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"I'm proud of you."

Those words rang through your ears again and again. You looked into space, lost at maybe how much joy ran through your body.

After some more words of encouragement from the other team members leaving you a little embarrassed, half time came to an end, 'Should I tail Fukushima for starters...Nah.'

Team Z started with the ball. You swiftly moved forward and trapped a long pass. "It's my time to make a comeback." 

Coordinating with Misa and her dribbling skills you scored a goal shortly. You turned around to see Fukushima clutching her fists, 'No matter how much anger she harbors towards me...There's no way I would let her win now.'

Fukushima started with the ball, passing it along to her dribbler friend, but her play was cut short because of Fujioka's interference. "I'll be taking that.

She ran forward, dribbling the ball with slight tapping. From her side, two defenders came and tackled her, 'Shouldn't that be counted as a foul?'

Team Z stole the ball and passed it around. The match was getting heated, but you weren't going to lose your cool over this.

Misa ran forward, swiping the ball from them easily she passed to you without looking as if she trusted you completely. You jumped to trap the ball but this time Fukushima intercepted the pass, "Try better!"

She slyly licked her lips in a teasing manner before turning around and passing the ball. Ejiri didn't bother wasting her time and rushed towards her but some other hot-head blocked her way.

"Tch." You were completely stuck in your world to the point all you could envision was the field but there was something that completely shook you. A huge red cross was marked on the chessboard, 'Huh?!'

And just as you had thought you had broken free from your chains, Fukushima was the big red cross, dancing in front of you like a thorn in your path.

You were completely irked by this, 'After all that my weapon hasn't evolved?!' You were left bewildered and maybe irritated. Your thoughts were becoming full of hazy and useless memories as you kept losing focus of the ball.

Suddenly a whistle blew, and team Z scored a goal bringing the score to 3-2. You cursed yourself internally and walked back, still feeling hazy but ignored it.

You walked back to your post but didn't say anything to anyone and neither did anyone. Everyone was too focused on the field to chit-chat at this moment.

Kick-off started and you immediately got hold of the ball. Two defenders came to tackle you, exactly like how they did with Fujioka but you were prepared this time.

 Using the high momentum you used your left foot's heel to pick up the ball making one of the girls miss her swipe. You then kicked the ball with your right foot forward and above the second girl's head.

'Just need a clearing..!' Those words kept repeating in your head over and over again, your eyes darting at every corner to not let a single moment escape from your sight.

You picked the ball with the right foot and jumped, twisting your body you spun around in a tornado-like manner and used the same foot to shoot the ball with fierce velocity and scored bringing the score up to 4-2.

You fell to the ground, and hearing your teammates cheer for you made you realize what a crazy goal you pulled off. You looked at Fukushima to see her completely baffled.

From the corner of your eyes, you saw the team Z girl who had tried to sell out her teammate's secrets to you previously but ended up getting bitch slapped but this time her expression was mixed, '...She looks rather guilty.'

Team Z started with the ball, having decent coordination at first but you could see the gaps in their form easily. You signaled Misa to target one of the girls that had the ball and she stole it rather nicely.

You two ran forward as you were expecting a pass from her at the goal line. Just as the two of you reached the goalpost you got ready to receive her pass but she suddenly chose to do something else and shoot the ball herself which ended up being blocked by the goalkeeper who had somehow predicted she would try and score herself.

Misa looked at you apologetically but you brushed it off, 'It's not like losing one goal opportunity hurts.' But it happened again when Ejiri was about to score but the traitor of team Z suddenly ran up and tackled her which earned her a red card.

'What the hell?' You were slightly confused but again brushed it off, you were after all in the lead so what was the need to worry anymore? You destroyed Fukushima by scoring the goal and practically won.

'There's no way she can think of a plan to score three goals in 30 minutes.' You snickered at the girl when no one else was looking, sometimes you were a little petty.

"We got this in the bag!" Airi exclaimed as others nodded, "Yeah i dont know why i was getting so worried for?" Another girl added on.

But after a couple of a minutes, team Z scored a goal. You were left shocked while not being able to process how the fuck they coordinated so perfectly and dodged the defenders including you with preciseness.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?!" Ejiri lifted Airi up by uniform but others stopped her from thrashing around, "Shut the fuck up and let me think for a second would you?" You voiced your frustration which shut them real quick.

'If they were able to produce such brillaint plays from the starting then why didnt they? Or is it because Fukushima is slowly helping them unlock their weapon...' Many thoeritical questions were spinning around your head but you werent able to answer even a single one.

"Fuck..." You held your head as it had started to throb, "Are you okay?" Misa placed a hand on your shoulder, "If you need any help just know that im here for you." 

"Yeah i know, i just cant seem to figure what Fukushima's up to now." You said while slightly glaring at the said girl, "Take your time...And even if they manage to win somehow then we'll move on to the next stage so dont stress it."

Those words didn't sit right with you. You extremly wanted to win, it was this burning passion to bask in the glory of a win that you deserved and also because you wanted to laugh in Fukushima's face. 

And yet again it happened. Team Z managed to score another fucking goal under your nose. It was not slightly but your were annoyed on another level and others could sense it radiating it off you.

"[Name]-" Misa tried to calm you down, "Misa...Shut up for a minute. I want to win, so only fucking pass to me now." Maybe the anger had crossed over all your five senses and pride had taken over.

There were barely 5 minutes left for the match to conclude and you weren't to go down without a fight, 'Bring it fucking on, Fukushima.'

Fujioka started but immiediately passed to you after seeing your pissed look. You ran forward and dribbled hard, single handely dodging everyone...Maybe even your own teammates. You were completely blinded by the flag of winning.

You shot the ball harshly but Fukushima out of all people jumped and head butted it away, "Open ball!" One of the fast runners of Team Z trapped it and ran but Fujioka wasn't that far behind.

You turned around to look at Fukushima but were surprised to see she was already running towards the ball, 'Crap.'

Sakura, the fast runner passed to Fukushima as both were fairly close to the goal, from behind Fukushima teammates came in, each demanding for a pass saying how they were more free to shoot.

You also had caught up with her, Fukushima's eyes widened at how fast you were, "We meet often dont we?...I'm done with your games." You were on the brink of falling and exhausted but your ego was fueling your body with energy.

"You are the most dangerous person on this field besides me." Your eyes started spiralling out of control as black-ish aura surrounded you. The air got thicker as each second passed, both of you not wanting to give up till the last second.

Fukushima mind was thinking at all sorts of direction, you smiled sadistcally, "You can't beat me...!" A slight frustration took over the girl as she glared at you.

"Shut up!" Fukushima mangaed to utter, having enough of your taunting. From the back she coud hear her teammates call out to her again, 'She's going to pass isn't she?' Fukushima housed a distraught look on her face but suddenly her look changed and it was as if you could read her thoughts.

I want to win with my own goal!

Your eyes widened, Fukushima's aura had changed at a overwhelming rate. You slid infront of you but she managed to pull of a fast nutmeg and run past you, 'No!' Your thoughts screamed out.

You were even ready to foul just to stop her but it was too late, she winded her leg back and scored the last goal needed for team Z's victory, the score now being 4-5.

The whistle blew as the clock striker the 90 minutes end timer. Team Z players ran towards Fukushima with glee and excitement. You looked at them with a single thought.

Why did i lose?

It kept ringing in your head. You glanced at Fukushima one more time before walking back. Misa tried to talk to you but stopped noticing your mood. The others also didnt say anything, a gloomy feeling washed over everyone.

"C'mon?! What's the need to stay so sad, we're gonna move on to the next stage anyways so just chill out!" Ejiri lightly slapped your back but you didnt respond, "Just leave her alone for some time." Ai voiced out and took Ejiri away.

It was true, you wanted to be alone to atleast assess your thoughts but before you could leave you felt someones hand on your shoulder, "?!"

Fukushima stood behind you, she looked like she wanted to say something but you weren't sure if you wanted to hear it, "...You lost, not because of your abilities but because of your lack of determination towards soccer." 

You felt your nerves boiling at her words but didn't let it show. Fukushima looked down, then at her teammates then at you before patting your shoulder and walking off, 'What the fuck is wrong with her?'

You walked into the locker room and then into the showers. Giving yourself little to no consolation maybe you were letting this lose hit more than you should. You weren't going to lie and say it wasn't one of the most intense matches you had played but it would have felt better if you would have won.

You breathed out, a sigh of exhaustion escaping your lips, 'Whatever happened...Happened. I have to focus on second selection now.' You explained to your brain to drop the match.

Walking out of the showers you still weren't in the mood to face anyone so decided to hit the cafetaria. You got your favourite meal and destroyed it, maybe you were a little hangry.

You tried to savour the food tastes but Fukushima's words keep repeating in your mind, 'What does she mean by that?' The more you thought the more your head started to hurt so you just sat in silence.

You looked at your phone and then at the time. Realising it was pretty late you got up and started walking towards your room, "Wait!" A voice called out to you from behind.

You looked back and were surprised, "Oh, its you...The 'mastermind' of team Y." You remembered the girl, she caused a ton shit of trouble during the match against team Y but she was also the reason you unlocked your weapon.

"...Please stop referring to me with that title. Its cringe." The curly haired girl spoke up, "My name's Hamada Amina." You nodded, "You don't look Japanesse...Are you perhaps blasian?" Amina had thick brown curly hair and dark skin.

"Yeah, my dad's from Alegeria and my moms from Japan." You admired the girls long and beautiful curls for a second, "Anyways, is there something you wanted to say?"

"Yeah, there is actually." Amina continued, "I thought about what you said to me in our previous match, that 'we still have a lot of time don't we?'" The curly haired girl quoted your words.

"And?" You quirked a brow, not understanding what the girl was getting at, "What im trying to say is yeah, i did have a lot of time. I took your words and even if they were meant to be a taunt...I used them to grow so thank you but I'm gonna crush you in the second selection."

Your eyes widened, suddenly Fukushima's words rang in your head, "Is that so?" You inquired, "Mh, i realsied that even though i was capable enough i lacked the ego to score and take the top position so i betrayed my time and made my own plans. I learnt to score my own goals."

You chuckled a little, "Your words remind of someone else." It was now Amina's turn to look at you with a confused expression but shrugged it off, "That's all i had too say...See you in the second selection [Name]."

You didnt reply but just gave her a simple nodd of ackownelgement, 'Maybe i should also think about her words more.'

You walked back to your room as you had planned earlier but were surprised to find everyone knocked out cold. You layed on your futon, slowly sleep deprevation and exhaustion caught up to you.

The morning came rather early and so did Ego's face on the monitor to inform us about the second selection, "What do you mean the second selection dosen't start straight away?!" Ejiri looked like she was going to explode.

Ego explained to us that we were sore losers and at the bottom of the trash can, we also didn't stand a chance against the higher level players who were enjoying all these great facilites and to  reach their level Ego had created a strict training regement for each player to help them grow faster.

A space opened up in the ceiling and a paper flew from there. Misa picked it up and others gathered around to see the schedule Ego had assigned us, "Oh fuck no." You groaned.

[TRAINING REGIMENT IN PREPARATION FOR BLUE LOCK'S SECOND SELECTION]

7:00 - 9:00: wake up + warm-up

9:00 - 11:00: Endurance run ( Training Room )

14:00: Ultra core training ( Training Room )

16:00: Weights ( Training Room )

18:00: Sprints ( Training Field )

20:00: Meal Time ( Cafeteria )

"These physcial conditioning training will continue on for 10 days to ensure a rapid growth so that your worthless piles of garbage can even cross the first stage of selection selection." Ego mocked us for the hundereath time.

"And also, no touching balls during this 10 day training period." Everyone was completely taken aback with the last rule but had no choice but to comply to the sick man's request.

[PHYSICAL CONDITIONING: DAY 1]

You, Misa and Fujioka ran on the treadmills. You had plugged in some downloaded music and the other two girls were chatting together. Ego's comments rang in your head which made your irk.

be grateful that we're giving gangly, spineless nobodies like you all the stamina you need, idiots.

You sighed and continued to run, ignoring the urge to sprawl across the floor, 'I hate that baldy.' You kept chanting in your head as a way to motivate yourself.

You then turned your focus to look at the others who hd different assignmnts to complete. Airi and her group were currently on the bars, Ai has flexibility which by judging her face dosen't look like she's enjoying much.

understand that you're the bottom of the bottom. 

Ejiri winged by too annoy you but Misa interwined as always, "Can you stop sticking your dick up your grilfriends ass for once, miss model?" You physcially gagged at the red haired females choice of words but controlled yourself.

[PHYSICAL CONDITIONING: DAY 2]

"24, 25, 26...I give up." You fell face first on the mat, breathing heavily, "Doing 26 one hand push ups is very impressive [Name], keep it up!" The strawberry blonde haired female patted your back.

"Not as impressive as your 45 one hand push up!" You exclaimed with a heavy sigh. Currently you and Ai were on ultra core training which you were not liking at all.

"How the heck are you able to pull so many off anyways?" You sit up straight as Ai hands you a bottle, "Growing up, i had two older brothers. They always encouraged me to try weight lifting since i always had a lot of strength growing up."

"Then you should compete in the weight lifting sport, why soccer?" Ai looked at the dumbbells in her hand and thought for a good minute, "Because i want to save as many people as i can!"

"Huh?" You were taken back at her response, "You are kinda right, before soccer i was trying to become a weight lifting champion but in middle school my hand got crushed under a dumbbell and it got injured so badly the doctors told me to quit weight lifting."

"I was going to give up on everything but my brothers pulled me out of depression and introduced me to soccer so in some words they saved me and i want to do the same to anyone who might be struggling." You couldn't help but smiled at Ai's honesty.

[PHYSICAL CONDITIONING: DAY 3]

Fujioka ran around the field with a frustrated look meanwhile you layed sprawled on the sidelines. Beside you Misa counted Fujioka's remaining laps, "How much more?" She asked panting, "...10 more." Misa smiled apologetically at the girl.

[PHYSICAL CONDITIONING: DAY 4]

You and your team sat in the cafetaria, "I feel like dying." You layed your head beside the food and onto the table. Dark circles had been formed under your eyes due to the lack of sleep.

"My body hurts so much!" Misa complained, poking her food, "Ha, weaklings! You guys are tired just from this much?!" Ejiri mocked the two of you but neither had the energy to answer her back.

"You guys should eat, if you dont you'll collapse." Ai advised, gulping down her food, "Forget about us, look at her." You pointed at Airi who had become a skeleton because she kept puking.

"..Im fine..!" As soon she said that she puked in her bucket, "Ugh." You turned you head away from the mess and continued staring at your food with disgust.

[PHYSICAL CONDITIONING DAY: 5]

"How many seconds left?!"