NIKE -Blue Lock-

Aut vincere aut mori

ATTENTION: Outfits at the end of the chapter if y'all need to visualise them.
________________________

"Blue Lock, being the hot topic of the moment, has been invited to the Japan sports gala to be held tomorrow night at the Sports Palace."

The boys, at least some of them, rejoiced, excited to be able to attend the event they usually only admired from behind the television screen.

Nicole, sitting next to Oliver in the cafeteria, raised her impassive, calm gaze to the monitor on which Ego's face was portrayed, resting her own cheek on the palm of her hand.

Oliver, who was secretly stroking her thigh from under the table, also shifted his attention to the project director.

"The matches will be interrupted until the next update. I would prefer that you maintain a proper behavior, since you will be surrounded by major sports celebrities from all over the world. I have too many lawyers wanting to cut my throat for you to cause me more problems." the 30-year-old explained, disappearing from the monitor and making portraits of some of these personalities appear instead.

"The sports gala is your opportunity to make contacts with extremely important figures. You won't be able to make a name for yourself yet, but at the very least you will be able to start saying the first syllables of it to others." he continued, showing the image of Kaiser and Yukimiya's faces.

"You probably know that even in this selection there are people who are already quite well known, like these two boys. Know that you are not yet at their level of popularity, but you're very near to reach it thanks to the fact that you are basically characters of a tv show."

The images changed, and on the screen appeared the five master strikers who were inside the building at that moment.

"As you can see the two I showed you earlier are less popular than these five, and they will probably be less popular than a great many of the other characters you will have the opportunity to meet." he stated as extremely familiar faces scrolled across the screen.

The smiles on the boys' faces widened, some of them pointing to people they favored or who had inspired them since they were children. Unfortunately for them, the enthusiasm was short-lived.

"Basically you, compared to everyone, are nothing."

The blunt sentence was like a bucket of ice water right in the face.

"I would like you to be aware of your position. It's true, in the Neo Egoist League you have come into contact with five of the strongest football players in the world, and therefore you are already self conscious of your unpopularity." Ego's tone was calm and stiff, serious and blunt.

"But there are people in that place who would have the right to regard you more as dogs than as human beings..."

Hanyu Yuzuru, Shohei Ohtani, Rikako Ikee, Naomi Osaka... and as he kept going showing some of the most loved Japanese athletes, they started to feel conflicted between not wanting to go and wanting to see all those iconic stars.

And then-

"Nicole Vinciguerra will also be there." that name was able to take their breath away.

Nagi raised his head from the table on which he was trying to sleep as soon as he heard the girl's name. He did not quite understand: would she be in the same place as both Nicole Vinciguerra and Nicklaus Vinciguerra?

She was good at making things disappear, but he did not believe to that extent.

Some people's eyes shifted to the red-haired figure, who sat far away from them, noting the indifference on her face.