Chapter 4 - King of Dribble

The days following the entrance test were a nightmare—running tests, jumping, weightlifting. It would be easy for me if it weren't for my left knee. The pain during the runs is intense, but that's not will make me stop. The food is garbage; precisely because I was the player with the lowest rank, I only ate tasteless, repetitive food.

The sleeping quarters were the worst of all. My designated spot was between Raichi and Igarashi; one kicked me, and the other snored louder than a police siren.

"I'm never going to sleep."

Out of nowhere, something pulls my leg during the night; death had finally come for me.

"Hey! Come with us, Arthur!" Bachira whispered.

"Are you crazy? It's late; I need to sleep."

"I think it's easier for you to sleep on the football field than here."

I guess he's right.

"Alright, let's go."

As soon as we arrived at the field, I saw Isagi; he was practicing dribbling through cones, looking focused.

"Isagi! Look who I said is also similar to us," Bachira shouts.

"Oh, so he's the one you said has a 'monster'?" Isagi said.

"So you mentioned this craziness to Isagi too; I thought you were kidding with me at that time,"

"Pleasure, Arthur! We haven't talked much yet, but I noticed that you're injured." As soon as Isagi says this, Arthur widens his eyes.

"How did you notice?!"

"I observed during the runs that your tiredness wasn't due to lack of stamina like mine; you seemed to be limping a bit, running strangely."

Damn, I thought I was faking it well; it seems someone has already noticed that I'm injured.

"You mean, it was obvious that you were injured." Bachira starts juggling.

"What do you mean, obvious?"

"You haven't touched a ball since the day of dodgeball. And you could see that you looked at them with an uncontrollable thirst for the game, something was holding you back."

These guys... they have good perception.

"But why are we here?"

"Let's play a game; I call it 'King of Dribble.'" Bachira makes a strong pass towards Arthur.

Arthur chests it and starts juggling too, "And how does this work?".

"Simple, whoever has the ball is the prince, the other two are the usurpers. If you steal the ball, you become the prince; if someone manages to keep the ball for 30 seconds, they're the King of Dribble!"

As soon as the explanation ends, Isagi tries to surprise me with a tackle. I give the ball a light touch, making him miss.

"If that's the game, I'll use it to learn as much from you guys as possible," He says with a focused look.

"This is going to be interesting." Arthur stretches his leg.

The game was intense; Bachira and Isagi constantly came at me without giving me a break. I continued to dribble the ball with short and quick movements. In less than 10 seconds, they cornered me in the pitch.

"Now!"

Both of them lunged at me; I saw no other option and did a nutmeg to escape the marking, controlled it with my thigh, and left the ball on the ground. Instead of running, I decided it would be better to just face the incessant tackles with short dribbles and ball control at the right moment.

"You can be as good as me, Arthur!" Bachira slides in with a two-footed tackle towards Arthur.

I lift the ball with a touch; Bachira slides past with the tackle, and Isagi appears to steal the ball. With a gentle touch lifting my right leg, I nutmeg him.

Arthur starts juggling. "28... 29... 30!" I guess I'm the King of Dribble.

"Yeah, you need real markers to take the ball from him; you were right, Bachira." Isagi wipes the sweat from his face and helps Bachira up from the tackle.

"Yeah, two attackers won't take the ball from him even if we stay here all night."

"I have to try to sleep; I need my leg to recover before we have any games here." Arthur takes a shot from midfield, where they were standing, the ball goes forcefully towards the crossbar, hitting it squarely. "See you tomorrow, guys!"

"Is he as good as you in dribbling, Bachira?"

"Maybe better, did you notice?"

"Yes... He only used his right leg the whole time."

"Hope he is rightfooted, if it was his wrong foot dribbling us like that..."

"Impossible... Isn't it?"

The next day, our ranks were updated. I moved up 25 positions, going to 275. But that was only the number of people eliminated; there are 5 different zones with teams from B to Z. I'm in the worst of the 5 zones, in the worst of the teams, in the worst position on the team; it must be a joke.

After a few days, we would have our first game within Blue Lock. I thought it was stupid for a bunch of attackers to have to form a team, but as long as I was the attacker, I didn't care. The problem is that...

"Rock... Paper... Scissors!"

"Arthur was eliminated in the first round! Last to choose position!"

"Shit."

After a few rounds...

"Isagi is the Rock Paper Scissors champion, you can choose any position you want!"

"Well... I'll let Arthur choose in my place."

The whole room is surprised.

"Now I'm no longer indebted to you, Arthur; you saved me during the entrance exam." Isagi extends his hand to Arthur, who shakes hands with him.

"I have permission to devour you and use you to improve my football without remorse now."

What a weird guy, but I felt like he meant it.

"So what position are you going to play, Arthur?"

"I'm going to play Right Wing."

Ego appears on the screen, explaining how the games will work in our block. A match against all the other 4 teams, the top 2 teams after the 10 matches will qualify, the other 3 will be eliminated, only the top scorer from each of the eliminated teams will be saved.

"The first game will be in 2 hours, Team Z against Team X." Says Ego, turning off the screen.

In short, no matter how good the team is, if you're the best attacker, you won't die, and I'm sure I am. Now it's time for the game.

END OF CHAPTER.