Team X's striker

"That blind fucker! I knew that I should've been more wary of him." Yanagi yelled to no one in particular, smashing his fist against his locker in frustration. 

"At least we didn't lose... We played well.." Sugiyama's frail whisper was swallowed whole by the tempest of chaotic voices echoing throughout the changing room. 

"As my little brother said, you should all shut up. We played great and next time we will play even greater!" Sugiyama's brother spoke up, his voice coming louder than he expected. 

"I never said tha-" Akira's loud applause cut him off, "That's the spirit, I played amazingly!" His laughter boomed across the room, making the frail sugiyama flinch. 

'I can't believe those two are brothers.' Miyata sighed internally as he watched the older brother take off his shirt while the youngest looked around anxiously as he nudged closer to his brother, comparing those two was like comparing a kitten with a full-grown Jaguar. 

"It feels so damn frustrating to lose to those fucking nobodies. I don't care anymore, let's change our positions for the next game, let me be a winger, or at the very least a midfielder. I won't accept such an ending again." Yanagi said through gritted teeth, clearly still affected by the earlier last-second goal. 

"I also believe we should switch things up," Miyata added. "Now that we know everyone's level, I think it would be more logical to base it on merit. If you deserve to be the striker then you'll be the striker, and if you keep lazing around then you'll end up as the goalkeeper." 

"Mhm.. About that... I want to volunteer." A timid voice muttered from behind the blonde-haired boy. 

Miyata turned around to see the owner of the unknown voice, only to be met by what could only be described as a creepy, slender man, towering over him by at least a whole head. His neatly shaven beard made him look more like a 20-year-old university student rather than a 17-year-old high schooler. 

"Michio? You want to be our keeper?" Miyata asked, making sure he didn't mishear the faint whisper of the boy named Michio. 

"Yes... I want to help our team win, I hate feeling useless." He replied, his tone a little more confident this time. 

His intervention inspired more and more players to speak up and voice their opinions, and slowly every position started to fill in, with everyone agreeing that merit should be what determines the role someone will have in the next match, things went a lot more smoothly. 

Soon enough, the only spots left empty were the 2 midfielder positions, the left wing, and finally the striker. 

"I think the siblings should've been defenders." Akira spat out, still feeling spiteful about them ignoring him and playing by themselves at the start of the game. 

"We already filled up the defender spots, but I do agree that the siblings fucked up, although their link-up plays are too great of a weapon to be wasted," Yanagi added. 

"Alright, then the siblings are both going to join you in the midfield, take good care of them," Miyata said with a smile as he noted down everyone's new role in his notebook. 

"Heh, now I guess the last two positions are already obvious." Yanagi snickered, his typical annoyed look didn't budge, but he was satisfied with his new chance to shine as a midfielder. 

"Indeed, I'll be the left wing. And I believe we can all agree on who deserves the most to be the striker after our last match." Miyata announced with a small smile, his eyes drifting towards the boy who was sitting alone on the other side of the room, the young boy was sitting in the furthest corner of the room, his face forming into a frown as he blankly stared at an empty spot in the ground. 

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*Jude's POV*

I was more than pleased by the current turn of events, getting the chance to play against one of the best players in Japan—someone who can rival me, was a dream I wouldn't of believed coming true a few months ago.

The level of the players I had to face this past year was so pathetic that I even started doubting that the players shown in my past life memories existed in this world, the thought of it all being a dream crossed my mind more than once.

I had no way of knowing if I would actually be selected for the Blue Lock project, I had close to no information as to how the selection process was done. The fact that I have lived most of my life outside of Japan didn't help my case either. Although now that it's done, I couldn't be any happier, I'm certain that I made the right choice, coming here allowed me to finally get a glimpse of what I'll have to face in the future. 

It also allowed me to get a glimpse at what I might become capable of in the future. Looking at the translucent screen that appeared in front of me after noticing the many questions I had in mind at the end of the game, my face unconsciously contorted into a frown mixed in with an awkward smile. 

[With the player's ego evolving, the [Eyes of the Lord] special weapon evolved as well, it now allows the user to detect intense emotions of the people around him.]

'So that's what happened with Yukimiya. If only I knew about it earlier, I might've been able to change the outcome of the game.' I thought to myself before finally shaking my head.

I didn't want to lie to myself, although knowing about this in advance would've been nice, I knew that my current self would be unable to hold his own against Yukimiya when he's in his awakening state. 

But I'll be sure to make it change. Thanks to this game I now have 20 random points I can use, and also a new D-rank special weapon.

[Quick pass:

Rank D

When doing a first-touch pass, increases the passing stats by +1]

I was planning to keep my points for when I reached a wall I couldn't overcome in my stats, but screw that! I will walk all over the first selection and prove that I deserve my place here.