Ascension│Bluelock x male reader

45. Weapons

"I'm sure you're all wondering. Why was Sae Itoshi here, in Bluelock? And why did Y/N L/N go with him?"

Later that night, the now 34 players sat in a classroom-like room. Rows of seats faced a screen, each one with a table in front of them. The tallest people sat at the back, the shortest at the front.

On the screen at the front, Ego Jinpachi was sat in his normal chair. He wore the exact same black shirt as normal. "Well, it's a simple answer. Sae has expressed displeasure with the quality of the Japanese U-20 team."

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Ego. "So a compromise was made. Sae would get to choose one Japanese player to play with him, on the U-20 team. If we didn't agree to the terms, he wouldn't play, and therefore the match would be cancelled. So I did."

"Sae didn't choose any of the professional Japanese players. He didn't choose any retired players, up and coming talents, or any of you. No, out of the entire country, Sae chose Y/N L/N." Ego observed the reactions in the room with a cold gaze. 

"Y/N L/N will play against Bluelock, for the U-20 team."

"I'm sure you're confused. Why him and not you?" A few players nodded. "Aside from the fact that he scored three goals completely solo against the World Five, this is where what I was talking about earlier comes into play."

The screen switched off Ego's image, turning into a digital timeline. The Bluelock logo, labelled underneath as 'current time', was in December. "Remember how I said Bluelock is the second attempt to train talent?"

The timeline changed, going back eight years. A new logo popped onto the screen, one of a shrine. Like one they would see in temples, a podium dedicated to some obscure god. "Eight years ago, on the same day that Bluelock began, there was another project, run by the government themselves in a pathetic attempt to invest in the growing soccer market. They called it the Ascension Project."

The screen changed. An audio file played, filling the room with a quiet, hopeless voice. It was dated six years ago.

"Ascension, day seven hundred and fifty three." It was a man's voice, low, tired, and completely out of energy. "That's it. It's over... they've had enough. They're shutting down Ascension."

There was a long pause, a shaky breath. "I... We should've expected this. It was already getting bad, losing out on Kaoru, Daichi, and Takehiro. But they were only the third, fourth and fifth ranked. It could still continue, but like I said last week, it was Julian Loki leaving that pushed the government over the edge. We spent so much money on him, and he just left us all for France. Ungrateful brat."

"And now they're investigating." The voice sighed, a rush of static coming through the microphone. "They say we're not allowed to do what we do. They're calling it illegal. They don't realise what we're trying to do here. They don't understand us!"

It raised suddenly. A few boys jumped with surprise at the sudden outburst. The man in the file was breathing heavily. "They don't understand it. They want to jail us. Kuroi is safe, that bastard. But the rest of us are going down the drain. They're trying to take Y/N away from us! He's all we have to show... he's staying right here."

The man sounded rabid. He was breathing heavily, his voice growing with intensity the longer he spoke. "I'm not going to jail. I'm not. They say the project was unsuccessful, don't they? Well, I have the proof that it was! Who cares if we lost everyone else, we've done it. We have what we came for."

"Y/N... he's the last one. Everyone else is gone. So the project is finished. He's beaten Ascension." There was a soft chuckle, laced with venom. "Take that, idiots! You think just because you're shutting us down, you've stopped us? Even if we're all dead, as long as Y/N lives, it's proof! We succeeded."