Chapter Text
"Dad, I'm home," Kaiser announced, dropping the keys onto the small entryway table with a metallic jingle that echoed through the silence of the house.
His footsteps resonated down the hall as he made his way through the rooms in search of the old man. The man who had taken him off the streets, a former player whose brilliance on the field had faded years before, carried in his tired eyes the pain of someone who had lost a biological son to his ex-wife, a victim of complications during childbirth that had also claimed his wife. In that empty house, he had found a purpose, filling the void with an abandoned boy who had never known what it was to be loved. And Kaiser, in turn, had discovered that family wasn't made with shouts or clenched fists, but with quiet conversations at the dinner table and silences that didn't weigh heavy. Even if the time they spent together was always too short.
Upon noticing his father's absence, a pang of frustration tightened his chest.
"Ah... The old man hasn't returned from his trip yet?" he muttered, scratching the back of his neck. "Strange, he should have arrived by now. Maybe a delay at the airport..."
Tired after the exhausting training, he dragged himself to the bathroom. He undressed slowly, each movement heavy as if his muscles were begging for a truce. Hot water ran down his tattooed body, and his fingers absently traced the design that ran down his right arm, a blue rose entwined with thorns, tattooed just over a year ago as a symbol of everything he had overcome. On the streets, he learned to survive, in football, he learned to live.
One week from now, El Clásico.
He knew Barcha had signed a new player, but the lack of information irritated him more than he cared to admit. No official announcement, no press conference, no leaked photos. Just speculation and gossip inflating social media. All this suspense, for what?
"It's probably another 'superboy' who will shine for three months and disappear..." he grumbled, drying his body and tying the towel around his waist. "One or two weeks of fame, magazine covers, and then... poof.
They fall off the podium like everyone else."
His long blonde hair, which hadn't seen scissors since he was sixteen, dripped wetly over his shoulders. He usually tied it in a low bun during training, but now loose, it fell like a golden cascade. He thought about cutting it. Maybe a mullet, maybe light blue streaks. Something to make him stand out even more. Because being the youngest among the magazine covers wasn't enough. He wanted a unique, unmistakable aura. He wanted that when he stepped onto the field, everyone would know he was there to devour.
He went down to the kitchen and prepared something quick. He ate in silence, his mind wandering between training drills and strategies for the match. When he finished, he went up to his room and put on his light blue pajamas, the last gift his father had given him last Christmas. The garment was simple, but he cherished it with an almost ritualistic affection, as if preserving a relic. All of the old man's gifts received this treatment.
He lay on the bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, when his phone vibrated on the nightstand.
Instagram and Whatsapp notifications appeared on the lock screen, messages from his father saying he would stay in France for another week and from Sae.
Sae 🙃
Hey man, how was your training?
Kaiser picked up the device and typed lazily.
Kaiser
Exhausting. You know it's not the same without you here, man.
Sae 🙃
I'm coming back to Spain today. Those Blue Lock guys really surprised me. They beat us. I even ran into my brother, I think he's in that emo teenager phase, haha.
Kaiser let out a short laugh, the corners of his lips curving.
Kaiser
HAHAHAHAHA, I'm dying of laughter. I can't believe you lost to some half-assed players nobody should know the name of. Especially with your brother in the mix.
Sae 🙃
That's what I'm talking about. But they were strange. Really weird. What caught my attention the most was a kid... I think his name was Isagi, something like that.
Kaiser frowned. The name echoed in his mind like a dissonant note.
Kaiser
Isagi, huh?
he typed slowly.
Interesting. To say the least.
Kaiser
See you tomorrow, man
Have a good trip.
He turned off the screen and threw the phone next to the pillow. He turned towards the wall, but his eyes remained open in the darkness. The name repeated itself like an insistent echo.
Isagi.
For some reason he couldn't explain, that name wouldn't leave his head. As if the universe was trying to warn him about something he couldn't escape. As if a shadow was forming on the horizon, and he didn't yet know that, soon, that shadow would have a face.
𓍯𓂃𓏧♡
10/06/20**— Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
REAL MADRID vs FC BARCHA
SCORE — 01:04
The final whistle tore through the air like a knife.
Kaiser fell to his knees on the grass, his chest heaving, his lungs burning for air that wouldn't come. Sweat dripped from his forehead, mixing with the synthetic grass under his fingers. The defeat wasn't just a number on the scoreboard—it was an open wound, a bitter taste spreading through his mouth.
He raised his eyes and saw Bunny, Barcha's striker, rubbing the head of his new protégé with a familiarity that made him roll his eyes. The boy—a Japanese with big eyes and a confused expression—smiled without understanding the nicknames the striker was throwing at him in Spanish. It was evident he didn't speak a word of the language. And yet, there he was, celebrating a victory he didn't deserve.
"I'm going to devour you, new little Japanese superboy," Kaiser murmured, his teeth grinding. The phrase escaped like a poison he couldn't contain.
Sae, who was walking beside him, heard him and let out a dry laugh.
"Speaking so loud, Kaiser, our teammates might think you have a crush on our new rival.”
Kaiser raised his head, his eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that, Sae?"
"Nothing, haha" Sae shrugged, that usual mockery shining in his eyes. "Let's go. The match is over. There's no way to change the score."
Kaiser was about to follow him when a voice with a horrible English accent stopped him.
"Good game, Kaiser."
He turned around slowly. The Japanese boy was there, his hand outstretched in the air, a genuine and annoyingly innocent smile plastered on his face, his big eyes shone, they looked like they would suck him in with a simple glance.
Kaiser looked at that hand. Then at the face. Then at the hand again.
Without a word, he turned his back and left.
Anger burned in his veins as he ran to catch up with Sae, but, inside, a voice whispered something he refused to hear.
Isagi.
The name now had a face.
And Kaiser knew, with a certainty that chilled him to the bone, that that face wouldn't leave his head anytime soon..