Long ass chapter
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That night
Nicole's pov
I looked down at my arms.
My skin was immaculate, perfect, as if it had never been touched, never even grazed.
Yet, my eyes seemed to pass the filter of reality and 'obviousness, seeing things that no one else could see.
The shape of that man's large, heavy hands on my wrists, the red lines left by his short fingernails that abruptly pulled me to him, the black stains left by him slamming me against the sink... I could see it all.
They were figments of my imagination, of my twisted and unhealthy mind that enjoyed intensifying a scene I did not remember, creating a memory I did not possess.
I placed my wrists under the cold stream of water, staring at the icy waterfall in hope that it would calm the burning that had continued to make me feel wrong in my own skin for days.
Vain hope.
I stared blankly at the grim scene, like a viewer watching a silent, black-and-white short film. No sound reached my ears, no color was picked up by my pupils.
One of the many videos of my life: without meaning, without end, without passion, without title.
"It was a peculiar episode, to say the least." a familiar voice made itself heard from behind my back, interrupting the lack of sound.
The flow of water against my wrists returned to ring in my ears.
I bent my head over one shoulder, not looking up at the mirror to make sure that the voice heard was his and not someone else's.
"Everything about me is peculiar." I said casually, raising my dull red eyes to our reflection as soon as I sensed his presence closer to me.
Our gazes crossed, one focused on the other's reflection.
I can see that you are thinking.
I can see that you have been thinking.
You've been thinking hard about how to move, where to put your feet, what words to say.
Almost as if you were afraid of something.
"You're not mistaken." he agreed to my words, scrutinizing me with his typical intense attention, taking as much time as he needed to study every tiny detail of my face.
Almost as if you were afraid of me, Noel Noa.
I lowered my eyes back to my wrists under the water, shifting them slightly so that it was my hands to be affected by the coldness of the stream.
Noel's gaze pierced the back of my shirt, almost as if he were trying to denude me of the only protection that separated his eyes from my wounds.
I had stopped paying attention to their presence: they had become familiar on my skin, almost as if my body was made to get used to receiving that old man's abuse.
I had stopped paying attention to the pain they caused me, simply because now I also had to pay attention to the burning that came from the rest of my body.
It was easier to forget about one part of my skin when all the others hurt as well.
"When I didn't let you participate in the game against Manshine City, I didn't expect these to be the consequences." he said as he approached me, his voice so mature and warm despite its apparent coldness and distance.
I let my eyelids relax for a moment, letting the adult and welcoming vibration of his voice penetrate my bones.
Adult and welcoming... the exact opposite of what I had always been used to.
"You mean me being auctioned off?" I asked cautiously and disinterestedly, letting the corner of my lips rise in an emotionless smile.
I sensed his breath on the nape of my neck, and his large, manly fingers grazing my skin with anything but masculine delicacy as he moved my long hair over one shoulder.
"I mean losing your trust." he corrected me, letting his fingertips run from the nape of my neck to the center of my shoulder blades.
"Losing you." and from the center of my shoulder blades down my spine.
I closed my eyes, savoring the painful effect that his touch had on my used and destroyed body.
Hating the painful knowledge that no passion would be burning enough to counteract the burning left by that cruel man's poisonous hands.
"You sound like a man convinced he's won my trust..." I whispered with my eyelids still closed, memorizing the perception of his muscular chest against my back as if I could alter the foggy memories of that night with this new one.
"Yet, I'm certain that no man has ever been worthy of me giving him the benefit of the doubt." I stated in a hushed tone, squinting and pointing my pupils at my reflected image and his, crossing the carnelian eyes of the male figure that were already staring at me from above.
The eye contact never broke from then on, not even when his hands moved to my waist, not even when his breath became warmer against my already hot skin, not even when his fingers went up along my ribs, not daring to brush the sides of my breasts and stopping at my shoulders.
Instead I fell into those two oil lamps inside his eyes, so bright and warm, in total contrast to the dark and cold pools in my gaze.
And as his warm, attentive adult hands caressed my biceps, slowly descending to my elbow, I wondered if this was how a man's touch was supposed to feel like.
I had always wondered.
I had always wondered if a man touched a woman gently rather than roughly, welcoming rather than aloof, protective rather than threatening.
I had always wanted someone to touch me the way he was touching me, with the purpose of making me feel protected and welcomed, arousing me and igniting my passion, and making me let go of myself in his masculine energy.
I had always longed for a mentally and physically mature man to allow me for a few moments to lose myself, to let my guard down, and to be carried away by his experienced and caring hands.
I had always wanted that...
"The water is freezing..." he whispered in a warm, deep tone into my bare ear, his breath quiet and too loud at the same time.
...and yet at that moment it gave me revulsion.
"You're trembling..." the vibration of his voice must have been music to me as his large fingers caressed my now almost sleeping wrists and trembling forearms.
"Are you cold, Nicole?"
No, no I'm not cold.
Your touch is making me burn even more.
You are causing me pain.
You are hurting me.
Because you touch me with so much care, with so much thoughtfulness, with so much suppressed passion but I can't help but think how different it is from how that man touches me, who instead tugs at me with disinterest and carelessness, with the purpose of violating me, with so much unfiltered passion manifesting itself in ferocity and torture.
And I swear I want to let myself go, I want that burning sensation that sends me on fire to be a consequence of your body so mighty and protective next to mine.
But the truth is, it disgusts me.
It disgusts me the way you remind me that I was not treated that night that way you are treating me now.
It disgusts me the way you force my mind to compare your gentle touch to his violent one.
It disgusts me the way you keep me from relaxing because I know that it is not possible for a man to brush against me so carefully.
It disgusted me that this is all an illusion, a lie.
You disgust me.
"I don't want to be touched, Noa..."
You disgust me because I know you are deluding me....
"...I don't like the feeling of your hands on me."
...as in reality no man would ever touch me like you do.
Third pov
A week later
"Who will you choose for the match between FC Barcha and Ubers?" Nicole lifted her gaze from her phone, meeting the scrutinizing stare of personified narcissism.
Kaiser, accompanied by his loyal collar-wearing companion Ness, sat down in front of her without asking for permission, ignoring the possibility that she might be busy or annoyed.
Choose: that was the new Joker Card's competence.
Her greatest power now was to choose: to choose which team to play for in each match, to choose who to give the advantage to, to choose the strategy and the outcome of the game.
To choose who to let win.
"And why should you care?" she asked, lowering her gaze back to her phone, ignoring the pure annoyance on the faithful dog's face.
Kaiser smiled. "Why, I obviously want to know the choices of my beautiful fallen angel." he asserted, resting his head on his palm and gazing at her with seemingly flat lapis lazuli eyes.
Nicole didn't give him her attention, scrolling through a news article on her phone.
Ness frowned.
"Kaiser asked you a question."
Nicole stopped looking at the screen, raising her face again and offering her fake sweet smile to the purple-haired boy. "I swear, if it weren't for you stating the obvious, I wouldn't know what to do." she said with pure sarcasm, tilting her head and softening her expression almost nauseatingly.
"Good job, you deserve a cookie-"
"I'M NOT YOUR DOG." he interrupted abruptly, slamming his hands on the table and standing up, leaning towards her as if he wanted to grab her by the collar.
Nicole didn't move, shifting her attention to the masculine hand now delicately placed on the purple haired boy's chest, as if ordering him to stop.
Her red eyes met the blue ones.
"You need to train him not to bark, Narcissus." she stated with controlled and feigned tone, almost provoking the purplenette's final outburst.
The cruel owner's voice stopped him before he could bite.
"Sit, Ness, Nicklaus is talking to me." he ordered, ignoring the subordinate's big, teary eyes.
There were moments of hesitation from the still-standing boy, jealousy and hesitation evident in his gaze. But then, realizing that the blond's attention wouldn't shift to him to see the disappointment on his face, he sat down and lowered his eyes.
Nicole kept her deep rubies on the purple-haired boy's lowered face, then decided it wasn't anything exciting to look at.
"So, what will be your wise choice, devil?" Kaiser insisted with a far-from-insistent tone, and the girl relaxed against the chair, crossing her arms in front of her chest and disinterestedly scrutinizing the blond.
"FC Barcha."
"Why not Ubers?" he asked immediately after, even though he already knew the answer.
And indeed, when instead of words he received only a cover-worthy smile back, he sighed dramatically and leaned away from the table, copying the girl's position.
"Because you'll choose them in the one after that..." he answered for her, returning her smile.
Ness looked up at Kaiser's comment, looking first at her, and then back at him.
"...the one against us." he muttered in realization, now calmer than before.
"Another unsolicited obviousness. You really do want that cookie-" unfortunately for us, Nicole interrupted the short-lived calmness.
"I'M NOT A DOG."
Kaiser laughed slightly, shaking his head as if thinking about something and interrupting Ness's outburst.
Slowly, he opened his eyelids, his pupils narrow as crosshairs pointed in hers.
"You want to punish him, don't you?" he asked, his intense blue eyes like the most beautiful cloudless sky.
His shoulders moved away from the chair back, his thighs separated from the surface on which he was sitting, his torso leaned forward.
Then, keeping a palm pressed against the table for support, he raised the other hand, grabbing a short lock of Nicklaus's hair between his index finger and thumb.
"You want to punish Noel Noa for saying we would have lost that match because of you..." it was no longer a question but an affirmation he was more than certain of.
Their eyes met, and their incompatible colors tried to blend like a drop of crimson blood mixes in the clearest of waters.
"...or is there something even more serious for which he deserves your wrath?"
But blood is thicker than water.
His hand descended slowly, pure delicacy caressing her feminine cheekbone, then tracing her jawline, stopping on her chin, with his thumb touching the delicate and full lower lip.
His sharp eyes, even more intense thanks to the red eyeliner, lowered to that fleshy protuberance that was warm and sensitive under his fingertip.
"It's true that the worst of angels is also the most beautiful..." he whispered, his eyes admiring her like a critic in front of the work of art he has studied all his life.
Nicole didn't move, disinterestedly watching the boy who could easily discover her secret from such a close distance.
And indeed, it wasn't even her who told him not to touch her.
"Don't touch what doesn't belong to you, Kaiser. You already have a dog for that."
The German smiled at the familiar voice, but he didn't dare to break the contact when he replied: "Yoichi, the hero of Blue Lock to the rescue."
Isagi, with an expression of annoyance and disappointment covering his face, approached the table, giving a brief glance to Ness (the poor boy now resigned to being seen as Kaiser's dog) before ignoring him completely.
"Haven't you heard me? Stop being annoying and back off." he said, his large blue eyes, deep as the ocean abyss, fixed on the German who still refused to move away.
Nicole, who hadn't shown any signs of movement, shifted her attention to the standing boy.
"Do you need something, pretty boy?" she asked with an indifferent but not cruel tone, having nothing against the boy who had never wronged her in any way.
Yoichi smiled, though still uncertain about the whole situation, nodding in response to the redhead's question.
"Yes, there are some guys who want to do a podcast with you and another striker." he replied, grabbing Kaiser's wrist and pushing his hand away from her face.
The latter smiled smugly, comfortably sitting back on the chair and clapping his hands a few times.
"My Nicklaus is becoming popular. I might almost get jealous."
Nicole stood up calmly, glancing at Kaiser and then at Ness. Then she returned her gaze directly in front of her, completely ignoring, "see you later, my beautiful devil."
Isagi, unlike Nicole, gave the blonde a stern look over his shoulders.
"Ego-san sent me to call you: both him and Anri-san will attend your interview." he informed, refraining from asking how it could be possible for Nicklaus to endure the German's harassment.
Nicole wanted to reply that she already knew that Ego was there. Of course he was.
Why wouldn't he when she was so dangerous for his entire project?
Ego knew this was a delicate moment between him and the protagonist and, even if he didn't know the redhead well, he knew her well enough to expect anything.
Even the unexpected.
After all, she had nothing to lose. He... everything.
"And the other player? Who will I be interviewing with?" she asked, ready to hear a name she didn't know or didn't remember.
The bluenette averted his gaze with an insecure and uncertain grimace, stumbling over his steps.
"You see... well... I mean..."
Fortunately, she didn't have to wait for Isagi to stop stuttering like an infant and muster the courage to answer because, because as soon as they turned the corner, her red eyes met orange ones.
An amused smile appeared on her lips, a disgusted and irritated grimace on his.
"Isn't this hilarious..." the girl whispered as her gaze shifted to Ego's displeased one.
Hilarious... hilarious because among all the people who could be chosen to participate in a couple interview with her, Kunigami was had to be the worst choice.
Not only did he not know the true identity of the redhead, and therefore couldn't receive recommendations from the director on certain topics to avoid (since that would also mean reveal Nicole's secret), but he also hated Nicklaus.
He hated him so much that he would have participated in that interview just for the pleasure of exposing his cruelty and having him destroyed by the wickedness of public opinion.
And probably, that's how it was.
"Looking more handsome than ever, my Wild card-"
"Throw yourself in the traffic, you fucking devil." he interrupted, hands in his pockets clenched into fists, his jaw rigid and even more highlighted now that he was gritting his teeth.
"Wow, so it's really true what they say about you two: a proper enemies-to-lovers." a female voice forced Nicole to avert her gaze from Kunigami's angry face, and in her line of sight appeared a woman.
She had long white hair, silky smooth. Her eyes were black, deep and attentive, so dark that they couldn't distinguish the pupil. She wore formal but casual clothes: black trousers, and a white shirt with a V neckline, all covered by a trench coat.
"My name is Naomi Garcia, I will be your interviewer for today." she introduced herself, focusing her gaze on Nicole.
Or rather, on Nicklaus.
Her eyes traveled along the entire figure of the redhead's body, starting from the hair, to the face, to the neck, until they reached the shoes. Tanned, definitely self-confident from the way he was intensely looking at how she was inspecting him, probably in possession a certain charm.
From what she had read on the web to inform herself before the job, no one had ever been close enough to Nicklaus Vinciguerra to talk to him.
She would have been the first to do it.
"It's an honor to meet Blue Lock's Joker card and Wild card... please, let's get ready for the interview." she said to the two, entering a room that had been assigned to her to ensure privacy during the interview.
Nicole's eyes immediately spotted two devices.
"What's this?" asked the orange-haired boy with a skeptical and bored tone, also looking in the same direction.
"Oh, those? They're polygraphs, the trend of the moment. I don't know if you're very active on social media, but now there's this thing of making podcasts with celebrities while using those." the woman explained while arranging some papers, gesturing for a man to appear from behind the camera.
"The polygraph is a kind of lie detector based on your heart rate. My colleague will be the one to tell me if you're lying or not." Naomi explained, and Nicole waved to the man whose face she would never remember.
Kunigami grimaced.
"Why should we use this stuff?" he asked, clearly wanting to leave.
The woman elegantly sat on the chair, one leg crossed over the other. She smiled.
"Oh, because Ego Jinpachi signed a contract, and this contract gives the freedom to make of this interview whatever I want." she asserted, the tone of her threatening words in complete contrast with her gentle smile.
"Now, I don't have all day. Sit, big boy."
Nicole didn't hide her smile, tilting her head to one side and watching the woman carefully. Her red eyes shifted to the lie detector machine for a moment.
The two guys sat down, too close for Kunigami's discomfort: their knees touched.
He took a deep breath, briefly lowering his autumn eyes to their joints: if he had moved his, the Italian would have understood that this simple contact disturbed him deeply. And he wasn't ready to give in to the satisfaction smirk of the asshole.
The man set up the machinery, attaching various wires to their veins, probably where the heartbeat was felt the best. Meanwhile, the woman explained to them that, according to the contract, it had been decided that the interview would be recorded first and then broadcast in case of any needed cuts.
Nicole briefly lowered her eyes to the boy's hand, noticing his middle finger trembling slightly. His face, however, remained stiff and expressionless.
She said nothing, redirecting her gaze ahead.
"Good morning to all the people watching us from home. I'm Naomi Garcia, and today I'm with the new stars of the moment: Nicklaus Vinciguerra and Kunigami Rensuke." the woman began, her lively tone and well-articulated words directed at the camera focused on them.
Nicole smirked, using her successful fake cover-worthy smile. Rensuke completely ignored the camera, displaying his displeasure.
Ego had his arms crossed in front of his chest, his static black eyes fixed on the red-haired girl. Anri, also focused solely on the protagonist, was clutching the tablet to her chest.
Naomi turned to the younger ones.
"It's an honor to have you here with us, guys. Compared to all the other Blue Lock players, you are the... hot topic, we could say. Your heated and peculiar interactions have captivated the audience." she explained, lowering her gaze for a moment to her phone, where she probably had written some questions.
"I have questions from the audience here. They mostly need straightforward answers, but there are also some that require more elaborate responses. How are you feeling?" she informed them, asking the only one question that perhaps wouldn't hurt them.
Nicklaus smiled, "Excited." Rensuke grunted, "Let's just get started."
Naomi smiled at the redhead, ignoring the gruff tone of the more muscular of the two.
"Good, let's start with an easy one: are you currently dating anyone?"
Ego Jinpachi cursed under his breath, leaning slightly to say something to Anri. She nodded, agreeing with the man's observation: this was anything but a sports interview.
The only positive thing was that it would further increase the popularity of the two.
"No." Kunigami replied curtly, receiving a thumbs-up from the polygraph operator.
"No, single and ready to mingle." Nicklaus joked, receiving the same signal that she was telling the truth.
"Good, second question: are you interested in anyone within Blue Lock?"
Nicole looked down at Kunigami's knee, which had just started nervously moving up and down.
"It depends on what you mean." the girl affirmed, choosing once again to ignore the clear signs of impatience from the Wild card.
Naomi smiled cunningly, tilting her head to one side. "Open to interpretation."
"No." Kunigami replied again, more abruptly than before.
His eyes immediately shifted to the man behind the camera, and he clenched his teeth when he saw him shake his head and give a thumbs-down.
Naomi widened her eyes, and her smile grew.
"We're only at the second question, and we already have a lie, ladies and gentlemen. Isn't this interesting?" she asked the camera, her deep black irises shifting once again to Nicklaus, still waiting for his answer.
The redhead shrugged.
"I find many people interesting in Blue Lock." he admitted calmly, receiving a thumbs-up.
Naomi raised an eyebrow. "And what do you mean by that?"
Nicole smiled cunningly.
"Open to interpretation." she repeated, almost mocking the interviewer.
But instead of getting irritated, Naomi found it almost amusing. She liked guys like Nicklaus: they knew how to joke and take a challenge at the same time.
"Let's move on: many have noticed a certain energy between you, as aggressive as it is passionate-"
Kunigami muttered a curse under his breath, ignoring the amused red eyes watching him from his right.
"-and what the audience wonders is why? What is it between you two?"
The question Kunigami had been waiting for. The question to which he now didn't know how to answer.
He lowered his attention to the wires attached to his forearm. He thought it was the fault of those that he was now completely in the void: if he hadn't been hooked up to a device that distinguished truth from lie, he probably would have spilled everything without obstacles.
But theoretically, if what he wanted to say was the truth, then how could being controlled by a lie detector hinder him?
"Kunigami is the dramatic one." the Italian replied calmly, drawing the shocked gaze of the muscular boy.
Then the latter eyes moved to the man, widening even more when he saw the thumbs-up.
"What about you Kuni-" the journalist was completely ignored.
"You think I'm dramatic? Are you fucking kidding me?" the Japanese asked angrily, making Nicole raise an eyebrow and forcing her to shift her disinterested and calm gaze to his angry and furious one.
Naomi said nothing, observing the two carefully with her eyes hungry for gossip and information.
"Am I wrong?" the redhead asked with feigned innocence, and her ears caught the increase in the quickness of the needle's movements recording the heartbeat, a consequence of the boy's nervousness in front of her.
"You're fucking crazy. You betrayed me and sent me to the dumps, you fucking piece of shit."
Oh wow, the first scandal.
Naomi glanced at the director and the manager, wondering what she should do. It was true that she needed spicy gossip to attract more viewers, but it would be useless if in most of the answers she had to replace profanities with beeping sounds.
Nicole looked him straight in the eyes, no emotion in her irises, not even a hint of amusement.
Just cruel indifference.
"I'm also the reason you didn't end up staying in the garbage, my lovely Wild card."
Ego decided to intervene.
"You two, compose yourselves. Garcia, please delete this scene and avoid further questions about their relationship." he said first to them and then to the woman, receiving a nod of agreement from the latter.
The white-haired adult lowered her despondent gaze to the phone screen, scrolling through the myriad of questions centered on this possible enemies-to-lovers scenario.
She sighed. She should have chosen Kurona as the second interviewee, not the autumn-haired boy.
"All right... please Kunigami, try to calm down. Your heart rate is still too high for me to ask you questions." the woman demanded after a nod from her colleague, noticing how the two hadn't stopped looking at each other with completely different emotions in their gazes.
Nicole was the first to look away, relaxed as if nothing had happened.
The woman looked at Kunigami, sighing at seeing him still worked up.
"For now, I'll focus on Nicklaus. Is that okay with you?" she asked the redhead, deciding that he was the most stoic and controlled among the two.
"I'm an attention seeker, Naomi. Ask away." he smiled, nodding, infecting even the journalist.
At least one of them knew how to behave in front of a camera.
"Right now your popularity in the football world is growing exponentially, so much so that the current latest offer amounts to..."
Naomi cast a quick glance at her cell phone.
"...850,000.00 from Real Madrid. My compliments." noted the white woman, giving the redhead a big smile.
"How does it make you feel that all these teams rate you so highly?" she asked, and Nicole's eyes shifted for a moment to the figure behind the woman, outside the frame.
Ego was already looking at her, already knowing her answer to that question.
Nicole smiled.
By now, her face didn't even hurt anymore, so accustomed she was to putting on that familiar mask in front of others.
"It's cool, pretty fun if I think about it." because I don't care at all, and because whatever they do I will never be theirs.
The man behind the machine did nothing, staring intently at the machinery. His eyes went up to his colleague, and his head moved slightly: indefinite response.
Naomi inhaled interdictedly, lowering her gaze to her cell phone to look for in other question.
Nicole's rubies met for another single moment Ego's obsidians. She bit the inside of her cheek, ignoring him once again.
Rensuke, now calmer, shifted his eyes to the redhead's hand, noticing his index finger make short, unnoticed jerks before relaxing again.
His orange irises pointed to the outline of the cover-worthy smile. He averted them only when the red irises shifted to him as well, probably after feeling the heaviness of his gaze.
"All right... mhm, what do you think about each other? Do you physically find each other appealing?" the woman asked, trying to pose another question that pertained to their relationship (thus ignoring Ego's request and the possibility of making the more muscular boy angry again).
After all, the main reason she had chosen them was because the public was under the illusion that there was something extremely passionate between them.
She wanted more audience, and this duo would be able to give it to her.
"He's handsome. That's why I call him that."
Truth.
"He's a disgusting, weak-looking bitch."
Lie.
Nicklaus turned toward the boy, his expression of mockery and mischief evident for Kunigami's eyes, who was instead cursing under his breath as he strained to look ahead.
"Man, are you actually attracted to me? Dude behind the camera, tell me if he lies or not-"
"I hope you die, you fucking devil."
Naomi smiled contentedly, ignoring the fact that she would have to delete more profanities but happy that at least a physical attraction between the two had been revealed.
Maybe that interview wouldn't be a total fiasco.
"Okay, going on, Nicklaus many people have noticed a certain similarity between you and Nicole Vinciguerra."
Nicole immediately stopped teasing Kunigami, her attention now focused solely and exclusively on Naomi Garcia and her question.
Like her, Ego and Anri were also in total silence, tension and anticipation palpable in the atmosphere around them.
Rensuke, on the other hand, stiffened at the girl's name, in his head clear and well-defined memories he had experienced in the bathrooms of the sports gala a few weeks earlier.
"My question for you is: is there any relationship between you two? Do you know her? Is she a relative of yours?"
Ah fuck, exactly the question she shouldn't have asked.
Nicklaus smiled, saying nothing for a first moment. All eyes inside the room were fixed on him, waiting for words of denial or confirmation.
Her red eyes met his black ones, fixed on her like a sniper with crosshairs on his target.
The question was more dangerous for him than for her, this was obvious to both of them. For while Ego Jinpachi would have been accused of who knows what for hiding a woman, and by the way the very famous Nicole Vinciguerra, in an all-male facility, Nicole would have gotten away with it and the scandal would have increased her popularity even more.
There was no risk of her being called a slut, or a whore, for spending months together with only men: her friendship passages had already given her a reputation as a non-committal.
Nicklaus settled back in his chair.
"Nicole Vinciguerra... well, if she looks like me it means she has a lot of style." he joked, his eyes not moving from Ego's.
He licked his lower lip, moving once more on the chair. His knee pressed against Kunigami's, who raised an eyebrow and looked down from his height at the redhead.
"I do know her, who doesn't? I haven't met her parents tho, so I don't know how to answer the question regarding the kinship. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't." he stated with confidence in his tone, taking care to stay calm and keep his heart rate steady.
After all, that's what the machine was relying on if what the two guys had been told about its operation was true: it was not a real lie detector.
The redhead cast a glance at the man behind the camera, who still had done nothing to signal whether he had told a lie or a truth.
Then, after very long moments of waiting, he raised his arm.
Thumb up.
Truth.
"Well, that's certainly unfortunate: you two look like twins." Naomi asserted with a polite smile, receiving a quiet and chill "Let's hope she'll be flattered as much as I am." from the redhead.
Ego, looking at her, inhaled deeply: Nicole had not exposed him that day, but her blood-red eyes, which had brushed against him for only a few moments had seemed to visualize his end, speaking the words that had not been spoken verbally.
One step over the line... and it would be her word against his.
The question, surprisingly, was also asked of Kunigami.
"What about you, Rensuke? Have you ever met Nicole Vinciguerra? In a close encounter, I mean." the interviewer asked without really being interested, not expecting so much from a character who was only then becoming known to the football world.
Besides, the only reason he was increasing his popularity was because of his special relationship with Nicklaus, the current real celebrity of the Blue Lock.
Yet, for the first time since they had begun the interview-
"Yes."
-Kunigami had given a more satisfactory answer than Nicklaus'.
Naomi opened her black eyes slightly wide, settling better in her chair.
Ego and Anri looked at each other for a moment, not really thinking anything in particular, then shifting their gaze to the protagonist.
She, still smiling, grimaced for a single, tiny instant, frowning her eyebrows, almost as if she had heard wrong, relaxing them soon after. Her eyes shifted furtively to the boy, heading immediately afterward to the man behind the machinery.
Her pupils tightened.
Thumb up.
Truth.
"Wow, not many people have had such an opportunity. And tell me, when did you meet her?"
Yeah, when did you meet me? Nicole wanted to ask, but instead remained silent, her rubies almost digging into the boy's temple because of how intensely she was scrutinizing him.
"At the gala." he replied dryly and gruffly, biting his tongue to keep from snapping at the redhead beside him for staring.
Nicole shifted again, crossing one leg over the other. She stroked the inside of her cheek with the tip of her tongue, thinking about the answer.
It was a lie. It had to be a lie. No one had approached her that night but her companion, Sae, followed by Shidou, Bachira, Isagi, Abigail and the old man.
No one else had had the courage to speak to her or at least to walk in her wake: not when walking behind her would forced them to look at the hideous work of art that had been done directly on her back.
Yet, for some reason, her body did not trust the conviction of her self-awareness as, without realizing it, her face turned back to the man.
Thumb up.
Truth.
Nicole's cover smile changed slightly, her eyes moved confusedly into those of Ego and Anri. The two of them had been watching her for most of that evening, had seen who had approached her while she was too busy drowning her capacity for intellect in alcohol.
But, when she saw their gazes locked in her own, she understood that they themselves were looking for an answer.
A horrible feeling in her stomach made her nauseous, and the first traces of cold sweat began to appear under her clothing.
Not only did she not remember ever meeting him, she could not even remember at what time of the evening she met him: before, after, while-
"Ah yes, the very famous gala. No one was able to film it entirely, but I won't ask you to describe how she was dressed. Could you instead tell me how she looked to you?" continued Naomi, lowering her gaze to her cell phone for a moment when she received a notification from her colleague.
Nicklaus Vinciguerra's heart rate is above normal.
Her eyelids tightened slightly at the message, and her black eyes shifted for a few moments to the red-haired boy who, contrary to what her colleague said, seemed calm and relaxed.
If Nicklaus at that moment had an accelerated heart rate as the machine was showing, then he was perhaps too good at hiding it.
"Intense." replied Kunigami confidently after a few moments, noticing how the reporter's attention had moved to the Italian for a few brief moments.
Naomi smiled at the Japanese striker's response, nodding in agreement.
"She's pretty intense, isn't she? Even from behind the television she has the same effect in my opinion." she commented before continuing her string of questions with "And what is she like as a person? Is the way she speaks different than when she is in front of a camera?"
By now the woman was no longer looking at her cell phone with the series of inquiries from the audience. Her personal curiosity needed to be satisfied, and it wasn't every day that one had the opportunity to talk to someone who had informally approached the famous Nike.
"It's not like we talked a lot." said the tall boy evasively, casting a glance at the man behind the camera who was confirming his claims.
"So what did you do?"
His orange eyes widened slightly, his heart missed a beat.
Naomi raised an eyebrow, turning her attention away from the Wild Card. She wasn't the one who asked the question.
Slowly Rensuke turned his face toward him, meeting the deep but flat, static but impetuous eyes of the person he least wanted to hear from: Nicklaus Vinciguerra.
"What did you do if you did not speak?" he insisted, leaning his head over one shoulder as his narrow pupils seemed to want to siphon information from Kunigami's eyes.
This one said nothing, remaining silent.
No one uttered a word or dared to intervene: the gazes of everyone and the camera fixed on the pair of comrades.
The taller of the two cautiously inspected the seemingly stoic and indifferent expression of the other, noting however the pallor of his tanned face and the way he did not hint at wanting to blink, almost as if he were incapable of doing so.
He moved his eyes imperceptibly, above the red-haired head, pointing at the machinery from which could be heard a small sound, exponentially faster and more impetuous.
Still, Kunigami was certain that his own heartbeat was decently controlled. His eyes widened in realization: it was Nicklaus' hearth rate that was fastening, not his.
"Why do you care-"
"Can't you just tell me? Come on man, I'm curious." Nicklaus interrupted Kunigami's slow and confused talk with his decidedly faster, more tense tone.
Tense... a less apt adjective to describe the quiet, menefreghteous Nicklaus Vinciguerra was not to be found.
The redhead smiled, looking first at Kunigami, then at Naomi, then at Kunigami again.
"Naomi aren't you curious as well?" he asked without looking at her, receiving in response a puzzled "Well... yeah, I guess so." from the reporter.
The orange-haired guy shifted his gaze to everyone in the room, suddenly feeling like a recluse.
He didn't want to say it.
He couldn't say it.
What would happen if he passed for a harasser. He would hate it.
He had enough problems with his Wild card label. He didn't need to be considered a pervert.
He sighed, returning composedly to his chair and turning directly to the reporter, whose attentive, hungry eyes were memorizing their every word.
"Let's continue this charade, I'm fucking sick of being here-" a hand slipped into his hair, yanking it backward and forcing him to let out a groan of pain and to clench his eyes shut in surprise.
He heard the reporter's hem of surprise, and also the voice of Ego Jinpachi ordering something about sitting down.
"Kunigami, you don't understand..."
His voice made his heart beat rapidly in his chest, and it almost made the galloping of that organ against his ribcage hurt more than the firm grip on his hair.
His hand pulled his head back even further, and his eyelids fluttered open slightly.
It was frightening.
He was frightening.
He had never seen such a terrifying look on his face. He thought he had seen the worst that day, when in the gym at night he had confessed that absurd and confused secret to him.
But he thought wrong.
"Nicklaus, let him go." he heard Ego say.
"I have to know what happened... I need to..." but the man's voice was not in the least detected by the redhead's deaf ears, who kept talking with a deep and almost trembling voice.
The protagonist was standing in front of the boy, who was instead still sitting in the chair, forced by the other to raise his chin and look him straight in the eye.
Eyes, those eyes...so empty, so full, so flat, so deep, so violent, so dull. Eyes that pierced his body and sought his soul directly, to caress it and then choke it and force it out of his body.
Kunigami swallowed the lump in his throat, and his Adam's apple rose and fell again with difficulty because of the way his neck was bent by him, almost as if the intention was to throttle him without even encircling his windpipe with fingers.
The red eyes darkened.
The polygraph stopped.
"Speak up."
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Noa's new attitude is explained by the girl's sudden estrangement: he thought that by behaving the way she wanted (he thought she wanted) then she would get close again.
I have said it before, but Nicole cannot completely relax in the presence of a man because, from her experiences, she thinks there are no adult men who can touch her without brutally violating her. Deep down she knows that Noel is not like these, but she prefers not to accept it for the time being.
Nicole is very good at hiding her emotions, even from a neurological point of view. But if she lose it... the she lose it.
The polygraph measures physiological responses like heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration to assess truthfulness: it is not a reliable machine when it comes to distinguishing truth from lies because a person might alter their physiological responses (perhaps by deceiving their brain that they're not in danger or by straining to think something else)
Nicole is smart, so she does know what's happening and she has begun to put the pieces together. She just needs final confirmation. Her next reaction is...unexpected.
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Author
HERE I AM
I have written a much longer chapter (not twice as long but almost) so as to make up for the delay and also for the next one (I am in exam session).
I want to ask you honestly what you think about it because it is not among my favorites.
Question of the day: what do you expect from the individual characters based on their behaviors in this chapter?
That said- see ya darlings