BLUE LOCK - a place where soccer is more than just a sport and a future of worldwide glory is within grasp. Desperate to prove her worth and break barriers, Keiko Iteya fights to hold her own in a rigorous competition against 299 young men in Japan...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Life often hands out justice and luck where those things are due. In the darkest moments of life, we often see the worst in what happens to us, not realizing it sets up for something better - a burning destiny that shines so brilliantly it goes beyond the imagination. But - the opportunity can often slip of out grasp. It's a cruel game to play. You have to take charge, put everything on the line, take the risk that could shatter everything. Sometimes you have to take that shot.
And sometimes you miss.
I gasped as the ball slammed into the goal post and shot back right at my head. It slammed into my nose, forcing me to fall back and onto the grassy field. "Ugh!" My head lifted as my vision spun in three different directions, seeing a familiar player approach.
"Something tells me that you aren't cut out to be a goalie," a voice chuckled, coming into focus in front of my face. He was smirking, green eyes set on me. He was dripping in sweat, his brown locks messy. A hand came up to wipe the sweat off his upper lip. "You can't even protect your face let alone a goal."
"Shut up!" my ten year old self yelled at him and I quickly was on my feet. "It won't happen again! Let's restart!"
"Uh, no," he told me, putting a hand on his hip and shaking his head. "Mom will kill me if she found out that I let you keep playing after your hurt yourself!"
"I'm not hurt!" I tried to object.
"Keiko, your nose is bleeding," he chuckled. A slow hand came up to my nose and I gasped at the blood I saw on my fingers. "Let's go home. We can play again tomorrow."
My brother, Hikaru, was the best. Even if life hadn't blessed us to be twins, there would have always been a strong unspoken bond between us. Hikaru was a popular person. Everyone loved him. His laugh could heal a broken heart and his smile was contagious. There was a charisma about him that I could never master. Wherever he went, there was always a wake of people in his path.
I looked up to Hikaru in way my feelings couldn't begin to express. He was my big bro, by only four minutes, but he shone in my eyes in a way no one would ever come close to achieving. So you bet that when he started playing soccer at age six and quickly became a child prodigy that I became a little jealous. He was quickly scouted by the best private leagues in Tokyo and became well known for his abilities as a forward player - a striker.
At first I hadn't wanted to follow my parents all over Japan to watch his "dumb" soccer games. It inhibited my free time when I wasn't in school and I barley got to hang out with my own friends because we were always traveling. But as I was forced to sit there and watch him run up and down the field, I slowly began to understand why he liked the game so much. It was nerve-racking and exciting, an edge of your seat event that luck and skill clashed within. It was all about applying strategies and talents to teamwork and making split second decisions that could make or break everything.
