"It's not within your jurisdiction."
"I understand why you want to maintain your privacy on such a topic, but maybe knowing exactly what happened could help us to-"
"And I understand why you are interested in understanding the background of my injuries, but I repeat that your job is to explain to me the best treatments, their side effects, and approximate healing time."
The doctor sighed, shaking his head disconsolately and shifting his face once again to the girl's medical record.
He felt extremely uncomfortable under the watchful, cold, authoritative gaze of the character who under the cameras appeared, yes just as authoritative, but definitely sunnier and more expansive.
He carefully analyzed the data on the file, trying to come to a solution by also integrating the information the young woman had given him.
Nicole watched him coldly from the other side of the desk, her legs crossed and one arm resting on the elbow rest, her body bent toward the direction of the latter.
That morning Shidou had left to return to Blue Lock, as had all the other participants, new and old.
She had been accompanied by Sae's chauffeur, along with Sae himself, to the hospital for a checkup.
A checkup that had soon turned out to be an interrogation, after that into a reprimand, after that into a threat, and finally into what it was supposed to be: a medical visit.
"The wounds are still too delicate, and as a doctor I strongly advise against you resuming sports activities next week." said the man, returning to the issue that most concerned his patient.
If when she had awakened from her coma, he had told her it would take between ten days and two weeks to return to play sports, he now doubted it.
The cream treatment was helping, but it was too slow. The wounds were too deep, and too many in number. The treatment was suitable, but it took time.
And that was what had caused the switch in the young woman's attitude from sunny to ice-cold: time.
She had none.
This she had immediately stated, without much ado.
Which had shaken the poor doctor's soul. Who did not have time to think about their mental and physical health? Was there really something more important? Something that required more attention?
But between insistence, stubbornness and words of fine intimidation, the redhead had persuaded the doctor to turn a blind eye on the matter and look for something that, though unsuitable, could get her back on track.
"I'll leave you the cream, but you'll have to apply it twice a day. Also from now on, when you do physical activity, you'll have to use this spray: it's a subspecies of a spray plaster, but much stiffer." the man explained, writing the name of the product on a sheet of paper and handing it to her.
The girl reached forward to grab it, but her blood-red eyes rose into the doctor's as soon as she noticed how his fingers had no intention of leaving the slip of paper.
On his expression was a sorry frown, serious and hesitant.
"It will protect your wounds from contact with external agents, but it will not protect you from pain. I hope this is clear, Vinciguerra-san..." he stated in a gloomy, authoritative tone, receiving an answer he did not want.
"Sounds exciting."
Nicole in fact smiled mockingly and slyly, tugging the paper a little more and snatching it from his hands. Then she stood up, running a hand through her hair and turning to leave the room.
A moment before leaving, she cast a deep look at him from over her shoulder as her last words left the acid in his mouth.
"And don't ever tell me what I have to do, doc."
Definitely one of the worst patients he had ever had.
Meanwhile
Blue Lock facilities...
In a pentagon-shaped room in the meanwhile, a large group of boys were reasoning about the next step in their soccer careers.
Ninety minutes was the time they had been given to decide which of five teams to choose: England, Spain, Italy, France, Germany.
Five teams, totally different from each other, with extremely unique strengths. One of those, would influence their style of play.
But who?
"She's Italian..." murmured Aiku to himself, looking intently at the flag of Italy as if waiting for a divine revelation.
A league that favors slyness and tactics... and individual strength.
This was what Ego had said when he had introduced it, particularly attracting the defender's attention. He didn't know exactly whether by joining the Italian team he would learn more about the girl's playing style, and he was sure that would not happen.
But it didn't matter cause at the end he would be learning skills he had always admired.
"Reo, do you think Nicklaus will choose England when he comes back?" asked Nagi after choosing his option, causing Reo to look up from his own cell phone.
Reo, as well as many other candidates, did not know what had happened to the red-haired character. Ego had merely said that he had taken an additional week off under doctor's advice, but he had not specified why.
"England? I don't know, he seems like a guy who wants to do a little bit of everything and do absolutely nothing at the same time." replied the purple-haired boy, remembering his playing style when they were still a Second Selection team.
"Nick-kun is way too cool to choose England, he likes funny things, so Spain is the answer." intruded Bachira with an excited smile, jumping on Isagi's back and almost making the latter fall over.
The bluenette sighed, lowering his gaze to his cell phone and looking at his choice.
"Germany... they favor getting to victory by logical and rational means ... that's what Ego-san said." the boy affirmed, thinking back to the game they had won against U-20, and reasoning about the redhead's style of play.
He shuddered at the memory of the control he had had over him.
"Nah...those are probably not traits he aspires to have." he finished his thought with a trembling, unsure smile, looking back up at the small group of boys in front of him.
"Don't you think you know that shrimp so well." countered Raichi, frowning and shifting his gaze to a random spot on the wall, biting his tongue not to speak further.
The fact that Nicklaus was actually Nicole Vinciguerra was still a source of disbelief among some of the Blue Lock candidates, including himself. And the fact that he had not had time to realize and confront that same character sent him into a frenzy.
But he could say nothing.
None of those who had discovered the girl's true identity that evening could say anything.
One word, and their striker dream would have been destroyed even before it was born. Ego's word.
"It's also true that in our team will be Noel Noa, the best football player in the world. Nicklaus appreciates the opportunity to be able to crush a champion in their own field." intervened Kurona, thinking back to that game against the World Five team and the defiant attitude the boy had had toward his opponents.
"AH, KEEP DREAMING MATHER FUCKERS-" the group gasped as soon as they heard the familiar voice.
Slowly they turned in one direction, and into their view came the even more tanned face and even more maniacal grin of the demon with blond hair and pink locks.
"Guygal is gonna pick me." Shidou teased them with his mad grin, looking down on them with those eyes of his that seemed to glow on their own.
On his phone the was the flag of the stratum he chose: France.
"We're not talking about picking a person tho..."
"Shut up, shark teeth. He's gonna pick me anyway."
City center...
Sae admired the girl's reflection on te mirror, with her hair raised and maintained by her own fist and her free neck adorned with a beautiful and luxurious gold necklace. The color seemed to be made for her skin, and the small jade stone was a perfect match for her red hair and eyes.
"Why don't you buy it?"
The girl remained silent for a few more moments, gently and thoughtfully stroking the gem stone. Then she put down the necklace, thanking the jeweler with a smile and telling him he could put it back.
"I don't need it." replied Nicole simply, leaving the store with Sae.
Sae looked at her from behind his sunglasses, observing her calm and impassive manner, and noting the way her eyes studied the place around her with a mixture of disinterestedness and attentiveness.
After leaving the hospital they had decided to take a walk around town, deeming it healthier than being still segregated in the mansion after a week of idleness.
The boy had asked no questions about the visit. It was none of his business and, personally, he himself would have preferred not to be asked questions in a similar situation.
His eyes lowered to her glutes, noticing how the low-waisted pants hugged and perfectly emphasized her ass.
The night of passion spent only a few hours earlier was still all too clear in his memories, and the perception of her lips and body was still fresh on his own skin, which in fact burned in the same places where the two had touched.
Everywhere.
The way she gasped on his lips, the way his tongue danced with hers, the way her breasts pressed against his chest, the way his hands violently and passionately cupped her buttocks, the way their intimacies seemed made for each other.
They still seemed to be doing it.
It still seemed that his hands were on her ass as he penetrated her from behind, and that her gasps were suppressed by the blond man's mouth, whose fingers played with her clitoris, the most sensitive part of her entire body and the apex of female stimulation.
And his body still burned at the thought of how she clenched so tightly around him, almost as if she was made just to welcome him alone inside her.
His throat tightened at the memory of his own moans and grunts with each thrust, each one louder than the previous.
His blood flowed faster through his veins at the memory of her flat belly pressed against the blond's, as the latter's hands groped her breasts and his tongue savored the taste of her skin.
"You're fucking me with your eyes, prodigy..."
The boy blinked, finding himself inches from Nicole's face, with their lips so close but far apart and their eyes seemingly dipping into each other.
The girl's red lips lifted in a mischievous, sensual smile, while her retinas seemed to intensify from beneath her long dark lashes.
"Are you thinking back to our night, Itoshi Sae?"
Her voice was like the sin of lust: so warm, suave, deep and musical. It seemed that even just her tongue was capable of externalizing pleasure and passion with a few words.
"Maybe about how good my body felt against yours..."
Sae stared at her intently from the height of his own stature, and almost had a dejavu of their first meeting.
But it was different.
"Do you want me to make you feel good again, Sae..."
It was not just a look of derision, but there was also some defiance and lust. Their bodies were closer than they had been that time, so close that his skin quivered at the little distance he felt the need to nullify. And her voice no longer shone through only superiority, but also sensuality and passion.
His hand reached out instinctively toward her body, but before he could reach her that she stepped away, resuming her walk.
"How old are you by the way?" the redhead suddenly asked, continuing to look at the store windows around her like nothing had happened.
Sae awoke from his ominous and perverse thoughts, noticing only at that moment what the girl had done.
He squeezed his eyelids imperceptibly, stiffening his jaw and tucking his hands into his pockets, as if that could stop him from reaching out to her again.
He raised an eyebrow, lowering his gaze to the girl at his side and watching her for a few seconds.
"Eighteen since October 10." he affirmed after a few moments spent pondering the reason for such a question.
"Oh, we're the same age. I thought you were a year older." she commented, stopping in front of a display case to look at a gold ring with a ruby that seemed to have nothing special between all the other jewelry.
Sae approached, casting a careless glance at the jewel before diverting his attention somewhere else.
"Aren't you seventeen?" he asked with disinterest and monotony in his tone, his hands in his pockets and an impassive expression on his face.
"Not for long. On November 11 I'll finally be able to legally drink." joked Nicole, casting one last glance at the ring before walking away once more, leaving the pink-haired boy behind.
As if she didn't already drink like an alcoholic.
Sae watched her silhouette, then lowered his teal eyes to the accessory in which she had taken an interest.
It was a gold ring, the body of which was composed of laurel leaves, while in the center was a little ruby stone.
"We eating in or out?" Nicole's voice called him back, forcing him to shift his gaze to point at the girl standing in front of a market.
The boy blinked a few times, shifting his eyes to the food counters only to turn his attention back to the girl, noticing how her red eyes were minutely watching him.
"Let's eat outside." he said only, putting his hands in his pockets and starting to walk away from the market.
He stopped in his tracks, casting a glance over his shoulder toward the redhead, suddenly thinking back to the way she had continued to refuse to buy anything.
He did not know exactly the financial dynamics of the champion, but he thought it was strange enough that someone as famous as Nicole Vinciguerra was not a spender.
The fact that she had refused to buy jewelry, fancy clothes and other things because "she didn't need them" even tho they were things created more for pleasure than for practical use, suggested the fact that there was something wrong with the girl's bank account.
He sighed, reaching back and gently but firmly grasping the redhead's wrist, pulling her slightly so that she stood beside him.
Nicole raised an eyebrow, lowering her gaze to the boy's pale hand around her tanner arm.
"So you really wanted to touch me that bad uh..." the redhead said, causing him to loosen his grip. She grasped his hand, gently locking their fingers and accentuating the contrast between the colors of their skins.
Sae lowered his gaze to hers, noting the indifference on her face despite the extremely intimate contact she had established between their bodies.
"So where are you taking me?" asked Nicole in fact, calmly and controllingly. His answer was not long in coming.
"Doesn't matter, I'm paying."
Skip time
Blue Lock facilities...
Time passed in Blue Lock, and in each stratum candidates were getting to know their master strikers and their training methods.
Germany, Noal Noa.
Candidates were put through a tough zone-divided test to assess their general skills in sprinting, stamina, jumping, dribbling and shooting.
Spain, Lavinho.
Candidates in this stratum would have lived in total disarray between creativity, inventiveness and originality. And they would have done so by dancing.
England, Chris Prince.
Body revolution: the creation of a perfect body without weaknesses, and moreover the awakening of hidden talent was the goal of the candidates of the English stratum
Italy, Marc Snuffy.
The candidates would work as one. A team that would act as the arms and legs of a single goal hunter, around which strategies would be created.
France, Julian Loki.
The candidates in this stratum were driven by the will and hunger for success, and the explosive and technical strength of the French national team.
Isagi finally reached the end of the dribbling path, hitting the ball with all his remaining strength and directing it toward the target.
"Endlich treffen wir uns, Yoichi Isagi."
The satisfied smile on his face disappeared as soon as a second ball hit the one he had previously thrown, moving it off trajectory and causing it not to hit the target.
"Ich werd dich duzen Yoichi, okay?"
His eyes immediately turned toward where that unfamiliar voice was coming from, and into his vision appeared a boy he had never seen.
Blond hair with blue locks, with a mullet cut and two streaks at the end of it. Blue irises enhanced by red eye-liner that lengthened the cut of his eyes. An open, regal posture, accompanied by a haughty smile of superiority.
"Auf die Knie..."
Isagi was already sure he hated him.
"Blue Lock."
Isagi stared at him with a hesitant and confused look, noticing how the German's amused and arrogant expression did not hint at disappearing.
His teammates soon noticed the scene. Before they could even get to the point of using their hands, a second voice began babbling things in German.
"Das bringt nichts, Kaiser. Die können dich nicht verstehen. Hier, benutz das." said a second guy, heading toward the Japanese Blue Lock candidates and beginning to hand them earphones as he continued to speak.
And when the gizmos finally activated, they were able to understand the words translated from German into their own language.
"...since it can only respond to one predetermined language at time."
They didn't know exactly what the boy had said until then, and were honestly too surprised that they could understand him to actually care.
The boy, who had pale skin, purple eyes and light brown hair that turned purple toward the edges, had a smiling and seemingly kind expression on his face.
"Pardon us for our late introduction, Blue Lock. My name is Ness." he introduced himself with a hand on his chest, only to be joined by his other teammates, who were decidedly less interested in getting acquainted.
Isagi watched as the people around him began talking nonsense, becoming extremely confused by the situation.
His eyes did not notice the figure growing closer to him, and his body reacted belatedly to the sudden contact as his chin was grabbed by one hand and his head directed in another direction.
"Yoichi..."
His midnight blue eyes met the cobalt blue ones of the blond, whose thumb was a little too close to his lower lip.
"I came here to meet you, Blue Lock's ace striker Isagi Yoichi."
The blond grinned, looking down at him as if he were observing one of his subjects.
"Don't let me down, new hero."
Isagi's eyelids opened wide at those words, and finally able to react he slapped the German's hand, immediately backing away from him and trying to establish some distance.
The bluenette's glossy eyes and pupils narrowed in shock as he carefully observed the guy who had earlier said his name was Kaiser, trying to figure out what kind of madman would break into a stranger's personal space with such confidence.
Kaiser's face became shadowy, but the smile did not seem to leave his face for an instant.
His blue eyes remained on Isagi for a few more moments, almost as if he intended to read into them, but then they rose to look around briefly.
"Where's my villain instead? I hope I didn't come all this way for nothing." he said, putting his hands on his hips as Ness behind him looked around for his beloved companion's second new pastime.
"What are you talking about, you fucking freak?" asked Raichi aggressively, annoyed almost as much as Isagi by the behavior of the new character in front of them.
Kaiser raised an eyebrow when he met the ash blond's gaze, only to ignore him altogether and return his attention to the bluenette boy he had targeted earlier.
"Your midfielder and striker, the redhead... you know, you are just the foolish clown, Yoichi. But him, Nicklaus Vinciguerra..."
A manic, amused expression appeared on his pale face, while a smile even more drawn than the previous and retinas even brighter than before highlighted his mad pride.
"...he's the villain I want for my story."
Four days later
Four days passed since then, and coexistence between the two champions was beginning to be almost normal.
Sae liked the calmness and ease with which she approached each day: it was refreshing compared to the excessive need to plan every minute of his life around his sports career.
Nicole on the other hand had never felt more relaxed. She had never had so much time for herself, never had the opportunity to be able to wake up in the morning and simply decide to relax in a home where nothing was missing.
Of course Sae was not like Oliver, who instead was more dynamic and knew how to have fun with little. But watching the pink-haired boy take such good care of himself, of his skin, of his physical health and even of his mental health was definitely refreshing.
Moreover, the animosity that had arisen from their first meeting, which had lingered over time, was now completely dissipated: it had been events such as the discovery of the girl's injuries and even the night of passion four days earlier that had faded Sae's resentment, born from a simple feeling of inferiority.
At that moment, with the clock striking 11:49 p.m., the girl stood on the balcony of her room, wearing a short silk dress that gently hugged her curves, leaving her back entirely uncovered thanks to its plunging neckline on the behing. The hem of the dress (or even nightgown) reached just below her buttocks, almost teasing others' imaginations on purpose.
Her red eyes remained fixed on the horizon, while her ears savored the sound of the waves contracting against the rocks, dying and rejoining the ocean again.
The coolness of the night gently and softly caressed her bare skin, almost embracing her and giving her the comfort that no one would ever give her, least of all herself.
Nature seemed to sing a sad but sweet melody just for her, as if it wanted to lull her on a journey with no destination and no return, as a mother does with her baby, unaware of what is happening around them.
Sae silently opened the door to her room, and his teal eyes immediately spotted her feminine figure, almost as if the sole purpose of his gaze was to admire her.
He saw her with her back turned, her torso leaned slightly forward and her elbows on the railing, probably unaware of the sensations she could cause to anyone who might see her in such an intimate moment.
His eyes traveled every inch of her: starting from her ankles, going up so all her legs, noting the hamstrings slightly visible because of her position, reaching the line of her glutes that could be glimpsed under the slightly fluttering hem of her dress.
His gaze continued upward, moving to her narrow waist and then following the long line in the center of her back, ignoring those ominous and horrific wounds that hemmed her exposed skin.
Nicole noticed his presence, but neither turned nor said anything, preferring to continue listening to that peace that had never been there in her life.
Sae slowly approached her, stopping only when they could feel each other's body heat. His eyes now admired the redhead's relaxed profile, watching her hair and dangling earrings flutter gently backward thanks to the wind that seemed to dance around her.
Never would he have thought that a creature so dynamic, so aggressively superb, so provocative, could have on such a calm expression.
The moonlight shone on her skin, and reflected in the center of her black pupils like a tiny white dot plunged into the dark void. Her lips had finally regained their fullness after days of rest, and her complexion was imperceptibly more golden than before.
The clock read 11:55 p.m.
"The chauffeur will pick you up at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, and take you directly to the Blue Lock." Sae broke the silence, receiving no response from the girl except a soft, closed-mouthed "mhm."
"I'll also wake up early so that I can apply the cream on your wounds." he continued in a low tone, shifting his gaze to her back and slowly reaching out his hand, very gently touching some of the lines to test their condition.
He ignored the redhead's trembling sigh, aware that he would hurt her right away.
His fingertips cautiously and gently traced the cuts, running them from start to finish as she closed her eyes tightly, breathing slowly and deeply to relax her nerves as she was told to do whenever Sae touched her wounds.
"Who will apply the cream on you now?" he asked in an impassive, hoarse tone, never breaking that painfully pleasant contact with her back.
The girl laughed slightly, her breathing slightly shaky from the continuous torturous caress that tormented her skin.
"Maybe I'll ask your little brother." she teased him, only to clench her teeth as soon as she felt the fingertip of his middle finger descend even further along his wound.
This time it was him who responded with a closed-mouthed "mhm," as he admired her back arching slightly as if to move away from a red-hot iron.
Suddenly his hand froze, and now his fingers were at the height of the hem of her back cleavage, exactly above the beginning of her coccyx. His eyes lifted to her profile, and his torso leaned forward slightly so that his lips grazed her earlobe with deadly delicacy.
"I wouldn't recommend it, he's not as good as me." he whispered in a hoarse and strangely sensual tone, as Nicole's eyelids slowly began to open.
The clock read 11:59 p.m.
Her blood-red retinas, filled with the color of boiling lust and the most tormented passion, mingled with his crystalline ones, filled with glacial sensuality and eros.
Sae's eyes dared not move for even a moment from Nicole's, not even to look at those lips he was so eagerly longing to taste, or to look at the neckline that showed the skin he had yet to bite.
Nicole's eyes dared not move for even a moment from Sae's, not even to look at those lips that her soul was yearning to possess, or to look at that neck whose skin she had yet to sign with her tongue.
Sae gently grasped Nicole's right hand, caressing those fingers that a few days earlier had intersected with his almost as if they were meant to be together.
The clock read 00:00.
Nicole lowered her gaze as soon as something cold surrounded her fourth finger, and her red eyes immediately met the stone of a similar color.
Her throat became dry, and the blood chilled in her veins as the previous sexual tension faded to give way to a sensation unfamiliar to her.
She stared intently at the same ring she had been lost in gazing at a few days earlier, too expensive to afford it, carefully admiring the small laurel leaves in gold, and the contrast they created with the ruby stone set in the center.
"Sae..." she whispered in a choked voice, raising her gaze, for the first time lost and confused, in the boy's attentive and equally expressive one.
He admired the way the moon illuminated only one side of her face, making one eye shine brighter than the other, and his jaw clenched slightly.
His thumb stroked her ring finger, feeling under his fingertip the contrast between the cold jewel and her warm skin.
"It looks good." he said nodding, but the truth was that he had never moved his crystal water-colored irises from her face, imprinting every single moment in his memory.
She wanted to say that she did not understand, that it was too much, that she could not afford to repay him.
But he lowered his lips to hers, and whispered the words no one had ever said to her before, leaving the emptiness inside her broken body.
"Happy birthday, Nicole."
______________________
Nicole decided to grab Sae's hand like that because the grip he had on her wrist felt like a hold of power and authority over her.
Nicole never received a gift or birthday greetings in 18 years of life because the old man never cared and she never established lasting relationships with anyone. She used to spent her birthday alone or drinking in a pub.
Some of the master strikers decided to participate in the project after seeing Nicklaus Vinciguerra on television.
Putting the ring on the fourth finger of the right hand does not symbolize engagement or marriage in Italy and Japan (which it does in other countries such as Spain and Greece I think)
______________________
Author
Quite satisfied with this chapter, especially the last part where Nicole shows that she has a sensitive side that she never showed before (kinda funny that she showed it to Sae who initially hated her).
Tell me what you think and see you for the next chapter.