NIKE -Blue Lock-

Trying to live

Nagi Seishiro's storm-colored irises rose slowly, meeting Nicklaus Vinciguerra's ruby-colored ones.

He, or she whatever, had bent his knees so that his face could reach the same height as that of the white haired boy, who was lying on his stomach on the bed.

Nagi didn't immediately respond, looking carefully at the two crimson rubies embedded in the eyes of the girl, or boy, or whatever.

They were indeed the same eyes he had seen when he had come the Blue Lock, the ones that had convinced him to partecipate.

They were also the same as those of the woman who had bewitched him in the showers until he had passed out in the midst of that cloud of steam.

They were the same as the boy who had completely devoured him when Team V and Team Z had competed against each other.

And they were the same as the one he now dreamed of night after night and day after day, doing nothing but thinking about what he would do when he saw them again.

But now he, she, or whatever, was in front of him and he didn't know what to do, what to say, how to react.

"Why should I tell you?" the sleepy boy asked after long moments of silence, sinking even deeper into the pillow but not daring to look away from the person in front of him.

He was afraid that as soon as he lowered his gaze he would disappear into thin air again and he would really convince himself that he was so obsessed with Nicole that he would see her everywhere and that maybe Nicklaus was just a joke of his own imagination.

"Why not?" asked the redhead, smiling slightly and bringing his torso slightly forward so that he could rest his arms on Nagi's mattress and rest the chin on his hands.

Their faces were now extremely close, and the milky haired boy had the opportunity to see how feminine, however with sharp lines, his features were.

Nagi blinked twice.

"Cause you're her."

The girl lifted the corner of her lips at the white-haired boy's blunt and monotone answer, standing up and lightly shaking his shaggy hair.

She didn't say it aloud, but it felt like touching the fur of a Turkish Angora cat cause of how soft and fluffy his hair was.

"You're as cute as you are oblivious, Seishiro." she whispered to him with her real voice so that only he could hear her, making his eyelids open wide.

His name on her tongue was pure poetry, almost like a light and sweet lullaby sung under her breath to a heavy-sleeping child.

Nicole turned her back on him, walking toward the dormitory door and casting only a brief glance over her shoulder at him, as if to imply something, before disappearing for good into the almost empty corridors.

Nagi stared at the door for a few moments, seeing in his head those rosy lips move to say his name again and again.

He sighed heavily, closing his eyelids tightly for a few moments, needing a moment of peace and silence. Then his eyes lowered to the mattress area in front of him, where he had left his cell phone, noticing a small but very important detail.

"Oh no... my phone... is gone."

That night

There was something soothing about the water. Probably its being so calm, so quiet, so welcoming and so warm. It was probably because its volume embraced you so slowly, so carefully, that even drowning could be considered a gentle hug from death.