Chapter Text
Raimon Junior, the sun was starting to set as Kazemaru watched the sun set from the upper parts of the river bank, the soft grassy that touches his shoes, his hair swaying with the wind. Kazemaru sat on the grassy slope, making himself comfortable while setting his bag beside him and lay against the grass.
The football frontier, the tropheys he earned with his team, he started to smile when reminiscing something that had occured during the break. Kazemaru could just stay here forever, he couldn't hold his gleeful smile while thinking of all the fun things he gets to do back in the football frontiers, the teams he gets to fight.
When Kazemaru was about to go back, standing up from his spot, his eyes started to blur and the bag that was still on the floor started to blur out of sight. Kazemaru closed his eyes, rubbing them in an attempt to clear his view.
A few rubs and a squint, his view changes and the soft breeze was gone, the quiet riverbank he was at was also gone. The sunset was replaced with a clear blue sky and Kazemaru was standing right in front of a strange building, a really large one in fact.
What the… This wasn't supposed to happen! Kazemaru didn't even have his phone on him! Shoot, should he just strut right in and ask where he was at right now? Kazemaru felt someone bump into him, a rather tall man who seems to be in high school.
"Sorry! Hey uhm! Could you tell me where I am?" Kazemaru asked, grabbing the pink-haired males shoulders, the pink haired male turned to look at him with the most neutral expression ever.
"Japan Football Union," The pink haired boy said before leaving, that wasn't what Kazemaru had asked but whatever, since there's a ton of people going in, Kazemaru decides to enter, perhaps he could find something within the building.
The defender quickly made his way inside the building, the large lit up building full of students that were definetly in high school. Kazemaru could feel their stares, seeing a guy being around five foot entering a building full of people who are five foot six and taller.
"That's a pretty short guy for a soccer player," One of them murmured, Kazemaru could feel the embarassment rise to his cheeks. Kazemaru slowly blend in with the crowd, unsure to why he was even here.
"Hey excuse me," Kazemaru spoke up another person, the person turned and tilted their head downwards to look at Kazemaru. "Do you have a phone I can call, I sort of lost mine," Kazemaru asked, the person glared at Kazemaru, the person had harsh eyes glaring at Kazemaru like he was the lowlife around here. "Is everyone here just plain rude?" Kazemaru sighed.
"You can borrow mine," Someone spoke up, another male soccer player, Kazemaru nodded and used the phone, quickly trying to dial any of his teammates number. Endou, Gouenji, Kidou, Hiroto, even Fubuki, but no one answered through the call. Did he get teleported here? Was he dreaming? Was he hallucinating? "Hey, are you okay?" The person asked.
"Huh? Oh yeah I am, sorry about that, I think I forgot the number," Kazemaru lied, handing the phone back, the person raised an eyebrow and left Kazemaru while muttering, 'weirdo'. When Kazemaru tried to leave the building, the lights had suddenly darken and a screen displayed someone who looks like they haven't been sleeping for more than a day.
"Congratulations, you unpolished lumps of talent," The man spoke, staring empty black eyes at the crowd. Kazemaru's attention was caught on to the guy's speech. "According to my personal judgement, the three hundred of you are the best strikers under eighteen." Excluding Kazemaru who had ended up here for questions.
The man continued to speak within some of the nonsensical speech he made, Kazemaru had mentally noted a few, "This is the facility created for that purpose, Blue Locks… The last remaining person will become the word's best striker…"
A soccer training camp? A natural selection? Sounds pretty crazy to him, especially since Kazemaru had just recently won the global junior soccer tournament. Someone raised their hands to speak up with clear and undoubt confidence.
"Um excuse me but, I can't consent to your explaination!" The white haired boy stated, he continued to speak with an actual good reasoning, "I can't abandon my team to participate in that." Everyone else started to agree with the white hair boy, Kazemaru kept things to himself, he'll leave once he has the spot to leave, he needed to get back to his friends but…
How exactly will he reach them? Clearly all of their phone numbers don't work and clearly, he must've traversed to some place in the future judging by the clothing and the flat screen phones.
"I see, you're all really sick huh, then piss off. If you want to leave then, I won't stop you…" Ego declared harshly, leaving most stunned. Kazemaru was too, also stunned a bit by that statement, it shouldn't exactly affect him since clearly, he doesn't belong here and yet, it pained him like a hammered nail straight to the heart.
Ego continued to speak, continuing to say things that Kazemaru knew were false but it felt too real to be fake, it's like he was in a completely different world, he was living in the future. It went until eventually, Kazemaru heard something that made his eyes shot wide in disbelief, one that counters everything Kazemaru once believe in.
"Whoever scores the most points is the best, if you want to play at 'getting along' then piss off." Ego annouced, the white haired male countered back, mentioning names that Kazemaru has never heard of, not even the soccer players Ego mentioned were familiar to him.
"Japan's soccer lacks ego, if you're not the world's top egoist, you can never become the world's best striker," Ego stated, Kazemaru thinks that this is all wrong, the way this man talks about soccer like it's some individual play, that only the most selfish person can become the best, it's all wrong!
The speech continues on and the door opened up automatically, when one entered, hundreds poured into the door, they all pushed Kazemaru around, they all shoved him more forwards towards the gates until eventually, Kazemaru was getting closer to the entrance.
What was he thinking doing this, to enter this stupid program instead of trying to seek for help, well this isn't exactly the first time he got involved with some crazy stuff and had to help stop the problem with his team.
"Um, sorry but I don't exactly think you should be here," The woman said, looking down at the young blue haired male.
"Sorry, I was accidentally dragged here," Kazemaru apologized, bowing slightly, the woman appears complexed by the situation. Kazemaru straighten his back to see the woman call someone through the phone, "Let him in?! but he isn't a part of the Blue Locks!" The woman exclaimed through the phone, she appeared a bit confused then sighed. "What's your name?"
"Huh? Oh, Kazemaru Ichirouta," Kazemaru introduced, the woman nodded, handing Kazemaru a uniform. "But…" Kazemaru tried to object.
"Ego had decided to let you into the facility as an extra member, take this extra pair of uniform," The woman explains with a bit of uncertainity, Kazemaru took it and made his way to the room he's supposed to be in.
—
It was unusual, and yet Ego has decided to make a single exception to this young boy.
"Why would you do that?!" Anri objected through the phone with a huff.
"True, but no one would dare to try and join this program without suspicion, besides, there is no data about him, it's almost like he doesn't truly belong to this world. You would think it's because he came from a different country but no, there is no data about him being a foreginer," Ego explains, Anri seems to understand Ego's explaination. "Most would hand him to the police, but… I think I'll wait to see how useful he is."
—
Kazemaru ended up in some kind of room with lockers, taking off his clothes to wear the strange uniform that seems to carve out all of the soccer players muscles, in comparism to them, Kazemaru looks like he doesn't exercise at all..
There was another person, someone with orange hair had just started changing, Kazemaru paid the muscular guy no mind and quickly lean against a wall. He checked his number, 'Z', '300', is this some kind of ranking?
"Your that guy from before," Kazemaru said, noticing the reddish haired male sitting on the floor, the reddish haired male only looked at Kazemaru, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Kazemaru," Kazemaru greeted with a smile, the long reddish haired male only glanced at Kazemaru's direction and then back to staring. So much for trying to talk to someone he recgonized.
It had only took five minutes until a digital screen popped up, showing Ego through the screen, "Are you done changing you lumps of talent? The others in your room are your roomates and your rivals who will push each other higher." Ego explains, he starts explaining about the ranks and how the ranking is based on his judgement to each player, with the sole exception of Kazemaru being at 300 of course.
"Finally, those in the top five will unconditionally be registered…" Ego continues on, "Now, time to play some Tag." The ball dropped from the ceiling above, "The time limit is one-hundred and thirty-six seconds. If you get hit with the ball, you're it. Whoever's it when time runs out, has to piss off back home. Also you can't use your hands, those are the rules…" Ego explains, the screen showed Kazemaru to be the first one it.
Everyone scattered, trying to avoid Kazemaru, Kazemaru took his time to let them run around, unsure if he should stay by hitting someone or get kicked out, both seems like a terrible idea, especially since he wanted to get out but then he'll have no where to go and prove that bastard right, he hates the idea of some cruel man taking away people's dreams, especially ones that aren't the best but still work hard to get to where they are.
Kazemaru lifted one foot off the ground, he looked around the room to find someone until eventually, he spotted the monk, Gurimu Igarashi, Kazemaru felt bad but he didn't want to lose either. He blowed a swift kick straight to Igarashi while he was still running, hitting the man straight in the stomach and sending him flying right into the wall at top speed.
"That kick… That's insane!" The white haired male said, everyone else was stunned for a few seconds before returning back to trying to stay away from the ball. Kazemaru was quick on his feet, dodging Igarashi's kick which ended up hitting that orange hair male player.
"Sorry," Kazemaru said, running away, Gurumi ended up using someone as a decoy when Kunigami kicked, hitting the blue eyed male straight into the stomach harshly, he looked to be in more pain than the kick Gurumi recevied from Kazemaru.
Everything else was a blur to Kazemaru as within that thirty seconds, that boy, the blue eyed boy was staring directly at Kazemaru like it was a challenge, and then the blue eyed boy kicked straight towards Kazemaru with top speed that most aren't exactly capable of dodging. Kazemaru ducked anyways at the last second, bending his knee and having one hand touching the floor, leaving the blue eyed boy, Isagi shock when he had ended up kicking the white haired male, Kira.
Kazemaru rose up from his spot when the timer hits zero, looking back to see Kira looking up while paralyzed from head to down. All of them were sweating like crazy while Kazemaru looked like this was just another walk in the park.
"Impressive," Bachira commented to Kazemaru, he had a smile while looking at Kazemaru. Kazemaru had one arm on his hips, looking down to the still shocked Kira. The room was silent, no one spoke for the next few seconds.
"You…" Kira said, Ego popped out from the black digital screen, clapping his hands.
"Good work you lumps of talent, results are everything here. Now get out loser! Ryosuke Kira!" Ego shouted, leaving Kira stunned as he tried to object only to be shut down by Ego.
"That obsession with your own victory, which can't be swayed by others, that's what I'm searching for, the egoism of a striker!" Ego stated. Glaring ever so blankly at them. "So you lose, Ryosuke Kira, now piss off."
Kira was sweating, his body appears to be shaking a bit as he pants through his speech.
"What… you… It should've been Kazemaru… Not me!" Kira said, gritting his teeth at Kazemaru, Kazemaru could feel the anger of this boy from miles away.
"Look I was trying to dodge, you can always redo your career from start no matter what," Kazemaru encouraged, but it didn't work, it only brought Kira to grit his teeth harder and line bumps to show up even more.
"This is absurd," Igarashi said, only for Ego to laugh it off. Talking to the team about how this is how Blue Locks work, to get victory.
"Congratulations you've passed the Blue Locks entrance test," Ego said, continuing to talk about how things work within this facility.
Afterwards, there was training, first up was running. Kazemaru dominated that by going 30 mph/h on the treadmill without breaking a sweat, Kunigami who was beside Kazemaru looked astonished. Isagi was already sweating and panting like crazy after the run and yet, Kazemaru continues on.
"Are you sure your a part of the weakest team?!" One of them yells, Kazemaru looked at Igarashi while running.
"Huh? Oh I don't know if I'm supposed to be here," Kazemaru admits, he was starting to sweat after being on the treadmill for over an hour. "I'm here as an additional player," Kazemaru added, slowing the speed of the treadmill until it goes to a slow stop.
Kazemaru drank water, gulping down huge amounts of water before setting it down onto the ground. The next thing to do was streching, he's done this plenty of times so it should be easy. Kazemaru raised his arms high into the sky and then bent his body to touch the floor, easy as usual. He tried to do the buterfly position while his arms touches the floor, easy as usual. Kazemaru was starting to doubt if this soccer program really is all that difficult and harsh.
The last thing was jumping, Kazemaru stood beside Isagi Yoichi, the guy who tried to get him disqualified. The two of them jumped at the same time, Kazemaru jumped high enough to nearly touch the ceiling with one hand and back down swiftly. He was only able to do this due to the hissatsu moves he has done, jumping thirty feet into the air to do a hissatsu move. Kazemaru was starting to miss his own teammates and those hissatsu moves he use to practice.
"That's insane," Isagi commented, Kazemaru looked at Isagi and smiled.
"You really think so? I don't think I'm doing enough though," Kazemaru said, Isagi didn't seem to agree with Kazemaru.
"And your seriously two ranks below me? You have a better physical strength than most people in this room," Isagi pointed out, Kazemaru shrugged. The digital screen appeared again.
"Kazemaru Ichirouta, I haven't given you your ranks yet so be paitent, you may move to team A with that strength of yours, you do not belong with these rusts," Ego stated before leaving again.
"Wait, what?!" Isagi stated, Kazemaru tilted his head. Now Kazemaru was getting a bit nerovus with all of the attention he's been getting lately.
The moment the clock hits twelve, Kazemaru went straight to the cafeteria and looked at the food he gets. Rice and pickled radish, now he really misses the managers cooking.
Everyone else was doing their own things and Kazemaru was all alone, by social since the guy beside Kazemaru was playing video games and the one right beside the video gaming guy was some rich co-dependent kid that seems to leech onto the boy like a baby.
"C'mon Nagi! You have to eat some food," The purple haired male said, he pushed the meat closer to Nagi. Kazemaru was drooling at the sight of that meat, "What are you looking at kid?" The purple haired male asked, looking at Kazemaru with one eye twitching.
"Sorry," Kazemaru apologized, going back to his own business to eat some food.
"Pay that low rank no mind Nagi," The purple haired male chirped.
"This is so tiring to come here and eat," Nagi complained, looking over to the food to take a bite before going back to playing video games. Can't believe these guys are ranked higher than most people in the section.
Lunch ended rather quickly and now Kazemaru was back to training, but this time on the soccer field. The soft grass and the two goals across from each other.
It's been awhile since he last held a ball, picking up the soccer ball with his feet, he bounced the ball on his feet, then his knees, then high up in the air. One kick and the ball was shot straight into the goal.
Kazemaru grinned sheepishly, it appears he still has that soccer skills, now all he needed is a soccer partner to help him train. Lucky him! Someone had just walked into the soccer field, someone with red eyes with black hair poitning upwards.
"Hey! Do you want to practice with me?" Kazemaru asked, holding the ball up to the man. "I'm Kazemaru, my soccer team is called Raimon," Kazemaru introduced, the man just looked at Kazemaru.
"You want me? The king to practice with you?" The person glared, Kazemaru nodded.
"Yeah, it'll be nice to play soccer with someone once and awhile, although you don't have to practice with me, what about a one on one dribble?" Kazemaru suggested, the person looked at Kazemaru and entered the grassy field across from him, Kazemaru felt a bit relief despite the guy's weird personality.
The single one-on-one match started the moment Kazemaru dropped the ball onto the center of the field, the bulkier male rushed straight to the ball with his legs, planning on dodging Kazemaru to hit a clean shot towards the net but Kazemaru would not let that happen.
One leg near the ball and Kazemaru blocked the first path with his body, he observed closely as the bulky man, seeing him dribble to the side, Kazemaru moved to the side and planted one feet right infront of the ball. The bulky man 'tsked', seeing how Kazemaru was playing, the bulky man quickly made one turn and was about to take the shot when Kazemaru stepped in and stole the ball.
He stole the ball right when the man was about to kick it, the athlete ran straight towards the goal as the bulkier male chased after him. Kazemaru didn't hesitate to shoot first before the bulkier male could get to him. Straight into the white net with all of his powers.
The ball twirled and hit the net, the ball caused the white net to move behind until the ball loses it's power and fall to the floor. The bulkier male just stood there, he gritted his teeth.
"Good game," Kazemaru said, what he got instead was anger. "Do you want to go again?" Kazemaru suggested, the person made no hesitation to go for round two. The second round ended up the same as before, Kazemaru won without much efforts. He watched the bulkier and taller male stare at Kazemaru like he was in the wrong, not him.
"Good game, It appears I won again, so, do you have a name?" Kazemaru asked, the person had already left. He felt a bit disappointed, maybe even a bit frustrated by how rude everyone is around here.