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THERE ARE six days until the PXG game.
Kaiser takes a final swig of his energy drink before tossing the water bottle to the turf and heading to the wall. Ness nods at him from the ground, completing his stretches. He leans against the wall, bringing his knee up to his chest and wincing at the stretch in his hamstring. The kid with the bright cyan hair — Hiori, he thinks — glances at his presence but doesn't mention anything, continuing to peruse whatever he's looking at on his tablet.
He knows Hiori hangs around Isagi, one of their little quartet, but that's pretty much the extent of his knowledge. He's barely seen him in practice. Kaiser really only pays attention to the German members and the top 11 of Bastard, ignoring the rest. He hasn't seen Hiori do anything spectacular, so he operates with the plan to add him to his vision only if he does something big enough to be worth it.
Kaiser drops his knee and begins on the left one.
"The PXG game will be good," Hiori mutters, scrolling on his tablet.
The words aren't directed at him, but Kaiser leans over anyway and glances at the screen, displaying Itoshi Rin's headshot, followed by his stats.
"Itoshi's brother, yeah?" He asks. Ness glances up, and Hiori looks a little confused with Kaiser speaking to him, but he responds nevertheless.
"He's insane. Probably the best Bluelocker."
"He isn't worth that much."
Hiori shrugs. "He and Shidou don't get along. I'd assume it's something to do with that. We shouldn't underestimate him." He scrolls further. "He and Isagi have something going on. I wonder how that'll translate to the field."
Kaiser blinks, standing straighter. "Something going on?" Ness sends him a look in his peripheral vision that he pretends not to see.
He regards Kaiser for a moment, observing, before he speaks. "Yeah, Rin hated him for a little bit. But Isagi tried, like, befriending him, and it actually worked. Rin doesn't befriend anyone. But then the U-20 match happened, and Isagi beat him, and now Rin hates him or something."
He can feel an eye twitch coming on. "So Yoichi was...chasing after him until they became...friends."
"I guess. Wore him down during the second selection, when they roomed together. I don't really know how friendly they were. I only met Isagi later on."
Despite his complete lack of decorum on the field, Isagi Yoichi was goddamn friendly. He was close with everyone. Kaiser was used to turning his head and seeing Kurona glued to his side, or seeing the weird half-dyed-blond monster kid draped all over him whenever their breakfasts coincided. Even Kunigami, the most anti-social fucker Kaiser knows, chooses to sit next to Isagi and Isagi only if he has to during meals. They barely speak, but Isagi always makes one-sided conversation and sends him a polite little smile each time. The same polite little smile he used on Kaiser when he was in his goddamn bed, minus the tinge of lust.
