the MRI and CAT scans that she received. I told her that Blue Lock will help the family cover some of the expenses, but this is most contingent on your participation in this project.”
“Really? So I must become a manager of this café or else, my whole family will become screwed?”
“Yes, really. For the most part.”
“Well, I have no idea. I haven’t the chance to speak with my mother ever since the beginning of Blue Lock.”
Barou slumped back on his seat. He then sighed heavily and took a deep breath because he was not anticipating this at all. He deeply cared about his mother and two younger sisters, but Blue Lock kept him so busy with football that he hasn’t thought much about them recently. A few tense minutes passed before he came to a decision.
“Oh, ok, I’ll do it.” He rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and sighed again.
Then Ego turned around towards his computer and clicked on a video to play. Everyone saw the multiple large screens behind him coming to life as Isagi and Nagi appeared and started moving and talking.
“Oh wait, that might work. That might actually catch on! It’s a real business opportunity!” Isagi exclaimed excitedly, rubbing his hands together in glee.
Barou’s face turned into one of horror as he realized what Isagi and Nagi were talking about—him being Maid Barou. He raised a hand to cover his slightly blushing face in great humiliation.
“What the hell? Where did you get this, Ego-san?”
Ego ignored Barou’s questions and instead stated sternly, “As the manager of the café, you must dress up as a maid because maid cosplays sell the most appeal. This is an order from me, you understand?”
“Yes, Ego-san,” Barou grimaced. He hated the fact that he was in this bind with no chance of breaking away. And he cannot afford to defy Ego-san because his whole future is in the grasp of his hands.
“What shall I do next?” he asked.
“Well, we’re not doing a swearing maid café like what’s on the recording, but Isagi and Nagi will be helping you as hosts. You can also recruit two other players as well. Anri-san and Burasata-san will be meeting with you in the next room over to discuss all the details.”
Barou reluctantly followed Anri and Burasata next door where they presented the logistics of how he is expected to run the café. During the week, the café is a typical Japanese coffee shop. Hours are from 7:00 am-4:30 pm for potential guests seeking coffee, tea, breakfast, lunch, and/or dessert. Anri has already hired other employees to run the café in that manner. However, on Saturdays, the café will turn into a maid and butler café. Guests will not only order food and drinks, but also the whole experience of interacting with a host of their choice. In addition, they will receive an exclusive card with a hand drawn illustration of the chosen host as well as a custom polaroid picture taken with him.
As manager, Barou will oversee only the Blue Lock players working as hosts. He will not be responsible for other café employees or for cleaning the whole café besides the tables and chairs of the guests he served. Since the players must focus more on physical training and playing football, Ego only approved for them to work on Saturdays for now. Everyone will be paid according to Japan’s hourly minimum wage, but they are welcome to accept tips from the guests for providing exceptional service. Guests must follow typical café rules such as not taking pictures inside, not touching the hosts, and not asking for their personal information. Hosts are also not allowed to disclose the specifics of the Blue Lock project other than what Anri put on a general script. After visiting, guests can complete a survey to provide further feedback on the service they receive.
“This is a good chance for all of you strikers to put yourselves more out there in public,” Burasata insisted, “And to work more on evolving your own egos on and off the field. Because there’s so much more to ego than just football playing!”
Barou can only side-eye him in exasperation. He hadn’t started working, yet he was already fed up with all this.
After the unusual meeting with these Blue Lock adults, he went to call his mother personally. She confirmed the news of his sister’s concussion as serious, and the family was overwhelmed with the growing medical debt. Ego had encouraged her that Blue Lock will help her out with the debt. Barou reassured her not to worry anymore because he will be working with Ego about paying most, if not all, of the debt. If only he could put his all into becoming the No. 1 manager as he would into becoming the No. 1 striker, he will.
Then he went to the bathroom to shower and settle down for the night. Once he returned to the dorm room that he shared with Isagi and Nagi, Isagi was straightening up his things on his bunk bed when he looked up and asked him, “What’s up?”
“Oi, losers,” Barou replied. “I hate to say this, but I really need your help. And this is all Hassle-man’s darn fault!”