NIKE -Blue Lock-

Dessert

He was sitting with his legs crossed in a butterfly pose, a rather childish posture for a man in his thirties.

"I will use all of you to make money."

Typical. Nicole thought, already familiar with the idea of having to be a money-making machine for someone else.

The 30-year-old turned his face toward the screens as he pointed at something that the girl was not really interested in looking at a that moment.

"You will be inspected live worldwide by football club owners, who will assign you an economic value based on your performance-"

"So I'm your product."

Ego froze at the girl's interruption, and suddenly the air became irrespirable. The atmosphere became heavy, and oxygen seemed to lack.

Slowly, almost as if he were fighting two hands that wanted to hold his face still, he turned his gaze toward her.

The devil.

In her eyes seemed to flow the blood of tortured souls after a battlefield, and seemed to burn a cold fire coming from hell. Her expression was as glacial and impassive as that of a soulless, heartless machine.

He bit the inside of his cheek, feeling the pressure build more and more as he sank into the blood inside those retinas, almost feeling its thick fluid around his skin as he was submerged by it.

But then, out of nowhere, an amused smile appeared on the those devil's red lips.

"So we kinda are the characters of a TV show. That's hilarious. Can't wait to see that shark teeth blondie when he finds out that his swearing is being recorded live worldwide." joked the girl, bursting out laughing and shifting her gaze to the still lit screens.

Ego said absolutely nothing, trying to comprehend what had just happened. He peered very cautiously at the young champion, slowly recovering from the tense moment, still unsure if it had been there or if he only had felt it.

"A business psycho you are."

The black-haired man nodded very slowly, responding as normally as possible to the redhead's comment, putting the incident on the back burner.

"A brilliant move of mine, I know. But now your identity is even more at risk than before." he stated, pointing with a movement of his head to the screens, inciting the redhead to look in that direction.

Nicole raised an eyebrow, resting her cheek on her palm as she really looked to the indicated monitor.

"On that screen are all the cameras reserved for the show. What do you notice?" He asked, as his black eyes carefully studied the young woman's untranslatable, impassive profile.

"There are no bathrooms, no locker rooms, and no bedrooms." she stated, receiving a nod of agreement from him.

"That's right. For privacy reasons, we cannot record you in your intimate spaces. Those are the blind spots, use that information as you see more fit." the 30-year-old said, turning his whole body back to the screens and starting to push a few buttons on the keyboard.

"Ah, yeah. For additional security, I was forced to have our own cameras installed in the bedrooms as well." he informed her without looking at her, causing a mischievous and amused smile to appear on the redhead's lips.

She knew very well that what had forced him was the clandestine fucking with Shidou Ryusei.

"Oh come on mum, I swear it was protected." she joked, leaning forward with her upper body to get closer, looking at him with a derisive and joking manner.