A family thing

Chapter 4 Blue Lock

"Oi, Sae, what are you looking at?", Luna asked his teammate and roommate. 
"The Nationals qualification tournament.", Sae answered without looking up from his laptop. 
"Hm? Why are you watching that? Wasn't nationals already the highest level of high school football in Japan?", the midfielder asked. 
"Well yes, but as you know, the qualifications for the world cup is kinda a part of the world cup. And sometimes, great players and great teams already get eliminated in that phase, like Italy this year.", the other midfielder explained. 
"Or like you.", Luna said and patted Sae's shoulder. Normally, his Japanese colleague would drop kick him right into the face, but this time, he was completely concentrating on the game right in front of him. There he saw a raven haired boy stealing the ball for a counter attack. Kageyama was the name above his number. A scissors fake and he got past the last defender. 
'Great precision.', Sae thought as he followed his play. Now he was standing in front of the goal. The only obstacle between him and the metal gate was the goalkeeper himself. 
'Shoot it.', Luna thought. Just then, Kageyama passed it to his teammate on the right, who hit the post which gave the other team the chance to win. Luna then took a closer look at the jersey. The name Kageyama did rang a bell inside of him. 
"Kageyama, huh? Sounds kinda familiar.", he spoke out his thoughts. 
"What is it?", Sae asked him with a confused look. 
"I've heard of that name before... I think... Let's see... Oh yeah! That famous volleyball player from Japan.", Luna replied with a light bulb above his head. 
"Didn't know you were into volleyball.", Sae said. 
"Well I'm not.", his teammate explained. "My brother though. You know, Raffaelo."
"Your little brother?" 
"Yes. Him. This year's birthday present I gave him was a VIP-ticket for a friendly match between Spain and Japan.", Luna continued his explaination. 
"And? How did it go?", Sae questioned him. 
"Miserable for the Spanish national volleyball team.", Luna answered. "There was this very special quick attack, nobody could react to." 
"Alright, now where is the reference to this Kageyama?", Sae paused the video and pointed to the player he meant. 
"Well, the Japanese star setter was in fact Tobio Kageyama.", the Spanish male answered and showed him a video of a random game between Japan and Brazil. 

Two days later, Yoichi stood in front of the gate of a gigantic building. 
"Wow...", he said. Japan Football Union was written in huge big letters on a golden door sign. 
"Hi. Are you here too for the Bluelock project?", a voice suddenly asked him from behind. Yoichi quickly turned around and got to look at the striker he played against in the final for the national qualification tournament. 
"Wait..., you are Yoichi Kageyama. Remember me? I'm the forward you went against. Ryosuke Kira.", the male continued. 
"Oh, it's you. That guy who scored the last goal.", Yoichi realised and pointed at him. "Of course I remember you. We lost against you in the finals." 
"Well, I had a hunch that night, that you were quite the player. That night, I thought, if this guy and I were in the same team, I'm sure I'd get some amazing passes.", Kira said. Something suddenly snapped inside of Yoichi. He was definitely not a passer. He was a striker. Not someone who was there to serve others. 
'And I thought, he'd be something great, but after all, he is just someone who is there to do tap ins.', Yoichi thought. He couldn't explain it thought. Something inside of him didn't really like Kira. After this conversation, for him, Kira was just the back board of a basketball hoop, where an easy lay up can be scored. 
"Pathetic-", an inner voice whispered inside of him. 
"Disgusting-", another one said. 
"I'm not a passer though. I'm a striker.", Yoichi answered with a kind smile. 
"Well, anyway. Let's go in, shall we?", Kira said and opened the door of the great building. 
"Yes.", Yoichi answered and followed him. They walked through the corridors. The word Bluelock was written on a sign and hung on the door to a hall. 
"There it is.", Yoichi said and pointed to a door. They quickly opened it and went in. In front of was a huge crowd of young talented high school football players. They saw Okawa, the ace from Seino and Ishikari, the tallest player in high school. All big names. Suddenly a crackle came through the speakers installed across the room. 
"Test, test.", a figure walked onto the stage. He wore glasses and had a weird nerd hair style. Overall he looked like a wooden stick judging by his body. 
"Congratulations you unpolished gems.", the figure on stage began his speech with an aggressive voice. "All you under-18 striers have been chosen solely based on my criteria and based on my criteria biases to be here today. All 300 of you." 
'Who the hell is he?', Yoichi thought. 
"Interesting-", the same voices said inside his head. 
"Sick!", another voice complimented. 
"I am Jinpachi Ego. My job is to make Japan a team capable of winning the world cup.", the man now known as Ego continued. Yoichi didn't know how to react to it. His mind is telling him that it's impossible but something inside his guts says that that man was getting into something interesting. The other teenagers in the room however, reacted quite differently. Some of them trided to stiffen a laugh, others muttered that it's impossible and a small percentage just stared at the stage. 
"I'll put it in simple terms. Japan only requires one thing to become the strongest powerhouse in football and that is the creation of a revolutionary striker from you 300 players gathered here today, I will forge the best striker in the world through a certain project.", Ego spoke again and raised his arms like Jesus. 
'Just like a villain...', Yoichi day dreamed. 
"Look here!", the man regained his attention. "For this purpose we have built this facility called Blue lock." 
A picture of a huge pentagon formed football stadium appeared on the huge screen behind Ego, which showed the Japanese flag seconds ago. 
"Starting today, all of you will all live in this building and follow down to the letter, my personally designed training regime.", Ego explained. "You will not be able to go back home and as of now can consider your football careers as you know them over." 
Shocked faces were made. Some people were even more hyped. Yoichi was one of them. 
"But I will say this. If you manage to survive Blue lock and defeat the other 299 players around you...", Ego spoke. "You, the last player standing will have become the best striker in the world." 
Silence reacted to his great speech. 
"That is all for the details.", he ended his speech. "Nice to meet you all."
"Cool~", something inside of Yoichi told him. 
"Sorry, but I can't agree with what you said just now!", Kira suddenly shouted. 
"Naive.", his gut told Yoichi. 
"For most of us, our team is our main priority. Particularly those of us who had participated at nationals.", Kira continued. "There's no way, I can accept such kinds of terms. I will definitely not throw away my own team." 
"That's right! Without my team, I'm nothing!", another boy shouted. 
"He's right! Football is a team sport after all!", the others agree. More and more people started to discuss. 
"I see. All of you are really fucked in the head, huh?", Ego stopped the great discussion. "Well, get lost then. If you don't want to stay, just leave. The door is right there." 
"Nice! Oh, this is so exciting.", Yoichi's inner voice shouted. 
"Your teams are what now?", Ego spoke again. "You'd really choose your teams over becoming the best striker in the world? You'd rather be a unimportant high school champ in this shithole of a country? Pathetic!"
The four eyes then looked around, "When I look at all of you, I cringe at the thought of Japan's football future. You get it? Japan is the best country in the world when it comes to organizational skills in football  which most people attribute to our innate national character." 
"Oh, nice, nice, nice!!!", another voice shouted inside Yoichi's head. 
'Where do all those strange voices come from?", he thought. 
"But before you get any ideas, in everything else, we're secondrate.", Ego ranted and pulled Yoichi out of his train of thoughts. "I want to know something, what is football to all of you, huh? A sport where you try to score goals in teams of 11 members? Stupid slogans like 'Our bonds are important?' or 'Iwill play for my teammates?' Well that's just utterly pathetic and naive. That way of thinking is exactly why Japan lacks football skills. I will show you what football really is. You pathetic assholes."