009 Blue Lock: System Ten Years Early

"Oh right, Yoichi, you've got a letter. Looks like it was sent by the Football Association."

After finishing the match, Isagi Yoichi returned home in a daze. He mechanically stuffed food into his mouth, still forcing a smile so his parents wouldn't worry, but the piece of letter paper once again released a glimmer of light in his dead, lifeless eyes.

"Why... was I chosen...

I was clearly just an insignificant nobody, on a weak team that couldn't even qualify nationally, someone who didn't even get the chance to play in the end..."

"But... this means... I... still have a chance... This time, I—!"

...

"Hyoma, this one's for you. But you haven't played football for a long time now, right?"

His mother looked at Chigiri Hyoma with concern. Her child's injury had broken her heart, and she wished she could order him to never take part in such a dangerous sport again, but she couldn't ignore the loneliness in his eyes.

His father, on the other hand, casually stuffed the letter into Hyoma's hand.

"It's fine. Don't worry about all that. The choice is entirely yours. We won't force you to decide."

"You just need to tell me—are you going?"

Taking the letter from his parents, Chigiri Hyoma had intended to refuse coolly, but suddenly he pressed his right leg tightly, and from his trembling vocal cords came a sound completely opposite to what his brain was telling him:

"I... I want to go..."

...

At the same time, a young monk in a temple saw his letter and jumped around in excitement;someone else saw their letter and, without saying a word, began cleaning the house and covering the furniture with dust sheets; there were also two boys who met at school with their letters, bumped fists, and made a promise together...

It wasn't only Shinichi suffering alone in his dreams.

On this night, countless boys, filled with excitement and dreams, tossed and turned with a letter in their hands.

And in the end, without exception, they would all head toward the same "battlefield"—

Blue Lock!

...

"Yo! You're here."

Leaning against the door of the conference room, Shinichi raised his hand toward the two figures who had just arrived.

"But I didn't expect you two to actually show up together."

"Isagi Yoichi. Kira Ryosuke."

"Kōken Shinichi, you really did come. Or rather, it'd be strange if someone like you wasn't invited."

Looking at that nightmare-like figure, Isagi Yoichi couldn't help clenching his fists.

"I won't lose! Even if I can't compare to you yet, but—"

"That's my line to say, Shinichi. I'm grateful for your warning at the end, but—"

Kira Ryosuke refused to back down and shouted at Shinichi as well.

"Oh my, you're all quite energetic, you 'raw gems of talent.'"

A burst of static interrupted the two of them. A slender man who looked weak and frail walked onto the stage in Crocs, sporting a bowl cut, and swept his dead-fish eyes across the crowd.

"As you can see, everyone here was personally selected by me, through my own arbitrariness and bias—300 forwards under the age of 18."

The lights in the conference hall suddenly went out, leaving only a single spotlight shining on Ego Jinpachi. The noisy hall instantly fell silent, and the elites gathered from all over the country focused their gaze on this seemingly frivolous man.

"Oh, right, let me introduce myself briefly. I'm Ego Jinpachi, a nobody hired by the Football Association to help the national team win the World Cup."

As Ego Jinpachi finished speaking, the hall became noisy once more.

The overly shocking goal and sheer volume of information hit these young people so hard that they couldn't process it immediately, lowering their heads and whispering to one another.

Ego Jinpachi paused slightly, giving them time to react. When the noise mostly faded, he spoke again:

"Hard to understand? Then let me explain it properly."

A red light shone down on him. Bathed in that crimson glow, Ego Jinpachi looked like a demon born solely for revenge, crawling out of a sea of blood and corpses. His crazed appearance was terrifying.

"I'm going to conduct an experiment. From among you 300, I will cultivate the world's number one forward. And this is the facility prepared for that experiment—"

"Blue Lock (BLUE LOCK)!"

"From today onward, you will live here together and undergo the special, top-tier training I designed. Not only will you be unable to go home, you must also bid farewell to your past football lives."

"But I can say this with certainty—as long as you win this survival game, eliminate all the other 299 people, and survive to the very end—"

"You can become the world's number one forward!"

"That concludes the explanation. I look forward to working with you."

The hall lit up again, and only then did everyone realize that what had just been used as a projection screen was actually an enormous, pure white door.

...

"I can't accept this!"

After the crowd whispered among themselves for a while, someone finally stood up to refute Ego Jinpachi.

This time it wasn't Kira Ryosuke. After all, he no longer had a chance to participate in the national tournament, and since he was free anyway and this was a national training camp, he wasn't as resistant as before.

The true culprit who had eliminated Kira Ryosuke—Kōken Shinichi—lightly mocked the situation in his heart without any burden, while the one who spoke up continued:

"I worked so hard just to make it into the national tournament! As the ace of our team, how could I abandon my teammates just because of your vague words?!"

"Yeah, I'm going to the national tournament too! Who has time for this? Shouldn't you government people coordinate the schedule properly when organizing training camps?"

"That's right! And you're the person in charge—look at you! Get someone more responsible in here!How are we supposed to trust you like this?!"

"Suddenly forcing a closed-off training camp is just too ridiculous."

...

"Um, Shinichi, are you okay? Aren't you also going to the national tournament?"

Isagi Yoichi thought of something and quietly said to Shinichi.

"You can just call me Shinichi."

Shinichi shrugged indifferently.

"I don't really care. I already knew about the Blue Lock project a long time ago, so when I joined the club, I warned them in advance."

"Besides, for them, just getting into nationals is already enough."

Isagi Yoichi completely shut down from his own question.

The national tournament ticket that was utterly out of reach for him was, in Shinichi's eyes, just something he could casually give up—utterly insignificant.

"So that's how it is… Looks like you're all beyond saving. If you think winning some low-level tournament in a football weak country is more important than becoming the world's number one forward, then get out!"

Just as Isagi Yoichi was spiraling inward, Ego Jinpachi suddenly spoke, instantly silencing everyone.

"When I think about people like you carrying the future of the national team, I feel despair.Football, at its core, is a sport where you score more goals than the opponent. Goals are everything! Those who can score are the greatest!"

"So if you still want to go back to high school and play house, don't waste time—get out."

Ego Jinpachi waved his hand at the crowd with disgust, as if shooing away something filthy.

"Football is a sport for 'egoists.' It doesn't matter how the team does, as long as I perform brilliantly.Compared to winning, I'd rather choose to score a hat trick myself."

"How about it? These are all words spoken personally by the world's top players! Pretty nasty, right?!"

"But only this kind of nasty 'egoist' can dominate the pitch!"

Ego Jinpachi leaned back dramatically, striking a JOJO pose. His words grew increasingly provocative, gradually bewitching the crowd.

"Imagine this—the score is tied, and in the very last moments of stoppage time, you control the ball. You're one-on-one with the goalkeeper. On the other side, a teammate has run into open space—just one pass and you win the match."

"With everyone's expectations resting on your shoulders, standing before the final choice between victory and glory—"

"You don't even look. Without a single thought or hesitation, you shoot."

"Only this kind of madman—this level of 'egoist'—is what I want!"

"Abandon all common sense. On the pitch, there is only ever one protagonist—you. Think and fight solely for your own goals. Every objective of playing football boils down to one thing—scoring!"

"To regard only 'your own' goals as the supreme joy, to live solely for scoring—"

"That is what a forward is, right?"

The door behind Ego Jinpachi opened. He adjusted his glasses, hiding those madness-filled eyes, and spread his arms wide.

His thin body now appeared incomparably tall to the boys before him. Backlit, his expression couldnable be seen, like a guide leading lost lambs toward paradise.

But Isagi Yoichi knew—that path was nothing like it appeared. It was a door leading to absolute error, madness, absurdity, and an unknown future. And Ego Jinpachi, who tempted them to step through it, was a complete devil—a lunatic.

Tap… tap…

Footsteps rang out.

Only then did Isagi Yoichi realize that Shinichi had already moved to the very front of the group.

"Well, this guy's just a lunatic. Some things, you can just listen to and forget."

"If you become the world's number one, anything you say is right. Even if you claim goals are worthless and defense wins championships, people will believe you. After all, history is written by the winners."

"But putting all that aside— isn't this plan interesting? Defeating everyone and becoming number one—how exciting is that?"

As he spoke, Shinichi was the first to step onto the stage, patting Ego Jinpachi on the shoulder.

"I worked pretty hard to advertise for you, you know."

Ego Jinpachi brushed Shinichi's hand away with disdain, but the grin curling at his lips refused to fade.

"History is written by the winners? As I thought—I didn't misjudge you!"

"You really are the most insane 'egoist' of them all!"

Whether it was because Shinichi set the example, or because his words ignited the boys' competitive spirits, the others stopped hesitating and rushed through the door one after another.

Isagi Yoichi and Kira Ryosuke exchanged a glance, then steeled their resolve and followed the flow of people into that door leading to who-knows-where.

...

[Blue Lock Phase One, Begin]