Chapter One - Game of Tag

(3rd person POV)

The chosen few, gathered together in a fevered frenzy, charged towards the entrance gate with a singular purpose in mind--- to achieve the pinnacle of their ambition and be crowned as the best striker in the entire world. With a shared yearning in their hearts and unshakeable determination in their souls, they surged forward as one coherent tidal wave, driven by an unrelenting hunger to achieve greatness and make their dreams a reality. The competition would be fierce, the journey perilous, but nothing could deter them from their ultimate goal, for they knew that the path to glory was paved with sweat, tears, and an unshakeable will to succeed. Everyone had that look in their eyes---the look of unbreakable determination.

After being transported by the buses to the facility named as "Blue Lock" everyone got off the buses and slid into the new uniforms provided to them they all made their way to their designated stratums.

There were a total of 5 stratums in Blue Lock. Team V, W, X, Y, Z. The teams were based on the individual skills making team V the strongest.

As the black-haired boy---Isagi Yoichi entered the "Team Z" room he looked around.

Sleeping in the middle of the room and dreaming about scoring a goal was a blunt-banged boy, Meguru Bachira. At some distance was an orange haired boy, Rensuke Kunigami.

The other members of team Z were:

Hyoma Chigiri,

Gin Gagamaru,

Jingo Raichi,

Gurimu Igarashi,

Wataru Koun,

Asahi Naruhaya,

Yadai Imamura and

Kira.

However, there was one other figure in the room, standing in the shadows as he observed everyone. Isagi could feel a demonic presence in the room, like an enigma staring at him, ready to spill his guts and devour him. He jerked his head back frantically only to be met with emptiness, his eyes catching no one.

"Hello, Diamonds in the Rough." The familiar voice of Ego Jinpachi spoke as he appeared on a huge monitor. "It is finally time to start your entrance test. Time to play a game of tag."

Everyone looked at him like he had lost his mind. Isagi's muscles stiffened as he heard those words, his mouth unable to utter words.

"The player with possession is "it". The time limit is 136 seconds." Ego announced.

"HUH?

"EH...?"

"Whoever is "it" when time runs out...can get the fuck out of here. And of course, no using your hands." With one final command the monitor flickered and a football dropped from the ceiling.

The name that popped on the screen was Igarashi the Monk.

He looked at the ball, utterly confused as it bounced up and down in front of him, inviting him to start the game.

"TAG" is one of the many warmup exercises used by pro players. However, the real reason for this game wasn't to let the players do some kind of warm-up here. In Blue Lock the real reason for doing this was to bring out the deep rooted selfishness that every successful striker has.

The Selfishness that drives them forward and forward---the birth of an Ego inside them.

This wasn't an average game of tag. One misstep and any chance of making a name in the field of football would lie in tatters. With an urgency that rivaled the dire consequences that would ensue in case of failure, Igarashi pounced forward and got control of the ball.

The rest of the contestants were quick to react as they scattered around, trying to put as much distance as they can between IT and themselves.

IGARASHI: "Whatever, I'll just make a random shot," he whispered to himself as he hit the ball but everyone scattered before it could even reach halfway because of the low power that fueled the shot.

"Oh crap, I missed," he exclaimed as he ran forward again, gaining control of the ball and trying to hit someone else.

"Huh?" He exclaimed as he saw Bachira sleeping on the floor. "I'll get you." He said with a victorious grin as he charged like a mad bull towards the sleeping figure of Bachira.

As the ball hurtled towards Bachira, he suddenly spun on his hands and Igarashi's face became the unsuspecting victim of an acrobatic kick that landed with brutal force and efficiency. The impact left him reeling, his mouth oozing with the metallic taste of blood—-releasing a trickle of sanguine fluid, evocative of the savagery of the preceding physical altercation.

Igarashi: "Hey, that's a foul! If this was a real game you'd get a red card."

Bachira: "Only hand balls are against the rules, aren't they?" Bachira spoke, his voice drowsy as languidly rubbed his bleary eyes, as if struggling to emerge from the hazy depths of a dream. "Oh, good morning, everyone 😃."

Kunigami placed his hand on Bachira's right

shoulder, as his fingers curled slightly, tightening his grip on him, "Hey, I'm not a fan of dirty play. Play fair.

Bachira: "Mr. Strait-Laced, huh?"

*SMACK*

Seizing the opportune moment, Igarashi adroitly propelled the ball with surgical precision, delivering a forceful strike to Kunigami's face leaving a dull red male on it.

Igarashi: "You left yourself wide-open. Amen!" He spoke, making a Buddha sign before turning around and running.

The veins on Kunigami's face became taut, throbbing with every heartbeat as it contorted into a living mask of displeasure and fury.

Kunigami: "Bastard. I'll destroy you!"

Seizing the moment, Igarashi cunningly employed Isagi's body as a human shield, strategically positioning him as a barrier against the orange haired boy's oncoming attacks.

Isagi: "What?!"

With flawless aim and explosive power, Kunigami struck the ball with such force that it was propelled from the center of his foot like a torpedo, whistling through the air and struck Isagi in his guts.

*ARGH*

Isagi groaned as the ball hit him perfectly in the centre of his abdomen, his figure getting blurry as he looked at the bouncing ball in front of him.

30.54 seconds left

Paranoid Isagi: "How did this happen? Huh? I just have 30 seconds left." Isagi continued to mumble to himself, the heavy overload from his overthinking making his feet stumble. An unceasing stream of fragmented thoughts pouring forth from his mind like a torrent of water cascading down a mountainside. His once-steady gait had now been replaced by an erratic stumbling, his feet failing to keep up with the frenzied pace of his thoughts.

Without a thought he kicked the ball and everyone dodged it easily.

"I have to look for someone weaker than me." He spoke to himself as he looked at his one ranking. 298. There were two people weaker than him.

19.32 seconds left

Looking back, he spotted that Igarashi was ranked 299. "I'll go for him."

18.64 seconds left

With a swift motion of his right foot, Isagi struck the heart of the football, propelling it unerringly towards Igarashi. As the ball hurtled towards its target, his left foot contorted, causing him to momentarily evade its trajectory. However, the abrupt movement caused him to lose his balance and he crumpled to the ground in agony, unable to rise again due to the excruciating pain that gripped his leg.

Kira: "Isagi-kun, hit him before it's too late!" He exclaimed atop his lungs.

Igarashi: " Timeout. Hey, wait! Stay back. Stay away from me. I don't want this to end here."

Isagi: 'I can win, I can survive. I just need to take this opportunity and hit him.' Isagi thought to himself.

Igarashi: "Please don't do it."

Isagi: 'But this guy's soccer career will end.'

14 seconds left

Isagi: "No, I have to do it. That's how things work

here. If there are winners, there must be losers.

Making my dream come true means ending

someone else's."

But the shot never came. Instead, one recent make more came to Isagi's mind: the memory where he passed the ball to his teammate who missed and lost the nationals to Kira.

Igarashi who was expecting a blow to his face closed his eyes, but the shoot never came to realisation as a blue aura enveloped Isagi.

Isagi: "This is not right. If I don't change here, I will never become the striker I've always aspired to be."

Ego: "In some instances of self reflection some people just ignore it. And some actually make a lesson out of it. Knowing your ego and selfishness and bringing out your thirst to achieve greatness is the main goal of this exam." He explained to a woman who had neck-length brown hair that had two braids tied on either side in the back with square bangs hanging on the left side and chocolate-brown eyes.

Isagi: "If I'm going to beat someone, it has to be the best one here." With a determined face he looked back but a figure in front of him pointed at him.

Bachira: "I like you," he said.

Isagi looked at him in a confused way as Bachira charged forward and touched the ball delicately, snatching it away from him. "That's right, if you're going to defeat someone it has to be the strongest one here."

10 seconds left

With a quick roundhouse towards Kira who dodged it, Bachira kicked the ball towards Isagi over Kira's head as the blue aura around his eyes darkened.

Bachira: "Boom."

In a state of selflessness, Isagi kicked it and the football landed square in his face. The face on the monitor changed and Kira's cartoonish face appeared on it.

Kira was now the IT.

Kira: "Isagi-kun, what are you doing?" He asked in a state of confused daze.

Isagi: "I-I'm sorry. My body just moved."

He replied as he took a step back and then started running as he saw Kira's face that reflected unrelented anger and hate.

Adding a little spin to the ball he kicked it. Bachira charged forward and pulled Isagi out of the way as the ball touched the ground and then touched the shin of someone in the corner who had not moved ever since the game had started.

Isagi: "Huh? Who is that? I didn't even feel him standing there."

A victorious grin appeared on Kira's face as he saw another mascot appear on the screen.

2.4 seconds left

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji - Number 300

Anri: "Ego san, didn't you have hopes for that individual? He's about to be wiped in the entrance exam."

Ego bent forward and interlinked his fingers, a wide grin over his face, "Anri-chan. Jumping to conclusions without seeing the whole picture, no wonder Japan is in such a downgraded force that everyone looks down on." He said as Anri's face flushed with embarrassment but she stayed silent, waiting for Ego to continue talking.

1.99 seconds left

"The sole survivor of a generation based only on individualism. The one who stood on the apex of all of his fallen comrades. Be sure not to judge people based on their bland and extremely uninteresting faces," he paused before glaring at the screen, "now what will you do, egoist?"

0.54 seconds left.

The boy's brown hair sprawled all over his face as he looked back at Kira's grin, caught up in the moments of his victory... or so he thought.

*boom*

Like a miniature explosion, the ball shot towards Kira like a rocket and landed on his face again, this moment his eyes rolling back to his head as he fell on the ground, his form not moving at all.

Anri looked at the screen with a baffled look, her hands on her mouth.

Anri: "What the hell just happened?"

Ego smirked, "Two new egoists took birth is what happened." His grin grew wider as he looked at Kiyotaka's impassive face and everyone else looking at him with a look of pure terror as a demonic jet black aura enveloped Kiyotaka—-a grim reaper brandishing its scythe at everyone as his glowing eyes landed on them.

(*****)