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...
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When the next day came, the four of us got up and went to a main area where other teams had also made it through. Upon sight of us, people steered away and avoided conversation. I sat down next to Bachira, Rin lingering close by as Aryu tried to talk to people, only for them to say a few words and then walk away.
"No one wants to battle us," Bachira pointed out with a small pout.
I nodded. "That was probably thanks to Rin's fancy display at the start of the Second Selection. I would want to play us either."
Bachira smirked and looked over at me. "Look at us! So intimidating!"
I gave him a sheepish smile in return. "Yeah..... Sunshine-kun, I think it's the other two on our team that are intimidating. One is 193 cm tall and the other is a stoic robot with no other goals than to annihilate the competition. You and I are the underdogs here."
"Underdogs always rise up though," he told me with an affectionate nudge. "They'll learn to be scared of us!"
I nodded along. "Sure!"
We sat for a while before I stood up and waved at Rin and Bachira. "Well, I'm leaving to go practice. I have some things I want to try. Let me know if we find a challenger."
Bachira called out goodbye, reminding me not to over do it, and went back to people watching while Rin's eyes only followed me for a moment before he looked back at the wall in disinterest. I moved back to the room we slept in and changed into my training uniform before walking towards an open training field.
I got a soccer ball and walked to the middle of the field before lightly stretching for a good ten minutes. Then I got to work, practicing some dribbling exercises I had worked previously with Bachira to warm up my feet. Lost in my own groove for a while, then I sat a soccer ball on the midline, staring intently at the goal.
Surely, it wasn't that hard, right? I took a breath and focused before planting my left foot and shooting the ball at the goal off my right foot. The ball soared in a straight line and went into the net. Sure, it was nothing fancy like a spinning shot Rin or Kunigami could do, but at least it went in. I sighed with a small shrug and then walked to the corner again, determined to get the goal in like Rin had in the match yesterday.
Once. Twice. Ten times. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.
It was like no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't put a spin on the ball. And if I did get a spin, it wasn't good enough to make it into the net or it went in the wrong direction. I was getting frustrated at myself, feeling annoyance grow warm in my chest. In fact, I kicked a ball out of irritation as hard as I could, watching it slam into the goal post with a loud ringing noise before slowly rolling back my direction. My eyes followed it before I sighed and walked over to where it stopped on the turf, leaning down to pick it up.
When I turned back around to return to the corner, I stiffened. Rin was now standing there with a soccer ball in position. His teal eyes were locked on me before he stepped forward and kicked the ball. My head followed the circular object as it passed over my head in a beautiful arc before turning in a spiral and landing in the right corner of the net.
