Ascension│Bluelock x male reader

Prologue

"Anri-san, are you sure about this?"

Ego Jinpachi sat in a black swivel chair, idly kicking off the floor and spinning himself round and round. The skinny man wasn't dressed in black for once, and wore a light brown shirt instead. "Last time someone tried it, it didn't go so well."

"Hmm?" The pink-haired woman glanced over at him. She held a small stack of papers, but put them on a nearby desk before walking over.

He turned on a computer in front of him. "I want to show you something."

"What do you mean?" Anri placed both forearms on the back of Ego's chair, leaning on it as he gestured to the screen in front of him.

"One second."

Ego's fingers rattled over the keys. He navigated to the JFU's database, entering a complex set of passwords. Multiple red flags appeared on his screen, warnings in bold text creating new windows and tinting the light from the screen a dark crimson.

[CLASSIFIED INFORMATION]

He ignored them, closing the warnings and entering another password. Gradually, the warnings disappeared, leaving behind a single folder. "Here."

THE ASCENSION PROJECT

Ego acted like he'd seen this a million times already, but to Anri, this was something new. How come she'd never been told about this? She was high up in the JFU ladder, but she'd never even heard about a project like this. "What is this?"

Ego shrugged nonchalantly. "I poked around in the database for fun. This came up from a few years ago."

Moving Ego slightly to the side, Anri stared hard at the screen.

The Ascension Project - Introduction.

One thousand talented youngsters of age 9-11 have been selected from around the country to play football for the Japanese Football Union, in one of the most prestigious, intense training camps in the entire world. The project will last two years. If you're one of the lucky few, you'll have received an email and letter with an address and time. Go there. Do not be late.

Anri clicked off the first file, scrolling all the way down to the bottom. There were hundreds of files. Pictures of a huge training complex, pictures and videos of young children playing against each other, fact files on every single player, and lists upon lists of match results.

There seemed to be endless files, photos, and video tapes. The facility looked like it was massive, and every single area of it was recorded. "What is this...?"

Her eyes narrowed on the very last file, and she double-clicked on it.

The Ascension Project - Conclusion.

This project is being closed in five weeks. The top five players were lost.

Rankings #5, #4, and #3 respectively Kaoru Mitoma, Daichi Kamada, and Takehiro Tomiyasu were bought to play for other countries.

Ranking #2 Julian Loki returned to his home country of France, to play for their national team.

Ranking #1 Y/N L/N left the Ascension project shortly after the rest. Location unknown.

The following article was taken from a media report.

The project is a 'resounding failure'. Billions of yen wasted. Parents in uproar. Hundreds of aspiring football players, their lives ruined for nothing. The worst failure of the Japanese Football Union.

The Ascension Project should be illegal. Kids in there are forced under stress like no other, forced to play, and train, and compete against each other for hours every single day. They work mere children there harder than some pro players, and nearly every single kid that has come from there is reporting signs of mental distress.

That's not even mentioning the use of drugs, the use of threats and force, and the fact that anybody removed from the Project will never be able to play for Japan again. Luckily, a lot of the kids were removed from the Project early, but some of them in there have gone through two whole years of trauma.

They go through hell in there, and for what? For better soccer skills? It isn't worth it at all.

Ego waited patiently as the pink-haired woman read the rest of the file, and spun a bit in the swivel chair to look at her head on. "This project failed miserably. It cost the JFU a huge amount of money, and sure, it ended up producing five amazing players, but all of them left."

He looked hard at Anri. "Are you sure Bluelock will work?"

"Of course I am. Bluelock is more structured, more fair, and more intense than ever." Anri Teieri gritted her teeth, spitting out the words. "Ascension was a mess. But Bluelock will change the world, I swear. I've worked so hard to get here, I don't intend to stop now."

There was a moment of silence. Ego hummed thoughtfully, glancing over at Anri. "If you say so."

"I do. Bluelock will succeed, I swear."