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“Be still,” Aryu held onto Hyoma’s chin.
“Sorry,” Hyoma stilled, her nerves were all over the place.
Aryu drew on the wings of Hyoma’s eyeliner in two fluid swipes. The red head was handed a phone to admire her makeup. Chigiri paused as she noticed Aryu’s lockscreen wallpaper, it was her and Gagamaru smiling.
Jyubei cleared her throat, Chigiri swiped to the camera app quickly. She didn’t mean to be so nosey, but it was definitely a trait she possessed. Hyoma took in her look, the makeup wasn’t too heavy and leaned for a more natural look minus the liner around her eyes. It made her eyes stand out more, they seemed almost piercing.
“You look glam darling,” Aryu looked her up and down.
The two girls were getting ready for a supposed party held by Ego. The older woman claimed it was to boost the morale of the egoist. It was in celebration of those who finished the second stage. The party was currently what had Chigiri’s nerves on edge.
More than anything the striker wanted to forget about Kunigami’s defeat. The loss of the ginger had put a strain on Chigiri’s mind. She constantly thought of how she missed the other girl's presence, even her slumber was disrupted over sadness of her absence.
“We’re still going to have fun tonight,” Aryu brushed her long dark hair.
“Right,” Hyoma put on a fake smile.
The duo had never been in the room they were currently in. It was decorated with balloons and a buffet table. Chigiri wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a bowl of punch somewhere in the room. Music wafted in the room with much more bass than necessary, the lights were dim. The white in Hyoma’s false smile was blinding as black lights were illuminating the dance floor.
Aryu was a beautiful dancer, her long limbs seeming to flow with the music. Chigiri watched her for a moment with a small amount of jealousy.
“Join me, Chigiri,” she flashed her an encouraging smile.
Hyoma’s movements held no fluidity. She jerked around as if she held no tempo, her motions not aligning with Jyubei’s in the slightest. The two girls giggled at her horrible dancing.
Soon Ego flashed on a screen projection, the music abruptly came to a stop mid-song. The dark haired woman looked erratic, her hair in a messy short bob.
“Tonight, my egoist, we celebrate you. Don’t feel too special however, for I have a surprise for you. The Wildcard program has been going on under all of your noses. Tonight the few who have survived thus far will join you, under anonymity of course. This will boost their ego, seeing the very people who led to their defeat,” Ego smiled as she spoke, her smile as sharp as her words.
“What’s a Wildcard?” Gagamaru asked from behind Chirgiri, beside Aryu.
“Not a clue,” Hyoma frowned.
Soon a group of four men appeared by where the projection had ended, they each wore a morphsuit under the same outfit, a suit from the English Victorian era. It was a very odd choice, something to purposefully make those wearing it to feel inferior. It had clicked to Chigiri that this was a humiliation ritual, one to truly incite the ego in the four men.
The four departed from their stage into the crowd, dispersing into the group of strikers. Hyoma kept a watchful eye on the four people, but found it difficult under the black light with them purposefully being in dark morph suits.
Gagamaru and Aryu continued to dance as the music resumed, they seemed happy together. Hyoma didn’t truly understand their dynamic, but was glad they had eachother. They embraced and for a moment Hyoma felt her heart drop, she thought of Rensuke hugging her after a goal. She tore her gaze away from her friends, it was too painful to see, her own envy making her feel empty.
One of the men in morph suits bumped into her, she took the sight of them in. They weren’t a man at all, they seemed to be teenage girl around her age. Chigiri pressed closer for any identifying details and noticed that in the facial portion of the suit she could see the unique outline of their eyebrows.
Keisuke Wanima, was undoubtedly the girl before her. Not one other person on the planet had brows like the twins Hyoma had gone to school with. Wanima seemed to ignore Chigiri’s gaze as she made her way away from her, deeper into the crowd.
Hyoma looked back at Aryu and Gagamaru, gazing at one another with warmth. She then swallowed harshly before she decided to go find more of the masked players. Chigiri prayed that one of the three remaining women was hiding the face of her fallen hero.
One of the girls was near a large speaker, the music blasting. Hyoma frowned, they were nowhere near as tall as her Rensuke. She still had two more chances at seeing the one she longed for. Hyoma found the third masked figure by the punch bowl, the shrouded person knocked into the table, spilling the red juice onto the floor.
Chigiri grabbed some napkins and cleaned up the liquid from the floor. The masked person just continued to stand by the table, as if they hadn’t noticed they caused a commotion. The red head was certain that they weren’t Rensuke, they lacked the muscle the girl possessed. Their build was much slimmer, more angles compared to Kunigami’s bulk.
The last of Ego’s Wildcards was sat in a corner, propped against a wall. Chigiri slid down the wall beside them, casually looking at them from the corner of her pink tinted eyes. The figure didn’t even look towards her, they continued to hunch in the small space.
Hyoma scooted closer, the masked person didn’t flinch. The red panther leaned towards the Wildcard, into their personal space. Once again she didn’t move although her personal space had been invaded. Hyoma inhaled, the smell of bergamot and sea salt wafted into her nose.
This was Kunigami. This was her hero. In the flesh, in person.
“Kunigami!” Hyoma exclaimed.
There came no response, no acknowledgement of her outburst was given. Rensuke didn’t even face towards the younger girl. Something was definitely wrong, the teen felt it in her bones. None of the Wildcards were acting normally, they all seemed dazed.
Hyouma cupped Rensuke’s covered cheek, in response the older boy jostled slightly. She had definitely felt Chigiri’s warm hand by her reaction. Hyoma ran into the crowd to find Isagi and Bachira, she asked them to help lift Rensuke.
The two girls helped Chigiri take Rensuke into the bathroom. From there they left the two girls alone, Rensuke leaned heavily against the bathroom sink.
“Are you okay?” Chigiri asked, her voice holding concern.
Kunigami moaned in reply. That was all the girl needed to remove the mask part of Rensuke’s disguise.
Kunigami looked as beautiful as the day Hyoma had last seen her. Her eyes were as warm and deep as she had remembered. The only difference was that her eyes were diluted and unfocused, there was also a bruise under her right eye.
“Kunigami,” there was a softness in Hyoma’s voice, as if she was scared the other girl would break.
“Ch…Chigiri?” Rensuke asked, having trouble focusing on the other’s face.
“Yes, I’m here for you,” Hyoma replied quickly.
Kunigami smiled, one of her teeth was chipped. The older girl had obviously been through the ringer, whatever the Wildcard program was, it hadn’t been kind to her.
“Don’t look so sad princess,” she cupped the long haired girls face with tenderness.
Hyoma hadn’t realized she was crying until Rensuke wiped away one of her stray tears, “What did Ego do to you?”.
Kunigami replied, “She gave me another chance,”.
“To represent Japan?” Hyoma led her down to the bathroom floor as she questioned her.
“To see you,” Rensuke had her head in the younger teen’s lap.
Hyoma felt her throat tighten, “Oh,”.
“I like what I see, even in runny eyeliner,” Rensuke laughed once then winced.
“What’s wrong?” Kunigami was in more pain than she had let on.
“Nothing princess,” Rensuke replied.
“Heros are terrible liars,” Hyoma reached to remove the outer suit Kunigami was wearing.
“Maybe I just want you to take off my clothes,” Rensuke replied.
Hyoma paused, having already taken off Rensuke’s suit top, “You’re just saying that because Ego has you drugged up,”.
“Ego may have given me something, and she may have made me blind in my morph mask. But, I’ve never truly been blind to your beauty, princess,”. Rensuke’s pupils were blown.
“God I wish you weren’t drugged so I could fuck you,” Hyoma leaned down and connected their mouths.
Kunigami was receptive to the kiss, her mouth eager. Hyoma moaned when Kunigami deepened the kiss with her tongue. Rensuke rubbed her hands along Hyoma’s small thighs as they moaned softly into each other's mouths. Their kiss abruptly ended as Kunigami winced and made a noise of pain.
Right, she was hurt. Chigiri led Kunigami into a handicapped stall and stripped her into just her underwear. There were many bruises on the orange haired teen’s body, they were in a variety of colors and stages of healing. Kunigami had obviously been subjected to plenty of pain at her time in the Wildcard.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Kunigami pressed her body into Chigiri’s.
“Like what?” Hyoma questioned.
“Like you pity me. I chose to join the Wildcard, these scars are from my own decision,” Rensuke replied, her abs flexing against the shorter girl.
“Why? What could possibly be worth all of this pain?” Hyoma asked.
“You, Hyoma. If I win the Wildcard, I can rejoin Blue Lock, I can be on your team again,” Kunigami replied.
For a moment the two girls were the only people in the world who mattered. The party, which would be heard faintly outside, meant nothing. Blue Lock was nothing, but a distant memory as the two girls' lips locked once more.