As he thought about it, Yoichi Isagi looked at Yo Hiori and Nijiro Nanase walking ahead of him and muttered inwardly:
(They’re definitely thinking the same thing.)
(In this Adaptive Training, even teammates become outright rivals!!)
(Come to think of it, Hiori seems pretty close with Ryūma...)
(I remember Ryūma mentioning that Hiori was his partner during the first-round selection.)
(Huh? Wait, Ryūma and Rin were also teammates in the first round. So that means the three of them were on the same team back then?)
(He’s got a natural advantage. He must know how to work with Rin and Ryūma better than the rest of us.)
(From how he gets along with Ryūma, he seems easy to talk to. I should ask him for some advice.)
Before Yoichi could finish, Nijiro Nanase suddenly muttered,
Yoichi blinked, not understanding what he meant. Nijiro smiled brightly and said,
“I just mean, if I perform well in this match, making the U-20 National Team might not be just a dream anymore!”
Watching Nijiro’s cheerful expression, Yoichi tilted his head.
(And he’s so positive, too...)
Nijiro blushed slightly, scratching his cheek.
“Ah, sorry! Back in my hometown, that means ‘I’m excited’ or ‘fired up’!”
“If I slip into dialect, just ignore it!”
“I’m Nijiro, first-year. Nice to meet you!”
Yoichi rubbed the back of his neck and nodded.
“Ah, I’m Yoichi. Nice to meet you too!”
(Must be from the countryside somewhere.)
Nijiro grinned, eyes full of admiration.
“Then you’re my senior!”
“I’ll make sure to learn from you and do my best!”
Yoichi, caught off guard by his enthusiasm, replied awkwardly,
(This feels... kind of refreshing.)
(Ah... no wonder—it’s always been a bloodbath until now.)
He stared blankly ahead, recalling his past encounters.
【Rin Itoshi: I’ll kill you.】 Read full story at n0velfire.net
【Shōei Barō: I’ll crush you.】
【Jinpachi Ego: FUCK OFF!】
(Yeah... straightforward people are a rare species in Blue Lock.)
“Nice to meet you too, classmate! Hmm...”
“You’re Yo Hiori, right?”
Hiori, whose name had been called, nodded lightly.
“No need to be so formal. I’m a second-year too.”
Yoichi immediately caught something in Hiori’s tone.
“Huh? That’s a Kansai accent!”
Hiori looked surprised to be called out and replied,
“Yeah, I’m from Kyoto.”
Well, that made sense. Even Ryūma, who had spent a lot of time with him, never noticed—Hiori probably thought he sounded completely normal.
Nijiro suddenly raised a finger as if remembering something.
“Ah! Kyoto, that’s...”
“Wait, how did it go again...?”
Then his eyes lit up.
Yoichi chuckled and corrected him.
“It’s ‘HANNWARI’, right?”
Hiori burst out laughing.
“Pff—haha! Then I’ll have to act more gentle, huh?”
Nijiro scratched his head, laughing awkwardly.
Hiori feigned a playful sigh before continuing,
“With teammates like you guys, I feel relieved.”
“Yeah! Feels like home already!”
Watching the two, Yoichi couldn’t help but think,
(Huh? What’s this...?)
(What kind of friendly, peaceful timeline is this!?)
(Where did this strange sense of unity come from!?)
Then Yoichi suddenly remembered what he originally wanted to ask.
“I heard from Ryūma that you were his teammate during the first-round selection—and also Rin’s.”
“I played one match with them too, but honestly, it was mostly those two leading everything. I didn’t really contribute.”
“Rin’s fine, but Ryūma... I don’t really know him well. You seem to get along with him.”
“So I wanted to ask—anything special I should watch out for when working with him?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Yoichi regretted it. After all, they were technically rivals now. Asking for inside info felt rude.
But to his surprise, Hiori actually answered seriously.
“Well, I played four matches with both of them.”
“To be honest, most of the time they didn’t really need me. They both have incredible individual abilities.”
“So usually, I just had to adapt to their play. Only in the last match did I really get to show my ‘self’ in front of them.”
“I’m not sure how much they’ve grown since then, but working with Ryūma is actually simple.”
“You just have to appear in the spot he needs you at the crucial moment.”
“Oh, and Ryūma loves ultra-precise passes—those make his shots way more threatening.”
“I see... Thanks, Hiori.”
Yoichi nodded, rubbing his chin as he thought,
(I might not be able to deliver ultra-precise passes, but being in the right spot—that I can do!)
(First, I’ll coexist with them... then surpass them!!)
As their conversation ended, Nijiro, who’d been listening in shock, blurted out,
“Wait, what? You guys actually know the top two players!?”
“And especially you, Hiori—you were teammates with them in the first round!?”
“So I’m the only one who doesn’t know them? I’m screwed!”
Hiori chuckled at Nijiro’s worried face.
“Don’t worry, Nijiro. Rin might be hard to approach, but Ryūma’s really friendly.”
“When I first met him, he just walked up and said he wanted to be friends.”
“Huh? Really? Then he’s easier to talk to than I thought.”
Nijiro’s bright smile returned as he looked toward the passage exit.
“Still, let’s not end up hating each other later, okay?”
“Yeah, you’re right. After all, our whole lives depend on this match.”
Hearing that, Yoichi smiled faintly. His eyes gleamed with determination as he stared at the exit ahead.
“Yeah. Let’s all give it everything we’ve got!”