I NEED TO STUDY FOR MY EXAM BUT IDEAS KEEPS COMING TO ME AND IT MAKES GO CRAZY
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Absurd how in the same place, a simple line could divide the air into two zones.
Because outside that rectangular-shaped line, the people were going into a frenzy.
Outside that bubble, fans were shouting, screaming, smiling excitedly, and insulting players who did not make a movement that those misfits assumed was more suitable.
As if they were the ones on the field.
Inside that bubble, no one dared to speak. No one dared to let their guard down; everyone was silent waiting for the whistle to start the chaos.
The Blue Lock players were anxious, and not so much because the scoreboard signaled that they were losing. No: it was something behind them that made them break into a cold sweat as a chill ran down their entire spine.
On the other side of the field, the U-20 team was in no better shape.
"What the hell man..." whispered the team's ace, number 11 Shuto Sendo, carefully watching the expressions of the boys in front of him.
"The tension excites me even more, it feels like a bomb that's ticking." commented Shidou aloud, never shifting his gaze from the girl's slightly downcast face, anxiously waiting to meet her eyes, at that moment covered by her hair.
"Don't get too excited, little demon." replied Sae, imperceptibly tightening his lips, carefully studying that motionless figure who had not spoken to anyone much less looked at anyone since he had entered the field.
Rin briefly cast a glance over his own shoulder, glancing sidelong at the red-haired boy's figure before looking back in front of him.
His heart was pounding in his chest. If he had intended to use him before, now his brain could not suggest how to do so.
Almost as if it were not possible.
The whistle interrupted the noisy thoughts of the football players, and suddenly all the shouts, cries, cheers, and choruses reentered the players' ears.
Rin gave the kick-off, moving quickly forward.
Sweat trickled down his face, and drops grazed his lips, forcing him to feel the salty taste of the liquid. He dodged the opposing team's first forward, passing the ball to Isagi as soon as he saw him nearby.
Unfortunately for him, however, his biggest nightmare appeared before the pass could arrive to the bluenette.
"Too bad..." muttered Sae boredly, his eyes still fixed on the figure who had not hinted at moving across the field.
The pink-haired boy sprinted forward, causing Rin to curse and forcing him to turn back to mark his brother.
Sae's eyes flicked to the blonde-haired boy, seeing him run quickly to the right side of the field. With a precise kick, he passed the ball to him in such a way that it was right in front of his eyes.
Shidou gritted his teeth and his eyes focused on the girl, meeting the gaze of the devil herself.
The girl's expression was enough to arouse him to the point where, although he was still far from the perfect distance for his shot, he kicked the ball with a powerful right kick, scoring the goal.
—— 4–2 ——
"Oh shit, shit shit. Her gaze is like cocaine." muttered Shidou with wide eyes and bright irises, immediately shifting his stare to her.
"YOU'VE SEEN IT, GUYGAL. YOU ARE THE FIRE THAT SETS OFF MY FUSE."
Nah what the fuck...
Shidou quickly approached her, ignoring Sae's gaze that was probably telling him to return to his post.
He grabbed her face with his hands, pressing his forehead against hers, setting his bright rhodonite gems with those lightless rubies of hers.
His labored breathing warmed against her calm, steady one as his grip on her cheekbones tightened.
Suddenly, Shidou's thumb sensed the presence of a cut, and as soon as the boy lightly removed his hand from the girl's right cheek, he noticed the red line he had not seen from afar.
"What the-"
A hand in his hair forced him to block out his profanity, and his eyes darted back into the blood-red ones of the girl in front of him.
"Let's blow this whole place up, Shidou." she whispered with her lips almost against his, making the boy vibrate with excitement and forget about the wound.
The blond brought his lips close to the redhead's, brushing against them as their foreheads pressed against each other.
Suddenly someone grabbed the boy from behind, pulling him away from the redhead.
"Stay away, pervert." said Barou through clenched teeth, probably because he was now aware that the boy was actually a girl, pushing Shidou away.
The blond's eyes, however, remained fixed on the girl, lighting up as soon as he saw her lips mimic a "boom."
Barou lowered his gaze to the feminine face, noticing nothing but her impassive, blank expression, her eyes darker than usual.
"You good, shrimp?" he asked in his deep voice, imperceptibly widening his eyes as soon as he saw those narrow, blind pupils pointing at him from under her long lashes.
"Go to your post, number 13."
The order that came from her sounded like that of a heartless and merciless dictator.
Barou gritted his teeth, turning and walking toward his assigned place as the right wing.
Nicole turned her face slightly, meeting the gaze already focused on her of Ego, who was staring at her from the stands reserved for them.
The 30-year-old lost a beat as he leaned his upper body forward and rested his elbows on his knees. His hand trembled imperceptibly.
She was about to start.
The resume whistle caused play to resume, and immediately the U-20 forward took possession of the ball.
"PRODIGY BOY!" he shouted to get Sae's attention, passing him the ball as soon as he saw him coming to his left, and avoiding being attacked by Isagi.
Isagi directed some profanity at the boy, immediately sprinting toward Sae and futilely trying to catch up or mark him.
Sae did not even pay him any attention, dodging both him and the boy who had the same last name as him, subsequently passing the ball to the demon who was running a few meters away.
"OH YES BABE." shouted Shidou, before his eyes turned dark and his pace quickened.
He dodged all his enemies with ease, moving unpredictably and avoiding their every step. He froze only when in front of him he found Blue Lock's copycat, Reo Mikage, who who knows how he had managed to copy the U-20 captain's position.
"Uh, you're so unoriginal, you purple bun." Shidou teased him, seeing Sae and preparing to pass him the ball.
A movement in the atmosphere made the blonde shiver, and at that moment, raising his eyes beside him, his pink irises met red ones only inches away.
"Let's boom together, punk." whispered the girl, immediately disappearing from his sight and starting to run to the opposite side from Shidou's.
The blond let a manic, quivering smile escape and, instead of hitting the ball with the inside of his foot to direct it toward Sae, he struck it with his heel.
Reo and Sae's eyes went wide, not understanding what had gone through the tanned boy's unpredictable head.
Sae's gaze immediately followed the trajectory of the ball, realizing only then that it had been caught by the red-haired figure.
He passed it to the redhead...
Without waiting another moment Shidou turned, starting to run after the girl with a manic smile and blind eyes.
Nicole didn't even acknowledge him with her eyes, moving quickly among all the players, whether they belonged to Blue Lock or U-20, zigzagging among them.
Arriving in the opponent's defensive wing she passed the ball to the blond, sprinting past the central defender and approaching the goal post.
The defenders did not react, seeing that the ball was in the possession of one of their team anyway.
However, against all their expectations, the damn player hit the ball hard, directing it exactly in front of the girl.
At that point, too surprised and shocked to react, they watched with wide eyes as the number 1's shin sank into the ball and, after blinking, it was too late.
—— 4–3 ——
"AND WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GOAL FROM THE BLUE LOCK'S NEW ENTRY." shouted one of the two commentators enthusiastically, watching the replay of the last action for a second time.
"BUT WHAT JUST HAPPENED? DID SHIDO RYUSEI HELP THE OPPONENT? IS THAT A TRADE?" asked the second commentator as shocked as he was excited, knowing full well that such a thing would attract even more listeners.
The audience erupted into a frenzy, rising from their seats and shouting, it was not known whether insults or cheers, after the beautiful goal they had just seen.
Sae stared wide-eyed at the scene, watching the boy he had taken from the Blue Lock jump on the redhead and hold him close.
"WE DID IT, GUYGAL. WE MADE THE BOOM." shouted Shidou with adrenaline in his body, bursting out laughing excitedly and tightening his embrace as he clasped his hands behind her back.
Nicole's eyes widened at the gesture, and she bit her lip to hold back a scream, deciding to press her face against the blond boy's neck and suppress it there.
Amid the unmitigated screams of the crowd, no one would hear her own of pain.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?" shouted a defender, Kazuma Kio, approaching the captain with a look that was as pissed off as it was shocked.
Oliver didn't respond, keeping his eyes fixed on the red-haired figure whose face he could not see, frowning slightly with a strange sense of foreboding.
"I don't know..." he whispered more to himself than to his teammate, patting him on the shoulder to invite him to let it go.
"I knew that guy was crazy, but this just doesn't make sense." the goalkeeper, Gen Fukaku, said through gritted teeth, frustrated that he had let his guard down in front of the two kids.
Sae arrived in front of the hugging pair, stopping a few meters away from them with an impassive, serious look.
"What happened, little demon?" he asked aloud, causing Shidou to look up and smile maniacally.
"Victory has spoken to me." he replied enthusiastically, causing Sae's eyelids to tighten imperceptibly and his gaze to shift to the red hair of the boy he wanted at first.
"Victory..." repeated Sae, taking a step to approach the redhead, failing, however, to speak to him as soon as a fourth figure entered the scene.
Nagi gently grasped the hem of Nicole's shirt, pulling it slightly.
"Let's go." he stated in an impassive, monotone tone, pulling her away from the blond and back to his side of the team.
Sae's teal eyes didn't detach themselves for a moment from number 1's back, while Shidou's nonsensical words kept repeating like an echo in his head.
Victory has spoken to me...
Nagi cast a glance at the figure he was towing, noting the low stare and the face pointed toward the ground below them.
He tightened his lips slightly, deciding not to start a conversation knowing it would be a pain for the girl.
Once again at the starting point, Nicole released a slow breath, slowly raising her gaze to all the backs in front of her.
Her eyes blind, her expression blank, her mind without thought as her narrowed pupils analyzed every inch of the field in front of her. Her irises had never been duller than then.
Resume whistle, Blue Lock's kick-off.
Rin sprinted forward, running desperately forward and avoiding people in his path. Fury burned in his eyes as he thought back to the goal the redhead had just managed to score against the Sae - Shidou pair, proving once again that he was superior to him.
Too caught up in his grudge against both the peach colored haired boy and the blood colored haired one, he didn't notice the towering figure of the king appear before him and steal the ball.
"I've been wanting to score ever since we entered this fucking stadium, you dipshits." Barou said in his gravelly voice, taking possession of the game and advancing with big stride toward the penalty area.
His muscular body managed to fight off all opponents, even those who were part of his team.
Oliver sneered, stepping in front of him and colliding his body with that of the black haired boy, feeling his muscle tense to fight the heavy force of the gel guy.
"Damn, you're huge." the captain teased, continuing to keep the boy pinned to keep him from passing.
But then a shift of air in his blind spot made Oliver shudder.
"Be a good slave, tyrant..." whispered a voice in a light, sing-song tone, making number 13's eyes go wide and number 2 stiffen.
The latter's heterochromatic eyes shifted in slow motion to the figure behind him, trying to figure out who it belonged to, but before he could just see it, it had already disappeared.
And the ball was no longer there.
Barou opened his eyes wide in horror as soon as he realized what he had done, watching in slow motion as the girl's left foot hit the the ball HE had passed to her.
And after not even a moment, a whistle followed by an ecstatic crowd resounded through the air.
—— 4–4 ——
"ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE, SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL." shouted the commentator into the microphone, as even the listeners could hear the fans raving in the background.
"NICKLAUS VINCIGUERRA GIVES US HIS SECOND GOAL IN A ROW, MAKING A GOAL ALSO IN THE HEARTS OF EVERYONE WHO'S SEEING HIM RIGHT NOW." said the second commentator excitedly and adrenaline-filled, aiming his gaze at the stands filled with crazed people.
"Is it the last name Vinciguerra that makes a person so absurdly special?" the first of the two asked rhetorically, receiving a laugh from the second.
"If that were the case, then I would need to go and change my last name at the registry offices, my friend."
The girl straightened her back, looking at the shocked expression of the goalkeeper, still motionless in his position.
A hand violently grabbed her cheeks, turning her face so that the taller boy's bright red eyes collided with her dark red ones.
"What the fuck was that? What the fuck did you make me do?" hissed Barou in a low tone, as his pupils still trembled in disbelief.
He, a king, being used as a slave. How the hell had this happened?
"You are a king, Barou. I don't make the decisions for you." said Nicole in a cold, emotionless tone as blood continued to flow in her gaze almost as if she was sucking up that of the person in front of her.
"Only a god can make the decisions for a king."
The black haired guy trembled at her merciless words, dropping his hand from the girl's cheeks, noting that he had slightly opened the cut on her cheekbone due to the violent grip with which he had grabbed her.
Nicole bent her head over one shoulder, watching with her cruel eyes the increasingly bewildered expression of the king, whose desire was to get away as soon as possible.
"Does that make me your god, tyrant?"
Barou took a step back as his expression whitened at the hoarse, emotionless voice of the devil before him.
What the fuck...
"Please go to your stations. We need to resume the match." the referee interjected, luckily for number 13's sanity, looking particularly at the latter since he seemed to be the more dangerous of the two.
He seemed.
Barou clucked his tongue against his palate, turning his back on the girl and heading to his post.
The girl shifted her eyes to Oliver's back for a moment, then totally ignored him and returned to her assigned place as well.
If the tension was heavy before, now that the two teams were even, it was suffocating. So sharp that they were afraid they might hurt themselves by running into it.
Isagi grimaced, casting a glance at the redhead figure a few feet behind him, in the center midfielder's post.
Something is wrong...
His blue eyes shifted to Ego for a moment, searching for plausible explanations from the manager and the one who had trained them all for that day.
But as soon as his gaze spotted the 30-year-old's expression, the world fell in on him.
Ego Jinpachi did not have the courage to look at them.
The whistle of resume resounded in the air and, too shocked, confused, perplexed, Isagi failed to react to Rin's pass, getting the ball stolen by Teru Kitsunezato, the U-20 right wing.
"WHAT THE FUCK, YOU LUKEWARM?" yelled Rin at him, unable to believe that he had been unable to receive such a simple pass.
What is going on?
Isagi was restless, not knowing how to move, what to do, what not to do, what to think.
What is it that we don't know?
His eyes moved over the field but he could not even see what was in front of him.
What is it that they are not telling us?
Suddenly the ball came from nowhere in front of him, and his shocked and lost gaze rose from his feet to meet the devil's impassive and controlled one.
"Start moving, Yoichi."
Isagi's brain, his only weapon against all of them, shut down completely as his body allowed itself to be guided by the one who held the chains.
The bluenette ran quickly to the side opposite his team's goal post, moving across the field without ever shifting his eyes from the ball. If before he did nothing but look around to observe all the players, now he didn't even consider them.
His body did only and only what instinct, not his own, was telling him to do.
He hit the ball, for no specific reason, sending it toward the greenette that had been running at his same speed.
Rin caught it, gritting his teeth as soon as he saw his bastard brother's face in front of him.
"Move you fucker!" he yelled at him, his request completely ignored as soon as Sae ran smoothly with his own gait.
Rin gritted his teeth, frustrated by the ease with which his brother could keep up with him.
"You know, the redhead..." muttered the older of the two Itoshi suddenly, making the younger one's eyes go wide.
Their retinas of equal color met.
"...he's the one I want to play with."
The world fell on Rin's shoulders as his face lost its color, and his expression lost the fury within.
His inner child wept, kneeling in the corner of his heart as he thought about his big brother's words.
Sae wanted...to play with Nicklaus, not with him....
Suddenly a figure passed between them, the red streak of his eyes as quick as that of a flash. Rin saw his left retina, Sae his right.
And before they could even close their eyelids, the devil had disappeared along with the ball.
Sae gritted his teeth, speeding up to catch up with the redhead as Rin slowed down more and more, watching the backs of number 10 and number 1 move away from him and leave him behind.
He had used them...
Nicklaus had used their quarrel.
He had meddled in something that was none of his business, and then left without apologizing.
He had...
Little Rin cried inside his heart, curling up like a helpless cat.
He had stolen his brother from him....
Sae reached the redhead's figure, however, struggling to keep up as the first traces of sweat began to trickle down his face.
"You are the one I wanted from Blue Lock." he spoke panting, running to the side of the impassive, impenetrable figure, looking at his profile.
"You are the striker I want to play with-"
"Play with?" he asked in his hoarse, cruel tone, interrupting the rose haired boy and slightly turning his heads.
Sae opened his eyes wide, meeting for the first time those eyes that were now way too familiar. His heart began to beat violently in his chest as his feet began to struggle to run. His breath was heavy in his lungs, and he almost believed it was the girl who was taking the air out of him with that deep, merciless stare.
"You're not able to play with me, Sae." the girl said without flinching, ignoring the figures in front of her and continuing to run with possession of the ball.
Her red eyes were darker, more venomous, heavier than he remembered.
"You're not even able to play for me..." whispered the girl, before kicking the ball to the left.
Sae's eyes went wide at the unexpected pass, seeing only then the figure of number 11 positioned at the left corner of the free kick area.
Everyone's gazes, too focused on the seemingly invincible pair of opponents, turned too slowly to the boy who was totally insignificant in that scene.
But by then it was too late.
—— 4–5 ——
"A MAGNIFICENT GOAL BY ISAGI YOICHI WITH THE ASSIST OF NICKLAUS VINCIGUERRA-" shouted the radio man, watching in amazement as the prodigy Sae Itoshi was beaten for the second time by the same person.
"Assist? At most it was Isagi who made assists by finishing his goal..." said the other commentator, scratching the back of his head and receiving a silent nod of agreement from his colleague.
Isagi blinked several times, as if he had suddenly awakened from a dream. His eyes saw the ball beyond the line that determined the goal post.
What on earth had just happened?
Suddenly his companions jumped on him, knocking him to the ground with their weight.
"ISAGI YOU BASTARD, NO ONE EXPECTED IT." laughed Reo, clutching his shoulder.
"YEAH YEAH, THAT WAS SO COOL YOICHI!" yelled Bachira in his ear, shaking him brutally back and forth.
Isagi was confused, lost, shaken.
His blue eyes shifted slightly, freezing as soon as they collided with the red ones far away from him.
Nicole looked at him without saying or doing anything at all, then turned and went back to her midfielder position, aware that there were two more minutes before the game was over.
Isagi's irises became glossy as soon as the realization hit him in the face like a bucket of ice water.
He had scored a goal, and he could not even remember it. He had not made that goal; it had been his body. A body that had not belonged to him for he did not know exactly how long.
Anxiety grew inside him, his heart began to throb rapidly and his blood to boil in his veins.
Barou looked at him, immediately understanding what was going on.
He was Nicole's new victim.
He grabbed the bluenette badly by the shirt, lifting him to his feet and head-butting him to awaken him from his trance-like state.
"Uh... UHHH?" all their comrades panicked at Barou's sudden aggression, not understanding why he had headbutted the boy.
But the gel-haired boy continued to press his forehead against the other's, immediately attracting his attention.
"Don't think about it." he whispered to him with anger and resentment in his tone, making Isagi's eyes go wide.
"What-"
"COME ON NOW, TWO MINUTES LEFT. LET'S WIN THIS." Bachira interrupted them, jumping on his friend's shoulders and pushing him away from Barou.
Isagi cast a glance at the king, only to be brutally ignored. He clenched his fists, lowering his gaze to his feet as he made his way to his post.
His blue irises shifted for an instant to the already positioned and calm figure in the center of the second part of the field, but he was not recognized in the slightest.
Nicole looked straight ahead, only shifting her gaze for an instant to see the time board.
1 minute and 48 seconds.
Last resume whistle of the game. Kick off.
"BEWARE OF NUMBER 1." shouted Shuto Sendo, the center forward, running quickly toward the goal.
They needed to at least tie. They needed to do that. They couldn't lose to a bunch of kids. Not when they represented the future of the Japanese national team.
"KEEP YOUR EYES ON HIM-"
"Then why aren't you?" her voice interrupted him, and his eyes widened as soon as they spotted the devil's in front of him.
Time to blink, he was alone again. Panic grew within him, and immediately he turned toward his team goal post.
"STOP HIM."
Oh the desperation of losers.
The most delicious meal of victory.
Nicole speeded up, as the scoreboard showed exactly 1 minute to the end of the game.
Her feet moved too unpredictably, her movements made no sense to those who went against her and did not know how to block her.
Many tried, and all failed.
It was simply as if they were trying to win against victory itself. Against victory herself.
"You're not surpassing me, you red fox." said Aiku, the last wall to overcome.
The girl tightened her lips imperceptibly, feeling sick at the mere thought that someone was depriving her of being able to feel alive for a single moment.
She needed that goal.
She needed that victory.
She needed that feeling.
She needed to live.
She hit the ball, bouncing it off Oliver's shoe and sending it flying through the air.
Oliver's eyes went wide as the ball passed in front of his face, and once out of his line of sight, his differently colored irises met hers.
His heart lost a beat, his breath caught in his throat, and his body instantly froze.
"Nicole..."
The girl brought her full weight down on one foot, then jumped and spun on herself on the horizontal axis with what could be called a tornado kick.
Then, her foot made contact with the ball, her eyes on him.
"Hai perso, Oliver."
—— 4–6 ——
Instants of absurd silence, a silence so tense it seemed as if it could be cut with a knife.
Oliver with his eyes fixed on the girl, Nicole with her eyes fixed on the boy.
Then there was the whistle, and Japan erupted into frenzy.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THIS MATCH ENDED WITH NICKLAUS VINCIGUERRA'S BEAUTIFUL GOAL, BRINGINGING THE BLUE LOCK TEAM TO VICTORY." the commentator shouted into the microphone, pushing himself forward and leaning out to see for himself.
"DO YOU SEE MY HANDS SHAKING? DO YOU SEE THEM? I HAVE GOOSE SKIN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I AM NOT JOKING." said the colleague, showing his infirm fingers to his friend and then bursting out laughing.
The crowd shouted, people screamed into the ears of the one in front of them, while this one also shouted back into someone else's ears.
It seemed as if they were in a Coliseum filled with people satisfied after seeing the death of a hundred slaves.
Nicole sighed, closing her eyes as the corner of her lips lifted slightly into a quivering smile.
They were screaming for her. They were screaming for her victory. They were shouting because she was victory.
Her eyelids opened, and her irises now bright red, like the hottest fire anyone could ever see, met Oliver's still incredulous ones.
She smiled as the adrenaline in her body made the warm blood flow inside her body.
"This is so beautiful..."
Hearing their screams was beautiful. Watching the defeated on their knees was beautiful. Seeing the tear-filled looks, for joy or frustration, was beautiful. To be at the center of their story was beautiful.
To win was beautiful.
To live was beautiful.
Unfortunately, however, beautiful things didn't lasted forever.
Suddenly, the adrenaline died down, and the pain she had ignored up to that point returned stronger and more excruciating than before.
Her eyes faded, her smile disappeared, and her skin lost color. Everything went dark.
Exactly five seconds.
That's how long that devilish, addicting feeling of living had lasted. Just five seconds.
But that was fine.
It was exactly as long as she had asked for.
_____________________
Nicole and Nicklaus never went out on the field: that was always just Nike.
The reason the girl asked if Barou considered her his god (goddess whatever) is because Nike is herself the goddess of victory.
Nike's chemical reactions consist of complete control of the other player (i think you noticed)
Rin has an inferiority complex toward Nicklaus.
_____________________
Author
I swear, now I'm gonna punch my face. I literally have the three-year syllabus to study in one day since my brain only thinks about this story instead of studying.
I hate it here