SWNOVELXO Chapter 1: Prologue: A Chance
3rd POV
Horikita: This is ridiculous! I know for a fact that Ayanokouji cleared the threshold for the midterm. There's no way he bombed it by more than 20 points!
Hirata: Ayanokouji always gets above the average score. There has to be some way. Maybe he can take the test again.
Ms. Chabashira: The results don't lie. And you can't pay for points since the disparity is too much. Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, you are to clean out your dorm and meet the Chairman in his office by the end of class, thank you.
A look of distain and tense anger fell the teacher, as her one tool for their class' success has went down in the drain.
A majority of the class pleaded for a possibility, anything while a few students didn't much care such as Koenji and Shinohara.
Sudo pounded his desk and a few classmates tried to calm him down.
Sudo: You and Horikita saved me last year and I can't even return the favor. Talk about fucking pathetic.
And while all the chaos ensued in the classroom for such a shocking result, Kei sat in her seat, completely stunned.
Just as quickly as their relationship was beginning to blossom, exterior forces have now rendered the possibility impossible.
Ayanokouji: Alright.
As nonchalant as ever, Ayanokouji once again kept his poker face, accepting his fate. He already knew exactly what happened. He had calculated a 70 score on this midterm but instead, it was a 10, 20 points below the class' threshold. Something had been done to tamper with the results.
Ayanokouji: (It looks like they chose the easy way out. With Mr. Sakayanagi gone, tampering with test results is a no-brainer and there are no traces I can get my hands on in the allocated time. My time here is over. It was interesting while it lasted.)
The rest of the class time was spent doing menial tasks until it ended soon after.
Standing up and gathering his bag, Ayanokouji waived at his classmates and met eyes with Kei, who quietly had tears streaming down her eyes.
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Inside his dorm, Ayanokouji prepared his belongings. He didn't have much in his room so he finished quickly. Before leaving his dorm room, however, Kei barged in so quickly, she fell over and hit her head on the bed frame.
Ayanokouji: You're such a klutz. I'll get you some frozen peas to put on your head.
Kei: I don't care about your frozen peas! Are you just going to leave without a fight? Not even a single strategy? Someone obviously did this to you, Kiyo. We have to d-
Ayanokouji: And do what? Time is already up. You shouldn't be here. What would your friends think if you skipped classes for a student you don't even publicly interact with?
Hugging Kiyotaka, Kei started to cry.
Kei: Who cares?!
Ayanokouji: Kei, I understand, you can get off me. And besides, the boogers coming out from your nose are staining my uniform.
Kei, ignoring Ayanokouji's diss, continued to hug him.
Kei: Are we... breaking up?
Ayanokouji: Yes. There's no point for our relationship to continue. I won't be here to protect you and contacting you will be impossible.
Kei: Why? Aren't you just going back home? We can talk on the phone every day and see each other once we graduate. We can make it work.
Ayanokouji decided on a different approach. And that was to lie.
Ayanokouji: Fine. We'll do it like that until you're sick of me.
Feeling relieved slightly, Kei let go of Ayanokouji and kissed him before he told her to leave fast to her next class.
Of course, the whiteroom would never let him send and receive calls from the outside. Their little interaction would be the last time they will ever speak. She will be heartbroken once he doesn't answer her calls but she will move on and find happiness elsewhere.
Ayanokouji: (It's not something I should worry about anymore.)
He made his way out of the men's dorm and passed by Ichinose who he waived to and Ryuen who he simply nodded to. He didn't need the dramatics. With all his stuff gathered, he took out his phone and was prepared to hand it over to the Chairman as soon as he entered.
Ayanokouji: (Let's just get it over with.)
Opening the Chairman's door, Ayanokouji entered and saw the chair facing towards the windows in the back. The Chairman was ready for him.
Ayanokouji: I'm here to leave. My things are already packed so I won't be much of a burd-
???: Dull Masterpiece. I hate to burst your bubble, but that insect isn't here at the moment.
Turning his seat around, a man with glasses, short hair that covered parts of his eyes, and a thin frame, greeted him in Tsukishiro's place.
Ayanokouji: I don't recognize you from the Whiteroom but they could have hired new personnel. So, who are you?
Ego: Of course you wouldn't recognize me, this is the first time we've met. My name is Jinpachi Ego, and I am here to change your monotone and boring life.
Ayanokouji: If you know what the whiteroom is, then you also know that it's impossible to go against my father-
Ego: What? You think he's such an untouchable? Even bastards full of themselves like him can screw up one time. You wouldn't be her if he didn't fuck up.
Ayanokouji: So what are you proposing?
Ego: I've been hired by the Japanese government to vitalize and improve the spectrum of Japanese soccer so we can win the upcoming world cup.
Ayanokouji was surprised. Soccer? He had never touched a soccer ball in his entire life, except through agility and feet coordination training in the whiteroom but in terms of the sport, he never played it before in his life.
Ayanokouji: I have no experience in soccer to begin with. I'm not passionate about it and I'd just disappoint you-
Ego: Shut up, Ayanokouji and use that genius little brain of yours to understand your situation.
Getting up from his chair, he leaned over and looked him dead in the eyes.
Ego: The way I see it, you have two options, bland masterpiece. You can accept a defeat you couldn't control and venture off into the obscurity that comes with politics. Or you can undergo my 'little' whiteroom experiment and pave your future with your own merits.
Ego reaffirmed himself.
Ego: Don't get the wrong idea, genius. You will be going into uncharted territory and you might not even make it to my 300 man list that undergoes the experiment. And even then, the only way you can reap the rewards I've laid out for you is by becoming the best. But how about it, perfect human? Do you want to keep those training wheels your father placed on you to satisfy his path, or do you want to let go of the training wheels and try something you actually have a chance at failing at? Doesn't it entice you? As of this moment, there are at least 300 people who can defeat you, waiting for you to give them a reason to destroy your entire existence.
Those questions entered the very fabric of Ayanokouji's being. He had no other chance. If he wanted to experience the life he so desperately craved, then he must win the new white room: BLUE LOCK.
Ayanokouji: I'm assuming if I lose, I won't ever participate in soccer events for Japan and I will be returned to the white room.
Ego: Wow, look at that. Give this know-it-all genius a bone.
After a small time period of pondering, Ayanokouji gave him an answer.
Ayanokouji: If I go through with Blue Lock, will I still be able to call my girlfriend?
Ego: Nothing is free in Blue Lock. Prove your worth inside, and I might let you use the school's phone to contact your beloved girlfriend. So?
Ayanokouji: I accept.
Ego: Congratulations, you're the first and only member of project: Bland King, and stage zero of BLUE LOCK.
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Calling his assistant, she finally answered.
Ego: Anri-chan, I've secured the merchandise.
Anri-chan: Will you stop referring to a human being as an object?!
Ego: Shut up, Anri-chan.
Ayanokouji: My father must be waiting at the gate for me with his men.
Ego: They won't be an issue. Oh, here's our ride.
A large van that looked completely broken down and seemed like it would collapse, awaited them. A woman with red hair spoke calmly from the driver seat.
Anri: Hurry up! The last thing I want is to be seen in this deathtrap!
Ayanokouji: I guess it serves its purpose as a decent camouflage.
Anri: No, that's because Ego-san went above the budget!
Entering through the back, Ayanokouji sat down and Ego went in the front seat.
The three drove out of ANHS and right past the array of cars Ayanokouji's father had ready there to escort him back to the white room.
The operation was a success.
Ego: Now you belong to me, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. You now have to prove your worth.
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Arriving at an unknown location, Ayanokouji was escorted inside and he began to ask follow-up questions.
Ayanokouji: So the premise of the experiment is to find my 'weapon.'
Ego: Frankly, I'm not so sure you even have a weapon. The only thing going for you is your intelligence and S-rated physical attributes. But they're all useless if you don't have a trigger.
Anri: No way! We used up the last of our funds for a 'potential' striker?
Ego: So what? Stop worrying about something so needless as money. Now, enter the room you'll be occupying for the next month. You will train, sweat, bleed, and die in this room until I see a true weapon with a trigger. If I don't, I'll discard your body on your father's lawn.
Ayanokouji nodded and entered the room without hesitation.
Anri: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. I've only heard stories about him. He was the only survivor of his generation and he set the standard for scores and results. Some called him an artificial genius.
Ego: You don't need to repeat things I've already heard. This raw ore has high risk but high reward.
Anri: But he doesn't have an ego or emotions to show for it. His face doesn't even change, like a doll. How will someone like that be an egoist?
Ego: What a stupid question. Someone like that, had to have been an egoist to survive the White room. Otherwise, it would have eaten him up. Whether he wants to admit it or not, the ideals his father seared into his mind will never leave. His pride won't allow it. Now, let's begin stage 0 of Blue Lock.
Smiling widely, Ego placed his hands together.
Ego: Project: Bland King begins now.