Chapter 4 – The Chosen Ones Gather
Japan Football Association Training Facility – Blue Lock Orientation Site
"This is it…"
Yūshin Seiichi stood at the gates of the massive facility, clutching a folded note in one hand.
The imposing glass building towered over them, its front doors cold and metallic, guarded by a simple steel numberplate.
"Hey!" Seiichi turned around and glared at the figure behind him. "Can you take your headphones off and be useful for once?!"
"Why?" Yūshin Zeya replied flatly, pulling out one earbud. "If you can't even find a building with a map, what good are you?"
"You bastard—!"
Seiichi clenched his fists, seething.
"Yes… this is the right place."
A new voice chimed in. A boy with tousled black hair and a green-and-white striped scarf approached, holding an identical letter in his hands.
Seiichi glanced over, immediately recognizing the boy.
Whoa… no way. Is that…?
"Hey, hey~ You!" Seiichi called out brightly, stepping toward the boy. "Are you a chosen one too?"
"Huh?" The boy looked up in surprise.
Isagi Yoichi. The striker from Ichinan High School.
He froze the moment he saw them—the Yūshin twins.
I-It's really them… Yūshin Seiichi and Yūshin Zeya…
Am I seriously attending the same program as these two monsters?!
Isagi's eyes widened, his hands trembling slightly as he tried to greet them.
"H-Hello…!"
"Don't be nervous, boy~" Seiichi smirked, patting his shoulder. "I can see you're loaded with potential~ How about it? Wanna form a legendary trio with us?"
Seiichi suddenly broke into a goofy dance-and-rap routine, complete with finger guns and pelvic thrusts.
Isagi blinked.
What is happening?!
Bang!
Zeya slapped the back of Seiichi's head with zero hesitation.
"Zeya!! Why'd you hit me?!"
"Because you're an embarrassment."
Isagi stared at the two in shock.
These guys are supposed to be the most feared duo in high school football?
They looked more like bickering siblings than the top talents in Japan.
"Yo!" a familiar voice chimed in.
Kira Ryōsuke, wearing a sleek jacket and carrying a backpack, approached them with a friendly smile.
"So you guys were selected too."
"Kira… you know me?" Isagi asked, astonished.
"Of course," Kira replied warmly. "You've got great field vision and playmaking sense. I really like your passing."
Isagi flushed slightly at the compliment.
Kira then turned toward the twins.
"Yūshin brothers—Seiichi, Zeya. I've been wanting to test myself against you two for a while."
Zeya, still wearing one earbud, gave Kira a cold glance before looking away.
"Let's go, Seiichi. This is the right place."
"Tch, you're no fun." Seiichi stuck out his tongue. "Sorry! Catch you two later!"
The twins headed inside, Zeya uninterested in small talk, and Seiichi bouncing along behind him.
Kira's cheerful expression darkened briefly before turning back to Isagi with another polite smile.
Inside the Building – Main Hall of Blue Lock
Click.
The automatic doors hissed open.
The lobby was already full.
At least 300 players under 18 years old stood gathered in tight clusters, murmuring, sizing each other up.
As the twins entered—
Step. Step.
The sound of their shoes echoed. Heads turned. Conversations paused.
"That's them…!"
"Yūshin Seiichi and Yūshin Zeya! The Rikkai twins!"
"I didn't think they'd actually come!"
"Holy crap, even Blue Lock was able to reel those two in…"
"Hey! Jingshi! I still owe you for nutmegging me in the semi-finals!"
"Hanegami Sawaya and Hanyu Seiichi are here too! Nagi, look over there—that's the duo you'll have to beat if you want to become number one."
Mikage Reo nudged his best friend beside him.
"Haah… yeah, yeah." Nagi Seishiro, barely glancing up from his phone, answered half-heartedly.
Amid the chatter, someone forced his way through the crowd.
"Oi, trash. What took you so long?"
A tall, muscular figure with a fierce glare and a crimson streak in his hair stomped toward them.
Shōei Barō.
"Oh, if it isn't the 'self-proclaimed king'," Seiichi teased.
"Shut it, clown." Barō grabbed Seiichi by the collar. "I've been waiting for a real challenge, and here you are. Finally."
"Still angry you never beat me back in middle school?" Seiichi grinned.
"Tch. That was warm-up."
"Barō, don't make me break your jaw before the program even starts," Zeya said without looking.
"Say that again, punk."
Barō let go, snorting.
He had challenged the Yūshin twins countless times during middle school and lost every single time. But he never quit.
If anything, defeat had only made him hungrier.
"You're both here… Good. Now I'll prove who the real king is."
"Cute," Seiichi smirked. "Let's see you bark that loud on the pitch."
"Seiichi! Zeya!"
Another voice called out from the crowd.
Sakata Kaixing, their former team captain, appeared with a warm grin.
"Captain Sakata! You're here too?" Seiichi ran over with exaggerated relief. "Thank goodness! I thought I was gonna have a heart attack with all these scary guys around!"
"You're the only drama queen here," Sakata said, chuckling.
With the arrival of Isagi Yoichi, Kira Ryōsuke, Shōei Barō, and the Yūshin twins, the final pieces were now in place.
Within these walls stood 300 of Japan's most promising strikers, all under 18.
Each had received the same invitation.
Each had the same dream.
To become the world's number one.
And soon… they would meet the man who promised to forge them into it.
Ego Jinpachi.