Chapter 09 - Genius Duo

As soon as the buses arrived at the Blue Lock location, all players waited for their names to be mentioned and then proceeded to the designated room.

"Next...Gary Lane?"

The red-haired girl who handed out the uniforms and gave instructions finally called me.

"Are you related to English?" She asked while looking at me curiously.

"Yes, my mother is from an English family." I replied, taking the uniform.

"Oh, how unexpected."

"Go to the room indicated on your uniform and wait, good luck."

The Blue Lock corridor was busy, everyone was looking for the marked rooms and had nervousness in their eyes. After a few minutes of walking, I finally arrived at the desired place and stopped in front of the door.

"Hey Reo, isn't that a swim suit?"

"Why do I have to wear this to play football?"

Some voices echoed in the hallway and the dialogue increased with each passing second.

"Nagi, this is the room..."

"Looks like someone beat us to it."

A boy with purple hair accompanied by another with white hair arrived in front of the door and they both looked at me seriously.

Reo was the one who took the initiative to talk to me.

"Hello, are you going to enter this room too?"

"What is your name?" He greeted me, extending his hand.

"Gary Lane."

I replied, greeting back. My eyes were especially fixed on the boy behind him, this was one of the geniuses that appeared in my memories.

"Oh, my name is Mikage Reo and the one behind me is Nagi, I hope we get along." Reo went ahead and opened the door, I walked right after and entered the room.

Some familiar looks fell on us as soon as we entered the room, especially Tsurugi Zantetsu and Nameoka Ryo.

"It can only be a joke..."

"Hahaha, is that really you?"

Nameoka approached and teased, remembering the match he had lost a few days ago, "It's fate giving me another chance to show that I'm superior." Completed.

"And who are you?" He came closer and looked me in the eyes.

"..."

Without answering the question, I walked over to where Zantetsu was and held out my hand, "Do you need help?" I caught his attention while he was stuck trying to put on his uniform.

"Who is talking?" He shook his head trying to free himself from his uniform, "Help me, I can't breathe!" He shouted when he saw I was nearby.

"You're wearing it wrong, idiot!" Reo pulled the top off while laughing.

"What is your problem?" Nagi looked on with disdain.

"Hey, I don't need your pitying look, you idiot. I already suspected I was wearing it wrong."

At that moment, all the selected people were in the room. Thus, it didn't take long for Ego Jinpachi to speak again.

"I hope you're all done getting ready."

His figure appeared on the screen in front of us, "These people in the room will be your rivals and colleagues, keep that in mind and use it as motivation."

Suddenly, a ball fell from the ceiling that opened while Ego continued to speak: "The first test will be 'Tag-Tag', you will have 136 seconds to avoid being hit. If that happens and the time runs out, you will get out. here and will never have the chance to wear the Japanese national team shirt again."

The timer started ticking and a familiar feeling hit me, "Heh, I guess those hellish days will be of some use after all." I spoke while looking at Nameoka, who had the ball in his possession.

Boom!

Like an explosion, the ball was kicked towards Nagi and Reo and consequently towards me too. Nameoka was only focusing on these two.

"Hahaha! I'll send you back home, suckers!"

The ball passed between us with enormous speed, "It's been a while since I played against real people."

"I could only dodge because I knew he would focus on these two geniuses." I thought as I walked away.

Nagi and Reo stretched out their arms warming up, "Hey, Reo, this guy won't get out of our hair."

"I guess we'll have to deal with him first."

"Shut up! I'm going to finish you off."

Boom!

The ball was kicked again, and like before, Nagi and Reo narrowly managed to dodge it. Nameoka's forehead had exposed veins, showing that her nervousness was increasing by the second.

"If you keep focusing on us, you'll end up getting eliminated, idiot."

The ball bounced off the wall and slowly rose after another unsuccessful kick, before Nameoka could catch it again, it fell at my feet.

"Hey, you have nothing to do with it, give it back to me." Nameoka said as she approached.

"..."

Without receiving a response, his anger exploded and he walked over and held me tightly, "That arrogant look of yours has been getting on my nerves since the moment I saw you. If you don't want to die, give me that ball."

"If you attack him you'll end up being eliminated anyway." Reo said while mocking.

"Shut up! I'm going to finish this one and then-"

Before he could finish his sentence, using the back of my hand, I slapped his hand and pushed him away. "Damn you!" Nameoka screamed and then something hit her face so fast that he couldn't react.

"Argh!" A scream of pain echoed for a moment in the field followed by a repetitive "Knock-knock" sound.

Nameoka placed her hand on her face and, after a few seconds, looked in my direction in surprise.

"Are you making fun of me, damn you?!"

I was doing some little tricks while looking in his direction with a smile.

"Hahaha, this guy is fun!" Reo laughed upon seeing the scene while Nagi looked at me curiously.

Boom!

Another kick hit Nameoka, causing him to fall to the ground. "S-stop!" He screamed, as I kicked the ball and hit him a few more times.

After a few seconds, I finally stopped, placing my foot on top of the ball and looking seriously at the others.

"Are you going to focus on us now?" Reo spoke, looking at me and getting ready to run.

"Nagi, be careful, this guy isn't like the other one."

Nagi sighed, listening to Reo's instructions and following him.

My eyes moved, fixating on the ball and nothing else. As my breathing became faster, I ran towards the ball and kicked it with as much precision and force as I could.

Nagi, Reo and the others ran. But before they could dodge it, the ball curved and hit Nagi squarely.

"What?!" Reo opened her eyes in surprise while Nagi was still processing what just happened. His cheek was red and he was looking at the floor.

"Show me your ego, genius." I spoke while smiling, Reo did the same.

"Heh, this guy..." Nagi sighed, getting up and heading towards the ball.

...