11. Terrifying The King

Y/N gaped at the steak in front of him. It was medium rare, cooked to perfection with a stunning brown crust. He sliced into it with a special steak knife, practically drooling at how good it looked.

The top was garnished with what looked to be fresh herbs, and a lump of garlic butter was slowly melting on the hot surface of the steak. A few pieces of roasted potato, carrots, and asparagus sat alongside the meat, all of it inside a sizzling metal plate.

"How did you even get something like this?!" Y/N looked pleadingly at the annoyed Barou, who was sitting across the table from him. "Tell me, please!"

"Up there, donkey." He pointed at one of the columns in the cafeteria, where a huge sign showed off a 'Goal Bonus' list. Y/N's eyes ran down the list, and internally he was cursing himself for trying to stay unknown.

I assume this is the one goal steak... I can get my phone back? A decent bed? I can even leave Bluelock for a day? He knew he wouldn't score those goals unless he needed to, though. Now's not the time to show myself off.

"Whoa..." Y/N breathed out. "So how many more goals do you have to spend?"

"After this steak, three." Barou replied shortly, leaning both elbows on the table. He clasped his hands together, staring down Y/N.

Not concerned at all by the predatory gaze, Y/N took a bite of the steak, a moan escaping his lips at how delicious it was. "Have you eaten this yet?"

"No."

Y/N pushed the steak over to Barou, alongside a metal fork. "Here, you have some. It's only fair, you bought it for me."

"I bought it because you said you'd only stay if I gave you food." Barou growled out, shoving the plate back to Y/N.

Y/N tilted his head innocently, waving the fork around as he pulled the steak closer to him again. "Well, more for me."

"I don't have time for your games!" Another team was walking into the cafeteria for lunch, all of them looking disheartened. In the front, Y/N spotted a slim boy with hair all the way down to his eyes, and a slightly taller kid with a blond strip of hair down the centre of his head.

They all sort of stared at Y/N and Barou as they walked to pick up food, but neither of the two boys cared.

Taking another bite of Barou's steak, Y/N shrugged. "You asked me to talk. What did you want to talk about?"

"Who are you?"

"Y/N L/N." He answered, pointing at the player tag on his arm. "Are you blind?"

Barou growled - actually growled - and sat back in his chair. "In the match, what did you do to me?"

"I tried to tackle you." Y/N stabbed his fork through a piece of potato, popping it into his mouth.

"No, that-"

"OH MY GOD!" Y/N cut Barou off with a loud shout that echoed through the cafeteria.

The entire team that had just gotten their food stared at Y/N as he raised a hand to Barou, gesturing to the steak. "You have to try this, it's soooo good!"

The small boy with bangs stood up, heading over to Y/N and Barou with a tray of food in his hands. Upon seeing Barou's furious glare, he wisely spoke to Y/N first. "Can you please keep it down? We're trying to eat."

His voice was soft and quiet, and Y/N grinned up at him, happy he'd met someone new. "Here, try this."

He cut a large chunk of the steak off, and without hesitation dropped it into the slender boy's bowl of rice. A piece of asparagus followed. "It's really good!"

"Ah..." The boy seemed at a loss for words. He checked the side of Y/N's uniform. "Y/N L/N, isn't this from the goal bonus menu?"

"Yeah." Y/N leant back in his chair, head hanging over the back. "But it's not mine. It's that scary donkey's." He pointed to Barou.

Barou smouldered, rising from his chair and causing it to topple over. He began to walk round the table, and Y/N paled. "Uhoh, you better skedaddle." He checked the boy's uniform.

"Thank you for the food...?" The boy Y/N now knew was called Niko tried to say, but Y/N just ushered him away.

"Bye, Niko!"

"Bye..." Confused, Niko turned, and began walking back to his table.

Y/N would've waved a goodbye, but Barou was in front of him, grabbing Y/N's hair and moving his face close. "Stop treating me like an equal."

"Who said you're my equal?" Y/N grinned at Barou. "Look, I'm answering your questions."

"What did you do in that match? Why did you toy with me?" Barou hissed menacingly.

"I didn't want to tackle you." Y/N answered.

"Bullshit."

"Believe it or not, that's the truth."

"Why the hell would you let me score the goal? If you kept up the tackle, you would've taken the ball."

"I don't really care." Y/N truthfully replied. He poked the steak a little, gulping down a piece before carrying on. "I don't want to raise attention to myself yet."

Barou frowned. "Kid, you couldn't get people to notice you even if you tried. You have no talent."

"Says the person who bought me a steak just so I would talk to him."

"Just give me this one thing." Barou persisted. "Who are you? Why are you trying to keep yourself hidden? And what is your real skill level? When you took that from me... I had literally zero chance at winning the ball there."

"That's three things." Y/N corrected.

"Just tell me, what level are you on?"

It was actually difficult to think of a way to express his own skill. He hadn't played against many pros before, and he hadn't played for clubs or teams. "I'm not sure."

Barou paused. "So you could be shit."

"I'm better than Julian Loki. That's really all I know."

The other boy's face paled, and just like that, he stood up. He picked up the chair he'd knocked to the floor, and without saying another word, Barou walked out of the cafeteria.

"Wait, is that good or bad?" Y/N looked curiously after him, before shrugging and continuing to eat his steak.

🥕🥕🥕

"So, whaddya do?" Y/N leant against the wall.

"Ego talked to us a bit about how to improve ourselves." It was just him and Bachira, alone in the corridor as they spoke outside their dorm room.

Everyone in there was talking about some serious strategy, discussing their game plan for their next game. It was up against Team Y, in just three days.

Bachira had been falling asleep, so after he'd told everyone his specific weapon was dribbling, Y/N had dragged him outside in an attempt to help him stay awake. "Did Ego say anything interesting?"

"Nah, he basically just told us what you said in different words." Bachira glanced at Y/N curiously. "How did you know what to say?"

"It just comes to me, I guess..." Meaning, those bastards at Ascension beat the exact same way of egoistic thinking into us. "It's sort of something I've thought about before."

Kuon opened the door next to them, popping his head out. He looked around for Y/N, face lighting up upon spotting him. "Ah, Y/N. You never told us your weapon..."

Because I didn't want to, duh. Y/N gulped, scratching at his neck. "Ummm... I guess I don't really have one."

"Are you sure?" Kuon frowned. "You yourself said that everyone has a weapon."

Mentally, Y/N cursed himself out for being such an idiot. Should never have spoken up in the first place. Let Ego do all the work. "Ah... I heard it somewhere on a soccer video."

"I see." Kuon clicked his tongue. "Well, if you do think of it, then tell us. All the people without weapons are stuck in defence, so Chigiri, you, and Iemon."

"That's fine." Y/N sighed quietly under his breath as Kuon ducked back inside the room. God, I need to be more careful.

"Y/N-chan, why did you lie to him?"

Y/N jumped, staring wide-eyed at Bachira. The bumblebee didn't look angry at him, just a bit confused. "I..."

He took a deep breath, trying to keep the smile on his face even though it threatened to disappear. "I..."

Bachira waited calmly for an answer, but Y/N's throat seized up. He tried to choke out an answer, but none came out. "I..."

He threw a pleading glance at Bachira. Fists clenching at his sides, Y/N felt his heart beat slightly faster as he stared into the other boy's wide eyes.

He didn't even know why he was so scared. Or why he couldn't talk. But the thought of losing someone he could call a friend just set him off for some reason.

Eventually, Bachira's eyes softened as he realised Y/N was panicking, and he reached up to Y/N's face. He ran his knuckles across Y/N's cheek, talking gently. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"Sorry..." Y/N mumbled.

"No, if you don't want to tell me, it's okay." Bachira smiled sweetly. "It'll be our secret, yeah?"

Y/N lowered his head, and Bachira stepped closer to him. His voice was uncharacteristically quiet. "It doesn't matter if you want to hide things. I'm not going to get angry at you."

"I'll tell you sometime..." Y/N muttered. Trying to keep his skills hidden didn't seem to be worth it at all. But he would try to stick it out... For himself to be able to relax, for other people to have the chance to improve, and to annoy Ego Jinpachi.

Okay, maybe the third was a bit petty. But Y/N blamed Ego for his night time breakdown, and he hated being controlled by someone.