8. Unpleasant Memories

"Oh, hello there!" Y/N turned around, and grinned welcomingly at the strange man standing behind him. "Ego Jinpachi, right?"

Ego was still dressed in the black shirt from earlier, even though it was late at night. His eyes observed Y/N, watching like Y/N was nothing but statistics on a screen. "Yes."

A few seconds passed, Y/N shifting sort of awkwardly under Ego's gaze. He didn't really have anything to say to him, and looked over his shoulder as Isagi and Bachira turned a corner and disappeared from view. "...Did you want me for something?"

"I was going to ask you why you gave fake results on your physical ability tests." Ego said flatly.

Y/N flushed red, opening and closing his mouth a few times as he thought of an excuse. "I didn't...?"

"Don't lie to me." Ego's expression hadn't changed one bit, as he stared Y/N down. "Why did you fake it?"

"I was tired...?" Y/N tried again.

Staying silent, the black clothed man just watched Y/N. He didn't even bother to answer Y/N, just waiting as the boy gradually got more embarrassed.

"Okay, I just didn't want to show off!" Y/N finally said. He huffed, crossing his arms with a bright blush on his face.

Ego nodded, acknowledging Y/N telling the truth. "Did you know, you got worse scores on these tests than you did in the physical tests in Ascension?"

Y/N's eye twitched, and he immediately shut his mouth. Like a switch had been flipped, the smile fell off of his face, his fists clenched at his side, and both of his e/c eyes went blank. Displaying no emotion at all.

It was such a sudden change, it even surprised Ego. As soon as the name Ascension had come up, Y/N had gone from a likeable young man into someone who was completely emotionless. And when he spoke, it was quiet, and calm. "What do you know of Ascension?"

Ego did his best to maintain his composure, though he could feel his heart beating faster as Y/N stared coldly up at him. "When you were eleven, you got better scores in the Ascension physical tests than you did here. And you're seventeen now. That isn't just showing off, that's just completely hiding your capability."

"Is there a problem with that?" Y/N didn't blink at all.

"Why are you trying to act like you aren't the best player in the room?"

"I want to relax. And I want to have fun. It's no fun if I win every single time."

"Bluelock isn't a place to relax." Ego replied. "Everyone here is fighting for their soccer careers, for their lives. Relaxing will just get you knocked out of here, and you don't improve by relaxing."

"Do you really think I'll get knocked out?" Y/N raised one eyebrow, his voice smooth.

Ego didn't have an instant reply for once. "Well... you might if you don't try. Some of the people in this facility are no joke, there are some really good players here that will only improve as Bluelock goes on."

"If I need to try, I will." Y/N countered. "Don't push me to do things I don't want to."

"You might lose. You're underestimating the other players."

Y/N's eyes narrowed, and he stepped right up to Ego. Even though he was shorter by a good amount, he didn't seem like it as he jabbed a finger into his own chest. "I won Ascension. I beat everyone else. And I am going to be the best striker in the world."

"Everyone else wants to be the best as well-" Ego tried to respond.

"I don't care." Y/N laughed dryly, no sign of actual happiness in his eyes. "It's going to be me. So stop pushing me, and I promise you, if you can produce strikers that require me to concentrate just a little, I will go all out."

"Fine." Ego replied. "I look forward to seeing your full potential."

"Shut up, Ego." Y/N snarled out with another sudden shift in demeanour. He spun on his heel, not giving the black-clothed man a chance to respond as he walked back to the dorm room. He threw open the door, not caring to close it behind him as he strode into the room.

He knew he had wanted to go after Isagi and Bachira, but if he did, he would just end up going crazy. Memories were already beginning to spiral round his head, reminders of sharp needles and endless tests and soccer match after soccer match.

Walking over to his bed, Y/N breathed out slowly, trying to keep himself under control. It didn't help at all. "Please, not now..." He whispered. "I'm okay, I'm okay..."

Y/N didn't even realise he'd crashed into the wall of his dorm room until his nose exploded with pain. The rest of Team Z, minus Bachira and Isagi, were still sleeping.

He clenched his eyes shut, willing himself to stop thinking, but it didn't help as again, more memories flooded his train of thought. Memories of waking up at ungodly hours, falling asleep from sheer exhaustion, watching as other children lay in bed with red-rimmed, shadowed eyes.

An iron vice suddenly gripped his lungs, and Y/N gasped for air, spinning so his back was against the wall and pressing both hands into the cool surface like it would help him. But it didn't help as more memories swept through his mind, unlocked by Ego just saying the name 'Ascension'.

Memories of watching other kids crumple to their knees after losing a game, crying as their future soccer dreams were ruined. Of the winners, standing over the others as their eyes got blanker and blanker with every single win. Of his own nine year old self, silently praying for some sort of break but knowing that it wouldn't come.

He slid down the wall, throwing his head back and grimacing as it slammed hard into the wall. Yet it didn't help the thoughts drowning him, it didn't help the memories of children pleading to the 'coaches' for some kind of rest, it didn't help the noises of hundreds of boys as they were one by one removed from the project.

It didn't help the two years of hell he'd gone through, resurfacing at the mention of a single name.

Y/N whimpered, a soft pleading sound that only reached deaf ears as the rest of Team Z slept on. He buried his head in his knees, hands on his temples as he begged for it to stop.

It was a while before he finally fell asleep.

🥕🥕🥕

"Y/N..."

"Hey, Y/N..."

"Y/N? Wake uppppp..."

Hands gently shook his shoulders, and several voices called out his name repeatedly. Y/N stirred slowly, cracking one eye open and squinting in the bright light of the bedroom. "Uh...?"

He could barely make out a few of Team Z's faces, gathered around him. Most of them looked confused, with Chigiri wearing an expression of concern on his face. Y/N internally sighed, closing his eye again. Too tired for this shit...

"Get out of the way!" Another, much louder voice yelled. "If you're going to wake someone up, do it properly, idiots!"

Y/N's eyes instantly snapped open at the voice, and he held up a hand. A rush of panic filled him. "W-wait, no, I'm awak-"

A boy Y/N had talked to yesterday called Raichi grabbed a fistful of his shirt, picking him slightly off of the floor and shaking him roughly. His shark-like teeth clenched, and he looked terrifying as he yelled into Y/N's face. "WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

Y/N's body went ragdoll, letting himself be shaken around as he stared in mute surprise up at Raichi. The blond boy didn't even seem to notice that he was awake, shaking him even harder.

"He's awake, Raichi!" Chigiri shoved the aggressive boy aside, grabbing onto the back of Y/N's head to stop him from hitting the ground. "Jeez."

Y/N groaned painfully, but still smiled happily up at Chigiri. He shoved the memory of last night to the side, and focused on keeping the grin on his face. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself." Chigiri teased. "Why were you not in bed?"

"Actually, yeah, I want to know that too." A tall boy spoke as well. Y/N thought back to yesterday... His name was Kuon? "Why were you up against the wall?"

"I don't really know." Y/N tried to play it off with an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've been told I sleepwalk, maybe it was that?"

"Sleepwalking into a sitting position?" Kuon tilted his head with confusion. "Never heard of that before."

"Maybe I'm built differently." Y/N made a half-hearted attempt at a joke. "Besides, it was probably just as comfortable as those mattresses - it feels like they're made from cardboard with how rigid they are!"

That got a few smiles, and Y/N sighed with relief as Raichi launched into a tirade about the mattresses. They were uncomfortable, but Y/N's tailbone and spine ached from a night sitting against the wall, and his eyes felt so incredibly heavy.

It had been a long time since he'd had such a bad night. But then again, he was used to it, so him being on the verge of falling asleep shouldn't affect his performance too much.

Chigiri was one of the only ones not distracted by Raichi yelling about how his back hurt. He knelt by Y/N, who had shifted into a position resting on his haunches. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course I am." Y/N grinned. Chigiri didn't mention how he'd woken up earlier than all of Team Z, and saw Y/N's tear-stained cheeks before they'd faded in the morning. If Y/N didn't want to mention it, Chigiri wouldn't either. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, not bad." Chigiri offered Y/N a hand, lifting the smaller boy onto his feet. "By the way, sorry for the sudden awakening. We just had an announcement from Ego."

"Oh really?" Y/N rubbed at his eyes, getting the very last remnants of sleep out of his eyes. "What was it about?"

Chigiri counted off a few points on his fingers. "First, he talked about Bluelock. We have these terrible beds and facilities because we're very low ranked, and if we want better stuff, we have to get a higher ranking. Bluelock has five buildings, each one holding five teams, and we're the lowest ranked team in the lowest ranked building, Team Z."

Y/N glanced at his arm. The ranking there now read 270. So he'd gone up by 25 places, just for doing nothing? Was that Ego's doing?

He was corrected by Chigiri a moment later. "Everyone in this room has gone up by 25, as one person was eliminated from each of the 25 teams in the game of tag we played. There's only 275 people left."

A bit of movement to Y/N's side, and Isagi joined the conversation. The blue-haired boy seemed eager to share the information with Y/N. "The first selection is a five team round robin, and the top two teams get to continue to the second selection. Everyone else is eliminated."

"But the top scorer from each of the eliminated three teams gets to stay." Chigiri added. "It's going to be hectic, though. We're all strikers, so it's going to be a pain to try and find positions."

"Ego said that we have to 'create soccer from zero'. He said that we need to forget positions for now, and focus on scoring more goals than the enemy." Isagi pointed out. "Don't know what he means, but it was a hint."

Y/N yawned, stretching his arms. "When is our first game? How long do we have to practise?"

Chigiri and Isagi both paled, and Y/N noticed it instantly. "Um, guys?"

"The first game is literally as soon as we finish breakfast and warm up. So in an hour and a half."

"Ah."