NIKE -Blue Lock-

Yolandi

FAST UPDATE CUZ I HAD TO REDEEM MYSELF- the song up there is actually in this chapter

"Ego..."

Anri sighed, placing a hand on the man's shoulder and giving it a gentle shake. The director slowly opened his eyes, fixing his gaze on the black keys of the keyboard on which he had fallen asleep.

"Ego... come on, get up and go take a shower." the woman's voice was soft, aware of the immense stress her colleague was putting himself under.

Her brown eyes drifted to the scattered papers and screens as the man followed her instructions, rising and heading to the private bathroom connected to the room.

Anri sank into her colleague's chair, nearly disappearing into it from exhaustion. With a slow and deliberate laziness, she cautiously began to organize the scattered documents.

Analysis upon analysis, diagrams leading to arrows pointing nowhere, sentences trailing off into ellipses, and scribbles born from the frustration of not reaching any conclusion.

Ego's shower was brief, as was the rest of his preparation; after all, slipping into sweatpants and an oversized sweater wasn't a complicated task.

The woman rose from the chair as he took his place again. She noticed that he hadn't bothered to dry his hair, and assumed it was more due to sheer exhaustion than laziness.

"Nicole still doesn't want to be interviewed." Anri remarked after a moment, cautiously eyeing the black-haired zombie in front of her.

There was no surprise in her voice; the statement had become a routine substitute for "good morning" or "good afternoon." After all, this was the seventh interview Nicole had refused to attend.

"Whatever." Ego muttered, dropping his forehead into his palm and resuming what he had been doing for the past four days.

Writing.

The hum of the automatic door made Anri shift her gaze from Ego, ready to tell any candidate or visitor that this was not the time for private meetings.

Her mouth stayed shut before she could even open it when her brown eyes met Nicole's piercing red ones.

The protagonist paid her no mind, shifting her gaze to Ego, who still refused to look up from what he was writing. The redhead closed the door behind her, making her way into the man's office.

Without a word, without saying anything at all, she grabbed a chair and sat beside the adult. When he sighed and began to open his mouth to ask what new form of torment she had in store, Nicole raised her hand, silencing him before he could utter a sound.

The man's dark eyes locked onto her crimson ones. His pupils shifted from the hand between them to her face, as if trying to connect the gesture with her expressionless demeanor.

She continued to stare at the director without really conveying anything through her gaze.

Then, she spoke.

"I'll build the lineups for both teams." she declared with a tone that brooked no argument, grabbing one of the many sheets in front of the man.

She took the pen from his fingers.

"The five master strikers, and the trainees with whom they've managed to form a chemical reaction, in one team." she stated, writing down the names of the five coaches (by looking at the screens) and connecting them with arrows.

The cold, flat tone made it clear to Ego that there was no longer any escape. He had to go along with the girl's offensive against Noel Noa and Blue Lock.