APOTHEOSIS ✦ BLUE LOCK (x Male OC)

Chapter 9: Second Place

The sound of light snoring and soft breathing filled the otherwise quiet room, team Z players already deep in sleep, lost in their dreams.

Well, at least most of them.

While most of team Z's players were already sound asleep, Hayami was completely awake, though that wasn't unusual for the blonde boy. This wasn't the first time he'd been unable to sleep since he entered Blue Lock.

Hayami sat down to straighten and tidy up the puffy blanket, the feeling of wrinkled fabric against his skin making him uncomfortable. As he was tidying and smoothing his blanket he caught a glimpse of the empty futon in front of him.

Chigiri's futon.

He recalled the red haired player leaving the room quietly while no one was watching, too busy enjoying their little victory potluck.

Hayami glanced at the door. He sat there and stared at the door for a little more before deciding it was none of his concern and he should just try to get enough rest. He laid down facing upwards, his arms over the blanket and placed on his stomach, his fingers intertwined.

'I should've brought my sleeping pills...' he silently thought, closing his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep.

After several minutes of trying, Hayami sat up again. The futon, hard as a rock, and Igaguri's delirious voice, followed by his and Raichi's snoring—who was sleeping on Hayami's right—were more than enough reasons why he couldn't possibly fall asleep.

Even if Raichi and Igaguri's voices weren't as loud as the thoughts and questions that lingered on Hayami's mind at the moment.

The memory from the match remained in his head, replaying over and over again, like a broken record. The weird fleeting feeling that sent shivers all over his body when he made that almost impossible bicycle-kick; his wrong prediction about Niko's goal and how Isagi was able to read Niko's movements better than him; Isagi's soccer abilities that had suddenly improved.

He needed time to think. But things inside the facility were always so hectic that Hayami didn't have any time alone to be immersed in his thoughts, there was always something bursting his bubble.

Actually, Hayami thought, noticing his current surroundings.

The room was otherwise quiet minus the sound of Raichi and Igaguri snoring, all of them were dead asleep so no one would bother him; it couldn't get any more peaceful and quieter than this.

Hayami had to take the opportunity.

Hayami fixed his position into a proper meditation sitting position—his back straight as a wooden board, legs crossed and hands placed facing upwards above his knee, his fingers relaxed. Hayami took a deep breath and exhaled, slowly closing his eyes. As Hayami closed his eyes, he began to sink into his own thoughts, tuning the outside world out.

He might not know what that weird feeling from before was, but the case with his prediction of Niko's pass is different. He's sure that the reason he's able to predict the most ideal plays, and know where the most dangerous and vulnerable locations within the field are is because of his 'God's Eye', or to put it simply, his abnormally wide field of vision (although he's still not sure how to stop doing it intuitively and do it intentionally instead).

The problem is, he's able to predict his vision of an 'ideal' play. So for him to be able to predict the 'ideal play' of a certain player, he needs to be able to read that certain player. To see through their eyes.

Hayami's head throbbed at the thought. He was never good at reading people, or understanding them in general. To Hayami, sometimes people do questionable things that make him confused, unnecessary and unreasonable things.