Work Text:
The assignment should’ve been simple.
Collect firewood. Return in thirty minutes. Do not get distracted.
Which, in Ego’s opinion, meant everyone except Isagi Yoichi could probably manage it.
“Do not wander off,” Ego had said, pointing at Isagi specifically, as if he were talking to a toddler who can't manage themselves. “Your sense of survival is… questionable.”
Isagi had puffed out his cheeks. “Hey! I can handle walking into a forest for twenty minutes. How hard can it be?”
Ego’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses but didn't say anything
The rest of the team snickered.
Kunigami clapped Isagi on the shoulder. “Just stick to the path.”
Reo added, “Don’t overthink it.”
Nagi, leaning sleepily against a tree, mumbled, “He’s gonna get lost.”
Isagi pointed at him. “I heard that.”
But he still went off anyway, humming softly, determined to prove everyone wrong.
Thirty minutes later
They were proven dramatically right.
The Forest Doesn't Like Strikers (or some spesific striker)
It started normally enough.
Isagi walked. Picked up some sticks. Thought about soccer. Picked up more sticks. Thought about soccer combinations. Got excited about a passing pattern nobody asked him to think about.
Then he looked up.
“…Uh. That tree wasn’t there before.”
It definitely was.
“Okay, no big deal. The path is… this way? Or that way? …Or maybe—”
A branch scratched his arm. It was as if it wanted revenge for Isagis' existence because what else? It was literally popping out from so many random angles which Isagi didn't even see.
“Ow— hey! What did I do to you?!”
He kept moving anyway, pushing through bushes that seemed determined to beat him up. His shin got scratched, he stumbled over a root, and tripped on a rock. Twice. On the last fall he lay face-down for a second, muffled:
“…I hate nature.”
He sat up, brushing leaves off his hair. His breath puffed in the cold air, and a tiny shiver ran through him.
“Great. I’m lost, freezing, and I have like—” he checked the handful of sticks “—the lamest firewood ever.”
He could’ve yelled for help, but at this point he was too deep to hear anything. The forest swallowed all sound.
And besides…
All he could think about was Ego destroying him.
“He’s going to make a whole PowerPoint presentation about my stupidity. Oh my god, I’m dead. This is it. Goodbye Blue Lock, goodbye football career…”
He trudged forward dramatically.
“If you find this, tell the others I died doing my best.”
Another branch hit him.
“OKAY I GET IT, STUPID TREE!”
Back at Camp: Absolute panic
Reo paced in frantic circles. “He should’ve been back ages ago!”
Nagi yawned. “…Told you.”
Chigiri twisted his hair anxiously. “Isagi isn’t the type to wander off. Unless he’s thinking too hard. Or not thinking at all.”
Kunigami folded his arms. “We should form search groups.”
Barou groaned. “Absolutely not. I refuse to chase after a lost donkey.”
Yukimiya adjusted his glasses. “He’s been gone ninety minutes. Something must’ve happened.”
Bachira peeked into the trees. “Yoichi~~! If you’re dead can you yell or something?”
Reo: “THAT’S NOT HOW THAT WORKS—”
Ego had his arms crossed, eyebrow twitching. “If he comes back without the firewood, he’s running laps until dawn.”
Nagi deadpanned, “Wow. Motivating.”
Ego snapped, “You go find him, then.”
Nagi: “Ugh…”
Chaos slowly erupted as everyone prepared to go searching.
Somewhere in the forest…
Isagi blew into his hands, trying to warm his fingers. He was shivering a little now. Not a lot. Just enough.
“This is fine,” he whispered to himself. “Totally fine. Just very, extremely lost. But I’m not that dumb! I can figure this out!”
He could not.
He wandered for another ten minutes until something clicked in his brain.
Spatial awareness.
But the off-field version.
He took a breath and looked around more carefully.
“Okay… the wind is colder from that side… meaning the campfire smoke should drift… that way… and if I walk toward where it’s slightly warmer…”
He felt silly, but he followed his instincts.
Step by step.
Little by little.
Even when he slipped again and scraped his knee.
“Ow— okay, okay, I’m FINE,” he muttered to himself, voice wobbling.
Finally—
A faint glow through the trees.
His eyes lit up.
“YES. Civilization!”
He ran toward the light, sticks still in his arms.
Back at Camp:
Chigiri was the first to spot a blue jacket through the branches.
“…Wait— Isagi??”
Everyone froze.
Isagi came stumbling out dramatically, scratched, tired, arms full of crooked sticks like he’d fought a bear for them.
He leaned his hand on a nearby tree and tried to catch his breath before grinning weakly. “Uh. Hi. I got the wood.”
Reo nearly dropped to his knees. “ISAGI YOICHI I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD.”
Bachira ran to him full speed. “YOICHI!! You’re alive!!”
Isagi blinked. “Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be—”
Kunigami inspected him. “You’re bruised.”
“Am I?” Isagi looked down at his scraped knee like he hadn’t noticed. “Oh. Yeah. The forest didn't really like me as a guest I think.”
Chigiri scolded him, hands on hips. “We were about to call in Ego for a full search party!”
Isagi paled instantly. “Ego?! No! Don’t tell him! He’ll make me run laps until graduation!”
Too late.
Ego was already standing behind him like a disappointed parent.
“You were gone for two hours.”
Isagi flinched. “…But I brought wood?”
Everyone stared at the bundle of crooked sticks.
They were… objectively terrible.
Nagi sighed. “All of this for… that..?”
Reo put a hand on Isagi’s shoulder. “We were really worried.”
Isagi’s face softened a bit. “Sorry. I just… got a little lost.”
“A little?” Barou snorted. “You came from the opposite direction of the path.”
Isagi puffed his cheeks. “I found my way! Eventually.”
Despite all the scolding, everyone hovered protectively around him, relieved beyond words.
He shivered once — just once — and instantly:
Reo shoved a jacket at him
Kunigami tried to wrap a blanket around him
Bachira handed him hot tea
Nagi leaned his head on Isagi’s shoulder like he was going to sleep right there
Chigiri whispered, “Don’t scare us like that again, okay?”
Isagi turned red. All the affection felt too much for a moment.
“W-Why are you all acting like this?! I’m fine!”
Reo muttered under his breath,
“…He’s so oblivious it’s actually painful.”
But they were all smiling.
Isagi sat near the fire, warming up as the shivers faded, his teammates crowding around him like a pack of anxious puppies.
He mumbled,
“…Next time, someone else can get the firewood.”
Everyone said in unison:
“YES.”