Chapter Text
“Mind giving Ness some of your… midfield advice?”
Oh Dear.
What was happening.
Hiori Yo never thought he’d find himself casually walking side by side like this with the guy he’d threatened to strangle just four days ago. Let alone for a reason like this.
Let alone with a mood like this.
…Alright, the mood wasn’t the most surprising, all things considered. It was more the fact that Ness kept storming ahead like a man with a mission. It was still better than those NPCs who dragged their feet and made you wait every two steps, sure; but at the speed Ness was going, Hiori really thought Ness might suddenly glitch out of the system entirely.
He slowed.
“Ness… Ness, wait.”
Ness turned, one brow raised.
“My legs are still burning from practice,” Hiori said, catching his breath. “Could you slow down a little?”
Ness blinked. “Oh. Sorry.”
Hiori blinked back. Well, that was… unexpectedly tame, compared to how Ness had acted just before this.
Hiori sighed and fell in step beside him, matching a more manageable pace down the hallway. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Ness fidgeting with his sleeves, still clearly irritated. They were about the same height, Hiori realized—maybe with himself a bit taller. People always said he looked taller than he should because his face didn’t match his frame. Back at Bambi Osaka, he’d never heard the end of it.
The air was still awkward after all, and there was no way Ness didn’t feel it too. Kaiser had asked Hiori to share some of his ‘midfield advice’ with Ness, although he still had no clue what exactly Kaiser had meant by that. He liked analysis, sure, and talking through plays with Isagi had always sparked something useful so far…. but it was hard to say the right words when you had no idea what was going on in the other person’s head.
He cleared his throat. It was always best to start with sometimes small—something easy. He recalled their earlier conversation.
“Ness… why do you think the food’s bad in here?” he asked, keeping the half-smile in his voice.
Ness wasn’t exactly looking for conversation, but even someone like Ness knew that a little talk was better than just the hollow echo of their footsteps.
“There’s just… nothing,” Ness mumbled back.
“Nothing?” Hiori echoed.
Ness nodded. “It's all... bland and boring. Grey on a plate. Canteen food, y’know.”
Hiori turned his gaze forward. Well, he supposed that was true—compared to the Spain stratum for example, the Germany stratum’s canteen wasn’t nearly as varied. The meals here were stricter, more utilitarian… calories, protein, numbers, and all that. Still, he personally never found it bland or so. If anything, the food here (First Selection aside) was better than some of the food he’d had at home—and that was saying something, considering how much his parents had tried to keep his meals not only nutritionally balanced but satisfying.
“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Hiori said. “The seasoning’s good, and they still switch things up once in a while.”
Ness’ lips pressed tight. “That’s not what I mean. It’s just… food for a purpose, you get it?”
Hiori blinked. Technically, all food had a purpose, so… not really? He tilted his head, curious. “You guys have better stuff in Germany?”
Ness scowled. “German food's even worse!”
Oh, okay, that wasn’t quite what Hiori meant—he’d been asking about their club’s canteen in Germany?—but Ness was clearly getting heated about this, so Hiori just gave a hesitant smile and let him.
“It's all just potatoes and meat!” Ness went on, voice rising. “No variety, like we’re still eating out of the Middle Ages! I wish we were more like France or Italy. Where’s the flavor, where’s the creativity? I don’t get what people mean when they always say ‘German cuisine’!!”
He stopped abruptly—blinked—then mellowed out a little.
“…Though I guess the desserts are fine,” he mumbled. “I haven’t had cake in a while…”
Hiori angled his head, glancing over. “You like sweets, Ness?”
Ness jolted. “I—I mean, I know we’re not supposed to have too much of it. But, like. How can you resist the endless amounts of beautiful cakes and pastries out in the world?”
Hiori chuckled. “That’s nice. I should probably go and eat out more.” He exhaled faintly, recalling the sugar-free protein bars he’d always been stuck with back home. “My parents never let me have any.”
Ness’s face hardened. “Your parents…?”
Hiori waved it off gently. “Oh, it’s nothing. They just… cared a little too much. I had to sneak in snacks whenever I wanted something during a movie, haha.” It wasn’t that bad—once you really got locked into a movie or game, you’d soon forget about the food. And he never wanted greasy fingers while gaming anyway. Still, sometimes there was just that… urge in him, to grab something just a little too sweet or oily than he was allowed to. A tiny rebellion against the rules, perhaps. He’d get those “unhealthy” snacks at the konbini with Karasu and his teammates sometimes, but never too much. Otherwise his parents would notice—weight shifting, wrappers left behind, anything. Whatever. It had been a long time since he’d had to tiptoe like that.
But one thing was certain: life here was much better than back home.
Ness didn’t respond, and Hiori didn’t expect him to. The silence that followed wasn’t heavy this time. If anything, it felt… calmer.
“…We have snacks, here, y’know,” Ness eventually said, voice quiet. He turned a corner into another hall. “There’s a vending machine in our canteen. Although it’s only one per person per day.”
Hiori stopped short, eyes widening.
...The hall he stepped into looked like a different frickin' world. It was the same size as his canteen, but the walls here were painted in warm yellows and earthy tones, instead of those dull, cold grey metal panels they had at their own. And it actually felt… cozy?? What the heck— It certainly lacked the prison-canteen vibe! Honestly, despite all the upgrades to the food, their own canteen still looked almost identical to the First Selection—which was not nice, to say the least!
Hiori frowned. First Isagi’s little “tour” had opened his eyes to the differences... and now this??
Just how many more injustices has Ego really handed out??!!
Despite himself, his voice came out a little tinged with envy. “That’s so unfair,” he muttered. “Your canteen’s nicer, your rooms are bigger… I even heard your gym’s better than ours. What’s next, you guys get a personal masseuse or something?”
Ness flinched. “I… I shouldn’t tell you.”
“What??”
“You wouldn’t like it,” Ness said stiffly, voice brittle enough to snap in half.
Without elaborating, he walked straight to the vending machine, slid something in, and pulled out two of those light-blue radioactive sports drinks. Then he pointed to another corner. “There’s the snack machine. Here, you can have my token for the day.”
He dug into his pocket and pressed something into Hiori’s hand—a pentagonal blue chip stamped with the Blue Lock logo.
“You put it in, then pick your number.”
Hiori gave him a narrow side-look. He did know how vending machines worked…
Still, he walked to the corner and stepped up to the vending machine glass. “Hm? That’s strange. I don’t recognize any of these brands.”
“Yeah. They’re Blue Lock-exclusive.”
“Blue Lock-exclusive?!”
Ness winced at his volume. “You didn’t know? Blue Lock’s big enough now they’re producing their own snack line. In addition to the merch and all that.”
Hiori blinked—he knew about the merchandise, he’d seen the news online before. (By all means, it was still incredibly weird to see his own face staring back at him in promotional videos sometimes—and then, it was even weirder to see Yukimiya’s polished, edited face everywhere in all those ads, especially when he saw the real one every night in their dorm. Models always looked different on screen, sure, but even more so when you managed to tease out the occasional unsightly face in person.)
Still, he’d never heard a word about snacks. And definitely not ones available inside their own facility, no less!
He crouched, scanning the display. Well, their choices of flavor and packaging were, once again, certainly very… bold. Standard Blue Lock PR, he assumed. Blue Lock Jersey Gummies... Pink Demon Sparkly Explosion Candy!!… Stylish Grill-Flavored Chips... High-Protein Muscle Man Bars… Golden Goal Energy Gel… Ego Crackers™: Sour Lemon Authority Flavor (the slogan was: Eat, or Be Eaten!!!)...
Hiori’s brows drew together. Did they hire someone from Kracie for this lineup? He stifled—what, a laugh? A sigh? Whatever it was, this certainly didn’t look very bland.
“What do you recommend?” he asked finally, partly for Ness’s opinion, partly to avoid picking something he’d regret.
Ness crouched beside him, studying the selection like it was serious business. “Well... The sweet potato chips are good—just the right balance of salty and sweet. And, oh—the oat bar’s decent too. If you don’t mind raisins.”
Hiori glanced at him. Not even a blink at those names. Could Ness actually read them? There was no English, and the pictures weren’t that clear. It was kind of like a surprise box for him then, right? Did he seriously try each one?
“I’ll take the chips, then.”
Hiori slid the token in and pulled out a shiny blue bag of sweet potato chips.
Ness watched him tear it open and pop a few into his mouth.
“Oh. It’s good,” Hiori admitted, chewing like a hamster. He held the bag out. “Want some?”
“Thanks.” Ness reached in and took a few.
Hiori tilted his head, still munching. “Maybe I should come here every day for a snack, haha.”
Ness blinked. “You’d need a token for that.”
Hiori sighed through his nose. “Why is Ego so stingy with everything anyway?” He shook his head. “Or is this Noa’s doing?”
“I... I don’t think he’d ever allow himself or anyone else to eat something unhealthy.”
“Hm… guess you’re right.” Hiori glanced at Ness. “But you said you like sweets, right? Noa doesn’t call you out for any of that?” Although, despite Noa being very strict, he didn’t strike him as the type to police every little part of someone’s diet.
“Noa has no say over us outside of this league,” Ness mumbled. “Besides... it’s totally fine to eat sweet things once in a while!” He sounded more like he was trying to justify himself than anything.
Hiori chuckled. “Some might call you undisciplined for that.”
Ness bristled. “They don’t know what they’re missing out on! Sachertorte is where it’s at, I swear!”
Hiori blinked at him, confused. “Sachertorte? You mean the one from Kit Kat?”
Ness gasped, eyes wide open. “KIT KAT—? Excuse me?!? No—Sachertorte is an Austrian miracle of state-of-the-art pastry engineering! Chocolate and jam, layered to perfection!! One bite and people will fold instantly, really! It's—it's like—bathing in a cloud made of chocolate. Cloud Nine! The best thing in the world!!”
He coughed.
“...If it’s well-made, I mean.”
Hiori tilted his head. Ness’s sudden fervor almost made him reconsider his entire view on sweets. “Hm. Maybe I should try a Western-style café sometime. They’d have that there, right?”
“I don’t know. But you guys tend to—”
Ness suddenly froze mid-sentence.
“Wait...” His eyes went wide. “—You totally roped me into a conversation just now!!” He whipped around, face buried in his hands, voice a weird mix of bewilderment and self-directed outrage. “I’m not supposed to talk to you!!!”
Hiori blinked, a little taken aback, then shoved another chip into his mouth. “Why?”
Ness snapped back toward him. “You’re the enemy!!”
...What?
Hiori froze mid-munch, staring at him like he’d just said the dumbest thing on earth.
Then, he suddenly burst out laughing—loud, amused, a few crumbs flying every which way which was rude and so unsightly, but oh he couldn’t help it, I mean, could you believe this guy?
Ness only gawked, bewildered. “What...?”
Hiori lowered the bag, shaking his head with a crooked smile. “Ness, come on. Why do you still think that way? We’re supposed to be ‘teaming up’ now, aren’t we?”
Ness frowned hard. “But it's just a farce.”
“What?”
“Kaiser’s goal is to be Number One!” Ness squared his shoulders, eyes burning. “And there can only be one Number One in the world! So naturally, everyone else is an obstacle—an enemy!” And he said it with such conviction and vigor, his anger mingling with a strange kind of zeal again, fingers raised, his hair standing on end, and although this just looked like the start of yet another fight—Hiori couldn’t help but simply laugh again. This really had become such a customary sight over the past few days!
Ness blinked, slightly irritated and utterly bewildered. He took a step back, arms dropping. “What… what’s so funny?”
Hiori wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling, and set the chip bag on the nearby table. “Why are you like this?”
“Like what?”
“I can’t believe it. The Ness from the beginning, and the Ness from now—they’re like two completely different people!”
Ness froze, shoulders jerking. He didn’t seem to know himself why that struck so deeply.
“I—I mean,” he stammered, “that’s just… that’s just what I have to be.” His eyes dropped to the floor.
“…For him.”
Hiori stopped, blinking. Did he mean Kaiser?
He let out a quiet sigh, leaning back against the table.
Why was Ness always so loyal to Kaiser anyway?
Sure, he could understand it to some degree—Kaiser was an incredible striker. But considering his personality, it was hard to imagine anyone ever being as devoted to him as Ness was. Hiori just couldn’t wrap his head around it.
His mind went back to their hallway run-in four days ago, how quickly it had spiraled into a fight.
That kind of deep loyalty… He’d never felt it towards anyone before. Not… not even his parents.
And now, especially not them.
“...What is he to you, Ness?”
Ness blinked. “Huh?”
Hiori’s fingers fidgeted against the edge of the table. Oh, he was stepping into territory he probably shouldn’t. “I mean Kaiser.”
Ness frowned. “He's… my partner.”
Hiori shook his head lightly, glancing at him. “But one day, you won’t be partners anymore, right? You’ll have to go your separate ways. What then?”
Ness met his eyes, firm. “That won’t happen. I’ll always stay by Kaiser’s side.”
Hiori exhaled faintly, voice soft. “But why does it have to be Kaiser?”
Ness blinked. “The question should be why it shouldn’t,” he shot back. “Kaiser’s the only one who has what it takes to be Number One. I know it. I know better than anyone—I’ve been playing alongside him for more than three years now after all.” And he looked so sure of it. So immovable, unshakable. Like there was nothing in the world that could break that belief.
Hiori’s eyes darkened.
But what if he’s just using you?
What if he doesn’t care about you at all?
The thought stayed locked in his head. It wasn’t his place to say. Ness probably wouldn’t change his mind anyway, stubborn as he was.
Ness folded his arms, leaning closer. “It’s the same reason you always stick around Isagi, isn’t it?”
Hiori blinked at him.
“...Not really.”
“...What?”
Hiori’s eyes fell to his hand as it curled into a tight fist. Maybe Hiori was stubborn too, in his own way. He’d certainly spent most of his life convinced he had perseverance and mental fortitude unlike anyone else—until Karasu and Blue Lock had proven otherwise. All of that had just been a disguises for his underlying apathy to everything in life. There was nothing he could truly cling to, nothing he could burn for the same way Ness burned for Kaiser, or even Sachertorte.
But ever since coming here, since playing with Isagi and colliding with all these other egoists, he’d finally found something that could set him alight just the same.
“I’m not like you, Ness,” he said, calm but resolute. “My goal isn’t to stay bound to one person—it’s to create the best striker in the world. And I want to be the key to that ascendance. The one who makes that summit possible.”
Ness shot up, eyes blazing. “Then you should follow Kaiser!” he said, full of zeal. “Join us!”
Hiori looked at him, baffled.
“Ness, I told you—there are no sides anymore!” His voice held firm as his gaze stayed locked on him. “And I won’t just follow someone else because of mere claims or sentiments. I’ll decide with my own eyes who’s fit to reach the top—no matter who, where, or when. And I’m willing to work with anyone if it leads to that goal.”
He caught himself, lips twitching. Wait, willing—? No!
“Hell—that’s what I want to do!”
Something flared in his chest, words tumbling out before he could stop them. “Isagi, Kaiser, Yukimiya, or even Kunigami—as long as they can prove to me they have it, then I’ll stand with them. I’ll make them want me, instead of me wanting them!” A faint smile tugged at his lips. “But only if they show it. Only if they’re truly worthy.” He shook his head lightly. “Otherwise, I won’t grow as a player either!”
And he meant every word he said. He was done bending to expectations—done letting others decide what kind of midfielder he should be. If anything, it was the others who’d have to meet his expectations from now on. That’s what it meant to be the key to the world’s top!
Realizing he might’ve gotten a bit carried away, Hiori cleared his throat, trying to settle himself. They weren’t even on the field, and the last thing he wanted now was to spark another argument.
But Ness wasn’t arguing. He was silent, just staring, eyes wide. Something in his expression shifted, thoughtful. Then he let his gaze drift toward the corner of the room.
“Your goal makes sense,” Ness said at last, voice low. “It’s a good goal.” His bangs fell over his eyes. “...But just like you aren’t like me, I’m not like you, Hiori. You only started playing for real in the last match. Things might still change for you.”
He moved towards the table, eyes on the two sports drinks he’d left there. “But me… I’ve been chasing the same dream for almost four years now. I know what I’m doing. I don’t need your advice.”
And his hand slipped into his pocket. “...Here.”
Hiori blinked as Ness tossed something his way. He caught it midair on reflex—it was three of the same tokens as before.
“These are from the last days,” Ness muttered. “I was saving them for Kaiser. But he hasn’t eaten anything lately.”
He picked up the two bottles, turning for the door. When he spoke again, his voice had slipped back into its usual, steady tone. “...We’ll still see each other tomorrow, right?”
Hiori blinked, still caught on Ness’s earlier words. He only gave a small nod. “…For the live.”
Ness accepted that with a slight tilt of his head. “You know the way back?”
Another nod.
“Alright.” Ness headed toward the exit without looking back. “See you then.”
“…See you.”
And just like that, he was gone.
Hiori looked down at the tokens resting in his palm. Someone who could believe so absolutely… was that strength? Or a weakness?
For most of his life, it had always been a weakness. Blind faith. Something he used to shield himself from the harsh reality he was always aware of.
But lately, nothing seemed that simple anymore. It could be both, for all he knew—power and pitfall, depending on where it led. That was certainly true for him now.
He sighed to himself. Things would be easier if all anyone had to believe in was whether something tasted good or not, he thought quietly.
...He would like to try that Sachertorte someday.