NIKE -Blue Lock-

Big Bang

"Chromatically speaking your brother is prettier, Sae."

The boy lifted his gaze from his plate, directing his deep aquamarine eyes toward the girl's teasing smile as she put yet another piece of salmon into her mouth.

And yet she liked his colors better.

"He's also more of a jerk." he affirmed, receiving a "Nah, I think it's a fair match between you two." from the redhead in response.

Just a few hours earlier, he had received a sudden call from the Blue Lock director.

Sae was expecting questions like "Is Nicole okay?" or "Have you seen Nicole?" or "Has Nicole talked to you in the last 24 hours?" due to the redhead's tendency to do as she pleased and inevitably get into trouble. Instead, from the sparse information the man of few words had given him, the Japanese prodigy understood that the girl would spend the night at his place and return to Blue Lock facilities the next day.

Sae had asked his chauffeur (also considered butler given his services) to buy some wine bottles to stock up before the redhead's arrival. Nicole's fondness for alcohol was perhaps the only thing about her that wasn't mysterious.

There was no need to pick her up since, given the short notice, Nicole had been given permission to use her own motorcycle.

She had arrived around dinner time, dressed in black motorcycle gear and wearing a playful and calm smile. Fake.

Especially fake.

"If we're talking about jerkiness, you definitely win, Nicole." Sae replied, leaning back until his shoulders touched the chair.

Nicole smiled cunningly, shrugged, and once again took a sip of white wine.

"I win at everything, no distinctions." she replied, smiling when she noticed Sae's deadpanned expression.

"So politically correct..." the Japanese prodigy murmured with cold sarcasm, letting his eyes wander over the golden-bronze face of the girl after not seeing her for weeks.

She had regained her natural color, and the previous thinness caused by limited nourishment in the first days after her coma (nourishment mainly consisting of liquids, and liquids in the sense of alcoholic) had finally been eliminated, returning to a healthy appearance. From what the protagonist had told him during the initial minutes of dinner, there was no longer the need to spray the wounds, which had stopped bleeding or causing exaggerated pain.

The two were dining on the terrace, in front of the illuminated pool from which traces of steam emerged, signaling the artificial heating of the water.

"Why a night out?" Sae asked suddenly, carefully studying the girl whose every aspect he had now seen except for her thoughts.

Nicole didn't look at him at first, absentmindedly watching the whitish liquid of the wine sway along the glass walls of the goblet.

How could she explain it to him without really explaining it?

A night out because if she had stayed another minute inside that facility with Ego, she would have killed him.
A night out to delude herself that she was finally done with football and could return to her normal life.
A night out to avoid bumping into those people who thought they knew her so well but actually didn't know her at all.
A night out to avoid meeting the coach who should have succumbed under her triumphant step that day but was instead saved by a strange twist of fate.

Fate... she didn't even believe in that shit anymore.

"To drink." the redhead finally replied with a smile, confirming her answer by bringing the glass to her lips and finishing the liquid inside.