A Pointless Fruit

Third Stage: Public Bath Area

The mist-filled room kept both Bachira and Baro unable to see the ground below them. Each took small steps forward until Bachira gasped, "I found it. The bath is over here."

Equipped with nothing more than a towel, covering his private area, and a small brush, Baro followed the sound of Bachira's voice towards the lukewarm bath.

"To your right!" Called Bachira, gesturing his hand towards him.

"Thanks." Awkwardly and silently said Baro before laying his towel onto the wooden ledge next to him and lowering himself into the bubble-filed hot tub.

"Nya ha, they were so tough, my arm muscles grew," chuckled Bachira, referring to their competition and flexing his biceps.

"Put those noodles down. You're not impressing anybody," sighed Baro, laying his head back against the wall.

"You know if any other games are happening tonight?"

"What makes you think I know you, idiot."

"Whatever," exhaled Bachira, dipping his head into the warm water, "Watch this."

He put both his index and middle fingers together in a cross before lowering himself into the water and saying, "Kage Bushin No Jutsu," all the while blowing bubbles.

"Stop spitting in the bath!" Shouted Baro, pointing him out.

The mist-filled room made it hard to see what he was doing but, he audibly heard the light splashes in the water. Then suddenly, the figure of a tall player emerged from the mist.

"That disgusting behavior isn't very stylish," commented Aryu, as he emerged from the fog, filing his black painted nails.

"You're always fashionably late — will you ever show up on time? My fingers are starting to get pruney!" Grumbled Bachira, looking at his poor fingers.

Aryu kept filing his nails down while he ignored Bachira's remark. He hesitantly dipped his toes in the water below before sitting atop a wooden ledge, immersing his lower half into the warm water. The ends of his long mid-back length black hair followed his lower extremities into the water as he covered his groin with a towel.

"That's your fault. Have you never stayed in a hot tub for more than ten minutes?" Asked Aryu, blowing on his filed nails

"Of course not. I was too busy outside," answered Bachira, getting out of the warm bath, "We've got fifteen minutes until the next game starts, so I'll see you guys in the monitoring room."

"Remember that promise you made right before I picked you?" Cryptically asked Baro, "You won't break it, will you?

"Of course not. A person as stylish as me would never break promises," replied Aryu, nervously looking away from Baro.

"Let's hope not," said Baro, stepping out of the warm bath and grabbing his towel from the wooden ledge next to him, wrapping it around his waist. He followed Bachira's footsteps out of the mist-filled room as he grabbed another towel from a nearby rack and wrapped it around the top of his head.

-(Scene Break)-

From the inside of the room, Bachira heard a faint knock on the steel gate behind him. He pranced up to the entrance and strugglingly opened the metal gate to the monitoring room, ushered everyone in, and gestured them to take their seats. With the remote in hand, Bachira powered the one hundred-inch monitor on and went through the only three channels in Blue Lock until he found a channel broadcasting a digital clock. The digital clock rhythmically counted down from ten minutes as everyone in the room got comfy in their seats.

-(Scene Break)-

A medium-sized monitor overlooked everyone in the small locker room as Ryuu got up from his seat and walked towards the narrow tunnel towards the empty arena. While Ryuu slowly walked down the narrow concrete-walled tunnel, Sho simultaneously emerged from his side of the field and aimlessly looked up towards the scoreboard.

"Hey Sho, what are you doing on the field? We still have ten minutes until kickoff." Called-out Ryuu, gaining the attention of Sho

"I could ask you the same thing," said Sho, "the two of us are rivals now."

"You're absolutely right. I just wanna make sure of one thing." Said Ryuu, trotting up to Sho.

Ryuu crossed his arms and mischievously smirked, "That little copy thing you do won't be enough, so I hope you've —"

"That's perfect, so that means you won't freeze up in shock like everyone else. You're making this even more exciting. Here's to having an amazing match," smiled Sho, raising his closed fist, offering a fist bump.

Ryuu slapped his fist away, declining the fist bump, and turned away from Sho, walking back to his team's locker room. That's all he needed. That last interaction was all he needed to reassure himself of his resolve. No unsettling feelings rose from the shadows — no feelings of doubt or uncertainty. Only absolute confidence in his weapons and the ability to crush anyone beneath his foot.

A half-hearted chuckle escaped from Sho as someone abruptly interrupted him from behind.

"Will you get back in here? We need to come up with a plan, "asked Karasu, gazing at Ryuu's receding silhouette, "Were you arguing with our opponents?"

"No, of course not — just a friendly greeting," responded Sho, walking away from the center circle of the field towards Karasu, "Besides that, I could've sworn you said we didn't need a plan."

"Yeah, and I standby that. It's Yukimiya who's pestering everyone about it,' complained Karasu, walking shoulder to shoulder with Sho down the concrete-walled tunnel, back towards the locker room.

"Could you guys pick up the pace?! We're on limited time here," barked Yukimiya, peeking his head out from the locker room.

""Yeah, yeah,"" they both said, jogging across the tunnel and into their compact locker room.

"Before we begin, I'd like to say that I was in a little bit of a time crunch with scouting out the opponent's weapons but, I've got the gist of their abilities. The first threat on their team is Nagi. With his perfect ball control and timely traps, he's an easy top ten in all of Blue Lock. Secondly, we have, Isagi. His defense is sub-par at best, but his adaptability to his teammates and mostly plays is second to none. His overall shooting is also nothing to scoff at — with his most threatening weapon being his 'Direct Shot' but, besides that, I don't see anything else to worry about. Thirdly we Reo, the 'Jack of All Trades.' He can do everything at a reasonably high level, from his passing, shooting, dribbling, and even ball control."

"And lastly, Ryuu," interjected Sho, crossing his arms and laying back into the cold lockers.

"Yes. . . Ryuu, that's where I ran into a tiny problem. Remember how I said I was in a time crunch when I was watching some of their games?"

"Yeah?" replied Karasu, scratching his knee.

"Well. . . Ryuu happened to be the last and least person I watched. But from what I remember from his film, he seems to have the ability to react to situations with near-superhuman speed. That's the only plausible answer I could come up with," said Yukimiya.

"What the hell do you mean superhuman speed?" asked a puzzled Sho.

"Near-superhuman speed." corrected Yukimiya, "I may be wrong but, the little footage I did watch of him showed traits of his crazy reaction speed. I watched him skillfully steal the ball four different times and score four out of five of his team's goals."

Otoya unapologetically sighed in boredom from this entire conversation. In his mind, this wasn't anything to worry about.

"Then what is there to worry about? We should just stick you to him then," smiled Karasu, unknowingly agreeing with Otoya.

"That's what I was about to get to — the match-ups," said Yukimiya.

"Keep it short and sweet we've only got two and a half minutes," confirmed Sho, retying his cleats.

"Well, like Karasu said I'll, be targeting Ryuu. Karasu'll guard Isagi. Sho, you've got Reo, and Otoya'll get Nagi." said Yukimiya, keeping it short and sweet.

The megaphones equipped in the corners of the locker room sounded on as Jinpachi Ego's was heard.

"We're about two minutes away until the start of the game, so begin to make your way towards the field," instructed Jinpachi.

Everyone got up from their seats and strode out of the locker room — everyone but Sho. Sho remained seated on the cold bench, with his eyes closed, peacefully thinking of every possible outcome this match could have.

'A crushing defeat. A close, well-fought match. A flawless victory. Any of these are acceptable, as long as I score.'

Sho pupils dilated then rapidly shrunk. His shrunken pupil then unraveled into a ripple pattern, slowly spreading over his irises. This sudden change triggered the color of his eyes to change to a cool purple hue — showing off his once forgotten weapon.

The Mimic.