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It’s only post-second selection but Chigiri already wishes he was free from this hell hole. The cafeteria is obnoxiously loud and Oh wow, Rin and Shidou look like they’re about to break out into another food fight. I do not want to get caught up in that again.
Chigiri bemoans the amount of time he spent ridding his hair of barbeque sauce the last time this happened.
Maybe I should’ve dropped out during the first selection, he wistfully thinks, but then pauses. Ah. But that would make Isagi sad.
Chigiri thinks of warm smiles, of warm hands that slot perfectly against his own, of midnight dark locks of hair and of deep ocean blue eyes.
He groans. “I wish Isagi were here right now…”
When Chigiri really thinks about it, it’s been a few weeks since he last saw Isagi and he really really misses her right now.
Before Blue Lock and since they started dating, the longest they’ve gone without seeing each other was for 4 days and that was because Isagi’s family went on vacation to visit their hometown in Saitama.
Chigiri misses Isagi’s laughter, misses the way her eyes would crinkle and the dimples formed when she smiles, misses the red of her cheeks when she gets embarrassed or flustered, misses-
“Who’s Isagi?”
Anddd there goes Chigiri’s only source of happiness in this grim, bleak world.
He side eyes Bachira who is peering up at him curiously and very very much in his personal space.
Bachira really needs to learn the concept of boundaries , Chigiri muses, but leans back and indulges Bachira anyway.
“Isagi’s my girlfriend.”
All of a sudden the cafeteria quietens down and when Chigiri looks up, all of the Blue Lock boys are looking at him funny. Heck, even Rin is looking at him in poorly concealed surprise.
(At this point, Chigiri is begging for someone to tell Rin that he ain’t slick.)
But still.
Is it that hard to believe that he has W rizz???
Before Chigiri can continue pursuing this train of thought, a loud, obnoxious and painfully familiar voice yells out “YOU?? Out of all of us, YOU’RE the one who gets bitches??”
Chigiri looks towards the source of the voice, feeling his mouth curling into a vicious sneer at Igaguri.
“Better me than your lame, disgusting ass, chewing with your mouth open. At least I’m not some third rate npc who doesn’t treat women with respect. How dare you call Isagi a bitch.”
Before Chigiri can even process it, he’s standing up and cracking his knuckles. He’s going to make sure he gives Igaguri one hell of a punch. This stink ass loser had no right to even comment on Isagi with the butthole of an excuse he has for a mouth.
“Slow down princess ,” comes the lazy drawl of Karasu and Chigiri flips him off, eyes still dead focused on Igaguri.
Karasu whistles. “We just didn’t expect you to get a girlfriend. Don’t worry, we weren’t shaming your rizzness or whatever.”
“Yeah,” Fucking hell. Now Otoya’s speaking. “No offence or anything princess, but I was actually kinda expecting you to get a boyfriend with those looks of yours.”
Chigiri feels a vein throbbing in his forehead and wow does it hurt. How does Rin deal with this all the time?? Must be the boost he gets from being in his edgy emo teenager phase.
“Is Isagi real?” Bachira asks and Chigiri turns to stare incredulously at him. This is definitely making it into Chigiri’s list of top 10 betrayals because WOW. Coming from one of his two closest friends in the facility too. Bachira is so amazing at being tactful for real. 10 out of 10.
Chigiri sighs and sits back down anyway. “She is.”
“What’s she like then?” Nagi asks, lifting his head from the table.
Upon hearing the question, Chigiri’s thoughts drift back to Isagi, almost nostalgic but unmistakably yearning.
Isagi tying his hair for him on hot summer afternoons. Isagi taking the time and effort to prepare bento boxes for both of them to eat together every friday on the rooftop. Isagi gently taking care of his knee with an almost overwhelming and suffocating amount of care and concern pooling in her deep blue eyes. Isagi-
Wait.
Nagi’s the one asking??
Chigiri reels from the sudden realisation and blinks once. Then twice. He stares at Nagi who is sitting opposite him, looking at him expectantly.
What the hell? .
Sure, he and Nagi became closer during the second selection when they were in the same team and he would even call them friends but like ?? Nagi was hardly interested in anything and why would he be interested in Chigiri’s love life of all things?
At Chigiri’s befuddled look, Nagi simply shrugs and says, “I just think you’re capping.”
Wow. I really need to find better friends, Chigiri thinks. No trust in me at all.
In a timely fashion, Barou joins in, adding fuel to Chigiri’s existential dread.
“Hah! As if any of you would get into a relationship before me . I’m the King! Show us picture proof that this ‘ Isagi’ you speak of exists. Let’s see how long you jest, peasant.”
Chigiri doesn’t even get the time to properly feel affronted before Nagi chimes in with a “No way. You wouldn’t be the first no matter how many time loops we go through. You’re a gorilla. Not to mention how you’d probably also get a boyfriend, Maid Barou. Malewife material much.”
Barou and Nagi are both standing up now and oh damn. Shit’s about to go down.
Chigiri raises an eyebrow. Really, can’t these hormonal teenagers go one day without fighting and trying to assert their dominance? They’re legitimately so cringey.
“Wait! Stop! I actually wanna get in on this! Chigiri, show us proof Isagi's real!”
("And a girl." Karasu and Otoya snicker to the side.)
Chigiri mulls over Bachira’s request and it’s… not the most unreasonable thing that Bachira has said (the bar is regretfully low) and it’s not like he can’t show them pictures of Isagi since he literally has a whole album in his phone gallery dedicated to pictures of her (and several more physical, hardcopy pictures of him and Isagi back at home as back up should anything ever happen to his phone).
But the thing is,
Chigiri doesn’t want to.
Isagi’s just… too good for them to even gaze upon.
Isagi was a miracle descended into his life and if they weren’t willing to believe in the concept of her existence then Chigiri wasn’t going to deign their undeserving selves the right to look at her.
So Chigiri shakes his head and refuses, ignoring the jeers and the chorus of ‘boo’s that follow him out the cafeteria.
//
The excitement from winning against Japan’s U20 team thrums within his veins, feeding into his ever growing egocentrism. And-
Chigiri feels alive .
At this point, he and the rest of blue lock have all showered and they’re now gathered in one of the halls of blue lock they didn’t even know existed before today.
It’s lavishly decorated with banners and tables of food - not part of an athlete’s diet- and Chigiri almost catches himself drooling along with some of the other Blue Lock members. Thank God for self respect.
Nearly everyone is dressed to the nines and Chigiri finds himself letting out a sigh of relief.
Good. I didn’t come overdressed.
When Ego told them to dress properly and to assemble here, he initially considered just showing up in a sweater and a nice pair of jeans but something within him prompted him to dress a bit better and in a more refined fashion.
Perhaps it was to impress the mop of black -almost blue- hair that he’d spotted during the match.
Chigiri easily latches onto this stray train of thought and a different kind of excitement begins to hum beneath his skin.
He gets to see Isagi again.
He ends up being so lost in thought that he thankfully doesn’t even register Otoya and Karasu’s persistent questions of “What’s your sister’s phone number?”, “What’s her @ on social media?” and the like.
(“Does your sister have a boyfriend?” Karasu asks at one point.
“Bro, why are you even asking that? It doesn’t matter. Just be a homewrecker.” Otoya responds.
In the background, the rest of blue lock sighs.)
Yet eventually, the time comes and Chigiri feels his attention snap towards the sound of the opening doors of the hall, the rest of blue lock following suit.
He scans the crowd for easily missed dark hair and buries the bit of disappointment he feels when he sees some of his blue lock peers already having found and starting to catch up with their family.
He gives the crowd in front of him another onceover before he lets out a small huff, preparing to turn around and look behind instead.
That’s when he hears it.
“Hyoma!” a voice squeals, quickly followed by the sound of footsteps.
Chigiri turns back around just as a solid weight crashes into him. Lithe arms immediately come up to wrap him in a tight hug. Chigiri takes a moment to regain his balance, having a mild freakout because ‘ Oh shit this is actually happening. Isagi is actually here .’ ’ Before he instinctively returns the warm gesture, making sure to squeeze back twice as hard.
He buries his head into the crook of Isagi’s neck and breathes, inhaling the comforting smell of lavender and blueberries coupled by a smidge of honey -still not fully processing that Isagi is here right now and within his arms.
Chigiri feels incredibly lucky.
He ignores Isagi’s exclamations of “ Hyoma stop! It tickles! ” between giggles and simply lets himself embrace the airy, wind chime-like sound of Isagi’s bright laughter, basking in the brilliant glow of his sun.
Chigiri lets himself stay like that for a few more fleeting moments before he grudgingly relents at the light tap on his back, slowly pulling back while making sure to entwine their fingers along the way.
Chigiri feels his breath stop.
Isagi is beautiful .
Chigiri should feel embarrassed but he can’t help it . Although he’s known Isagi for years now, Isagi still manages to steal his breath away whenever he so much as looks at her. Whenever he finds himself looking at Isagi, Chigiri feels his brain function stutter to a stop and he finds himself wheezing just the slightest bit, attempting to catch his breath if only to gaze upon her radiance for just a little longer.
Isagi is gorgeous. To Chigiri, that is a universal fact and he is keenly aware that he would fight tooth and nail with whoever thought otherwise for as long as he could.
The Isagi in front of him has grown out her hair since he last saw her. Her hair reaches mid waist now, and today she's adorning a white blouse with button sleeves, paired with a black, plaid skirt that reaches her mid thigh.
The Isagi in front of him at this very moment may not match up to the Isagi on field, but she's nevertheless indisputably breathtaking . The Isagi in front of him gazes at him with so much affection, smiling so sweetly and lovingly that Chigiri feels himself turning helpless.
Chigiri shamelessly looks Isagi up and down, trying to burn the image into his brain.
That is, until Isagi pouts a little at his silence and decides to take matters into her own hands.
She tip toes and closes the distance between them by pressing a chaste kiss to his lips first and then by giving him a quick peck on his cheek before stepping back. A soft, pink blush adorns her face and she's clearly flustered. Yet, she meets Chigiri's gaze head-on, her eyes softening at the edges as she says,
" I miss you "
The words are soft, like a secret between them. Like a promise only for the both of them to hear. From Isagi Yoichi to only Chigiri Hyoma.
Chigiri swoons.
.
And then his sister slaps him on the back and he chokes. She doesn’t care, proceeding to ruffle his hair and mess up his braid.
He turns to her, frowning, and then immediately regrets it. She’s smiling but there’s a mischievous glint in her eyes that Chigiri knows all too well from their childhood days. A shiver goes down his spine when she opens her mouth. She doesn’t care.
“ Simp. ”
Chigiri lets out a long, anguish-filled sigh. His devil-incarnate of a sister cackles at his misery.
His attention strays back to Isagi when he feels tugging on his shirt. Isagi beams up at him and takes out her phone, beginning to play the recorded video of the u20 match whilst excitedly recounting his plays and talking about all the alternative plays he could have made.
Whenever Isagi gets like this, Chigiri feels like he’s falling for her all over again.
He suddenly has the very very strong urge to play a match with Isagi right now.
He knows it would be improper, but if he could just slip away with Isagi without anyone noticing… It shouldn’t be a problem right?
Chigiri secretly peeks at everyone else from his peripheral vision. Hiding his surprise when he sees several of the blue lock members looking… his way??
And then it clicks.
Chigiri begins to straighten his back as a sense of protectiveness surges within him, intent on giving off a clear warning of ‘back off’ to everyone else.
But it’s too late.
Bachira bounds up to them, eyes open wide and smiling, his face now very close to Isagi’s. Chigiri sees a shadow of the monster that Bachira always talks about.
“Hey, Usagi-chan, right? Do you love soccer?”
Isagi looks a bit stunned at both the nickname(?) and question, though not at Bachira’s sudden appearance. Then she sends Bachira one of those heart-stopping smiles she unconsciously makes (Chigiri simultaneously hates and loves this part of her) and Chigiri scowls as he eyes the way Bachira freezes up and then looks at Isagi with a newfound glimmer in his eyes.
“Yeah! I love soccer! It’s Isagi by the way. You're Bachira-kun, right? Thanks for always taking care of Hyoma. Your dribbling was really cool by the way!”
Somehow Bachira’s eyes sparkle even more and Chigiri feels his frown deepen further.
(His sister laughs at him from the side, taunting him with a “You’re going to get wrinkles early, you know?”
Chigiri purses his lips and looks away.)
"Mm I am! Usagi-chan, from today onwards we're best friends, alright?"
Isagi looks even more confused now - at both Bachira’s insistence in referring to her as ‘Usagi-chan’ and Bachira’s straightforwardness. But she agrees with Bachira anyway. A simple “yeah” slipping past her lips as she shoots Bachira with a smile. This time, it’s smaller but it’s also more genuine and her gaze is softened, eyes crinkling at the edges.
Chigiri sees the exact moment Isagi has unknowingly wormed her way into Bachira’s heart and empathises.
Sure, he’s jealous that Bachira thought of that cute nickname first, that Bachira had the ability to be so upfront with Isagi, that Bachira and Isagi are already exchanging contact information since their first meeting 3 minutes ago and counting, that Bachira-
Chigiri coughs. Point is , he doesn’t hold it against Bachira because he gets it.
It’s inevitable and tough being one of Isagi Yoichi’s victims.
There was just something special about Isagi and since the moment she first kissed him in response to his confession, Chigiri had never gone a day without feeling immensely grateful to whatever god out there that had decided to bestow this fortune upon him.
Then Bachira smiles, teeth glinting and eyes a bit too dark for a time outside the field and Chigiri loses all the compassion he has to offer. Bachira opens his mouth, words ready to leave the tip of his tongue but he gets interrupted.
“Chigiri~ Care to introduce us?”
Right. Wolves came in packs. And infighting wasn’t uncommon.
Chigiri scans his surroundings and sure enough, the only people near them right now are the blue lock members. No wonder they’re acting so unrestrained. It was because they had no parental guidance right now.
He looks back at Isagi when he feels soft hands rubbing his knuckles in a soothing way, Isagi shooting him a look of concern.
Chigiri’s heart aches. Isagi always had a way to make things better. Moreover, though he loved how she worried for him, he hated that she got that way because of him. (He shouldn’t be making her feel concerned. His only purpose in life was to make her happy after all.)
Tension leaves his frame although he neither feels any less protective nor wary, surrounded by their current audience and whatnot.
He steps behind Isagi and wraps his arms around her waist from behind, fingers tangling with hers as he rests his chin on her shoulder. He makes sure not to shy away and to look each Blue Lock member dead in the eye.
“Isagi, meet Blue lock.”
To Chigiri’s eternal damnation, Isagi gets along really really well with the rest of Blue Lock. It was an expected and completely predictable outcome but Chigiri sulks anyway.
Past introductions, she makes polite conversation with everyone, making sure to gently probe and ease the quieter ones into talking and joining the conversation. Chigiri bemoans that even Niko and Tokimitsu are already comfortable enough to talk to her and Tokimitsu isn’t even stuttering. It’s almost as if he doesn’t have that weird complex of his. Why does Isagi have to get along with everyone , Chigiri sobs internally.
Then Isagi starts talking to Barou and for some godforsaken reason, Barou starts calling her his ‘queen’, which is?? Excuse him . If anything, Isagi was his queen and not Barou’s. The only solace Chigiri feels is that when Barou leaves, or more accurately, gets dragged off , Isagi turns to him and conspiratorially whispers, “ Does Barou have a roleplaying kink? ” At that, Chigiri can’t help the teasing smile that spreads across his face as he shifts and snuggles further into the crook of Isagi’s neck, laughing lightly, knowing that this was Isagi’s way of making him feel better.
Her humour regretfully meshes well with Karasu, Yukimiya and Otoya’s and Chigiri is secretly impressed that Karasu and Otoya haven’t made any dick jokes in the time they spoke. (He thinks his glaring helped.) However, the positive feelings died soon after, when later on, while Isagi spoke to Nanase and Hiori, Chigiri overheard Otoya and Karasu plotting on how to get him away from Isagi so they could hoard her for themselves.
Speaking of which, she gets along really well with Nanase and Hiori and Chigiri admittedly thought it was a really cute scene until Isagi said something (probably a compliment, Chigiri thinks,) and the other two started blushing.
Reo and Nagi are next in line. Reo does most of the talking and Chigiri sheds a tear internally because why couldn’t Isagi be materialistic?? If she was, Reo would lose all interest in her. But she isn’t, (because she has a heart of gold, Chigiri will die on this hill,) and Chigiri wants to sob at how this literal billionaire heir is looking at his girlfriend like she’s a challenge to conquer. Nagi doesn’t say much, only blinking his eyes blearily at Isagi but that’s what sets off the alarm bells in Chigiri’s head because Nagi is looking at Isagi and not using his phone, and he’s actually listening and engaged in what Isagi is saying, if the nods AND occasional quips are anything to go by. Nagi’s death sentence is only lightened because Isagi laughs at his jokes and that’s a bonus in Chigiri’s book. (He frowns when he sees how the others’ eyes sparkle at the sound of Isagi’s laugh though.)
Overall, with each interaction, the alarm bells in Chigiri’s head only grew louder and louder. There was no salvation, except when Aryu complimented them, saying that they were a very ‘glamourous’ pair. Chigiri had actually felt flattered. Although the exchange soon went downhill when Aryu reached out to grab a lock of Isagi’s hair and Chigiri smacked his hand away. In his defence, he ended up apologising - even though it was more so because he didn’t want Isagi to be mad at him than it was because he felt sorry towards the other.
What was really icing on the cake though, was when the Itoshi Rin , brother of Itoshi Sae, rank number one in Blue Lock, willingly approached Isagi without anyone asking him to. To Chigiri’s (as well as the rest of Blue Lock’s) further shock, Rin then asks for football tips from Isagi .
Chigiri supposes it makes sense…? Isagi is good at football and is especially good at playmaking and she was, in fact, giving everyone really helpful pointers in all the conversations she had with the Blue Lock players. But to attract even Rin’s attention?? The alarm bells in Chigiri’s head are full on sirens now and the fact remains that Rin and Isagi haven’t even started talking.
Chigiri watches the way Isagi eyes Rin, her eyes sparkling and exceptionally bright. A stark contrast to Rin’s own dark and brooding appearance. Yin and Yang , Chigiri thinks, and then hates himself for it. As Isagi continues to talk about how differently she thinks he could have played, Rin’s gaze slowly changes from one of mild contempt to one of acknowledgement and then... one of reverence. A mumble of " strategist " leaves Rin and Isagi doesn’t seem to notice.
When Isagi finishes talking about Rin's plays, Rin seems almost flattered that Isagi had paid that much attention to him (he doesn't seem to realise that Isagi is just observant like that) and then, he steps closer to Isagi, causing her to tilt her head further back in order to look him in the eyes, and asks, "Would you care for a match against me?"
Isagi stares.
Blinks once.
Blinks twice.
Pinches her arm.
And then she's shooting Rin a megawatt smile and Chigiri sees the way Rin's knees tremble.
Isagi grasps both of Rin's hands in her own smaller ones, leaning closer and further into Rin's space, vibrating all the while with visceral excitement.
She readily agrees, an exclamation of "Yes!" leaving her before Rin even has the chance to reconsider and retract his offer.
By now, all of the blue lock players have surrounded Isagi again, each clamouring for her attention. Several voices, copying Rin, and asking Isagi to play a match against them as well. Chigiri understands and would've done the same if he wasn't already Isagi's regular training buddy. Hah. Take that Blue Lock.
Even so, as Chigiri bears witness to all this, he begins to feel distraught. A dark tendril of jealousy curling around his heart.
They’re all attractive and tall too.
Not that Chigiri has an inferiority complex or anything. Height definitely isn't an insecurity of his.
Then, Nagi -the fucking 190cm giant- opens his mouth, pointing at Isagi’s chest.
“Those look really soft. Can I nap on them?”
A beat of silence. Then instant chaos.
“Nagi, that isn’t appropriate. Apologise now-”
“Back off! If anything I have priority-”
“You lukewarm piece of shit-”
“I’ll have you know I’m the king here, peasant-”
“Bro you literally have L rizz. You’re a neet. Me , on the other hand-”
“Isagi, I’m better. Date me instead-”
“Standards exist. Isagi may be dating Chigiri for now but no way you’d ever get a shot-”
From behind Isagi, Chigiri tenses and SEETHES . He’s ready to throw hands with these hormonal fuckers.
Goddamnit. He fucking forgot that Ego was honing all these egoistical dipshits. Of course these brainless assholes would think they’d have a chance with Isagi even though Isagi was already dating HIM.
Chigiri cracks his knuckles. This time, he doesn’t intend to hold back or dish out any mercy.
(Plus, now that he’s unwrapped himself from Isagi, he needs to get the job done as soon as possible so he can go back to cuddling with her.)