A Bad Memory

'Why must I return here?' Thought Sho, looking at the same eerie, dilapidated door. A slight overcast blanketed the space around him as he noticed the worsening terrain surrounding him and the dwindling number of chains now covering the door, 'nothing changed here, huh.'

'One, two, three,' He counted, 'that's weird. I wonder why they're all the same size.' Thought Sho, spotting patches of rust on all of the sizable chains.

An afterthought flashed through his mind while he smiled. Before walking towards the door, he leaned forward, gazing towards the numerous loose rocks scattered around him, even making out the outline of a rather big pit.

Sho leaped forward and cautiously walked towards the unnatural door, but just as he reached the door, abruptly, he lost his footing as the rock below his right foot suddenly collapsed under his weight. Filled with sudden adrenaline thanks to the balance change, he reached for the chain, roughly grasping it between his fingers. His quick thinking paid off as the single rock he stepped on set off a chain reaction of an innumerable amount of stones falling below him into the pit he previously jumped across.

A barely audible pop was unexpectedly heard from the top of the door as a part of the chains suddenly unraveled, sending Sho farther down into the depths of the near-endless pit below him. He sharply gasped for air as his legs aimlessly swayed in the air until he hoisted himself up, rapidly wrapping his legs around the moderately big chain.

The more he inched himself closer towards the rotten door the, more the chain would sporadically make that same sound, sending Sho a little bit deeper into the pitch-black pit.

Keeping a calm mind, Sho continued upwards toward the mysterious door.

The constant pressure on his fingers soon took a toll as unpredictable pains shot through his hands. By pure willpower, he continued up the rusted chain as the door was now in eyeshot.

Sho recognized that same pop sound as he helplessly listened to the three chains interlocked as one sever from the door — slapping against the concrete below.

'Uh oh,' Sho dreadfully thought as his body lost all its weight.

The ominous door simultaneously swung open as the pitch-black darkness of the pit swallowed Sho up.

What was only a few seconds felt like minutes as Sho's helpless limbs flailed in the air until a sharp rock pierced his lower back, immediately waking him up.

"Ahhhh," yelled Sho waking up in a cold sweat, "Why did that feel so real?" Karasu put his arms through his jumpsuit's sleeves and lazily stared at his screaming teammate.

"Why did that feel so real," Karasu mockingly joked before wiping away the morning crust from his eyes, "Get dressed in your jumpsuit — we're running late to the matchup. We've gotta see if anyone else passed through the three v. three."

"Give me a minute," groaned Sho, rubbing his temple.

"Just be quick everybody else is already waiting in the hallway," responded Karasu, walking out of the room.

With the room to himself, Sho swiftly changed into the Blue Lock jumpsuit underneath his blanket. Following that, he threw his cover to the side and stiffly rose from his bed. He spread his fingers wide, then moved both of his arms in a circular motion, then moved them over his head. His stretch only lasted a few seconds before he walked out of the room while resting his hands on his bed head.

Sho firmly opened the steel doors to the team resting room as the rest of his teammates greeted him in the open hallway.

Otoya kindly greeted him while Yukimiya waved his hand as he began eating his morning snack.

"We might have a long day ahead of us," Karasu said, walking ahead of everyone towards the waiting room.

"Karasu... Before we all leave, I'd like to apologize for my yelling this morning. I just had a nightmare." Sho earnestly apologized, looking everyone in the eyes. "I'm sorry if I woke any of you up."

An awkward silence fell as Otoya randomly chuckled. "We were all already up, and we even tried to wake you up but, you're a pretty heavy sleeper." He revealed, scratching his cheek.

"We don't have time to talk," Karasu said, cutting in between their conversation, as they all began lightly jogging towards the waiting room.

Sho's mind was filled with unanswered questions and the constant reminder of his old friend Ryuu as he jogged alongside Yukimiya.

'Why is Ryuu here? Are all of the chains torn from that door? Why haven't I felt a change? Why did he hide from me? What's happened to my mindscape? What — What's behind the door? Why — Why has the door terrified me since the moment I laid eyes on it?'

Sho was too absorbed in his mind to notice Yukimiya's continuous efforts to talk to him until he had enough and shook him out of his thoughts.

"Sho!" Shouted, Yukimiya.

"Yea... Yeah?" Stammered, a slightly dazed Sho.

"You were mumbling someone's name in your sleep. I think you said, "Your Ryuu, when was it due?" "Or something weird like that. So who's Ryuu, and what was due?" asked Yukimiya, confusing Sho.

"I don't remember anything being due, unfortunately, but Ryuu is somebody you're about to meet. Let's say he's an old childhood friend, somebody I forgot," replied Sho.

"Forgot!? How do you forget about a friend?" Asked a surprised Yukimiya.

"Well, to keep it short and simple, I moved from a dangerous environment and, I didn't like to think about that place," Sho said, ending the conversation.

"Oh shoot, I forgot my cleats," Sho's voice rang throughout the empty hallway, "You guys can keep on going. I'll be right back."

In his socks, he ran back towards the resting room, leaving his teammates.

After a few minutes of rummaging through the room, he found both cleats under one of the futons. He hurriedly hopped towards the meeting point while sliding on both of his cleats.

"... the two v. two and three v. three fields are occupied. So your match has been postponed for two hours." Confirmed Jinpachi, as Sho entered the pentagon-shaped waiting room.

The lights were slightly dimmed as Sho recognized Yukimiya's oval-shaped glasses. Walking towards them, he took a seat in one of the many comfortable chairs.

"You guys can use that time to go to one of the many monitoring rooms and watch the current games going on or hone your weapons in preparation for your battle." Grinned Jinpachi.

Ryuu respectfully raised his hand in the middle of his explanation, then lowered it, waiting for him to finish.

"Go ahead, what do you have to say?"

"Why can't we fight right now? Aren't we using an entirely different field," complained Ryuu, balling his fist in pent-up frustration.

"Yes, you are, but I'd like to think of this time as a treat to Blue Lock," mysteriously and masochistically grinned Jinpachi, eyeing both Ryuu and Sho.

Both the intercom and the monitor in the room abruptly turned off, abandoning both teams to bask in silence.

The dimmed lights in the room went back to their usual brightness as most of the room was well-lit. Both players from both teams rose from their positions and began leaving the room, while some others stayed and talked.

"Oh yeah, sorry, Sho. We all agreed to fight each other and, Ego allowed it, each though you weren't here." Karasu added, rising from his seat, walking towards the exit.

"That's fine. It doesn't matter who we face. We're crushing each other's dreams and ideologies so, it'll always be difficult," said Sho, walking with Karasu out of the room and towards the team's resting room.

"Hey Karasu, you wanna go to the weight room, or maybe to a practice field?" Otoya asked from behind before increasing his pace, walking shoulder to shoulder with Karasu.

"I have a better idea. If you're up for it, we can go to one of the monitoring rooms and watch the games that are going on right now," Sho smiled, inviting them on his little excursion, "That includes you too, Yukimiya."

"I say we do it, Otoya. We practiced enough," laughed Karasu.

"I wanted to work on my footwork but, whatever." Otoya sighed before following everyone towards the monitoring room.

"I wonder who's playing right now?" Thought, Yukimiya.

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Thanks for reading!

What do you think was behind the door?

Who do you want on Ryuu's team?