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TSURUGI REPLIED as soon as Reo looked at him with questioning eyes. Half a minute later, his assumption was confirmed as said skater was called next. They watched Isagi intently, and for the first minute or so, the guy skated sharply. On his first attempt at a quad salchow, however, he wobbled. "Yep, there he is. He fell on his ass twice in his short program, too."
"Tsuru, quiet. Everyone falls every now and then."
"He was teammates with Kira Ryuousuke. Maybe it's the stress of having to live up to that." Reo theorized quietly.
"As if one could live up to him...."
"Tsuru, enough," his mother scolded. Isagi continued to skate with a determined expression on his face, doing a fantastic job at ignoring the small mistakes he was making. His perseverance was probably the most impressive part of his program. "I think he's quite something, don't you agree?"
Tsurugi snorted. "Nagi is already dozing off."
Reo had to hit him on the back of his head for Nagi to wake up. So much training in the past few weeks had gotten his body more tired than usual since he wasn't really used to working hard or under pressure.
"Uh- sorry," he said, out of obligation more than actual shame. "But why should we watch when we already know he won't surpass us?" It wasn't like Isagi stood a chance against him or Reo, not even against whoever would claim bronze.
Zantetsu furrowed her brows at his question. "Nagi, don't be disrespectful. When other skaters are on the rink, you pay them attention."
"He can barely land his triples. Is that the best Blue Lock can send to nationals?"
"He's probably had better days. Even Olympic champions can crack under pressure."
"Maybe this is because of his coach. He's training with Ego Jinpachi, and Ego's never trained juniors before." Reo chipped in right before Nagi could say something cold that would seriously paint him as the biggest douchebag ever.
At that, Tsurugi delved into the topic he knew more about: skating teams and their drama. "Ego is a jerk. They say he overworked Kira in his senior group and that Kira left Blue Lock within the first month of training. He's doing so much better with another coach now. How dare Ego mistreat him? We're talking about the Junior Grand Prix champion; he represented Japan in Junior Worlds."
"But he never won Nationals," Reo teased, biting his lip to hide his smirk.
Tsurugi rolled his eyes at that. "What's nationals next to international competitions?"
