44 Pre-Third Selection

Blue Lock

Third Selection

4 days later...

Murano and Shidou were walking to the observation room, curious about why Ego had called them.

"Beats me," said Shidou, stretching his arm. "It might be about the match."

"Yeah, I think so too," Murano replied, tightening his laces. "By the way, have you ever met him?"

"Aside from when he first introduced us to Blue Lock, I don't think I've ever seen him in person," said Murano.

"Same here," said Shidou, nodding his head.

"I guess we'll find out what he wants when we open the door."

They reached the door, and Murano knocked. A moment later, the door opened, and Ego was standing there.

______________

"Come in!" Ego said as he welcomed both Shidou and Murano into the room.

"Greetings," Shidou and Murano said in unison as they stepped inside.

"That is Ego in the flesh!" Murano said quietly to Shidou

"Yeah," Shidou responded.

"This makes it the second time I'm meeting you directly," Ego said, staring straight into their eyes.

"For starters, I will reiterate. Football is a game where goals are scored. The sole purpose of a striker is to score goals," Ego added.

"You competed with the World Five and prevailed,"

Ego pointed at us and said, "Murano, you scored a hat trick, and you, Shidou, scored a brace.

"This is a subject I should discuss later, but during the game, you managed to accomplish something no one else here in Blue Lock has yet to do. I'm referring to you, Murano, who attained the Flow State. I would explain the flow state, so pay close attention,"

"Flow is the state of total immersion. When a person focuses on something, they may become so engrossed in their job that they fail to notice the passing of time. Their brains experience excitement as they enjoy the process. That is Flow, in a nutshell."

"Luna, Blake, Silva, Cevasoz, and even Loki were left in the dust the moment you emerged from the pressure and stepped up during the match. It is a fact that the best players in the world can't be defeated by one person on their own, but when the opportunity arose, you immersed yourself in the game more than they did and prevailed."

"How do you think a parent would feel when his child is fully immersed in a piano that they bought for them? Proud? Happy? Excited?" Ego added after explaining the flow state.

"It must've been a fluke, but y'all have progressed a lot since coming to Blue Lock. Especially, Murano, the first and only video I saw of you wouldn't have granted you a place here in Blue Lock. But you have progressed much more than I expected you to in such a short time, and I'm proud that you went above my expectations," Ego said, praising Murano.

"And you, Shidou, since joining Blue Lock, you've grown, accepted yourself, and found your true self. However, Murano's influence on the pitch has caused you to perform a little below my expectations. But before we talk about the most important thing here, do y'all have any questions for me?" Ego asked.

"Uh, On a side note, Ego, the World Five were being paid to score goals and win matches, right?" Murano asked.

"Yeah, so what do we get after defeating them?" Shidou continued Murano's question, antsy to know what they would get.

"You must be sick in the head. Are you telling me that you play football for money? That's nonsensical," Ego said furiously.

Murano and Shidou exchanged a look. Although they were just kidding, it seems that Ego has taken it seriously.

They decided it was best to remain quiet before things got any worse.

"Anyway, since you don't have any good questions left, let's get to it," Ego said as he cut them off, not wanting to answer any of their questions.

"I had a meeting with the JFA, the Japanese Football Association, two days ago to go over the Blue Lock initiative. Simply put, they wanted to end the Blue Lock project because they hadn't seen any visible progress. And they primarily sought to end this because they wanted to use it as an example of a significant youth program that had failed in Japan's football."

"But the only thing that persuaded them was when I showed them Murano's progression both before and after entering Blue Lock. The old fools wanted you to make your debut immediately and make money off of you, just after seeing what you did against the World Five."

"I will get to the point. The JFA and I came to an agreement to announce the Blue Lock Project worldwide by matching against the U20 Japan team,"

"The U-20?" Shidou whispered.

"Yeah, the U-20 Japan Team. On the premise that we overtake the U-20 squad or Blue Lock is taken down if none of the players are exceptional to the likes of you and Murano,"

"How are you feeling right now? Are you excited to show the world who you are? Hahaha!" Ego said while excited for the next challenge that awaited us.

"That brings us to the Third Selection. It was changed a bit after the meeting with JFA. The remaining 35 players must select a team of players from groups, "A," "B," and "C" to demonstrate their abilities and assert themselves with the top six Blue Lock players. The Blue Lock 11 will be assembled from the top eleven players to take on Japan's U-20 squad."

"However, I've already selected the top two blue lock players. Murano and Shidou, you're both on team A for being the top 2. That said, one of you who manages to assert yourself with the other players on your team would be the core striker for the Blue Lock 11, while the other sits on the bench," Ego concluded.

"Shidou, you've been on Murano's team for so long, so it's time you take the spotlight away from him," Ego said, trying to spike a rivalry between Shidou and Murano.

"That is not happening," Murano said, refuting what Ego had just said.

"Huh? Aren't I the star already," Shidou retorted with a smirk.

"The Blue Lock 11 would be centered around the one who manages to be the core striker between you two on team A."