NIKE -Blue Lock-

On the loose

Ego stopped moving the mouse.
Noel shifted his gaze to Chris.
Chris bit his tongue.

Slowly, the black-haired man spun the chair around again, now looking face to face with the blond-haired man who seemed unable to move from his position.

Chris did not show it, but in his head he was thinking of every possible scenario.

He told me not to bring this subject back to light, and he threatened to accuse me of willfully touching her body if I told anyone... so did I just reveal to Noel Noa Nicklaus' secret?

"I beg your pardon?" the director asked in a cautious, slow tone, his large, round eyes wide and fixed in blue ones, unable to close.

"So I was right, you do know." interjected Noel with a quizzical expression, thinking back to the suspicious way the blond had emphasized the masculine pronoun when referring to the redhead.

The other striker's intervention made Chris sigh internally, grateful to know that he would not be stung for letting Nicklaus' true gender slip through his fingers.

The last thing he needed was to be accused of sexual harassment.

"This is annoying, so annoying." muttered Ego, losing the disturbing look and letting it contract into a mask of annoyance.

He turned back to the screens, pressing the keyboard more violently than normal as he continued to mutter things like "it's too risky" or "how many damn contracts will I have to print" or "yeah, why don't we say it to the entire world at this point?" and other things that were possible to imagine even without getting inside his head.

Chris ignored the director, giving his attention to Noel, who had one leg crossed over the other and his back rested elegantly but relaxed against the back of his chair.

He did not seem to be upset by the situation.

"How long have you known?" the blond asked, drawing the Bastard München coach's cold eyes to himself.

The latter did not answer immediately, watching his colleague's face distractedly. Then, after a small sigh, he returned his gaze to the director.

"The day she officially joined my team, I think." he replied, but without appeasing the curiosity of the eccentric blond, who now demanded to know something even more important.

"Who is she?"

Noel did not look at him, his eyes fixed on the screen on which Ego was working.

"You do know the answer to that." he said, however, making the blond man frown, who clearly did not know the answer.

At least he thought he didn't.
But when he too aimed his gaze at the screen, he realized that the number one striker was indeed right and that he did know the answer to that question.

"Here's to you, Nicklaus Vinciguerra..."

After all, how could he forget those eyes.

"...better known as Nicole Vinciguerra."

The eyes of victory.

Somewhere else in Blue Lock...

"Damn, if I were a ball would you also look at me so intensely?"

Nicole looked up from the ball she had not yet hit, pointing her static red eyes into the bright, fuchsia-lit ones.

Shidou had peered at her for several minutes from the entrance to one of the rooms reserved for individual soccer practice. He had peered at her while she did nothing but peer just as intently at a ball a few feet away from her.