An Unheard Rumor

Four computer desks lined the right side wall of the small room, as a large cabinet neighbored the desks. The opposite side of the room had a work table with six chairs on each side. The opposite wall of the entrance had a huge one hundred-inch monitor built into it, taking up most of the wall.

"I'm surprised we never used this place," said Karasu, entering the small, well-kept room.

"Yea, it seems pretty nice," added Otoya, grabbing a chair from the table, placing it in the center of the room.

Both Yukimiya and Sho followed in their footsteps as Yukimiya took a seat near the table.

"Sho, since you're still up, can you see if the remotes in that drawer over there," pointing towards a large cabinet in the corner of the room, "'cause it's not over here."

"Yeah, sure," replied Sho, opening one of the many drawers, fishing for the remote. After his tenth failed attempt, Sho squatted down and opened the last drawer, and by his unsurprised face, he found the remote. "Just my luck, huh," Sho whispered to himself.

Leaning some weight on the cabinet, he supported himself up while pointing the remote towards the monitor, turning it on.

"Oh, it looks like those guys we beat yesterday are losing their two v. two..." Grinned Otoya, watching as Bachira dribbled the ball past a defender.

"It's still a very close game. Anything could happen." Karasu chimed in, noticing the one-goal difference.

Sho took a seat near Yukimiya at the table and poked his shoulder, asking for some of his snacks while watching the close game. Yukimiya snorted before handing over a handful of salt and vinegar chips.

"I wonder what a high rank's doing down at the lower stages?" Questioned Karasu, paying attention to the tall player with long black hair that reached his mid-black.

"What rank is he? I can't see it from here," asked Yukimiya.

"Let me see," said Otoya, leaning forward, squinting his eyes, "he's number two."

Sho turned his attention away from both Bachira and Baro and looked towards "number two's" teammate. 'Where have I seen those rectangle glasses?' Pondered Sho, thinking back to when he eavesdropped on Isagi's outburst about Team V's mockery of football. 'Oh yeah. That's Santetsu, Zantetso, Kanwetsu, something like that — I wonder what he's doing with Mr. Long Legs.'

Through the monitor, Baro sized up Zantetsu for the third time that game.

With the ball in Baro's possession, he extended his leg forward, baiting him to go for the steal. Zantetsu quickly took the bait as Baro faintly snickered, sharply turning towards the left, cutting in the opposite direction of Zantetsu's momentum, getting him off balance. With his unbalanced center of gravity, Baro charged forward towards the goal.

"He's heading your way," spoke Zantetsu, as he tripped over his legs.

"Shut the hell up, four-eyes," snapped Baro, kicking the ball fifty feet directly into the net.

Baro and Bachira 4-3 Aryu and Zantetsu

"W- We might lose this," stuttered Zantetsu walking towards Aryu.

"Being negative isn't stylish," replied Aryu, flipping his long luscious hair to the side.

Restart!!

With the ball in Zantetsu's possession, he swiftly passed it to the left of him, towards Aryu. Aryu snatched the ball before walking towards the middle of the field in his teammate's direction. With Bachira's weariness of Zantetsu's speed, he made sure to keep his distance while Baro charged Aryu.

"Pass to me when I'm down the field," whispered Aryu, watching Baro charge him.

He slid the ball under Zantetsu's feet as he began to run down the field, leaving Baro to Zantetsu. Zantetsu horizontally sped to the right side of the centerline as Baro was two steps behind him.

"So that's what you want," smiled Zantetsu, noticing the considerable height difference compared to Bachira. Without a shadow of a doubt, he kicked the ball down the field — the ball had a hint of backspin as it rose.

"I guess your passes have gotten a little better," grinned Aryu, continuing down the field. As the ball continued its trajectory, he noticed a slight change in its direction. "I see. I'll have to go to a place where I reign supreme," he said before bending his knees, throwing his arms back, and jumping.

"How stylish," he breathed — before thrusting his head forward into the ball as the ball shot forward and caught the netting of the goal post.

Aryu and Zantetsu 4-4 Baro and Bachira

"That's pretty impressive," smiled Otoya, "I haven't seen a ton of people capable of hitting decent headers." He looked at Karasu and asked, "Have you?"

"I remember this one guy from middle school that could jump super high, but besides that, not really," replied Karasu, resting his chin in his palm.

"Pay attention. You're about to miss it," scolded Yukimiya, pointing towards the monitor.

'A double nutmeg, why aren't you passing.' Zantetsu thought, quickly catching up to him and sticking out his right leg, barely hitting the ball ahead of them. "Nice way to drag your feet!" He grinned, hoping Aryu would steal the ball.

Baro was three steps too close to the loose ball as he laughed, "Nice pass, you shitter," quickly, he ran with the ball towards the opposite side of the field.

"Game over!" He shouted, energetically kicking the ball straight into the goal.

The megaphones on the ceiling sounded, "Beep! Beep!! Beep!!! Game over! With a score of 5-4, Bachira and Baro, Win!!!"

"That was a pretty close game," chuckled Sho, stretching his arms.

"It was alright. I figured Baro's team was going to win — Zantetsu was nowhere near any of their levels," commented Karasu.

"Well, we still have an hour and a half to kill. Still wanna go practice?" Sho asked.

"Yeah, let's go! I want some tips on my footwork," grinned Otoya, running out of the monitoring room and to one of the many empty practice fields.

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Rows of tables with high-ranking Japan Football Association board members lined across the B.L Central Conference Room as a decent-sized projector shined onto a large whiteboard, showing the Second Selection of Blue Lock, displaying a handful of players hard at work.

At the front of the B.L Central Conference Room stood Anri Teirei, standing behind a wooden podium, with Jinpachi Ego by her side, sitting in a simple office chair.

"As you can see, here's the current situation of the Second Selection process. By building a personal connection between individual personalities, we can deepen each player's self-awareness and awareness of each other. Each player will end up recognizing this, creating teams, and playing together. Traditionally team directions and tactics would come from their coaches. But by having players decide for themselves, they'll be able to improve their weapons as individuals. That's how Ego and I build an independent striker with no equals. That's the core of the growth program of Blue Lock's Second Selection," ranted Anri, before taking one more deep breath, "This concludes my report."

From the back of the room, the Japan Football Association's President, Buratsuta Hirotoshi, cleared his throat with an "ahem," before interjecting. "I'll say what everyone here is thinking, but doesn't it just boil down to talent in this world? Let geniuses be themselves and leave them alone. So is Blue Lock even necessary?"

"Give us the country's next representative already!" Yelled a heavy-set male in a dark blue suit while he picked his nose.

"Hurry up and give us a genius high schooler so we can start selling his jerseys to the masses!" Shouted a skinny geezer in a white suit.

"W- We need a lit- little more time there o- only in the Second Selection," stuttered Anri.

Jinpachi irritatingly stomped his foot in the ground before rising from his seat. "How many "geniuses" have you smothered with that type of thinking? All of you create this "genius" and fill him with confidence — getting the moronic Japanese fans to obsess over him and buy his jerseys," said Ego, before pointing towards his temple. "That "genius" will have so much misplaced confidence that he'll take his talents overseas and won't be able to hurdle over the language barrier. In two to three years, they'll return back to Japan and play in some semi-professional league till they retire," Jinpachi preached before taking a seat back in his office chair.

"If we continue this cycle, Japanese soccer will forever be third-rate," he added.

"But we have operating costs! We at least need some profit," someone retorted in the crowd of cheap suits.

"Well then, answer me this... "Talent." What is it? Jinpachi cryptically questioned, raising his pointer finger. "Is talent a god-given gift? Or maybe it's supernatural athleticism. If you asked me, I'd say those are all unpolished gems. Do you understand? Blue Lock's players are betting on their futures, believing in no one but themselves, and proving to everyone that their strength is real. That's a genius — a genius I'll gamble my future on.

A lightning-sharp chill ran through Anri's spine, looking at the sheer determination in his eyes.

"All right! I'll be happily awaiting the results," remarked the J.F.A President.

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"Karasu and Otoya are already heading towards the field, so we should get ready," smiled Yukimiya, as he changed out his oval-shaped glasses for his durable sports glasses.

"Are those just for show or, are they prescribed?" Asked Sho, eyeing the sports glasses on his face.

"Nope, they're the real deal. Just in a different frame cause' I kept breaking my old ones when I was younger."

"Do you have a different case for each or, do you use the same?"

"The same," answered Yukimiya, fishing into his back pocket, showing off his case.

Sho and Yukimiya shared amused looks before running out of the practice field and towards the next big hurdle in their paths.

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Has this story died?

Thanks to the few that have read this far. I appreciate it!