Ascension│Bluelock x male reader

3.25. Least Of His Problems

For nearly all of the Bluelock players, the two week break was over in the blink of an eye.

Everyone had done different things, as Niko had learnt. Chigiri had spent most of his time with his family. Bachira had gone caving in some remote mountain area. Raichi had taken anger management classes (Niko didn't think they'd worked), and Igaguri had been, as usual, working in his family temple.

Out of Niko's closer friends, Karasu had been travelling to as many cities as he could in the south. Hiori had been sinking insane hours into his video games. And Aiku...

It'd been only a few days into the break. Niko had been enjoying not having to talk to people, and also Solo Levelling's new anime. But Aiku had messaged first him, then his parents, asking if Niko wanted to go on a road trip. No, please no, was his immediate answer. Yes, he would love to, was his parents' answer.

And so Niko was stuck with Aiku for a week. They'd gone all the way down to the bottom of the mainland, then all the way back up, stopping at every single location possible. Aiku may have been many years his senior, but he was by no means a responsible adult. Niko was forced to endure through endless bad jokes, listening to him flirt with every single cashier, and endure embarrassment every single time Aiku called Niko over to 'socialise' with random strangers.

It'd gotten even worse when Aiku had literally forgotten him at a shopping mall. Two hours after Aiku had dropped Niko off at an arcade to go shopping, Niko had called him, only to find out that Aiku was just getting in the car and getting ready to go. Of course, he'd rightfully grilled the older man over the next few days. 

And by the end of the trip, he'd begged Aiku to drive him back home, which Aiku had only given in to when Niko gave him wide, innocent, slightly teary doe eyes.

When Niko had stumbled through the doors, his parents had laughed heartily. Niko had scowled, accepted the loving hug they'd offered to him, and warned that if they ever tried anything like that again, he would trash his father's gaming setup. His dad had paled.

Needless to say, he hadn't been bothered much for the rest of the break.

"Want some popcorn?"

Niko glanced across at Lorenzo, sitting near him on a leather sofa. They were back in Ubers' lounge, inside the Bluelock facility, and watching the BLTV livestream. He nodded slowly, reaching across.

"...thanks, Mike. Welcome, everyone! We're your casters, Natsuki and Tereasa, and... well, it's been two weeks. Are you ready for the restarting of Neo Egoist League, match six?!"

"As the desk was saying earlier, I think we're gonna see some very different stuff come out from all of our teams from now on. Two weeks may not seem like a long time on paper, but it's more than enough time to cook up some new strategies!"

"Yeah, definitely. We've shown you the starting teams, and now, let's welcome the players to the stage!"

Watching the stream from under his bangs, Niko noted each player as they appeared onto the pitch. Manshine City didn't seem to have changed their roster, sticking with their team of Nagi, Reo, and Chigiri from Bluelock. PXG had brought out Rin Itoshi in a solo striker's position, supported by both Tokimitsu and Nanase.

The game started. Niko leant forwards in his chair, wordlessly accepting some more popcorn from Lorenzo.

From the moment PXG kicked off, it was clear who had the upper hand.

Rin Itoshi was a nightmare. A whirling devil, instantly barging his way through Manshine's first players. He didn't need the support he'd been given, dribbling his way directly through their centre with sloppy, unrefined touches. They didn't need to be pretty though - with brute force, he broke through their lines alone.