Chapter Text
Eyes blinded by a flash of bright blue light, Shidou wearily blinked multiple times, trying to get his eyes to focus. Shit. What the hell happened?
His fogged vision managed to catch fragments of a TV. Did Ego do this? It didn’t feel as weird when he got shocked last time, but now his body feels like static. His eyes darted around as an attempt to see more clearly. A bright, high-pitched voice caught him out of his daze.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, everyone! I didn’t mean to bring you guys this abruptly; I should work on that…Let me fix this,” The girl, Shidou assumed, sounded very apologetic. With a snap, the weird feeling and cloudiness went away. His vision spun before focusing in. Shidou sat up straighter, realizing he was in an extremely comfortable chair. He glanced around, noticing he wasn’t the only one there. All the masters?! Ego and Anri?! What the fuck, why is everyone here?
“Apologies for the sudden intrusion; I brought you all here,” She coughed quietly, gesturing around, “to react to someone! You’ll be able to hear their thoughts, see their backstory, and multiple other perks! And I know you’ll be questioning how this could be possible, but I’ve been working hard to accumulate everything through magic! As unbelievable as that sounds, it’s true!”
At that, multiple scoffs were let out. Ego’s eyes narrowed. Magic? Yeah, right, this isn’t some fairy tale.
He glared at the raven-haired girl standing before him, his voice a low, scratching monotone. "Hey, unpolished gem-collector. Do you have any idea how much money and data you are wasting right now? Trapping world-class talent in a room for your little parlor tricks is incredibly uneconomical,” He mocked condescendingly, “Drop the childish delusion and let us out before I lose my patience."
She sighed, “I’m afraid I can’t do that until you’ve watched everything.”
“I’m not wasting my time reacting to some lukewarm nonsense,” Rin spat out, a chorus of agreement voiced afterwards.
“I have work; let me out,” Sae said flatly.
“And if I said that this person is very special to all of you? How would you react then?” The girl declares, a sly grin almost creepier than Ego’s pulls at her lips.
Lorenzo has an equally shit-eating grin on his face, flashing his gold shiny teeth while he excitedly exclaims, “I’m up for it as long as they’re worth a shit ton of money!”
Shidou grinned like a predator would bare their teeth when smelling blood, “Special to all of us? Well then, they better make my cells explode!” His eyes gleamed with pure unhinged ecstasy, cackling while leaning forward.
“Quiet down you loud-mouthed demon,” Kaiser scoffed, a cold, mocking smirk playing on his lips before he continued, “your screeching offends my ears. I can’t help but believe this is a waste of time. Magic? Utterly childish.”
Ness, hiding his so-called ‘childish excitement’ over the fact that magic is real and he has proof, immediately jumps to agree with Kaiser. “Yes Kaiser! You are so right!” He agreed loudly, voice higher than usual as he tries to reconcile his philosophy with Kaiser’s words, “Real magic only belongs on the battlefield—created by you! It’s not some silly fairytale parlor tricks! Believing in actual magic is completely immature! To think you can just snap your fingers and summon a king... how utterly ridiculous and insulting to your greatness!"
Reo rolled his eyes. “Shut up,” he deadpanned to Ness. “What will it take for you to let us leave?” He smiled sweetly, but nobody could ignore the imminent threat lying underneath his faux kindness.
Nagi groaned, relaxing in his chair while leaning on Reo. “Reooooo~ I wanna go home; this is such a hassle…”
“Ah, ah, ah! As you all don’t believe me when I talk of magic, I guess it’s time for a demonstration, huh?” The ravenette giggled, smiling with her eyes closed. It looked creepy, in all honesty. She hummed, seemingly thinking.
She took Anri’s hand gently, ignoring the flash of panic on the woman’s face at having a complete stranger grab her hand. The girl muttered a sweet, comforting remark to her before setting her palm out.
“Okay, now that you see her palm is out and empty, I, Hinata Kirara, will perform a minuscule magic trick!” She proudly boasted, walking backwards to where the screen was. She pointed at Anri’s hand, all eyes darting from her to Anri. And then, hues of blue swirled around her hand before forming a compact soccer ball.
Anri freezes; she stares at the solid, tangible soccer ball resting perfectly in the palm of her hand. "E-Ego-san... it... it feels completely real. It's heavy. It's real leather. Oh my goodness... what is happening?!" Her voice trembles as she speaks, unable to comprehend it.
Ego aggressively scratches the back of his neck, pushing his glasses up while aggressively glaring at the ball. Only to glare harder when Noa reaches out and takes the ball from Anri’s hand, feeling the weight, “The mass is identical to that of a real ball. Logically, this should not exist. I believe we are powerless against this reality-bending warper.” Tch, always acting like the hero; we already knew that, you robot. Ego rolled his eyes, his thoughts completely displayed on his annoyed face.
"Fascinating. An unpredictable variable that completely changes the rules of the board. In business and in football, when faced with an absolute force, the best strategy is cooperation. We will watch your presentation, Miss Kirara." Snuffy smiled calmly, treating Kirara kindly, unlike some others in the room…
One by one, agreements were begrudgingly voiced.
Rin clicked his tongue loudly, eyes narrowing. “Tch. I don’t care who this ‘special’ person is; this is a waste of time. Let’s just get this over with quickly.”
So it’s not a trick then, Sae thought. He agreed with Rin; he can’t be staying here too long.
Kunigami thought this was a waste of time. He refused to speak, crossing his arms while locking his face in a grim, brooding scowl. He stared at the ball with as much intensity as Reo who was trying to find any hidden projector or logical explanation behind this.
While people like Isagi, Kunigami, Reo, Sae, Niko, Hiori, Ego, Yukimiya, Noa, Bunny, and Hugo were trying to figure out the logic behind the situation, everyone else was enjoying the experience or outright not caring at all.
Loki, speaking out for everyone, “If we cooperate and watch, you promise to send us back unharmed, right? I’d love to see who this special person is!”
Kirara, who had been sporting a proud grin the entire time, slowly dropped it to smile softly instead.
“I promise, it is my duty to keep you all safe and well before allowing you to leave. Now! Shall we figure out the lucky person?” She went back to grinning, stepping aside to completely reveal the enormous screen.
Bachira gasped loudly, vibrating in his seat, “Absolutely!”
She giggled before revealing the name, creating suspense: “The beautiful, one and only, Isagi Yoichi!” She exclaimed, all of them practically entranced when she revealed that he was going to be the one that they’re reacting to.
The amount of noise that erupted in the room was deafening, yet Kirara managed to shut them all up with a clap that boomed and echoed throughout the room.
Isagi winced, covering his ears. He had been trying to stay calm, to ground himself and make sense of everything going on. But that all went to shit as soon as her hands made contact. There was a sharp sting in his ears, muffling everything that was going on around him. Ring. Ring. Ring.
It was sharp, constant, and unrelenting. He felt sort of dizzy. Curse his over sensitive body, did he really have to feel everything so much more than the average person?
Kirara immediately noticed his problem, her eyes were on him constantly, after all.
“I’m so sorry! I won’t do that ever again! That was so uncalled for, I apologize…” She hurried out apologies, bowing over and over again to poor Isagi who was squirming in his seat with all eyes on him.
The sharp, metallic ringing in his head was humming at a deafening frequency. Right as he felt his nausea getting worse, the suffocating atmospheric pressure thinned out. The ringing hadn’t stopped but it dulled from a piercing drill to a low, manageable buzz.
Magic has to be some cheat code, He thought miserably. He hated this. Hated the gazes of a room filled to the brim with predators, of world-class gods who were constantly looking for signs of weakness to exploit. His face burned, his hands sliding from his ears to cover his face instead. He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to take a slow, calculated breath to ground himself.
Just like his mother taught him.
He rolled his tensed shoulders back, preparing himself. He dropped his hands from his face, leaning back in his chair in hopes of seeming nonchalant. Kirara was still bowing, at an even higher frequency now.
Ego’s eyes narrowed, watching the egoist attempt to act calm. Seeing his physical reaction confirmed his thesis. Isagi definitely feels senses more than your average Joe could. But the question is, how vulnerable is he actually?
Noa seems to be on the same thought process as his old rival, instantly tracking the tension in Isagi’s body. He observes every detail, engraving it into his memory. He doesn’t see it as a weakness; he recognizes how dangerous his senses could be once honed.
He really is special, Sae thought. Sae had realized during the U-20 match. But as he sees more of Isagi, he understands it’s so much more than that. How interesting you are, the heart of Blue Lock. Before Sae could say anything, a flash of yellow blocks his vision of Isagi.
Bachira practically launches himself onto Isagi, ignoring the glares and murderous intent radiating off of the rest of the room. His eyes were wide, hugging Isagi tightly and once again ignoring everyone else. Including Isagi, it seems. Bachira didn’t listen to a single one of Isagi’s complaints of not being able to breathe.
Bachira let out a high-pitched chirp, smashing his cheek against Isagi’s—completely indifferent to the squeak the boy let out and the way his shoulders flinched—his fluffy, yellow-streaked hair tickled Isagi’s jaw. “Whoa! Isagiiiiii~ are you okay? Your monster was making the saddest little noise just now. And your heart is going thump-thump-thump super fast! Did the big clap scare you?”
Before Isagi could respond, Barou lets out a deep, irritated click of his tongue and grabbed Bachira by the scruff of his neck. He peels the boy off of Isagi like he’s handing toxic waste, shoving him to his seat and then crossing his arms in front of Isagi. “If a little noise is enough to break you, then you’re completely useless to me. Get your head together before I crush you myself.”
It was then that, of course, Kirara decided to step in. “Little?!” She shrieked, teleporting Barou back to his seat. “That was anything but little to Yo-chan!” She ignored the way Hiori perked up slightly, then sulked after realizing that his mom would never say his name as comforting as Kirara could. He knew Kirara was referring to Isagi anyway. He decided to distract himself by joining Kurona in comforting Isagi, knowing that was much better than wallowing in self-pity about how his parents would never care enough to call his name lovingly.
Many people’s eyes narrowed, wondering what she meant by ‘anything but little’.
Nanase raised his hand, Kirara giggled for a second, then caught herself and remembered this was a serious situation. They weren’t taking her precious Isagi seriously at all! Maybe some were, but the majority of people in the room didn’t care enough. It made her mad, honestly, how they could see him in distress and ignore it.
Nanase, one of the biggest sweethearts you could ever meet, decided to ask what everyone else was thinking, “Kirara-san! What did you mean by ‘anything but little’ for Isagi-senpai?”
“What I mean by that is that our beloved Isagi Yoichi here, feels senses more than each and every one of you do.”