Chapter Text
12 hours left until the U-20 world cup kicks off.
And Isagi Yoichi couldn't sleep at all. It was like there was some sort of electricity in the air around the cramped blue-lock rooms, shocking him constantly to keep his nerves awake. He'd tried counting sheep -one , two, three until the sheep started sporting footballs as heads, or worse- Ego san himself started appearing instead of the sheep, at which point he had gotten up and slapped his cheek to calm his damn head.
It’s only the culmination of his dreams and desires finally coming to life Something he’d almost given up on, would have given up on if Blue Lock hadn’t manifested. All those who doubted him, mocked him, looked down on him – he’d devoured them all. And tomorrow, wearing the colors of his country, leading as the no 1 in Blue Lock, he was going to do it all over again.
Destroy yourself continuously, fearlessly to find this new version of yourself. The curiosity that he discovered during the special training Ego san sent him on. As the talented learner monster, he would devour every genius on the field, and rise up as the undisputed star of the match.
The road to Noel Noa, to being the no 1 striker was clear.
But then…
Why…
Why did he feel such an oppressive pressure in his chest besides the excitement.
Isagi pulled the blanket over his head and squeezed his eyes shut, trying forcefully to summon sleep. One sheep, two sheep, three – oh, there’s Ego san again.
This was no good.
The thoughts just wouldn’t leave him alone.
It’s not like he was some stranger to failure. In fact, in his football career, he’d tasted the bitterness of it far more than he had tasted the sweetness of victory.
But the thought of failing, of losing right now, made his bones feel cold despite the warmth of the blanket.
It made him think of the time he’d lost Bachira.
Most of all, it made him think of the hostile stares Karasu had been sending him ever since the team re united for practice.
Too demanding, too selfish, too arrogant…
Isagi bit his lips till he drew blood. Yeah, and what was wrong with that anyway? Every soccer genius or superstar he’d met had been totally insufferable, stuck-up, high and mighty pieces of shit! Even Noel Noa, the player he had looked up to and trusted had been low enough to manipulate him for his own gains. And had Isagi not proved himself enough to be worthy of that same spot, the same arrogance?
He’d show them all tomorrow, on the field, with his own goals.
He didn’t care if the sheep looked like Ego san anymore. One Ego san, two Ego san, three Ego san…
Four Ego san….
.
.
.
Fifty...Ego…san….
.
.
.
A hundred and ten…
.
.
.
A hundred and forty…
A hundred and forty one…
.
.
.
It wasn’t long till his thoughts became flooded with numbers and hideously cute chibis with a bowl cut and glasses. It wasn’t long till Isagi Yoichi finally fell asleep.
_ _ _
He blinked his eyes once, twice. He pinched his left cheek to make sure the bit of sleep had left his eyes.
He had to be hallucinating, because even the guys in Blue Lock wouldn’t be crazy enough to pull this prank! (They would, who was he kidding?)
Large, innocent pink eyes stared at him, as if surprised to see him reacting in such a way. A frilly black and white hairband atop the hair neatly braided on one side. Two, impossibly real looking cat ears rising out of that hairband. And if he wasn’t mistaken, he could see a sleek black tail flitting in and out of sight.
Maybe pinching his cheeks was not enough, he needed to punch himself.
But before his fist could make contact with his face, Kurona, who was wearing a maid costume, clasped it in his hands.
“Master, don’t hurt yourself!” He then let go as soon as he had held it, cheeks flushed and eyes downcast as if he’d done something wrong. Isagi saw his left ear, the cat one twitch. And he finally looked beyond the ridiculous(and ridiculously cute!) Kurona, around his room.
The place… was totally wrong!
In some ways, it felt similar to the Blue Lock room, but the ceilings where way too high! There was a fricking mirror in one side, something that looked like a study corner in the other and the walls were draped in carpets that looked expensive and fancy enough to fit the prince of Japan!
Isagi looked down at himself and … when did the narrow 1X1 single sized bed he slept in become this huge! He kicked off the blankets, only to discover, because of course, his clothes had been changed as well.
He was wearing a flowy white gown. With practically nothing underneath. His ears burnt with shame. What type of pervert had orchestrated this play!
Was this part of some weird opening ceremony ritual? Had he been kept in the dark, so people could be entertained at his floundering about, like in the Neo Egoist League? Is Ego san behind all of this?
Damn it, he should know that the time before the game was better spent in practising co-ordinations and formations than whatever this gimmick was!
He glared at Kurona, who seemed to shudder at the sudden hostility directed at him. He wanted to snap at him, at anyone really. But instead, he took a deep breath.
Judging by his skittishness and reluctance, it was highly likely that poor Kurona had been forced to pay a role in this. It would do no good, getting mad at him. Especially when he had to wear that insufferable costume for whatever perverts had made the plan. Poor, poor Kurona indeed.
He patted his shoulder in an understanding gesture and showed him a thumbs up.
Keep fighting Kurona!
The (temporary) cat-boy’s eyes seemed lit up at that, and Isagi felt a sense of calm in his heart. Yes, he wasn’t in this crazy shit alone.
“Thank you for waking me up. Could you maybe, bring me something decent to wear?”
Kurona nodded excitedly, “Clothes for the master, coming up! Pronto! Pronto!” and bolted outside the room, through the unnecessarily large door.
Isagi sighed and cranked his neck. This was going to be a long morning. But despite the craziness, he couldn’t lose focus. The game was in hours, he can’t let his edge blunt now.
Brimming with determination, Isagi walked towards the double curtains, embroidered with a weird motif that looked like a bulbous tumor with tentacles. The room was dark because these damn blue curtains were blocking the sunlight.
Clicking his tongue, Isagi threw them open.
And his jaw automatically went slack.
This had to be some high-budget 3D VR CGI experience shit from Mikage corporation…but no way…
The wind on his face, the sunlight filtering through the room were all too real. He thrust his hand outside the window, grabbing a swallow that was flying past and with chills realized he was holding an actual warm-blooded creature with a beating heart.
He let the poor thing go and leaned forward out of the window, eyes working overtime to process everything he saw.
This place…was clearly not Japan.
Wide open meadows, a dark forest glinting in the distance and if you squinted in the south, you could see a silver line cutting through the grass- a stream or a river. The setting had a vaguely European feel to it, but somehow was more familiar.
It wasn’t until he saw the dragon that the puzzle pieces finally fit together.
JRPG!
The setting was totally identical to the typical medieval worlds he’d seen in JRPGs and trashy isekais. Isagi felt a rush of pride in himself for making that connection.
Wait…
…did he just see a dragon?
As if offended by the fact that its existence was being doubted, the dragon reemerged, this time flying much closer to the room Isagi was in, which he was beginning to realize was part of a castle and spitted out a stream of flames.
From somewhere left of his room, a barrage of arrows were fired at the dragon all sticking out of his hide like toothpicks. Some them seemed to hit close to its eyes, making the dragon roar out in pain and fly away.
He had not noticed earlier, when he was too busy convincing himself this was all just some elaborate prank of the higher ups, but he realized that there were soldiers milling all around the castle. Multiple voices shouting out commands, the metallic clang of swords hitting hard surfaces, moans from people who were wounded, frantic steps of people trying to escape, fires burning in large bowls, ready to light up arrows of archers he could see were lined up along the entire roof of the fortress.
The dragon roaring as weapons kept assailing it, occasionally crunching on the bones of the unfortunate soldiers who happened to be picked up.
Isagi felt bile rise up in his throat. He dropped to his knees covering his mouth, eyes still glued outside.
He kept inhaling in short sporadic bursts as his lungs seemed to be running a marathon inside his chest, making him clutch the fabric of his gown near his heart.
This was impossible, definitely not real, definitely not real, not real, not real, not real…
Then, in the morning sky as clear as day, thunder crackled and everything went dark for a second, even the air becoming impossible to breathe in. A sound louder than a lightning bolt rang his ears as light returned and Isagi watched in awe - the great hulking beast that was the dragon had been cleaved in half.
Green slime-like blood and pink looking stomach acid carrying half digested ‘meals’ poured out of the creature who spit a last string of fire in useless self-defense, its eyes long gone lifeless.
He could hear the cacophony of cheers arising from the battleground, but what caught his attention was the knight who emerged from the cleaved belly of the beast.
The one who apparently had power to cut through what a hundred swords and arrows had failed to pierce, who could turn day to night in an instant. Doused in grime from his latest kill, wearing armour that made his lanky build look intimidating, was someone who had a striking resemblance to Rin Itoshi. Their eyes met as he was falling from mid-air and Isagi shuddered at the murderous glare directed at him in that split second.
Yep, no question. That was Rin alright.
“Ooooh he’s back, back!” Kurona chippered from beside him. How long had he been there?
“Back?” Isagi muttered in confusion, still lost in the absurdity of the entire situation.
“Back from subjugating monsters in the realm. It’s especially bad in the Northern part of the kingdom, but things got worse, worse! After the Shaman died. Everything’s been weird, weird. But we’re safe, safe because of the lord!” A proud grin broke out on Kurona’s face which gave Isagi a premonition that something bad was going to happen.
“The lord of this castle and your husband! Rin Itoshi!”