A family thing

Chapter 38 Revolution

Everyone now looked at the screen with the face of the four eyes on it. 
'What did he mean by change of plans?', Yoichi thought to himself. 
"It seems that the higher ups from the Japan Football Association want to dissolve Blue Lock as fast as possible. Therefore, I dared myself to draft a challenge.", Ego continued and a hologramm apeared on his finger. "With that the next selection is in three weeks. The battle for Blue Lock's continued existence- it's a special match. U20 Japan representative versus Blue Lock eleven."
The picture of a team behind the Japanese flag and the Blue Lock building appeared. Huge capital letters of V and S seperated them. 
"If you guys win that match.", Ego adjusted his glasses. "We can become Japan's U20 representatives."
"Being able to become Japan's U20 representatives...?", Gagamaru gasped. 
"For real...?", Junichi doubted the words of the four eyes.
"He really went through this...", Raichi muttered. 
"But I'm guessing the other side thinks they won't possibly lose.", Ego continued. "Their opponents are 300 high school kids after all. On top of that, when they heard you were all forwards, they bursted out laughing and consented to the match. Our opponent's aim is to dissolve the Blue Lock project. and attract consumers through popularity of the upcoming match. In the end, Blue Lock ended up becoming a laughing stock... However." 
Ego crushed the hologramm with his hands, "As a prime example of rearing failure, we'll make history in Japanese football."
The four eyes waited a moment to let his words all sit inside his players and then continued, "And well, listening to all this, frankly, how do you all feel? Do you feel frustrated, being underestimated? Are you seething, wanting to makt them flustered? I will calmly and realistically declare this: Everyone of you, as of right now, is able to upset the world of football in Japan." 
Yoichi stared at the screen with even more interest. The speech is starting to become more interesting for him. 
"I mean, with that said, our opponents will come at us with 100% of their skill intending to win.", Ego spoke. "You guys will fight against the current members of U-20 and one other." 
The picture of Japan's uprising star appeared on the screen. Itoshi Sae. Rin looked at it in shock. Yoichi knew the reason, but decided to ignore it for now. 
"It's been decided that Sae Itoshi will be the first one summoned.", Ego explained. "Now, the time has come to put everything on the line. Here you will learn about egoism and to discover your own skill and chemical reactions. All 35 of you have experienced matches against the world's best becoming Japan's U20 reps is no longer just a dream, but a reality that is within your grasp. Let's begin you unpolished gems. The ones who'll change this generation are Blue Lock."

Kunigami was still kneeling inside the pitch where he lost to Igaguri and the other insane dude. He has still not accepted the fact that he has been defeated. Defeated by the worst player in team Z. 
"Rather than picking a naive, shitty hero, purple hair here seems like a much better choice.", the words of his opponent rang inside his head over and over again. "Let's go, Igaguri. If you can't break others, how can you possibly react with an explosion?" 
"Fuck.", Kunigami muttered and stood up to walk out of the Loser's gate. 'I lost...' 
He slammed his fist onto the concrete wall, 'Was there something lacking...?!' 
His steps hollowed inside the corridor, 'Was I wrong about something...?!' 
Another hit to the wall. 
'I couldn't even become the world's best striker...', he spoke to himself. The only light came from the arrows inside the floor that pointed to the exit. 
'So my dream will end... right here...', Kunigami tried to accept the reality that has been put upon him. Suddenly a strange arrow appeared underneath him. "Select" was written in capital letters on it. Kunigami looked up and saw that the corridor he has been following split up into two. Both lead to two gates. One of it had "Exit" written over it. The other one was named "Wild Card". 
'What is this...?', he thought. 'An exit and another entrance... wild card!?'
He stood there and thought for some seconds. 
'Why was he even thinking?', he then asked himself. The answer was more than obvious. He then took off and rushed for the gate with 'Wild Card' over it. The exit gate was meant for losers, not for Kunigami.