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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I turned away from my brother to look back at my team, wondering what they were thinking right now. Everyone was staring at me with varied expressions, except for Rin. Rin looked super pissed off and was glaring at the ground with one hand on his hip. I didn't blame him being angry with me. After all, I ripped his shot right out of the air and took it for myself.
I opened my mouth to say something but was cut off as the large monitor that was showing the final score suddenly was replaced with a live stream of Ego sitting in a chair, a full cocktail glass in his hand.
"That was an unexpected ending to your first match, you Neo Egoists. Well, Blue Lock? How was your first taste of the wider world?" Ego causally brought the drink to his lips, sipping it slowly.
I raised an eyebrow. Is he drinking right now?
"It's a yummy grape squash," Ego said, answering my thoughts. "The world of pros is a game of musical chairs. Players enter fully established teams and they don't get to work unless they steal a position. Each team has their own water known as philosophy. Rationality. Freedom. Order. There's more than one way to survive in the water. Will you die in agony by being unsuitable to the water or will you adapt to thrive? Or... will you dye it to match your own colors? Or you could always run away, I guess. No one is forcing you to do anything. Now that you've come to understand how to fight in the Neo Egoist League, let's announce new rankings."
The screen changed and played footage of what I could only assume was the other match that was today - the match between Bastard München and FC Barcha. The final goal was scored by no other than Kunigami, giving the German team the win. I stared at the names from the Spanish and German rosters appearing on screen in confusion. Underneath each name was a box of spinning numbers that were rolling rapidly.
"Your annual salary..." Ego continued his speech. "Currently all of the Neo Egoist League matches are being observed by all of the world's soccer club owners." My eyes widened. "All your plays are being checked and after each match, the owners will submit bids. The highest bid for you will prove your worth. This is our new ranking system - the Blue Lock Auction."
Shit. I bit my lip. If this is how they are ranking us now, there's no way I will do good. Soccer club owners of all male teams aren't going to want me.
The numbers slowly stopped spinning and my eyes landed on Isagi's name. I stiffened. Seventeen million yen? Someone put that much of a bid on Isagi? Not that he didn't deserve it, but still. What the actual hell?
"The offers you are seeing here were put in at the end of the Bastard München and FC Barcha match. These will become official offers once all the matches have concluded," Ego told us. "These yearly salary values will give you bargaining power with the club teams. And this will be your current worth." Above Isagi's name, it showed that his bidder was Berserk Dortmund, a well known team in the German league.
